1999 Constitution Of Nigeria: Power Of The Peoples Against Power Of Politicians

Ndidi Uwechue

31 May 2022

Firstly, it is not correct to describe Nigeria as a “nation”. It is a pseudo-country. Country – because it is an amalgamation of several ethnic NATIONS, where each indigenous ethnic nation could have been a country in its own right. Pseudo – because this country is based on a false Union Agreement.  That is, the 1999 Constitution that creates the Union is a forgery, and was not obtained in the correct way that a Constitution ought to be.  It is actually Military Decree 24. In their Communiqué after a meeting about security and the future of Nigeria on 13^th December 2021, attended by former President Obasanjo, the Sultan of Sokoto, Rev. Pam Yakubu, Gani Adams, Madam Ankio Briggs, and many others, the 1999 Constitution was described as, “Oligo-military in nature and not representing the collective interest of Nigerians…”.    

In fact, General Abdulsalami Abubakar who was involved in foisting that forgery upon Nigerians wrote a statement on 5^th May 1999 saying that the 1999 Constitution is a Schedule of a Military Decree as follows:

Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Promulgation) Decree No 24 of 1999, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria

Now therefore, the Federal Military Government hereby decrees as follows:-

1.         (1) There shall be for Nigeria a Constitution which shall be as set out in the Schedule to this Decree.

(2) The Constitution set out in the Schedule to this Decree shall come into force on 29th May 1999.

(3) Whenever it may hereafter be necessary for the Constitution to be printed it shall be lawful for the Federal Government Printer to omit all parts of this Decree apart from the Schedule and the Constitution as so printed shall have the force of law notwithstanding the omission.

2.     This Decree may be cited as the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Promulgation) Decree 1999.

Secondly, it is not correct to say that Nigerians are just now faulting the fraudulent 1999 Constitution after 23 years of its existence. It is simply that the mainstream media has been one-sided in its reporting: broadcasting what politicians want to be put out into the public space, yet being silent when it concerns what the ordinary peoples are doing, and what they want for themselves, like Self-Determination for their ethnic nation. For, soon after the 1999 Constitution was imposed, some Nigerians with a conscience and a sense of right and wrong like Chief Anthony Enahoro and Professor Wole Soyinka among several others, complained and were involved in finding a way to terminate this fraud starting with the post-NADECO period of 1999, and spanning through PRONACO (2005 – 2006). Then MNN took over (2006 – 2018) which became the NINAS Movement from 2018. As MNN, indigenous peoples of Lower Niger, Yoruba, and Middle Belt Blocs had rejected and Repudiated the 1999 Constitution during their Solemn Assemblies (2015, 2017 and 2018 respectively), and also during the Lagos Declaration of 2011, and the Freedom Park Proclamation of 2018. Besides this, Lower Niger Congress (LNC), the lead Self-Determination organisation had regularly published what the peoples wanted and were doing to terminate the sham 1999 Constitution, on their websites, plus on the NINAS website.

What we see is that since the fraudulent 1999 Constitution was imposed, politicians of the NINAS Territory ie, the South and Middle Belt have been playing the role of God by usurping Sovereignty and preventing Self-Determination, to instead place upon the peoples the yoke of under-development, corruption, and terror, which are the consequences of the 1999 Constitution. Having so far been successful at denying their peoples the right of Self-Determination, politicians think that they can continue with this status quo, and carry on with the treasonous action of swearing an Oath of Office to uphold a forgery (the 1999 Constitution) in their people’s ancestral lands. It involves politicians of the NINAS Territory being in denial that Nigeria became a Disputed Project from 16^th December 2020 when a Constitutional Force Majeure was proclaimed by the NINAS Movement. It involves continuing to be in denial that there is a Union Dispute still unresolved since 1966 when the Military coups terminated the Federation of Nigeria, and which Union Dispute is seen in the outright lies of the Preamble of the 1999 Constitution. In fact, since politicians of the South and Middle Belt have chosen to uphold and defend the swindle called 1999 Constitution, they then have to add falsehood onto falsehood to keep that illegitimate Document operating in their people’s ancestral spaces.

What will be unfolding over the coming months is this: Who is more powerful – is it the politicians of the NINAS Territory who insist that their peoples do not deserve their inalienable right to Self-Determination? Or is it the peoples who will rise up to put a stop to the lies, frauds, and treachery of their politicians? 

The non-violent NINAS Movement has put a solution on the Table where nobody needs to get a bloodied nose. Politicians would have to suspend their politicking (they can carry on again later when new authentic Constitutions have been made in the proper way), and halt preparations to Elections 2023 as that would renew the life of the illegitimate 1999 Constitution that has been Repudiated. Instead, there would be a TRANSITIONING PERIOD with a Transitional Government as well as a concurrent Sovereign Transitioning Convention (this writer’s description, NINAS will provide the right terminology at the appropriate time). During the Transitional Government current office holders would remain in their positions. The Sovereign Transitioning Convention would be similar (but not identical) to South Africa’s CODESA. It is at this Transitioning Period that the Union Dispute would finally get resolved, and indigenous Ethnic Nations of the NINAS Territory would decide by Regional Referendums whether to re-commit to the Union of Nigeria, or whether to go for something else – new unions with compatible neighbouring ethnic nations. 

Ndidi Uwechue is a British citizen with Igbo heritage from the Lower Niger Bloc. She is a retired Metropolitan (London) Police Officer, she is a signatory to the Constitutional Force Majeure, and she writes from Abuja.

PDP IS FINISHED FOR PLOTTING ANTI IGBO AGENDA-: SAYS HURIWA

A leading Pro-democracy and Civil Rights Advocacy Group- HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has accused the current hierarchy of the leading opposition political party in Nigeria- People’s Democratic (PDP) of engaging in a choreographed SUICIDE MISSION by hatching and implementing  active but corrosive and toxic anti- Igbo antics by withholding the zoning of the Presidency in 2023 to the South East to assuage the longstanding systematic and systemic marginalisation of the South East of Nigeria in the political scheme of things.

HURIWA also accused the Rivers State governor Mr. Nyesom Wike of inflicting irreparable damage to the sole of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) by hijacking the party’s National secretariat due to the overwhelming selfish ambition he is nursing to corner the slot of the candidacy of the party for the 2023 Presidency just as the Rights group accused political weaklings amongst some corrupt minded Igbo elites of conniving with the Rivers State’s governor to plant IGBOPHOBIA amongst the highest echelons of the PDP. 

HURIWA said the fear of the unknown is driving Governor Wike’s horrific ambition to seize the Presidential slot of PDP because he is mortally afraid that should his arch political rival Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi gets the Presidential slot of the APC and wins the 2023 Presidency then certainly,  he Governor Nyesom Wike could face political persecution by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over alleged financial indiscretion as the governor of Rivers State since the last 8 years. The Rights also carpeted the Rivers State governor for criticising Mr. Peter Obi for quitting the heavily cash compromised PDP. 

HURIWA which commended the former governor of Anambra State Mr. Peter Obi for displaying highest sense of conviction and political principles to walk out of the collapsing political house called PDP due to the stinking CASH-AND- CARRY animalistic tendencies within the leading opposition political party the PDP which is bent on chasing away the South-East of Nigeria from her fold because having used and dumped the South East of Nigeria,  the party now wishes to become a slave of the North or of Mr. Nyesom Wike. 

HURIWA affirmed thus: “These two tendencies of Atiku Abubakar and Nyesom Wike have combined to ensure that South East of Nigeria does not get her deserved pride of place in the party they had laboured for over the past twenty years even at the risks of suffering some of the harshest policies of marginalisation and political apartheid from the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration for the last 7 years because the South East has since 1999 been voting enmasse for the People’s Democratic Party”. 

HURIWA has also commended the immediate past Minority Leader Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe for abandoning the PDP because of the anti-Igbo sentiments and the antics of divide and rule just as the RIGHTS GROUP said the PDP has lost the support of the South East of Nigeria and will pay dearly for this sabotage of the political right of the South East of Nigeria.  

HURIWA recalled that the Senate Minority Leader Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe had tendered a letter to the Senate President indication that he has just resigned from his position even as this was sequel to his resignation from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) under which he was elected to the Senate in 2019. Abaribe announced his resignation in two separate letters – one addressed to his Ward Chairman and the other to the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, dated 24th and 26th May, 2022 respectively.

HURIWA praised the Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe and Mr. Peter Obi for showing courage and determination to stand for justice, truth, social and political ideological principles and for taking a long walk away from the house of scam that the People’s Democratic Party has suddenly become even as the Rights group told the PDP that its only redemption is to concede the slot of the President of Nigeria in the 2023 General election to the South East of Nigeria in line with the provisions of the constitution of the party.

HURIWA said zoning of offices by political parties is a fulfillment of Section 14(3) of the 1999 Constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria as amended which speaks to the issue of respecting FEDERAL CHARACTER PRINCIPLES in the allocation of offices and projects in the federation.

HURIWA said it offends the principles of natural justice and national unity that Igbo that has one of the three largest population of Nigeria has been treated with the short-end of the stick through the connivance of the Hausa/Fulani North and some reactionary elitist elements of the South West extraction for their selfish agenda which is undermining National cohesion.   

The Backstory Of The Residents Permit For Fulani Quartered In Military Barracks In Igboland And Elsewhere In The South And Middle-Belt

Tony Nnadi, 

NINAS Secretariat, 

25 May 2022

As the LNC and its NINAS Allies blocked the first few steps of newly installed President Muhammadu Buhari to launch his FULANIZATION and RUGA Campaign after he violently took power in 2015, Buhari in some kind of exasperation, openly directed that all the bushes behind all the Military Barracks across  Nigeria (traditionally used for training exercises) should be used to as Temporary Ranches for the large army of “Fulani herdsmen” who had turned up everywhere, but who were being resisted everywhere they went, pending the establishment of the RUGA (Fulani Colonies), the Buhari Government and its Military and the National Assembly were forcefully pushing to establish across Nigeria.

The lost but found Identity/ Residents Permit from the illicit Fulani resident in the Army Barracks at Ohafia is evidence that the said Buhari directive was carried out, and an unquantified number of Fulani invaders are now ensconced in the bosom of Military Barracks across Nigeria.

It would be recalled that sometime in 2021, there was an incident in Okitipupa where a large convoy of buses had brought in  and discharged Fulani young men into the Army Barracks there, prompting widespread alarm by local vigilantes and indigenes who had been rebuffed and turned back as they sought explanations from the Military Base where these Fulani passengers were taken into. The story was all over the internet at the time.

I made this note to alert us that while we distract ourselves with the feel-good noise of “Biafra Nation” and “Yoruba Nation” and impede the task of the strategic pushback required [for that wanted  Self-Determination], our adversary is digging in and deep into our midst in a manner that further compromises our already precarious security situation.

For the non-Caliphate rest of Nigeria, with the complete DELEGITIMIZATION of the 1999 Constitution already accomplished by the Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self-Determination (NINAS) the only viable remediation strategy on the Table right now, against the unfolding catastrophe of Fulani murderous conquest invasion is the immediate ENFORCEMENT of the December 16, 2020 Constitutional Force Majeure (CFM), to immediately render the presence of the Fulani, in and out of uniform, ILLEGITIMATE and UNTENABLE throughout the Alliance Territories, until the Union Dispute raised by that CFM is resolved by REFERENDUMS.

Faster than any other mechanism, it is also this enforcement that will IMMEDIATELY activate the armed Self-Defence component of the right to Self-Determination currently being asserted by Nigeria’s  indigenous nationalities in a manner to upend the instant criminalization of any effort at armed Self-Defence under the defeated 1999 Constitution.

As usual, those who wish to argue are at liberty to go ahead but it is only a matter of little time for things to crystallize beyond debate, but the cost of ignorance and delay will be reckoned in blood.

UNKNOWN GUNMEN: GOV. UMAHI IS A PERSON OF INTEREST TO HELP RESOLVE THE MYSTERY- SAYS HURIWA 

Prominent Civil rights advocacy group-: HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has asked the elected political leaders of the South East zone in the National Assembly, the governors and traditional leaders of all Igbo speaking States to task the Ebonyi State governor Dave Umahi to kindly volunteer information that could lead to the unraveling of the faces behind the Killings in the South East of Nigeria since he has already identified the Ethnicity of the unknown gunmen. HURIWA said IGBO PEOPLE MUST DEMAND THIS INFORMATION IN GREATER DETAILS URGENTLY.

HURIWA recalled that the  Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi had reportedly the unknown gunmen terrorising southeast Nigeria and killing people as those who hail from the region and not outsiders.

Answering questions regarding the identities of the killers on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, Umahi said the atrocities committed in the region were largely carried out by youths from there.

He said, “People tend to be funny at times when they say that we have been invaded by outsiders, but it is not true.

“We have people from other regions that are in the South East. There’s no tribe that doesn’t have criminality. I wouldn’t say some of these people from other tribes don’t engage in criminality.

“What I call bandits are people that engage in violence; and they are our people, South-East people. The youths, some of them are in this category.

“So, when people say insecurity in the South-East is being imported, I do not buy that. Because I am a Governor, I do security reports. We have arrested a number of these people, and it should be that they are about five or 14 per cent of those outside the South-East. If we have 90 per cent of our youths engaging in these things, you cannot say the South-East is being infiltrated.”He also said, “We engaged with some of the bandits, we made contacts with some of them. We had to say, what is your problem? If it is infrastructure, we have done that. “If it is jobs creation, we have addressed that through direct labour. The bandits are angry about the lack of what to do, and we said to them that if your only trouble is that you didn’t have formal education, there is no job for you to do.

“We put them together and said, if you will stop attacks on our strategic inf rastructure, killing of our people and attack on security agencies, we can rehabilitate you. So, we have rehabilitated a number of them.”

HURIWA in a statement by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko praised the Ebonyi State governor for publicly disclosing the Ethnic identity of the UNKNOWN GUNMEN thereby ending the spectre of misidentity of these murdererous terrorists destroying the Igbo Motherland. HURIWA however said rather than engaging in media showmanship in a matter as sensitive as the terrorists destroying the South East of Nigeria,  the Ebony State governor should be challenged by all Igbo people to meet with the National security Adviser, the DG of DSS, the Chief of Army Staff and the IGP together with the governors of the SOUTH EAST REGION and Civil society leaders of South East extraction so the governor can do the South East the favour of FULL DISCLOSURE ON THOSE UNKNOWN GUNMEN HE HAS NOW REVEALED THEIR ETHNICITY AND HE MUST DO THIS WITHIN 74 HOURS OR BE TAKEN AS A JOKER. 

BUHARI GOVT BREEDING POMPOUS CORRUPT NORTHERNERS WITH SENSE OF ENTITLEMENT – HURIWA 

Civil rights advocacy group, HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA(HURIWA), on Monday, lambasted the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), for breeding extremely corrupt government officials especially of northern extraction who feel a sense of entitlement.

HURIWA, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, said with the gargantuan and unprecedent corrupt practices perpetrated by government officials under Buhari, Nigeria might not find money to run the next government. “It is becoming inevitable that with the highway robberies of public funds perpetrated by officials holding strategic national offices from the core Northern States like the President,  Nigeria may need to borrow from China to be able to pay the first few months’ salaries of incoming President after May 29th 2022 if this administration won’t scuttle the election  by this deliberate permission and tolerance of heightened state of insecurity in the Country”. 

The group said many occasions have suggested that Buhari’s anti-graft fight is a grand charade as the regime was only a breeding ground to purloin Nigeria’s commonwealth. “People are wondering if the Northerners holding strong positions in the central government are not looting to set up their earthly paradise elsewhere other than this Nigeria that they are running down and killing with staggering Crimes of corruption and brazen brigandage. If this proposition is incorrect, why then are Northern officials in government going ahead with massive looting even when a few of them have been exposed but nothing much by way of prosecutions have been done?”

HURIWA cited the promotion of former acting Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, from a commissioner of police cadre to that of an assistant inspector general of police despite that he was sacked for alleged graft-related reasons and alleged abuse of office- allegations that till now are been hidden from public view and the report of the investigative panel headed by a retired President of the Court of Appeal for which billions of public funds would have been spent,  has remained a mystery and then from the blues the main character who was dismissed from the EFCC was then promoted to AIG in retirement even when the entire South East of Nigeria got just one AIG amongst serving officers.

The group also pointed to the recent alleged graft purportedly perpetrated by another northerner in the person of the suspended Accountant-General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, who is being probed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for alleged fraud to the tune of N80bn and at least 17 properties in choice places in Nigeria and overseas. 

Also, according to Nobel laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, Buhari squashed a putrid egg against Nigerians’ faces with the pardon granted ex-governors of Plateau State, Senator Joshua Dariye; and Taraba State, Rev. Jolly Nyame.

The two former governors were jailed for stealing N2.7bn in total and are members of the ruling All Progressives Congress. Many civil society organisations had censured the President and noted that the pardon of Dariye and Nyame would encourage corruption.

Recall also that another northerner, the then Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Hadiza Bala-Usman, was suspended last year for alleged corruption to the tune of billions of naira but she is not prosecuted but left to flex around but not returned to her post and no words to the members of the Nigerian Public. 

HURIWA also said Nigerians must not forget that another northerner and a top police officer, DCP Abba Kyari, is in the custody of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency for alleged narcotics-related offences and alleged corruption of unimaginable proportion also traced to international fraudster, Ramon Abass aka Hushpuppi. But government has done everything imaginable to refuse to extradited him to the USA but the same government has extradited Other Nigerians from the South to the USA to face charges over alleged fraud of less than the amount for which the disgraced police officer is being sought by the FBI by for which the Northern born AGF has done everything to undermine the extradition application of the Government of the USA.

While the United States wanted Kyari to be extradited to the US, the Nigerian government has tactically delayed him in Nigeria here, a form of protection and under the extant extradition treaty, if the application lingers for upto a year, it will become status barred meaning the suspect being sought in USA can no longer be surrendered. 

HURIWA’s Onwubiko said, “Nigerians are tired of the grand deception of the Buhari regime. It is disturbing how corruption has toppled the administration’s campaign promises and the fact that virtually all the top players in government are suspected of corruption. 

“Look at corruption in humanitarian affairs ministry. The corruption in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. The Accountant General’s office. Corruption in the way All Progressives Congress members bought N100 million presidential forms by proxies. Truth be told, Buhari and the APC has killed any anti-corruption it met in 2015 with the cash for tickets policy it introduced towards 2023.

“We are afraid that the country won’t find money to run the next government going by the extremely heightened levels of corruption in the APC administration. Nigerians must reject any party deep in corruption in the next election and must vote in accountable leaders.”

May 23, 2022

Emmanuel Onwubiko

National Coordinator – HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA).

INSECURITY: NIGERIA NEEDS A WORKING FORMULA

By Emmanuel Onwubiko

“Objectives are not fate; they are direction. They are not commands; they are commitments. They do not determine the future; they are means to mobilize the resources and energies of the business for the making of the future.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

In about a week’s time, the two most prominent political parties namely the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party will select/anoint/elect their Presidential candidates for the 2023 Presidential poll. 

The aspirants have since started campaigns by travelling around the Country seeking out the support of the elected delegates who are to nominate the candidates of the political parties. 

In the APC, the aspirants are saying many things but most of them do not have workable templates on most of the promises they are making verbally to the delegates and to  Nigerians. Some of the Presidential aspirants like Nyesom Wike are as intellectually empty as it can ever be in the area of preferring practicable panacea to the crises caused by the National climate of insecurity and terrorism by and non State actors. Nyesom Wike who is governor of Rivers State is lucky to have inherited the Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi’s security formula in Rivers State in which the former Rivers State’s helmsman and now a Frontline aspirant for the position of a Presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress implemented that made Rivers State during his eight years reign as the most crime free State in the 36 States of the Federation. It is not known that the successor to Rotimi Amaechi as Governor of Rivers State Nyesim Wike introduced any other strategy different from the larger security template put in place by Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi. 

We will come to the issue of the blueprints for development that the aspirants have articulated but first let us look at the issue of whether the incumbent President has a favourite Candidate to succeed him or not. 

The President himself recently confirmed that he indeed has one most favoured successor but that he will keep the identity close to his heart since he does not want to jeopardise the security of the person. 

Incidentally, the special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, says his principal has a favourite candidate to succeed him in 2023, but will not mention the person.

Adesina made the revelation during an interview on Channels TV’s Politics Today on Thursday.

So far ministers of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi; Niger Delta, Godswill Akpabio; Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige; Science, Technology and Innovation, Ogbonnaya Onu, Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba  have joined the presidential race on the platform of the All Progressive Congress (APC). Of these bunch, the immediate past minister of Transportation Mr Amaechi seems to be poles apart as the most significant political Son of President Muhammadu Buhari in terms of who amongst all his appointees allocated the most strategic national assets like Railways and Transportation University in Daura the homestead of President Muhammadu Buhari. So if being favourite is to be rated by who loves the President and his people the more, Rotimi Amaechi is obviously the number 1. The rest are hypocrites. But let us hear what the President’s Media minder said. 

Mr. Adesina, an ordained Deacon of a Pentacostal Church, who said he is not card-carrying member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), touched on the sensitive matter of who is indeed President Muhammadu Buhari’s favoured successor in 2023. But he stopped short of naming names. 

Adesina said, “In a previous interview when the president was asked whether he had a favorite candidate, he answered yes; but he will not mention him because mischief may happen to that person.

“That shows you that the president himself is interested in the process and he has a preferred candidate; but whether he will impose his candidate is what you can no determine at the moment.

Political pundits believe that if royalty is the yardstick for President Muhammadu Buhari to decide his favourite then the immediate past minister of Transportation Mr. Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi will be amongst the top most favourites. The then former governor of Rivers State sacrificed so much by way of resources to campaign vigorously for the then APC Presidential Candidate in 2014 before the incumbent President cruised to victory at the polls in 2015. 

Few days back the Abuja civil Society community including the HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) converged in Abuja to deliberate on the State of the nation and to set agenda for the Presidential candidates of the parties that will emerge from the primaries this week. The groups expressed happiness that Aspirant Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi of the All Progressives Congress has made the issue of insecurity his sacred mandate and the Centre of his blueprints. It is not a secret that the number one problem facing Nigeria is insecurity.  The coalition of civil rights campaigners also stated that they agreed with Rotimi Amaechi’s claims of what programmes and steps he took ad the then Governor of Rivers State to tackle insecurity.  

The then Ricers State governor who is the immediate past Minister of Transportation and APC presidential aspirant, Rotimi Amaechi, on Monday said he tackled insecurity while he was Rivers governor by equipping the military and the police. The Human rights stakeholders said Rotimi Amaechi is correct to make the claim.

Recall that Mr Amaechi spoke while visiting the Deji of Akure, Aladetonyibo Aladelusi Ogunlade, at his palace in Ondo State.

He also paid a private visit to former presidential candidate, Olu Falae. Mr Amaechi later proceeded to Ibadan, where he paid a visit to the Olubadan of Ibadan, Olalekan Balogun, and met with delegates and party faithful at the Oyo State APC secretariat.

The minister said if elected as president, he would be detribalized and would ensure that the yearnings and aspirations of all Nigerians are protected, irrespective of tribe and religion.

“You recognized us for who we are, you recognized us not as a Yoruba candidate, not as an Hausa candidate, not as an Igbo candidate or Ikwerre where I come from, but as a Nigerian candidate,” Mr Amaechi told the Deji of Akure.

“I am detribalized, I don’t know Yoruba or Hausa, I just know Nigeria, and everybody should be treated like that, there should be no segregation,” he said.

Mr Amaechi said as president, he would deploy his wealth of experience in governance and fighting insecurity.

“Your Majesty sir, It is not enough to say I was a former Governor for two terms, former Speaker for two terms, and all of that. The question to ask is what did I do with those positions? Because when I say I come with experience, I actually come with experience.

“Quite a lot of those who are contesting or aspiring to be the President don’t come with that kind of experience that I come with. I have governed a state where there was insecurity.

“When I was governor of Rivers state, they were kidnapping two months old babies.”

Mr Amaechi said he was just a few weeks in office when two high-profile kidnappings took place in Rivers.

“The first they confronted me with was the kidnap of a prominent Nigerian, a Rivers man, Prof. Nimi Briggs, one time Vice-Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt.

“The next person they kidnapped was the wife of late Chief Lulu Briggs, prominent people, and I was barely few weeks or months old in office, I rescued them.

“So we equipped the military and police, we trained them and made sure that at any point in time you kidnap anybody, we are in the position to rescue the person and punish the kidnappers.

“So I am experienced in finding solutions to insecurity,” he said.

Responding, the Deji of Akure, described Mr Amaechi as a grassroots politician who knows the needs of his people.

“You have already passed through the hierarchy of politics, from Speaker, two times. All these two times position has a meaning,” said the Deji, putting two fingers up and adding that it signifies peace.

“In a good democracy setting, you should not have any problems at all,” the monarch continued.

“Currently, you have transformed the Ministry of Transportation, and I want the rail to come to Akure with the Seaport in Ondo. Whatever it takes for the rail to come to Akure, we will do it, and whatever it takes for the Seaport to come to Ondo, the people of Ondo will do it.

“We are not doubting you at all because you passed through all the stages. You did what you were supposed to do at each stage, all those that elected you, they did because of your integrity and for the love you have for your people. Not for your people alone, but for the nation.

“Like you said earlier, you are not from Hausa, Igbo or Yoruba alone, you are a typical Nigerian and we take it like that and when you get there, I know you will be a typical Nigerian not one-sided,” he said.

The conference of human rights practitioners championed by the National Coordinator of the HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko said the security blueprint canvassed by Mr. ROTIMI CHIBUIKE AMAECHI is noteworthy just as the activists said the endorsement of Aspirant Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi by the immediate past Chief of Army Staff Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai demonstrates the validity of the security templates that the aspirant has been talking about. 

It must be recalled that as the consultations with delegates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) across the country by Presidential Aspirant and former Minister of Transportation, Rt Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi continue to attract high profile support, a former Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Lt. Gen. Tukur Yusuf Buratai has endorsed the former Minister, stating that his loyalty and love for Nigeria and humanity is unmatched.

Gen. Buratai who is currently, Nigeria’s Ambassador to the Republic of Benin, gave this endorsement at a parley with delegates of the APC in Bauchi, Wednesday night, when he and other dignitaries accompanied the Presidential hopeful, Chibuike Amaechi to solicit delegates’ support in Bauchi ahead of the party’s primaries.

Burutai stated that he was spurred to give his support to Amaechi due to his outstanding profile and vast experience in governance.

He said, “You can see from the introduction, the experience of our Presidential aspirant. The profile of Rt Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi is quite intimidating. He has proven to be a sound administrator, a versatile leader, a good strategist and a politician per excellence, who has shown good qualities in all areas he had worked. As Speaker, as Governor, as Minister and also first among equals during his tenure as Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum, as well as the dexterity and the quality of the campaign (for President Buhari) that he led on two occasions. That is why I am giving him my full support.

“He did that diligently with all his determination, loyalty and of course with love for Nigeria and love for humanity irrespective of what religion you belong to. This is quite commendable, that’s why he’s here today to solicit for your votes. From what you have heard about him, I believe you know that he’s the man of the moment. He is the right choice. So, I urge you to make the right choice and vote for him,” Buratai said.

Addressing the delegates, Amaechi said he is the only aspirant in the party with impressive records that would defeat the opposition party. He urged the delegates to vote for him for the overall benefit of all Nigerians.

According to him, “This is the moment of decision. For twenty two years I have held public office, as Speaker, as Governor and as Minister. And in all of these, you will see my footprint. There’s a railway construction going on from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri. It includes Bauchi and it’s called the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri railway. If you vote for me, that project will be completed and it will create employment. So vote for me, make me the candidate of the party. I doubt that the other aspirants have the capacity to defeat me, If you vote for me I will defeat PDP.”

Earlier, at a visit to the Emir of Bauchi, HRM Dr. Rilwan Suleiman Adamu, Amaechi used the occasion to re-emphasize his commitment to deliver on infrastructure and tackle insecurity if elected.

“Your Highness, I am here to seek for your blessings, to appeal to the Bauchi delegates to give me their votes on the day of the primaries, because there is no aspirant in our party that is as prepared as I am to be the President of Nigeria.

“I have the energy, I have the capability, I have the knowledge and the strength to be the President of Nigeria. I have the experience of what the problems are and what the solutions should be and I’m seeking your support to provide solutions to those problems.

“One of the things I did to fight militancy in Port Harcourt was to create employment. I will introduce agricultural programmes to create jobs for the people. I will provide infrastructure in Bauchi, I am full of experience, If you vote for me I will chase the criminals away. I did it in Port Harcourt and Rivers State and I am prepared to do it again. I will do my best to restore security in the country. Please tell your people to vote for me and I will bring that experience to bear, Amaechi said.

HURIWA as well as the over 36 register Civil Rights Advocacy Groups said the qualitative security blueprint of Mr. ROTIMI CHIBUIKE AMAECHI is commendable and should be looked on by other aspirants because it is obvious that our most fundamental human development issue destroying the body polity is insecurity. In fairness, most participants at the CSO’s parley in Abuja at the Weekend hosted by HURIWA somewhere at Wuse two, were of the unanimity of opinion that if truth be told, Mr. Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi has the most acceptable security template to take Nigeria out of the WILDERNESS OF INSECURITY AND TERRORISM within a short time frame because of his Profound commitment to the thematic area of HUMAN AND NATIONAL SECURITY. 

And as Ralph Waldo Emerson pointed out, commitment is the single virtue a charismatic leader of a nation needs to take his nation to the frontiers of advancement and sustainability. 

*EMMANUEL ONWUBIKO is head of the HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA and was NATIONAL COMMISSIONER of the NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION OF NIGERIA.

THE USE OF HUNGER, AND VOTER DISENFRANCHISEMENT AS WEAPONS OF WAR IN CONTEMPORARY NIGERIA: THE CASE OF SOUTHERN KADUNA AND PARTS OF THE MIDDLE BELT

By
Emmanuel Gandu

INTRODUCTION
Hunger looms in Southern Kaduna as farmers across the region cannot access their farms for agricultural activities.
This is as a result of the genocidal herdsmen terrorists and gunmen who kill every indigenous person on sight at the farms, and in their homes.
In same manner, the surviving displaced persons who’s towns and homes have been burnt down and taking refuge in IDP camps will be unable to vote in the forthcoming 2023 elections.
This voter disenfranchisement will definitely affect the already precarious existing situation, and the uncertainty associated with the never-seen expected accrued dividends of democracy.

This discourse is an attempt to bring to the fore the consequential effects of the many years of genocide, destruction, hunger, neglect, and voter disenfranchisement as lethal weapons of war on the people of Southern Kaduna.

HOW HUNGER IS USED AS WEAPON OF WAR
Hunger is said to be the most potent, deadliest, and lethal weapon used as a deliberate arsenal in the destruction of a people during conflict and war.
This inhuman act which is more of catastrophic consequences than the bullet began to gain attention from World War I, gaining notoriety during world war II. The Biafran War came, then the middle east wars including the on going Syrian war, to the present Boko Haram, Fulani herdsmen rampage, and now the menace of Banditry.
This is achieved by causing disruption and instability in food production, preservation, distribution, and the supply chain.
This war strategy forces people away from their homes, land, farms, and livestock.
The act also include blockade of supply and delivery routes, closure of land and sea borders, and airports. As a result,
hunger, starvation, famine, malnutrition, and diseases sets in, thereby causing the deaths of children, women, and men.
Then the few surviving helpless men surrender their sovereignty, franchise, heritage, pride/dignity, and land to the conquering forces of occupation.

USE OF HUNGER AS WEAPON OF WAR IN HISTORY
(1) During World War I Germany was confronted with wide – scale food shortages which led to a breakdown in the will of the German forces and the people to fight. This hunger brought about Germany’s collapse and surrender.
From the ashes of that defeat arose the notorious Adolf Hitler and his ascendency to power, and the rise of the Nazi Party. This was the period Hitler’s Nazi Germany popularised the frugal ‘Guns or Butter’ policy.
(2) The ‘Hunger Plan’ introduced in Nazi occupied countries inflicted deliberate mass starvation on the Slavic population and other territories under German occupation such as Greece, and France – including the Jewish race.
(3) In Italy, the Fascist regime of Benito Mussolini employed the politics of food as a weapon of war to subdue his enemies.
(4) During World War II Napoleon’s ‘An army moves on its stomach’ Philosophy became a watch word for the US and Canada in their production of grains in the plains of the Prairies.
(5) In World War II period, the war time leaders of the Allaid forces came together to liberate the conquered peoples of Europe and Asia with adequate supply of food as a priority both during the war and the post war years.
(6) As the war in Syria, Yemen, and Afghanistan rages on, the closure of land borders, sea and air ports have led to starvation and deaths due to non delivery of food to opposition’s controlled territories.
(7) During the 30 month Nigerian Civil War of 6 July,1967 to 15 January, 1970, Obafemi Awolowo as the war time minister of finance in the Gowon administration is widely alleged to have introduced the ‘Starvation policy’, a policy of blockade of food from reaching out to the Briafran Igbo region. This brought about hunger, malnutrition, diseases, and widespread deaths of children, women, and men.
This deaths badly affected the morale of the Briafran troops – the last straw that broke the camel’s back, with defeat staring the young “Country of the Rising Sun” in the face.
The Briafran leader Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu personally hit the final nail down the Igbo coffin With his escape to Ivory Coast, leaving behind the second in command Col. Philip Effiong to surrender – a surrender that marked the eclipse of that rising sun.

THE CASE FOR SOUTHERN KADUNA
The crisis of food insecurity as a result of communal, tribal, religious, farmer/herders conflict on the indigenous people of Southern Kaduna has lingered for too long. This prompted both past and present State & Federal government to set up Judicial commissions of enquiry, fact finding and recommendation committees, boundary delineation committees, peace and reconciliation commissions, white paper/ and implementation committees, compensation and resettlement committees, etc in order to solve the problems.
The present state governor Mallam Nasir El Rufai even admitted paying monetary compensation to foreign Fulani herdsmen for loses to their cattle and men suffered in Southern Kaduna. However, the crisis have not abated.

Southern Kaduna have been under constant attack by Fulani herdsmen for prior to 2011 with hightened attacks in 2016/2017.
There was a resumption of hostilities prior to the 2019 elections, and the attacks are now assuming a frightening dimension.
Armed men are having a field day hunting and killing Southern Kaduna people like rats and wild animals for a game unhindered and without repercussion.
Farm crops and livestock have been abandoned and are being vandalized.
The farming season had since commenced but farmers are killed in their farms and homes on a daily basis by the herdsmen terrorists.
War is declared on the people from all fronts, towns, and villages. The menacing herdsmen terrorists kill, burn, drive, and occupy Southern Kaduna land.
Woman and men have deserted their burnt down towns and villages, and a respite seems to come from nowhere.
Hunger looms in the land with catastrophic consequences.

Whether the Southern Kaduna race will survive this war or will get to the brink of the precipice and eventually go into extinction remains to be seen.

SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS
(1) Since the government lacks the political will to take decisive actions to protect life and property of the people, the affected communities should resort to self defense in order not to be killed continuosly like wild animals.
(2) The United Nations Security Council adopted the ‘Resolution 2417’ at its 8267th meeting on 24 May, 2018 to act accordingly to save vulnerable populations where hunger is used as a weapon of war.
(3) ‘Humanitarian Appeal’, a leading UK charity organization have called on the International Criminal Court to begin prosecution of military actors, dictatorial regimes, War Lord’s, terrorist groups, armed bandits who deliberately employ measures to starve the people to death as a weapon of war.
(4) Nigeria is a member of the United Nations and a signatory to her conventions and protocols. – The needful should be done by appropriate agencies.
(5) The creation of a state for the Southern Kaduna people who inhabit 12 local governments, with a population of over 3 million people (2006 census : Federal Republic of Nigeria Official Gazette no. 2 vol. 96 Extraordinary) is more cogent now than ever before.
You may wish to also know that according to that 2006 census, Southern Kaduna is more populated than 11 states in Nigeria.
These are :
Abia – 2.8 million
Adamawa- 3.1million
Bayelsa – 1.7million
C/River – 2.8million
Ebonyi – 2.1million
Ekiti – 2.3 million
Gombe – 2.3million
Kwara – 2.3million
Nasarawa-1.8million
Taraba – 2.2million
Yobe – 2.3million
It is interesting to know that Kachia Local government, and Zango Kataf local government each alone has a land mass that is more than some 3 states put together.

VOTER DISENFRANCHISEMENT
Voter disenfranchisement in Southern Kaduna to a large extent affect the people’s participation, and by extension the expected accrued dividends of democracy as already observed in recent times.
We need to have an informed citizenry on the effects/consequences of disenfranchisement as not only to defend the people’s rights to vote and be voted for, but also to serve to ensure a sustainable democratic culture.
(1) It will be impracticable for displaced people who’s towns, homes and settlements have been burnt down by herdsmen terrorists, and living in IDP camps to vote in the 2023 elections because of loss of voters cards to fire etc.
(2) The existing political wards/polling units delineation does not favour the high population of Southern Kaduna.
Meanwhile, Kaduna State is the third most populous in Nigeria with more than 6 million (2006 National population census) with an allocation of a 25 year old 255 wards and 5,102 polling units.
Although INEC has created additional 2,910 voting points in Kaduna state so as to expand and enhance voter access to polling units in 2023, Southern Kaduna is still not having a commensurate fraction of this increase as compared to the other part of the state.
(3) Despite Kaduna State’s bigger land mass and population than Katsina state, Katsina state has 34 local governments while Kaduna State has 23 local governments.
In spite of this lobsidedness, Katsina state still has more wards and polling units than Kaduna State, thereby leaving Southern Kaduna to bear the brunt of the shortfall.
(4) Disenfranchisement and denial of voting rights by whatever guise as experienced in Southern Kaduna over the years may be comparable with the racial discrimination against blacks in the USA leading up to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
In addition, the racist and apartheid system by white South Africa where the majority blacks were denied voting rights is still fresh in our memory.

SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS
(1) Community leaders, tribal associations, religious leaders/groups, politicians, elective/appointive representatives, etc to embark on aggressive voter/public education, as well as constructive engagement with relevant government agencies.
(2) Concerted efforts be made to re-register people who have lost their voter cards to the endless crisis.
(3) If unable to re issue or replace such to displaced voters who lost their voters cards with new ones before the expiration of the dateline, INEC should ensure the use of some kind of identification to enable them vote in the 2023 elections. If it was done in the North East during the 2015 and 2019 elections why not in Southern Kaduna for the 2023 elections.
(4) If, for example, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has been in the vanguard of defense of the rights of disenfranchised people especially the blacks and coloured minorities, similar organizations in Nigeria should intensify efforts to eliminate all forms of voter disenfranchisement in Southern Kaduna.

CONCLUSION
As highlighted above, hunger and voter disenfranchisement is imminent in Southern Kaduna and other Middle Belt communities ravaged by the menace of herdsmen terrorists, and other criminal gangs/gunmen.
Though it would be easier to sit idly by and do nothing, there is no way to secure and change our society if we don’t take action.
I therefore implore you to consider contributing your quarter towards eliminating these vices that will drive Southern Kaduna and some parts of the Middle Belt to extinction.

                   Peace ?
                 23/5/2022

OPINION: Why Danjuma La’ah Shouldn’t Return to the Senate Again

By:
Habila Zabrang Kantyok

In 2015, the people of Southern Kaduna unanimously voted for Mr Danjuma Tellah La’ah, a former F.C.D.A official to represent her at the National Assembly, Senate to be precise. Expectations were high on the senator who as at then was the 5th to be elected by the region since the return of democracy in 1999.

La’ah got to the Senate but like the popular idiom which says that ‘a man cannot give what he does not possess’, this has been the fate of the Southern Kaduna people who had to ensure a Senator emerge but hasn’t been able to articulate their issues as they ought to be on the floor of the Senate. After his first tenure, La’ah again made history by breaking the one term jinx in the area, this was partly due to the fact that the people thought he could improve in his second term in the Senate.

Unfortunately, they were wrong as La’ah was to embark on a journey of failure and misrepresentation at a time Southern Kaduna needed a voice to speak, articulate, and propagate the issues affecting the region. La’ah went hibernating and was never to be seen contributing to discuss of national importance.

This is evident in the fact that in over seven (7) years on the floor of the Senate, Danjuma La’ah has only sponsored one failed Bill and that was in his first tenure. This is not only shocking but unacceptable considering the fact that even lawmakers from the most educationally backward parts of the country have sponsored successful legislations.

For the purpose of this article I would be highlighting little among Senator La’ah’s many political blunders and why he shouldn’t be reelected. I was born and raised up in the village by my grandparents in Zangon Kataf Local Government Council, so I know what it means to elevate the poor ones to prominence especially, those of us who have to undergo commercial farming to be paid in order to pay our school fees due to Poverty.

1. Recently I stumbled upon the approved constituency projects allocated to Senator Danjuma La’ah’s Southern Kaduna for 2021 and on it I saw a project tagged “Installation of Solar Street Lights in Dogon Kurmi, Katugal and Kushe – Fada” all in Kagarko Local Government Council .In Kushe located in Kagarko, my maternal local government for instance, such can only be described as a white elephant project as such doesn’t exist, same also in Katugal. In Dogon Kurmi I confirmed that a few substandard sola Street lights were installed. 2021 is long gone yet Laah is yet to complete the purported projects.
2. A while ago, the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) made disbursement of funds for development of small and medium scale businesses in Southern Kaduna, rumors have it that La’ah diverted the funds instead to buy cars and other inducements to party officials just to get reelected in 2023.

Southern Kaduna citizens were shortlisted for the Empowerment scheme by SMEDAN, certificates offered but were held by the senator just to make sure the diversion remains a secrete.

3. Diabolical sacrifices in all parts of Southern Kaduna with the aim of winning election at all cost. Reliable information at my disposal reveals that in a desperate attempt to get reelected, Senator La’ah has also engaged the services of marabouts who have also embarked on humans and animals sacrifices across southern Kaduna.

4.Most of the contracts executed by Danjuma La’ah didn’t pass through the legal processes as the Senator used phony companies some of which belong to him and his cronies.

5. Tribalism: Southern Kaduna has never had a sectional leader like Senator La’ah. Since he became senator, he made it a point of duty to ensure that all opportunities are allocated to his tribal men, family members and friends. This is a tribal project he had obviously promised the Atyap nation to execute at the detriment of other southern Kaduna tribes if back up by his kinsmen.

Since he became a senator, all his children, nephews and nieces have all gained juicy Federal government employments, some even switch from one jobs to the other on his bill while many qualified Southern Kaduna youths are roaming the street of Abuja jobless.

There was a story an aide to a former senator who served alongside Danjuma Laah between 2015 and 2019 told me. He said his Principal got some job slots and gave his friend Senator Laah 10 from it. After some days, Laah told him he only utilized 8 slots, the senator was dumbfounded and asked him in astonishment “you mean Southern Kaduna with the high number of educated young people, you couldn’t get 10 people to fill these slots?”. Later the senator realized that the 8 people Laah presented for the employment opportunities were all from his family and tribe, since then he started looking down on the Senator.

Just recently, a close friend of mine from the South who works with NIMASA told me how some job slots were given to senator Laah in the Nigeria Maritime Safety Administration NIMASA but instead of scouting for qualified youths from across Southern Kaduna, as usual Danjuma Laah distributed the slots to his friends including a former GMD of the NNPC who was insisting that his son who is yet to complete the mandatory one year NYSC duty be employed, this didn’t go down well with NIMASA as it is illegal and unconstitutional.

It is worthy of note that Senator Danjuma Laah was the Immediate Past Senate Committee Chairman on Federal Character, a position he assumed in 2019 untill recently that he was made a Principal Officer of the Senate. The Federal character commission under his oversight function has been reduced to a family and friend business as the woman heading the commission has turned herself into a mini – god. Even the few people senator Laah engineered their employment at the Commission have had to resign due to persecution by the Head. These irregularities have repeatedly been reported to Laah yet he was not been able to summon the woman before the Committee.

In conclusion, there are also unproven allegations from job seekers who have accused senator Danjuma Laah’s aides of extortion and sometimes sexual harassments in the name of providing them with employments. A lady once told me how one of the Senator’s uncultured aides told her point blank that she will have to grace his bed to get employment. The lady left and vowed never to return. There is a saying that there can never be smoke without fire. So far, Senator Laah has not debunked these allegations, an action many including myself believe to be tacit support to his aides immoral and criminal activities.

The good people of Southern Kaduna especially party delegates whom he Laah defrauded for votes in 2019 with bogus promises he never fulfilled must rise in one accord and say no to misrepresentation and poor leadership.

Today Danjuma Laah cannot call a meeting of State lawmakers not to talk of federal lawmakers from Southern Kaduna because the lawmakers do not have regard for him due to his very bad leadership style of exclusion and tribalism.

Habila Zabrang Kantyok writes from Kpunyai Village, Zangon Kataf local government area of Kaduna State.

SOKAPU Youths Caution Party Delegates Against Monetary Inducement

Ahead of the party primaries slated for this month, the youth Wing of the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union SOKAPU has called on party delegates in Southern Kaduna to shun all forms of monetary Inducements from politicians during the primary elections.

The group in a statement issued by it National Youth Leader, Comrade Isaac John (SirJay) on Sunday said Southern Kaduna has gone through turbulent times and therefore deserves capable leaders in 2023.

The statement reads in parts;

“Southern Kaduna has been through turbulent times in recent years with scores killed, properties destroyed, and economic activities relegated to the background.

“These unfortunate happenings are undoubtedly tied to the poor quality of our choices, but particularly as it concerns elections.

“It is on this backdrop that the Youth Wing of the Southern Kaduna Peoples’ Union (SOKAPU) urge all Southern Kaduna delegates taking part in the forth coming primary elections starting today 22nd May, 2022 across all political parties to endeavor to vote for candidates with the overall interest of Southern Kaduna, capable of attracting developments and empowering women and youths.

“It is important to remind us that Southern Kaduna is the only home we all can call ours and must come first in all our dealings.

“Delegates must know that the choices before them are clear, they must not mortgage the future of Southern Kaduna on the basis of who have given them cars or motorcycles. They must not sale their votes to the highest bidder. It is our believe that the delegates will do what is right.

“May our good Lord direct our paths in the right direction now and always.

The World Must Speak Against Plots To Kill Bishop Kukah: HURIWA Alerts

Civil Rights Advocacy Group- HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has appealed to the President of the United States of America Joe Biden,  the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Congress of the United States of America to urge the Nigerian Government to take steps to stop Islamic extremists from succeeding in their subterranean and openly brazen plots to cause religious war in Nigeria by killing one of Nigeria’s most respected Christian Icon- the Bishop of Sokoto Catholic Diocese Rt.Rev.Dr.Mathew Hassan-Kukah. 

HURIWA said under no circumstances should any harm happen to Bishop Mathew Hassan-Kukah just as the Rights group said if the DSS fails to arrest the identified Islamic preachers that have made direct threats against Bishop Kukah, it should be taken as a message that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration supports these threats because the President is the Commander-in-chief of the Armed forces and the DSS operates at his beck and call. President Muhammadu Buhari would be held accountable should any harm come to Bishop Mathew Hassan-Kukah because on many occasions the President’s Spokesmen have openly accused Bishop Kukah of undermining the administration.  

HURIWA has also expressed consternation and disappointment that the Holy See has maintained inexplicable silence even as Islamic Fundamentalists are waging silent war against Christians including the recent killing of a Christian girl and a 200 level Student of the Shehu Shagari College of Education Sokoto Miss Deborah Samuel Yakubu who was openly stoned to death and burnt by a mob of Islamists in the presence of over 100 armed security forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. HURIWA has tasked the Vatican Representative in Nigeria to relate to Pope Francis about the ordeals that Christians are subjected to by President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. 

HURIWA said there is now a carefully choreographed waves of attacks by armed Islamists all over the Country and especially in the North in such places as Borno, Bauchi  and Sokoto States in which these murderous extremists apparently funded by some fifth columnists working towards achieving anarchy and doom in Nigeria are now framing up Christian girls for the so-called blasphemy and these Northern States are actually supportive of these mobsters committing crimes against humanity in the name of religion just as the Rights group said the World leaders must speak up now before religious war breaks out in Nigeria. 

Specifically, HURIWA is worried that Islamic Clerics are making open and tendentious  threats to kill the most respected Christian Leader of the contemporary Times who is the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto Rt.Rev.Dr. Mathew Hassan-Kukah only because he is a voice that condemns political corruption of the Federal Government and speaks out against all oppressive tendencies of government against not just the poor Christians of Nigeria but the entirety of the poor population in the Federation. 

“We are worried that on many occasions these Islamic Clerics have been heard and seen on videos that are going viral making open threats to kill Bishop Kukah but the Department of State Services, the Police and all the armed security forces have feigned ignorance and even when their attention is called to these threats they do not take steps to arrest those issuing these death threats as if to say that those making these threats have the by-in and tacit support of the Federal government of President Muhammadu Buhari who has in anycase failed to check the expanding frontiers of terrorism waged on Nigerians by his Fulani kinsmen since the last 7 years.”

“HURIWA’S attention has been called to the video that has emerged of an Islamic cleric calling on his followers to ensure they kill the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Most Reverend Matthew Kukah .

This is coming days after some Muslim youths lynched a female student, Deborah Yakubu, for alleged blasphemy in Sokoto. 

Speaking in Hausa, the Islamic cleric described Bishop Kukah as “The pagans’ leader of Sokoto State. The video shared by a journalist, Simon Reef Musa , on his Facebook page, translates thus:

“The pagans’ leader of Sokoto state, Matthew Hassan Kukah, is said to have said something that I read on Facebook. Let him continue. I swear we shall kill him. We are not joking.“Let him continue. We must kill him. Let us desist from talking on this matter (killing of Deborah). She abused the prophet and may God bless the people who delivered instant judgement on her.

“Of course, there were mistakes because those sent did things they were not supposed to do. After being killed for abusing the prophet, why then engage in burning down property?”

HURIWA has therefore accused the security agents and the Federal government of conniving with armed and Islamic extremists to continue to issue threats against Bishop Kukah apparently because even the President has on many occasions insulted the respected Christian Leader for endeavouring to criticise the bad policies of the current government that has plunged Nigeria into a state of heightened insecurity and general climate of fear and reckless disregard for the sanctity of life. 

HURIWA accused the Federal Government and the Northern Government of extending tacit supports to the Islamic mobs that are burning down Churches, places of businesses of Christians  in Sokoto and the latest attacks in Bauchi over similar allegation of blasphemy as if to say Nigeria is now under a government of Islamic Mobsters. 

HURIWA recalled that a pastor has allegedly been injured and many houses burnt by irate youths who went on the rampage over alleged blasphemy in the Katangan area of Warji Local Government Area of Bauchi State.

HURIWA said trouble started when a message was allegedly circulated on social media that a Christian girl in the town allegedly engaged in blasphemy of Islam.

A source, who spoke to the media confirmed the incident, saying, “Yes, the incident is true. It is an aftermath of the incident of the alleged blasphemy that happened in Sokoto last week.

“What I learnt was that a Christian girl allegedly posted and commented on something on social media which has to do with the incident in Sokoto and that was how it started. The situation there is more than tension since many houses have been burnt down.”

HURIWA has therefore urge World leaders to act fast and put diplomatic pressure on President Muhammadu Buhari to be a President for all and to give direct orders for armed Islamists causing chaos all over the Country to be brought under Control and to stop the mob killings and lynching of Nigerians in the name of any religion. 

COMRADE EMMANUEL ONWUBIKO:

NATIONAL COORDINATOR:

HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA). 21ST MAY 2022.