The four Arab countries involved in a diplomatic row with Qatar have given the oil-rich nation a 10-day ultimatum to meet 13 demands, including shutting down Al Jazeera media network, before normalcy can be restored.
The four countries are Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt and Bahrain.
Reuters said the demands are likely to infuriate Doha and exacerbate the region’s worst crisis in decades.
Al Jazeera reported that the list was presented to Qatar by neighbouring Kuwait, which is acting as a mediator in the crisis.
It was released more than two weeks after Saudi Arabia led a coordinated freeze by nine countries on diplomatic and trade relations with Qatar.
Apart from shutting Al Jazeera and its affiliates, other conditions given to Qatar are: halting the development of a Turkish military base in the country, reducing diplomatic ties with Iran, cutting ties to terrorist organisations, stop interfering in the four countries’ affairs and stopping the practice of giving Qatari nationality to citizens of the four countries.
Qatar on Saturday denounced the ultimatum as unreasonable and an impingement on the emirate’s sovereignty.
The list was received by Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on June 22, the state-run Qatar News Agency said.
“This list of demands confirms what Qatar has said from the beginning – the illegal blockade has nothing to do with combating terrorism, it is about limiting Qatar’s sovereignty, and outsourcing our foreign policy,” Sheikh Saif bin Ahmed Al Thani, director of the Qatari government’s communications office, said in a statement on Friday.
Qatar also said it is reviewing the demands and is preparing an official response after confirming the receipt of the document containing the demands.
“The state of Qatar is currently studying this paper, the demands contained therein and the foundations on which they were based, in order to prepare an appropriate response to it and hand it over to the state of Kuwait,” QNA said, citing a statement by the ministry of foreign affairs.
The Arab nations cut ties with Qatar on June 5, accusing it of supporting terrorism and destabilising the region.
Qatar — which shares its only land border with Saudi Arabia — has rejected the accusations, calling them “unjustified and baseless.”
Turkey Supports Qatar, Slams Arab Nations
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has welcomed Qatar’s stand on a list of demands from Saudi Arabia and its allies, saying that the ultimatum is “against international law”.
Qatar has rejected the accusations and said the measures are “unjustified”.
“We welcome [Qatar’s position] because we consider the 13-point list against international law,” Erdogan was quoted as saying by the state-run Anadolu news agency on Sunday.
Turkey has offered support to Qatar after Saudi Arabia and several other countries severed ties with Qatar over accusations of funding terrorism and fomenting regional instability.
At least 123 people have been burnt alive and dozens of others injured after an oil tanker caught fire and exploded near Bahawalpur in Pakistan’s Punjab province.
The incident occurred on Sunday morning [June 25, 2017] as a large number of people gathered to collect petrol from the vehicle, according to rescue services.
Local sources told Al Jazeera that most of the victims were residents of nearby areas who were collecting fuel from the oil tanker, which had overturned after skidding off a national highway in Ahmed Pur Sharqia.
A deadly fire broke out after a fuel tanker tipped over on a main highway in the Punjab province | Shazia Bhatti/Al Jazeera
Fire brigade vehicles arrived at the site soon after the of the explosion and rescue operations were under way, the sources told Al Jazeera.
Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder, reporting from Pakistan’s Islamabad, said the tanker turned over on a “main logistical supply” route and “a large number of people rushed to the scene and started to collect fuel” that was spilling from the truck.
“Suddenly the area was engulfed in flames, and most of the people were caught in those flames. Apparently most of them were already carrying fuel, so they had no chance.
He added: “We are told most of the bodies are burnt beyond recognition.”
At least 90 people who were injured were moved to Bahawalpur Victoria Hospital and other health facilities. Explaining that the nearest hospital does not have a burn unit, Hyder said the death toll is expected to rise.
Children were among the dead and injured, said hospital doctor Mohamed Ahmed.
People with severe burns were being sent to other cities because the hospital lacked facilities to treat so many patients at the same time, he added.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif expressed his grief at the accident and ordered authorities to make sure the victims were treated at the best medical facilities, his office said in a statement.
A large number of motorcycles and vehicles were destroyed by the fire.
Less than a week after the sack of commissioner for works and the resignation of his information counterpart, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers on Saturday, June 24, 2017 announced the dissolution of the State Executive Council.
Wike, who announced the dissolution, at a news conference in Port Harcourt, did not give reason for his action.
He directed the former commissioners to handover all government property in their possession to the Permanent Secretaries of their respective ministries.
The governor commended them for diligently serving the state and wished them success in their future undertaking.
On Wednesday, Governor Wike sacked Bathuel Harrison, the state’s commissioner of works. In a statement, signed by a media aide to the Rivers governor, Simeon Nwakaudu, the sack of Harrison was with “immediate effect”.
Wike had, a few months ago, also sacked the Commissioner for Health, Theophilus Ndagme for undisclosed reasons.
On Thursday, Austin Tam-George, the information and communications commissioner resigned his appointment with the government.
“I wish to resign my appointment as Commissioner for Information and Communication with effect from today, June 23, 2017,” his brief resignation letter to Governor Nyesom Wike, which was obtained by The Trent on Friday.
“I have handed over officially to the director of administration of the ministry.”
“Thank for the opportunity to serve the state,” he added.
The federal government has declared Nigeria free from the latest ‘Type C’ deadly Cero Spinal Meningitis (CSM), which claimed almost 2,000 lives in the country since its outbreak in late 2016.
Chikwe Ihekweazu, the director general of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), in a statement Saturday, June 24, 2017 said with the decline in Meningitis cases, the 2016/2017 Meningitis outbreak was over and the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) responding to the epidemic has been stepped down.
Ihekweazu said the outbreak has been in constant decline for eight weeks and the affected states have recorded much fewer new cases.
In the last four weeks, he said, “no local government area has reached outbreak alert threshold. By the 16th of June 2017 when the EOC was stepped down, a total of 14,518 suspected cases of meningitis were reported from 25 states, with 1,166 deaths, giving a case fatality rate of 8%.”
He stated that NCDC, the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA) and partner organisations worked assiduously to reduce the impact of the outbreak on affected communities.
According to him, the NCDC established a National EOC, which coordinated the national outbreak response. This, he said, included the deployment of Rapid Response Teams (RRT) to the most affected States to strengthen surveillance, case management, laboratory capacity and risk communication.
Ihekweazu said: “The planning process to prevent future outbreaks and ensuring better preparedness for the next epidemic season has begun. Laboratory capacity has been improved with the recent operationalisation of the new National Reference Laboratory in Gaduwa, Abuja with support from the Federal Ministry of Health, the US CDC and the World Health Organisation.
“NCDC is also coordinating a network of laboratories across the country to improve case confirmation capacity. National guidelines towards responding to future outbreaks are being developed together with ongoing continuous awareness campaigns, keeping the general public informed. Workshops to improve preparedness are also being organised.”
He noted that the reactive vaccination campaigns led by the NPHCDA were successfully conducted in Zamfara, Sokoto, Yobe and Katsina States. The state governments were fully engaged in conducting these campaigns to ensure that the vaccines reached the most at-risk population.
The NCDC boss said: “While NCDC has stepped down the Emergency response, the work never stops – we will continue to work 24/7 to ensure the protection of all Nigerians against infectious disease threats. We recognise our leadership, the Honorable Ministers of Health and the leadership of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency for the joint support during the outbreak.
“We are very grateful to the Government of Zamfara and Sokoto States for their excellent leadership during the outbreak. We also thank our partners including the World Health Organisation, Africa Centre for Disease Control, as well as the US Centers for Disease Control and its implementing partners – African Field Epidemiology Network and the University of Maryland Baltimore – for their generous support in the implementation of outbreak response activities,” he added.
President Donald Trump has indicted his predecessor Barack Obama in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election meddling by Russia following recent developments in ongoing investigation.
Trump on Saturday, June 24, 2017 took to his twitter handle saying that after months of investigation, there has been no evidence of “collusion.”
Since the Obama Administration was told way before the 2016 Election that the Russians were meddling, why no action? Focus on them, not T!
His response comes hours after a Washington Post article was published detailing the Obama administration’s response to Russian cyberattacks.
The president has been quick to defend himself against any allegations suggesting his personal involvement with Russia in terms of the election,
While Trump’s tweet in response to the Washington Post story questions why the Obama camp “did nothing” about Russian meddling in the 2016 election, the article itself indicates otherwise.
According to the article, Obama’s actions in response to findings that the Russians were specifically targeting Hillary Clinton’s campaign for president in an effort to elect Trump were “modest,” not non-existent.
Though some staffers of the former president reportedly believe the Obama administration could have been more aggressive in its response to the threat, others stand by his actions.
Obama issued economic sanctions on Russia in late 2016, in addition to approving a “cyber-weapon” to be used on Russia to defend America from further threats.
That cyber weapon was never used, and is now under the jurisdiction of Trump for release.
Additional efforts by the former president have been released in the months following the election, including Obama verbally telling Russian President Vladimir Putin to “cut it out” in terms of hacking at the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, China in September.
Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, says the November 18 governorship election in Anambra state will not hold if the federal government fails to conduct a referendum on Biafra.
Speaking at his father’s palace in Afara Ukwu Ibeku, Umuahia, Abia state, Kanu threatened that members of his group might also boycott the 2019 general election.
He also said Biafrans were ready to go to prison if the federal government did not grant their request of having a republic.
“If the federal government does not agree with us on a date for referendum, there will be no elections in the southeast, we are starting with Anambra come November this year. There will be no governorship election in Anambra state,” Kanu told the jubilant crowd.
“In 2019, the whole of Biafra land will not vote for any president. There will be no senator, there will be no house of reps, there will be no house of assembly and there will be no councilorship elections in Biafra land if the federal government fails to call for a referendum.
“Nigerian government should build as many prisons as possible to jail all Biafrans because there is no going back and we are ready to go prisons unless the federal government gives us Biafra.
“We are not like any other people. People like us don’t come twice. That’s why I know that with the last breath in this very body that Biafra will be restored. There’s nothing anybody can do about it. Tell them that’s what I said. Nobody on this earth can stop Biafra.”
Kanu, who is standing trial for treason, was granted bail in April after two years in detention. Part of his bail condition is not to be seen in a crowd.
Behold Nnamdi Kanu:the lion of the east,the strength of the Igbo and the rising star of Biafra.A man of courage and conviction!Proud of upic.twitter.com/rHitUtJDP2
On a day the Supreme Court sacked Senator Abubakar Danladi of the PDP, it also sacked Rep. Herman Hembe (Benue/APC) and ordered him to refund salaries allowances he had collected within 90 days. The court also ordered that the third term legislator be replaced with Mrs. Dorothy Mato.
The apex court gave the order after it upheld the appeal filed by Mato against the endorsement of Hembe’s election by the Court of Appeal, Makurdi.
Dorothy Mato,
In the lead judgment prepared by Justice Walter Onneghen and delivered by Justice Amina Augie, the court held that Mato was the winner of the March 2015 election with respect to Vandeikya/Konshisha Federal Constituency.
“I hereby declare that the plaintiff/appellant was the winner of the primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC), held from Dec. 7 to Dec. 10, 2014.
“I declare that the plaintiff/appellant was the winner of the general election of March 28, 2015 with respect to Vandeikya/Konshisha Federal Constituency of Benue, as candidate of the APC,” Augie ruled.
The court ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately withdraw the certificate of return issued to Hembe and issue same to Mato.
It further ordered the Speaker or Clerk of the House of Representatives to swear-in Mato as the member representing Vandeikya/Konshisha Federal Constituency of Benue.
Hembe was elected into the House of Representatives in 2007 on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
He was re-elected in 2011 on the platform of the PDP, but defected to the APC in 2015 where he won his bid for a third term.
The woman who will replace him, Dorothy Kpentomun Mato was a member of the state House of Assembly, representing Kyan Constituencey between 2011 and 2015. She was a member of the Action Congress, one of the legacy parties that formed the APC.
She was born on 16 September 1968 and once trained as a fashion designer at Nikky Africana in Lagos.
She had her primary education at R.C.M. Primary School, Chenge, in Vandeikya Local Government and left in 1979.
She then went to Mbagba High School, Mbamngu for her West African Senior School Certificate. She graduated in 2002. This was after her training in fashion design.
In 2006, Dorothy Mato obtained a Diploma in Public Administration at the Benue State Polytechnic, Ugbokolo.
She later went to Fidei Polytechnic, Gboko, to earn a Higher National Diploma Certificate in Business Administration in 2010. While a member of the state Assembly, she also earned a PGD in Business Management at the University of Mkar, Mkar.
She was a former Deputy Chairman, Vandeikya Local Government Council and also supervisory councillor, revenue generation in 2008.
She later became a special assistant on women affairs to former Governor Suswam between 2008 and 2010. She joined the Action Congress in 2011, where she ran for election as a member of the state Assembly. She won her election.
She once declared in a Facebook post in 2016 her idea about what politics should be:” I see politics as an instrument for social & structural change.Although the African perspective is that of a do-or-die procedure,it is pertinent to know that politics is all encompassing,it is about the use of a process for societal upliftment.I strongly encourage general participation in political processes,especially the youths & fellow women,for to alienate ourselves from the process will amount to negating our fundamental constitutional responsibilities.”
Outside of politics, Dorothy is a businesswoman, a community leader and mobiliser.
She is at present President, Tiv Women Traders Association, Gboko branch . She is also the President, De-compatible Sisters, a Women Mobilization, social/Cultural Club (current)
She is reputed for her generous contribution to community development projects at local and state levels.
The inspector-general of police intelligence response team (IRT) has arrested a soldier in Lagos for allegedly being part of the gang of Chukwudi Onuwamadike, the billionaire kidnapper better known as Evans.
Quoting a police source, NAN said the team led by an assistant commissioner of police, Abba Kyari, arrested the soldier after weeks of surveillance.
The source reportedly said the soldier, a lance corporal, was arrested in the Ojo area of Lagos around 9pm on Friday, June 23, 2017.
Victor Chukwunonso: the arrested Lance Corporal said to be named by Evans, the billionaire kidnapper
The source said a confession made by Evans led to the arrest of the soldier who was a member of the army band at Abalti Barrack, Surulere.
The kidnap kingpin was said to have told police officers during interrogation that some notable people collaborated with him in his operations for seven years.
The source said the soldier in his confessional statement, said he had accompanied Evans in three different kidnap operations in Lagos, and got N2 million, N1.5 million and N3 million respectively as his shares.
“There are serious efforts to apprehend other gang members and efforts will be made to arrest others,” the source said.
The billionaire kidnapper was arrested at his mansion in Magodo estate, Lagos, on June 10.
While parading Evans, Moshood Jimoh, spokesman of the Nigeria police force, had promised that everyone mentioned by the gang members would be arrested, no matter how highly-placed.
It has become imperative to come out with a position on the ongoing recall process after INEC acknowledged receiving the signatures of purportedly more than the required number for the exercise because the dilemma of Okun nation has once again being brought to the fore.
The prerogative of any constituent to exercise his/her constitutionally guaranteed right to recall is inalienable but it is obvious the initiators and instigators of the current attempt on Sen. Dino Melaye’s are not from Kogi West but lackeys and cronies of constituted authority; an apparent outcome of misguided advice to those insistent on dividing and decimating Okunland politically for egoistic purposes.
The fissures clannish inclinations have created among us in Okunland is not only becoming gullies but an odious machination is being played out to satisfy the self-centeredness of a few individuals.
Selfish political aspirations are being satiated to the detriment of the collective good of Okun people with Okunland primed for another political experiment and some of our sons and daughters have become willing lab rats.
The precarious situation of Okun persons in the vanguard of the recall saga is not only pitiable but pathetic but our elders admonish that when sent a slavish message, the virtuous will deliver same like a freeborn.
The gauge of loyalty is now synonymous with treachery and understandably so for those who cannot fathom life outside political office or patronage from government; their inability or refusal to see beyond the present is really unfortunate and rather than vilify them, they should be sympathized with.
The modalities that procured the purported signatures from investigations are fraught with lots of irregularities and illegalities. Consequently, we wish to state unequivocally that any calculated attempt to cause chaos and avoidable confusion in Okunland will be resisted legally with all the resources at our disposal.
Gladly, Senator Dino Melaye’s persistent agitation for humane governance appears to have ginger government to action and it is hoped that the truce reached with JAC on the reopening of tertiary institutions in the state will be enduring. Of equal importance is the issue of salaries and pensions that is lingering despite government proclamation to the contrary which is inversely related to the reality in the state. Government should begin to focus more on issues concerning the wellbeing of Kogites and stop the shadow-chasing and spurious attempt to divert and distract the attention of Kogites from its inadequacies and peccadilloes.
A recall process premised on the disenchantment of majority of West Kogites with their elected senator is acceptable but what will not be condoned is every delusive attempt by those bent on exerting political leverage to dictate to majority of Okun people how they should feel about their senator, why and when they should express their displeasure.
Okun people and Kogi West in general should be allowed to decide the fate of their senator without any unnecessary interference. Agents of recall should be advised, that if Kogi West wants Dino recalled, it must emanate from the same Kogi West.
We are concerned and certainly not prepared to accept or allow anyone or group of persons to transform Okunland to a battlefield in any guise.
The logic behind the scorch-earth policy being foisted on Okunland is nothing but an aggregate of calculations, speculation and permutations towards 2019.
We now see unholy alliances, congregation of strange bedfellows, treachery with greed motivated by inordinate ambition directing the conduct of some people in search of, or desperate to keep positions that are ephemeral. Conceitedly, they willingly feign the fugaciousness of their present position by refusing to ask themselves what became of men of power and authority of the past.
The political atmosphere Kogi State is becoming tense and may have direct negative impact on the output of the public service sector.
Politicians in Kogi State, particularly those from the west senatorial district should face issues of governance rather than witch-hunting one another,
For the avoidance of doubt, all processes involved in the recall shall be meticulously monitored to ensure its outcome is a true reflection of the wishes and aspirations of west kogites. Okuns have the wherewithal to reprimand their own if and when necessary without the meddlesomeness from outsiders and no matter how low the waist of our child is, abandoning the child to adorn the child of another with decorated beads is certainly not an option.
Soon the breeze will blow and the rotten rump of the chicken tagged recall will be indecently exposed. A word our elders say is enough for the wise and prudent.
Jeremiah Gado, the president of Evangelical Church Winning All, ECWA, has blamed the rising calls for secession by some sections of the country on the lack of equity in distribution of national wealth, political appointments as well as lopsided employment by the federal government.
Dr. Gado who noted that the church would not support any move to dismembered the country expressed confidence that Nigerians will be better together
Dr. Gado stated the position of the church in a press statement issued in Jos, Plateau State on Saturday, June 24, 2017.
He urged the federal government to move fast to arrest the prevailing agitations for self-rule and keep the country one.
“The attention of ECWA has been drawn to a recent threat and notice of eviction to all Igbos residing in the north of Nigeria issued by a group of Arewa Youth who we believe are doing the bidding of some northern elders seeking to foment trouble,” the statement which was e-mailed to The Trent said.
“Indeed we are aware of the agitations of some Igbo extraction from the South East under the umbrellas of MASSOB and IPOB seeking to secede from Nigeria into an independent state they call Biafra.
“While a section of the agitators have wrongfully made unguided statements in pursuit of their aspiration, they have so far carried out their activities peacefully without threat of harassment or quit notice to other Nigerians residing in the South East region.
“It is important to state that other regions such as the South West are also clamoring for self-independence and several other calls as the restructuring of Nigeria, to single out the Igbos on account of their ethnicity and religion for threat of attack and eviction from the north is a move taken too far.
“The call for the eviction of the Igbos by a section of misguided Arewa Youth has become even more worrisome due to the backing of some Arewa Elders who obviously are the sponsors of the youths issuing the threats.
“Elders as the name implies, are supposed to be the conscience of society and custodians of communal values to provide guidance to the youth. When such Elders derail and behave in the opposite, the outcome of such society can best be imagined. It is in this premise that ECWA wishes to appeal to the conscience of all men and women from all regions of Nigeria who fear God and hope for His soon coming judgment to be cautious of the kind of legacies they pass on to the younger generations.
“As long as Nigeria remains a state entity, the 1999 Constitution guarantees the fundamental rights of all Nigerians to freely reside in any part of the country of their choice, own property and carry out their legitimate businesses. Even in cases of secession when countries become dismembered, the rights of citizens of the seceded country are still protected under a universal immigration law.
“While ECWA as a Church denomination believes Nigeria is better together and is not in any way in support of dismembering the country, it is pertinent to draw the attention of the Federal Government to critically look at the reasons for the agitations emanating from the various regions of the country. The glaring marginalization, discriminations, lopsidedness, exclusion in the socio-political and economic arrangement of the country as they have been and still are today in their louder forms are reasons for the agitation and mutual suspicion.
“The federal government must fairly analyze the Nigerian situations in terms of wealth distribution, employments in the civil service, security agencies and political appointments across the country.
“Why it is difficult For instance, to arrest the Arewa Youths issuing threats of eviction to the Igbos several days after their arrest order was issued by the Kaduna state government and the Inspector General of Police?
“Yet the recalcitrant Youths are walking the streets free and issuing further threats through media briefings held in a government Arewa House facility under a security cover. Just as it has been difficult to arrest and bring to justice the Fulani herdsmen destroying farms, churches, killing and maiming people across the country.
“On the other hand, security agencies are always active and responsive to arrest peaceful agitators in the Southeast, Southwest and some parts of the north. Who is fooling who?
“ECWA hereby wishes to use this medium to call on the federal government to be alive to its responsibility in protecting all citizens wherever they reside without recourse to their regions of origin, ethnicity, religion or sect by ensuring that justice is served fairly to all.
Dr. Gado said, “The sad experiences of the Nigerian civil war in the 60s and the colossal human losses are still fresh in our memory to contemplate or ever imagine another war. We believe that with peace, security, justice, equity and judicious application of our God given wealth, Nigeria will be a greater country.
“ECWA commends the Acting President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo for the steps he is already taking to engage the leadership of the various regions in the country and the warning to shun divisive and hate speeches.
Beyond this effort, the Church calls on the federal government to evaluate the resolutions of the National Conference held under former President Goodluck Jonathan with a view to sending it to the National Assembly for continuous dialogue in order to consider the critical areas of national unity.
The church called on all and sundry to be steadfast in praying for Nigeria and her leaders and have faith in the God who rules in the affairs of Nigeria and is able to bring it to His perfect will.
Femi Fani-Kayode, a former aviation minister, has said that the voice message purportedly from President Muhammadu Buhari is “fake and a scam”.
The vocal opposition leader took to micro-blogging website, Twitter, to express his doubts over the controversial recording which was released by Aso Rock on Sunday, June 25, 2017 and played on some radio stations, including the BBC.
“It was NOT @MBuhari that spoke in today’s sallah day audio recording. And for whoever it was to address the nation in hausa is insulting,” he wrote.
It was NOT @MBuhari that spoke in todays sallah day audio recording. And for whoever it was to address the nation in hausa is insulting.
In a chat with an online newspaper on Sunday night, Fani-Kayode elaborated on his position.
The presidency had released the audio to debunk reports that Buhari is suffering from speech impairment.
But the former presidential spokesman accused Buhari’s handlers of taking Nigerians for a ride.
“Like I wrote in my latest essay published on your website, Nigeria is not a free nation,” Chief Fani-Kayode said.
“The essay asked some fundamental questions and the the truth is that Hausa/Fulani control this country.
“Everybody knows the recording is not the president’s voice. We are firmly in the grip of dictatorship.
“They are on top of the pyramid, the rest of us are slaves. God forbid that Nigeria continue like this, we must free ourselves.”
Fani-Kayode added that the “strategy gone wrong” voice message was the same handlers of late President Yar’Adua used when he was very ill in Saudi Arabia.
“This is just like the one Yar’Adua purportedly had with BBC. They were trying to make us believe it was him.
“It was an extensive interview which at the end of the day, turned out wasn’t Yar’Adua’s voice.
“We are seeing the same pattern again. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry and I don’t know whether I am witnessing a comedy show.
“I speak from an informed position and I can tell you clearly and categorically that the person who spoke was not President Buhari.
“Those behind this scam are very insensitive and they have the IQ of a monkey.
“The person spoke in Hausa because it is what they consider as the official language of Nigeria. They couldn’t even communicate in English.
“The whole thing is a fraud and a lie. There is no reason why the Nigerian people should not know the truth about the condition of the president
“The cabal doesn’t own him; he’s our president. He has been away for 50 days now in a stretch and that by any standard is not acceptable.
“I urged the people to demand that the president be made to resign; that all powers be taken from him and transferred to the acting president.
“And those around Osinbajo should allow him act as president not as coordinator. We need direction and leadership now; not fake recordings in Hausa language,” he ended.
Fire broke out on Sunday, June 25, 2017 at the Abuja branch of the House on the Rock Church sited along the Umar Musa Yar’Adua expressway that leads to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
Yomi Shogunle, an assistant commissioner of police and head of the Nigerian Police Public Complaint Rapid Response Unit, tweeted a video of the building visibly ablaze while firefighters were struggling to put out the fire.
House on the Rock Church, Abuja on fire . 7 fire trucks at the scene. Caution needed if you are driving towards Airport, cause unknown. pic.twitter.com/zKIRikIOZN
According to an online newspaper, Signal, a member of the church who worshipped there Sunday morning that the main church building has been under renovation for a while and services have been holding at the church annex building.
Headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria, House on the Rock was founded by Pastor Paul Adefarasin.
The cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained at the time of this report.
The arrested kidnap kingpin, Chukwudi Dumeme Onwuamadike, a.k.a Evans, was arrested in 2006 for robbery, in an incident where seven members of his gang died during sharing of their loot in Lagos.
A very reliable police source gave this revelation on Sunday, June 25, 2017 as investigations on Evans past activities deepened.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) gathered that Evans and his robbery gang, in 2006 attacked a commercial bank in Lagos and went somewhere around the National Arts Theatre, Iganmu, to share the loot.
It was gathered that while sharing the loot, the robbers had a disagreement and shot one another. Seven members of the gang died instantly.
Chukwudi Dumeme Onuamadike, alias Evans addresses journalists at the police parading
“The then divisional police officer of Iponri Police Station, Yahaya Bello, now a deputy commissioner of police, said there was a serious incident involving some persons who shot at one another. He said about three of them had been arrested
“One of the members of the gang arrested then was Chukwudi Onwuamadike, popularly known as Evans. If you look at his chest, I cannot remember whether it is the right or left side, there is a scar. It was as a result of the gunshot from his gang members that day.
“He bled and there was no way he could run away before the police came. The case was transferred to the Lagos State Anti-Robbery Squad. We investigated and discovered that they were robbers.
“Evans led the team. We also went to Mgbidi Police Station, Imo State, to carry out an investigation on them. We were able to arrest two other members of the gang. We then had five of them in police custody.
“There was a policewoman at the Band Section of the Police College, Lagos. She was known as Tina, a Superintendent of Police. She insisted that we should drop the case and that Onwuamadike (Evans) was her brother.
“But when she was unable to achieve her aim, she travelled to Imo State. Not long after, we got a message from the Imo State Police Command that they had been searching for Evans and asked us to transfer the case to them so they could continue from where we stopped. Since that time, we did not hear anything. We heard he was later released there,” the source said.
The source noted that after he saw Evans pictures, he knew that he was the man they arrested alongside members of his gang in 2006, stressing, however, that Evans was not bearing the alias, Evans, at the time.
“We identified him only as Chukwudi. Some of the persons with whom we worked together on the case also called me to draw my attention to the fact that he was the one arrested.
“He couldn’t have been the only person released. The request was that we should transfer the case to them. We sent him and two members of his gang to the command. There is a hotel in Okota area where they used to meet to share their loot.
“The owner of the hotel was their friend. There was a time they robbed three banks in Alaba International Market in 2005. They also looted shops there. One of the owners of the shop complained to the police and we carried out an investigation.
“We discovered that some of the items stolen in the man’s shop were digital cameras. We traced the cameras to the hotel and into the office of the hotel owner. It was then that ‘big men’ started calling from everywhere that we should drop the charges against them.
“The owner of the hotel was later killed by the robbers, following a disagreement. His body was dumped by the roadside in one of the states in the East sometime ago,” the source told police investigators.
The source expressed fear that if Evans was not properly investigated and prosecuted he can form a terrorist group being a hardened criminal; in view of the fact that he collects any ransom demanded to the last Kobo before releasing such victims.
“The best way to handle his case is for the police to do their work. They should do a proper investigation. If it will take four months to investigate him, they should do so. He has links in South Africa, Ghana, etc.
“ I know him. Bank robbery and hijacking of bullion vans was easy for him and his gang members. He did not hesitate to shoot any member of his gang suspected of foul play,” the source noted.
NAN further gathered from the Inspector-General of Police Intelligence Response Team that Evans confirmed all the incidents alleged by the police source.
A pro-democracy group, National Committee of Yoruba Youths, NCYY, has called for the sack of the chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-Corruption, PACAC, Itse Sagay for failure to declare his assets at the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, in “accordance with the law”.
The group in a statement signed by its national president, Comrade Oladimeji Odeyemi on Sunday, June 25, 2017 in Abuja, stated that it has conducted a thorough but secret search at the CCB’s office and was convinced that Professor Sagay evaded that constitutional responsibility on him to declare his assets.
Sagay was recently caught on tape where he disclosed that he and some unnamed top government officials tried to influence the Code of Conduct Tribunal for a guilty verdict on Bukola Saraki.
“The consequences of this illegality is for Professor Sagay to be sacked from office and be immediately prosecuted. We therefore give the respected Acting President Yemi Osinbajo who is a Professor of Law and senior advocate to put a stop to this illegality within 48 hours. We also call on the CCB to within 72 hours commence the prosecution of the PACAC chairman at its tribunal”, the group stated.
AA noted that its investigation showed that the facts of Sagay’s circumvention of the law was known to the former board of the CCB headed by Mr. Sam Saba and that the board deliberately covered up the act of omission only for the facts to become known now that the CCB has no board.
“We are surprised and disappointed to find out that Sagay continues to go to equity with soiled hands. He is the one who is loudest about the anti-corruption fight of the government, yet he does not deem it fit to be transparent by declaring his assets as demanded by law,” the statement said.
“He should in fact, go beyond the demand of the law by making public his assets and justifying how he acquired them. This will put him on a moral high ground to accuse others and pontificate on the fight against corruption.
“The professor specialises in attacking everybody about corruption and need for transparency as well as using abusive words in spite of his advanced age, yet he refused to do the basic thing which would demonstrate his commitment to the fight. Sagay should walk his talk and stop being a hypocrite. With this our finding, he should be sacked and prosecuted”, the group stated.
It therefore reminded Osinbajo that failure to sack and prosecute Sagay will be another testimony to the claim by some sections of the society that the fight against corruption is selective and a mere political game.
The West African country has the biggest population and second-largest economy on the continent. It is also one of the most ethnically diverse countries in Africa.
The faultlines between ethnic groups have recently come to the fore. Nigeria’s acting president, Yemi Osinbajo, has been firefighting in the wake of an inflammatory expulsion order served by a coalition of activist groups in northern Nigeria. The so-called Northern Youth Groups demanded that all members of the Igbo —one of Nigeria’s main ethnic groups—leave northern Nigeria within three months or face forced expulsion.
In Nigeria—currently commemorating the 50th anniversary of a deadly war sparked by inter-ethnic tensions—such statements evoke horrendous memories. They can also feed into separatist ideologies that call for the breakup of a country that only came into existence in its current form a century ago.
A starving Biafran child during the famine resulting from the Biafran War in Nigeria. Picture taken on January 1, 1968
When did Nigeria become one country?
Nigeria has existed in its present form since the early 20th century when the British amalgamated its northern and southern protectorates in 1914 to form a single country. Unification brought together a wide variety of ethnic groups; Nigeria is home to more than 200 ethnicities and tribes. The three main ethnic groups—Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba and Igbo—are concentrated in the north, west, and southeast of the country respectively.
Nigeria spent another 46 years under British rule before gaining its independence in 1960. Its first prime minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, was a Hausa from the north. Balewa was killed in a military coup in 1966, led by Igbo generals. It was the first of many coups and power grabs that have blighted Nigeria’s history: the country did not witness a peaceful transfer of power until the 2015 election of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Have people tried to break it up before?
Yes. Following the 1966 coup, waves of Igbo persecution took place across northern Nigeria, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths. Many Igbos living elsewhere in Nigeria fled to the east, and after the then-president Yakubu Gowon divided Nigeria into twelve states in 1967—a move that adversely affected the Igbo’s economic prospects—the moment for secession arrived.
An ex-Nigerian military officer, Odumegwu Ojukwu, declared the independence of a region known as Biafra on May 30, 1967. Britain backed Nigeria’s sovereignty, France supported the secessionists, and the United States remained neutral, although President Richard Nixon later accused Nigeria of genocide against the majority Igbo population in Biafra.
Ojukwu’s declaration was met with a blockade by Nigeria of Biafra’s borders and a bloody three-year civil war. At least 1 million people died, many as a result of starvation as Biafra was deprived of essential supplies. After three years of attritional warfare against the far stronger Nigerian military, the Biafrans capitulated in 1970, and the republic was reintegrated into Nigeria.
Who wants to break up Nigeria now?
Several secessionist movements are gaining traction in Nigeria at present. Firstly, recent years have witnessed a revival in pro-Biafra sentiment. This has largely been triggered by Nnamdi Kanu, a British-Nigerian who heads up the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a group calling for secession. Kanu was arrested in Nigeria in October 2015 and charged with treasonable felony; he was bailed in May after almost two years in detention without trial.
Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader, Nnamdi Kanu appears in court on Wednesday, December 22, 2015. He is accused by the state of “propagating a secessionist agenda” with the intention to “levy war against Nigeria.” | Facebook
Support for an independent Biafra is on the rise: surveys by Nigerian think tank SBM Intelligence have witnessed support growing from 21.4 percent to 43.2 percent in the south and southeast over 18 months. “One thing that the pro-Biafra movement has successfully done is put the issues on the table,” says Cheta Nwanze, head of research at SBM Intelligence. But Nwanze says that autonomy, rather than full secession, is the more likely solution.
The oil-rich Niger Delta has been the site of militant insurgencies in recent years. In 2016, attacks on oil pipelines and facilities, led by a group called the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), slashed production by more than half and drove Nigeria’s oil-dependent economy into recession. The NDA, like other Delta-based groups, have called for a greater share in Nigeria’s natural resources, but have also threatened secession, though their campaign has died down in recent months.
In the northeast, Boko Haram—a militant group whose name means “Western education is forbidden”—declared war on the Nigerian government in 2009 with the stated aim of establishing a radical Islamist caliphate in the region. At its strongest point in early 2015, Boko Haram controlled territory equivalent to the size of Belgium. But since Buhari came to power, it has been beaten back and much of its territory reclaimed by government forces. The group remains a menace, however, and has launched some 50 attacks so far in 2017.
How is the government dealing with it?
The Buhari administration has been successful at taking back territory from Boko Haram, even while the jihadis continue to carry out suicide bombings. And after stoking more tension by sending the military into the Niger Delta, the government has managed to calm tensions, in part by extending amnesty payments to former militants in the region.
On the Biafra issue, however, the government’s response has been widely criticized as heavy-handed. Amnesty International said that Nigeria’s military had employed a “reckless and trigger-happy approach” in dealing with pro-Biafra protests, killing 150 demonstrators since August 2015 ; the military denied it had used undue force.
Max Siollun, a historian of Nigeria, believes that the government is unlikely to give in to the secessionist’s demands, particularly given the bloodshed of the 1967 war. “There is very little chance of the federal government considering an independence referendum for any part of Nigeria,” says Siollun, the author of Soldiers of Fortune: A History of Nigeria (1983-1993) . “Nigeria’s elites will handle these secessionist demands the way they always do: via some form of unwieldy yet ingenious backdoor compromise.”
What’s going to happen next?
In the wake of the divisive statement made by the Northern Youth Groups, Vice-President Osinbajo has met with governors and traditional rulers from both the north and the southeast. The Nigerian government has been quick to emphasize the country’s indissoluble unity, and Osinbajo has threatened that ethnic inciters will face the “full force of the law.”
But according to Nwanze, the Nigeria analyst, the tensions are likely to come to a head. Nigeria’s population is continuing to mushroom—the U.N. estimates that, by 2050, Nigeria will overtake the United States as the third most populous country in the world—and its economy is sluggish, with poverty widespread. “If improperly managed, the current tensions are a huge threat. Nigeria is currently unstable, and a spark could ignite a flame,” says Nwanze. “In its current state, and with current revenue trends, Nigeria has two decades maximum before it implodes.”
Culled from Newsweek.
Ayodele Fayose, the governor of Ekiti State, has called on the federal government to consider restructuring to give states and local governments greater powers and responsibilities.
He also charged it to dialogue with the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, and other groups as a step towards dousing tensions in the country.
The governor, who spoke on Sunday, June 25, 2017 in Ado Ekiti, said the federal government should be fair to all sections of the country, especially, the “marginalized” Igbo people,
While condemning the quit notice issued to the Igbos by a northern youth group, the governor charged the federal government to take steps at addressing the varied agitations of the different sections of Nigeria.
“As much as secession is not an option, the handlers of our democracy must be equitable, fair and just to everyone,” he said.
“The Igbo have continued to suffer because of the perceived role of Emeka Ojukwu. If we say past governments didn’t do well what has the present government done differently?
“I agree that secession is not desirable but there must be justice and equity. When people are being killed or vilified, you must expect a reaction. No region should begin to use power to oppress another. If Nigeria is truly one, it will not get to a stage that one region will openly call on another to leave its land.
“The Acting President Yemi Osinbajo is doing his best but that is not enough. We must remember that those who make positive change impossible make violent change inevitable. A situation where a section will be suffering forever because of their role in the civil war is not fair.”
He said the revenue sharing formula should be reviewed “because it is not a true reflection of our collective interest. For the country to move forward the states should takeover economically.”
“The federal government must purge itself of some responsibilities because the actual development is at grassroots. The states and the local governments are nodal points of developments,” he said.
On the IPOB agitations, Governor Fayose said, “The federal government should dialogue with the aggrieved and forge ahead. Using force will not help because some of those things they thought had died in the past are now rearing their ugly heads.
“It is no doubt that (Nnamdi) Kanu is representing the interest of the younger generation of Igbo. Instead of fighting him, they should release them and invite him for a dialogue.
“His struggle has become an ideological movement with massive followers irrespective of what some people are telling the federal government to curry a favour, which is momentarily. By the action of this government they have made Kanu more popular.
“Without mincing words, the present government has divided Nigeria more than ever. It is the legitimate right of the people to agitate if they feel they are wrongly treated. You can’t get peace where there is no justice.
“Nigeria belongs to all of us. It is the wish of some people that an Igbo man does not become the president but this is against the spirit and letters of our constitution.”
The Nigerian Presidency on Sunday, June 25, 2017 released an audio message in which it says that President Muhammadu Buhari recorded as a Eid-El-Fitr message for Muslim faithfuls in the country.
In the 1.02 minute audio recording, a voice is heard wishing Nigerians a happy Eid-El-Fitr celebration.
President Buhari has been outside Nigeria for a medical treatment since May 7, 2017 when the Nigerian presidency said that he was leaving for London. He has not been seen in public since that day when he met with 82 Chibok schoolgirls who were released at that time.
Below is a YouTube video of the audio recording.
The Buhari Hausa Message a Fake – Fani-Kayode
Femi Fani-Kayode, a former aviation minister, has said that the voice message purportedly from President Muhammadu Buhari is “fake and a scam”.
The vocal opposition leader took to micro-blogging website, Twitter, to express his doubts over the controversial recording which was released by Aso Rock on Sunday, June 25, 2017 and played on some radio stations, including the BBC.
“It was NOT @MBuhari that spoke in today’s sallah day audio recording. And for whoever it was to address the nation in hausa is insulting,” he wrote.
It was NOT @MBuhari that spoke in todays sallah day audio recording. And for whoever it was to address the nation in hausa is insulting.
In a chat with an online newspaper on Sunday night, Fani-Kayode elaborated on his position.
The presidency had released the audio to debunk reports that Buhari is suffering from speech impairment.
But the former presidential spokesman accused Buhari’s handlers of taking Nigerians for a ride.
“Like I wrote in my latest essay published on your website, Nigeria is not a free nation,” Chief Fani-Kayode said.
“The essay asked some fundamental questions and the the truth is that Hausa/Fulani control this country.
“Everybody knows the recording is not the president’s voice. We are firmly in the grip of dictatorship.
“They are on top of the pyramid, the rest of us are slaves. God forbid that Nigeria continue like this, we must free ourselves.”
Fani-Kayode added that the “strategy gone wrong” voice message was the same handlers of late President Yar’Adua used when he was very ill in Saudi Arabia.
“This is just like the one Yar’Adua purportedly had with BBC. They were trying to make us believe it was him.
“It was an extensive interview which at the end of the day, turned out wasn’t Yar’Adua’s voice.
“We are seeing the same pattern again. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry and I don’t know whether I am witnessing a comedy show.
“I speak from an informed position and I can tell you clearly and categorically that the person who spoke was not President Buhari.
“Those behind this scam are very insensitive and they have the IQ of a monkey.
“The person spoke in Hausa because it is what they consider as the official language of Nigeria. They couldn’t even communicate in English.
“The whole thing is a fraud and a lie. There is no reason why the Nigerian people should not know the truth about the condition of the president
“The cabal doesn’t own him; he’s our president. He has been away for 50 days now in a stretch and that by any standard is not acceptable.
“I urged the people to demand that the president be made to resign; that all powers be taken from him and transferred to the acting president.
“And those around Osinbajo should allow him act as president not as coordinator. We need direction and leadership now; not fake recordings in Hausa language,” he ended.
A South-East socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, on Saturday, June 24, 2017, has said that the quit notice issued to Igbos by a group of Northern youth amounts to treason as it is an obvious violation of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Nnia Nwodo, the president general of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, told members of the press in Enugu during the inaugurating the planning and strategy committee of Ndigbo, that the quit notice issued by the Arewa youth amounted to the declaration of a new state of Nigeria because without the Igbos, there can be no Nigeria.
Ohanaeze said it was worried that none of those who issued the October 1st quit order has been arrested despite directives from the Kaduna State governor.
The group also “doubts seriously if there won’t be conflagrations in the Northern part of the country at the expiration of the deadline if the quit order was not complied with”.
“Quite recently we have witnessed very provoking and unpatriotic remarks from Arewa youths. Their remarks have grown from whispers to a national quit notice to Igbos to leave northern Nigeria,” Chief Nwodo said.
“While we applaud the immediate and unequivocal condemnation of their utterances by the governor of Kaduna State, northern governors forum, the Middle Belt Forum and the rather mild and unequivocal condemnation from the Arewa Consultative Forum, the defiance of the Arewa youths by threatening and daring the police to arrest them, the clear incapacitation of the police and unwillingness to arrest them, their renewed aggression following the issuance of another statement involving an association of wider youth organisations in the north and the support offered to them by splinter elements of the northern elders forum point to a swell of reasonable support from a section of northern Nigeria.
“What remains worrisome is the incapacity of the police to make needful arrests in this situation, pointing to double standards from our security forces. A desire and public proclamation for a state of Biafra cannot be too different from a quit notice, which amounts to a declaration for a new state of Nigeria without the Igbo,” Ohanaeze said.
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 northern groups’ threat to Igbos is now widely referred to as the Kaduna Declaration and has been widely condemned by public officials and political groups. However, it has also received wide support from northern elements like Professor Ango Abdullahi.
The Niger Delta Revolutionary Crusaders, NDRC, a militant group in the Niger Delta has said it would no longer tolerate the North’s born-to-rule mentality, calling on all Niger Deltans to return home.
WOI Izon-Ebi, the spokesperson for the group, disclosed this in a statement to Vanguard on Monday, June 26, 2017, adding that the only way to have a peaceful Nigeria is the adoption of true federalism.
“We will no longer accept the born to rule mentality of an ethnic group, which exploits others for the benefits of a few and reiterate that fiscal federalism with power devolved to the regions as the only panacea for peace in the country,” the NDRC said.
“The NDRC and the people of the Niger Delta can no longer tolerate vituperations of people like Ango Abdullahi and Junaid Mohammed, who are beating the drums of hatred and war.
“Our advice to the government and so -called owners of Nigeria is that there is no slave/master relationship in the Nigerian federation and there is no recorded Nigerian history whereby Usman Dan Fodio conquered the people of the Niger Delta and as such made the Niger Delta become inferior to the people of the caliphate.”
The group added that the Niger Delta have sacrificed much for the nation’s unity and such is not appreciated, revealing that the renaissance of the North has begun.
“The NDRC states categorically that societies are built on justice and equity and as such, come September 31, 2017, we will prove that this is the 21st century and that the renaissance of the Niger Delta has begun,” and calling on all Niger Deltans “to immediately come back to their fatherland.
“It has been made known openly by one Alhaji Usman Bagagi of the Northern Elders and Leaders Forum that the North owns the oil and the Niger Delta region because of their landmass and population.”
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 northern groups’ threat to Igbos is now widely referred to as the Kaduna Declaration and has been widely condemned by public officials and political groups. However, it has also received wide support from northern elements like Professor Abdullahi.
A civil rights organisation, Campaign Against Military Impunity, has raised the alarm over alleged recruitment scandal in the Nigerian Airforce.
The organisation alleged that the chief of air staff, Air Vice Marshal Sadiq Abubakar, had compromised standards in the recruitment exercise for non-commissioned officers from the core North.
Presently at the Airforce Base in Kaduna, there is ongoing pre-training formalities and tests for successful recruits, where 80 per cent of them are Northerners, CAMI said.
Victor Coker, the executive director of CAMI, told journalists in Abuja, on Monday, June 26, 2017 that the government should carry out an audit of the exercise and courses going on in all the military training institutions.
“To unravel this misnomer, there should be an audit of the courses going on in all the training institutions. The audit should look at the composition and last three batches of those in training”, he advised.
Coker said, “They were supposed to take 68 persons in each state; but after the normal recruitment, the Chief of Air Staff now brought over 2,000 names spread across the core Northern States. Out of this figure, only 30/40 was given to the South. This is not the first time it is happening. Such things have been done in DSS, EFCC, and even police, Army and the Navy.
“We keep on preaching One Nigeria, One Nigeria. But behind the empty slogan of One Nigeria lies bare-faced hypocrisy and grand design to sentence part of the country to perpetual slavery.”
According to him, Northerners have been so smart to shortchange the entire South even during previous population census exercises conducted by the National Population Commission (NPC),
“How can the desert be more populated than the tropical rain forest? This was how the population census was done before independence”, he queried.
But when contacted, the Director of Public Relations and Information in Nigerian Airforce, Air Commodore Olatokunbo Adesanya, denied the allegation.
He said, “I think it is most advisable that the list of the people recruited should be made public first. Then, those making the claims can painstakingly go through the list. If there is any state that is not fairly represented, then, let them raise the alarm, rather than be speculating. A list is not yet out, yet people are speculating that the North has been favoured.
“Don’t forget that each state should be fairly represented. If you have certified people and everybody in a state are not medically qualified, are you going to disregard everybody in that state? We operate with the highest standards and we do not compromise on standard, either medical, physical or academic.”
Recently, Harold Smith, one of the architects of colonial foundation that midwifed Nigerian independence in 1960, opened up and confessed how the census was manipulated to favour the North.
Smith was said to have confessed during a program on Ben TV what went behind the scene before the independence.
The Oxford University graduate said, “I am in my 80s now; I have agreed but in the past’ they’ did not want me to say anything, but now I don’t want to go to my grave without telling the truth about the atrocities perpetrated in Africa by the colonialists.
“Our agenda was to completely exploit Africa. Nigeria was my duty post. When we assessed Nigeria, this was what we found in the southern region; *strength, intelligence, determination to succeed, well established history, complex but focused life style, great hope and aspirations.
“The East was good in business and technology, the West was good in administration and commerce, law and medicine. But it was a pity we planned our agenda to give power at all cost to the Northerner.”
. 7 fire trucks 
at the scene.
