Insecurity: Buy guns, defend yourselves, Nigerian governor tells residents

The Katsina State Governor, Aminu Masari, has called on residents of the state to arm themselves and confront bandits because security officials alone cannot tackle insecurity in the state.

Katsina, like other North-west states of Zamfara, Kaduna, Sokoto and Kebbi, has witnessed incessant attacks by terror groups.

Hundreds of people have been killed or kidnapped in Katsina this year with thousands more displaced from their homes.

Speaking during a media parley with journalists at the Muhammadu Buhari House in Katsina, Mr Masari said the number of security personnel is not enough to tackle the situation.

“It’s Islamically allowed for one to defend himself against attack. One must rise to defend himself, his family and assets. If you die while trying to defend yourself, you’ll be considered a martyr. It’s surprising how a bandit would own a gun while a good man trying to defend himself and his family doesn’t have one,” the governor said.

Mr Masari said the state government would help those who plan to own arms with the view to help bring an end to banditry.

“We’ll support those who come with the initiative to procure arms because residents need to also complement the efforts of security agencies. These people (security agents) don’t have the number to protect the people. When President Buhari came, he even tried by increasing the number of our security agents but it’s inadequate. Count it yourself, how many policemen do we have in this country? How many soldiers do we have?

“Even if we say every policeman should go back to his home state, it’ll still not be enough. So, if we fold arms and decide to do nothing, we’ll be the ones to suffer most,” he lamented.

Mr Masari said the police would register all guns bought by the residents to ensure they are put to the right use.

The governor also said that the next president of the country should come from the south.

“Let me make my position very clear. This constitution is made for us, not us made for the constitution. Yes, constitution does not say we must shift power, but if you shift, have you violated any part of the constitution?”

“I still believe that, from my personal opinion as Aminu Bello Masari, until such a time when we have stable polity, I think rotation or shifting power from time to time will help consolidate our confederation. I support that and I still maintain my stand and I have the constitutional right to make such comment,” he said.

Mr Masari’s party, APC, has not adopted power shift or rotation of the presidency in its laws. While some leaders of the party support power shift, others are against it.

Should rotation of the president’s office be adopted, then President Buhari, who is from Katsina State, would be succeeded by someone from Southern Nigeria.

Premium Times

Bishop Kukah says Northern Nigeria gradually turning into “Arewanistan”

Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, on Saturday expressed fresh frustration at the unabating security challenges confronting Northern part of the country.

Kukah who spoke extensively on issues bordering on Nigeria in his Christmas homily said a catalogue of unprecedented cruelty had been unleashed on innocent citizens in the part of the country.

He feared the region could soon become Arewanistan (a euphemism for Afghanistan) in view of the persistent killings.

“In their sleep, on their farmlands, in their markets, or even on the highway, innocent citizens have been mowed down and turned into burnt offerings to gods of evil,” an angry Kukah said in his Christmas message entitled “A nation still in search of truth and vindication.”

“Communities have been turned into gulags of misery, death, pain and perfidy. We must move quickly before Arewa, our beloved Arewa, descends into Arewanistan,” he added.

Kukah recalled how he was heavily slammed in parts of the north when he first criticized the federal government’s handling of the security situation in that part of the country last year.

He said: “At about this time last year when I raised the alarm about the perilous state of affairs in northern Nigeria, all kinds of accusations were levelled against me, especially by my northern brethren.

“When the Catholic Bishops protested openly against the killings of our people in March 2020, we were accused of acting against government with religious motives being imputed to our noble intentions. Now, we are fully in the grip of evil.

“Today, a feeling of vindication only saddens me as I have watched the north break into a cacophony of quarrelsome blame games over our tragic situation.”

He urged President Muhammadu Buhari to speak on the situation.

Kukah said: “Tales and promises about planned rescues have since deteriorated into mere whispers. Nothing expresses the powerlessness of the families like the silence of state at the federal level.

“Today, after over seven years, our over one hundred Chibok Girls are still marooned in the ocean of uncertainty.

“Over three years after, Leah Sharibu is still unaccounted for. Students of the Federal Government College, Yauri, and children from Islamiyya School, Katsina are still in captivity. This does not include hundreds of other children whose captures were less dramatic.

“We also have lost count of hundreds of individuals and families who have been kidnapped and live below the radar of publicity. We have before us a government totally oblivious to the cherished values of the sacredness of life.

“The silence of the federal government only feeds the ugly beast of complicity in the deeds of these evil people who have suspended the future of entire generations of our children.

“Every day, we hear of failure of intelligence, yet, those experts who provide intelligence claim that they have always done their duty diligently and efficiently.

“Does the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria not believe that he owes parents and citizens answers as to where our children are and when they are coming home?

“Does the President of Nigeria not owe us an explanation and answers as to when the abductions, kidnappings, brutality, senseless, and endless massacres of our citizens will end? When will our refugees from Cameroon, Chad or Niger return home? We need urgent answers to these questions.

“While I commend the efforts of our security men and women, I call on the President, in collaboration with the governors who are doing their best to preserve and protect their people to develop a more honest, open and robust strategy for ending the humiliation of our people and restoring social order to our people. We have borne enough humiliation as communities and a country.”

Kukah paid tribute to several northern Christians whom, he said, had either been killed or kidnapped for their faith.

Read him: “When Michael Nnadi, our teenage Seminarian from Sokoto Diocese, stared down the nozzle of the guns of terrorists and called them to repentance, he knew he was signing his signature with the blood of martyrdom.

“When Mrs. Bolanle Ataga, a Kaduna-based housewife of a medical doctor, defied the evil hands of the head of her captors who sought to violate her honour in exchange for freedom, she knew she was signing her signature with the blood of martyrdom.

“When Lawan Andimi, leader of the Christian community in Michika, Adamawa State stretched out his neck and was slaughtered by his abductors because of his faith, he knew that his blood would flow into the ocean of those martyrs who have gone before him.

“When our dear Leah Sharibu raised her voice against the advice of her young Muslim friends who loved her dearly and wanted her to deny being a Christian, she, like Jesus, acted in defiance but she knew what awaits her in a new Jerusalem, the capital of martyrdom.

“Their heroic witnesses re-echo the defiance of the Apostles who said: We must obey God rather than men.”

He tasked religious leaders to stand firm in the face of what he called the injustice in the country, saying: “When the politicians embark on outright favouritism or nepotism, we must not be carried away by the belief that our religion is being favoured.

“Religious leaders must stand together and condemn lack of fairness to any group because the powerful and the powerless all need to be saved.”

On the polity, especially the Electoral Amendment Bill which President Buhari recently declined to sign into law, Kukah tasked the National Assembly to “quickly take notice of the observations made by the President on the issues of Direct or Indirect Primaries and return the Bill to the President for assent.”

“I believe that the President’s heart is still in the right place and we should focus on the serious issues,” he stated.

He told the youths to “seize the moment by coming out to register and be ready to vote.

“Endsars protests and the aftermath should be a mere punctuation mark in the sentences and chapters of our struggle for a better society.

“There is a lot to live for in this country. There is a lot for our Youth to dream about.

“The spirit of Christmas should be seen as a spirit of renewal. Be courageous, because we shall turn the corner together.” Kukah said.

Conclave

BREAKING: Gunmen kidnap Plateau monarch

Gunmen have kidnapped a traditional ruler in the Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau State, Charles Mato Dakat.

It was gathered that Dakat who is the paramount ruler in Gindiri chiefdom was abducted when the gunmen attacked his palace in the early hours of Sunday.

A resident of the community, Helen Bulus, said, “The incident happened between 1am and 2am. The gunmen came in large numbers to his palace.

“He was in the palace alone because the wife had travelled to Jos and the children were also not around. All through the wee hours, there was heavy shooting by the bandits in his palace, and people in the community were running in different directions.

“So, this morning at daybreak, we went to the palace only to discover that the gunmen have taken the traditional ruler away.”

The Lawmaker representing Mangu South in the Plateau State House of Assembly, Bala Fwangje, also confirmed the incident.

According to the lawmaker, security operatives had been deployed to the community and were combing the bushes in search of the kidnapped traditional ruler.

He said, “The incident is rather unfortunate.

“I just confirmed the kidnap incident with some of the security men. I also spoke with the paramount ruler, Mishkaham Mwaghavul of Mwaghavul nation who also confirmed to me what happened. Right now, the security men are in the bush trying to rescue the kidnapped traditional ruler.”

The Military Information Officer for Operation Safe Haven, Major Ishaku Takwa, when contacted, said that troops of Operation SAFE HAVEN at Gyambus had been mobilised to the area and are on trail of the kidnappers.

Punch

Railway Operators Ignore Nigerian Government’s Free-ride Directive, Sell Tickets At Inflated Prices

Abuja railway operators have defied the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government’s directive on free train rides for the Yuletide season, as they have continued to sell tickets at exorbitant prices to passengers, Peoples Gazette has learnt.

The Nigerian Government had announced the free train service in a notice issued by the Nigerian Railway Corporation with reference number PRO.14/TROPS/VOL.1/50, and signed by the Deputy Director, Public Relations, NRC, Yakub Mahmood, on Friday.

The free train service was approved by the Federal Ministry of Transportation, according to the NRC, as it stressed that the gesture was for all its passenger train services across the country.

The NRC had said, “The Federal Government through Ministry of Transportation has in the spirit of Christmas declared passenger trains across the Nigerian Railway Corporation system free of charge during the Christmas period to enable Nigerians to travel and celebrate Christmas.

“All the passenger trains on both standard and narrow gauge lines, which include Abuja to Kaduna, Lagos to Ibadan, Warri to Itakpe, Kano to Lagos, Minna to Kaduna, Aba to Port-Harcourt routes are now all free from today Friday, December 24, 2021 to Tuesday, January 4, 2022 inclusive.”

Operators at the Idu Train Terminal in the early hours of Saturday sold out tickets to passengers aboard the Abuja-Kaduna train at the rate of N12,000 and N8, 000 on Friday evening which ordinary cost about N2,000 normally.

“This morning on Christmas Day, corrupt railway officials are still selling ‘FG Free Train Tickets’ at IDU Train Station in Abuja as high as N12,000 for Nigerians. Obviously, the Ministry of Transportation and NRA aren’t doing enough to curb this inhuman act,” Deji Adesogan, a notable political commentator on Twitter said.

Adesogan also noted that the travelers who had relied on the means of travelling “massively” purchased the tickets.

But another Twitter user, @Bizzylyks, also claimed that passengers paid N8,000 for the ticket as of Friday evening.

“My aunt’s child and some of their mates went for a football trial in Abuja, they paid for tickets today, they suffered before they even got the ticket for 6:00pm. I even informed them that it’s free today,” he wrote as of 8:50pm on Friday.

Another user, Maclams wrote, “Abuja to Kaduna Train ticket is N8,000. State of the country! My sis came in today and some other friends and that’s what it cost them.”

Meanwhile, users confirmed that passengers from Lagos to Ibadan were not charged for boarding the train.

Saharareporters

Secret Memo: National Intelligence Agency Directors Ask Buhari To Stop Signing Documents He Doesn’t Understand —Report

Directors in the Nigerian Intelligence Agency (NIA) have asked President Muhammadu Buhari to desist from appending his seal on decisions he does not understand.

The directors in a secret memo unanimously noted with dismay several decisions Buhari has made after being “deliberately” misguided by his aides and advisers as a result of “selfishness”.

All these they attributed to the president’s inability to pay rapt attention to matters, Peoples Gazette reports. 

“As the head of this massive entity call Nigeria, sometimes your aides, advisers and handlers, may, out of selfishness and vested personal interest, deliberately mislead you, to unwittingly do some things against your known principles, unfortunately, because, they know that sometimes, due to some urgent numerous state matters that need your urgent attention you may not necessarily be too meticulous about everything,” the directors said in the letter.

The letter was written to Buhari amid claims that the President is considering tenure extension for the current NIA director-general, Ahmed Abubakar. 

Appointed on January 10, 2018, Abubakar’s tenure is expected to expire in January 2022.

The directors described Buhari’s decision on the tenure elongation as a “wrong one based on a wrong advice”. Nonetheless, they admitted that some of the president’s decisions are borne out of inadequate facts of situations.

“We learnt that the tenure of the current DG, which comes to an end in January 2022, is being considered (for extension) or has been secretly renewed,” the spy chiefs noted.

They alleged the repeated and “intense lobby” for tenure elongation for the heads of the security agencies.

“We have known all along that there has been clandestine and sometimes open intense lobby to mislead you to take the wrong decision, as was done in the last appointment,” they said.

“Please excuse our use of this language to describe your last decision on this matter as a wrong one based on very wrong advice. With all sense of humility and modesty.”

The NIA directors believed the president could not have approved the appointment of Abubakar in 2018 if he had been duly informed about circumstances against his appointment. 

“There is no way you will knowingly approve any illegality and/or anything done without due process as the last appointment of the current DG,” stressed the spy chiefs.

They pointed out that Buhari flouted the National Security Agencies Act, which specified that the NIA DG should be appointed on the advice of the national security adviser.

The spy chiefs said Babagana Monguno, the current NSA, had told the National Assembly that he was unaware of Abubakar’s appointment when the president authorised it in 2018.

Controversies had trailed the appointment of the current director-general, as critics, including a Bauchi senator, Isa Misau, argued that Mr Abubakar was unqualified for the position. 

Many have described the President’s decision as a “breach of national security.”

Saharareporters

BREAKING: Terrorists Planning Attacks in Abuja During Festivities: Immigration Warns

The Nigeria Immigration Service has raised alarm over plot by foreign terrorists to launch attacks in the capital city of Abuja during the festivities.

The warning was contained in an intelligence letter titled “Terrorists plan attacks in Abuja” addressed to its zonal, regional comptrollers and commanders, intimating them of plans by foreign and local terrorists to attack Abuja between the 17th and 31st of December 2021.

“The Office of the Ag CGI is in receipt of a Security Report (URGENT) from the Presidency (OSGF).

“The import is about a looming attack on Nigeria’s Capital City. Abuja, between 17th and 31 December, 2021.” The letter said

The letter from the office of the Acting Comptroller General of the service, stated that a certain Algerian national named Drahmane Ould Ali aka Mohammed Ould Sidat and a Nigerien accomplice Zaheen Aminom are on their way to Nigeria from Mali to carry out terror attacks in Abuja.

The letter also revealed that the duo also have four Nigerian accomplices who are already embedded in the country.

“The planned attack is purportedly being led by one DRAHMANE. OULD ALL, aka Mohammed Ould Sidat, an Algerian national to be assisted by one Zahid Aminon, a Nigerien national.

“The report indicates the duo are enroute Nigeria from Mali through Gan and Niger Republic, riding a white Toyota Hilux van with Reg. No-AG157EKY. That these two had four Nigerian accomplices who are already embedded in the country.

“It is further reported that Ali holds Algerian Diplomatic Passport with the name Najim Ould Ibrahim.” It said

The Acting Comptroller General however, charged the zonal and regional comptrollers to beef up security across entry and exit points in the country to forestall the planned attacks.

Parts of Nigeria have been ravaged by terrorists activities blamed majorly on Boko Haram terror groups and its sister group, the Islamic state of West African Province (ISWAP). The duo have been blamed for various terror attacks in the country including the capital Abuja.

Recall that in August 2011, Boko Haram terrorists bombed the United Nations building in the capital Abuja, killing at least 18 people.

FDA approves first injectable treatment to prevent HIV infection

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved an injectable form of GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) cabotegravir drug that is given every two months to prevent an HIV infection.

The injection — Apretude — to prevent the virus that causes Aids is aimed as an alternative to daily pills and has been approved for use in at-risk adults and adolescents.

Its first two doses are administered one month apart and then the injection is given every two months thereafter.

Patients can start their treatment with Apretude or take oral cabotegravir for four weeks to assess how well they tolerate the drug.

Apretude comes with a boxed warning to not use the drug unless a negative HIV test is confirmed. A boxed warning on the label is FDA’s strictest warning and calls attention to serious or life-threatening risks of a drug.

Apretude’s approval was based on a final study showing it was found to be 66% more effective in preventing HIV infections than Gilead’s Truvada daily oral pills.

Cabotegravir and the daily oral pill were both well tolerated in the study, which was conducted on men who engage in sexual activity with other men and transgender women who have sex with men, putting them at risk of contracting HIV.

(Reuters)

Swear you’ve no hands in Southern Kaduna ethnic cleansing – IPOB to El-Rufai

…..El-rufai should know that he has a date at the ICC

The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, on Wednesday asked Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State to swear he knows nothing about the election ethnic cleansing of non Fulani communities in Southern Kaduna.

IPOB said no amount of cover-up would exonerate him from the genocide in Southern Kaduna.

The separatist group made the remark while berating El-Rufai for comparing IPOB with terrorist organization.

A statement by IPOB’s spokesman, Emma Powerful, reads: “We are the global movement and family of the indigenous people of Biafra (IPOB) under the command and leadership of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.

Our attention has been drawn to the laughable and shameful statement the midget of Kaduna State, Alhaji El’ Rufai where he compared the peaceful IPOB global movement with Fulani terrorists and bandits rampaging Southern Kaduna.

“It is not only provocative but a mischievous display of ignorance for El’ Rufai to compare freedom seekers with blood thirsty terrorists. El Rufai should stop playing to the gallery.

“No amount of cover-ups can exonerate him from the ongoing genocide in Southern Kaduna by Fulani bandits.

“He should cover his head in shame for admitting that he is paying the mass murderers in Kaduna State. He should know that he has a date at the ICC.”

IPOB dared El-Rufai to name one terror it has committed.

“We challenge him to mention any act of terror commited by IPOB. Our only crime against El Rufai and his fellow mass murderers is that we refused to allow FULANI bandits any breeding ground in Biafra land.

“Malam El-Rufai should swear by Allah that he knows nothing about the ongoing ethnic cleansing of non Fulani communities in Southern Kaduna and re-naming of their towns to Fulani communities,” the group added.

[Dailypost]

Terrorists Attack Police Escort, 20 Vehicles, Abduct Over 50 Travellers On Kaduna Expressway

Terrorists on Wednesday abducted scores of travellers along Kaduna–Birnin Gwari Highway after attacking their convoy.

The incident occurred at about 11am and it was learnt that most of the victims were traders on their way to Kano.

Daily Trust reports that a community leader identified as Muhammadu Umaru, said that four of his neighbours were abducted.

He added that the vehicles attacked were about 20 which were led by a police escort.

“We have about 70 of our traders from Udawa town alone and there are others from neighbouring towns in the convoy that was attacked between Udawa and Buruku along the highway.

“My neighbours were involved because we call their phones and a bandit picked the call,” he said.

It was gathered that some of the traders that ran into the bush called their relations to inform them of the situation.

The state Police Command’s spokesman, Jalige Mohammed, promised to comment on the incident after finding out details.

Kaduna State has been facing bandits’ attacks for a while and the state governor, Nasir El-Rufai, said his administration’s intention was to kill all bandits.

He said this on Tuesday after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari on the recent bandits’ attack that claimed 40 lives in the state.

The governor, accompanied by the state Commissioner for Internal Security, Samuel Aruwan, said the bandits’ whereabouts were not hidden, but that the military was mindful of the collateral damage it could cause the civilian community.

[Saharareporters]

Agwam Bajju was dedicated not only to Kajju land but all Southern Kaduna and Kaduna State as a whole: SOKAPDA-Europe

The Southern Kaduna People in the Diaspora (Europe) has pledged solidarity with the Bajju chiefdom over the demise of the paramount ruler of the Chiefdom, His Royal Highness, Nuhu Bature OON who passed on on December 18 in Kafanchan.

In a condolence statement signed by it’s president, Rita Allahmagani and it’s Board of trustees, Casimir Biriyok and obtained by this newspaper, the group described the late Monarch as a man of peace who was always peaceful despite provocations emanating from constant violence perpetrated by terrorists in Southern Kaduna.

SOKAPDA described the death of the First class chief as a monumental loss not only to the Bajju Chiefdom in Zango-Kataf Local Government Area of the state but to the state and the entire country.

The statement reads;

“Earth hath no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal.” – Thomas Moore

Southern Kaduna People in Diaspora Europe (SOKAPDA) wish to express our deep condolences upon the death of HRH Nuhu Bature, Agwam Bajju 1.

Agwam Bajju was a man of peace irrespective of the constant violence in Southern Kaduna in particular and Northern Nigeria in general . It is sad that we lost him when his experience and wise counsel is needed most.

He was a father to all and a gentleman to the core.

Agwam Bajju was dedicated not only to Kajju land but all Southern Kaduna and Kaduna State as a whole.

He was a fighter for the independence of the Kajju land and our brothers in Southern Kaduna.
Together with many others, he fought a long campaign for independence from Zazzau Emirate. Fast forward 1995. The Bajju chiefdom was created with that of Atyap and eventually other chiefdoms in Southern Kaduna.

Agwam Nuhu Bature then became the first Agwam Bajju of the Bajju Chiefdom in 1995.

We in SOKAPDA Europe are heart broken for the loss of His Royal Highness Agwam Bajju 1. However we are proud of his achievements and these are testimonies to his years of campaign and dedication to emancipation of Kajju Land.
We pray that the Almighty God will accept him into his kingdom and we hope to meet again in spirit.

HRH Agwam Bajju1 will be remembered as a man who spent 26 years on the throne fighting for the peace in Kajju land, Southern Kaduna and Kaduna State in general.
He was highly respected leader that stood for the truth. He was also a man of faith.

He will also be remembered for his leadership qualities that united, strengthened and enhanced the progress of the Bajju people. His efforts in seeing the progress of Kajju land, Southern Kaduna and Kaduna State is well known and will never be forgotten.

He was also sincere in all his dealings and relationships. He was committed to progress in whatever shape or form.

SOKAPDA Europe stand in solidarity with the Bajju chiefdom and the bond and love that unite the people of Southern Kaduna. May these be strengthened especially at these times now and forevermore.
The king is dead.
Goodbye Agwam Bajju 1
Long live Kajju Land.
Long live Southern Kaduna
Long live Kaduna State
Long live Federal Republic of Nigeria

To paraphrase Mahatma Gandhi

“There are no goodbyes for us. Wherever you are, you will always be in our heart.”

With deepest sympathy,

Mrs Rita Allahmagani, President SOKAPDA
Mr Casimir Biriyok, Board of Trustees SOKAPDA