The Indigenous People of Biafra has rubbished claims by an Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, that its Eastern Security Network is killing northerners.
According to IPOB, there is no iota of truth in the cleric’s comment, adding that ESN is not a terrorist organisation but a child of necessity created to defend against killer herdsmen.
IPOB spokesman, Emma Powerful, who disclosed this in a statement slammed Gumi saying he should be ashamed that he “has suddenly become a mouthpiece for bandits and terrorists.”
The statement read in part, “The attention of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra IPOB, led by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has been drawn to the latest ranting and ridiculous claims by terrorist apologist, Sheikh Abubakar Gumi, that IPOB, and Eastern Security Network, ESN, were killing Northerners. There is no iota of truth in such mischievous and fallacious claim.
“In case the self-acclaimed Islamic cleric has forgotten, may we remind him that neither IPOB nor ESN is a terrorist organisation or killer like his bandit clients and allies. Spilling of blood is never part of our mandate.
“ESN is a child of necessity created for the defence of our ancestral land against terrorists and killer herdsmen wreaking havoc across our communities. ESN is only defending our hapless mothers and sisters who have been raped, maimed and attacked without any justification by Fulani herdsmen.
“Since December 2020 when ESN was set up by our leader, these vampires have been on the run because of the heat from our gallant operatives across Biafran forests. For Sheikh Gumi who never gave a hoot while killer herdsmen rampaged our communities to try to twist the fact now is not only mischief but an act of terror itself.
“No Northern in any part of Biafra land can prove that he/she has at any time been attached by IPOB or ESN. We are only chasing terrorists and bandits behind killings and kidnapping for ransom in our land.
“Gumi should be ashamed that an Islamic cleric as he claims has suddenly become a mouthpiece for bandits and terrorists. Why does Gumi have special interest in bandits and terrorists is an indication that he is a terrorist but has never shown any empathy to their victims of other Nigerians?
“Why is Gumi always advocating for terrorists and negotiating with them but never advanced the cause of victims of terror? What does Sheikh Gumi have in common with bandits and terrorists?
“Gumi only wants to blackmail IPOB and ESN with his fabricated propaganda, that we are attacking Northerners so as to provide more justification for his Fulani terrorist security agencies in Nigeria uniforms to come after innocent people as they are currently doing.
“This terror sympathiser wants to lessen the heat on his boys by instigating the security agencies against us. Can you see why Sheikh Gumi should be arrested for investigations and interrogations?
“We want to put the world on notice that Sheikh Gumi is the main sponsor of banditry and terrorism in Nigeria. He should be made to face the consequences of his actions. For holding talks with terrorists and championing their cause, he has a case to answer.
“But we promise Gumi and his likes that no amount of distraction will make us back down on our resolve to restore Biafra, and defend our ancestral land against invasion by Fulani jihadists. We are formidable and we won’t give up on this mandate. ESN will not allow any person to occupy our forests again.”
By Segun Adewole
Source:
A 21-year-old undergraduate of the University of Lagos, Chidinma Ojukwu, has narrated how she stabbed the Chief Executive Officer of Super TV, Usifo Ataga, to death in the Lekki area of Lagos State.
She spoke at the Lagos State Police Command headquarters in Ikeja on Thursday after she was paraded as a suspect by the state Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu.
Odumosu said Ojukwu was arrested at her parents’ residence in the Yaba area of the state on Wednesday night.
Ojukwu, a 300-level student of Mass Communication, said she had been in a romantic relationship with 50-year-old Ataga for about four months before the ugly incident occurred on June 15, 2021, at a Short Service Apartment, situated at No 19, Adewale Oshin Street, Lekki, Phase 1, Lagos.
The undergraduate said she and Ataga were “having fun” when an argument broke out and she stabbed him twice.
A remorseful Ojukwu said, “We were in the lodge smoking. He was trying to make advances on me. I was tired and he became violent on it. I let him have his way. Towards afternoon, he ordered roofies. We took it together and ate food. He became high. I was still not happy with the first one (sex) that we had, so, I was staying on my own, smoking and drinking. He, too, was on his own.
“He came to me and I was like I am not happy with what he did. I was like, ‘You don’t help me, you don’t assist me with anything, you are just playing with me around’. He was like, ‘Take my ATM and withdraw what you want’.”
The undergraduate, ashamed, couldn’t look directly into the camera, as she said, “He later became violent trying to get to me and I was resisting and defending myself. At some point, he hit my head on the wall and I also retaliated.
“At some point, he was chasing me around the kitchen cabinet. I took a knife and stabbed his neck. I approached the door and he followed me. I stabbed him twice on the neck side. I threw the knife to the bed and he was going for it but I also went for it. He dragged the knife with me and it broke and he fell on the floor.”
The undergraduate also disclosed that after stabbing the late CEO, she withdrew N380,000 from his account using his ATM card.
While the owner of the rented apartment where the tragic incident took place had been arrested, Odumosu said Ataga’s accounts had been blocked to prevent further withdrawals by those taking advantage of his untimely death to deplete the accounts.
Odumosu added that investigation is ongoing, adding that “the case will be charged to court as soon as investigation is concluded”.
By Kayode Oyero
Source:https://punchng.com/how-i-stabbed-super-tv-ceo-to-death-21-year-old-unilag-student-speaks/
Since December 2020, over 1,000 students in schools in Northern Nigeria have been kidnapped by gunmen from their school domitories, a report by BBC News said.
In a recent documentary titled, 'Children for ransom', the BBC News X-rays the trauma of abductions of schoolchildren on the victims and their parents.
The wave of abductions has devastating consequences for the country, which already has the highest number of children out of education anywhere in the world, it said.
Bandits had in March invaded the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka in the Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna state and abducted 39 students comprising 23 females and 16 males.
The abductors stormed the college on the said date, shooting indiscriminately before taking students.
A video of the hostages was shared on social media. This spurred parents to organise a protest, urging the state and federal governments to secure the release of their wards in spite of government's stance that no ransom would be paid.
The parents were seen on a video screaming, 'Free Afaka 39' but the Kaduna state government had expressed belief that paying ransom was simply fuelling the growing business of banditry
The Kaduna State government, however, during the period reiterated its stance on negotiations with bandits.
The state governor, Nasir El-Rufai said, “The only way to end kidnapping is for society to take a stand and that we will not pay. I know the pain of losing children but I have to subordinate that to the overall interest of the society which elected me to provide leadership. I commiserate with their parents, I sympathise with them but that will not change our stand.”
In a statement issued by the Kaduna State Commissioner for Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, the state government promised to prosecute anyone found negotiating with bandits.
But, the father of one of the affected pupils, Friday Sani, said he would rather be arrested in his bid to secure the release of his children than allow them remain in captivity under gunmen.
He told the BBC, “My children are in the bush pointed to with AK-47 but I am here in the house. If I am under the detention of the state government, I don't think there would be any policeman or soldier that will point a gun to me. I will be safer in the hand of the government more than my children in the hand of the bandits. I feel that I should be arrested, it will make me create more history.”
On May 5, about 27 students abducted from the college in Afaka were released by their abductors, Sani's daughters, Rejoice and Victory, were among them.
Victory Sani said, “It was hell to be there, very terrible, sleeping outside, seeing dangerous insects, scorpions and snakes around.”
Rejoice Sani said, “One of the hardest things being around those people was waking up every day to see gunmen above your head."
When asked if they will want to continue with their education, Victory said, “Yes, definitely, I'll continue.”
Rejoice on the other hand said she would also love to continue her education but not at the school.
By SaharaReporters, New York
Source:https://saharareporters.com/2021/06/24/over-1000-students-kidnapped-northern-nigerian-schools-december-2020-%E2%80%94-report
President Muhammadu Buhari’s government was forced to deploy the former service chiefs – General Gabriel Olonisakin (retd.), Lt Gen Tukur Buratai (retd.), and three others to neighbouring countries for a number of reasons, military sources familiar with the development have revealed to SaharaReporters.
Buratai had been appointed to the Benin Republic, while Olonisakin was taken to Cameroon; meanwhile, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (retd.) was taken to Ghana; former Chief of Naval Staff, Air Vice Marshal Sadique Abubakar (retd.) was taken to Chad and the Air Vice Marshal Muhammad Usman (retd.), the former Chief of Defence Intelligence, is going to the Niger Republic.
Contrary to popular opinion that the former military chiefs were deployed to secure Nigeria, some military sources stated that the former service chiefs were posted to the “backyards” to avoid a national embarrassment as they might be rejected.
“Some of the former service chiefs actually wanted choice postings to Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, and other countries with vast military and defence capabilities, but the Presidency had feelers that they would be rejected and this would cause a national embarrassment.
“There were petitions already from several quarters to the United Nations and most European, the Middle East and North American countries against the former chiefs, and there are fears that they would be rejected by the host governments. This is why they were sent to countries that are more or less indebted to Nigeria,” one of the sources stated.
“Most of these choice countries have strong petitions against the former service chiefs and they are wary of bringing a retired military general who would be spying on their country. They knew that the former service chiefs were not qualified for the position, so there were fears that the service chiefs would be rejected,” another source confirmed.
“On the flip side, some of the former service chiefs don’t want to leave the country; they want to continue to monitor the military and the assets they have acquired in the country. So, they are contended to be backyard ambassadors.”
Buhari had sacked all the former service chiefs on January 26.
The President subsequently announced the nomination of the immediate past service chiefs on February 4 as non-career ambassadors, a decision which was greeted with widespread condemnation.
The decision was condemned by most Nigerians who believed that the former service chiefs should be probed particularly on the controversial $1 billion arms fund released between 2018 and 2019.
Nigerians also said Buratai and his colleagues must appear before the International Criminal Court, The Hague, Netherlands, to answer for several massacres in the country under their watch with the most recent being October 2020 Lekki shooting, where a disputable number of civilian protesters were killed and injured.
They also noted that the former Chief of Army Staff and possibly others must be probed for what has become known as the Zaria massacre, which was carried out by the Nigerian Army in Zaria, Kaduna State, on December 12, 2015, against Shia Muslims, mostly members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria.
At least 348 civilians were reportedly killed, with 347 bodies allegedly secretly buried by the army in a mass grave.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama had earlier in a statement on Tuesday announced the postings of the former service chiefs.
By SaharaReporters, New York
Source:https://saharareporters.com/2021/06/24/why-buhari%E2%80%99s-government-sent-ex-service-chiefs-neighbouring-countries-ambassadors-not
