Former Deputy Governor of Nasarawa Senator, Senator Solomon Ewuga has been reportedly kidnapped by unknown gunmen on Tuesday evening.
Ewuga, a one time minister of state for FCT was reported to have been kidnapped by gunmen around Gudi in Akwanga Nasarawa state.
Details of the incident are still sketchy as at the time of filling this report.
64 years is only a moment in the scheme of your existence, but you left so many impressions in the hearts of many. You were a Development Economist, a Central Banker and a politician. The reasons for the choice of all these careers was your desire to make a difference to humanity.
You were the best President Nigeria never had.
It takes a special kind of a human being to achieve all of this in such a short time.
Your days in Oxford University UK as a postgraduate student, a lecturer at Richmond Business School, London; the American International University in London; and as the pioneer head of the International Business Department of Regents Business School London in the 90s made you a founding member of SOKAPDA and we in the UK and Europe are, and will for ever be proud of your stand in speaking the truth to power and standing up for the downtrodden all over Nigeria.
Your love for Nigeria in general, as well as Southern Kaduna, the middle belt, and the downtrodden all over the country, in particular actually made you ‘an enemy of the state’, leading you to -in many instances announced to the whole world that your life was in danger.
Many people all over the world were looking forward to your articles in various newspapers.
Your webinars were attended by thousands.
Some had not met you in person but through your writings and webinars, got to know you and have spoken about you affectionately.
You were a gentleman to the core and a credit to humanity. We in SOKAPDA feel privileged to call you our own.
There is a Native American poem which I believe Dr Obadiah Mailafia will (in death) want us to recite:
“Do not think of me as gone. I am with you still in each dawn”
Dr Obadiah Mailafia had ideas about the way forward for our Country and some of his writings clearly articulated some of these ideas.
He may be gone but no one can kill his ideas of justice, fair play, equality of opportunities, to name a few.
An insight into the mind of this wonderful son of Southern Kaduna is demonstrated by some of his writings and I quote:
“Democracies, if truth be told, do not die because of violent interventions. They die because of daily acts of lawlessness and impunity; because of extremism devoid of restraint and forbearance, because of disloyalty to the nation by leaders and citizens.”
– Obadiah Mailafia
Speaking on the unscrupulous nature of the Nigerian elites he had this to say:
“In a country of such diversity, ethnic and religious cleavages can easily be exploited by unscrupulous elites to inflame latent tensions, leading to inter-communal violence.”
– Obadiah Mailafia
His view on the 1999 constitution is demonstrated in his quote below:
“The 1999 constitution is a fraud. Nobody knows who wrote it. In good hands, people can live with even bad constitutions. But in the hands of closet Jihadists, it represents the triumph of tyranny.”
– Obadiah Mailafia
He also acknowledged that in statecraft there are temptations and his quote below brought this to light:
“The highest wisdom of statecraft is to know that even the saint will occasionally get his hands dirty.”
– Obadiah Mailafia
Dr Obadiah Mailafia was worried about the lack of focus of the political class and this was brought home by the quote below:
“Technocrats focus on getting the right things done; politicians focus on getting the right things in tune with the popular will. Politics, after all, is the art of the possible.”
– Obadiah Mailafia
Dr Obadiah Mailafia was worried about Nigeria and we saw the danger signs all over the place. This is spelt out in these his two quotes:
“Nations that flourish are those that continually reinvent themselves in light of domestic and changing world conditions. Those that fail to reform will atrophy and die.” – Obadiah Mailafia
“Great states are not products of chance. They are products of imagination, creativity and purpose-driven leadership.”
– Obadiah Mailafia
Dr. Obadiah Mailafia may be gone from our sight, but never from the hearts of millions. It is therefore, necessary that we never forget what he stood for and make all efforts to keep his legacy alive.
We wish all of us, especially the immediate family, healing and
peace.
May the memory of Dr Obadiah Mailafia bring us comfort and peace.
To Margaret and the children, we mourn with you. May the good Lord accept him into His kingdom, and when it is our time, we hope to meet and part no more.
In writing this tribute a portion of the song “ How Great Thou Art” became appropriate:
“When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamation
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart
Then I shall bow, in humble adoration
And then proclaim, my God, how great Thou art”
Dr Obadiah Mailafia will forever remain in our hearts.
Love from Southern Kaduna’s People in Diaspora Association Europe (SOKAPDA Europe)
26.09.2021
At least 20 fishermen were killed accidentally in a Nigerian military strike on a jihadist camp in northeast Nigeria, two security sources and locals told AFP.
A Nigerian fighter jet early on Sunday bombarded Kwatar Daban Masara in Lake Chad, which straddles Nigeria and neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, the sources said.
The area is a bastion for the IS-affiliated Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).
The reports of casualties came less than two weeks after officials say another airstrike on a village killed nine civilians in Nigeria’s northeast where the military is battling a 12-year Islamist insurgency.
ISWAP recently lifted a ban on fishermen in its territory, allowing them to move in and fish in the freshwater lake for a fee. That led to an influx of fisherman who had abandoned the area.
“Any fisherman that goes to that area does so at his own risk because it is an enemy territory and there is no way of differentiating them from the terrorists,” one local intelligence source said.
“From the information we have been receiving the death toll is much higher than 20.”
Local fisherman Labo Sani told AFP by telephone that the jet strike hit Kwatar Daban Masara at around 6 am (0500 GMT), killing around 20 fishermen.
Kwatar Daban Masara which is on the shores of the lake is the “gateway to ISWAP’s camps on several islands” and a supply route for the jihadists, said Sani from nearby Daban Masara.
Another fisherman, Sallau Arzika, said the fighter jet struck the village “killing many of our people who are there for fishing”.
“The initial death toll was around 20, but the figure has been increasing with the deaths of many of the injured,” Arzika said.
News of the incident was slow the emerge due to limited telecommunications in the region.
A Nigerian air force spokesman did not immediately respond to a message seeking confirmation or comment.
The intelligence source who works with anti-jihadist militia in the region said the strike was based on “credible information” of a gathering of ISWAP fighters in the village since Wednesday.
He said aerial surveillance and reports from other sources revealed terrorists were amassing in Kwatar Daban Masara and it was obvious they were planning an attack, the source said.
‘Preemptive strike’
According to another security source, the village was subjected to surveillance in the past 10 days after scores of men suspected to be foreign fighters arrived in several vehicles and were ferried to camps inside the lake.
“It was a preemptive strike to destroy whatever plans the terrorists were making,” said the security source.
“You don’t expect an innocent civilian to be at that location and whoever is found is certainly part of the terrorists,” he said.
On September 16 a Nigerian airstrike on a village in nearby Yobe state killed at least nine civilian residents, according to officials.
The Nigerian air force said at the time its fighter jet was pursuing a group of jihadists in the area and it was investigating the incident.
Since 2009, Nigeria’s armed forces have battled a grinding jihadist insurrection in the northeast that has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced nearly two million from their homes.
The conflict spilled into neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a regional military coalition to end the violence.
In January 2017 at least 112 people were killed when a fighter jet struck a camp housing 40,000 people displaced by violence in Rann near the border with Cameroon.
The Nigerian military blamed “lack of appropriate marking of the area” for the bombardment in a report it issued six months later.
In July 2019 at least 13 civilians were killed when a Nigerian fighter jet hit Gajiganna village, 50 kilometres from Borno state capital Maiduguri, as it targeted fleeing jihadists after they attacked a nearby base.
(AFP/Dailytrust)
Gunshots from security agents rented the air in Gwarinpa Estate along the Kubwa Expressway in Abuja on Tuesday, as members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) otherwise known as Shi’ites and security agents clashed.
Six persons were reportedly killed in the incident while many sustained injuries.
Joint security operatives were said to have opened fire on members of the sect when they were about to round off their Arbaeen Symbolic Trek.
The incident, which occurred at the Gwarinpa gate near Galadimawa when the gun-wielding security agents arrived at the scene, threw the trek into confusion as people scampered for safety.
Two people were also said to be shot at a new generation bank inside the estate.
The Secretary of Academic Forum of IMN, Abdullahi Musa, also confirmed the incident when contacted by SaharaReporters.
“They are just shooting people. As I am talking to you now, six people have been killed. They even carried some dead bodies away,” he said.
Members of the sect had on Tuesday morning come out in continuation of their procession to mark the fortieth day of the murder of Imam Hussein, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad who was killed on 10th Muharram.
The protesters in their numbers hoisted two flags, one red and the other black, with the chanting songs.
(Saharareporters)
The prominent Civil Rights Advocacy Group:-HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) is arguing that the current Federal government has no basis in law and morality to detain Mazi Nnamdi Kanu or proscribe the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) because the Southern and Northern governors have by their actions, inactions, speeches and conflicts around which zone between North/South produces the successor to president Muhammadu Buhari have demonstrated that they are secessionists higher than Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB.
The HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) said there is no basis for Northern Nigeria to insist on producing the successor to the Katsina State born president Muhammadu Buhari if their intention is not to move for the eventual split of Nigeria in 2023 which is inevitable should Northern Nigeria produce the successor to President Muhammadu Buhari whowill quit in 2023 after serving for two straight terms of eight years as President.
HURIWA argues further that it is constitutionally compliant that the Office of the President of Nigeria to rotate between North and South because the Constitution provides for integration in section 15 from subsection 1 to 4 thus-: ” 15. (1) The motto of the Federal Republic of Nigeria shall be Unity and Faith, Peace and Progress. (2) Accordingly, national integration shall be actively encouraged, whilst discrimination on the grounds of place of origin, sex, religion, status, ethnic or linguistic association or ties shall be prohibited. (3) For the purpose of promoting national integration, it shall be the duty of the State to: (a) provide adequate facilities for and encourage free mobility of people, goods and services throughtout the Federation. (b) secure full residence rights for every citizen in all parts of the Federation. (c) encourage inter-marriage among persons from different places of origin, or of different religious, ethnic or linguistic association or ties; and (d) promote or encourage the formation of associations that cut across ethnic, linguistic, religious and or other sectional barriers. (4) The State shall foster a feeling of belonging and of involvement among the various people of the Federation, to the end that loyalty to the nation shall override sectional loyalties.”
HURIWA said: “We are ever more convinced beyond the shadows of doubts that the actions, inactions, speeches, threats made by governors of North versus South have shown that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and his unarmed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) are prisoners of conscience and the members and leader of this otherwise proscribed IPOB must be released immediately since even the governors who are exercising constitutional powers are saying those same divisive sentiments and positions espoused by IPOB”.
“In Fact the governors are terrorizing the peace of Nigeria by failing to peacefully agree to the transfer of presidential power from the North to the South in 2023 which is the irreducible minimum condition precedent for Nigeria to remain as a United entity beyond 2023. The arguments and actions of the governors, the president and the Northern dominated Appeal Court on the collection of the value added tax shows that the presidency, the governors and the courts are now to be categorized as functional secessionists because these divisiveness and actions are stoking up tensions in Nigeria and are capable of inflaming passion and creating uncontrollable schism between North and South and eventually dovetail into a civil conflict which may lead to the division of Nigeria by 2023”, HURIWA added. The statement was signed by Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko National Coordinator and Miss Zainab Yusuf the National Director of Media and made available to journalists in Abuja.
HURIWA recalled that Southern Governors had met previously and ruled that Nigeria’s next president should be from the southern part of the country, governors of the southern states have said.
A communique issued at the end of the meeting, which held in Lagos ,Monday, reaffirmed the Forum’s commitment to the unity of the country.
“The Forum reiterates its commitment to the politics of equity, fairness, and unanimously agreed that the presidency of Nigeria be rotated between southern and northern Nigeria and resolved that the next president of Nigeria should emerge from the south,” Rotimi Akeredolu, Ondo state governor, said on behalf of the Southern Governors Forum (SGF).
Nigeria’s next president should be from the southern part of the country, governors of the southern states have said.
A communique issued at the end of the meeting, which held in Lagos ,Monday, reaffirmed the Forum’s commitment to the unity of the country.
“The Forum reiterates its commitment to the politics of equity, fairness, and unanimously agreed that the presidency of Nigeria be rotated between southern and northern Nigeria and resolved that the next president of Nigeria should emerge from the south,” Rotimi Akeredolu, Ondo state governor, said on behalf of the Southern Governors Forum (SGF).
Similar, the Governors of North also met and ruled that the South must never get the slot for the President of Nigeria in 2023 because they reasoned that rotational presidency is unconstitutional. HURIWA however said the Constitution recognises the People of Nigeria as the owners of the Sovereignty of Nigeria abd therefore can decide to rotate the office of the President of Nigeria just as the Rights group said even under the Federal character principles in section 14(3) rotating the office of President in 2023 from North to South is lawful because it guarantees that every part of Nigeria feels a sense of belonging.
In a brave and swift move, the Senator representing Southern Kaduna Senatorial Zone of kaduna State in the National Assembly, Senator Danjuma La’ah has stopped the mass burial of the 36 people killed in Madamai and Abun communities in Mallagum in Kaura local government area of Kaduna state on Sunday 26th September 2021 insisting that they all deserve benefitting burial as human beings and not just thrown away like dogs.
To ensure this, the Senator immediately paid over a Million Naira for the purchase of caskets and preparation of the bodies for a proper burial. He also pleaded with the Kafanchan Catholic Diocese through the Catholic Priest of Mallagum, Rev Fr. Cosmos Magaji to fix a date and conduct mass for the final interments of all the victims.
Senator Laah also thanked the Chairman-elect of Kaura local government, Hon Siman and his team, who assisted in the exercise to evacuate those that were injured.
The Senator also made arrangements for those that were wounded during the massacre to be admitted in JUTH Jos for immediate medical attention, and promised to settle all medicals bills involved.
He conderm the wanton unprovoked killings of the people of Southern Kaduna and insist that it has to stop because his people would no longer fold their hands and be killed like chickens everyday.
The two terms Senator also prayed for the souls of the departed to find eternal rest with the Saints.
33 names of victims killed in Madamai and Abun communities in Mallagum District in Kaura local government area of Kaduna state on Sunday have so far been obtained by Middle Belt Times.
The list made available to MBT by the Catholic Priest of ST. Thomas Quasi Parish, Mallagum, Rev. Fr Cosmos Michael Magaji contained 33 names believed to have so far been identified by the communities. The victims are made up of 9 females, 23 males and one minor (female)
Commenting on the list, Rev. Fr Magaji said the attack was well coordinated.
“They rounded some houses. It was a well coordinated attack.” He said.
The victims are as follows;
Middle Belt Times had earlier reported that 36 people were killed when terrorist herdsmen invaded the two communities on Sunday evening.
Madamai and Abun communities in Malagun District inKaura local government area of Kaduna state have continued to count their losses following Sunday evening Fulani terrorist herdsmen attack that left many dead.
As at the time of filling this report, MBT gathered from community sources that the death toll has risen to 36.
A Catholic Priest serving in the community who craved anonymity told MBT that more bodies were recovered later on Monday afternoon bringing the total to 36.
“After we recovered 30 bodies on Monday morning, later in the day 6 more were found including one that was burnt beyond recognition.”
“We have evacuated all the bodies for embalming with the exception of the one that was burnt beyond recognition.
A date for the mass burial will be fixed and communicated to the public.” He said.
The Kaduna state government has issued a statement condemning the attack and promised to bring the perpetrators to book.
The Senator representing Kaduna South Senatorial district, Danjuma La’ah, has revealed reasons he shed tears on different occasions on the floor of Upper Chambers while presenting motions on banditry attacks in his constituency.
The Federal lawmaker stated that some of his senatorial colleagues thought that banditry activities in Southern Kaduna seemed like a Southern Kaduna issue alone.
Speaking on the development in his senatorial district, the La’ah recalled how he told senators that one day, all the 109 Senators would encounter insecurity, in form of bandits, kidnapping insurgency and other forms of criminality, stressing that his words had become realities.
He said, “I have wept times without number, but I knew time shall come and time has come because while I was weeping in the chamber when presenting motions on banditry in Southern Kaduna, I said that one day somehow, that these things will affect every one of us.
“Because we were thinking that it was just meant for Southern Kaduna, but tell me which state in this country has not been affected by bandits?
“Bandits don’t have friends, they don’t know tribes; they don’t know religion. Whoever, you are and they found you, it’s about money.”
The lawmaker said after he presented a motion on insecurity in Southern Kaduna several times, he stopped talking, stating that if he continued based on what he knew, “heads would roll and the world will turn upside down. So, it is better I allow the sleeping dog lies.”
He said banditry activities in Southern Kaduna were not new, while he hoped that in the ongoing clampdown against criminal elements in the north, those who raised and trained bandits should drive them away.
He added, “All these things are not new. Bandits, Boko Haram and insurgents and my motion has all along not been changed from what it is. We can only pray. Those that raised them over there should be the same people that will come and drive them out of this place.”
Asked to speak on Constitution amendment, Senator La’ah disclosed that the Senate leadership intentionally refused him to be a member of the Constitution Review Committee chaired by the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, because they considered him too stubborn to be there.
He said, “I am not a member of the Constitution Review Committee. When the members were sent to the Constitution Review Committee, they didn’t want those of us they consider too stubborn to be there.
“What else will I say? I will not say what I don’t know. It’s good that people accuse me, if they don’t, then I am not a Senator because what affect one Senator affects all.”
(Saharareporters)
