Gabzy
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Leadership must be responsive to diversity. It is the rudimentary ingredient to fostering unity among variegated people. Where leadership becomes insouciant to diversity, every other thing fails. This is where the Buhari administration hit its nadir. The government abused, disregarded and mismanaged the delicate ethnic and religious balance on which Nigeria pivots.
In fact, President Buhari never cloaked his prejudice and oblique aspect. After the 2015 election, he infamously said those who gave him five percent vote were not deserving of the same treatment as those who gave him 97 percent vote.
‘’Words on marble’’ -- Buhari: “The constituents, for example, gave me 97% [of the vote] cannot in all honesty be treated on some issues with constituencies that gave me 5%. I think these are political reality.”
This is from the president of the most powerful black nation on the planet. Compare Buhari’s blighted utterance with the statement of Joe Biden, US president, who declared that he would be the president of all Americans, and that he would work for both Democrats and Republicans.
The truth is Buhari is not fit to be the president of 21st century Nigeria. He is of an age that is long lost and forgotten. Owing to the obvious twisted proclivities of his administration, the fissures dividing Nigerians according to religious and ethnic caste widened cosmically. It is a general truth that Nigeria has never been this fractured.
The ethnic and religious taxonomies are very pronounced. IPOB in the south-east, supremacist groups in the south-west and south-south -- and confusion everywhere. Some of these groups were not there until after 2015 – owing largely to the ethnic incitements of the Buhari administration – a divisive government which elevated nepotism to a state policy.
As a matter of fact, there was Boko Haram and farmer-herder clashes prior to the Buhari administration, but Nigeria fell to the suzerainty of bandits, who happen to be from the president’s ethnic stock, under Buhari. The scale of pillaging and savagery is unprecedented. From Zamfara, Katsina to Oyo and Ondo, the blood of the innocents cries out. Some roads have become ghost avenues; villages and businesses abandoned – all because of leadership failure which enabled the enterprise of banditry.
What is frightening, as some say, is that these people are of the assumption that they own Nigeria because Buhari is the president. This is what Olu Falae, a statesman who has been a recurring victim of bandits, said: ‘’When I was a child, herdsmen were our friends, they would bring their cows here and we would sing with them after selling their cows, they were not threatening anybody. But in the last 10 years or 15 years, they became violent and they have become a different thing altogether and I suspect it’s because the President is a Fulani. The ordinary herdsman ignorantly believes that they own everything in Nigeria, both all of us in Nigeria and whatever we possess.
"For example, a few years ago, one of the herdsmen hanging around my farm, met one of my workers and asked my workers why I was disturbing them, that I should be planting my maize on one side and allow them to graze on the other side, even on my farm. He was proposing that I should share my farm with him. Has such a person got any sense of property, right? Did he think he has no right in that place?’’
It is really disturbing. With a crisis of deadly potential precipitating in the south-west over the siege by bandits in the region, it is time for the president to act – by initiating a process of prevailing on the Fulani youths to desist from this path. Miyetti Allah, the Fulani socio-cultural group, has been instrumental in securing the release of captives from bandits and in establishing links for dialogue with them. For example, the freedom of the Kankara schoolboys of Katsina was by dint of Miyetti Allah. The group has also intervened in other situations. Can this group do the bounden duty of speaking to the heart of the Fulani youths?
A few days ago, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi met with some Fulani communities in Kaduna and sermonised them. About 600 bandits reportedly agreed to surrender their firearms. This is leadership. Really, this precarious occasion in the life of our nation calls for leadership by all Fulani leaders. They must rise up and talk to their won.
NIGERIA, DIVIDED WE STAND?
As I said in a previous article, crime has no ethnic face. There are people of criminal inclinations in every group, race, place and religion. We defeat the fight against insecurity if we lend ourselves to ethnic prejudices. And we must take caution not to tinge the enemy in brushstrokes of ethnicity. Let us not make banditry about “all herdsmen”. Asking Nigerians to leave a state because they are not natives or because a few of them are trafficking in blood goes against every shred of humanity. The enemy are the bandits not an ethnic group.
Our unity should matter to us. There are people working overtime to plunge Nigeria into crisis. They profit from blood and build their political assets from anarchy. We should not let these blood dealers celebrate. We have lost many souls to violence already; we should not lose more precious souls to a crisis of attrition.
Fredrick Nwabufo is a writer and journalist.
BY FREDRICK NWABUFO
SOURCE:http://saharareporters.com/2021/01/23/buhari-now-time-speak-fulani-youth-fredrick-nwabufo
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Gabzy
posted a blog.
9 hours ago
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As I was saying, it is a time to ask all our political leaders from Lagos, Ibadan, Osogbo, Abeokuta through Ado-Ekiti to Akure since 1999, for instance, the values they have created at home and the benefits they have attracted from the capital of the complex federation Abuja – where national values are allocated. We need to speak truth to power in South West. We need to reconstruct the questions on where the rains began to beat us in Yoruba land.
Is it not extremely shameful that a democracy that began with a former Head of State as returning President (of Yoruba extraction) in 1999 has not been able to reconstruct Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, for instance, about 22 years after? Was Bode George (who hails from Lagos) a former military governor of Ondo State, not a Chairman of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA)? Why didn’t he plan constructively with the PDP government (1999-2015) to construct a modern road network to the two ports in Apapa? Was Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe not a Works Minister in that dispensation? Who sabotaged Bicourtney’s contract to do the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway under a PPP deal? Some Governors of Yoruba states, Lagos, Ogun and Oyo did. Who owns Bicourtney? The name of the major investor there is Wale Babalakin who has invested in building what a former Aviation Minister referred to as the best local airport in Nigeria, MMA2, Lagos. It is not a time to discuss the character of Babalakin. Let’s discuss politics, enterprise and development. Why was there no consensus on the politics and grey areas of the contract instead of throwing away the baby with the bathwater? Why is the road (Lagos-Ibadan) Expressway still uncompleted?
I asked these questions before but they are still relevant. Do we need any power of attorney to ask why almost 22 uninterrupted years of democracy in Nigeria has not produced good link roads in the Western region? Is there any good road from Lagos State to Abeokuta in Ogun State? Is there any good road that links Ogun State to Oyo State? Is there any road we can be proud of between Oyo State and Osun State (carved out of Oyo)? What of Ekiti State taken out of Ondo State? Is there any good road linking Akure to Ado-Ekiti? In other words, do the state capitals in Western Nigeria have good link roads? How long did they wait for the federal government to complete a rail line from Lagos to Ibadan? What of the legendary centre of excellence, Lagos? Are even the federal roads in Lagos infrastructure to be proud of? Does Lagos, our economic capital of West Africa have excellent roads as Centre of Excellence? Are all the federal roads worthy? Does Lagos maintain its inner city roads? Are the mega potholes everywhere in Lagos not a mega embarrassment to the authorities and the residents?
Can we ask about the big man of Owu kingdom, former President Obasanjo, why the road from Lagos to Ota where he has a big farm, and even a university is still work in progress 22 years after he kick-started a democracy with a wonderful slogan in 1999: ‘Obasanjo: a man we can trust’?
Let’s leave Buhari and his wonderful party magicians alone this week. It is a time to do some self-examination of the region that sits on a hill and so can’t be hidden. Let’s leave the cheerleaders and mischievous distorters of Akeredolu’s lawful order to herdsmen in Ondo forest to their conscience this week. And so, it is a time to ask the leading lights and brand ambassadors of a region that is supposed to be the light of the world called Nigeria, some soul searching questions. I hope no one is carried away by a consistency in National Bureau of Statistics data that Western Nigeria is still the wealthiest and highest in literacy rate in its indices on poverty and literacy rates in Nigeria. There is also a new mind-blower: ‘sooner than later, Lagos will be the third largest economy in Africa, competing with Nigeria and South Africa. Just as we have California in the United States competing as the sixth largest economy in the world with $2.4 trillion GDP, which moved slightly above that of France and Brazil since 2015. That is good to hear. But how does this affect the people and critical infrastructure? How do these indicators compel a federal South-West Development Commission at this time?
Do we need a South-West Development Commission (SWDC) before the mighty Lagos can announce to the world that Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) is now the best teaching hospital even in West Africa? When will the Lagos State University too be equipped to be commissioned by the Office of the Citizen as a world-class University and a Centre of Engineering Excellence? When will LASU produce civil engineers who can take over from the mega mediocrity called Public Works Department that is even creating craters while maintaining Lagos roads?
We are in the forefront in the advocacy for practice of true federalism within the framework of restructuring. Where are the authentic brand ambassadors of federalism among the governors in Western Nigeria? Can’t the governors and leaders move beyond delivering seminal papers and making noise on different social media platforms? In the last 22 years what have the Tinubus, the Agagus, the Mimikos, the Fasholas, the Aregbesolas, the Akeredolus, the Ambodes, the Amosuns, the Ajimobis, the Fayoses, the Otunba Gbenga Daniels, etc invested significantly in education in their states? They are all very educated and so they all benefited from the robust investment that the iconic Obafemi Awolowo had in education quality as a weapon of country and global competitiveness. Let any of these our leaders beat their chests about the world-class universities they established since 1999. Ondo State has three state universities, Ogun State has two state-owned universities, Oyo too now has two universities. There are more state universities in today’s South West. But which of the three universities in Ondo State, for instance, is well funded to be called a centre of excellence?
As I once asked, do we then need more or better universities? When last did the government of Ondo State pay salaries of teachers and workers of the three universities? Do they require a federal South West Development Commission to fund their numerous universities? One more important question, why didn’t Senator Ibikunle Amosun who was Governor of Ogun State for eight years on the platform of the APC collaborate with the APC-controlled Lagos State to complete an excellent link-road between Abeokuta and Lagos? What became of the routes he initiated and the bridges he ought to have completed that would have terminated at Berger Lagos? Does he require the South West Development Commission (SWDC) to complete the roads – from Ota area to Lagos?
We should not get it twisted, there are legal ways of allocating values through appropriation bills in a democracy in Abuja. This is where the federal representatives of the people need to answer more questions. Here indeed is the thing, if all the members of the National Assembly from the South West states want the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway to be completed in a particular financial year, all they need is to lobby their colleagues in the appropriate committees to allocate adequate funds for the completion of the road. If they want to deepen the process in a transparent manner, they can visit the president to emphasise the importance of the routes to national development. The Works Minister who hails from Lagos State, indeed a former Governor of the state, can even be democratically dragged into the fray. If they insist too on completion of the old Shagamu Interchange to Ore Road, they will get it completed. That axis too has been in the works since 1999. It is still a shame on all the legislators from the South West: Fashola once accused them of diverting funds meant for the Lagos-Ibadan road to their National Assembly budget. In the main, all the legislators and governors (present and past) from South West deserve to be enrolled in a Hall of Shame for paying lip service to the completion of all federal roads in the region including the Lagos-Ibadan, Shagamu interchange-Ore axis. What of Mile-2, Lagos Badagry Road that leads to Benin Republic? That is another emblem of shame for the South West political leaders. That route is a federal international route that the representatives too deserve a garland of dishonour for.
Murtala And His 45-year Promise To Lagos
HERE is the conclusion of the whole matter: instead of unnecessary debate on the South West Development Commission bill, there should be some consensus this time on a bill, which seeks to fulfill general Murtala’s promise to Lagos almost 45 years ago when he proclaimed Abuja as Nigeria’s new capital on February 3, 1976. This is a worthy pursuit in support of the country’s economic capital based in South West.
As I always remind all of us, of all the failings exhibited about Nigeria’s capital, the most telling has been an unfulfilled promise made to Lagos, which was proposed by General Murtala Muhammed in 1976 as “Economic Capital of the Federation.”
In his broadcast to the nation on 3rd February, 1976, Murtala had promised that Lagos would not only be designated a “Special Area,” it would be Nigeria’s commercial capital and the deal would be incorporated into the 1979 Constitution then in the works. His words: ‘…Lagos will, in the foreseeable future, remain the nation’s commercial capital and one of its nerve centres. But in terms of servicing the present infrastructure alone, the committed amount of money and effort required will be such that Lagos State will not be ready to cope. It will even be unfair to expect the state to bear this heavy burden on its own. It is, therefore, necessary for the Federal Government to continue to sustain the substantial investment in the area. The port facilities and other economic activities in the Lagos area have to be expanded. There is need in the circumstance for the Federal Government to maintain a special defence and security arrangement in Lagos, which will henceforth be designated a SPECIAL AREA. These arrangements will be carefully worked out and written into the constitution. Kaduna and Port-Harcourt are to be accorded similar status and designated special areas under the constitution…’
This is one remarkable promise to Lagos that no government since February 14, 1976 has fulfilled. The General made the promise on 3rd February and he was assassinated on 13th February 1976.
So, Abuja, is a city founded by the Generals and General Buhari should be proud of that heritage. That is why he should join the bandwagon of builders by fulfilling the Murtala’s promise to Lagos 45 years ago (next month). After all, it was permissible to blame the PDP for neglecting the APC-controlled Lagos for 16 years before they came in 2015. But now Lagos and Abuja will no longer hate each other as they are both controlled by the same political party, the APC. President Buhari should let General Muhammed turn well in his grave today by fulfilling the covenant he (Murtala) had with the people of Nigeria on Lagos since February 3, 1976.
By Martins Oloja
Source:https://guardian.ng/opinion/does-south-west-need-a-federal-development-commission-part-2/
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Igboho: We’ ll bring culprits to justice, says Oyo CP
The Commissioner of Police in Oyo State, Ngozi Onadeko, has appealed to youths in the state to remain calm as the police probe the crisis that happened in Igangan, Ibarapa North Local Government Area on Friday.
The Commissioner of Police also vowed that those responsible for the arson and other criminal activities in the town would be apprehended and brought to justice.
She said this on Sunday in a statement issued by the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mr Olugbenga Fadeyi.
The PUNCH reports that there was a crisis in Igangan on Friday after the visit of a freedom fighter, Chief Sunday Adeyemo popularly known as Sunday Igboho, to the town.
Some youths in the town were said to have set ablaze some properties and the Inspector General of Police, Abubakar Adamu, ordered that Igboho should be arrested and brought to Abuja.
The PPRO said one police officer was injured while discharging his duty during the mob action.
The statement read partly, “Sadly, the relative peace and calmness, being enjoyed, due to the visibility patrols of the security agencies were truncated by the visit of Sunday Igboho to Igangan, at about 1630hrs on 22nd January 2021.
“The visit had culminated in a mob action by some youths in the town, who, armed with different types of weapons, embarked on arson and a breach of peace. In the process, grievous hurt was committed against one of the police officers, while discharging his statutory duties.
“The commissioner of police will like to reiterate that the security agencies will not watch while some criminal elements take laws into their hands.
“Investigation into the arson and the breach of the peace, which occurred at Igangan will be investigated to logical conclusion and culprits shall be brought to justice.”
By Olufemi Olaniyi
Source:https://punchng.com/igboho-we-ll-bring-culprits-to-justice-says-oyo-cp/
Gabzy
posted a blog.
January 23, 2021
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A few days ago, I read a news report of President Muhammadu Buhari calling on Nigerian elite to criticise his government fairly. In other words, he is asking that he should not be criticised unfairly. Since I have no mandate to take on the president on the fairness or lack of it with regards to his appointments, projects and whatever other benefits of his government vis~a~vis the different parts of the country, I will respond to his call on the elite insofar as it concerns me as an individual with a case of unfair treatment by the president.
As a Ph.D holder, as a former lecturer at the Nigerian Defence Academy and as one once an appointee in the government of President Olusegun Obasanjo with office at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, I suppose I can rightly claim belonging to the elite group of the Nigerian society. I also know that I am among the virulent critics of the Buhari administration since 2017. But then, I am also THE KEY FIGURE that is responsible for Buhari’s fourth contest and victory after three failed attempts. I can say without fear of contradiction that no Nigerian is responsible for laying the very foundation of President Buhari’s fourth attempt to the presidency more than my humble self. And this is not a hyperbolic statement.
At a time when he lost his third presidential bid in April 2011 and vowed not to ever contest again, and when most people were running away from him, it was at that time that l patriotically braved it and came to his support. I brought in new ideas, new strategy, new vigour and new contacts, and other real and tangible values to his political aspiration. In less than three hours, I convinced him to change his publicly expressed political stance of not running again, and agree to go to the tribunal and to contest again. Afterward, I sourced for the funding of each and every aspect of my approved ideas. So l didn’t sell my ideas to him for money. Hence, between April 2011 when CPC went to the tribunal and July 2013 when APC was registered, l was about his ‘most trusted’ political confidant in the execution of the new strategy. And the result is what he is today – the president!
Unarguably, without me doing what I did in that intervening period, Buhari would never have been the president of Nigeria in 2015 as it turned out.
But what did I get in return for the victory – rejection and total lockout! Astonishingly, l have till date not set eyes on him from the day he was announced president-elect. The last time we communicated on phone was on the Election Day, 28th March 2015. Except for his cryptic text message response of “Ameen Hardo” to my wishing him well on 27th August, 2015, commemorating the date of his overthrow as military Head of State, I never had any communication with President Buhari again. And this is in spite of all my spirited efforts of phoning and texting him on the lines we used to communicate with; of contacting those who used to give me unfettered and almost instant access to him; and of formally writing to him three letters seeking appointments with him. For no any fault of mine that I know of, the president failed to see me till date to even congratulate him on the victory l put in so much for him to achieve. Rationally, the least I expected of him after winning was to give me protection against his powerful opponents that l took on in the process of executing what I and him sat and plotted.
Unlike most others, who negotiated their support for him, I didn’t negotiate nor ask for anything of him when l came to his aid; all my efforts were geared only towards his attaining victory, in the belief that he would fix this country by ridding us in the North East of Boko Haram and Nigeria of corruption, which the Goodluck Jonathan regime apparently seemed initially unable to do. Hence, my not asking of him any personal gains, believing that, as a Muslim, he will recognise and appreciate my efforts and contributions, and repay me accordingly without having to ask. And that is the truth.
But as things subsequently turned out, I am totally mistaken; President Buhari is not what I thought him to be, both in terms of capacity to solve the country’s teething issues and in character to repay good with good! For me personally, having been unfairly treated by him, I find it difficult to comprehend the president’s call for fair criticism – prompting me to write this piece!
What did I do to deserve this unfair treatment from the president? No one to date told me; and that’s all I want to be told. Without a reason, I feel betrayed by a cause I practically put my life on the line for. As we all know, three things define a man: his perseverance when in need; his attitude on attaining his need; and his gratitude towards those who helped him attain his need. These three tell who a person truly is! In the light of these, therefore, can the president in all honesty, talk of fairness? As fairness is reciprocal, if President Buhari wants to be treated fairly (not that I criticise him unfairly), should he not also learn to treat people, treat Nigerians and treat all those that helped him attain his otherwise unattainable ambition fairly? I think so. After all, repaying good with good is not only a divine injunction, but also the hallmark of good leadership.
I believe President Buhari himself, those who I brought on board his project and those the president introduced to me for the execution of the project, all know what I am saying is the absolute truth, evidential, provable and, therefore, indisputable. I have written a book titled “Court and Politics: Chronicling my Experience in the Nigerian Theatre”, in which I dedicated chapter seven to account in great details activities relating to my role in the Buhari presidency. And whosoever wants to challenge my claims is welcome to be my guest.
Finally, having long made my point public through the media, I have since moved on, and have forgiven the president and all those we worked with to make the project a reality, leaving everyone to their consciences, believing that God Almighty will vindicate the righteous.
Dr. Ardo writes from Yola
By Umar Ardo
Source;https://dailytrust.com/my-case-against-president-buhari-for-unfair-treatment
Gabzy
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Nigerian Soldiers Resigned To Join Kanu’s Eastern Network – Military Sources
At least five soldiers of the Nigerian Army recently resigned to join Nnamdi Kanu’s Eastern Security Network, military sources have informed SaharaReporters, adding that the ESN is silently building a regional military force.
One of the military sources noted that more soldiers from the South-East, particularly those in the Operation Lafiya Dole Theatre Command, are currently being wooed to resign and join the ESN.
It was learnt that some of the soldiers who resigned did so on the grounds that the ESN, being funded by both international and local donors, has better welfare packages for its officers than the military.
“The Kanu ESN boys are not a bunch of rookies and untrained fellows brandishing guns. I personally know five guys from my hometown in Anambra State who left the Nigerian Army to join the ESN. Two of them were formerly serving in Operation Lafiya Dole, Borno State, before they quit.
“We are being reliably informed that there are other soldiers, particularly of the South-East extraction, who will soon leave for other various reasons and they are likely to be recruited into the fold,” one of the sources said.
Kanu, the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, had recently announced the formation of the Eastern Security Network as a regional force to protect the South-East and South South from banditry and attacks from Fulani herdsmen.
In July 2012, about 356 soldiers in the North-East and other theatres of operation had resigned from the army – some on voluntary retirement, while others cited loss of interest as their reason for disengagement.
The soldiers had written to the army chief, Lt Gen Tukur Buratai, on July 3, 2020, under Reference NA/COAS/001, quoting the Harmonised Terms and Conditions of Service soldiers/rating/airmen (Revised) 2017.
The approval of the voluntary disengagement of the 356 soldiers was contained in a 17-page circular from Buratai, AHQ DOAA/G1/300/92, signed by Brig Gen T.E. Gagariga for the army chief.
Again, this January, another batch of 127 soldiers resigned from the Nigerian Army and are due to leave by May.
They comprised one Master Warrant Officer, three Warrant Officers, 22 Staff Sergeants, 29 Sergeants, 64 Corporals, seven Lance Corporals and one Private.
Two weeks after Kanu launched the ESN on December 12, 2020, the Nigerian Army on December 30 was reported to have deployed combat helicopters, gun trucks and soldiers to search some suspected forests in the South-East states where the ESN, was said to be camping.
SaharaReporters had exclusively reported that the military search had been ongoing for days, and had no time frame, as the army was acting on “orders from above.”
A video from the drones and hidden cameras believed to be installed by the ESN, had captured the Nigerian Army helicopters and their vehicles and soldiers searching for the camp of the ESN for possible arrests.
“The Nigerian Army that is supposed to fight Boko Haram was seen everywhere searching for the camp of Eastern Security Network team. But they forgot they are dealing with sophisticated men. There are cameras and drones everywhere watching them,” an official had said.
The police force had also stated last week that its personnel had yet to identify an ESN official or camp in the South-East, while dismissing Kanu’s ESN as propaganda and non-existent.
BY SAHARAREPORTERS, NEW YORK
SOURCE:http://saharareporters.com/2021/01/22/nigerian-soldiers-resigned-join-kanu%E2%80%99s-eastern-network-%E2%80%93-military-sources
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Two feared dead as herdsmen, Sunday Igboho’s supporters clash in Oyo
Violence erupted in Igangan in the Ibarapa North Local Government Area of Oyo State on Friday when a popular Yoruba activist, Chief Sunday Adeyemo, also known as Sunday Igboho, reportedly stormed the Fulani settlement in the town to eject the Seriki Fulani, Salihu Abdukadir, and some other herdsmen accused of fuelling security problems in the area.
Unconfirmed reports claimed that some persons were killed while properties worth several millions of naira were set ablaze during the clash which occurred in the evening.
Although Igboho could not be reached as calls to his telephone line indicated that he was out of reach, residents of Igangan however said that at least one youth from Igboora was killed by Fulani fighters while two others sustained injuries from gunshots.
The Seriki also told our correspondent that one Fulani woman was killed. He said he had fled the town before Igboho returned on Friday.
The claims from both sides could not be independently verified as of press time on Friday.
Igboho had last week issued a seven-day quit notice to the Seriki and his associates.
Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State had in a broadcast warned people fuelling ethic crisis in the state to desist from such act.
Despite this, Igboho and his supporters stormed Igangan on Friday afternoon.
Addressing the youths, Igboho said, “They started deploying soldiers here since yesterday (Thursday). When our people were being kidnapped and killed, there was not soldier to be deployed to secure them.
Reacting, the Oyo State PPRO, Mr. Olugbenga Fadeyi, said, “Tactical police teams with Operation Burst are on ground to give maximum security protection while efforts are on to ascertain the situation there.”
Makinde vows to resist ethnic crisis
Meanwhile, Makinde said on Friday that his government would not allow anyone hiding under the guise of ethnic interest to perpetrate a crisis in the state.
Makinde said the war to be waged by the state and the security agencies was against criminal elements, irrespective of their tribes, religions or creed.
He added that his administration would not allow anyone to threaten the peace of the state by acting unlawfully as such was against the nation’s Constitution.
The governor, who spoke while receiving the new Commissioner of Police in the state, Mrs Ngozi Onadeko, said the state government would not relent in placing priority on the welfare of security agencies in the state.
The governor said, “For people stoking ethnic tension, they are criminals and once you get them, they should be arrested and treated like common criminals. For this administration, the major pillar for us is security, because we know that all the good economic plans we have won’t be possible in an atmosphere of chaos and insecurity.”
“So, when people say things that are neither lawful nor within the spirit of Nigeria’s Constitution, it is not acceptable here. And they cannot hide under the guise of protecting Yoruba interest to perpetuate chaos in the state.”
By Olufemi Olaniyi and Wale Oyewale
Source:https://punchng.com/two-feared-dead-as-herdsmen-sunday-igbohos-supporters-clash-in-oyo/
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Fulani Herdsmen Stab Ondo Farmer Into Coma Despite Vacation Order
Fulani herdsmen on Friday attacked and stabbed a farmer into unconsciousness in Akure, the Ondo State capital, while he was working on his farm.
SaharaReporters learnt that the farmer was rescued and rushed to a nearby hospital by fellow farmers who were alerted to the attack.
It was gathered that the injured farmer, whose name could not yet be ascertained as of the time of filing this report, was battling for his life.
A youth advocate in the state, Oluyemi Fasipe, confirmed the attack on Friday, saying the cassava farmer was stabbed for refusing the herdsmen access to his farmland.
He said, “Disturbing News; Fulani herdsmen stabbed a farmer in Akure, Ondo State today because he tried to stop them from destroying his farm and feeding his cassava to cows. The farmer, who was rescued by other farmers, is said to be in a very critical condition.”
The Ondo State government on Tuesday vowed that it would not rescind the ultimatum it issued to herdsmen to vacate its forest reserves within seven days.
The Special Adviser to Governor Rotimi Akeredolu on Security Matters, Alhaji Jimoh Dojumo, said the state government was determined to put an end to cases of kidnapping and killing in the state.
This was sequel to an order by the state governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, on Monday, asking Fulani herdsmen to vacate all forest reserves in the state within the next seven days.
Akeredolu in a statement had also banned the movement of cattle within cities and highways, as well as night grazing.
Akeredolu’s directive was informed by the killings and kidnappings happening in the state, which have largely been blamed on Fulani herdsmen.
He also ordered the clearing of bushes on the highways across the 18 local government areas of the state in order to allow for a proper view of the highway.
The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria had said that the agreement it had with the Ondo State government was to stop night grazing and use of underage boys for grazing cows, adding that at no time did the governor tell them to vacate the forest reserves.
BY SAHARAREPORTERS, NEW YORK
SOURCE;http://saharareporters.com/2021/01/22/fulani-herdsmen-stab-ondo-farmer-coma-despite-vacation-order
Gabzy
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January 22, 2021
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THE Presidency triggered a needless controversy recently with its brash intrusion into the legitimate efforts by the Ondo State Government to secure the lives and property of residents. In an unseemly and swift reaction to an order by Governor Rotimi Akeredolu to cattle herders to vacate the state’s forest reserves that had become hideouts and bases for kidnappers and killers, a presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, weighed in to equate the action to ethnic profiling and a violation of the herders’ constitutional right to free movement. The intervention is wrong on all fronts. It lays bare the rabid sectionalism of the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), its disdain for federalism and how it is ill-suited to crush the rampaging insecurity assailing the fabric of the republic.
Unerringly, the regime never misses an opportunity to promote the interests of the Fulani ethnic group over and above those of other Nigerians. Ondo, like other South-West states, has been under siege from armed herders, mostly identified as Fulani both local and foreign, but also other groups. Security reports indicate that criminals have joined to pose as herders; they invade, destroy farms with their cattle, kidnap, kill, rape and burn homes and property. Invariably, they occupy the lush forests of the region where they have set up camps to coordinate their kidnapping of victims.
Contrary to the Presidency’s false messaging, Akeredolu did not give a blanket expulsion order. The eviction notice was restricted to the state’s forest reserves, protected areas which no one has a right to occupy. “All forest reserves in the state are to be vacated by herdsmen within the next seven days…,” Akeredolu said. Unambiguously, he explained that it was part of steps to address “the root cause of kidnapping, in particular, and other nefarious activities detailed and documented in security reports, the press and debriefings from victims of kidnap cases in Ondo State.”
“These unfortunate incidents are traceable to the activities of some bad elements masquerading as herdsmen. These felons have turned our forest reserves into hideouts for keeping victims of kidnapping, negotiating for ransom and carrying out other criminal activities.” This is clear enough. And his assertion that as the Chief Law and Security Officer of the state, it is his “constitutional obligation to do everything lawful to protect the lives and property of all residents of the state,” cannot be faulted.
Curiously, in its haste to play the role of champion of the Fulani, the Presidency falsely presented the action as seeking “…to unilaterally oust thousands of herders who have lived all their lives in the state…” There is nothing in the governor’s statement that suggests that. He only rightly ordered illegal occupants out of forest reserves.
Nature or forest reserves are protected areas for flora, fauna or geological interest designated by national or subnational governments for conservation of nature and resources. The International Union for Conservation of Nature says governments keep out human presence from reserves to prevent exploitation of natural resources through grazing, for firewood, fauna and others. Federal and state governments in the United States, Canada, Russia and Australia maintain many. Egypt has 30 covering 12 per cent of its entire territory; Russia has 100 and South Africa’s 20 national parks approximate to about 3.0 per cent of the country’s land area.
All over civilised societies, reserves are not for unauthorised grazing or settlements. Olu Falae, an elder statesman, who has twice been kidnapped and ransomed, as well as lawyers, say the Forest Reserve law and the 1999 Constitution that vests control and use of land on state governors are enough to curb the primitive, crude and intrusive practice of open grazing.
By virtue of their protective status, the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations says forest reserves should remain free from destructive human intervention. There are about 1,129 forest reserves, 29 game reserves, four game sanctuaries and four national parks in Nigeria. The position of the law is that local governments are responsible for the administration of Communal Forest Areas, the state governments control and manage forest reserves, game reserves and game sanctuaries. The Federal Government, under the Exclusive Legislative list, is only responsible for the control, protection and management of national parks. States and the FCT each have an established forestry services division under the appropriate ministry. Each state forest service is responsible for setting and administering policies for its forests. It, therefore, becomes a dangerous national security issue when a government abjures law and order to profess tacit support for criminality. It would have sounded precariously odd if the Olusegun Obasanjo administration had gone out of its way to defend the O’odua Peoples Congress violence or the Goodluck Jonathan government justifying the Niger Delta militants’ bombings and killings. But on Buhari’s watch, this country has never been this awfully governed.
Truly, Nigeria is dysfunctional. Every issue is politicised and ethnicised, making it difficult to unite to defeat common security threats. The imprudent statement by the Northern Elders Forum to herders to disobey the quit order sets the stage for further polarisation. For them, fealty to ethnic identity overrides rational, empirical and scientific considerations, human lives and the country. Reactively, South-West groups are also rallying in support of the governor.
Yet, Buhari, state governors and senior officials and credible intelligence reports have repeatedly admitted that many of the killer herdsmen are not even Nigerians. Global bodies, including the International Crisis Group, say that the country is flushed with weapons from imploding Libya, Mali and other Sahelian countries. And that fleeing desertification in the Sahel region, militants have mixed with herdsmen, jihadists and bandits to flood Nigeria.
And is the resultant effect? The far North has become a vast killing field, the Middle Belt smouldering while the South-West is crumbling too. Apart from frequent attacks on farmers, destruction of farms, kidnapping and rapes, local vigilance groups report the presence of well-armed herdsmen and kidnappers’ camps in the region’s forests and reserves. Freedom of movement is not a licence to perpetrate crime. Everywhere else, there would be a national consensus to crush criminality.
Buhari’s regime is however duplicitous, declaring on the one hand that bandits are mostly foreigners, but on the other, rushing to their defence whenever their victims react. No country can defeat insecurity this way. Meanwhile, the same regime allows its police to enforce discriminatory, unconstitutional religious Sharia penal law in 12 northern states, destroying alcoholic bottles and investments of non-Muslim business people in a country that claims to be democratic, multi-religious and multi-cultural. Where is the ideal of unity in diversity in all of this?
Cattle rearing is a business like any other; it is not superior to other enterprises. It is intolerable that the Federal Government reinforces the odious culture of entitlement of herdsmen to other people’s land and their willingness to “draw from a pool of violence” as Catholic cleric, Hassan Kukah, labelled it, to enforce that claim.
This is not Akeredolu’s or Ondo State’s fight alone; it is a struggle for every right-thinking citizen of this country. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” Nigerians should push back against a Presidency fixated on an ethnic, sectional agenda that treats other Nigerians as second class citizens to be subordinated to the interests of local and foreign cattle herders converging on the country from all over West and Central Africa.
Nigeria’s reality as a disparate amalgam of many nationalities, cultures and interests is daily amplified under Buhari’s divisive watch. Akeredolu and South-West states should not buckle to the harassment and threats. Regional and state security agencies like the South-West’s Amotekun should be strengthened. Open grazing should be banned completely and the rules enforced. Like every other business and social activity, cattle grazing should be regulated, restricted to enclosed and designated areas and carrying of arms prohibited. Institutional laxity that allowed illegal herders, loggers and criminals to flourish in protected reserves to the point of becoming existential security threats should be arrested and the heritage sites effectively managed. Akeredolu and indeed the governors that take the security and welfare of their people as sacrosanct, have the constitution and the law behind them. The task is to use the law to fight crime without fear or favour, religious prejudice or ethnic profiling.
By Punch Editorial
Source:https://punchng.com/ondo-forests-fgs-support-for-lawlessness-is-outrageous/
Gabzy
posted a blog.
January 22, 2021
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We are not strangers to hyperbolic self-adulation by political leaders. It matters in human management because of the applause factor in political leadership. A current political administration measures its success by how negatively it portrays its predecessor. The less positively we remember the past, the more positively we appreciate the present.
I can see that President Muhammadu Buhari is irritated by the elite criticisms of his administration who are comparing his watch with the past watch. It must be an unkind cut by men who have so easily forgotten where we were and the many challenges we contended with before May 29, 2015, when he stepped on to the podium and took on the mantle as president, becoming the second man in our country to rule us in uniform and out of uniform. In case we have an attack of group amnesia, the president found it necessary to do some chest beating last week when he hosted the executive secretary of the Nigeria/Christian Pilgrims Commission, Rev Yakubu Pam.
He said: “Those criticising the administration should be fair in terms of reflecting on where we were before we came, where we are now and what resources are available to us and what we have done with the limited resources.”
A fair verdict, untainted by elite bias, should be, yes, this is an administration performing in superlative terms because whereas we did not sleep before, we do now, thanks to the vastly improved security situation that has made our insecurity history. The snag is that such a verdict would hardly square with the facts available to the elites who lob criticisms at the Buhari administration; sometimes out of mischief or ignorance or both.
I am always slow to react to the sound of chest beating, even if it grates on my ears. My take is that every political leader works with sets of facts, alternative facts not excepted, that are not open to the rest of us. They use the facts before them to judge their leadership and the leap in progress made by them. They naturally indulge the temptation to beat their chests and, with due respect to cocks, crow also.
Still, I am bothered by the fact that the president appears not to be fully briefed on where we are vis-à-vis where we were under his immediate predecessor, Dr Goodluck Jonathan. What follows here is not in defence of the elite critics but an attempt to present the facts available to the rest of us in the hope that the president would take another look at them and be not so angry with the elites who take some delight in laying the cane across his back – for some perfectly god reasons.
There are classical indices of national development, an assessment of which would give us the facts and perhaps, just perhaps, force the elite critics of the administration to padlock their lips. I will deal with just two of them, namely, the national economy and national security, two of our most critical challenges.
There is hardly a better way of judging the progress of a nation than by the health of its economy. There is no choice between a robust national economy and an anaemic one. There is no way to put this less delicately, to wit, from all indications, our national economy is suffering from kwashiorkor. Indeed, the economy has not enjoyed anything close to a robust health for many, many moons now. It is today effectively burdened by the debt burden because we sauntered into the debt trap.
I have harped on this, suggesting that the world would not applaud Nigerian governments – federal and state – by the size of their annual budgets at variance with available resources. They only raise hopes only to dash them cruelly. A sound management of our economy should begin with accepting that we are a poor, struggling third world country and commit to managing our poverty rather than oil our delusion that the fiction of our wealth is holding up.
When Buhari assumed office in May 2015, the health of the national economy was already showing the effects of accumulated burden over the years but there were indications that it was not likely to go into the intensive care unit soon. The debt stock was a relatively manageable $12 billion. But the chickens soon headed home to roost. Under Buhari’s watch, the national debt stock increased to $22.4 billion by June 2018. The National Bureau of Statistic said that in the third quarter of last year, the total foreign and domestic debt stock was N32.22 trillion.
We are trudging in the woods with China, India, the US and Europe offering us a helping hand. We chop jumbo loans now and pay through our nose tomorrow. Pity future leaders and the effect on their noses. We have become a desperate nation such that the current federal budget, as in the past, would be financed with loans of some N5.6 trillion; nearly half of the total budget.
The economy is in recession, the second time it chose to go that route under Buhari with the first time being in 2016. In 2017, Nigeria, this once proud oil rich nation, became so poor that it displaced India from its almost permanent perch as the poverty capital of the world. More than 100 million of our estimated population of 2006 million are classified as extremely poor. Inflation is ravaging the nation at 15.75 per cent. In its desperation for cash to finance the 2021 budget, the federal government is to confiscate unclaimed dividends, technically termed borrowing. It is not normal to borrow without a lender. The government also intends to sell some of its assets and plough the proceeds into prosecuting the current budget. It is, as they used to say in Lagos, broke time.
Given the sets of facts in the public domain, it would not be uncharitable to suggest that most of the negative indices in our national economy were achieved under the present administration. It would appear that the management of the national economy has not quite responded to the president’s acclaimed capacity to take on serious issues.
What goes around comes around, right? As the presidential candidate of CPC in the 2011 general elections, Buhari was very critical of the Jonathan administration as he assiduously marketed himself as the real man who could, in a manner of speaking, make water flow up hill. In a statement issued through his party spokesman, Yinka Odumakin, in July 2011, Buhari said that “we live in denial in this country…” True. I have always thought so, thanks to our leaders, past and present. He said Jonathan could not handle Boko Haram, our biggest national security challenge at the time. He went on: “I have not seen any issue where the president has shown capacity that he can address …any serious issues confronting the country.”
In his nearly six years of stewardship, what is the state of our national security today? Buhari beats his chest and tells us he has handled Boko Haram, although there are still some problems, and urged those who doubt him to ask the people of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states. I have not asked them but I know that if we do not have the luxury of living in denial, we would admit that we are much less secure now than we were under Jonathan. Boko Haram still holds the nation by the jugular vein; they strike where they wish at will; they ambush our armed forces; they slaughter rice farmers on the farm, thus forcing Borno State government to recruit local hunters with amulets and dane guns to take them on; and they kidnap our young people and women at will. It could hardly get more pathetic than this for the government and the people.
Post Jonathan and present Buhari, Boko Haram is not our only serious national security challenge today. Kidnappers, absent under Jonathan, are the reigning kings of the criminal world; they roam the land, particularly in the northern parts of the country, forcing farmers to abandon their farms; armed robbers have not become history either. It bears repeating: life has become brutish for Nigerians. I thought the president’s men had not hidden this from him.
In our collective despair and desperation, various groups and responsible compatriots have repeatedly urged Buhari to rejig the security architecture and change the service chiefs in order to improve the security situation. But he has ignored everyone most probably because a) he would not let anyone question his wisdom and his capacity or b) he is less informed about the true situation or c) he is only hearing the elite criticisms that fire his umbrage. I fear that the man who cautioned us in 2011 not to live in denial appears to be promoting it as an article of political and human management.
By Dan Agbese
Source:https://guardian.ng/opinion/elite-criticisms-and-the-sound-of-chest-beating/
Gabzy
posted a thread.
Calls for restructuring: Go to National Assembly, Presidency tells ACF, Nwodo, Adebanjo as agitation spreads
Prominent Nigerians, including the immediate past President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief John Nwodo; a chieftain of Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo and the Chairman of the Arewa Consultative Forum, Chief Audu Ogbeh, on Thursday said there was an urgent need to restructure Nigeria for it to attain its full potential.
They made the call at the 18th Daily Trust Dialogue with the theme: ‘Restructuring in Nigeria: Why? How? When?’
The prominent Nigerians suggested that the country should be restructured to make Nigeria work for all citizens.
But in an interview with The PUNCH, the President’s Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said it was only the National Assembly that was empowered to restructure the country.
He, therefore, advised proponents of restructuring to approach the legislature.
On his part, the Spokesman for the Senate, Ajibola Basiru, described restructuring as a slogan.
He called on advocates of restructuring, who had submitted memoranda to the Senate Committee on Constitution Review to meet their senators with a view to educating them better on the type of restructuring they were advocating.
In his remarks at the summit, Nwodo said, “We must restructure to revamp our agriculture. When I speak of restructuring, some of my northern Nigerian friends have suggested to me that I do not want the North to partake in the oil revenue of Nigeria.
“Well, I have just outlined the indisputable fact that oil is a fast-drying resource for earning foreign exchange. The truth is that the reliable source of revenue now is agriculture
“The Netherlands is today the largest exporter of food in the world. Its cross-sectional area is about half the size of Niger State. It is the world’s largest exporter of potatoes. Its revenue from vegetables and dairy contributes more than $100bn annually to its economy. The secret is education, better mechanised farming, growth of green farm technology, drone monitoring systems and land reclamation by building of dams.
“Northern Nigeria is Nigeria’s greatest treasure in agriculture. Northern Nigeria is blessed with diverse livestock production with its capacity for dairy production. It has various tubers of potatoes, yam, cassava and cocoyam.
“Under a restructured Nigeria, Northern Nigeria will earn more from food production than the Netherlands. We must restructure because our current electoral system is dysfunctional and does not elicit confidence.”
Nwodo also said restructuring would address insecurity in the country.
He stated, “We must restructure to reduce insecurity in our country. While I was working on this speech on Monday, 18 January 2021, I paused to read the news for the day. I saw the following headlines: Bandits kill octogenarian, 14 others in Zamfara, Kaduna attacks
“Cops arrest Police Sergeant for robbery in Port Harcourt; Robbers kill 22-year-old IT prodigy in Lagos; Gunmen hack Catholic priest to death, kidnap brother in Niger State, Bandits abduct 17 persons in Niger State. All these in one day.”
While making a case for state police, the elder statesman said modern philosophy for security is local policing.
On when Nigeria should be restructured, Nwodo said, “We must do all we can to restructure before the next election in 2023 because the level of dissatisfaction in the country as evidenced by the last #EndSARS protest gives one the impression that any delay may lead to a mass boycott or disruption of the next elections to the point that we may have a more serious constitutional crisis of a nation without a government.
“To restructure, Nigeria we need a constitutional conference of the ethnic groups in Nigeria. To use the current National Assembly as the forum for constitutional amendments grants a recognition of the overthrow of our democratic norms by the enthronement of a military constitution by which they are composed.”
The 1999 Constitution is a fraudulent document, we must discard it –Adebanjo
Adebanjo, in his contribution, noted that the 1999 Constitution, which was bequeathed to the nation by the General Abdulsalami Abubakar-led military regime, was fraudulent.
He argued that for any meaningful discussion to hold on a better structure for the country, the document should be discarded and in its place a people generated constitution in the mould of the 1960 and 1963 constitutions should be revisited.
Adebanjo said, “This is not the constitution that Nnamdi Azikiwe, the Sardauna of Sokoto and Chief Obafemi Awolowo agreed to. All the problems we are having today is because of the fraudulent constitution that we are operating today.”
Bad governance responsible for calls for restructuring –Jega
A former National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, after explaining factors responsible for the growing agitation for restructuring, identified bad governance and the failure of the current system to address the myriad of socio-political economic problems facing the country as largely responsible.
Jega said, “After a critical evaluation of the benefits versus the costs of each of these notions of restructuring, I believe that the starting point of desirable and serious, even realistic, restructuring is equitable redistribution of power and resources from the Federal Government to the sub-national governments.
According to him, dismantling the current states’ structure and reconfiguring the states into pre-1966 regions, or into six geo-political regions or even into 12 states of 1976/7 are unrealistic.
He stated, “The social and political costs of such an undertaking would by far outweigh the benefits. In many fundamental respects, creation of states has gone a long way to mitigate real and imagined/perceived marginalisation of minorities.”
Restructuring alone can’t solve all our problems –Jonathan
In his remarks, former President Goodluck Jonathan explained that Nigerians should exploit every opportunity on dialogue in order to make the nation better.
He said, “My conviction is that discussion on restructuring will not help except we restructure our minds because some of the challenging issues at the national level still exist at the state and local levels
“For instance, in some states, it is not easy for some persons to win an election because of the area they come from. The language they speak or their religious belief.
“Take a look at how local government elections are conducted at the state level. Why is it very difficult for an opposition party to win a chairmanship or councillorship seat in a state, despite the fact that the same party probably secured seats in the state Assembly and National Assembly elections, organised by a federal election management body?
“This shows that restructuring alone may not solve all the anomalies in the system.”
In their separate remarks, Ogbeh and the Secretary General of the Northern Elders Forum, Dr Hakeem Baba Ahmed noted that the North believed in Nigeria.
Restructuring absolutely necessary to deal with problems confronting us –Ogbeh
Ogbeh said, “We are in a country where the only big business is the government. Nwodo made a very important point. The economy of this country is dying so fast. We say the 1960 constitution was very good. If it was so good, why was there a coup on January 15, 1966 with that bloody massacre of leaders both military and civilian and six months later there was a counter-coup and the civil war where two million people, mostly in the South-East, died. What was the cause if the constitution was perfect? The big issue is the economy. In dealing with the problems confronting us, restructuring is absolutely necessary.
“In what shape is the question. Will states surrender their autonomy, like Jega said, very unlikely. Are we returning to the regions of 1960? Very unlikely, that is where the problem lies.
Baba-Ahmed said it was not true that the North was opposed to restructuring.
He stated, “The North has never opposed restructuring on the basis of ignorance. When a person says he does not understand it doesn’t mean he is stupid.”
“The North is completely interested in restructuring without conditional ties. We are willing to engage anybody anytime, anywhere. We are Nigerians, we think Nigeria is not working for the North nor working for anybody.
“We believe it can be fixed and it has to be fixed by all Nigerians on the basis of respect, on the basis of an understanding of what works for all of us. It is wrong to say the North is opposing or will oppose restructuring, it is misinformation. What we will not accept is a situation where the North is put on the defensive and made to agree to everything other parts of the country throw at it.”
N’Assembly, not Buhari, is empowered to restructure Nigeria –Presidency
Shehu said those agitating for restructuring of the country should approach the National Assembly for a change in constitution.
He said only the parliament was empowered to effect a change in the nation’s structure or constitution.
Shehu urged those clamouring for restructuring to take advantage of the ongoing constitutional amendment in the National Assembly.
He said, “Our position on the call for restructuring has not changed.
“People are calling it restructuring, the ruling party, APC, and the government call it devolution.
“Whichever name you call it, the government is not opposed to it. What we are saying is that the parliament is the body empowered by law to effect any change in the nation’s structure.
“The process of constitution review is ongoing in the National Assembly now. We advise proponents of restructuring to approach the parliament and take advantage of the opportunity that ongoing process offers.”
Restructuring a slogan, we need details –Senate
But the Senate explained that the National Assembly could not initiate the process of restructuring the country because the concept meant different things to the various ethnic nationalities in Nigeria.
It called on proponents of restructuring to explain it to their senators.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Basiru, who is also a member of the Constitution Review panel, gave the clarification while responding to an enquiry on the matter in an interview with one of our correspondents in Abuja on Thursday.
Basiru, however, expressed the fears that the type of restructuring that some people were advocating might not be part of the amendment if they had not submitted any memorandum to the panel before the deadline for the submission elapsed last year.
He said, “We expect anybody who has a memorandum regarding restructuring which they want to be included in the constitution amendments that the Senate is doing, to have submitted it through his representative in the National Assembly by now.
“The Constitution Review Committee has started work already. The idea of restructuring is a slogan. We expect anybody who is advocating it to have come up with specific details of what he wants before the committee.
“As far as we are concerned, restructuring means different things to many people. The type of restructuring being canvassed by Afenifere may not be the same thing that the Ndigbo or the Arewa people are canvassing.
“The National Assembly is made of people’s representatives. We need our people to tell us what they need by engaging us in dialogue or through memoranda. We cannot impose any concept on the country.
“We can only move based on what is presented before us as the aggregate opinion of the people.
“Rather than passing the bulk to the National Assembly, we expect advocates of restructuring to do their homework by submitting their input through their representatives.
“We have the power to amend the constitution. We have called for memorandum which had elapsed, so, anyone who had not submitted memoranda before the deadline elapsed, there is nothing we can do again.
“However, if they had submitted memoranda already, their position would be considered when the activities on the constitution amendments fully begin.
“Meanwhile, they have to hold regular consultative meetings with their representatives on the matter to ensure its acceptability by all sections of the country,” Basiru added.
Faulting the Presidency, the spokesman for Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, in an interview with The PUNCH, said, “It is clear that even after the collapse of Nigeria under a bad structure, this government will still be engaged in buck passing.”
Ohanaeze backs FG, says restructuring can’t take effect without NASS
But the Ohanaeze Ndigbo backed the Federal Government that the proponents of restructuring should approach the National Assembly.
Ohanaeze National Publicity Secretary, Chief Alex Ogbonnia, stated this in a telephone chat with one of our correspondents.
Ogbonnia, who was reacting to the Federal Government interview with The PUNCH, said that going to the National Assembly was the right thing.
He stated, “Restructuring cannot take effect without having legislative authority. It is just a way of saying that we must go through the legislature which of course is the right thing to do.”
“What we are looking at as a matter of fact, once you are talking of restructuring it must have a legislative backing for it to take effect.”
By Olalekan Adetayo, John Alechenu, Sunday Aborisade, Friday Olokor and Raphael Ede
Source:https://punchng.com/calls-for-restructuring-go-to-nassembly-presidency-tells-acf-nwodo-adebanjo-as-agitation-spreads/