Armed Bandits said to be numbering about 150 in the early hour of today (Wednesday) invaded government science collage Kagara in Rafi local government area of the Niger state and abducted about 150 students from their hostels.
One of the Students who were trying to escape during the invasion was shot dead on the spot by the Bandits who arrived the School at about 2:15am, according to one of the Teachers who escaped the attack.
The Bandits also went away with an unspecified number of Teachers, their wives and Children from the staff quarters behind the School.
The science School Kagara which is in a state of dilapidation, is situated about 500 meters from the local government Secretariat along Kagara-Tegina road with all it parameters fence broken down, begging for repair.
Although details of the attack which lasted till about 3:00am was still very sketchy as the police or the state government was yet to make any official statement on the incident as the time of this report, it was gathered that all the victims were evacuated out of the school in about four buses while others were matched into the bush.
This latest attack is coming barely 24 hours after the District Head of Kusherki, in the same Rafi local government area Alhaji Masud Abubakar was killed and his wife abducted when the some bandits invaded the community in their large numbers on Tuesday morning.
Also on Tuesday, nine vigilantes were killed after a two hours gun battle with armed bandits in Munya local government area of the state.
Also 23 people were abducted in the attack and food staff, including other valuable were looted by the bandits.
The Governor of Benue State ,Sam Ortom writes President Buhari again requesting that he should intervene as matter of urgency to save Nigeria from another civil war .The letter reads in full ‘ It is my honour and privilege to extend warm compliments of the New Year to Your Excellency on behalf of myself, the Government and good people of Benue State.
2. As a State, we welcome and appreciate the establishment of three Federal educational institutions in Benue State namely: Federal University of Health Sciences, Federal College of Education and a Federal Polytechnic.
3. We are also thankful for the various appointments given Benue sons and daughters. We expect more of such strategic projects and appointments more so given the support you have received from our Government and the people of the State. We acknowledge and appreciate the intervention which your Administration made as Bailout to States during the first recession, although Benue is yet to receive the second Tranche which you approved and referred to the Federal Ministry of Finance to verify and pay two years ago and which Kogi State received in 2019.
4. Your Excellency, we especially want to commend you for responding to my earlier appeal to deploy, upgrade and retain Military Operations in the State. These Operations, particularly Operation Whirl Stroke, working in collaboration with other Security Agencies, have contributed to relative peace in several parts of the State even though the challenges are not yet over.
5. Mr. President, we are not oblivious of the challenges that the country has faced in the life of your Administration. These include two recessions, the COVID-19 global pandemic and the unprecedented nationwide security challenges resulting into the largest loss of lives and property since the Civil War. These security challenges especially have unsettled the country economically, socially and politically.
6. Your Excellency, these security challenges have assumed new dimensions where the now emboldened assailants and armed herdsmen daringly enforce their will on legitimate owners and occupants of ancestral lands. There are many areas of concern over the Federal Government’s actions and inactions, including the widely discussed concern over inequalities in key appointments. These have reinforced the perception that the Administration is not fair and just to all Nigerians.
7. Mr. President, please recall my earlier letters drawing your attention to the murderous activities of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore and other armed Fulani socio-cultural groups and their leaders who publicly and brazenly claimed responsibility for the killings and destruction of property across States of the country. These groups and their leaders have also boasted that Nigeria belongs exclusively to them. The letters alerted you on several challenges and called for the arrest and prosecution of the leaders and proscription of the organizations in question. The letters are as follows:
(i) Incessant Violent Attacks on Benue Farmers in Benue State by Armed Herdsmen Ref. No. AI/68/T.I/64 dated 7th June 2017.
(ii) Alleged Planned Attack by Fulani Herdsmen on Benue State and the need to Support the Anti-Open Grazing Law Ref. No. AI/68/I/149 on 16th October, 2017.
(iii) Violent Attacks on Communities in Benue State by Armed Fulani Herdsmen Ref. No. AI/68/I/174 dated 2nd January, 2018.
(iv) Fresh Planned Attacks by Fulani Herdsmen on Benue people
Ref. No. AI/68/I/189 dated 18th January, 2018.
8. We are alarmed that rather than being censured, these leaders and organizations have been emboldened and intensified their atrocities. They have received encouragement in the process through various actions and inactions by the Federal Government, including the following:
(i) Open Visa Policy which has promoted unprecedented influx of Fulani herdsmen carrying sophisticated and prohibited weapons into Nigeria;
(ii) Non-compliance with the ECOWAS protocol on transhumance;
(iii) Swift condemnation of any perceived or real threats on Fulani while maintaining silence over their atrocities and admonishing victimized host communities to accommodate their oppressors and learn to live at peace with them;
(iv) The failure to arrest, disarm and prosecute armed herdsmen and Fulani militia;
(v) Disarming other Nigerians who have licensed weapons;
(vi)Continuation of open grazing and support for grazing reserves, stock routes, cattle colony and Ruga despite nationwide acknowledgement that this practice is unviable; and that ranching is the global best practice for livestock production;
(vii)The non-implementation of the National Livestock Transformation Plan despite its approval by the National Economic Council and its acceptance by pilot States.
9. This ugly situation has caused devastation across the country. In Benue State, 19 out of 23 Local Government Areas have been affected by attacks by Fulani herdsmen leading to loss of lives, destruction of property and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Benue people who are now living in Internally Displaced Persons Camps and host communities across the State. The total number of Internally Displaced Persons currently in the Camps in Benue State is 483,692 persons.
10. Returning these Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to their ancestral homes has been impossible as herdsmen continue to attack, kill, maim and rape those who return. The Federal Government is also yet to redeem the pledge made on 15th May, 2018 by Vice President Prof. Yemi Osibanjo to contribute N10Billion to Benue State towards the reconstruction, rehabilitation, reintegration and resettlement of displaced persons. The failure of the IDPs to return to their ancestral homes to resume normal farming activities, together with the impact of climate change, has posed a serious threat to national food security, as evidenced by rising food prices.
11. Sir, we all remember the wise counsel of Nigeria’s former Permanent Representative to the United Nations, the late Alhaji Maitama Sule, when Northern Leaders Forum visited you as the President-Elect in 2015. He said, inter alia “…With justice, you can rule Nigeria well. Justice is the key. If you do justice to all and sundry, and I say all and sundry. If you’re going to judge between people, do justice irrespective of their tribe, religion or even political inclination. Justice must be done to whosoever deserves it.”
12. Mr. President, this call for justice is the heart cry of every patriotic Nigerian. It is not a call against the Fulani race or any other ethnic group, but a call to make Nigeria work for every Nigerian in line with the Oath of Office we took as leaders and your pledge to be a President for all Nigerians and to be for everybody and for nobody. Unfortunately, you seem to be tilting towards the Fulani at the expense of other nationalists.
13. Many citizens including patriotic Fulanis like Dr. Nura Alkali are alarmed at this tilt and the boast of Miyetti Allah that Nigeria is the heritage of the Fulani of the whole world. These citizens continue to condemn the atrocities of the Fulani across the country while also calling on the Federal Government to end these atrocities by withdrawing from their one-sided sympathy for herdsmen.
14. Only recently, the Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III, added his voice in this regard. He acknowledged that seven or eight out of every 10 kidnappers arrested in Nigeria are Fulani. This is not a good testimony. More so, the consequences this image has cast on the Fulani tribe should be corrected now.
15. These concerns were reiterated by the Nigerian Tribune Editorial of January 25, 2021:
“it has become an established pattern for his Presidency to swiftly intervene on issues bordering on the atrocities of Fulani herdsmen in the country, acting as their publicist in a fashion that assails the sensibility of other Nigerians, and oftentimes unabashedly descending into the arena and polarising the country along ethnic and regional lines. This sordid trend is inimical to confidence building, genuine bonding and cohesion of citizens in a multi-ethnic, multi- cultural and multi-religious society and it is really concerning, and perilously so, that such vital sensitivities are being discounted at the highest level of governance in the land. From his utterances and actions, it is clear that Muhammadu Buhari is not ready to be the President of all Nigerians.”
16. It is important to point out that these are not sentiments directed against Fulanis who are indigenous to Nigeria and have been living at peace with other Nigerians. Testimonies abound in that regard. For example, my wife and I were accommodated by a Fulani man while in school at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Till date, we are still very good family friends and he visits me occasionally in Benue. This point underscores the pain we all have had to go through to understand the tragedy where armed herdsmen from Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger, Cameroon and other neighbouring countries are pushing the whole country to the precipice. While addressing the Nigerian community on Tuesday 19th April 2019 in Dubai, You also blamed these foreign herdsmen for the attacks on Nigeria.
17. Mr. President, as a major stakeholder in the Nigeria project, I have a responsibility to raise these major concerns and to offer some recommendations towards addressing them.
(i) The Federal Government should develop a National Ranching Policy in line with global best practice in animal husbandry. Today, open grazing is extinct in most countries of the world. In Europe, America, Asia and in many countries in Africa, pastoralism has long given way to ranching. How can Nigeria then still be battling with a problem of pastoralism that in other countries has been solved over a century ago? According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), India has 303 million cattle, Brazil, 226 million, China, 100 million, USA, 93 million, Argentina, 53 million and Australia 27 million. All these countries ranch their animals. Nigeria has less than 20 million cattle which could also be easily ranched. Unfortunately, the cows are allowed to either roam the streets freely or encroach on people’s farms and other investments. A Ranching policy in Nigeria will provide avenue for both crop farmers and those involved in animal husbandry to increase production using modern technology. This is the only way out of ending farmers/herders conflict;
(ii) Direct the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies to enforce Prohibition of Open Grazing Laws passed by various States of the federation;
(iii) Abolish Open Visa policy and direct relevant security agencies to ensure full compliance with the ECOWAS Protocol on Transhumance;
(iv) The Federal Government should immediately pay compensation to families killed and those whose properties were destroyed by the herdsmen in various communities across the country;
(v) Condemn the atrocities perpetrated by armed herdsmen; arrest and prosecute the leadership of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore and other Fulani Socio-cultural groups who have consistently admitted to the wanton killings and destruction of communities across the country. These include Husaini Yusuf Bosso (National Vice President of Miyetti Allah Cattle
Herders Association), Badu Salisu Ahmadu and Umar Amir Shehu, (President and Secretary of Fulani Nationality Movement), Alhaji Abdullahi Bello Bodejo and Engr. Saleh Alhassan (President and Secretary of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore) along with their sponsors;
(vi) Proscribe Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Fulani Nationality Movement, Fulani Herders Association and other violent Fulani extremist groups, as was done in the case of the Independent People of Biafra (IPOB), given that the Global Terrorism Index ranks Fulani militia as the fourth deadliest terrorist group in the world;
(vii) LicenseLaw-abidingNigerianstocarryweaponsinself-defence;
(viii) Ensure justice, fairness and equity in all issues relating to public safety and security;
(ix)
Support the resettlement and rehabilitation of Internally Displaced Persons as a result of herdsmen atrocities in all States of the country.
18. In conclusion, Your Excellency, I am writing to you as a patriot who is concerned about your reputation and the fate of our dear country. I am imploring you once again to rise to the challenges of these times to avert the country’s drift to anarchy and disintegration, a situation that sycophants and praise-singers might be unwittingly shielding from you. In 2015, Nigerians enthusiastically welcomed your return as a leader with a reputation for uprightness, fair-mindedness and integrity. The current situation is raising doubts in the minds of many Nigerians who had believed in you. Mr. President, your compatriots are looking up to you to act fast to redress the situation.
I thank you most sincerely for your kind attention. Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria” the letter concluded.
Abdulrasheed Bawa was picked by President Muhammadu Buhari to chair the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, read a letter from President Buhari seeking confirmation of Bawa as EFCC chairman.
Here are 10 things to know about the EFCC chair nominee.
1. Abdulrasheed Bawa is a 40-year-old EFCC officer from Jega local government area of Kebbi State.
2. He attended Model Primary School Birnin-Kebbi Road, Sokoto where he obtained his primary school certificate in 1991, and Government Secondary School, Owerri for his Senior Secondary School Certificate in 1997.
3. Bawa obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree in Economics and Masters in International Affairs and Diplomacy from Usmanu Danfodio University Sokoto in 2001 and 2012 respectively.
4. He is one of the pioneer EFCC cadet officers, Course One 2005.
5. He is a trained Economic and financial crimes investigator with vast experience in the investigation and prosecution of Advance Fee Fraud, official corruption, bank fraud and money laundering. The EFCC chair designate is Certified by Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) and Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (ACAMS).
6. Bawa had a steady rise in his career from Assistant Detective Superintendent (2004) to Deputy Detective Superintendent (2007), Senior Detective Superintendent (2010), Principal Detective Superintendent (2013) and Deputy Chief Detective Superindent (2016).
7. The newly apppointed EFCC boss was also at various times Head, Advance Fee Fraud Section Team L (the first EFCC Regular Detective to be appointed a Team Head), Abuja Zonal Office; Head, Counter Terrorism and General Investigation/Pension Unit, Lagos Zonal Office; Zonal Head, Ibadan Zonal Office (comprising Oyo, Osun,Ekiti, Ondo and Kwara States); Zonal Head, Port Harcourt Zonal Office (comprising Rivers, Bayelsa, Abia States); and Head, Capacity Development Division EFCC Academy, Abuja, a position he held until his appointment as EFCC chair.
8. He is the head of EFCC team investigating former Minister of Petroleum Resources Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke and associates (From October 2015 till date) which recovered millions of dollars worth of properties in Nigeria, UK, USA, and UAE, including 92 properties in Nigeria.
9. He was involved in investigation and prosecution of several other notable cases such as Atlantic Energy Group (2014-2015) where millions of dollars worth of properties in Nigeria, UK, USA, Switzerland, UAE and Canada were recovered; Crude Oil Swaps and OPA (2014-2015), were several billions of Naira were recovered; and the Petroluem Subsidy Fraud (2012-2015) where fraud of about N70billion was identified, several billions of Naira recovered and prosecuted several companies.
10. He is a recipient of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Merit Award (2020); US Federal Bureau of Investigation (U.S. Department of Justice) Recognition Award (2019), for facilitating the collaboration between EFCC and the FBI, which resulted in a mutual fight against Economic and Financial Crimes on an international scale; and US Federal Bureau of Investigation (Criminal Investigative Division) Appreciation (2019) in recognition of his support and contribution in FBI’s Operation rewired, which resulted in nearly 209 arrests worldwide.
Following the convening of the special general council meeting, Okonjo-Iweala has been confirmed the DG of the WTO. With this confirmation ,Dr Ngozi Okonjo – Iweala becomes the first black woman to occupy that office..
BIAFRAN STRUGGLE: THE CONFUSIONS AND THE SOLUTIONS
1. The Woes
The Biafran freedom project has been characterized by a lot of unpalatable and disgusting maladies. It has been bedeviled by a litany of nauseating stories. It has been virulently bloody and caustic. For over two decades of the struggle, thousands of young Biafran activists have unfortunately been killed on the process. Apart from being bloody, it has equally been enveloped by incomprehensible animosity, infighting and unimaginable rancour within the camps of the pro-Biafrans. This ugly scenario has caused a lot of setbacks and unfathomable calamities to the struggle. Though none appears to be happy with the constant bloodbath and the numerous setbacks, nevertheless, only very few appears to be concerned on the way forward.
2. The Root Causes
We cannot discuss on the way forward without first understanding the root causes of these woes. Certainly, there is always a cause to every catastrophe. The calamities that have befallen the Biafran struggle are without doubt caused by many in the struggle. Equally, some of the woes were perpetrated by our external adversaries. However, our external adversaries were aided by a number of factors which many in the struggle carelessly allowed.
Some of these factors include; skipping due diligence, refusing to follow the due process, refusing to be guided, negligence, none adherence to the rule of law, gross indiscipline, being violent and unruly, spirit of merchandising with the struggle, lack of adequate knowledge, refusing to tread with caution, foolish boldness and adopting unreasonable methods.
i). Refusing to Follow the Due Process
Due process is a requirement that legal matters be resolved according to established rules and principles, and that individuals be treated fairly. It is a fundamental procedural safeguard that ensures that every citizen has the right to have a proper hearing in a court of law before being deprived of any liberty, life or property pursuant to a government decree. Due process is a course of legal proceedings guided according to rules and principles that have been established in a system.
Rights to self-determination is rooted in United Nations declaration. Therefore, every nation or group that is clamouring for self-determination must follow the right process. The process to self-determination is very clear in both national and international law. Everything has a process and if Biafrans are to succeed in the struggle, they must follow the due process.
Unfortunately, many Biafran groups have rejected the due process and preferred the violent approach. It is this violent approach that has exposed our youths to untimely death.
For you to gain independence, it is either by military and violent method or by legal method otherwise known as Due Process. It is certain we don’t have the military might to declare war and succeed. Wjy should we then consider the war option when we know that such could bring a lot of casualty and deaths to our people? War option is therefore dead on arrival.
ii) Despising the Rule of law
Rule of law is a principle that all people and institutions are subject to and accountable to law that is fairly applied and enforced. It is the principle of government by law. The rule of law is fundamental to international political stability; peace and security. Rule of law is fundamental in achieving political, social and economic development. The Rule of Law comprises a number of principles of a formal and procedural character, addressing the way in which a community is governed. The rule of law refers to the idea that everyone in a society agrees to be governed by and follow the laws of a society.
How could we achieve Biafra by refusing to subject ourselves to the rule of law? How could the international community see us as responsible people when we reject the rule of law? How could we achieve meaningful socio-economic development in a society where anarchy and violence reigns supreme? Certainly, confusion, anarchy, assassination, insecurity and criminal activities will reign supreme in a society where there is lawlessness. This is why it is important to uphold the principles of the rule of law in our engagements.
There is no way CG-IPOB could be following the rule of law and then be seen by the security forces as a law breaker.
iii) Lack of Due Diligence
Biafrans have not shown enough due diligence in the way they carry on with the Biafran struggle. Not showing enough due diligence has subjected many Biafran activists to untold hardship and to many tragic deaths.
Due diligence is reasonable steps taken by a person to avoid committing a tort or offence. The term “due diligence” means “required carefulness” or “reasonable care”. It is an investigation or the exercise of care that a reasonable businessman or person is normally expected to take before entering into a new business or before entering into an agreement or contract with another party.
The theory behind due diligence holds that performing this type of careful investigation contributes significantly to informed decision making by enhancing the amount and quality of information available to decision makers and by ensuring that this information is systematically used to deliberate on the decision at hand and on future decisions. Unfortunately, Biafran activists have exhibited a lot of negligence in the struggle. Negligence is the failure to exercise reasonable or prudent care that an ordinary person would make under the certain circumstances. Biafrans have despised reasonable care. This has resulted in deaths and failure to reasonably execute the Biafran project.
A Latin maxim says, ‘NEGLIGENTIA SEMPER HABET INFORTUNIAM COMITEM,’ meaning, ‘Negligence always has misfortune for a companion’. Our negligence or lack of due diligence is the reason for too many deaths in the struggle. A driver that fails to drive carefully cannot drive safely. Such driver could crash his vehicle and kill the passengers. Until we start to drive carefully, we cannot reach our destinations safely.
Because CG-IPOB is always meticulous in following the principles of DUE DILIGENCE in its approach, it is difficult for them to offer the security forces any opportunity to arrest or attack its subjects.
iv) Playing into the Hands of the Adversary
The word ‘Biafra’ causes a lot of headache to Nigeria. It remains a fact that they don’t want an independent state of Biafra to come to fruition. At such, they would stop at nothing in frustrating any agitation for a state of Biafra. They wouldn’t hesitate in deploying the security forces to halt such agitation and to clampdown on any group protesting or agitating for Biafra. It is a known fact that these security forces hardly exhibit professionalism in carrying out their assignment. Many innocent Biafrans have been wasted by these over zealous, trigger happy security men. It is on this backdrop that it becomes very important for Biafrans to be as wise as a serpent and never give these blood tasty security men the needed opportunity to kill Biafran activists. The blood of any Biafran activist is priceless and should never be allowed to be wasted. It is on this note that it becomes very important to embrace due diligence, due process and adequate knowledge in order to disappoint the Nigerian security forces who enjoys killing Biafrans at slightest opportunity. We don’t have to continue to offer the security forces the opportunity to continue to waste Biafran activists. We have to listen to the preaching of the greatest teacher, we must listen to our Lord Jesus Christ who said that we must be as wise as a serpent.
It remains a foolish boldness to continue to confront trained and armed security personnels with sticks, bottles and bare hands. We must be as wise as serpents. We must equally be as wise as an ant.
v) Neglecting the Power of Judicial immunity
Judicial immunity is that protection granted to persons carrying out judicial functions. This ranges from judges of superior courts of records to Magistrates and members of Tribunals. A similar immunity also extends to Counsel, parties in a lawsuit and their witnesses whilst they are in court (see Egbe v Adfarasin (1985).
The Customary Government (CG-IPOB) filed the case between Biafra and Nigeria in the Federal High Court which has now gone to the Court of Appeal. CG-IPOB therefore enjoys this similar immunity whilst in court.
The Power of this IMMUNITY makes it difficult for the security forces to attack Biafran activists under CG-IPOB. This is being subtle or being as wise as a serpent.
vi) Power of Status Quo Ante Bellum
This means let things be “the way things were before” The term was originally used in treaties to refer to the withdrawal of enemy troops and the restoration of pre-war leadership. When used as such, it means that no side gains or loses territory or economic and political rights. The term refers to court position that the state of affairs that existed prior to a given event should be allowed to remain until proper determination of a particular issue in court.
CG-IPOB having filed the case between Biafra and Nigeria in the court enjoys the power of Status Quo Ante Bellum. This offers CG-IPOB the opportunity to be organizing its house, setting up important structures and establishing a legitimate de facto government for the Biafrans as an alternative government structure without breaking the law or unlawfully opposing the sovereignty of Nigeria.
The Power of Status Quo Ante Bellum also makes it difficult for the security forces to attack Biafran activists under CG-IPOB. This is being subtle or being as wise as a serpent.
3. What to Do
If we are to succeed in the struggle and restore Biafra, we must follow the proper roadmap. We must follow the right process. We must exhibit due diligence, seek adequate information, be submissive to our elders, be disciplined and rulable. War option should never be considered because such could fetch a catastrophic doom to Biafraland. Biafran leaders have to be honest and truthful and do away with lies and propaganda. Biafran freedom is a sacred assignment and should not be for merchandising.
We once again emphasis on the need to follow the right process and adhere strictly to international and national rules on agitation for self-determination and freedom. Process is a series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end. A process is a set of activities that interact to produce a desired result. It is a series of progressive and interdependent steps by which an end is achieved.
Following right process is important because it describes how things are to be done and then provides the focus for making them better. How things are done determines how successful the outcomes might be. If you focus on the right processes, in the right way, you can design your way to success. By following the right process and set rules, the work is done in a well-organized manner and the organized work always leads to the realization of set objectives.
We can’t continue to follow unrealistic or outdated methods and believe we can restore Biafra. We can’t continue to adopt confrontational approach without registering casualties. Blood of Biafrans are sacred and priceless. It shouldn’t be wasted for any reason. We must all live to see Biafra.
Emeka Emekesiri (2021) honestly stated, “Biafra will not come like a magical gift that drops from nowhere as the propagandists have made many to believe. There is a process to achieve it. However, the Biafrans must decide on the type of self-determination they want before deciding on the strategies and processes to achieve it. At the moment, there is a cacophony of discordant tunes among the Biafran activists with regard to the type of self-determination they want”.
Emphasising more, Emeka Emekesiri has this to say, “The Biafra Independence Project is a very complex and complicated project. Therefore, it must be undertaken carefully by experts. It is not for charlatans or quacks. For this reason, we conducted the Feasibility & Viability Appraisal of the Biafran Project which formed the basis of the approach we have adopted. We have rejected the military and violent method. We have decided to follow the Due Process consisting of the judicial, political and diplomatic processes. We dragged Nigeria to the Court to decide the issue of self-determination for the Biafrans; we entered into the Nigerian politics to politick for the benefit of Biafra just like the Scottish activists are in the British parliament politicking for the benefit of Scotland. We have engaged the world powers including the British Government in diplomatic discussions over the case of Biafra. We have filed the Biafran Memorandum in the National Assembly for devolution of power to the six Regions in Nigeria so that every Region would govern itself and develop at its own pace. This is the Phase 2 of the Biafran Project. We have reached out to the Governments of various countries and appointed Customary Government Ambassadors to those countries who work in collaboration with the Governments to oversee the affairs of the Biafrans living in those countries. This is the time to build friendships with the Governments of various countries including the Nigerian Government”.
We should remember we have to be very subtle and be as wise as serpent. God by His wisdom, even allowed Moses to be trained in Pharaoh’s palace for a purpose. God allowed Esther to marry the enemy King of the Hebrews for a purpose. Daniel, Meshach and Abadenegp were brought up at the palace of the King of Babylon for a purpose. It is therefore time to be subtle and as wise as serpent as preached by the greatest master.
Finally I leave you with the words of Barr Emeka Emekesiri who said that it is necessary the minds of the people be reset and reorientated properly with good information and delivered from the false propaganda they have been fed with.
He that wants equity must do equity and he that comes to equity must endeavour to come with clean hands. Again, he who comes to justice must do justice. Lets get knowledge for knowledge is power.
We must respect the teachings of Jesus Christ and be as wise as serpent. Our adversaries are looking for opportunity to kill us, so we must not offer them such opportunity. We must all live to see Biafra.
Another Page Of Atrocities Perpetrated Under Buratai As Nigerian Army Chief Of Staff
Names Of 53 Abducted Obigbo Young Women, Serially Raped For Weeks At Mogadishu Army Barracks (Abuja) And Dumped Afterwards In DSS Dungeons
Intersociety, Onitsha, Eastern Nigeria
Sunday, 14th Feb 2021
Retired Lt Gen Tukur Yusuf Buratai as immediate past Chief of Army Staff chillingly left a legacy of monstrosity and barbarism in the Nigerian Army. This is to the extent that few weeks after he was named as Nigerian Army Chief of Staff in July 2015, the secularity and professional tradition and culture of the Nigerian Army got changed and irreparably bastardized. Today, apart from Nigerian Army clearly running a hateful agenda on ethnic and religious grounds; particularly targeted at Christians and defenseless members of Igbo Ethnic Nationality-the largest Christian Ethnic Group in Nigeria, the Nigerian Army has also become an abominable army and key perpetrator of internationally classified and defined ‘prohibited acts’ including abominable sexual and other gender-based violence.
Atrocities of the Nigerian Army have remained ceaselessly untamed or unchecked week in week out since 2015. It is a height of abomination for soldiers of the Nigerian to have degraded themselves to the extent of engaging in serial rape and other abominable sexual violence against innocent and defenseless young Igbo Christian women inside the Mogadishu Barracks-a Barracks not too far away from Headquarters of the Nigerian Army in Abuja. This is to the extent of raping to death one, if not more than one of them and deflowering and inflicting bruises and internal injuries on another, as young as 23, who resisted being raped because she was a virgin. In all these, the Nigerian Army has dangerously become serially incorrigible and earned a status of ‘denial virus’-as it engages in serial and empty denials and hardly conducts credible investigations or fishes out its perpetrator personnel and hold them administratively and judicially accountable.
The above was the position of the International Society for Civil Liberties & Rule of Law contained in a statement issued today in Onitsha, Eastern Nigeria and signed by Emeka Umeagbalasi (Criminologist & Graduate of Security Studies), Board Chair, Barrister Obianuju Igboeli, Head of Civil Liberties & Rule of Law, Barrister Chinwe Umeche, Head of Democracy & Good Governance, Barrister Chidinma Udegbunam, Head of Campaign & Publicity, Barrister Ndidiamaka Bernard, Head of Int’l Justice & Human Rights and Comrade Samuel Kamanyaoku, Head of Field Data Collection & Documentation.
How The 53 Obigbo Young Women Were Abducted & Serially Raped At Mogadishu Barracks
The 53 young girls and women and others in non-menopausal age bracket, were abducted by the Nigerian Army in Obigbo, Rivers State between Oct and Nov 2020 and serially raped for weeks by its soldiers at the Mogadishu (Abacha) Barracks in Abuja. They were part of those abducted at various arenas at Obigbo on their way home from work between 7pm and 7.30pm on 20th Nov 2020 and taken to Obinze Army Barracks in Owerri in the dead of the night or hours of the blue law from where they were secretly transported next night to the Mogadishu Barracks, Abuja where many, if not most of them were raped and used as ‘sex slaves’ for weeks before they were secretly transferred to DSS dungeons in Abuja where they are presently held incommunicado.
It is recalled that Intersociety had in Dec 2020 issued a statement alleging that ‘400 defenseless Obigbo residents or more including young women were abducted by the Nigerian Army between Oct and Nov 2020 and secretly transported to different military dungeons in Northern Nigeria where they were clamped into indefinite and incommunicado detention without charge and public knowledge’. Weeks after, 52 of the abductees were rescued in Niger State and three died in Army captivity. Also between Dec 2020 and end of Jan 2021, 93 of them were located, rescued and freed through Court bails. Just few days back, another 63 were granted bail and their bail conditions are being perfected. That is to say that a total of 145 Obigbo abductees including two young females have been freed while 63 more are set to be freed in coming days. With latest discovery of 53 women among them, the total number of located names among the over 400 Obigbo abductees is now 261, out of which 145 have been freed, 63 are about to be freed and 53 (all women) have just been located and over 140 are still at large. All the abductees, from our several investigations, are engaged in different types of legitimate occupation and other lawful social activities. Some of them also are husbands and wives, brothers and sisters; and young and nursing mothers.
How Names Of The 53 Women Were Discovered
Following the release of the second batch of the Obigbo abductees numbering 29 on 29th Dec 2020 including two young women (23 years old and 21 years old); a case of rape by soldiers of the Nigerian Army attached to Mogadishu Barracks and similar harassments at Obinze Army Barracks in Owerri, Imo State was reported and on 8th Feb 2021, Intersociety dispatched its investigators to interview the victims. Intersociety is retaining its right of confidentiality by withholding the identities and full accounts of the two rape victims. However, part of their accounts relevant to this statement is that “they were abducted alongside multiple dozens of other young women and men between 7pm and 7.30pm on 20th Nov 2020 at Obigbo”. The victims were abducted on their way home from their job or work places. The two rape victims were specifically abducted and labeled “criminals” on their way home from their hair dressing salon shops and at a local commuter bus stop. Their abductors (soldiers) operated with a luxurious bus “packed” with multiple dozens of abductees. They were taken away to undisclosed locations same night only for them to find themselves next day (21st Nov 2020) at Obinze Army Barracks, Owerri (Imo State). In the late evening of same (21st Nov), they were again taken away in the same luxurious bus only for them to find themselves next morning at Mogadishu Barracks, Abuja.
At arrival in the Mogadishu Barracks, they were separated and dumped in ‘male and female guardrooms’. The victims also importantly informed Intersociety “that there were over 50 young women in the female guardrooms-all Obigbo abductees” and that “during their stay in the guardrooms and less than two days after their arrival, soldiers turned them into ‘sex slaves’ and serially raped them using “random picking or selection”. The victims added that “just a day after their arrival from Obinze on 22nd Nov, 2020, one of them, called ‘Victoria’ was raped to death and her corpse disappeared till date.” The victims told Intersociety that “they were not raped inside guardrooms but were randomly picked each of the raping days and taken to designated spots where they were raped and returned to guardrooms”. The victims also alleged that “they were tortured, abused, degraded and starved of food and toiletries while in the Army captivity and were also totally blocked from their families and stripped of their personal belongings including cash sums, bags, jewelries and mobile phones”. Intersociety, Barr E.R. Okoroafor and others have since sent the clips of the interview to strategic groups including notable women’s rights groups outside the country.
How The 53 Young Women Were Traced To DSS Dungeons
It was a thorough underground search and investigation, built on the rape victims’ accounts and anchored by Barr E.R. Okoroafor, assisted by the leadership of IPOB, an internationally respected rights group and Intersociety that paid off leading to tracing of names of the 53 young women to DSS. It was further found that they were handed over to DSS by Nigerian Army several weeks after their abduction and being serially serial raped. DSS in turn, dictatorially clamped and detained them incommunicado using crooked remand orders without recourse to required judicial review of same at the expiration of remand deadlines as provided in the Access to Criminal Justice Act of 2015 and in flagrant violation and breach of 35 (4) of the 1999 Constitution. If abducted in Oct 2020, the 53 women and others still held captive must have been held for four months and over three months if abducted in Nov 2020. This is more so when the Nigerian Army (the sole abductors) and the Spy Police or DSS have neither charged them to court nor released them unconditionally; likewise maintaining silence of the graveyard till date.
