Armed bandits have killed two villagers, kidnapped 18 women and seven babies in Katsina, the police command in the state says.
The attack occurred at Kitibawa in Dutsinma LGA.
“The fact of the case was that on September 15, 2021, bandits in their numbers on foot, shooting sporadically with AK-47 rifles, attacked Kitibawa village in Dutsinma LGA. The bandits killed two villagers, set some shops ablaze, and kidnapped 18 women with their seven babies,” said Gambo Isah, the command’s spokesperson, in a statement issued on Tuesday.
The police officer added, “On receipt of the report, Area Commander Dutsinma, ACP Aminu Umar, led a team of policemen to the area, blocked the bandits, and engaged them in a gun duel.”
According to him, the bandits fled during the shootout with gunshot wounds.
“In the course of profiling the scene, two women were rescued, and 60 sheep, 34 cows, and one donkey were recovered,” he revealed.
The police said they later arrested two suspected bandits, two informants and also rescued 10 kidnap victims.
“On September 20, 2021, the command succeeded in arresting a 30-year-old man from Sabon Garin Faguwa, Dutsinma local government area (LGA), who was residing in the forest,” the police explained. “He is a notorious bandit commander under the command of Sani Muhidinge, who has been on the wanted list of the police. And also, we arrested another notorious bandit, a 22-year-old man of Mai Gezoji, Tashar Mai Alewa, Danmusa LGA.”
Mr Isah added that the command also arrested a 45-year-old man from Tashar Mai-Alewa, Danmusa LGA, suspected to be an informer and supplier to bandits.
The police revealed that another man, aged 34, of the same address, a health worker suspected of offering medical treatment to bandits, was arrested.
“The suspects confessed to the commission of the offence, and investigation is still ongoing,” the police statement noted.
The Commandant-General, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Dr Ahmed Audi, has said some security services personnel serve as informants to criminals.
The CG stated this at the stakeholders’ summit on the protection of critical national assets and infrastructure at the NAF Conference Centre in Abuja, on Tuesday.
“You will agree with me that the nefarious activities of these criminal elements are being strengthened not only by informants within security formations but equally those within the society; hence the need to engage our traditional rulers, religious, community, political and youth leaders in the process of finding a solution to this menace.” he said.
Audi noted that the rise in crimes constituted a threat to critical national assets and infrastructure, citing Kaduna, Zamfara, Katsina, Borno and other states of the north as examples.
He also emphasised on the need for security agencies to re-strategise for better protection of the national assets from the assault by criminal elements.
The CG, who expressed concern over a statement by the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, that the federal government spends N60 billion annually on the repair and maintenance of vandalised oil pipelines across the country, emphasised on the need to re-strategise for better protection of national assets from the assault of criminal elements.
The Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, said that government in investing heavily to provide basic infrastructures in the country.
He said schools and educational institutions are classified as critical national assets and infrastructure to focus more effort on for a safer and more secured teaching and learning environment.
“The federal government, various states and local governments are currently massively investing in the development and construction of various infrastructure that would support employment generation, poverty reduction and the comfort and wellbeing of the Nigerian people,” he said.
Traditional rulers from 14 local government areas in Benue State have alleged that there are plans by Fulani herdsmen to eliminate people across three states.
The traditional rulers, who represent the Tiv people in the state, alleged that the plan is to kill all their people in Benue, Taraba, and Nasarawa states.
They made the allegation on Tuesday when they paid a visit to the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom.
According to the spokesperson for the group, Chief Daniel Abomtse, Tiv people are constantly being driven away from their homes and farmlands by Fulani herdsmen.
He, however, alleged that the murderous actions are carried out with the support of the “authorities in those states”.
They, therefore, appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure the safe return of displaced Tiv people and the land that had been taken from them.
Ortom described the treatment of “some parts of the country” by the Buhari-led government as “uncalled for”.
According to the governor, over 1.5 million persons are at the internally displaced persons’ camps, leading to a food crisis in the state.
Bandits invaded the palace of Alhaji Ahmadu Attahiru, the Emir of Kagara in Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State, on Tuesday.
Details of the attack are still sketchy but a palace source told Daily Trust that the monarch was absent when the gunmen struck.
The source said the attack took place around Maghrib prayers.
The Emir reportedly left Kagara for a programme in Minna, the state capital, on Monday.
Daily Trust learnt that the mobile network Service in Kagara was disconnected on Friday.
“I cannot give you the details now. The people who called this evening are no longer reachable again. The network in Kagara has been disconnected since Friday.”
“I believe even those who called went to bush to access network But it is true that the palace of Emir of Kagara was attacked,” a Minna-based indigene of Kagara told Daily Trust.
When contacted, the Niger State Police Command Public Relations Officer, DSP Wasiu Abiodun, promised to get details and revert.
The Emir ascended the throne after the death of Alhaji Salihu Tanko, his predecessor.
Tanko died in Minna after a protracted illness in March.
Kagara became very popular among some Nigerians following the abduction of some students in the emirate.
The National President of the Middle Belt Forum (MBF), Bitrus Pogu, has dissociated the region from the resolution of the Northern Governors’ Forum (NGF) as regards the power shift come 2023.
Governors from the northern region had opposed the claim from their southern counterparts that the next president should be from the south.
According to the northern governors’ forum, the claim is not in line with the dictates of the constitution.
“The Forum observed that some Northern State Governors had earlier expressed views for a power-shift to three geopolitical zones in the South with a view to promoting unity and peace in the nation. Notwithstanding their comments, the Forum unanimously condemns the statement by the Southern Governors Forum that the Presidency must go to the South.
“The statement is quite contradictory with the provision of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999) as amended, that the elected President shall: score the majority votes; score at least 25% of the votes cast in 2/3 States of the Federation. In the case of run-up, simple majority wins the election.”
Reacting, the MBF chairman told Vanguard, “the Governors of the North should first and foremost realize that there is nothing like a monolithic North again.
“Secondly, they should know that the Middle Belt can never be part of such a position that is anti-people. So they should all hide their faces in shame for saying power will not go to the south in 2023.
“They should remember that because of what happened to Abiola, in 1999 we zone the presidency to the South West, not just South. The country has maintained that rotation so that peace can reign in the country and no part of the country will feel alienated.
“Therefore, in this situation, for them to insist that presidency should be retained in the North after that zone has completed its eight years tenure in 2023, is a shame.
“It means they want Nigeria to break up. That is what they are after. They are not lovers of Nigeria. They are the people who hate Nigeria and it is obvious by the position they took yesterday.
“But they must realize that the Middle Belt is not with them because there is no more monolithic North. Even the traditional rulers of Middle Belt who were invited to that meeting in Kaduna were not with them. They were in attendance and watched what transpired but I can assure you that their hearts were not there.”
“Say not in grief ‘he is no more’ but in thankfulness that he was”-Hebrew Proverb
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)
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.
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.
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.
