₦airaland Forum

A chieftain of the All Progressive Congress, APC, Alhaji Isa Ciroma, has debunked governor Nasir El-Rufai’s claim that the wanton killings and destruction of lives and property in Southern Kaduna is connected to the 2011 post election violence.He explained that the governor was not working to ensure that normalcy returns to Southern Kaduna, adding, ”I don’t want to talk too much about this Man (el-Rufai). He talks too much on security and we have not seen anything good in the area.

“I am a victim of the attack in Southern Kaduna and I am neither a cattle rearer nor a farmer but my younger brother was shot at the chest and he died during one of the attacks by herdsmen. This was caused by the nonchalant attitude of our security men.”

Ciroma stressed that if the security agencies had gone to the hideout of the terrorists killing Southern Kaduna villagers, “I believed my brother would have been saved. It is glaring that the security agencies have not been asked to do their job, that is why we are in this mess.”

He maintained that the security challenges in Southern Kaduna has been politicize by selfish politicians, stressing that the governor of Kaduna state was aware that terrorists were camped inside the forest.

“But governor El-Rufai has not taken any proactive measure to ensure the terrorists are cleared. If the terrorists’ camps are cleared, it will nip the attacks going on,” he lamented.

UmuEri:
Q: Why do i not feel pity for them, even though they are majority Christains
Ans: Because during the Biafra War, they conspired with their relatives to wipe out the Igbos, but all thanks to Chukwu Obiama that we triumphed.
The blood off about 2million innocent Children starved to death is taking its revenge.
Note: I am a Christain, but i don't forgive, and i dont forget.

You need to change your way of thinking man. The civil war was a combination of many factors.
You can't see the clear picture of what happened if you do not understand the events that led to the war.

I hinged my believe on the above based on threat the governor gave against Southern Kaduna trying to defend itself from the unprovoked aggression. He said in that story:
“There are people that are sending a message, defend yourselves. We will get them. Defend yourself is hate speech. You can’t defend yourself if there is a government. We are going to arrest and prosecute all those that pass that message.”
To me, this is very strange and ridiculous. But it is also pregnant with meanings. Why is the governor saying that Southern Kaduna should not deploy self-defence when El-Rufai’s Fulani marauders come hacking them down and burning their communities with the governor unable to tame his brothers?

However, as it has become manifest through the utterances, actions and inactions of Governor Nasir el-Rufai, Southern Kaduna must prepare to defend itself using every possible means of defence that is lawful against killer Fulani who are now on the loose more than ever, even as we search for solutions to this heinous crime against our land.

Press Statement From Senator Danjuma Tella Laah for Immediate Use.

Gentlemen of the Press,

As the Senator representing Kaduna South Senatorial Zone, I hereby wish to make my assertion, and indeed, views and position of my constituency on some very vexing and serious utterances made by Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna state as it concerns the survival and wellbeing of Southern Kaduna.

This is from the outcome of Newspapers’ and online captions quoting Governor Nasir el-Rufai as saying that he has had to trace some of the murderous Fulani herdsmen that have been killing defenceless, innocent Southern Kaduna natives and destroying their villages. The news sources said that after tracing them, he told them that he was also a Fulani man and paid them sums of money to stop the massacre, burning and tearing down of scores of communities in Southern Kaduna.

That not done with, the governor also uttered a very bizarre threat that he has compiled for arrest and prosecution, names of persons asking the people of Southern Kaduna to defend themselves against the obvious inability of the Chief Security Officer of the state - Governor Nasir El-Rufai - to secure their lives and property and save them the trauma of being under perpetual fear of further unprovoked violence.

Knowing how swiftly he reacts to any untoward issue unfairly thrown at him in the media, I have waited for days to hear or read a rebuttal from him but to no avail. This therefore confirms these unfortunate utterances as truly that of the governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai.

I wish to state that these statements are not only unfortunate, callous, insensitive, crude and demeaning of his office and intelligence, it throws him up as a bigot and hatter of Southern Kaduna and we are holding him as an accomplice in the ongoing genocide in Southern Kaduna.

According to the Leadership Newspaper of 4th December, 2016 under the headline: “Foreigners Behind Southern Kaduna Massacre – El-Rufai, he was quoted as saying about what happened during the 2011 post presidential election violence:

“Some of them (Killer Fulani) were from Niger, Cameroon, Chad, Mali and Senegal,” adding that “Many of these people were killed, cattle lost and they organised themselves and came back to revenge. We took certain steps. We got a group of people that were going round trying to trace some of these people, trying to trace some of these people in Cameroon, Niger Republic and so on to tell them that there is a new governor who is Fulani like them and has no problem paying compensations for lives lost and he is begging you to stop the killing .

“In most of the communities, once that appeal was made to them, they said they have forgiven. There are one or two that asked for monetary compensation. They said they have forgiven the death of human beings, but want compensation for cattle. We said no problem, some we paid.”


What a startling and an unacceptable revelation!

In the light of the above I wish to state as follows:

That there was never in a time in 2011 that Fulani from Mali, Niger, Chad, Cameroon, Mali and Senegal were killed in Southern Kaduna with their cattle. This is a silly and an absurd lie. Southern Kaduna is not a junction of these countries. So how could they have all converged on Southern Kaduna on their usual migration back home? The Governor just invented this lie to make excuse for his imported murderous Fulani kindred to continue their extermination of our people and the occupation of our lands.
As the main political leader and representative of Southern Kaduna at the Federal level, despite many overtures of trying to meet with the governor over the insecurity in my zone with no success, he has never deem it fit to inform me of these actions so as to seek my views and that of my constituency over the matter. This is a very curious development, especially as I was able to make the Senate to pass a resolution asking the Federal Government to declare a State of Emergency on Security in Southern Kaduna last month. I expected him to cash on that, using his connection with the President and Commander-in-Chief. But, he was obviously not concerned.
In the light of the above, the Federal Government, especially the Nigeria Intelligence Agency, NIA, the Directorate of State Services, SSS, the Directorate of Military Intelligence, DMI and sundry agencies should look no further for the solution to the unrelenting killings in Southern Kaduna. El-Rufai must be held to produce the killers of innocent Nigerians since he has been able to identify them and their locations. This will lead to their sponsors in Nigeria and other places. Nigeria should then use its diplomatic relationship and extradite these murderers of its citizens, plunderers and arsonists to face justice in Nigeria.
After Governor Nasir el-Rufai’s term in office, it should be possible to prosecute him for being an accessory to mass murder, since he has refused to reveal these findings to the rightful authority for actions to stop the evil that is spreading to many states today.
Governor Nasir el-Rufai should also state how much of Kaduna State scarce resources have been moved to these killers and whether he has the authority of the law to so spend the money on enemies of Southern Kaduna and Nigeria.
El-Rufai should also be investigated to find out if these moneys were not further put into the buying of more arms and the recruitments of more killers, who we strongly believe, are also jihadists.
Though he has ferried much undisclosed amounts of money to murderers, I am pleading with Kaduna State indigenes and residents to ask why he has stubbornly refused to render basic assistance of rebuilding of even a home, or any form of monetary assistance to the surviving victims in Southern Kaduna. Most are still left without food and shelter despite the modest assistance that some of us, churches, NGOs etc have continued to render from time to time.
I am constrain to add that Nasir el-Rufai with his lack of will to show commitment to the insecurity in Southern Kaduna, and his resolve to carry on with over six Cattle Grazing Reserves in Southern Kaduna, he is actually creating new, permanent “conquered” settlements for his Fulani kinsmen. I said this because his Fulani brothers have killed people and chased them out from their communities and are now fully settled with their families and cattle in several villages in Kaura, Sanga and Jema’a Local Government Areas, while the governor turns his eyes the other way round.
My conviction on this is based on the findings that the State government was able to wage a concerted war against cattle thieves and bandits in the expansive forests and hills of Birnin Gwari environs and easily succumbed the criminals, but has refused to extend even a fraction of that effort to save precious human lives and human communities in Southern Kaduna. The simple reason is that just as it is in the interest of law abiding Fulani to recover their cattle and goats in Birnin Gwari from same rogue Fulani, it is also in the interest of Fulani to leave our damaged and, yet to be ruined communities, weak and helpless for them to easily take over.
I hinged my believe on the above based on threat the governor gave against Southern Kaduna trying to defend itself from the unprovoked aggression. He said in that story:

“There are people that are sending a message, defend yourselves. We will get them. Defend yourself is hate speech. You can’t defend yourself if there is a government. We are going to arrest and prosecute all those that pass that message.”

To me, this is very strange and ridiculous. But it is also pregnant with meanings. Why is the governor saying that Southern Kaduna should not deploy self-defence when El-Rufai’s Fulani marauders come hacking them down and burning their communities with the governor unable to tame his brothers?

In what way will it benefit Southern Kaduna if it does not defend itself and it’s population killed, survivors sent out as refugees? Because it is clear that instead of El-Rufai stopping the carnage, it seems to be rising the more since he has gone to give them money. It is only the Fulani that will gain, of course! That is the meaning. It cannot be that Nasir el-Rufai is unaware that section Chapter VII, Article 51 of the Human Right Charter of the United Nations and Section 33(2) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria has affirmed self-defence as a Human Right.

I see this as a threat to scarce Southern Kaduna from standing up to the his Fulani killer brothers.



Based on this, I call Governor Nasir el-Rufai to first arrest me.

Because I am calling on Southern Kaduna, once more to use every available legitimate means to defend their lives, property and communities. History will not forgive our generation if we succumb to threats and blackmail and fail to defend ourselves and get wiped out. As the Senator of the beleaguered area, I cannot support that we become sitting ducks each time they come killing. Again, if El-Rufai will not defend us, let us defend ourselves.

Selective punishment

On the 15th of August 2016, Dr. Haruna Usman, Chairman, Kaduna State Chapter of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association said, as revealed in several news publication the next day, that the mindless killings and destruction of Ninte village, near Godogodo in Jema’a LGA was carried out by his members in what he said was reprisal against the murder of a Fulani ardo in the village.

Again, on the 7th of November 2016, Abdullahi Hassan Mohammed (Wanban Jema’a) of Jema’a Foundation; Ahmad M. Yandeh, of Mobgal Fulbe Development Association and Abdullhamid Musa, Zonal Chairman of Miyetti Allah Zone III addressed a press conference in Kaduna and again, said that it was Fulani that have been carrying out the bloodshed and arson in Southern Kaduna. They said they were defending themselves. The killings of infants; pregnant women; the burning to ashes children and women and very aged people; the burning down of entire villages; the burning of churches; the stealing of livestock, looting and burning of food and crops on farmlands; the further occupation of the villages, all as “ self defence.” The Fulani chieftains are walking free and the killings are ongoing.

But, when the 85 year old traditional ruler of in Misisi village, in Kaninkon Chiefdom, in Jema’a LGA, John Zogo was killed by Fulani armed men with six others during a phony meeting with soldiers, instead of a Fulani ardo to be held to account for the killings, it was the district head of late baba Zogo, the District Head of Goska, Mr Moses Barde that was arrested and detained illegally for weeks by the police in Kaduna.

Mr Moses Barde is just one of several other southern Kaduna men held on trump up charges after their communities have been ravaged, while the armed Fulani armed men continue to freely prowled over our communities. This scale of injustice is rear anywhere in the world.

Conclusion:

I call on all Southern Kaduna natives, all Hausa and Fulani of our area who are genuinely interested in peace to forget about political, tribal and religious leanings and come together in prayers and for genuine dialogue amongst ourselves as the last option left for peace and security in Southern Kaduna.

I want to add that my colleague and I in the National Assembly will continue to do our best to secure Federal assistance to add to what we are doing at home against this evil.

However, as it has become manifest through the utterances, actions and inactions of Governor Nasir el-Rufai, Southern Kaduna must prepare to defend itself using every possible means of defence that is lawful against killer Fulani who are now on the loose more than ever, even as we search for solutions to this heinous crime against our land.

Thank you, gentlemen.



Sign: Senator Danjuma Tella Laah,

(PDP, Kaduna South Senatorial District)

Wednesday, December 7th 2016.

Read Omokri's response:

“I was shocked out of my revere. Who does that? How can a government pay murderers to stop murdering? Are we living under the mafia? we in Chicago of the 1920s? Is this Cecily of just before the Second World War?

“You know that these people are murderers and you’ve identified them, then you as a government are sending people to go and meet them to tell them that you will compensate them, you will pay them to stop killing?


“I mean, who does that? Why are you in the state as a governor; why is President Muhammadu Buhari the President? You were elected into office to protect the constitution of Nigeria.

“The constitution of Nigeria says that if anybody commits murder, that person is arrested, prosecuted and jailed in prison. Or hanged, sentenced, shot, executed, however you put it there. You don’t go and pay compensation to murderers, that’s not what our Lord says. This is unjust.

“These people who had killed Christians in Southern Kaduna, hundreds of them, probably thousands, I think, since 2011 this has been a case of thousand of them, I know people that are from there. I know members of the Christian Association that are there because am very intimate with CAN.

“This is wrong. This is injustice! You are saying that, ok, you’ve identified them, you’ve traced them to their to where they are. Some of them are in Niger, some of them are in Chad, some of them are in different countries. Then you’ve gone to go and meet them, you’ve talked to them…What Nonsense! What Nonsense!

As I write this, Fulani herdsmen inbarmy uniforms are attacking gidan ways in Kaduna south. Kaduna state govt please send help ASAP

This guy's sharp men! Stooping low to conquer.

Disarm Fulani herdsmen first.

At about 3pm, 25th Sept. 2016, an attack on the Joint task force camp located at the Post Office Godogodo took place. But the joint task force overcame them and repel them. One of the gunmen was killed in the course of the confrontation. The four locals who joined the task force in chasing after the gunmen were also killed.
Due to fear of the unknown many flee their homes.Reinforcements on the both the Army and the Police have been received. The peace and unity of Southern Kaduna people is been threatened and under attack.

A statement by the Army spokesman, Col. Sani Usman, said the troops fought off the attackers and pursued them into the bush inflicting heavy casualty on them.

The combined security team also arrested the following 6 suspects : Lawal Gambo, Yau Sani, Bala Amodu, Ibrahim Maikaru, Abubakar Hassan and Bashiru Isa Ciroma.

He said four local vigilantes lost their lives while another 9 were wounded in the course of countering the dastardly attack meant to cause more loss of lives and properties of law abiding citizens of Godogodo Town. The situation in Godogo Town has since returned to normalcy and efforts are ongoing to track the remaining fleeing bandits.

"We wish to reassure citizens that the effort to safeguard life and property will continue with renewed vigour until all the rampaging bandits are brought to justice." added Col. Usman

These attacks have been going on since August when three villages around Godogodo town, in Jema’a Local Government Area of Kaduna State, were invaded by gunmen suspected to be herdsmen, leaving 11 dead and injuring scores and torching parts of the village.
A source from the village informed on phone that six men and three women were killed at Gada Biyu, while two men were killed at Akwa’a, with shooting still on going at Anguwan Anjo at press time.
Herdsmen invaded Gada Biyu, 2km from Godogodo early Monday morning, started shooting and burning down houses. People fled in different directions. However, the Police were quick to arrive and the invaders fled into the bushes.
"When they left, four corpses were discovered. After combing the bushes, five more dead bodies were found, among them were three women.
“When the killers escaped from Gada Biyu, they resurfaced at Akua’a, yesterday, morning and killed two people. But they did not burn any house there. The Police arrived on time again, and they ran away.
“They appeared at Anguwan Anjo and started shooting, but by this time people had fled the village, and the police also arrived promptly.
"However, about an hour ago, the police, who have not had any rest, went to get some food in town. Now, I am sure if you listen very well you will hear the sound of heavy gun fire. They are shooting from afar.
“We believe that the motive of the attackers is to displace us and take over our lands. In Anguwan Anjo, our surprise is that the Hausa settlers there did not run away. There is a river there full of fish and we fish with them.
"Also, since we heard that our villages have become part of Sanga Grazing Reserves, we have not known peace."

Bring back our girls.

Gowon is the man!

16 July, 2016 all roads led to Kafanchan, the administrative headquarters of Southern Kaduna. The ancient city was agog with politicians from the PDP brand, who came to support their very own – Distinguished Sen. Danjuma La’ah, Senator representing Zone 3, Kaduna State.
The occasion saw the senator distributing 15 fully air-conditioned Golf vehicles and 40 motor-cycles to aid security agencies combat crime in his constituency.As if that was not enough, the senator also is handed over an auditorium constructed and furnished by him to the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) to serve as the Kafanchan Campus. The edifice which is located in Kagoro is furnished with state of the art facilities which include 260 chairs,141 tables, Video Conferencing Systems, 3D Printers, Alfa Digital Library, 30 computers of the 260 to be supplied etc

The senator also donate hospital equipment and renovation of primary schools across his Senatorial District.

Laah is working!

We are watching to see what he does with Buratai and Danbazzau.

The Christian Association of Nigeria, (CAN) has condemned the killing of Christians across some states especially the recent one in Abuja describing them as brutal and unacceptable.
According to CAN, the “authority's inaction is becoming unbearable and may not be tolerated anymore.”
It called on Christians all over to always be ready to defend themselves against further attacks.
A statement issued in Abuja by the General Secretary CAN, Rev. Musa Asake read: “The unprovoked attacks on Christians and the authority's inaction is becoming unbearable and may not be tolerated anymore, inasmuch as we will continue to call on Christians to remain tolerant and law abiding, it is becoming inevitable to also call on them to buckle up and be ready to defend themselves against these incessant unprovoked and mindless attacks.
“The National leadership and the entire members of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) have received with rude shock and disbelief the report of yet another religious hatred murder of a dedicated 42 year old Christian mother of seven children, Mrs. Eunice Elisha, who on Saturday 9th July, 2016, was brutally killed while doing Christian evangelism.”

PRESS STATEMENT BY THE SOUTHERN KADUNA PEOPLES UNION (SOKAPU) ON GRAZING RESERVE

25/06/2016

On behalf of all the 65 ethnic groups of Southern Kaduna, both at home and diaspora we wish to state our OPPOSITION to the siting of Grazing Reserves within the Southern Kaduna geographical area for several disturbing reasons.

We are also alarmed by the hasty manner the Kaduna State Government donated 5000 hectares of land to the proposed Federal Government Grazing Reserves. This is in addition to the suspicious reactivation of about 17 Grazing Reserves, including moribund ones in the state.

We ordinarily would have wholeheartedly been in support of any scheme capable of halting the unwarranted attacks on our people by suspected herdsmen and their accomplices, but the idea of bringing in the suspected aggressor to sit right in the midst of his victims would be viewed as an official encouragement for continued assault on our people.

Without prejudice to the power conferred on a state government to take custody of lands on behalf of the people, but there is really no inch of land in Southern Kaduna that is a no-man’s-land. Every community in Southern Kaduna has stock of its grassland, farms, valleys, forests, rivers, swamps and hills. We have strong emotional attachments to them, because they are all we have left for us by our ancestors who sacrificed so much to preserve them and pass them on to us. Any attempt to unfairly wrest them out of our hands shall be resisted by our generation and generations to come.

Since one of the main reason of creating reserves for herdsmen borders on reduction of violent conflict between herdsmen and farmers, the weird logic being displayed through this scheme is that: any violent group that can sustain killing of citizens in its goal of advancing its economic status will be rewarded with the lands of its victims. We reject this, and see this action as severe provocation on us and to the thousands of others that have died in the hands of those that would be the main beneficiaries of these Grazing Reserves. It’s beyond belief that any serious government would desire to bring the sources of those violent attacks in proximity with the still suffering victims.

The government has shown its willingness to adopt the identity of all inhabitants of the state on the basis of fairness and equality, but we find it curious why it would deliberately want to annex land and all its resources for the private profits of a private business venture. Pray! Where is the required fairness?

Since the Kaduna State Government has been harping on peace, unity and development of Southern Kaduna, which we really appreciate, it should be sensitive and sympathetic with the humongous disasters that herdsmen have wrought on our communities since 2011. Between 2011 and 2015, over a period of just 4 years, 54 documented attacks have been launched with over 4,000 people killed.

In most of the affected communities, women and children have been killed and brutally murdered in a most barbaric manner. While in some cases they were hacked to death, in others they were burnt alive and or blown up with explosives. Ironically, it’s in a supposedly time of peace that we have had to bury our people in mass graves.

These attacks have rendered thousands of people homeless, as their homes have been burnt, their places of worship destroyed and their food stores, barns and granaries burnt. What is even more, their water sources have also been polluted. They killed or dismembered some and throw them into wells! And the same people suspected of carrying out these genocide that has nothing to do with grass for cows, are the ones being given the government’s approval to sit on annexed land! Within communities that are completely agrarian.

We expected the government to have carried out wide consultations and sample opinions of the people of Southern Kaduna. But from our Senator, members of the House of Representatives, Assembly members, SOKAPU, our royal fathers, down to tribal unions, none was consulted on the issue of Grazing Reserves. Our people survive on tilling our lands, and the herdsmen on their herds. How will it feel to take herds and give to farmers, if the farmers were the ones maiming the herdsmen?

If the siting of the Grazing Reserves is mutually tied to investment potentials and other developmental incentives to our people, we are constrained to oppose it if the cost also includes human lives. This is because of the mutual suspicion that currently exists between our people and the herdsmen. We request the government to still go ahead with the developmental and investment aspect of the scheme but take the Reserves elsewhere.

Also, Since the Government of Kaduna State truly wants to increase food production, we suggest that it brings in modern farming equipment, increased subsidy on fertilisers and help the agrarian people of Southern Kaduna with more modern methods of farming, while it takes the Grazing Reserves to the vast lands in the north, where the herds, the herders and the culture of the people are tightly in tune with one another.

But if the government insists on having its way, then we can confidently tell the state government that this approach will not only radicalise discontent within our zone but create more suspicion on the real move behind the grazing reserves and the killings that have been visited upon our people.

We remain hospitable, peace loving and accommodating to all and we expect the government to appreciate and reciprocate by respecting us, our culture and wishes.

Signed: Barrister Solomon Musa
SOKAPU National President

What Kaduna needs now is peace, development and investment. Not these kind of news that scare away investors.

Bad news. Alot of jobless youth in kaduna, always ready to forment trouble. Those are thebboys that violently campaigned for APC.

I’m a Nigerian There’s a reason why God made me a Nigerian. I have a stake in this country. I have the skills and determination, the focus and belief in my capacity, to be the best in what I do, and to help this country change and make progress. Today This day This moment I commence to be an instrument of change and to work hard with my brothers and sisters to move this country forward So help me God Thank you.
Read more: https://www.naij.com/810720-read-unbelievable-thing-petroleum-minister-kachikwu-town-hall-meeting-monday.html

vecman22:
oga park one side..you have no idea of what you are saying.. who is apostle Suleiman to say someone else Will die?
me am a Christian I stay in sabo (Kaduna) and I support the bill..all dis churches should learn how not to disturb one's peace...

I am very sure you dont even know the content of the so called bill.

"If you do not stand for something, you will surely fall for anything".

You live in Sabo and you accept the fact that christians are just 30% of kaduna's population?

You also accept that preaching is the problem in kaduna? Do you need a law to handle hate preachers?

Is that even something that concerns christians?

Can you licence christians to preach? Si we cant evangelize as ordinary christians. We must all become pastors and obtain a license?

Its not a personal fight between elrufai and apostle johnson suleiman. Its a fight between elrufai and the church.
I agree that elrufai is a pathological liar. He was on Channels tv and said that christians in kaduna are just 30%. Thats a wicked lie.
Saul tried to fight ghe church but converted in the process. Pharoah perished in the sea.Herod died. You cant fight the church of God. Elrufai cannot figh christians and succeed.

Decent gown. She has not disappointed her mother.

Gambia

so is it Buhari's change or Jonathan's change?

Anyways, change na change

Not again!

He is sold to the fulanis. He is a Judas to his own brothers.

praxisnetworks:
Tinubu has officially become a wailer!

I also imagine so.
As an elder in APC, I expected Tinubu to scold Kachikwu privately not openly like he is doing.

National Leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, yesterday ruled the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Ibe Kachikwu, out of order for saying he should not be expected to conjure magic in resolving the current fuel crisis in the country.

He said the minister strayed from the progressive calling required of the Buhari administration by making the statement attributed to him.
His words: “The art of governance is difficult and complex, especially during trying times. The steep reduction in global oil prices from over 100 dollars per barrel to roughly 40 presents a hard challenge. “We can no longer afford past practices. Nigeria now requires creative reform, materially changing the substance of national economic policy as well as the objectives of that policy and how the policy is presented to the people. Therein lies the essence of progressive democratic governance.

“The Buhari administration represents the last best hope we have to install such governance in Nigeria and avert the catastrophe that would have befallen us had the prior government remained in place. Had the nation continued with the spendthrift corruption and vagabond economic policies of that administration, we would have soon experienced such a collision with the harsh consequences of that government’s malign ways that our very institutions of government may have been distorted beyond fixture and repair.”

“Much public ire has been drawn to the statement made by Minister of State (Ibe Kachikwu) that he was not trained as a magician and that basically Nigerians should count themselves fortunate that the NNPC under his stewardship has been able to bring in the amount of petrol fuel it is currently doing.

“Perhaps the statement by Kachikwu was made in a moment of unguarded frustration or was an awkward attempt at a joke. Whatever the motive, it was untimely and off-putting. The remark did not sit well with the Nigerian people; they were as right to feel insulted as the minister was wrong to have said such a thing.

“The fuel shortage is severely biting for the average person. They are forced to remain in lines far too long, for too much time, to pay too much money for too little fuel. This is no joking matter. Livelihoods and people’s welfare are at stake. With so much on the line, Kachikwu’s flippancy was out-of-line. He was basically telling Nigerians that they should be lucky that they are getting the inadequate supply they now suffer and that they should just be quiet, and endure the shortage for several weeks more.

“Kachikwu’s intervention was unhelpful. It panicked and disappointed the public as to the duration of the crisis. It insulted the people by its tonality. He spoke with the imperious nature of a member of the elitist government the people voted out last year and not the progressive one they voted in.”

He reminded the minister “that he was not coerced to take this job. He accepted the job and its responsibilities knowingly. He also must remember that he does not own NNPC. This also is not a private company that owes nothing to the public except the duty of fair dealing. He is a public servant. The seat he sits upon is owned by Nigerians not by him. The company he runs is owned by Nigerians not by him. They are his boss. He is not theirs. Power is vested in the people. He is a mere custodian or agent of their will. In talking to us in such a manner, he committed an act of insubordination.

“If he had talked so cavalierly to his boss in the private sector, he would have been reprimanded or worse. If wise, the man should refrain from such interjections in the future.”

In defending and asserting the rights of Nigerians to complain, Tinubu averred that “As his ultimate bosses, the people have a right to demand the requisite performance and respect from him.  He should apologise for treating them so lightly in this instance. His portfolio being a strategically important one, he needs to reestablish the correct relationship with the public. They no longer feel he is working for their optimal benefit as their servant. Instead, he seems to be standing above them, telling them to take it or leave it.

“For his policies and stint in office to be successful and a help to this government, he must have the support and belief of the people at this tough time. He must talk to them in a way that they believe he seeks their best interest and understands the hardship weighing upon them. He must ask them to work with him and perhaps to endure a bit longer but with the knowledge that he is working to resolve this matter as fast as he can and as permanently as possible. That he is dedicated to the position that once these current lines are gone that never again shall they reappear as long as he has any influence in the matter.

“To do this, requires no magic nor training in that strange craft. It requires empathy, compassion and the willpower to forge a better Nigeria. These must be the common trademarks of those serving in a progressive government for these attributes are integral parts of the spirit and ideals upon which the APC was founded. Upon such notions was this administration voted into office by the Nigerian people in the operation of their sovereign will to seek a national leadership that would pursue their interests to the utmost and give them every fair chance to live in a better Nigeria.

“Even though times are hard we must all realise that they would  be even harder and much darker would be the immediate horizon had we allowed the venal, kleptocracy of the PDP to continue to lord over the land solely for their selfish benefit and not for the common good.

“I am confident that President Buhari and this government can resolve the issues that press us. From establishing full security and safety to staking a claim to true economic prosperity and fairness, this government shall salvage our national pride and purpose,” Tinubu concluded.

Ameachi, go to your office and o your work. Lets see modern railway working.

His boss is a fulani man, thats why he is defending them.
Its really sad. this Fulanis have terrorized everywhere and leaders everywhere are scared to talk.