As the Countdown Continues on the 90-Day Notice of Grave Constitutional Grievances issued by NINAS CFM December 16, 2020, the Secretariat of the Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self-Determination (NINAS) has in recent days been inundated with enquiries relating to a ‘Proposal for Restructuring Nigeria’ presented to the National Assembly by a group that styled itself “Eminent Elders Forum” (EEF).
*The General Public is hereby informed that NINAS is not in anyway involved in associated with or in support of the said EEF Proposal for Restructuring Nigeria.*
NINAS Posits that the Promoters of that Proposal to are merely struggling to drag the Process of the Inevitable Reconfiguration of the Damaged Constitutional Basis of Nigeria to the National Assembly for the purpose of helping the “Owners” of Nigeria to preserve the Union of Death that Unitary Nigeria has become to the Constituent Components especially the Peoples of the South and Middle Belt of Nigeria who raised the December 16, 2020 Union Dispute.
For the Avoidance of Doubt, the Proposition of NINAS for how the Fundamental Reconfiguration of the Damaged Constitutional Basis of Nigeria can be undertaken, is contained in the Closing paragraph of the December 16, 2020 CFM Proclamation where NINAS expressly adopted and incorporated the November 16, 2018 “OPEN MEMORANDUM TO PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI ON THE RESTRUCTURING DEBATE” as its Detailed Proposition for Addressing the Grave Constitutional Grievances raised in the Union Dispute Declared December 16, 2020.
NINAS maintains unequivocally that the Powers and Legislative Mandate of the National Assembly does not extend to Constitution-Making as Constitution-Making requires Constituent Powers which reside Exclusively with the Constituent Components (Peoples) of Nigeria as an Incident of their Sovereignty even by the Admission of the Fraudulent 1999 Constitution at Section 14(2)(a) which states that : “Sovereignty Belongs to the People of Nigeria from whom, Government, through this Constitution, Derives all its Powers and Authority”.
The Main Grievance of NINAS and the Peoples of Southern and Middle Belt Nigeria against the 1999 Constitution is the Egregious False Claim in the Preamble that “We the People” had “Firmly and Solemnly Resolved to Live in Unity as One Indivisible and Indissoluble Nation” and therefore “Made, Enacted and Gave Ourselves” the said Constitution.
These are self-evident Lies and the Proof is the very Decree No.24 of May 5, 1999, (printed as part of the 1999 Constitution) by which the 1999 Constitution was Imposed by the General Abdusalam Abubakar Miltary Junta and these Render the 1999 Constitution a Forgery and and a Fraud.
Let it be recalled that the NINAS Predecessor Alliance, MNN, had in 2007 challenged the Legitimacy of the 1999 Constitution in Court on the basis the aforementioned Forgery and Fraud. To Date, the Federal Government of Nigeria has not found any answer to this Fatal Challenge on the Sole Legal Instrument upon which the Nigeria Union is Currently Erected.
Let us also recall that Prof Auwalu Yadudu, (Gen Abacha’s Chief Legal Adviser who was retained by the Abdusalam Abubakar Junta to preside over the dark room processing of the illicit 1999 Constitution) had in mid-2020 raised the alarm about the imminent Unhinging of the Legal Basis of the Distressed Nigerian Federation when Consultations were underway for the Constitutional Force Majeure. Prof Yadudu, more than anyone else, knows the Fraudulent and Untenable Foundation upon which the 1999 Constitution Rests. *NINAS has by the December 16, 2020 Joint Multi-Regional Constitutional Force Majeure, UNHINGED the Legal Basis of the Federation of Nigeria thus bringing the Distressed Union the imperative of EITHER Reconstituting OR Dismantling itself. NINAS has by its December 16, 2020 Proclamation, tabled an Orderly and Clear Framework by which this Inevitable Reconstruction or Dismantling can be Undertaken to avoid the Anarchy already Looming Over Nigeria.*
Interested Members of the Public may wish to read the Full Text of the CFM and its 5-Point Demands as published in the Guardian Newspaper of January 20, 2021 (Pages 38, 39, 40 & 41) and the Reconfiguration Proposition of NINAS as encapsulated in the aforementioned November 16, 2018 Open Memorandum to the President, as reported by the Guardian Newspaper of November 18, 2018.
The Position of NINAS is that there must be a Discussion and Resolution of the Sovereignty Question in Nigeria (which has been described some as the National Question) before the talk of Writing any New Constitution arises.
Having been engaged by NINAS on the Issues at Stake, it is our Suspicion that the EEF Promoters of the *Constitution-Writing-First Proposition* to the National Assembly are trying to help Nigeria evade the Discussion and Resolution of the aforementioned Sovereignty Question which the Caliphate-Owned Unitary Nigeria has been evading since 1967 but which the Constituent Components of Nigeria, especially in the South and Middle-Belt now insist MUST be addressed forthwith, in a Two-Stage Process that begins at the First Stage with a Process for Recommitment to Union (or Opting Out of Union) by way of Regional Referendums, before the Question of Constitution-Writing at the Second Stage, depending on the outcome of the said Regional Referendums.
This Two-Stage Procedure was clearly spelt out in the 4th Demand of the CFM Proclamation and *those jumping to Constitution-Writing-First are Clear-Minded in their desire to evade the Discussion and Resolution of the Question of whether or not the Constituent Components of Nigeria wish to remain in the Union of Nigeria as imposed by British Fiat of 1914 and as being enforced by the Imposed but now Repudiated 1999 Constitution.*
NINAS posits that the Desperate Attempt of the embattled enforcers of Unitary Nigeria to avoid and evade this Two-Stage Process (which holds the Key to Resolving the Grave Constitutional Grievances Raised in Union Dispute), is the main reason the EEF Promoters of the Constitution-Writing-First Proposition are throwing up their Proposal which also attempts to railroad everything and everyone to the National Assembly, which itself, is a Product of the Disputed 1999 Constitution.
NINAS further Posits that in seeking to address by Amendments, the Grave Constitutional Grievances being raised by the Constituent Components of Nigeria, the National Assembly is Illicitly Appropriating to itself our Collective Sovereignty thereby Compounding and Aggravating the Treason initiated in 1999 by General Abdusalam Abubakar against the Peoples of Nigeria, when he and his Confederates in the then Armed Forces Ruling Council Imposed the 1999 Constitution by Decree but Fraudulently by way the aforementioned Preamble, inserted our Collective Signatures on that Constitution as the Authors of our Damnation.
NINAS insists that 21 Years after, this Fraud of 1999 Must be Halted and Dismantled.
It will not maim the Fulani and let the rest of us go
The accidents it will cause will take all lives
For when a vehicle somersaults it breaks all bones
So, you can speak Nupe till morning comes
It will not build libraries in our public schools
And when a woman, a young woman, lies dying in childbirth
Your fluency in Ijaw will not save her life
For Christian or Muslim, it makes no difference
When you’re being driven around in an ambulance
From hospital to hospital in search of oxygen
Northerner or Southerner, you will die suffocating
You will die of causes easily preventable
Like no fuel for police to respond to your distress call
No water, no light, no nurses, no jobs
Nothing kills as efficiently as bad governance
As Politicians in Office who do not pay salaries
Whose response to bad roads is bigger SUVs
Who set up committees, and publish white papers
Presiding over affairs that never improve
Politicians in Jeeps, with minds in London
Perpetual latecomers to every meeting
Irritated by anyone with a different opinion
Who see ‘The People’ as a throne to sit on
Politicians in Power, who personalize the State
Who criminalize criticism, and terrorize dissent
Nothing in society kills as efficiently
As a Politician in High Office with low mentality
For you see? Boko Haram will burn down a classroom
But a Politician can swallow the entire school system
Can fold our Power Stations and put in his briefcase
Can roll up the Railways and keep in her house
Politicians can file our sea ports away in a drawer
Can cripple all our farms with no fertilizer
No matter the passion you bring to your start-up
Government can kill it with just one pronouncement
And no degree you hold, no grammar you speak
No decision you make to just face your work
No protest you stage can save you from those
Elected to make and enforce our laws
The way they see things is a wall around you
For you cannot drive faster than the person driving you
No matter your wealth, education or achievement
You are subject to the mentality of those in Government
Politicians in Office hold the yam and the knife
For to elect is to give the elected power over life
Which child will remain almajiri or become someone better?
These things are in the hands of the people in Power
Politicians in Office hold the farm and the seed
For to elect is to give the elected the power to decide
Whether Security operatives can murder citizens and walk away free?
These things are in the hands of those who run the country
So, if you are tired of it all, then strike at its roots…
If you are tired of needing a letter from a Senator to get a job
If you are tired of seeing your hustle frustrated by public policies
If you are tired of insecurity, then fix the politics
If you’re tired of the hunger, the anger, in our streets
If you’re tired of the number of children who die before age 5
If you’re tired of the dreams suffocated in our youths
If you are tired of this shame, then fix the politics
For until they are there in Public Office
Men and women with a heart for public service
No tribe, no tongue – just a commitment to build
A functional nation that fills us all with pride
Until they are there in the highest Office
Men and women with a heart for selfless service
No region, no religion – just commitment to Nation…
Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, says he is in the governorship race of Anambra to make the South-East geopolitical zone an island of prosperity.
Soludo told newsmen in Awka that South-East had become largely unlivable despite the solid foundation and infrastructure laid down before the Civil War. “For you to create a liveable society comparable to any other place, it requires a crusade for all and it must happen simultaneously in the South-East,” he said.
He said Anambra had been relatively lucky with good governance in spite of its little resource .“My African Dubai Taiwan metaphor of development for Anambra is not dead. “The larger goal is to make Nigeria a prosperous nation by creating prosperous and happy states.
“The mission is to create a greater tomorrow,” Soludo said. He said that his aspiration was not a personal quest to enrich his livelihood, saying, “God has blessed me beyond imagination from a poor village boy to the peak of my career as a professor.” Soludo, who noted that he had served in more than 25 committees at the federal level and travelled to about 45 countries, said his wealth of experience placed him above other contestants. “I have done it at the global level and at the national level and now I want to contribute my quota at the state level. “There is nobody else with the global contact and national network or anything 10 per cent near it as I have for the job,” he said.
AN INDEBTH INTERVIEW ON THE RESULTS OF A STUDY IN ABU ZARIA ON BANDITRY IN THE NORTH. IF YOU ARE SEARCHING FOR THE ROOT CAUSES, PLS READ. QUITE INTETESTING.
The following piece is by Dr Abubakar Siddique Mohammed, the Director, Centre for Democratic Development Research and Training, Zango Shanu, Zaria, whose centre carried out research on banditry, kidnapping and killings in Zamfara and Katsina states. He speaks on the findings of their research. Members of this platform should please take the time to go through it. It is very revealing, as it gives a real perspective to what is happening in the North Western part of the country, and the danger it poses for the country:
Four years ago, you warned that unless urgent steps were taken to stop the crisis in Zamfara, the whole country could be consumed. With what is happening now, it seems you were prophetic. We are 20 years into democracy and Nigerians are wondering why insecurity has become such a big issue.
Four years ago when we first did our studies, it was farmer/herders conflict. What I am going to talk to you about is what is happening today in the North-West, Kaduna, Katsina, Sokoto and Zamfara, which is the epicentre of insecurity in the North. This conflict has been on for more than four years. It started as farmers/herders conflict but it degenerated into something else. Some years ago, there were armed robberies in the North-West. In the Zamfara area, some Fulani boys were alleged to be the major culprits.
In the areas we studied, there were so many ungoverned spaces: No electricity, telecommunication and local governments existed only in name. You could hardly see anybody when you go there. Over a long period of time, traditional leaders and Islamic teachers were the ones dealing with the crisis. There was no presence of the state. The roads were extremely bad and the people left to their fate. So when the armed robberies persisted, people took it upon themselves to bring about law and order, they formed vigilante groups.
The vigilante groups were quite often not trained. So they went beyond their limits whenever they went on operations. In the Dansadau area of Zamfara, they identified some boys, who also happened to be of Fulani stock. They attacked some of them and killed them. They were very brutal. They wanted to stamp out armed robbery in the area. They were the police, the prosecutor and judge. They did not stop in the towns and semi-urban centres. They pursued the Fulani deep into the forest and, in the process, killed so many innocent people. This was the immediate cause of the conflict.
*Ethnic coloration*
Four years ago, it had already started taking ethnic coloration because those who organised the killings happened to be Hausa and those who were killed were the Fulani. At this point, the Fulani pastoralists started asking, on what basis were they being attacked? They had nothing to do with armed robbery; they had nothing to do with the theft in the area. They were not in town. The story of killings of the Fulani repeated itself in all the areas we visited. When the attacks on the Fulani became generalised, some of them withdrew, went and reorganised and came back to those localities where they were attacked, identified those who organised the attacks and sought revenge.
At that time, it was not generalised. They targeted those who organised the killing of their kinsmen. Then it became a tit-for-tat. Those in the bush will organise attacks and there will be counter-attacks. It took ethnic dimension. The conflict started escalating. Those pastoralists who withdrew as a result of constant attacks on them organised and came back and they forced the neutral pastoralists, those who were not party to any of the conflicts, those who were not attacked or even if they were attacked remained neutral, to join them in what they called the emancipation of the Fulani by participating directly or contributing to the financing of the struggle. Those whose kids were of fighting age were forced to donate their kids or provide money.
At the height of the conflict, virtually all the rural rich suffered one form of attack or the other. We were not able to establish whether the attacks were carried out only by the Fulani. In all the areas we visited, there were no banks. People kept money at home. These bandits will break into a man’s house and insist that he gives them all his money. In some cases, they will rape his wife and daughters in his presence. It was a terrible situation.
*What was government’s reaction to the worsening security situation?*
The government in Zamfara was not serious about the challenge ab initio. From fighting rural banditry by the vigilantes to the retaliation by the Fulani, the challenge morphed into generalised rural banditry. At this stage, the farmers and pastoralists became victims of a superior force. The pastoralists lost their herds because some other forces had come in and subjugated both the pastoralists and farmers.
A third force then emerged which dispossessed the pastoralists of their cows, dispossessed the farmers of their savings which they kept at home and drove them away from their lands. In the areas we studied, virtually all the cattle had been rustled by bandits. From rustling the cattle, they moved to kidnapping. When the crisis degenerated between the bandits and the vigilante groups, it escalated.
In one town in Zamfara, the vigilante group there was meeting to discuss how they could deal with the rural banditry. The bandits heard about the meeting, they attacked the town on a market day and killed about 200 people. When we got to the town shortly after, it was like a ghost town. There were no human beings in sight. When these youths lost their cattle, they had nothing to do anymore. But, surprisingly, they started seeing some of their rustled cows with some of the rich people around the area and that is what triggered the kidnappings. They could not get to some of the rich people because they had their own security guards armed with AK 47 rifles or police protection. So what the criminals did was to also acquire AK 47 rifles as a balance of terror. I have not spoken about land.
*The crisis in Zamfara is multi-dimensional.*
Some years back, the Zamfara government, under Sani Yerima, decided to drive the Fulani out of their ancestral land to pave the way for big farmers. These were people who had lived there for over five hundred years. Overnight, they were pushed out and their land and the land given out to the rich and many of the Fulani had to relocate to other parts of Nigeria or other parts of Zamfara which, in turn, heightened conflict with farmers.
The Fulani were dispossessed, first of land and later of their cattle. Violence was used in both instances. Many of the boys operating around the Abuja-Kaduna highway are from Zamfara.
*What was government reaction to your study which was made public four years ago?*
We made it known four years ago that this thing will get out of control. We recommended that concerted efforts had to be made to stop the crisis. You cannot solve the problems in Kaduna, Katsina and Sokoto without dealing with the situation in Zamfara.
*How can the situation in Zamfara be tackled?*
The Zamfara situation has gotten out of control. The security architecture we have in the country cannot deal with the crisis. It is going to be with us for some time to come. Take for instance the police. Let us say we have 370,000 policemen. How can they effectively cover the 774 local government areas and tackle the different security challenges in the country? We are certainly under-policed. The police cannot deal with the situation. They can only do their best but they cannot deal with the situation.
Everywhere you go in the country, there is one form of crisis or the another; so the police are overstretched. Same thing goes for the army. They have also been overstretched. We need to expand the armed forces and the police. The number and the capacity are simply not there now. There are other factors that we have to deal with. The North-West is the poorest part of the country. We have so many educated boys who are unemployed and many more uneducated who have lost everything including hope. We must tackle this issue of poverty and, unless we tackle it, the problem will keep escalating.
In Zamfara for instance, I read in the media that for 16 months, civil servants have not been paid, despite the Paris Club refund by the Federal Government. The only industry in Zamfara is politics and yet all that the people need in Zamfara is security for them to farm. They are not lazy. They produce large quantities of maize and other things. Many of them have been pushed out to other states. If you go to Abuja, Kaduna, Lagos and other cities, they are the ones hawking on the street or riding motorcycle (Okada). The governor of the state was never there. He was always in Abuja.
In Kaduna, the governor is doing very well providing leadership; in Katsina, the governor is doing very well. But no matter what Kaduna and Katsina do, we will not be able to solve this problem unless we deal with Zamfara which is the epicentre of the crisis. The governor is not serious about it.
So what started in Zamfara as a local problem has escalated to other parts of the country. Of course other bandits moved in because of the security vacuum in Zamfara. They started operating in Zamfara before spreading to Katsina and Kaduna. Initially, it was restricted to the Birnin Gwari area of the state but it has now expanded. Let us move very fast and contain the situation or it will spread further and when it spreads further, given the weakness in the security architecture of this country, we will not be able to deal with it for a very long time.
But the armed forces have been bombing areas they said are the stronghold of the bandits. When you bomb and leave, the bandits come back. You have to hold territory and the security forces don’t have enough capacity to hold territory. The bandits even boast that they see fighter jets coming and dodge, the jets bomb and leave and the bandits continue with their lives. I think the Federal Government is just reacting because there is public outcry against what is happening in Zamfara.
*Findings*
We have been working in those areas for more than four years and we have made our findings public but no government agency has ever asked us what we have found.
*As a political scientist, how do you describe the security situation in Nigeria 20 years after democracy?*
We have a structure which was doing very well in the past. But the complexity of global politics has complicated the situation in this country, so there is a need for a review of the structure that we have. Whatever is happening in Nigeria has effects on neighbouring countries, so we are not dealing with what is happening in Nigeria only. The country has expanded in terms of population. Remember we even reduced the size of the army at a point. The security services have been overwhelmed by the myriads of problems that we have in this country. As far as we are concerned, we need to introduce a new force. I don’t mean we should dismantle the security services. The police should be left to deal with the normal problems they have been dealing with. We need a superior force, a rapid force that is superior to the police, armed and rapid to deal with the kind of banditry that we are contending with. It’s a force which is superior to the police but inferior to the Nigerian Army. The army will now be left to do what it is supposed to do: protect the territorial integrity of the country.
Before the army is brought into any crisis situation, this second layer force would have dealt with the situation. They will just come in to finish whatever is left.
*Are you advocating the return of National Guard?*
It can be called whatever name but we need it. The security architecture needs some tinkering, so we need something like that. Look at what is happening in the country. The military is being destroyed. They are there at the roadblocks and exposed to the corruption associated with roadblocks. They are there doing what they are not supposed to do and yet their attention is needed in places like Borno and Yobe. I think the time has come that we expand the police, create another layer within the security architecture and retrain the police with new values to face the new challenges. Unless we do that, we will be overwhelmed by the new challenges.
The governors, with the exception of the governor of Zamfara, are doing their best. Most of the time, the governor of Zamfara is not there and you need somebody to be there to give leadership. There is complete leadership failure in Zamfara and that is why this crisis has continued in the state and has now consumed even states that are doing their best.
When we started our study, it was Sabuwa in Katsina that was affected; now Batsari, Safana and Kankara have all been affected. All the villages there have become bandit territories. The bandits have moved to the Kaduna-Abuja highway and Kaduna-Zaria highway is just a matter of time before the bandits move in.
Faskari in Katsina State which is not far from Shika in Zaria, all the villages there are now bandit territories. All the villagers have moved into towns around there. Many towns now exist in names because they have disappeared. People have moved. They have become ghost towns because of banditry. And because of the vacuum we have in Zamfara, many criminals have moved from other parts of Nigeria to that area. Something that started as a local dispute, improperly handled, has gotten out of control.
Politicians in Zamfara are all culpable. I was surprised when the Minister of Defence pointed accusing fingers at traditional rulers. During the course of our studies, the only people that were always there to console the victims of these bandits were the traditional rulers and mallams. They have become managers of misfortunes. Until this situation got out of control, Governor Yari was treating the bandits with kid gloves. He was even threatening government officials. They had overwhelmed the police and so government had to initiate dialogue. The deputy governor was asked to negotiate with the leader of the bandits. But the bandits’ leader kept the deputy governor waiting for hours and then sent a message that he was not ready to meet him.
Initially, the government of Zamfara was not ready to deal with the bandits the way they should be dealt with because they intended using them for political purposes. During election, parties that won in areas where the bandits were in control were parties that were in contact with the leaders of the bandits. The bandits would direct the villagers on what to do and they will obey because they are armed. The come to villages in about fifty to one hundred motorcycles. On each motorcycle, there will be three of them each armed with AK-47 rifle. They even attacked a town on a Sallah day.
*What is the implication of this on national food security?*
We did a study on the impact of this on the economy. People who used to produce two hundred bags of maize cannot produce anymore. They have been driven off the land. In one of the towns we visited, the bandits had written to the district head ordering him to tell his people not to go to farm. In one of the towns, fifteen people who defied the order were killed. For fear of their lives, many of these villagers fled to neighbouring towns. Same thing applied to the pastoralists. In that town I am talking about, the king of the Fulani lost one hundred and fifty cows. He was left with fifty sheep. One day he called me and told me that moments after I interviewed him, the bandits had taken the fifty sheep. He barely escaped with his life. There is a cattle market that used to sell five hundred cows a week. When we went, there was no single cow in that market.
*Abandoned*
The people feel abandoned. It was because of that same feeling of abandonment that they set up the vigilantes to defend themselves; went beyond their limits and the thing snowballed into what we have now. I know governors don’t control the police but it is a lie if the man (Zamfara Governor Abdul-aziz Yari Abubakar) says he has no influence over the police. But the man is not even there to have a proper appreciation of the crisis. When he leaves Zamfara, everything stops until he comes back.
*Given your vast knowledge about what is happening, what is your advice to the Federal Government?*
We asked the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in Zamfara. There is no government in Zamfara. And the people are helpless. This study convinced me that Nigerians are patriots and patient. That is why our leaders are taking us for granted. In virtually all the places we went, there was absence of government in Zamfara. Bandits outnumber security agents in some areas. One of my informants in Safana told me that all the neighbouring villages had been taken over by bandits. He said in the whole of the local government, there were less than a hundred policemen. The bandits no longer hide. They come to the market. Sometimes they take your things and pay. Sometimes they don’t pay. Nobody can challenge them. We tend to observe things in isolation. We tend to see what is happening in Zamfara as a Zamfara issue. That is wrong. You may not care if you are living in Agenebode but your brother may be working in that town as a police officer or in another capacity. We were treating this conflict as a Zamfara conflict. Now it has engulfed Kaduna, it has engulfed Sokoto and Katsina. When they took over Kaduna road, it’s not only Kaduna people that are affected. Everybody on the road is a victim.”
Today makes it the 5th day since the release of the viral video of Islamic Cleric, Sheik Abubakar Gumi suggesting to Fulani bandits that it is Christian soldiers that are killing them, and as such, they (the bandits) should focus on attacking Christian soldiers. In that video, the govt appointed spiritual father to Fulani bandits was heard telling the criminals that he got the information from a senior military officer and that he believed the source.
A few points to note:
Sheik Gumi is a well educated well traveled man. A medical doctor and a retd army captain. Plus, the federal govt through the information minister has publicly admitted the FG is using him to reach out to the Fulani bandits. In otherwords, the ex-soldier turned bandits spokesman is actually working for the FG.
Now here is another point to note:
5 days after that treasonous statement, NEITHER THE NIGERIAN ARMY/SSS NOR THE FG HAS COME OUT WITH A COUNTER OR EVEN A CAUTION TO GUMI
Let this sink!
This is the Army/SSS that waste no time releasing statement over issues as trivial as a couple having inconclusive sex in a position they foolishly deem likely to threaten national security
No word from the FG/Presidency which Gumi is working for. And this is the same govt that rolled out all their intellectual terrorists against the good Bishop Hassan Kukah who simply stated what we all know about the clannishness of this death merchant that is the Buhari Presidency.
How many Northern leader, cleric, politician or anyone of note has condemned that very dangerous utterance by Gumi which he made right in presence of the Fulani bandits??????
The answer to the above question will tell you if the white bearded ex soldier was speaking a minority view or he was simply outspoken enough to voice out what so many Northern Muslims at the Presidency and very senior military positions have been saying and even taking devilish actions on.
Did Muhammadu Buhari not once asked Northern soldiers not to attack Boko haram terrorists because that would amount to attacking the North? Buhari is a retd Army General
Did Murtala Nyako not openly threaten to take the ex army Chief, general Ihejirika to the ICC for killing Boko haram whom he described as Northern children?? Nyako, the former governor of Adamawa state is a retd senior Naval Officer. Matter of fact, he was once a Chief of naval staff between 1990-1992
Truth is,
Those of you from the South who are soldiers still fighting Boko haram and Fulani bandits alongside your Northern Muslim colleagues, I have a whole lot to tell you but why would I bother myself telling an adult to get out of the sun????? If the adult is enjoying the sun, which one be my own? Atuolo omako omara mana atuolo ofeke, ofenye isi n’ofia. My people say when a proverb is used in communicating to a full fledged adult and still explained to the adult, then something is either wrong with the adult or the one doing the explaining.
Buhari didn’t divide Nigeria. Nigeria was never united. Buhari simply succeeded in ‘ZOOMING’ and Boldening our ethno-religious cleavages in ways even the blind could no longer pretend not to see them.
#OneNigeria is a lie our forefathers came together to decide to tell themselves over and over and over again until they forgot it is all a lie. Some of us the offsprings grew up believing this intergenerational lie. Buhari simply came and successfully jolted us to reality.
The South needs to wake up and face reality for once and forget this poisoned chalice that is 2023.
If we don’t separate from these guys, we ain’t making any progress. Never!
The former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Professor Charles Soludo, at the weekend in Awka, narrated how he received 19 written threats on his life following his decision to embark on banking consolidation in Nigeria in 2004 when he became the boss of the nation’s apex bank..
Soludo recalled attempts made to kidnap his children at Offa, Kwara State where they were at the time because many people felt threatened by the policy.
He said: “I am a very impatient person to see change happen and I am passionate in anything I focus on. When I was the chief economic adviser to President Olusegun Obasanjo, and the tenure of the former CBN governor ended and I came in. within one month, I announced a 13 – point agenda for banking consolidation.
“At that time, no bank in Nigeria was in the top 1000 banks in the world. If you needed to make an investment of $500 million, you had to go through the then 39 banks and it was an impossible task. If you wanted to borrow abroad, there was no bank here to guarantee that.
“So, I came to the realization that if we wanted to build a private sector-driven economy, it was not possible with the rickety ‘mama and papa’ banks, which could not guarantee even N3 million loan. We, therefore, needed to pull down the house and rebuild it.
“When I announced bank consolidation to raise the capital base from equivalent of $15m to equivalent of $200 million within 18 months, the screaming headlines in the newspapers were that it was impossible.
“My argument then was that while most of the people were seeing it from the negative way, I was seeing it from the positive angle. There were forces that wanted the status quo to remain and forces that wanted change.
“There was nothing I did not see. I received 19 written threats in my life. Even there were attempts to kidnap my children at Offa in Kwara state. So it was a very brutal revolution. I had to evacuate my family during the banking consolidation because when you want to uproot a system, it is usually a deadly routine.
“And at the 28th month, we finished. We had 25 healthy banks and scrapped 14 and cleared up the system. Three years afterward, 14 Nigerian banks made it to the top 1000 banks in the world, and two of them made the 300 banks in the world. That was when Nigerian banks began to have the muscle to be able to compete for big businesses.”
According to Soludo, before the banking consolidation, mega businesses were impossible in Nigeria, including airline business, adding that anybody who borrowed up to N 5million from 2005, after giving credit to God and perhaps, his ingenuity, should give credit to Soludo.
He said further: “The rich and mighty in Nigeria would not have been where they are today without banking consolidation. All of a sudden, businesses that could not borrow a few 100 million are now signing $100 billion downstream investment. Impossible was the word before we came. The good thing was that it cost Nigeria zero to achieve it.”
He stated that when he finished with the banking consolidation, he went to President Obasanjo again and told him that he had another dream, which was to establish African Finance Corporation, AFC, which the African Union, AU, was unable to do.
“I saw the gap in infrastructure development in Africa and after explaining to the president, he asked me to raise the memo and I assured him that it would be finished before he would leave the office.
“I set out for work and we raised $1.1 billion after visiting 25 African countries and by the time Obasanjo was leaving office, we signed documents for the African Finance Corporation. Today, AFC has over $7 billion investment around Africa,” Soludo said ass
ADDRESS BY GOVERNOR HOPE UZODIMMA OF IMO STATE TO STAKEHOLDERS ON SATURDAY FEBRUARY 27TH IN OWERRI
I welcome you most heartily to this special stakeholders meeting. I call this meeting special because it falls within the ambit of our one year in office anniversary, and even more because it is coming on the heels of disturbing security challenges and some bizarre happenings in the state.
I know that many of us will be eager to take home, from me, a list of the achievements of our government in the last one year. I also know that we want to have clearer insights into the events in Orlu, in particular, as well as what exactly happened in Owerri on the fateful Sunday of February 21st, 2021. I assure you that on all scores you will not be disappointed as I intend to update you on all the issues.
By my calculation, this stakeholders’ meeting is the fourth in the series since my assumption of office on January 15, 2020, as the Governor of our dear Imo State. I feel gladdened to note that in spite of the challenges occasioned by the COVID-19 and the concomitant economic consequences; I can proudly tell you that your beloveth Imo state is on course. Our shared prosperity agenda anchored on our 3R mantra of Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Recovery are on course. Our determination to make Imo State meet our shared dreams is also on course.
Our resolve to entrench a culture of due process, transparency and accountability in the conduct of government business is yielding bountiful dividends. So also is our drive to improve on the deficit infrastructural base we inherited. In general terms, I can proudly tell you without any fear of contradiction that right now our dear state is about to go into cruise gear and in the coming months, we shall be on an auto cruise because things are indeed looking up in the State.
My beloved Ndimo, even the blind can attest to the fact that in one year, we have made a difference in good governance. To begin with, in one year I have met with you, the stakeholders, four times, to give an account of our stewardship. By so doing we have provided the needed platform for your inputs and criticisms. This is because we acknowledge that by the grace of God power belongs to you; the good people of Imo State.
The difference between what happened in the past and now is as clear as night and day. Unlike in the past when people did not know any particular office where they could meet with their governor, today Imo people come to Pentagon, otherwise known as the governor’s office, to meet with me as their governor day in day out. This may sound little or insignificant, but it matters quite a lot because it says everything about the image, transparency and even sincerity of a government.
A government that transacts business in bush bars and different street corners only cuts the image of a makeshift, dubious and unreliable government. Sadly that was the lot of Imo people from 2011 to 2019. Little wonder then that our people woke up recently to discover that indeed they had been duped; that almost all their patrimony had been taken away from them by a government that was ab initio rested on Adhoc foundations.
Today the narrative has changed. The entire government House has been rehabilitated and repositioned into a reassuring complex of credible centre for the discharge of state duties. Of course the credit goes to our administration that vowed from day one to restore credibility and dignity in governance as opposed to impunity, lawlessness and tyranny.
I recall that in our last outing, I informed you of our achievements in the civil service. Apart from restoring the self-esteem of civil servants as the engine room of government, through several trainings and retraining, we also made the working environment more humane by re-roofing all the blocks that were leaking and repainting them as well. We also boosted the morale of the workforce by providing official cars for permanent secretaries and free bus service for the rank and file.
It is quite easy to forget that once upon a time, civil servants in this state were told to come to work only two times a week. Those of them, who out of boredom dared to come around the state secretariat on the day they were told not to, were chased away by security operatives as trespassers. That was how low the morale and dignity of the civil servant in Imo State fell.
While this meeting will not suffice as a formal presentation of the scorecard of our administration in the last one year, I will not fail to inform you that as of today, work has been completed, and or ongoing, in a total of 46 road projects as follows:
1.
CONSTRUCTION/REHABILITATION OF AHIARA JUNCTION TO OKPALA JUNCTION
2.
CONSTRUCTION/REHABILITATION OF ABA BRANCH-AHIARA JUNCTION
3.
CONSTRUCTION/REHABILITATION OF NKUME-UMUOWA ORLU
4.
CONSTRUCTION/REHABILITATION OF MGBIDI-OGUTA (OGUTA LAKE) ROAD
5.
CONSTRUCTION/REHABILITATION OF IMO STATE UNIVERSITY TEACHING HOSPITAL (IMSUTH)
6.
CONSTRUCTION/REHABILITATION OF NAZE (POLY JUNCTION) – NEKEDE-IHIAGWA-OBINZE ROAD. DUAL CARRIAGE WAY
7.
CONSTRUCTION/REHABILITATION OF CONCORDE ROAD-JACOB ZUMA ROAD-CONCORDE ROAD WITH SPUR TO PH. ROAD
8.
CONSTRUCTION/REHABILITATION OF IMO STATE UNVERSITY ROAD BISHOP’S COURT ROAD.
9.
CONSTRUCTION/REHABILITATION OF OKIGWE ROUNDABOUT-ST MARY CHURCH OKIGWE (OKPALA ROAD)
10.
CONSTRUCTION/REHABILITATION OF OGWOHOROANYA-AVUTU-UMUNACHI (ROUNDABOUT)
11.
CONSTRUCTION/REHABILITATION OF DOUGLAS-NAZE JUNCTION.
12.
CONSTRUCTION/REHABILITATION OF CONTROL POST (ASSUMPTA) TO IBARI OGWA (PORT-HARCOURT) ROAD.
13.
CONSTRUCTION/REHABILITATION OF ASSUMPTA-UMUGUMA JUNCTION (WORLD BANK) ROAD
14.
MAINTENANCE OF FAILED SECTION N OWERRI-MBAISE-OBOWO ROAD
15.
MAINTENANCE OF FAILED SECTION OF OWERRI-NWAORIEUBI-NJABA-ORLU ROAD
16.
MAINTENANCE OF FAILED SECTION OF OWERRI-AMARAKU-ANARA-ONUIMO-UMUNNA-OKIGWE ROAD
17.
CONSTRUCTION/REHABILITATION OF ABOH-ITU-EZINIHITTE.
18.
CONSTRUCTION/REHABILITATION OF ACHINGALI-ONICHA-UDONA OBIZI ROAD
19.
CONSTRUCTION/REHABILITATION OF WAREHOUSE JUNCTION-UMEZURUIKE HOSPITAL-EMMANUEL COLLEGE ROUNDABOUT WITH EDEDE/ROYCE ROAD JUNCTION AND EMMANUEL COLLEGE LAYOUT SLIP ROADS
20.
CONSTRUCTION/REHABILITATION OF WEST END-OLD NEKEDE ROAD-ZOO
21.
CONSTRUCTION/REHABILITATION OF ONITSHA-ORLU ROAD (EGBADA BY PASS)
22.
CONSTRUCTION/REHABILITATION OF BOTH END OF THE AIRPORT ROAD, OWERRI.
23.
CONSTRUCTION/REHABILITATION OF ULAKWO-UMUARO NGURU-UMUNEKE ROAD
24.
CONSTRUCTION/REHABILITATION OF OHII JUNCTION-OROGWE ROAD
25.
CONSTRUCTION/REHABILITATION OF AKACHI ROAD.
26.
DUALIZTION OF CHUKWUMA NWAOHA STREET
27.
CONSTRUCTION OF OPARANOZIE-AMAIGBO AND EDEDE STREET
28.
CONSTRUCTION OF DICK TIGER ROAD
29.
CONSTRUCTION OF RELIEF MARKET ROAD
30.
CONSTRUCTION OF MUSA YAR’ADUA DRIVE EXTENSION TO DREAM LAND HOTEL ROAD
31.
CONSTRUCTION OF MCC ROAD
32.
CONSTRUCTION/REHABILITATION OF INTERNAL ROADS IN ALADINMA ESTATE. LAKE NWAEBERE STR, OLOKORO STR. UMUAHIA STR. OKEIKPR STR, ARUGO STR. OLOKORO STR. EGBEMA STR, AND NGWA STREET.
33.
MAINTENANCE WORK AT UMUNA ORLU
34.
CONSTRUCTION/REHABILITATION OF MBONU-EJIKE STREET IKENEGBU LAYOUT
35.
CONSTRUCTION/REHABILITATION OF OKPORO-OMUMA ROAD.
36.
CONSTRUCTION/REHABILITATION OF OMUMA-ELEH ROAD
37.
CONSTRUCTION/REHABILITATION OF MGBIDI-ORLU ROAD
38.
DUALIZATION OF FEDERAL SECRETARIAT ROAD
39.
CONSTRUCTION/REHABILITATION OF THOMAS MOORE/GOZIE NWACHUKWU/JP AJAELU STREET
40.
CONSTRUCTION/REHABILITATION OF NAZE-ALLIED MARKET EGBU ROAD
41.
CONSTRUCTION/REHABILITATION OF DREAMLAND HOTEL ROUNDABOUT-FIRST BANK-GENERAL HOSPITAL ROAD WITH SPUR TO PORTHARCOURT ROAD
42.
CONSTRUCTION OF IHECHUKWUkA STREET AND ADJOURNING ROADS
43.
CONSTRUCTION OF AWOMAMA-OKWUDOR ROAD
44.
CONSTRUCTION OF OWERRI-ORLU ROAD
45. CONSTRUCTION OF OWERRI-OKIGWE ROAD
46.
OWERRI JUNCTION IMPROVEMENT WORKS & URBAN RENEWAL PROJECT (TRAFFIC STUDY REPORT)
I am minded to emphasize that work has commenced on the dualization of Owerri-Orlu road and Owerri-Okigwe road after contracts were awarded to a reputable German Company, Craneburg, and the mobilization fee paid. This is no mean feat by any standards. The total initial worth of the contract are N55 Billion and the projects will be completed before the middle of next year.
Let us be very clear about this, the completion of these roads will bring about a substantial economic turnaround in the state. Businesses and commerce will boom as intra and inter City movement of goods and services will be greatly enhanced. Compared to the unmotorable and unpassable roads we met all over the state when we took over, I can proudly declare to you today, my beloved Ndimo, that Uzoadigoma. Our roads in Owerri Capital City are wearing a new look. They are clearly motorable. The nightmare that was Nekede Ihiagwa road has been permanently arrested. More and more roads are being constructed in Okigwe and Orlu zones and many more are coming. Again I say without any fear of contradiction that with respect to road infrastructure we have done exceedingly well.
You are well aware that COVID-19, was one major challenge we faced on assumption of office. Unfortunately, the virus is still around with us. As you are also aware, almost half of the broadcasts that I have made as Governor have been on COVID-19, detailing the government’s response to the pandemic and encouraging our people to be safety conscious. We have done everything humanly possible to ensure that our people are safe and by the special grace of God, our proactive steps have ensured that records of infections and deaths in the state have been minimal. Even with the new wave of the pandemic, Imo state is still relatively not in danger with a reduced death toll and speedy recovery of patients. But like I have always emphasized, eternal vigilance and obedience to all COVID-19 protocols remain the best form of defense against the pandemic.
The government on its part will continue to pay attention to the prevention, cure and care of affected people through improved funding and rapid response to emergencies. I must add that in spite of the daunting challenges of COVID-19, it has not taken our attention away from other health issues. We are rebuilding and re-equipping 305 health centers across the state to enhance primary health care delivery to our people. Our free mobile clinics are still operational, taking care of the health needs of indigent and rural dwellers, supervised by missionary workers. Above all, our general hospitals are being funded to ensure that they rise above their present performance in service delivery.
Similarly, our pursuit of excellence in education is very much on course. We are presently constructing ultra-modern 305 primary schools in the 305 wards in the state. Equally, we have embarked upon an aggressive and all-inclusive re-engineering of our secondary schools to bring them up to speed with the internet age and enhance the performance of our students in external examinations.
Imo State University has been infused with new digital oxygen to enable it to compete favourably with its peers in academic excellence. The establishment of another university to take care of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences is in line with our drive to impart skills on our youths. Very soon, the trajectory of the newly renamed K.O. Mbadiwe University, Ogboko, will be unveiled to further consolidate on our drive to become the center of academic excellence in the country.
The realization that our future lies actually in the progress of our youths has propelled us to embark upon an ambitious skill acquisition program ever witnessed in the state. As we speak, no fewer than 500,000 youths are billed to benefit from our multi-billion Naira youth intervention fund specifically budgeted for the empowerment of our youths through skills acquisition. More than 10,000 youths who have been trained are currently being empowered. I am sure that in the coming weeks, many more youths would access the fund to enable them to be self-reliant and employers of labour, as well.
My esteemed brothers and sisters, it is really regrettable that criminal elements among us are working round the clock to compromise our resolve and hard work in achieving a safe Imo state for all residents. You will recall that we assisted the Police and other security agencies with over 100 well-equipped patrol vehicles as soon as we came on board, in addition to over 20 vehicles for special operations. This is aside from our regular interventions in logistics support. However, due to the activities of some rogue elements and some unrepentant political enemies, coupled with the strategic location of Imo State as the gateway to the South East and South South states, there has been a spike in crime and violence in recent times, thus tasking our security architecture and throwing up new challenges.
The recent kidnap of the Catholic Auxiliary Bishop of Owerri, Rt. Rev. Moses Chikwe, and the burning of a police station in Aboh Mbaise a few days ago, among other crimes, were part of the challenges we have faced. Even as we were grappling with those issues, some hoodlums and mercenaries went and took over Orlu in the name of “protecting the people from invading herdsmen.” Before we knew what was happening, innocent citizens and even security operatives were killed. Women, among them grandmothers were raped. Indeed anarchy loomed and we had to act fast as a government. We had to secure the area with additional security drawn from the military. Sadly some mischief makers and unrepentant political merchants and alarmists twisted the story upside-down. It smacks of sheer mischief for anyone to claim that what happened in Orlu was a military invasion. The military is in Orlu to protect our people from blood-thirsty mercenaries who were killing, maiming and raping them.
It will interest you to know that these militants who terrorized Orlu for weeks and months ago, most of them are not Igbos. The evidence emerged when some of them were arrested. They have made useful confessions and we now know that they were imported from outside the South East to come and turn Imo State into a theatre of war under the guise of IPOB or Eastern Security Network though working with IPOB members.
The truth is that these are mercenaries imported into Imo state to create the impression that another Biafra war has started from Imo State. The politicians behind this plot know themselves and they will not be hidden for too long.
I want the good people of Imo State to know that what these politicians are desperate to achieve is to pitch Imo people against the federal government. They want the federal government to believe that another Biafra war has started from Imo State. Thank God that this callous plot has failed because the federal government knows better.
I know that some desperate politicians who are jealous of the good relationship between the federal government and Imo State government, under my watch, will go to any length to achieve their evil desires. But they will continue to fail. God in his goodness will never allow any evil plot against the peace-loving people of Imo State to see the light of the day.
Let me make this very clear, my administration will use all the powers at our behest to protect our people against any form of violent harassment by any armed group, be it mercenaries, ESN or IPOB. The military in Orlu is strictly keeping to their rules of engagement. No innocent resident or visitor is being molested. It is only the guilty that is afraid. Criminals being sponsored by political enemies of the state will continue to be afraid. Orlu is calm. Take it from me. There is no plan to wage war against Ndigbo.
The civil war ended many years ago. Igbos are not at war with anyone and they do not desire another war. What Igbos want is justice, equity and a level playing ground for all. These we can achieve through constructive engagements, not through violence or war. Make no mistakes about it, the military is in Orlu to flush out criminals and mercenaries from the area. And that is exactly what they are doing.
This brings me to the events of a few days when on a bright Sunday morning when most people were busy in churches in devout supplication to God, a former Governor of the state decided to take the laws into his hands by importing thugs to invade the state. You are aware of the various Judicial Commissions of Inquiry instituted by the defunct government of Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha. These commissions were set up to investigate what happened in government between 2011 and 2019. This was particularly with respect to the award of contracts and land use and related matters.
It was clear that these commissions were set up in response to the yearnings of our people. The people saw, in black and white, that in eight years of the administration of Rochas Okorocha, there was no due process in governance. Contracts were awarded whimsically without recourse to due process. Lands belonging to both government and private citizens were forcefully acquired by the administration for the private use of relations and their cronies. The Owerri Master plan, jealousy preserved for years by previous administrations, was recklessly desecrated and flagrantly abused by the Okorocha administration.
In resume, that era was rightly seen by many as the dark years in the history of governance of Imo State, characterized by lawlessness, abuse of office and ill-informed audacious attempt to supplant democracy with aristocracy.
Against this background, the sentiment then, as it remains now, is that there must be a holistic probe of the administration of Rochas Okorocha. It was only natural therefore that when we came on board, we validated the mandate of the commissions and conferred legitimacy on them in accordance with the law.
I want to leave it on record that some of the dramatis personae embroiled in the mindless looting of the state approached me to disband the commissions, arguing that it was set up by PDP to witch- hunt APC. I politely turned down the request, on the grounds that the mood of the people favoured the setting up of the commissions. It was later that it dawned on me that the earlier show of solidarity I received from these characters, including attending my inauguration and pledging to work with me, was just a smokescreen to persuade me to disband the commissions.
I became curious and wondered why Okorocha and his cronies instead of going to the Commissions to clear their names rushed to the courts to vainly try to stop the commissions from doing their jobs. If they were innocent, would they try to get me to stop the commission or would they have gone to court for the same purpose? That reminded me of the title of one of the novels of James Hardley Chase: “The guilty are afraid”.
Today we have the reports of the commissions, The white paper is out also. And it has been gazetted. Our duty remains to ensure faithful implementation of those recommendations. What happened on Sunday February 21st was that a man who thinks he is above the law because he ruled Imo State lawlessly, gathered thugs to break into a property sealed by the government in accord with a government gazette on the matter, which is protected under the law. This is the same man who broke the law in the first place and has refused to be accountable. He rebuffed every invitation from the commissions to come and answer the charges against him because he believes he is above the law.
Now because he has become richer than the state government, as he publicly stated recently, he now sees himself as a god who can do and undo at will. And so with every effrontery, he marched majestically on that fateful Sunday morning, with his band of thugs, to go and unseal what a government has sealed. Even more disgusting was the fact that he also had the effrontery to tell Imo people that he was unsealing an estate built on a green verge against the Owerri Master Plan and worth over N5B Naira because it belonged to his wife. Quite a pity indeed! Of course, that was the height of assault on a people and their constituted authority.
The security agencies of course responded appropriately. It is understandable that some people are angry because we stopped them from foisting a feudal aristocracy in Imo state. But I think it will be a costly mistake for them to allow their frustrations to drive them to lunacy. I don’t have anything personal against anybody. I am only here to serve the people of Imo State.
One thing that is clear from the reports of these commissions are that the suspicion that the patrimony of Imo people was looted by Okorocha and his relations and cronies has been substantiated. The commission reports and recommendations, which have been accepted and gazetted, in the white paper, provide ample evidence in this regard. So what Okorocha and his band of thugs attempted to do last Sunday was to forcefully torpedo the legitimate outcome of the commissions of inquiry which is that all the Imo property looted or appropriated by him and his cohorts are recovered from them.
Recall that he first went to court to stop the recovery and failed. Then he approached me to stop same and I refused. Now he wants to use brute force to hold on to what belongs to Imo people. Will you let him do that? I want to make this very clear: As a government, we will use all legal means to recover every Imo property or wealth wrongly appropriated by anyone, Okorocha inclusive. This is my covenant with Imo people and I intend to keep it to the letter.
The restoration of Owerri Master Plans means that those who abused the processes would be punished. Those who took land from the government and private individuals would be forced to return them. In short, all looted assets of Imo people must be recovered and Imo State must be for all Imo people.
However, I do recognise that power belongs to the good people of Imo State. As a government elected by the people, I called for this special stakeholders meeting to recourse to you on this matter. And so, as the stakeholders of Imo State and the voice of the people, I put the question pointedly to you: Do you want us to recover all looted Imo property and wealth illegally appropriated by any person or group of persons, whether high or low?. Whatever answer is your give, YES or NO, I want you to put it down in a resolution right here and now, and I assure you that your wish shall be the command of my government.
My beloved Ndimo, we have every reason to celebrate God’s goodness to us as a state and people. We should not be detained by rabble-rousers and self-imposed emperors who had since lost their kingdom. Through the mercy of God, we have stopped them from conquering our state and taking the citizens as captives. We have stopped the unholy march to feudalism. We have reversed a budding aristocracy that would have made a few the illegitimate landlords of the land that belonged to all Imo people and left the rest of us their miserable tenants. Yes, we have every reason to celebrate because we have recovered our state from feudal interlopers and Buccaneers, but above all, we now have a government we can proudly call the government of the people by the people and for the people.
WE should all now join hands together in one accord and work for the progress and well-being of our people Owerri, Orlu and Okigwe zones inclusive. Once again, our glorious journey is on course and our shared prosperity agenda will surely return smiles on the faces of our people.
Thank you all for your attention.
May God continue to bless Imo State and her good people.
The conduct atrocities of the present central Government of Nigeria using the Nigerian Army and its immediate past Chief of Army Staff, Retired Lt Gen Tukur Yusuf Buratai took another shameless and cowardly dimension in the afternoon of Thursday being yesterday, 25th Feb 2021 along Suleja-Bida Road in Niger State when Barrister Richie Ebuka Okoroafor, a British citizen of Igbo nativity and international human rights lawyer narrowly but divinely escaped assassination by suspected Government assassins. The Nigerian Government conduct atrocity perpetrators now seem to have shifted from hiring “human rights contractors” and paid ‘columnists’ and ‘writers’ to attempts at violently taking away the precious lives of critics and activists justly, pricelessly and conscientiously exposing their atrocities perpetrated in service.
The Abia State-born British Lawyer broke the sad news to Intersociety and Government of the United Kingdom yesterday evening hours after recovering from shocks associated with the assassination attempt. The attempted assassination had taken place along Suleja-Bida Road when he was returning to Abuja after visiting the Alpha Base, manned by soldiers and belonging to the Joint Security Taskforce or JTF in Niger State. His visit to the temporary Army Base followed new discovery of another batch of 109 Obigbo Army abductees including Citizen Elvis Ngozi whom his family recently located to the Base through an Army officer contacted by the Family. Barrister Okoroafor had before leaving the Base noticed that his private car had been marked with a black paint in the rim marked after he had parked the car and entered the Base.
Conscious of that fact and believing in God Almighty and the taintless spirits of those violently departed by the named perpetrators for divine protection, Lawyer Okoroafor entered his car and drove for about 20 minutes from the Base returning to Abuja when his car was crossed and blocked by an unmarked white Hilux with some armed men who opened fire instantly and at close. His car was rained with live bullets including aiming and shooting at driver’s and car owner’s sides. The Lawyer took a back reverse and managed to find his way into a market place, forcing the assassins to speed off and escape. The Lawyer was driving in a black Mercedes Car (GLK M133 Model). The matter was later reported to the Nigeria Police Force, Suleja Area Command in Niger State. The British Government also responded swiftly and offered to evacuate the Lawyer who is of British citizenship back to UK subject to his approval.
Why They Want Barrister Okoroafor Assassinated
Apart from exposing the secret trial and execution of six Igbo Christian soldiers who were secretly executed on 24th Jan 2021 at the instruction of then Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Tukur Yusuf Buratai (as he then was), Barrister Okoroafor, also jointly with others located not less than 370 out of over 400 defenseless Obigbo residents abducted between Oct and Nov 2020 by Nigerian Army under the leadership of the same Tukur Buratai. The abductions followed a war-grade invasion and attacks by Nigerian Army on Obigbo and environs during which 102 defenseless civilians were killed and 120 others shot and injured. Out of the over 400 Obigbo abductees, 208 have been freed by Courts and names of 162 others including 53 girls and young women located. The judicial release of the 208 abductees was achieved through the dogged efforts of the Lawyer and other lawyers working with him. Though Lt Gen Buratai was asked to retire on 26th Jan 2021 by Nigerian Government but he was un-popularly made an “ambassador” despite stiff local and international oppositions and criticisms over his terribly poor human rights records.
Fingering Army & Buratai In The Assassination Attempt
It is almost an act of impossibility for the assassination attempt not to have arisen from the Nigerian Army and the camp of its immediate past Chief of Staff, Retired Lt Gen Tukur Buratai, and by extension, the Government of Nigeria. This is also owing to the fact that the ex Army chief is now a diplomatic employee of the same Government of Nigeria that appointed him Army Chief on 13th July 2015.
According to a criminological analysis done in the instant case by Emeka Umeagbalasi: “Barrister Okoroafor is a young lawyer with rising local and international reputation but he is new in Nigerian social lifestyles or its political murky waters to warrant enmity of such terminal proportion; therefore the surest and inescapable point of strong suspicion is rested in the doorsteps of the Nigerian Army and its immediate Chief of Staff, Retired Lt Gen Tukur Buratai. In this instance, the latter is the first or most suspected of the suspected. The Lawyer, as a matter of fact, has told me more than three times that he is being marked, tracked and trailed by suspected agents of the Nigerian Government since Nov 2020 when he rescued the first batch of 52 Obigbo abductees in Niger State.
Therefore, although Gov Nyesom Wike was vicariously involved in the massacre and abductions but his desperation and panics are most likely not have gone beyond the boundaries of Obigbo and Rivers State. The other accused person/entity (Army and its ex COAS) are considered more desperate and mean and may have decided to “travel” the Barrister and potential others so as to prevent further exposition of the untold stories of the Obigbo Army atrocities or for purpose of preventing international embarrassments and sanctions against the newly appointed non-career ambassador(s) (i.e. ex Army Chief). Looking at the circumstances and patterns of the assassination attempt, too, there are strong suggestive of the fact that the assassins are likely the serving members of the “Special Assignment” squad of the Nigerian Army or DSS.
Attached are the pictures of Barrister Richie Ebuka Okoroafor’s Mercedes Car riddled with bullets and some expended cartridges recovered from the scene of the attempted assassination.
Signed
For: International Society for Civil Liberties & Rule of Law
Emeka Umeagbalasi, Obianuju Igboeli, Esq., and Chidimma Udegbunam, Esq.
The Special Adviser to Governor Abdullahi Ganduje on Media, Salihu Yakasai, has said that the government of the All Progressives Congress at all levels have failed Nigerians in the duty to protect lives and properties.
In a post on his verified Twitter handle, Yakasai lamented the security issue in the country, describing it as a shame.
“Clearly, we as APC government, at all levels, have failed Nigerians in the number 1 duty we were elected to do which is to secure lives & properties. Not a single day goes by without some sort of insecurity in this land. This is a shame! Deal with terrorists decisively or resign,” he wrote.
One Twitter user, @Jayb_10, criticised the northern elites over their attitude in the face of the situation.
He said, “The uncritical, appeasing, docile, and patronizing attitude of the northern elite when one of their own is at the helm is the north’s gravest undoing. It will continue to birth the massive underdevelopment that the north perennially represents. We’re in a mess!”
Yakasai who agreed with the Twitter user imagined what would have happened had it been the current situation was witnessed during previous administrations led by non-northerners.
“I completely agree. Hypocrisy is in our dna. Imagine what’s happening in the North now was under GEJ or OBJ, sai dai ka ji ana makiyin arewa ne, makiyin musulmi ne, but here we are, being ravaged by all sorts of insecurity but no collective rage, sai useless lamentations. SMDH,” he wrote in response to @Jayb_10
