Gunmen have invaded the Mararaba Akunza community area of the Federal University of Lafia in the Lafia Local Government Area of Nasarawa State and abducted four people believed to be students of the institution.
Daily Trust learnt that the incident occurred between 7-8pm when it was raining heavily on Saturday night.
An eyewitness, who spoke to our reporter in confidence, said the gunmen came in their large number and started shooting sporadically into the air before abducting their victims to an unknown destination.
It was gathered that the kidnappers have made contact with the family of the victims around 11.30pm last night, demanding N25 million ransom.
The source said: “The gunmen came in their large number and started shooting sporadically into the air, scaring residents of Mararaba Akunza community, before abducting four students.
“But nobody knows whether they are students of Federal University of Lafia.”
“It was raining heavily on Saturday night when the suspected kidnappers came in with their AK 47 riffles and carried out their operation successfully that lasted for several hours and succeeded in kidnapping some students, but no one knows whether they are students of Federal University of Lafia.”
Our correspondent learnt that one of the victims is Zafir Yahaya, the first son of a prominent politician in the state, Mr Yahaya Adams, popularly called Majo.
When our correspondent visited the Anti-Kidnapping Unity, Police Area Command in Lafia at exactly 11:am on Sunday, he saw the Chief Security (CSO) of the Federal University of Lafia, Wing commander Umar Mohammed (rtd) alongside some students of the institution making a complaint before the OC anti-Kidnapping, Mr Eyoh Anette.
While confirming the incident to our correspondent in an interview on Sunday, the Public Relations Officer of the institution, Mr Abubakar Ibrahim, denied that those victims were students of the Federal University of Lafia.
He said: “None of our students was kidnapped by suspected kidnappers. The incident happened outside the university.
“No report from any parent regarding the abduction of their children schooling in our institution,” he stated.
The Police Public Relation Officer in the state, ASP Nansel Ramhan, said the command only had about the incident on social media, but immediately drafted men to the scene of the incident to investigate how it happened.
He said no official complaint has been made yet to the command, assuring that an investigation was ongoing to unravel the rationale behind the invasion of the area.
He said no arrest has been made to that effect.He said: H“The command is yet to receive an official complaint from the institution.”
The Nasarawa state police command has confirmed the invasion of suspected gunmen into Mararaba community shooting sporadically between the hour of 7pm and 8 pm, kidnapping two students of the Institution.
Confirming the invasion via a telephone conversation on Sunday to reporters is the Public Relations Officer of Nasarawa State command, ASP Ramhan Nansel who said the anti-kidnapping squad has been dispatched to commence investigation.
“We have just met as I speak with you at 12.30 pm in the Anti-kidnapping office with the institution’s PRO (public relations officer), CSO (chief security officer) on the issue, Nansel stated.”
According to a source who disclosed to Daily Sun reporter said the first son of Hon. Yahaya Adams (Major), by name Zafir Yahaya Adams, was kidnapped last night with one other student.
The source added that the kidnappers had demanded the sum of N25 million after contacting the family at about 11.30 pm on Saturday night.
The claims by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Mohammad Mahmood Abubakar that the federal government has lifted 4,205,576 Nigerians out of poverty in the last two years through its various agricultural policies, is a comprehensive assault to honesty and amounts to the worship of the goddess of falsehood, says the prominent Civil society and pro-democracy group- HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA).
HURIWA quoted the media as saying that the minister informed them that the ministry’s strategic policies and programmes including Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) 2017-2020 of the current administration, have seen agriculture as the alternative to oil for meaningful diversification of the economy.
HURIWA recalled that The minister stated this in Abuja while observing this year’s World Food Day, themed, ‘Our Actions Are Our Future. Better Production, Better Nutrition, A Better Environment And A Better Life’ even as he noted that investment in agriculture can guarantee food security with the potential to be a major contributor to job creation and save foreign exchange required for food imports.
The minister spoke further: “our various empowerment initiatives along production, processing and marketing of agricultural commodities, we have lifted a total of 4,205,576 Nigerians out of poverty in the last two years, this is going to continue as part of Mr. President’s promise to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty within the next 10 years. In the area of capacity-building, the minister maintained that a total of 2,205,576 farmers/youths/women were trained and empowered on different agricultural value chains.
Reacting to what it called the mere political figment of imagination of the minister of AGRICULTURE who is sounding sycophantic to please his political master and avoid the fate that befell his predecessor recently dismissed by President Muhammadu Buhari, the HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has tasked the minister to publish the names of the citizens and their exact locations who he claimed to have lifted out of poverty just as the Rights group said the Minister even contradicted himself when in that same speech he acknowledged the devastating impacts to farming productivity by the heightened state of insecurity in the Country.
Besides, HURIWA noted that so much of the farming activities that hitherto went on before the coming of the current administration have all but disappeared due to the insecurity created by boko haram terrorists who upped the ante of their attacks since the coming of the present administration just as the armed Fulani attackers are on constant rampage in all parts of the Country destroying farmers crops and killing farmers with Southern Kaduna as the major flashpoint just as the Federal Attorney General, the Inspector-General of Police and the heads of all strategic security agencies who are Fulani or Northern Moslems have failed to arrest and prosecute these terrorists destroying farms across the Country.
HURIWA said international organisations have even documented evidence that terrorists have driven farmers away from their farms in the North East and North West of Nigeria just as the activities of terror groups masquerading as armed Fulani herdsmen have destroyed many farms in Benue and Nasarawa States in the last five years.
HURIWA said that credible reports have it that in the northeastern Nigeria, the Boko Haram insurgency has led to heightened levels of displacement and food insecurity. While humanitarian access is improving, most displaced families still rely on vulnerable host communities for basic needs, including food. This has put already impoverished host communities under extreme pressure, leading to increased exposure to food insecurity and malnutrition. Lootings and fear of attacks have prevented many farmers from working in their fields, leading to the loss of harvests and productive assets, and extremely reduced purchasing power.
Still quoting internatiinal reports by Food and Agricultural Organisation, HURIWA stated that the fact is that alarming food insecurity situation in northeastern Nigeria titled “The latest Cadre Harmonisé analysis (November 2019)” study indicates that there is an estimated 2.6 million people who face severe food insecurity in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states, a reduction of nearly 300 000 people from June 2019. However, if no humanitarian support is provided, a projected 3.6 million people in the three states are likely to be severely food insecure from June to August 2020 – traditionally the lean season in the North-East.
HURIWA further recalled that FAO made the following factual claims-: “Immediate support to affected populations In order to respond to the immediate needs of the affected population, FAO has launched a full scale corporate surge response. A dedicated team of experts is based in Maiduguri and works closely with partners on the ground. FAO’s priority is to provide immediate livelihood support to vulnerable pastoralists and agropastoralists, including returnees, IDPs and host communities. ”
HURIWA maintained that Nigerian farmers have quantified their production losses occasioned by the level of insecurity across the country to about 50 per cent just as the farmers described the development as precarious, the farmers expressed fears of imminent food crisis should the Federal Government still fail to check Nigeria’s worsening security situation. “Although it is difficult to quantify what farmers have lost as a result of the precarious security situation in Nigeria, the truth remains that our losses are very huge,” the National President, All Farmers Association of Nigeria, Kabir Ibrahim, said.
The Rights group recalled that the National President, Nigeria Cassava Growers Association, Segun Adewumi, said cassava farmers were being threatened by herdsmen who often invade their farms. “This, of course, is another form of insecurity and our losses due to this cannot be quantified because it is so enormous,” he told our correspondent. He added, “The greatest challenge we have in cassava cultivation is the activities of herdsmen. You know that during the dry season, cassava is the only crop that stays wet and remains green.
HURIWA said the claims of the Agriculture minister is unreal and amounts to a phantom political statement of exaggeration because Nigeria has maintained the infamous position as the poverty capital of the world, with 93.9 million people in Africa’s most populous country currently living below the poverty line. Managing Director, Financial Derivatives Company (FDC) Limited and a member of President Muhammadu Buhari’s Economic Advisory Council (EAC), Mr. Bismarck Rewane, has stated. Quoting a World Bank data, Rewane, in a presentation at the monthly Lagos Business School’s economic breakfast meeting for September 2021, stated that seven million Nigerians fell into extreme poverty in 2020. The report was titled: “Re: Growth Spikes (5.01 per cent), But People are Hungry?”
HURIWA recalled that Nigeria, with its 200 million plus population, was first declared world’s poverty capital in 2018 in a report by the Brookings Institution, knocking off India from the position. The report had then stated that the number of Nigerians in extreme poverty increases by six people every minute. The Brookings Institution’s report had stated in 2018, “At the end of May 2018, our trajectories suggest that Nigeria had about 87 million people in extreme poverty, compared with India’s 73 million. What is more, extreme poverty in Nigeria is growing by six people every minute, while poverty in India continues to fall.”
HURIWA is therefore appealing to President Muhammadu Buhari and his cabinet to implement result oriented economic development programmes that will promote jobs, industrialisation, adequate food security and infrastructural revolutions across boards and to desist from bandying and propagating fake figures and making exaggerated claims that are provocative, senile, infantile and dubious whereas the costs of living keep skyrocketing with the cost of Gas cooking infrastructure going beyond the reach of virtually 100 million Nigerians who are now absolutely poor.
The Rights group said it is economic satanism for the government to introduce policies that lead to the hike of the purchasing prices of such basics like bread, fuel, gas and agricultural products just as the Rights group accused the Federal Government of pampering the daredevil armed Fulani terrorists that are destroying farmers crops and taking over the property of natives all over the Country. HURIWA said the policy of reintegration of terrorists of boko haram genre back into the same society they destroyed will not allow local farmers in the North East to resume their farming activities.
The Nigerian Air Force coordinated ransom payments to armed bandits in exchange for an anti-aircraft gun seized from the Nigerian Army, The Wall Street Journal said, in a desperate deal that was brokered as President Muhammadu Buhari was planning a trip to Katsina.
The U.S. outlet said N20 million was delivered to the bandits in Rugu Forest by a Nigerian Air Force official, who leaked details of the operation under anonymity, because the military realised that it would be too risky to leave the weapon in the hands of violent criminals operating in an area the presidential jet would fly over.
The rugged, lawless jungle that covers parts of Kaduna, Zamfara and the president’s home state of Katsina has served as a vast haven for bandits terrorising Nigeria’s northwestern communities. A large portion of kidnapping plots emanates or terminates in or around the forest, security agencies have previously warned.
“The mission to buy back the antiaircraft gun began with a handoff from a high-ranking air force intelligence officer in the capital Abuja: a black zip-up bag he said was full of 20 million Nigerian naira,” the paper reported, after stating that such military hardware in the hands of bandits “posed a threat to President Muhammadu Buhari, who had been planning to fly to his hometown about 80 miles away.”
The gun truck with 12.7 caliber anti-aircraft fire was reportedly disassembled and transported back to the military on motorbikes after the deal was concluded.
The Journal did not specify when the deal was brokered or the presidential trip that was planned. The president has been in his hometown at least twice this year that his office disclosed to the public. The first trip was in late January and another in July.
Although the Nigerian government claimed combat victories against armed bandits, several military bases have been sacked by the violent criminals dreaded largely for their abduction of schoolchildren and prominent personalities, including politicians and emirs.
Last month, a forward operating base crucial to the military campaign against banditry was raided in Zamfara, leaving at least 12 officers killed. The bandits also seized military equipment when they captured the base in Dansadau, about 80 kilometres south of the capital Gusau, in the September 11 operation.
It was not immediately clear why service chiefs opted for ransom payment in the operation described by The Journal. Military weapons that fell into the hands of Boko Haram insurgents and bandits were usually destroyed by air strikes.
The Gazette has yet to hear back from the Nigerian Air Force about the reported N20 million ransom to bandits.
Vigilante group made up of Hausa natives on Saturday launched a crackdown on those they tagged as ‘bandits informants’ in Anka town, Anka local government area of Zamfara state, North-West Nigeria.
Popular Zamfara Activist, Yusuf Anka made the revelation on twitter saying that many ‘informants’ were slaughtered during the crackdown launched by native Hausa Vigilante members.
The tweet reads;
Heavily Armed Hausa Vigilante Group invaded Anka today Slaughteing scores of people they accused of been informants or Fulani. The group claims to have a lot of informants, One of their Victims, Alh. Aliyu Dareta a fulani leader in Anka.
This resorts to lawlessness are symptoms of anarchy and failure of a state. The government must be willing to protect the people, investigste and prosecute criminals.
Heavily Armed Hausa Vigilante Group invaded Anka today Slaughteing scores of people they accused of been informants or Fulani. The group claims to have a lost of informants, One of their Victims, Alh. Aliyu Dareta a fulani leader in Anka.
Zamfara has suffered consistent bloodshed where thousands of natives have been killed in the last six and a half years in attacks blamed on Fulani terrorists group the Nigerian media and government chose to call bandits.
There have been claims from some section of the public in Zamfara that the victims of the attacks and mass killings going on in the state have been mostly Hausa natives and Saturday’s onslaught further lend credence to such claims.
Since the coming to power of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, Fulani militia groups have intensified their campaigns of violence in different parts of the country, sacking communities and inflicting maximum casualties.
President Buhari who himself is a Fulani man has done little in tackling the crisis which many view as an attempt to takeover indigenous lands in parts of the country.
Hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Khartoum, Sudan’s capital on Saturday demanding the dissolution of the transitional government, saying it had failed them economically and politically.
The development comes amid divisions in the country’s Sudan’s political scene steering the country through a rocky transition following the April 2019 ouster of President Omar al-Bashir after mass protests against his rule.
Saturday’s demonstrations were organised by a splinter faction of the Forces for Freedom and Change, a civilian alliance that spearheaded protests against Bashir.
A 50-year-old protester, Abboud Ahmed, said, “We need a military government, the current government has failed to bring us justice and equality.”
AFP reports that the protesters carried banners calling for the “dissolution of the government”, while others chanted “one army, one people” and “the army will bring us bread.”
“We are marching in a peaceful protest and we want a military government,” a lady, Enaam Mohamed in central Khartoum said.
On Friday, Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok warned that the transition is facing “the worst and most dangerous” crisis.
Support for the transitional government has waned in recent months mainly following a tough raft of IMF-backed economic reforms.
It slashed subsidies on petrol and diesel and brought in a managed currency float, measures deemed by ordinary Sudanese as excessively harsh.
The government has also been beset by protests in east Sudan where demonstrators have blocked trade through a crucial Red Sea port since mid-September.
On September 21, the government said it thwarted a coup attempt which it blamed on military officials and civilians linked to Bashir’s regime.
A PDP chieftain in Kaduna state, Barrister J.D Ephraim has this to say with regards to the recent creation of three metropolitan Authorities by the Nasiru El-rufai led Kaduna state government.
Barrister Ephraim who was a founding member of the APC in Kaduna state said the creation of metropolitan Authorities have no legal basis compared to local governments created by the constitution.
In a WhatsApp message he shared using his mobile number, the 2011 Deputy Governor candidate for the CPC in Kaduna state wrote;
“Do the three Metropolitan Authorities, created by El-Rufai, ( even, if they had the blessing of the Kaduna State House of Assembly ), have any legal basis, as to be compared, with the Federal Capital territory, and the Local Government Areas ( constitutional creations )? No, they are not.
“In the FCT, and the local government areas in the country, there are no unconstitutional usurpation of powers of any state, from which the territory was legally carved out. It is a separate territory, no conflicting jurisdictions with any state, or local government of a state, from which it was carved out and recognised by the constitution. He said
Ephraim said El-Rufai’s ‘carving out’ of territories is unconstitutional and therefore null and void.
“If El-Rufai purports to carve out, and grant a territory, powers, and functions, which derive therefrom, such act is illegal, ultra-vires the constitution, null and void, to the extent of the contravention.
“It does not need any court to declare it so.” He said
He also questioned whether Governor El-rufai seeks advice from good legal advisers before implementing his policies.
“Some times, I wonder if at all, El-Rufai, avails himself of any good legal advice. “ The Southern Kaduna born lawyer concluded by saying that
“While the concept of metropolitan Authority is good and desirable in its self, it can only, in the circumstances, be handled, when our grund nom, recognizes such administrative action.
“The defunct Kaduna Capital Territory functioned and was only legal to the extent, there were no constitutionally recognised local government areas, in the former northern region.
“For the so- called Kaduna Metropolitan Authorities, to enjoy the same status with either the former Kaduna Capital Territory, or Abuja, the FCT, it has to be recognised by the constitution.
“Without further arguments, the purported Authorities, can not enjoy the protection of our constitution, and at best, their functions, are a mere extention of the acts of the state Governor, just as we have KASUPDA, KADRA, KADIPA, etc, etc.
“They are not thesame, in so far, the Metropolitan Authorities would not function state-wide, but have clearly delineated territories, and boundaries, all within the state No, neither the Governor nor the state House of Assembly, has such powers. Their powers are as provided for in the constitution.
“The metropolitan Authorities can not even be clothed the same way, as the ministerial authorities of the state, which are supposed to cover the whole state.” He said
It would be recalled that Governor El-rufai within the week while swearing in Administrators for the metropolitan Authorities in Kaduna, justified the creation of the three metropolitan authorities.
“It’s obvious that some people do not understand the concept of metropolitan authorities . Our major cities are bigger than the Local Government Councils in which they have been balkanise.”
“The Kaduna Capital Territory did this job until the late 1970s for those old enough to remember, Kaduna was always administered by an administrator. Who was the administrator of the capital Territory.
“Things worked much better then, the replacement structures that came after the 1976 local government reforms have not worked as well as the capital territory administrative structure did. This is why we are going back to it,” he explained.
President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime has announced that Nigeria’s Excess Crude Account (ECA) balance as of October stands at $60, 857,773.43, a drastic depletion from the $2.1 billion left by Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.
Clem Agba, the minister of state for budget and national planning gave the update during the national economic council meeting at the State House in Abuja on Friday, according to a statement by Laolu Akande, spokesperson to Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo.
“Excess Crude Account (ECA) balance as at 13th October 2021 stands at $60, 857,773.43; Stabilisation Account, balance as at 13th October stands at N25,009,892,511.55; Development of Natural Resources Account balance as at 13th October 2021 stands at N56,144,024,000.71,” the statement said.
As of July 13, NEC announced that the excess account balance stood at $60.8 million while stabilisation account was N26.3 billion with the natural resources account balance standing at N23.5 billion.
The ECA, created in 2004 by former President Olusegun Obasanjo for the sole aim of saving oil revenue in excess of the budgeted benchmark, stood at $3.6 billion in February 2014, one of the highest balances on record.
In 2015, the former minister of finance Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala disclosed that the country earned $61.7 billion (about N12.3 trillion) as excess crude oil money between 2011 and 2015.
The minister said Nigeria earned about $18.14 billion in 2011; $18.16 billion in 2012; $15.19 billion in 2013; $8.01 billion in 2014, and $2.17 billion in 2015.
As of August 2015, after Mr Buhari assumed office, it stood at $2.2 billion but it gradually depleted.
The Central Bank of Nigeria in its 2018 report said that the country’s excess crude account fell from $2.45 billion in 2017 to $480 million as of December 2018.
Statistics from the ministry of finance had also revealed that the Buhari regime withdrew N1.5 trillion (about $4.92bn) between 2015 and 2019 from the account. $1 billion was withdrawn in 2017 on basis that it will be used to procure arms and train personnel in the fight against Boko Haram insurgents in the North-East.
A 2020 analysis by BudgIT, a civic organisation had indicated that Nigeria’s excess crude oil under Mr Buhari stood at $631 million in December 2018, $324 million in October 2019, and fell to $70 million in February 2020.
The Kaduna State Government on Friday, inaugurated the preaching regulatory council with the aim of stemming any act of religion that will trigger conflict in the state.
Governor Nasir El-rufai, who inaugurated the council at the Kashim Ibrahim House, Kaduna on Friday, said, religion must not be used for economic and political exploitation.
According to El-rufai, a religious preaching edict has been in place in the state since 1984, but his administration failed to implement it after reviewing the laws in 2016.
The governor said it is now the responsibility of the council to ensure that religion in the state is practiced in a manner that will not inconvenience others.
He said his administration is ready to tackle any negative religious practice in the state.
The regulatory preaching council is comprised of senior religious leaders from the Christian and Islamic faiths as well as traditional leader and public office holders.
Mourners during the mass burial of the 38 victims of the attack. Photo credit: Middle Belt Times
Survivors who are now internally displaced persons (IDPs) as a result of the September 26 deadly terrorist herdsmen attack which rocked Madamai and Abun communities are still living in extreme fear due to absence of security personnel in the communities.
Middle Belt Times had reported how 38 villagers were massacred in a barbaric manner by terrorists suspected to be Fulani herdsmen militia during a Sunday, September 26 attack on the agrarian communities.
Investigation carried out by this newspaper revealed that two weeks after the terror group killed 38 persons and burnt down at least 40 houses, the over 3,000 survivors who are now IDPs are living in extreme fear and uncertainties as the government has refused to deploy security to the area.
Anthony Timothy, A Kaura youth Coalition official told this reporter that the two Communities of Madamai and Abun have been completely deserted.
“The people no longer live there, only the brave men stay there to watch over what was left by the terrorists while the women, children and others who are vulnerable return to Mallagum every evening to sleep.” He said.
Timothy further said that some of the displaced persons have had to relocate to Kagoro and Kwoi towns to seek refuge in relative’s homes.
“Some who have relatives in Kagoro have gone to live with them, some even went as far as Kwoi town to stay.”
This reporter also spoke with the Catholic Priest of St. Thomas Parish, Mallagum, Rev. Fr Cosmos Magaji who lost many parishioners to the attack. Fr Magaji who had to flee the community after threats to his life were made by yet to be identified persons said the current situation ‘is disturbing’.
“As I speak to you now, the people are still displaced, they cannot go back to their ancestral communities for fear of the unknown.
“Plans were on ground to have them all under one IDP camp. The caretaker chairperson of the local government approved a primary school to be used as a makeshift IDP camp but the challenge is that the police has refused to deploy security to enable the proposed camp kickstart.
“I was informed that the Police Area Commander in charge of Kafanchan area said he cannot deploy policemen to any camp that is not fenced.
“In the whole of this area there is no school that is fenced, so what do they want the displaced persons to do?.” Fr Magaji said.
The Priest also complained about the inadequacy of relief materials supplied by the Kaduna State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA).
“SEMA actually brought some relief materials but it is very inadequate considering the number of persons affected. Magaji said.
The items brought by SEMA as confirmed by MBT from the Priest includes;
60 bags 10kg Rice
20 cartoons of indomie
20 pieces of 6inches mattresses
10 jerricans of10 litres Palm oil
10 jerricans of 10litres ground nut oil.
When contacted, the SEMA Director of Relief and Disaster Management, Mr Ya’u told this reporter via telephone that the Agency is not comfortable with setting up IDP camps in the area for obvious reasons such as security. Ya’u also said the Agency has learnt from experience that IDP camps are often abused and exploited negatively by those he called criminals who used IDP camps for selfish interests.
“As an Agency, we are not encouraging people to gather in IDP camps, this is because we do not know who the attackers are and having them in camps could further endanger their lives.
“What we advise for now is that people should move in and live in neighbouring communities while we continue to assist them with relief materials to alleviate their sufferings.
“We are also in touch with his Excellency the governor of the state to provide the communities with building materials so they can rebuild and return to their communities as soon as possible.” Ya’u said.
The Director also said that the Agency is at the moment working on being proactive instead of always reacting to emergency situations.
“As an Agency, we do not just want to be providing relief materials, we want to prevent situations that could lead to emergencies in the state.
“We are working hand in hand with the Kaduna Peace Commission and communities in the state to identify the problems and possibly tackle them before they become emergency situations.” He said.
When contacted the Area Commander of Kafanchan, ACP Danladi Ibrahim denied the allegations of refusing to deploy Security to the camp saying no such camp has been set up.
“Our duty is to deploy security, we cannot say we will not send security to the area.
“The question is, have setup any IDP camp? The arrangement is between them and the caretaker chairperson of the local government.
“When they set up a camp and inform us, of course we will deploy security to the camp.” He said.
As at the time of filing this report, all efforts to get the Caretaker chairperson of Kaura local government area, Mrs Naomi Anguwa to comment on the matter proved abortive as her calls were neither taken nor returned. An SMS sent to her line was also not immediately replied.
