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Presidential Deaths And The Dangerous Power Play That Could Break Up Nigeria (READ)

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For the second time in seven years, the political stability of Africa’s most populous nation hinges on the health of one man. General Muhammadu Buhari, the president of Nigeria, is once again in Britain for medical treatment because of an undisclosed illness. He was there for almost two months earlier this year, and in June 2016 he spent nearly two weeks abroad being treated for an ear infection. In the past month, he missed three straight cabinet meetings due to sickness, and perhaps more tellingly for a devout Muslim, he missed Friday mosque prayers in Abuja, where he usually attends without fail.

Buhari’s unwillingness to disclose the nature or extent of his illness fuels rumors that he is terminally ill or, periodically, that he has already died. Last month, Garba Shehu, a spokesman for the president, was forced to issue a series of tweets denying that anything unpleasant happened to the president. He added that reports of Buhari’s ill health are “plain lies spread by vested interests to create panic.” Buhari’s wife recently tweeted that his health is “not as bad as it’s being perceived.”

Regardless of the severity of his illness, Buhari’s extended absence risks igniting an ugly power struggle that would threaten not just the political fortunes of his ruling party but also a long observed gentleman’s agreement that has been critical to maintaining the stability of the country.

The unwritten power-sharing agreement obliges the country’s major parties to alternate the presidency between northern and southern officeholders every eight years. It was consolidated during Nigeria’s first two democratic transfers of power — in 1999 and 2007 — and it alleviated the southern secessionist pressures that had festered under decades of military rule by dictators from the north. For a time, this mechanism for alternating power helped keep the peace in a country with hundreds of different ethnic groups and more than 500 different languages. But it was never intended to be permanent, and as Buhari’s illness demonstrates, it has increasingly become a source of tension rather than consensus.

If Buhari, a northerner, doesn’t finish his term of office, and power passes to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, a Christian from the south, it will be the second time in seven years that the north’s “turn” in the presidency has been cut short. In late 2009, then-President Umaru Yar’Adua, who like Buhari was a Muslim from the north, traveled abroad for treatment for an undisclosed illness. When Yar’Adua died in office the following year, his southern Christian vice president, Goodluck Jonathan, succeeded him, setting the stage for an acrimonious split within the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) over whether Jonathan should merely finish out Yar’Adua’s term or run to retain the office in the 2011 election.

In the end, Jonathan ran and won in 2011. But not before 800 people were killed in riots in the north after the PDP allowed Jonathan to contest the election. The anti-Jonathan faction later resigned in protest and defected to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) party. Buhari led the APC to victory over the PDP in 2015.

An eerily similar scenario is now playing out in Buhari’s APC party. If Buhari dies, resigns, or is declared medically incapacitated by the cabinet, it would likely ignite a similar struggle within the APC over whether Vice President Osinbajo should permanently succeed him as president. A group of prominent northerners has already stated that Osinbajo should serve merely as an interim president and that he cannot replace Buhari on the ticket in the 2019 presidential election.

Should Osinbajo succeed Buhari, win the 2019 election, and serve a full term, a Christian southerner will have been president for 18 of the 24 years since Nigeria transitioned to democracy in 1999.

There is a chance that APC leaders will convince — or force — Osinbajo to stand down in favor of another Muslim candidate from the north. But sidelining Osinbajo would pose other sectarian risks. He was chosen as Buhari’s running mate in part to counter southern accusations that the APC is a Muslim party. And although he is seen as a technocrat, Osinbajo is a powerful political force in his own right — too powerful, perhaps, to be sidelined in 2019 without alienating millions of voters. He is a pastor in the country’s largest evangelical church, which has some 6 million members, and his wife is the granddaughter of Obafemi Awolowo, one of Nigeria’s early independence politicians who is beloved in southwest Nigeria.

Yet if the north’s “turn” in power is interrupted again, it will further alienate the region — already home to the bloody Boko Haram insurgency, which has thrived in part because of government neglect — and make north-south cooperation on security, development, and a host of other critical issues more difficult. It could easily lead to another round of deadly riots, as it did in 2011. But there is a way out.

Nigeria should abandon the convention of north-south presidential power rotation now that it has outlived its purpose. At the same time, it should deepen power sharing in state and local governments, which have steadily gained influence relative to the national government since 1999. Many of the country’s 36 states and 774 local governments already practice some form of power rotation among politicians from different ethnic, religious, and geographic groups. The key will be to frame the abolition of power rotation at the presidential level as an opportunity to strengthen these norms at the state and local levels — not a chance to terminate them everywhere at once.

The reality is that most Nigerians experience government at the local level anyway. Regardless of whether Buhari or Osinbajo is in the presidential palace, state and local officials have the most purchase on the lives of ordinary citizens. Letting go of a dangerous convention at the national level while devolving more power to inclusive governance structures at the local level offers a way out of the current impasse.

Culled from Foreign Policy.

The post Presidential Deaths And The Dangerous Power Play That Could Break Up Nigeria (READ) appeared first on The Trent.


Nigeria Conspicuously Absent As Israeli PM Addresses ECOWAS Summit

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Nigeria was conspicuously absent from the 51st ECOWAS Summit of Heads of State and Government held in Liberia’s capital Monrovia.

The two day summit, which started on Saturday, June 3, 2017 was attended by Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. He will be the first non-African leader to ever address an ECOWAS Summit and also the first Israeli leader to visit West Africa since the 1960s.

Daily Trust could not get the details of Nigeria’s decision not to attend the summit which, sources alluded, may be connected to the presence of the Israeli PM.

When contacted, the spokesperson, ministry of foreign affair, Clement Aduku, confirmed that there was no Nigerian government representatives at the summit but could not give the reason for the country’s absence.

However, former President Olusegun Obasanjo was at the summit.

Morroco’s King Mohammed VI, who was expected to push for his country to join the West African bloc as a full member, cancelled his trip due to Netanyahu’s presence.

King Mohammed VI cancelled his trip “to avoid any confusion”, said a statement from the country’s foreign affairs ministry.

“King Mohammed VI wishes his first presence at an ECOWAS summit not to take place in a context of tension and controversy,” it said.

Morocco, like several African countries supported Palestine’s observer status at the United Nations in 2012.

Speaking at the summit yesterday, Netanyahu urged African leaders to partner with his country to build the continent’s capacity.

“I come here as an instruction of the simple truth, Israel is coming to Africa and Africa is coming back to Israel. I believe in Africa, I believe in its potential, present and future,” he said.

Netanyahu also invited the leaders of the ECOWAS member-states to the Africa-Israel summit in Togo in October where he is expected to meet with the leaders of 25 African countries to discuss multilateral cooperation.

Meanwhile, the Summit named the Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe as the new chairperson of the regional bloc, taking over from Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

Read more at Daily Trust.

The post Nigeria Conspicuously Absent As Israeli PM Addresses ECOWAS Summit appeared first on The Trent.

Open Letter To Acting President Osinbajo On BIO Youth Support Programme, BOI Yes-P

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WHAT THE ACTING PRESIDENT MUST KNOW ABOUT THE BANK OF INDUSTRY YOUTH ENTREPRENEURSHIP SUPPORT PROGRAMME (BOI YES-P)

It has become necessary to cry to His Excellency, Professor Yemi Osinbajo concerning the lingering deceit of the Bank of Industry against the enterprising youths of our great country. Even the blind can see the passion with which His Excellency is trying to steer the Nigerian economy from a monolithic, import-dependent, unemployment-drowned economy to a diversified, export-driven and creatively-productive one. The strides he has taken to launch different intervention and social support programs to encourage entrepreneurship, harness the youths’ potentials and grow the SME segment of the economy is plausible. However, it is sad that the Bank of Industry (BOI) is stopping at nothing to bring his lofty vision to naught.

RELATED:  Jonathan’s YouWin Programme Is The Best I’ve Seen – Economist, Chris Blattman

Recall that in March 2016, the Bank of Industry launched a program to support and empower annually, at least 5,000 young entrepreneurs with soft loans, through a program tagged Youth Entrepreneurship Support Programme (YES-P). The idea seemed noble since it has been identified in several studies that lack of funding constitutes over 80% of problems faced by young entrepreneurs in Nigeria. Well, it may interest His Excellency to know that the BOI program was all deceit, decoy and a stunt to garner cheap publicity through the media. We have seen on various media, the management of BOI claiming that the YES-P program has been a complete success, while in reality, only a minute subset of the total final application has been attended to. The rest are cunningly dishonored, ignored or tactically delayed to discourage the participants. Whenever participants of the BOI programme try to voice out their grievances and expose the BOI; the bank quickly use tax payers’ money to run media adverts to cast dirt on the image or eligibility of participants. Their tactics is to claim that participants submitted fake academic certificates, inflated the cost in their invoices or that ideas or businesses they presented do not meet their minimum Risk Acceptance Criteria (RAC) therefore are not fundable. Permit a little digression on these claims.

IN THE BEGINNING

Among the over 80,000 young entrepreneurs who applied to be supported with soft loans via the programme, about 5,000 were selected by BOI as having viable/fundable ideas or businesses. These 5,000 selected entrepreneurs were subjected to over 3 months online and in-class intensive trainings and later certified as eligible. It is appalling however, that after the training, only 1,350 entrepreneurs (just 27% of the trained/qualified participants and 1.8% of the total participants) were able to submit the final application, the rest could not meet the cut-throat, extra-strict criteria set by the BOI to deliberately discourage participants from sending in final request for the loan. Besides changing the rules several times half way to discourage participants, they have since disqualified a lot more people out of the measly 1.8% selected/trained participants with the excuse that their idea is no longer fundable.

The question is why disqualify ideas which have been initially picked as laudable after adding months of training to further enrich them? Why would ideas like fish production, food processing, bread baking, renewable/alternative energy production or online selling be called non-viable and termed to be businesses not reaching the BOI minimum Risk Acceptance Criteria (RAC)? Why would they disqualify a university graduate – whom same BOI claim to have spent 600 million naira of tax payer’s money to train – on the basis of lack of experience? Also, why disqualifying Diploma holders with unique business ideas from accessing the loan even when at the beginning BOI deemed them qualified and invited them to participate in the three months rigorous training for the YES-P? How much experience did Mark Zuckerburg or Bill Gates have before building the revolutionary billion dollar unicorns we all know today? Even those of us who have started our businesses over 3 years ago are still disqualified for not having experience on same business; it is clear that these are diversionary tactics.

BOI TREATING PARTICIPANTS WITH DISREGARD AND DISTRUST

The Bank of Industry have been treating participants of YES-P as thieves and opportunists for the past one year, They have been insulted by BOI officials, ignored for several months with no information on the way forward. Participants get threatened with disqualification for daring to ask questions, disqualified after several months and no real explanation is given. They claim Nigerian youths are not to be trusted.

The question is how much trust did arms-carrying militant groups build before being doused with billions of naira in amnesty payouts? Do youths have to be taken for granted because they are civil? Do youths have to become militarized and violent or join armed struggles before they can be given a chance in this country? Must we sacrifice the future of this country at the altar of the ego of a few opportune officials?

ENDLESS EXCUSES AND SHIFTING OF DEADLINES TO FRUSTRATE PARTICIPANTS

For over one year, the Bank of Industry has subjected YES-P participants to one new criterion after another; they give excuses weekly and change their own deadlines several times. Some participants have even been issued fake Offer Letters in some states so they can buy time and forestall angry protests from irate participants of YES-P. It has become obvious that they only intend to fund a very small percentage of the participants and use that to deceive the public that the program is a success. The BOI has been severally quoted in the media to have improved the economy by supporting thousands of youths through the YES-P initiative; meanwhile only less than 100 participants have received funding. The rest are being disqualified with flimsy reasons every passing day.

SOME EXAMPLES OF CRITERIA SET BY THE BANK OF INDUSTRY FOR A SUPPOSED INTERVENTION PROGRAM

  • Each participant was mandated to submit 2 guarantors worth double the requested loan amount (someone seeking 5 million naira must get 2 guarantors worth 10 million naira), the guarantors must present their bank account statements, declaration of financial net worth, certificate of occupancy for landed properties with building in it. Any landed property without building is unacceptable, they are to submit their letter of employment, letter of last promotion, pay slips etc.
  • Participants are to pay a processing fee of 1% of approved loan amount and legal fees in cash before disbursement is approved.

SUMMARY OF OUR COMPLAINTS

  • The bank of industry rules are too strict, they are meant to deliberately discourage participants from applying for the loan.
  • Applications are rejected without explanations whereas BOI could have called in such participants whose business plan do not meet BOI standard and guide them to ensure they get an opportunity to pursue their dreams.
  • BOI is more interested in claiming success in the media than achieving real success in the programme
  • There is unnecessary delay in disbursement of the loan
  • Some branch of BOI are issuing fake, invalid offer letters to participants to deceive the public
  • The BOI are thinking too narrow in the box and not giving young entrepreneurs room for innovation in an age of tech explosion.

IN THE LIGHT OF THE ABOVE, WE HEREBY PLEAD WITH YOUR EXCELLENCY THE ACTING PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA TO:

  • Set up a monitoring committee for the programme headed by the Federal Ministry of Finance or Trade and Industry.
  • Invite the EFCC to investigate the spending habits of the BOI and ensure that there is fairness and due process in the use of funds.
  • Invite representatives of BOI YES-P participants to defend themselves in the face of the many lies peddled against them by the BOI.
  • Prevail on the BOI to disburse funds to participants whose certificate has been verified and reduce the time it takes to verify certificates to at most, 14 days.
  • Prevail on BOI to soften the criteria and become more flexible with guarantor issues in line with the new Collateral Registry Act.
  • Prevail on the BOI to immediately drop the 2 million naira funding barrier placed on startups, they should give equal chance to all participants to access the 5 million naira loan because all businesses are unique and require varying amounts of fund to run; besides most businesses need more funds than can be expressly estimated.
  • Prevail on the BOI to re-visit the business plans of the participants who have been rejected and provide guide to them so that their knowledge can be updated where it is lacking. Every trained participant with genuine academic certificate should be given the loan.
  • Prevail on the BOI to correct the calculation of amortization to reflect decreasing rate of interest on the loan
  • Those who were unable to put in final application for the loan should be given another 3 months to meet up the criteria and submit their application.
  • Prevail on BOI to immediately soften other loan criteria to incorporate the tenets of a true intervention program and give room for participants to get the loan.

In the meantime, we have appealed to the teeming population of the YES-P participants to wait for the intervention of His Excellency, before they proceed on the next course of action. We thrust that Mr. President (Ag) will do the needful as a father with listening ears.

Thanks.

Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!

Singed:

Bank of Industry’s Youth Enterprise Support Program Participants (BOI YES-P)

Contact: yespforprogress@gmail.com

The post Open Letter To Acting President Osinbajo On BIO Youth Support Programme, BOI Yes-P appeared first on The Trent.

Minister Lai Mohammed: Buhari’s Unmanageable Mistake (READ)

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When President Muhammadu Buhari announced the people he has selected to occupy some of the most strategic positions in his regime, there was understandable uproar across the country. Nigerians looked at the profile of these fellows and wondered what could have motivated their choice, what exactly in their credentials qualified them for such sensitive positions.

Ordinarily, Buhari would have simply ignored such an outcry, but he surprised Nigerians by volunteering an explanation. These, he said, were the people who had stood by him through the stressful years of his various unsuccessful attempts to become president. As he moved from one party to another in his quest to actualise his ambition, they stuck with him, undiscouraged by his growing history of failed presidential runs. So, this was the time to “reward” them for their steadfast loyalty. (These are the people now loosely referred to as Buhari’s “Kitchen Cabinet,” or more recently, “the Cabal” in Aso Rock, whose activities Nigerians have learnt to monitor with considerable apprehension.)

Buhari’s preference for cronyism which mostly celebrates mediocrity at the expense of merit and expertise (an odious, counterproductive practice that has sufficiently advertised its predictable dividend in his regime’s very dismal performance in the last two years) is, however, not original. In the unmissed Olusegun Obasanjo regime, appointment into public office was celebrated as an invitation to “come and eat.” And not a few in that wayward regime, and the ones that followed it, did really overeat and became horribly obese, as evidenced by their mysterious humongous accumulations!

In decently-run countries, people see appointment into public offices as sacrifice to their nation. Some, driven solely by love for country, quit high-paying jobs to take these positions whose statutorily fixed salaries compel them to undertake drastic readjustments in their lifestyles by shedding some luxuries that were easily guaranteed by their former salaries. Their country men and women celebrate them as patriots and heroes, and they leave public office with their heads held high, and their names boldly engraved in their country’s Hall of Fame.

But in Nigeria, the story is different. That is why it should be understood that while for many months Nigerians waited for Buhari to announce his list of ministers, thinking he was busy carefully searching for the best hands to do the very significant and urgent reclamation job crying for attention at such a very critical period in our nation’s history, the man was, no doubt, busy considering whom to “reward” with what position. When the list was eventually released, it greatly disappointed and shocked many Nigerians leaving them wondering why it took the president all those months to come up with such hope-depleting appointments. The most demoralising confirmation that little or no imaginative thinking went into the making of that list, however, was Buhari’s decision to “reward” Mr. Lai Mohammed, the industrious chief propagandist of his party, with the office of the Minister of Information. Although, I had learnt very early to grossly moderate my expectations of the Buhari regime, I never in my wildest imagination expected that the president would fall so cheaply into such a brightly advertised trap.

Now, as the chief propagandist of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Mr. Mohammed worked very hard to ensure the successful execution of the APC stratagem for hoodwinking Nigerians into thinking the party had any clearly thought0ut programme for the country’s reclamation. So, I am not begrudging him his presidential “reward” for “hard work” in line with Buhari’s political philosophy. But why the information ministry? It is like asking the chief propagandist of a guerilla army to head the country’s information ministry after it had ousted the government in power and formed its own regime. The switch is not impossible, but always very difficult to achieve. And that has remained Mr. Mohammed’s problem from his first day in office. Both offices require different approaches, languages, mindsets and even postures and gestures. The minister of information has found it very difficult to achieve a crossover.

Hence, for several months after the APC gained power, Mr. Mohammed was still trapped in campaign mood – clearly ill-prepared, and pathetically battling to adjust to his new job. And so, while Nigerians demanded evidence that the regime he speaks for had the slightest preparation for the job that had fallen on its lap, Mohammed continued to launch vitriolic attacks on the now opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), an expired strategy that had served his party very profitably during the campaigns, but which was now exposing the party’s abject lack of action-plan and focus. When it eventually dawned on him (after many months) that the PDP was no longer in power and that this option has become such an unbearable irritant, he quickly changed tactics and began to make fantastic and offensively unverifiable claims about the supposed exploits of the Buhari regime. That was when we began to hear that despite the unimaginable hardship that suddenly overwhelmed Nigeria shortly after the APC assumed power which soon began to drive Nigerians to suicide and into other deadly extremities forcing those who had campaigned vigorously for the APC to come out to render unqualified apologies for misleading Nigerians, the Buhari regime had “changed Nigeria for good”! Or that Boko Haram which was still unleashing horror and bloodshed across the North East had been “technically defeated.”

The work of an opposition propagandist does not require much imagination. In Nigeria , the PDP even made Lai Mohammed’s job very easy for him by its embarrassing failure of leadership and character. So all he did was to paint the PDP in hideous colours while his party and its presidential candidate promised Nigerians juicy pies in the sky. Although, I remained skeptical after noticing that the APC was carefully avoiding every opportunity to explain how it intended to realise all those tantalising promises it was lavishly throwing at Nigerians, not a few voters, however, easily fell for their deception having already been irrecoverably seduced by the carefully erected and overwhelmingly marketed myth about Buhari’s exceptional abilities and character which had gained considerable weight overtime.

But Lai Mohammed became the greatest casualty of his own strategy. It was not hard to see that even many of those who still voted for the APC had stopped taking his words to the bank long before the elections. He had become an irrecoverably damaged brand, horribly marred by the astounding untruths and half-truths his office churned out with unbelievable “bold face” and amazing regularity.

How a thinking government, one that expects to be believed and taken seriously by rational human beings, could not have seen very clearly that Mr. Mohammed had become such an image problem himself and, therefore, should not have been allowed to touch an image-making job with a fifty foot pole would continue to baffle any Nigerian with less-than average capacity to reason. Indeed, it sure speaks volumes and deepens our apprehension about the capacity of the regime managing our affairs to exercise sound judgment even on the simplest of matters.

Is there no other position with which he could have been “rewarded”? Is the APC in such pitiable lack of appropriate personnel to man its information ministry? Apart from obvious names like Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa and Dr. Kayode Fayemi whom, most people would easily agree, should have made tremendous difference as the New Face of APC image-making, are there no other people the APC can find within its fold whose understanding of image-making goes beyond churning out egregious and revolting lies and brazenly throwing them at Nigerians? In fact, Lai Mohammed has become such a damaged brand that even when he speaks the truth today, not a few Nigerians have difficulty believing him. For a regime that has wantonly squandered the enormous goodwill that welcomed it to power and which is presently nursing an odious image of failure and disappointment at a period of the worst form of recession in our country’s history, this kind of minister of information is the worst gift it can give to and retain for itself.

Although, much of Lai’s lies were easily overlooked during the campaigns by those Nigerians who had already made up their minds about the PDP, it was a disaster for the APC to unduly stretch its luck by thinking that Nigerians will, in the face of worsening economic conditions, still suspend their disbelief, and allow their eyes to be turned away from APC’s crying incompetence and abysmal failure with the same cheap, largely unintelligent lies they had endured during the campaigns.
As I write now on the evening of May 29, 2017 (the so-called Democracy Day), Mr. Lai Mohammed is being reported as having said earlier today, against all evidence to the contrary, that “…despite the dwindling revenue,” the Buhari regime has been “able to deliver on [its] campaign promises”. Waxing more confident, he dropped the real shocker: “I am happy that we are here today to prove that this government is not a government of propaganda; this is a real government that is dealing with the real people.”
The next day, May 30, as I tidied this essay, Lai Mohammed was on Channels TV painting such a rosy and delicious picture of the Buhari regime’s marvelous “achievements,” that one was left wondering whether those beautiful and sweet stories he was telling were actually happening in the same country one lived in. So disgusted, a senior journalist announced on his facebook page that thirty minutes into that ugly and repelling performance, he had to change to a Cartoon Network to save himself from hypertension. One wonders if Mr. Mohammed even believes himself each time he opens his mouth to drop those his imaginary “truths” and “facts.” One wonders how many hearts he damages after each of his disastrous performances.
In February, Mr. Mohammed declared that he has never told Nigerians a single lie and challenged those calling him a liar to provide even a single evidence to back their submission. According to him, even from his days as opposition spokesperson, he has remained “always very factual [and] very objective…” Then he dropped the bombshell: “…I challenge anybody to come out and say ‘this is one lie you told when you were spokesperson for the opposition. I challenge these people and I say, fault me on facts, and not on emotions.” Can you beat that?
Now in this same interview (published in Daily Sun, February 18, 2017), Lai Mohammed also declared. “Number one, Mr. President is not ill; he is not in the hospital. So, there would be no need for me to give a bulletin.”
And after the Wednesday Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, Minister Lai told reporters: “I can say without any hesitation that Mr. President is well, is hale and hearty. No question about that…Do you think we will be conducting our business like this if Mr. president is ill? …I was in Kwara yesterday, all our ministers are busy doing their work. Mr. President is well and is absolutely not in danger.”

That was Lai speaking his “truth” when Buhari was away in London where doctors were battling to save his life. But when the president returned to the country, he came very close to dismissing Lai as a pathetic liar. He said: “I couldn’t recall being so sick since I was a young man, including the military with its ups and downs…‎Blood transfusion, going to the laboratories, and so on and so forth…I couldn’t recall when last I had blood transfusion, I couldn’t recall honestly, I can say in my 70 years..”
The problem with Mr. Mohammed is not that his first name, ‘Lai’, rhymes perfectly with ‘Lie’ and he seems to derive peculiar animation from always going all out to emphasize how that might be influencing his astounding pronouncements. His real problem is the extreme insensitivity that fires his stubborn resolve to continue force-feeding raw, nauseating lies to a suffering people and expecting them to be happy and grateful to him.
The ‘Change Begins With Me’ campaign, a clearly fraudulent scheme seeking to transfer to the populace the guilt and responsibility for the failed ‘Change Agenda’ on whose back the APC rode to power is reportedly the brainchild of Mr. Lai Mohammed, even though there was also a controversy as to whose concept it was originally. Although, Mr. Mohammed denied Daily Independent’s report that the campaign gulped N3.4 billion, I am not aware that he has told Nigerians how much that wasteful, exasperating, hollow propaganda which is still running on prime time TV has cost the tax payer. I doubt if there is any sincere Nigerian who is not rankled by that campaign each time it pops up on the TV screen.
It is quite clear that offering any advice to the APC government, a regime that often carries on as if it did Nigerians a huge favour by seeking and being in power, is like singing even the most enchanting ballad to the deaf. But then, what can one do with an insufferable problem like this that hurts the populace so badly? Now, I am not by any means suggesting that Lai Mohammed should be rendered jobless. No, not at all. But it should be clear by now, even to a deaf, dumb and blind leadership, that his redeployment is long overdue. A people being grievously punished by the current impossible conditions in the country do not need any callous smooth talker coming out to regularly insult them and compound their grief by attempting to discredit their very dire experiences by seeking to persuade them that their real and excruciating situation exists only in their imagination.
Lai Mohammed was a mistake from the beginning, the kind that cannot be managed. Like that very bad tooth whose intolerable pain can only be ended by extraction. When one even looks very closely at Mr. Mohammed each time he is on stage performing, it looks as if the crushing burden of the “lie-lie” image is beginning to weigh down heavily on him. He would obviously welcome any news of his redeployment with great happiness. The Federal Government (whichever one) should please kindly oblige him by finding him another job. Such a kind gesture will, no doubt, bring immense relief to him and many Nigerians.

Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye is a Nigerian journalist and writer. He tweets from @ugowrite and can be reached by email HERE.

The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.

The post Minister Lai Mohammed: Buhari’s Unmanageable Mistake (READ) appeared first on The Trent.

Buhari Regime’s Hatred For Israel ‘Marks Beginning Of End For Nigeria’– Fani-Kayode

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Femi Fani-Kayode, a prominent thought leader in Nigeria, has slammed Acting President Yemi Osinbajo for absenting himself from the 51st ECOWAS Heads of Government meeting in which the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in attendance.

The vocal opposition leader, said that this act by Professor Osinbajo, apparently dictated by extremist elements in the Buhari presidency, “marks the beginning of the end” of the Buhari regime and for the country.

ECOWAS
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (2-L) looks on as Liberia’s President and ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) Chairperson Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (R) speaks during the ECOWAS summit on June 4, 2017 in Monrovia. | AFP/Zoom Dosso/Getty Images

In a statement delivered to The Trent by email on Tuesday, June 6, 2017, Fani-Kayode said that Osinbajo expressed cowardice by absenting himself from the important event.

“Mark this: the boycotting of the ECOWAS Heads of Government meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu by the Buhari/Osinbajo government marks the beginning of the end for them,” Chief Fani-Kayode wrote.

“It may also mark the beginning of the end for Nigeria. It has resulted in a deep and debilitating spiritual wound.

“We are not a Muslim country but rather a modern, plural, 21st century, multi-religious, multi-cultural and multiracial secular state in which over 90 million Christians love and adore the great nation of Israel.

“For Acting President Osinbajo particularly, who lays claim to being a pastor and a believer, to snub and insult the Jewish state in this way is not only disappointing but also shameless, reprehensible and deeply repugnant.

“Is his fear of the cabal greater than his fear of God?

“He knows the spiritual implications of what he has done even if he will not admit to them publicly.

“The bible says ‘what profiteth a man to gain the world and lose his soul?’,

“Let us wait and see those implications manifest and the consequences of his action unfold,” he concluded.

Nigeria was conspicuously absent from the ECOWAS Summit held in Liberia’s capital Monrovia.

The two day summit, which started on Saturday, June 3, 2017 was attended Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. He will be the first non-African leader to ever address an ECOWAS Summit and also the first Israeli leader to visit West Africa since the 1960s.

Daily Trust reports that that Buhari government officials was evasive when questioned on why the country was absent from the meeting.

The post Buhari Regime’s Hatred For Israel ‘Marks Beginning Of End For Nigeria’ – Fani-Kayode appeared first on The Trent.

Pastor, Congregation Beat Up Gay Man For Hours To Expel ‘Homosexuality Demons’

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A gay man has accused a pastor and her congregation of surrounding and beating him up in the name of freeing him from homosexuality.

Matthew Fenner alleged that in January 2013, while returning from Word of Faith Fellowship Church in Spindale, North Carolina, after a normal Sunday prayer service, a group of his church members surrounded him up and gave him a thorough beating.

In his lawsuit, Fenner says those who attacked him numbered more than 20 and their church pastor was one of them. The people punched, hit and knocked him right to the ground for approximately two hours.

At some point during the beating, Fenner says one of his attackers held him by the throat and shook him.

According to Fenner, the attack was a deliberate move by the church members “to break me free of the homosexual demons they so viciously despise.”

Brooke Covington, 58, the church leader who allegedly organized the beating, is undergoing trial. Covington has been accused alongside five others and was charged with kidnapping and assault. If found guilty, she faces a prison term of two years.

In his testimony, Fenner said he felt he was about to die as one of the church members choked him while the church leader screamed, saying, “God said there is something wrong in your life!”

Fenner, who was at the time of the attack recuperating from biopsy, said, “I’m frail and in my mind, I’m thinking, ‘Is my neck going to break, am I going to die?’”

A February report by the AP indicated that Word of Faith Church members are notorious for such acts. Since Fenner opened up about his experience, more victims have come forward, saying they’ve also been assaulted “in a violent form of deliverance meant to ‘purify’ sinners by beating out devils.”

The church reportedly has some blatantly weird rules for their members. For example, it’s the Word of Faith church leadership that decides which church members can marry or have children. Besides, members of the church aren’t allowed to watch TV, go for movies, or read newspapers. Should you think of going to a restaurant, the church demands that you only go to those that don’t play music and where alcohol isn’t served.

In her defense, Covington, through her lawyer, said she’s completely innocent because Fenner never raised his voice to ask her to stop the beating.

Nevertheless, Fenner says he couldn’t ask his attackers to stop because of fear that it could only make them beat him further. He’s also telling the court that it was difficult for him to speak up since he was being choked.

“I couldn’t breathe,” Fenner said. “I’m sitting here thinking if I don’t get out of this, I’m probably going to die.”

On their part, Word of Faith has maintained her innocence, saying, “We are adamant that no one ever physically harmed Mr. Fenner. The church does NOT target members who are gay.”

Read more at Queerty

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Former Aviation Minister Reveals Those Behind ‘Bombing’ Of TB Joshua’s Church Building

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Femi Fani-Kayode, a former aviation minister, has made startling revelations about the controversial building incident that took place at the church founded by Prophet TB Joshua in Lagos, Nigeria, in September 2014, which left 115 dead, mostly South Africans.

In an audacious article titled, ‘Murder In The Church’, the outspoken politician described the incident, saying, “One of the single greatest atrocities perpetuated by rogue elements in our intelligence agencies in modern history was the blowing up of a guest house in Prophet T.B. Joshua’s church”.

Fani-Kayode added that those behind this ‘attack’ “were the same people that covertly and cleverly spun the tale that the building collapsed as a result of a weak foundation and fed that pernicious lie to a gullible and easily manipulated Nigerian media”.

Prophet TB Joshua | Emmanuel TV
Prophet TB Joshua | Emmanuel TV

He further explained that Joshua’s spiritual activities and prophecies had unnerved those in high places within the government of former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan.

“The motive for the attack was to silence and discredit Joshua who, by that time, had become a thorn in the flesh of many within the corridors of power, simply because he was exposing the deepest secrets about what was going on in the country and those who were covertly working against former President Goodluck Jonathan.”

The lawyer then revealed how, through intense research, he had unearthed a prophecy the cleric purportedly gave to Jonathan concerning the then upcoming Nigerian elections.

“He went as far as to prophesy and predict everything that would happen in the 2015 election which was scheduled to hold two years later, with great accuracy, if President Goodluck Jonathan did not remove certain people (whose names were mentioned) within his government and inner circle. The counsel was put on record and when I was doing my research for this write up I actually read the transcripts of this interesting discourse and I was utterly amazed at the accuracy of his predictions.”

Fani-Kayode alleged the use of sophisticated weaponry to bring down the ill-fated building, insisting that“certain members of our intelligence agencies used a large remote-controlled drone to fly over the building and then activated an explosive device which had been planted in the building days earlier”.

The fiery politician even compared the incident to the history-defining terror attacks that struck America on September 11th 2001.

“This was Nigeria’s own 911 but unlike the real 911, the victims were never properly celebrated or mourned and the perpetrators were never identified or brought to justice.”

Fani-Kayode opined that the Lagos State Government made Joshua a scapegoat in order to distract attention from the real cause of the ‘attack’.

“Instead of digging deep and patiently trying to establish the relevant facts and setting in motion a forensic-based and professional investigation, the security agencies looked for a scapegoat, turned on the man of God, made him the subject of a criminal investigation and claimed that the building collapsed because it had weak foundations and because it had not been properly built.”

He then described the ongoing court case involving the engineers who constructed the building and trustees of The Synagogue, Church Of All Nations (SCOAN) as a means to “discredit, disgrace, shame and utterly destroy” Joshua.

cake Yoruba slaves Junaid Mohammed, Osinbajo British Arewa Ile-Ife Femi Fani-Kayode Nigeria Southern Kaduna Christians Buhari
Femi Fani-Kayode

“With this, they had managed to divert attention away from the real cause of the collapse of the building, they had found an easy and convenient scapegoat and consequently the real perpetrators managed to escape any form of suspicion or scrutiny.”

The former Minister revealed that after announcing his investigation into the incident, he received the largest “number of threats from known and unknown sources” in his entire career, vowing that he would not be deterred in exposing the truth.

Promising to reveal more in a subsequent write-up including naming the individuals involved, the revelations have sparked even further debate as to what actually transpired that fateful day of September 12th 2014.

Ihechukwu Njoku is a freelance Nigerian journalist who writes about the Synagogue Church of All Nations.

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3 Breweries Propose Merger To Create One Of Nigeria’s Largest Beer Makers

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The Boards of Directors of International Breweries Plc, Intafact Beverages Limited and Pabod Breweries Limited have agreed to explore the merger of the three businesses, subject to required regulatory and shareholders’ approvals.

Should the proposed merger be approved, the enlarged company is expected to be one of the leading listed companies in Nigeria, and one of the largest beer makers in Africa’s biggest economy, The Cable reports.

The proposed merger is expected to be beneficial to all key stakeholders, particularly shareholders. It is expected to create value by generating both revenue and cost synergies, enhanced operational efficiencies, better resource management and more streamlined operations.

In addition, the enlarged company will create a platform for further investment that will have a positive impact on the communities where the operations of the companies are present as well for as the wider economy.

Currently, AB InBev indirectly owns 75% of Intafact, 82.8% of Pabod Beverages and 72.2% of International Breweries. International Breweries is currently listed on The Nigerian Stock Exchange.

AB InBev Zone President for Africa, Ricardo Tadeu, said that the proposed merger would create a single efficient company through which AB InBev will continue its investment into Nigeria. Following the proposed merger, the brands of Intafact, International Breweries and Pabod may be marketed and distributed throughout the country across all market segments, creating considerably enhanced value for shareholders.

“In addition, the enlarged company would have a significantly increased geographical footprint and a consolidated database system, enabling enhanced efficiency.

This, when taken together with the positive impact on communities and the economy due to increased investment by the enlarged company and the long-term growth prospects of Nigeria, means we are very optimistic about our future in the country,” he said.

Should the necessary regulatory approvals be received, including those of The Nigerian Stock Exchange and the Securities and Exchange Commission, the parties will take further steps to consummate the proposed merger including obtaining the approval of their respective shareholders at separate Court-Ordered Meetings.

All three companies will continue to operate as usual until the required approvals are received. Further developments will be communicated in due course.

Read more at TheCable.

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Nigerian Army Investigating Reports Of Soldiers’ Rape, Abuse In Relief Camps

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Nigeria’s army is investigating alleged misconduct by soldiers providing security at a camp for internally displaced people who fled Boko Haram insurgency, a military spokesman said on Tuesday, June 6, 2017.

Boko Haram Islamist militants have displaced more than two million people in northeastern Nigeria since 2009 and over 20,000 people have been killed in that time. Tens of thousands live in camps for displaced people guarded by government troops.

Army spokesman Sani Usman said the military had “noted with great concern growing allegations of misconduct” by soldiers on security duty at a camp in Bama, a town in Borno state.

He said the allegations, which he did not describe in detail, were so far unsubstantiated but the chief of army staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Yusufu Buratai, had ordered an investigation.

Boko Haram Army
FILE: Yola in the camp, as in that of Dalori, many women survivors of Boko Haram are newborns or are pregnant. | Reuters/Afolabi Sotunde

Usman said Nigeria had no tolerance for abuses by army officers and soldiers, and anyone found culpable would be

“severely dealt with”.

It is not the first time allegations of abuse by soldiers guarding refugee camps from Boko Haram have surfaced.

Last year Human Rights Watch said it had uncovered 43 cases of sexual abuse, including rape and exploitation, by security officers at camps in the northeast.

Boko Haram held a swathe of territory in the northeast around the size of Belgium as of early 2015 but has since been pushed out of most of it by Nigerian troops backed by soldiers from neighbouring countries.

The jihadists continue to carry out suicide bomb attacks and armed raids in northeastern Nigeria as well as in neighbouring Cameroon and Niger.

via Reuters

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Dressed In Black, Aisha Buhari Says Buhari Is Happy With Osinbajo’s Loyalty

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Aisha Buhari, the wife of ailing President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed gratitude to Nigerians for their support for her husband’s government.

Mrs. Buhari expressed the feeling shortly after arriving at  Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, in the early hours of Tuesday, June 6, 2017.

Aisha Buhari returns from London after visiting ailing husband on June 6, 2017 | NAN Photo
Aisha Buhari returns from London after visiting ailing husband on June 6, 2017 | NAN Photo

The first lady  travelled to the UK on Tuesday, May 30, to meet her ailing husband amid death rumours.

Buhari has not been seen in public since May 7, 2017 when he met with 82 recently freed Chibok schoolgirls. That evening, the presidency announced he was leaving Nigeria for London on an indefinite medical trip.

Last week, a Scottish politician and former member of the UK parliament, Eric Joyce, rattled the Nigerian establishment when he announced the death of President Buhari and later called on Aso Rock to end the games.

She conveyed the appreciation of the president to Nigerians for their constant prayers and support and said he would soon be with them as he was recuperating  fast.

The president’s wife thanked Nigerians for their steadfastness in the face of challenges facing the country.

She also called for prayers and cooperation of Nigerians for Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, toward achieving the mandate of the Buhari administration as  contained in the APC manifesto.

According to The Cable, Mrs. Buhari also said that Buhari was impressed with Osinbajo’s loyalty.

Aisha also urged Nigerians not to relent in their prayers for the progress of the country.

Additional reports by News Agency of Nigeria.

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‘Return Home By October 1’: Northern Groups Issue Pre-genocide Warning To Igbos

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A group of prominent groups in Northern Nigeria on Tuesday, June 6, 2017 issued an ultimatum to Igbos living in the north to return home by October 1, 2017 or else they will face a situation similar to the pre-civil war pogroms visited on their kin in the 1960s.

The order was contained in an error-ridden statement, obtained by The Trent, issued after a meeting in Kaduna State. The groups, Arewa Citizens Action for Change, Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, Arewa Youth Development Foundation, Arewa Students Forum, and the Northern Emancipation Network, asked the Igbo residing in the region to “start making plans to leave.”

The chilling statement condemned the renewed call for the independent republic of Biafra and also expressed disdain for the Igbos and their culture saying that “the Igbo people of the South-East, not repentant of the carnage it wrought on the nation in 1966,  is today boldly reliving those sinister intentions connoted by the Biafran agitation that led to the very first bloody insurrection in Nigeria’s history”.

In 1966, the Igbos were the victims of the largest genocide in Nigeria’s history with over 100,000 of them killed in Northern Nigeria by northern mobs. This pogrom led to the declaration of the Republic of Biafra which led to the Nigerian civil war in which over 3 million Igbos died.

According to the Arewa Group, they can no longer tolerate the Igbos and their call for their independence from Nigeria and as such will begin to “take action” against Igbos after October 1.

The northern youths organisations, which had their leaders in attendance, expressed a shocking level of intolerance and ignorance of the history of Nigeria.

Abdulazeez Suleiman, one of the leaders, who read the statement on behalf of others said the region was “tired of the marriage”, hence the need for restructuring.

He also said the region was calling for steps to facilitate the final dissolution of this “hopeless union” that has never been convenient to any of the parties.

Below is the full statement by the group, republished unedited.

JOINT POSITION PAPER BY THE AREWA CITIZENS ACTION FOR CHANGE,  AREWA YOUTH CONSULTATIVE FORUM,  AREWA YOUTH DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION, AREWA STUDENTS FORUM AND NORTHERN EMANCIPATION NETWORK ON THE IGBO PERSISTENCE FOR SECESSION
MAY 30,  2017

PREAMBLE
The persistence for the actualization of Biafra by the Igbo of South-Eastern Nigeria has lately assumed an alarming twist. The new dimension which involved the call for the forceful lockdown of activities and denying of the right to free movement in South-East by the rebellious Indeginous (sic) People of Biafra group is so disturbingly embarrassing that in our view,  calls for a rethink. The latest action amounted to a brutal encroachment on the rights of those termed as non-indeginous (sic) people residing and doing lawful businesses in those areas illegally demarcated and defined as Biafra by the Igbo.  Concerned by this ever-escalating threat,  the above-named northern groups met at the end of which we came up with the following set of resolutions to be adopted as the position  of the Northern region.

OUR OBSERVATIONS
1. The Igbo people of the South-East, not repentant of the carnage it wrought on the nation in 1966,  is today boldly reliving those sinister intentions connoted by the Bifran (sic) agitation that led to the very first bloody insurrection in Nigeria’s history.

2.  Emboldened by the apparent indifference of the Nigerian authorities,  the Igbo secessinist (sic) tendency is widening in scope and action at every stage.

3.  As the threat widens and affects other law-abiding people of other regions residing in or passing through the East,  the Igbo leaders and elders by their utterances and direct action or inaction appear to support and encourage it.

3. While this intimidation and aggression persists and grows in dimension with each new move,  leaders of the North whose people are at the receiving end of the threats appear helplessly unperturbed.

4.  Rather than endorsing a concise framework for preemptive action to protect and safeguard the interest of the North and its people, leaders of the region at every stage tend to recline on a flimsy and long-discarded excuse of having faught (sic) in the 60s to keep Nigeria united.

6.  Rather than pursuing a resolute action,  the northern leaders have adopted and are dragging its people into pitifully percifist (sic) position in order to sustain an illusive national cohesion that has long been ridiculed by the Igbo and other sections of the country.

OUR STAND
1.  At this point we call the attention of the Nigerian authorities to the fact that the North,  a critical player in the federal arrangement is no longer disposed to tolerating further Igbo blackmail and intimidation.

2. In this respect,  it is our considered view that rather than the Igbo continuing to hold the whole country to ransom,  the should be allowed to go their own way.

3.  It is on record that the Igbo has done more damage to our collective nationhood than any other ethnic group in Nigeria:
a.  The Igbo was responsible for the very first violent interference with democracy in Nigeria resulting in a prolonged counter productive chain of military dictatorship.
b. The Igbo was responsible for the first and so far,  only civil war in Nigeria that coated millions of lives and sowed the seed of the current mutual suspicion and distrust.

c.  Indisputably the Igbo is responsible for Nigeria’s cultural and moral degeneracy with the notoriety for all  kind of crime including International networking for drug and human trafficking, violent robberies and kidnapping, high-profile prostitution and advanced financial fraud.

3.  It is also on record that since the inception of the current democratic dispensation, the Igbo has shown and maintained open contempt and dissension to the collective decision expressed by a majority of Nigerian sat various stages through generally acceptable democratic processes.

4.  Having come this far,  we wish to categorically state that the North is no longer keen in being the same country with this unruly pack of unrepentant hooligans.

5.  That the North supports and encourages the authorities and other national and international stakeholders to allow the rebellious Igbo to go their way.

6.  That in the event the Igbo is not allowed to pull out,  the North shall divorce this marriage that has never been convenient to any of the parties.

6. That as a prelude we call on all Igbos currently residing in any part of Northern Nigeria to relocate within two weeks and northerners in the East should do likewise.

7. That northern leaders are hereby warned against further insisting on this union with the Igbo or any other part of Nigeria that is disposed to self determination.

CONCLUSION.

In conclusion,  we wish to draw the attention of the authorities and all other interest groups that there is nothing difficult or impossible for all the units that make up Nigeria to pull out if they so wish.

We cite the example of the split of several independent nations from the old Soviet Union,  the separation of Pakistan from India, the recent divorce of South Sudan with the former Sudan and most recently, the exit of Britind (sic) from the European Union.

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Alleged Gift Of 2 SUV Cars & Cash Of $50,000: What Gov Obiano And Nnamdi Kanu Told Us

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The leadership of Int’l Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law (Intersociety) had early morning of today, being 5th June 2017 received and have telephone conversations with the lead-counsel to Citizen Nnamdi Kanu and his IPOB. Similar telephone call was received earlier today from the special assistant to Governor Willie Obiano on Political & War Veterans Affairs, Mr. Arinze Awogu. We also received a number of calls between yesterday and today from some citizens who identified themselves as concerned members of IPOB.

The centrality of the calls bordered on a recent online statement published by the 247UReports, owned by Mr. Ikenna Ezenekwe, alleging that Governor Williie Obiano made a gift of 2 SUV cars and cash of $50,000 to the IPOB leader, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu through his distant relative, named Mr. Primus Odili and Mr. Nnamdi Kanu accepted the car and cash gift.The link to the online story is here: https://247ureports.com/2017/05/27/nnamdi-kanu-receives-50000-and-two-suvs-from-obiano/. The jeeps and cash, according to Ezenekwe’s 247UReports of 27th May 2017, “were delivered to Citizen Kanu shortly after his conditional freedom from prison by one Primus Odili, said to be Gov Obiano’s distant relative”.

It was on account of worries and concerns expressed by members of the Southeast Based Coalition of Human Rights Organizations (SBCHROs) and other members of the public concerning the issue and urgent need for the leadership of IPOB and Citizen Nnamdi Kanu to publicly respond and clear their names that prompted our Coalition’s public statement of 2nd June 2017 in which other issues of critical public importance as regards human rights issues of the nonviolent pro Biafra campaigns as well as Igbo socio-political reawakening were critically assessed and discussed.

We have also in the said Coalition’s statement of ours firmly and clearly stated and pointed out too that there is nothing wrong in giving and receiving plain and charitable gifts from a public office holder or a wealthy philanthropist for the advancement of a nonviolent social struggle such as Biafra self determination campaigns, but a lot is morally wrong and socially abominable when such gifts are seen or perceived as politically motivated, ill conceived or evidentially and atrociously escapist.

Apart from disclosing the primary source where the said publication was made (247UReports), we also expressed worry as why the IPOB has not formally responded or reacted to the said publication considering its sensitivity since it was published. Our said statement was also never made judgmental or conclusive but cautionary and advisory which brought about the repetitive use of “if it is true…”

Governor Willie Obiano Muhammadu Buhari Aso Rock
Governor Willie Obiano speaking to the press on visit to President Elect, Muhammadu Buhari on April 25, 2015

What Obiano Government Told Us Today: The referenced phone conversation we had with Mr. Arinze Awogu (SSA to Gov Obiano on Political & Veterans Matters) was very friendly and cordial. He further stated the Governor’s position as follows:that Governor Obiano never made such alleged offer or sent across such gifts (2 SUV cars and cash of $50,000) to Citizen Nnamdi Kanu and his IPOB, that the said story as published by the 247UReports and its publisher-Ikenna Ezenekwe was false and sponsored by the opposition.

What Nnamdi Kanu’s Lawyer (Barr Ifeanyi Ejiofor) Told Us: In our referenced phone conversation with Nnamdi Kanu and his IPOB’s lawyer, he said as follows: That Nnamdi Kanu said he did not receive any gift or take 2 SUV cars and cash of $50,000 from Governor Willie Obiano through him or his aide or agent and that Nnamdi Kanu is deeply worried over the allegation.

What We Agreed With Obiano Government & Nnamdi Kanu’s Lawyer:  Intersociety had during the two phone conversations expressed its profound gratitude respectively to the duo for reaching out or being reached out. Intersociety further regretted the negative publicity and image so generated, which informed its resolve to bring same to the public attention of the duo for the purpose of debunking same. It also advised the duo to react or respond promptly or timely whenever such mischief making publication is planted by Igbo enemies to demonize those genuinely involved in Igbo cause.

Intersociety respectively promised to reflect publicly what transpired between it and the duo in the spirit of fairness and uprightness. This statement of ours, on behalf of Intersociety and our coalition (SBCHROs), is therefore in fulfillment of our promise. Nnamdi Kanu and his IPOB through Barr Ifeanyi Ejiofor and the Governor of Anambra State through Mr. Arinze Awogu were further advised to follow up this statement by publicly telling the whole world what they told us by issuing formal statements of clarification and exoneration or otherwise so as to lay the issue to rest.

Finally, while we have repeatedly stated that in the course of our human rights, democracy and good governance and public accountability advocacy, we hold nothing personal against any person or group of persons or a group or groups including Nnamdi Kanu and his IPOB and the present Government of Anambra State; but we hold a lot against them as per assessment and measurement of their public conducts and accountability. They must at all times be held to account for their conducts.

That is to say that neither Nnamdi Kanu and his IPOB nor the present Government of Anambra State is above our advocacy scrutiny including constructive criticism, condemnation or commendation where and when necessary. Even despite the infallibility of God, a question like God Why is periodically asked by mere mortals.

We are also not unaware of attempts by some overzealous IPOB members to blackmail and scandalize Intersociety simply because we demanded that Nnamdi Kanu and his IPOB should come clean and clear their names publicly over the publication of the 247UReports, dated 27th May 2017. We are following and analyzing all its newly launched unprovoked and unwarranted social media attacks and will response where necessary and ignore and trash where necessary.

Nnamdi Kanu and his IPOB must be aware that our advocacy activities are for all members of the human family and the society and above any individual or group. We are conscious, from day one, the patterns and trends of IPOB activities including its smear campaigns against its constructive critics and culture of intolerance to constructive criticism and conduct accountability.

We are also very mindful of our relationship or dealings with its local and int’l leaderships which was why we strictly restricted ourselves to human rights and advocacy activities. Any dealing we have had with IPOB, from the beginning, is mindfully and consciously recorded and documented and we are ready at all times to defend and clear ourselves. Smear campaign has limits and does not succeed against every person or group, especially if such group or person lives above board at all times.

We assure our teeming friends, well wishers and supporters in closed and open quarters or circles of the intactness and impeccability of our integrity and character. We are proudly responsible at all times for our actions, conducts and accountability.

The general public should be lest assured that we have no regrets in all our human rights oriented advocacy activities and roles particularly those geared towards checkmating the murderous and atrocious conducts of the Nigerian security forces against the innocent and defenseless pro Biafra campaigners or activists in Nigeria or any part thereof. Our advocacy roles regarding the human rights contents of the nonviolent pro Biafra campaigns in Nigeria or any part thereof, shall at all time remain sacrosanct and irrevocable.

 Signed:

For: International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law (Intersociety)

Emeka Umeagbalasi (Criminologist & Graduate of Security Studies)
Board ChairmanMobile Line: +2348174090052
Email: info@intersociety-ng.org
Website: www.intersociety-ng.org 

Obianuju Joy Igboeli, Esq., LLB, BL
Head, Civil Liberties & Rule of Law Program

Florence C. Akubilo, Esq., LLB, BL
Head, Campaign & Publicity Department

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Nigeria’s SSS Must Release Ifeanyi Ubah Or Charge Him Before A Court Of Competent Jurisdiction

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The leadership of Int’l Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law (Intersociety) is deeply concerned over the continuing detention by the authorities of the State Security Services (SSS) of Mr. Ifeanyi Ubah of the Capital Oil & Gas Limited. We demand for his immediate administrative bail or release by the SSS.

Alternatively, Mr. Ifeanyi Ubah should be charged and diligently prosecuted before a court of competent jurisdiction. This must be done as a matter of uttermost immediacy if SSS truly finds him indicted on account of a credible criminal investigation into any allied offence or offences, which must be known to Nigeria’s body of criminal laws and the Constitution and fall within the investigative and prosecutorial competence of the SSS.

It should be recalled that Mr. Ifeanyi Ubah, who is the managing director of the Capital Oil & Gas was arrested and detained by the authorities of the SSS since 5th May 2017; a period of 32days. His arrest, according to the authorities of SSS, “was sequel to his engagement in acts of economic sabotage which include stealing, diversion and illegal sale of petroleum products stored in his tank farm (in Lagos) by the NNPC. So, far, it has been established that the products stolen amount to over Eleven Billion Naira (N11bn)”

The authorities of the SSS further accused Mr. Ifeanyi Ubah of “engaging in other activities inimical to national security and public order. That “in furtherance of his gimmicks to undermine the government and people of Nigeria, he has incited members of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD), a critical player in the downstream sub-sector of the Petroleum Industry, to refuse/stop the lifting of products”; and that “part of his plans to curry their sentiments and cause them to embark on strike and also stage protests in his favour with the ulterior motive of arm-twisting the NNPC to abandon the cause of recovering the stolen products”. The SSS statement as quoted above was contained in This Day Newspaper of 7th May 2017 and the link is here:http://thenewsnigeria.com.ng/2017/05/why-we-arrested-ifeanyi-ubah-dss/

The act of embarking on indiscriminate arrest of Nigerians particularly by the SSS on mere criminal allegations with clear intents of detaining them for months or more without trial and under physical and psychological torture; is totally militarist, dictatorial and unknown to Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution and its democratic process. It is also a legitimized jungle justice and prosecutorial vindictiveness which reared its ugly head since 29th of May 2015 when the central government of Retired Major General Muhammadu Buhari came on board as the sixth central civilian government in Nigeria.

Arrest and detention before criminal investigation is the height of policing investigative quackery and a serious threat to rule of law, constitutionalism and modern criminal investigation and prosecution. Totality of these amounts to persecution and political terrorism in a democratic dispensation. It is also a judicial anarchy or judicial militancy and tyranny for a judge or magistrate to grant a one sided detention order to policing authorities for purpose of detaining citizens much longer than constitutionally allowed in alleged offences of economic and non capital nature. Such judicially disastrous detention order also amounts to blanket issuance to detaining authorities of license to torture and other degrading treatments or punishments.

Even in the offence of terrorism financing, grounds of indictable evidence do not strictly require suspected or accused citizens to be arrested and kept in perpetual detention before commencement of their criminal investigations by criminal investigative agencies. This is because all economic related offences strictly require 80% exogenous (external) evidence hunt and 20% endogenous (internal) evidence hunt.

That is to say that 80% of investigation into offences relating to economic (corruption) crimes is externally based or locatable; electronic (including tracking, biometric, recording, monitoring and electronic money wiring and transacting devices); pen, paper and file; and third party or collaborative and corroborative findings. The remaining 20% is internally based (i.e. bodily or facial and mental criminal interrogation and questioning). That is to say that before a suspect is aware that he or she is under investigation through criminal investigative summons, 80% of evidence based on exogenous criminal findings must have been made or established by those investigating him or her. These constitute fundamental parts of international best practices in criminal investigation and policing intelligence.

Contrarily, the reverse is gravely the case in Nigeria particularly since the present central government came on board on 29th May 2015. There is also a link between the above named oddest side of Nigeria’s criminal investigation and prosecution management and the infamous judicial practice ofholden or holding charge recklessly used by quark and corrupt criminal investigators and prosecutors particularly the Police and SSS; through magistrate courts to dump the accused citizens in prisons as “awaiting trial inmates”; thereby punishing citizens unnecessarily and wickedly and swelling the population of prisoners and prison inmates and congesting the already overcrowded prisons and detention facilities in Nigeria.

The combined negative effects of the above are also responsible for returned criminality and repeat offenders and offences in Nigeria; whereby 65% or more of cases prosecuted in the country by criminal investigators and prosecutors are lost at the courts of first, appellate and apex instances; all due to quackery and corruption trailing their investigations and investigation reports leading to their failed prosecution.

We hereby call on the Attorney General of the Federation to rise to his constitutional duties or resign. The AGF as the chief law and criminal prosecution officer of the Federation must put an end to these lawless practices under complaint by directing the SSS and the Nigeria Police Force to stop undermining and terrorizing Nigerians, Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution, the rule of law and the country’s democratic process. The Chief Justice of the Federation is also called upon to issue a sort of practice direction or code to all judges and magistrates to refrain from legitimizing such illegal and abdominal practices by way of aiding the detention of Nigerians for months or years without trial. It is the duty of the judges and magistrates to ask and find out the gravity or nature of offences alleged to have been committed by the arrested citizens and how long they have been held by police or SSS before granting orders for their further pre-trial detention.

Such written and signed orders when rarely granted must expressly include an order prohibiting any form of torturing of citizens under police or SSS captivity. Alleged offences bordering on economic (corruption) crimes and other non capital offences must be exempted from such long detention orders. Also magistrates and magistrate courts must be restricted from remanding suspects brought before them on criminal offences that are outside the jurisdictional competence of the magistrate courts in Nigeria; such as murder, abduction, armed robbery, rape, treason and treasonable felony, etc. Prosecutors or criminal investigators involved must be given matching orders not to set their feet again in the magistrate courts except in connection with offences that are triable and disposable at magistrate courts.

Signed:

For: International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law (Intersociety)

Emeka Umeagbalasi (Criminologist & Graduate of Security Studies) Board Chairman
Email: info@intersociety-ng.org
Website: www.intersociety-ng.org

Obianuju Joy Igboeli, Esq., LLB, BLHead, Civil Liberties & Rule of Law Program

Chinwe Umeche, Esq., LLB, BLHead, Democracy & Good Governance Program

Florence C. Akubilo, Esq., LLB, BLHead, Campaign & Publicity Department

The post Nigeria’s SSS Must Release Ifeanyi Ubah Or Charge Him Before A Court Of Competent Jurisdiction appeared first on The Trent.

‘There Are Grave Consequences To Northern Threat To Igbos’– Fani-Kayode

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Femi Fani-Kayode, a former aviation minister and leading opposition figure in Nigeria, has condemned the threat by prominent Northern groups to Igbos living in the region.

Chief Fani-Kayode took to micro-blogging website, Twitter on Tuesday, June 6, 2017 to react to the pre-genocide threat issued by a coalition of Arewa Groups ordering that Igbos leave the North before October 1, 2017.

The prominent thought leader maintained that kicking the Igbos out of the North would not help matters in the country but rather complicate the fragile state of the nation.

“Threatening the Igbo and kicking them out of the north won’t help.This time round the Middle Belt and the whole south will stand with them,” the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, chieftain wrote.

“We want peace by restructuring and not violence. Unleashing genocide against the Igbo or anyone else in north will have grave consequences,” he added.

Leave The North By October 1 – Arewa Groups Warn Igbos

A group of prominent groups in Northern Nigeria on Tuesday, June 6, 2017 issued an ultimatum to Igbos living in the north to return home by October 1, 2017 or else they will face a situation similar to the pre-civil war pogroms visited on their kin in the 1960s.

The order was contained in an error-ridden statement, obtained by The Trent, issued after a meeting in Kaduna State. The groups, Arewa Citizens Action for Change, Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, Arewa Youth Development Foundation, Arewa Students Forum, and the Northern Emancipation Network, asked the Igbo residing in the region to “start making plans to leave.”

The chilling statement condemned the renewed call for the independent republic of Biafra and also expressed disdain for the Igbos and their culture saying that “the Igbo people of the South-East, not repentant of the carnage it wrought on the nation in 1966,  is today boldly reliving those sinister intentions connoted by the Biafran agitation that led to the very first bloody insurrection in Nigeria’s history”.

In 1966, the Igbos were the victims of the largest genocide in Nigeria’s history with over 100,000 of them killed in Northern Nigeria by northern mobs. This pogrom led to the declaration of the Republic of Biafra which led to the Nigerian civil war in which over 3 million Igbos died.

The post ‘There Are Grave Consequences To Northern Threat To Igbos’ – Fani-Kayode appeared first on The Trent.

The Monumental Mockery Of Democracy That Was Lagos LG APC Primaries (READ)

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In the past few days, the news stories emanating from Lagos State, particularly on the primary election organised by the All Progressives Congress, APC, are unsettling and disturbing.

I have read headlines like: Two shot dead in fresh outbreak of violence at Lagos APC primary, Violence Erupts at APC Primary Election in Lagos, Ex-senator Manhandled, Aggrieved leaders call for fresh election, Two killed as violence erupts at Lagos APC primary, Aggrieved Candidates Attack Senator Afikuyomi During APC Local Gov’t Primaries In Lagos, Tension at Oshodi over killing of NURTW boss Hamburger, Rigging allegations rock Lagos APC as group demands cancellation of ‘sham’ LG primary and many other worrisome headlines.

At the risk of being misunderstood, I wish to state that I am concerned about the matter due to two fundamental reasons.

Firstly, as a member of the APC, I am concerned the state chapter of the party has not portrayed APC in good light. It is clear the APC primary election in Lagos State was not properly handled. I believe the uprising, protests and deaths were avoidable. The APC is a party that is well footed and rooted on the foundation of internal democracy. If the Lagos State chapter of our party had adhered strictly to the value the APC places on internal democracy, the protests and deaths would not have occurred.

Secondly, the ugly development is coming at a time our country is commemorating Democracy. Certainly, there are many ways to mark and celebrate democracy, but what was reported to have happened at the Lagos APC primary election is not one of them. It is pure mockery of democracy.

Before the primary election, the Lagos Democratic Forum (LDF) had warned against imposition and impunity. The Forum specifically accused former governor Bola Tinubu of issuing an undemocratic directive “to the party rank-and-file to jettison party primaries for the forthcoming local government elections in the State”. The Forum concluded that such directive contradicted the provisions of APC’s constitution. The aftermath of the primary election has shown that the accused either disregarded the warning or, perhaps, the accused is not interested in what the constitution of APC has stipulated about internal democracy.

Meanwhile, the LDF was not alone and lonely on the warning against imposition. Dr Muiz Banire, SAN, the National Legal Adviser of All Progressives Congress, APC, was a worthy ally. He warned that the LG primaries should not be manipulated in favour of certain aspirants. He kicked against the decision of the Lagos State chapter to conduct primaries election for all the aspirants in a centralized location. He declared that the decision was alien to the party and not in the APC constitution. His warnings fell on deaf ears.

Against the warnings of the wise men, the primary election was conducted in such an undemocratic manner that led to an outbreak of widespread violence. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that some aggrieved party supporters engaged one another in a free-for-all midway into the election, smashing ballot boxes over allegations of imposition of candidates at the election. People were killed. Public peace and order have been disrupted. Tension is reported to have enveloped many parts of the State.

On the other hand, It remains a tough task to reconcile the ugly development emanating from Lagos State with the message issued on Democracy Day by the Leader of APC in the State, Senator Bola Tinubu. He warned Nigerians to be vigilant and wary of anti-democratic forces. He enjoined to keep and nurture democracy, nor for the sake of democracy but for the sake of the country.

This is the same man that has been fingered to be at the centre of the political crises that has led to protests and deaths. He enjoined Nigerians to nurture democracy while reported to have taken deliberate actions to manipulate and kill democracy in Lagos State. Without any iota of doubt, it is now clear that desperate men in uniform are not the only threat to democracy, the demagogue in progressive gown is also a threat to democracy.

Getting inspiration from the title of late America Singer Barry White’s number one R&B single in the album, “The Icon Is Love”, it is time to tell political leaders to “Practice What You Preach”.

The government, the Party and political leaders in the State need to take full responsibility for all that transpired before, during and after the botched primary election. The people are aggrieved, the people are mourning, yet, there is dead silence from the Party and political leaders. The Party stands to lose more if it continues to pretend like nothing has happened. People have not been killed, and their families deserve some forms of consolation and commiseration.

Conclusively, there is need for concerted efforts and interventions to ease the reported tension in some parts of Lagos State. This is not one that can be done only by security agencies. The core issue of the agitations and protests should be addressed. Therefore, It will not be out of place for the National leadership of the APC to intervene and restore normalcy because the political leaders have not only desecrated democratic ethos, they have also excreted on democratic tenets.

Sulyman Buhari is the publicity secretary of All Progressives Congress in Kwara State.

The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.

The post The Monumental Mockery Of Democracy That Was Lagos LG APC Primaries (READ) appeared first on The Trent.


BREAKING: Nigerian Gov’t Pays N375 Million Under Whistleblower Policy

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The Federal Ministry of Finance  has confirmed release of N375.8M  to the first batch of 20 providers of information under the Whistleblower Policy. The payment, of various amounts totaling N375,875,000, relate to the recovery of N11,635,000,000 .

Kemi Adeosun, Nigeria’s finance minister, stated: “This payment, which is the first under the  Whistleblower Policy, underscores the commitment of the President Muhmmadu Buhari-led administration in meeting obligations to information providers under the Whistleblower Policy.  The policy is an essential tool  in the fight against corruption.”

She further disclosed   recent amendments to the Whistleblower Policy which includes  the introduction of a formal legal  agreement between  information providers and the Federal Government, which is executed by the Minister of Justice (Attorney-General of the Federation). Procedures have also been introduced to ensure the protection of the identity of information providers during the payment process.

The Minister explained that all  payments are taxable and  are only made upon confirmation of the final recovery of assets as confirmed by the Attorney-General of the Federation as  being free of legal disputes or litigation.

The Minister also gave details of the Whistleblower Unit (WBU),  a multi-agency team, which is resident in Ministry of Finance Headquarters. It is staffed by secondees from  the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Department of State Services (DSS), the Nigeria Police Force and Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA), among others. “The Whistleblower Unit is the first line of response to whistleblower information, where initial review is undertaken before cases are forwarded to the relevant investigative agencies,” Mrs. Adeosun said.

It could be recalled that the Ministry of Finance has reported that following the approval of the Whistleblowers Policy by the Federal Executive Council and its launch by the Minister of Finance in December 2016, the WBU received 2, 150 communications and 337 tips through its dedicated channels from many patriotic Nigerians, which led to the recovery of substantial assets that were illegally acquired by various individuals. The primary purpose of the Policy is to support the fight against financial crimes and corruption, promote   accountability and enhance transparency in the management of public finances.

Mrs. Adeosun assured that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari would continue to encourage all Nigerians with information on misconduct, violation or improper activity which can impact negatively on Nigeria  to report it to the appropriate authority.

SALISU NA’INNA DAMBATTA
Director (Information)

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‘Any Slaughter Of Igbos Will Be Retaliated In Entire South’– Fani-Kayode

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Femi Fani-Kayode, a former aviation minister and leading opposition figure in Nigeria, has condemned the threat by prominent Northern groups to Igbos living in the region saying that violence against Igbos in the North will be met with violence in the South.

In a short statement issued on Thursday, June 8, 2017, an e-mailed to The Trent, the thought leader made further reactions to the pre-genocide threat issued by a coalition of Arewa Groups ordering that Igbos leave the North before October 1, 2017.

He said that the northern youth need to be warned that “this is not 1966′ in which a pogrom was carried out in the North against Igbos.

“The northern youths must be warned and told in very clear terms. This is not 1966. Any pogrom or slaughter of Igbos in the north will lead to a swift, immediate and devastating retaliation throughout the south,” the People’s Democractic Party, PDP, chieftain said.

“Those that gave the Igbo quit notice in the north are playing with fire and that fire will consume them. They are opening the gates of hell and they will enter that gate.

“They are plunging us into darkness and we shall enter that darkness together. Nigeria belongs to us all.

“I urge the core Muslim northern elders and leaders to call their youths to order before they spark off a series of events and a crisis that may not only lead to a second civil war but will also lead to the end of Nigeria.

“This time around the Igbo are not alone. An attack on them is an attack on every southerner and every Middle Belter. And such an attack will have grave and unfathomable consequences,” the statement ended.

Leave The North By October 1 – Arewa Groups Warn Igbos

A coalition of prominent groups in Northern Nigeria on Tuesday, June 6, 2017 issued an ultimatum to Igbos living in the north to return home by October 1, 2017 or else they will face a situation similar to the pre-civil war pogroms visited on their kin in the 1960s.

The order was contained in an error-ridden statement, obtained by The Trent, issued after a meeting in Kaduna State. The groups, Arewa Citizens Action for Change, Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, Arewa Youth Development Foundation, Arewa Students Forum, and the Northern Emancipation Network, asked the Igbo residing in the region to “start making plans to leave.”

The chilling statement condemned the renewed call for the independent republic of Biafra and also expressed disdain for the Igbos and their culture saying that “the Igbo people of the South-East, not repentant of the carnage it wrought on the nation in 1966,  is today boldly reliving those sinister intentions connoted by the Biafran agitation that led to the very first bloody insurrection in Nigeria’s history”.

In 1966, the Igbos were the victims of the largest genocide in Nigeria’s history with over 100,000 of them killed in Northern Nigeria by northern mobs. This pogrom led to the declaration of the Republic of Biafra which led to the Nigerian civil war in which over 3 million Igbos died.

The post ‘Any Slaughter Of Igbos Will Be Retaliated In Entire South’ – Fani-Kayode appeared first on The Trent.

Northern Youth Threat: South East CSOs Say Nigeria Must Avoid A Repetition Of 1966 Anti Igbo Pogrom

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Northern Youths’ Genocidal Threat: Avoiding The Repetition Of 1966 Anti Igbo Pogrom In Northern Nigeria And 1994 Rwandan Genocide

The present Federal Government of Nigeria and its security forces as well as all elected and appointed public office holders and other key political actors in Southeast Nigeria must proactively and preventively avoid the repetition of the 1966 anti Igbo pogrom in Northern Nigeria in 1966 in which “between 45,000 and 50,000 civilians of former Eastern Nigeria were killed in Northern Nigeria and other parts of Nigeria from May 1966 and December 1967”. The 45,000 to 50,000 citizens that were massacred are dominated by citizens of the Igbo Ethnic Nationality. The pre pogrom panics and its poorly managed early warnings further generated or forced 1.627,743 (one million, six hundred & twenty seven thousand, seven hundred and forty three) Easterners dominated by Igbo citizens residing in different parts of Nigeria to return home or become internally displaced persons. A good number of them crossed int’l borders and became refugees.

The pogrom started as “May Day Anti Igbo Riots in Northern Nigeria” in which over 3,000 Igbo dominated citizens were butchered. During the months long butcheries, Northern soldiers and civilians went into towns, fished out East­erners and flattened them either with rapid gunfire or with violent machete blows, leaving their prop­erties looted or torched. Accord­ing to the Massacre of Ndigbo in 1966: Report of the Justice G. C. M. Onyiuke Tribunal, [Tollbrook Limited, Ikeja, Lagos] “…between 45,000 and 50,000 civilians of for­mer Eastern Nigeria were killed in Northern Nigeria and other parts of Nigeria from 29th May 1966 to December 1967 and the Tribunal estimates that not less than 1,627,743 Easterners fled back to Eastern Nigeria as a result of the 1966 pogrom

It is further recalled that following the said May Day Anti Igbo Riots, resulting in massacring of over 3,000 mostly Igbo citizens, further warnings and notices of returned butcheries were issued by various violent non State actors in Northern Nigeria but these were unwarily ignored or kidded by then military and political leaders in Eastern Nigeria. The then Federal Military Government resorted to fire brigade approach, while military and political leaders in Northern Nigeria became State actor engineers, aiders and abettors of the returned butcheries and butchers; resulting to further year-long butcheries. The worst of it all was the lame duck and ineptitude dispositions of the then Eastern military and political leaders whereby despite the assurances given to then Igbo residents in Northern Nigeria not to panic or border to return home; a good number of those who heeded such “assurances of the graveyard” got entrapped and butchered in their thousands.

It is on account of the foregoing that we, the leaderships of Int’l Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law (Intersociety) and Southeast Based Coalition of Human Rights Organizations (SBCHROs) resolved to call on the present Federal Government of Nigeria and its security forces as well as all elected and appointed public office holders and other key political actors in Southeast Nigeria not to repeat the dire mistakes of 1966 by taking for granted the recent anti Igbo exit order or ultimatum issued by a radical group of Northern Youths Coalition; comprising the Arewa Citizens Action for Change led by Nastura Ashir Sharif, Arewa Youth Consultative Forum led by Shetima Yerima, Arewa Youth Development Foundation led by Aminu Adam, Arewa Students Forum led by Alfred Solomon, Northern Youth Vanguard represented by Joshua Viashman and the Northern Emancipation Network led by Abdul-Azeez Suleiman who also read the text of the Coalition’s genocidal statement.

It is the common knowledge of all and sundry that the present security forces and agencies in Nigeria particularly their command structures are ethno-religiously lopsided and composed in grave favour of the Hausa-Fulani Muslims, which has widened the country’s citizens’ policing protection ratio and security, safety and protection disparity among the country’s six geopolitical zones. These explain our deeply worries concerning the likelihood of another anti Igbo pogrom in Northern Nigeria on account of the said genocidal threat. This is more so when up till now, the Nigeria security forces particularly the Army and SSS that go about hunting, haunting and hounding innocent Nigerians of non Hausa-Fulani Muslim stocks particularly those of South-south and Southeast, by killing, arresting, torturing and detaining them for months or more have not gone after those that issued the genocidal statement.

We hereby call on all members of the int’l community including intergovernmental and nongovernmental actors and international personalities to take int’l and diplomatic notices of the latest round of goings on in Nigeria with specific reference to the referenced genocidal threat and do that which is morally, legally and diplomatically necessary and expedient to compel Nigerian authorities and their security agencies not to resort to their usual lukewarm attitudes or fire brigade approaches in matters of this dicey nature. The int’l community and the present Government of Nigeria and the referenced Southeast political actors must see and treat the Northern Youths’ genocidal threat as early warnings that must be proactively and preventively handled so as to stop Nigeria and Nigerians from going the genocidal way of the Republic of Rwanda.

Signed:

For: Southeast Based Coalition of Human Rights Organizations (SBCHROs)

Comrade Aloysius Attah (+2348035090548)
For: Civil Liberties Organization, Southeast Zone 

Comrade Peter Onyegiri (+2347036892777)
For: Centre for Human Rights & Peace Advocacy

 Comrade Samuel Njoku (+2348039444628)
For: Human Rights Organization of Nigeria 

Engineer Rufus Duru (+2348037513519)
For: Global Rights & Development International 

Comrade Chike Umeh ( +2348064869601)
For: Society Advocacy Watch Project 

Obianuju Joy Igboeli, Esq. (+2348034186332)
For: Anambra Human Rights Forum

Comrade Alex Olisa(+2348034090410)
For: Southeast Good Governance Forum 

Jerry Chukwuokoro, PhD (+2348035372962)
For: International Solidarity for Peace & Human Rights Initiative 

Tochukwu Ezeoke (+447748612933)
For: Igbo Ekunie Initiative (Pan Igbo Rights Advocacy Group)

Comrade Vincent Ezekwume (+2348171793911)
For: Civil Liberties Organization, Anambra State Branch 

Emeka Umeagbalasi(+2348174090052)
For: Int’l Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law

Comrade Uzor Ugonna Kingsley (+2348138898669)
For: Rural Engagement & Development Foundation(RED Foundation)

The post Northern Youth Threat: South East CSOs Say Nigeria Must Avoid A Repetition Of 1966 Anti Igbo Pogrom appeared first on The Trent.

Arewa Youth Group Condemns Threat Issued Against Igbos By Northern Groups

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A northern group, the Arewa Youth for Progress and Development, has issued a statement condemning the threat issued by a coalition of Northern youth groups, asking all Nigerians of Igbo extraction to vacate the northern part of the country or face “visible actions”.

Danjuma Bello Sarki, the president of the Arewa Youth for Progress and Development, e-mailed the statement to The Trent on Thursday, June 8, 2017, titled, The Kaduna Declaration: The Height of Exuberant Rascality.

Sarkin maintained that the “real Northern youth are peace-loving as he condemned the group which issued a quit notice to Igbos in the North saying they must vacate the region by October 1, 2017.

“The attention of our peace loving association, the Arewa Youth for Progress and Development, has been drawn to a reckless and baseless press statement by a so called Coalition of Northern Youths, where they threatened all people of Igbo extraction to leave the North within the next 3 months,” the statement said.

“We want to use this medium to strongly disassociate ourselves from this misguided position and vehemently condemn it in strong terms. It is no doubt the figment of the imagination of the signatories and their sponsors.

|The call is nothing but the height of exuberant rascality by some publicity seeking fellows, who are out to cause disaffection between the North and the South for their selfish interest, at a time like this when we as youths need to stay united and peaceful for the progress and development of our nation.

“We want to categorically state that, their statement has caused great embarrassment to us as patriotic northern youths, that was not and will never be the position of the Northern youths. Their was know time the youths in the north sat down to agree on such position.

“The true northern youths are peaceful, hospitable, accommodating and tolerant, therefore would not issue such irresponsible vituperation against our dear Igbo brothers or any other tribe who have been contributing immensely to the growth and development of northern Nigeria, economically and otherwise since before independence.

“We call on all Ndigbo to disregard that statement, remain calm and continue to go about their normal activities without fear of being harassed or intimidated, for we cherish our relationship with all other components of our nation.

“More so, we urge our northern brothers who resides in the eastern part of our country to do same. Our believe in one Nigeria is unshakable and firm.

“Even foreigners who are legally resident and law abiding in the north can not be so threatened, talk less of our own brothers of Igbo extraction with whom we have so interrelated through marriages and other socio-economic activities,” the statement ended.                

Leave The North By October 1 – Arewa Groups Warn Igbos

A coalition of prominent groups in Northern Nigeria on Tuesday, June 6, 2017 issued an ultimatum to Igbos living in the north to return home by October 1, 2017 or else they will face a situation similar to the pre-civil war pogroms visited on their kin in the 1960s.

The order was contained in an error-ridden statement, obtained by The Trent, issued after a meeting in Kaduna State. The groups, Arewa Citizens Action for Change, Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, Arewa Youth Development Foundation, Arewa Students Forum, and the Northern Emancipation Network, asked the Igbo residing in the region to “start making plans to leave.”

The chilling statement condemned the renewed call for the independent republic of Biafra and also expressed disdain for the Igbos and their culture saying that “the Igbo people of the South-East, not repentant of the carnage it wrought on the nation in 1966,  is today boldly reliving those sinister intentions connoted by the Biafran agitation that led to the very first bloody insurrection in Nigeria’s history”.

In 1966, the Igbos were the victims of the largest genocide in Nigeria’s history with over 100,000 of them killed in Northern Nigeria by northern mobs. This pogrom led to the declaration of the Republic of Biafra which led to the Nigerian civil war in which over 3 million Igbos died.

The post Arewa Youth Group Condemns Threat Issued Against Igbos By Northern Groups appeared first on The Trent.

Nigerian Air Force Refutes ‘Mischievous’ Report Of Coup Plans

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The attention of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has been drawn to a mischievous allegation by an online media organization of the NAF’s involvement in the planning of a purported coup d’état to take over the reins of government.

The NAF considers it most ridiculous that anyone in his/her right senses, especially in the 21st Century, could still be fixated on the possibility of effecting a change in government in Nigeria in any way other than through the ballot box.

It would be recalled that the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Baba Abubakar had on 18 May 2017, while commissioning new residential accommodation for personnel at NAF Base, Bill Clinton Drive Abuja, emphatically pledged the loyalty of the NAF to the President and Commander-in-Chief as well as to the Nigerian Constitution.

It is imperative to state that the earlier stance of the NAF on the unfortunate coup rumours has not changed.

The NAF is a highly professional and apolitical Service that is focused on ensuring the territorial integrity of Nigeria as well as facilitating a safe and secure environment for Nigerians to prosper while conducting their legal businesses. The strong belief of the NAF in democratic values was also demonstrated during the recent Gambian crisis.

The NAF was the first and only air force that ensured the will of Gambians was not subverted by promptly deploying its fighter aircraft, in addition to its transport aircraft to airlift needed troops and logistics, in readiness to preserve the country’s democracy, in line with the Federal Government’s directives.

It is therefore inconceivable that the same NAF would be involved in any way in any attempt to dismantle the political structure in Nigeria.

It appears some individuals with unknown intentions are bent on further spreading the malicious misinformation and hence, the need for the NAF to react.

The Chief of the Air Staff would like to assure Nigerians as a whole of the unalloyed loyalty of all NAF personnel to the President and Commander-in-Chief as well as to the Government of Nigeria as democratically constituted.

We therefore appeal to those peddling these false stories to cease, as they are constituting a source of distraction to NAF personnel, who are sacrificing on a daily basis to ensure the security of Nigeria.

You are please requested to use your medium to disseminate this information for the awareness of the general public. While thanking you for your usual support and cooperation, please accept the assurance of my best regards.

OLATOKUNBO ADESANYA
Air Commodore
Director of Public
Relations and Information

The post Nigerian Air Force Refutes ‘Mischievous’ Report Of Coup Plans appeared first on The Trent.

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