Four Kebbi students freed by Terrorists after two years with two babies, while others remain in captivity

Four of the eleven girls still held captive two years after they were kidnapped from the Federal Government College in Birnin Yauri in Kebbi State by the notorious terrorist Dogo Daji have been freed after he was paid a sizable ransom.

Parents and other stakeholders had to come up with a ransom after the Kebbi State administration refused to comply with the demands of the terrorists.

Two of the released students are said to have returned with two infants who were born while they were being held captive, according to the Middle Belt Times. Before the remaining girls could be released, Daji stressed that the Kebbi State administration must fulfill a number of requirements.

According to sources, the government of Kebbi State was reluctant to satisfy the demands of the terrorists, thus the ransom had to be raised by parents and other stakeholders.

The parents had to plead with Nigerians for financial assistance in order to save their children form the abductors.

The “Committee of Parents of 11 Abducted Students of F.G.G.C Birnin Yauri, Kebbi State, Nigeria” passionately requested financial assistance in order to raise the amount of N100 million as ransom to be paid to the terrorists in exchange for their children and wards in a letter addressed to all Nigerians.

Salim Ka’oje, the chairman and Mr. Daniel Alkali, the secretary of the “Committee of Parents,” stated in the letter that their female children, who are between the ages of 12 and 16, have been in the hands of their kidnappers for almost 20 months.

Six days of discussions in the wilderness were necessary before four of the girls could be freed and given to us. Two of the parents are still in the forest attempting to obtain the release of the seven further children who are being held captive.

They said, “And the kidnappers want N100 million before they release the girls.” Recall that on June 17, 2021, bandits broke into their school and abducted 11 female students.

It was revealed in November of last year that some of the girls had become young mothers and that four other girls were expecting babies at the time.

Benue Youth Forum Criticizes President Buhari for Blaming Governor Ortom over Insecurity in Benue State

The Benue Youth Forum (BYF) has criticized President Muhammadu Buhari for blaming Governor Samuel Ortom for the Federal Government’s inability to safeguard lives and property in Benue State. This comes after Garba Shehu, the presidential spokesman, quoted the President as stating that the security situation in Benue State had worsened due to Governor Ortom’s refusal to accept and act on the intelligence provided to him.

BYF’s President, Terrence Kuanun, issued a statement on Thursday in Makurdi, stating that the statement from the presidency was ridiculous. Kuanun expressed displeasure at the President’s comparison of his accomplishments to that of a state Governor. He reminded the President that over 200 innocent Benue people have been killed in the last two months by armed herdsmen, and no appointee of the President has visited the state to see the damage caused by the attacks and console the people.

Kuanun also questioned if Governor Ortom’s supposed refusal to utilize intelligence was responsible for the President’s inability to end banditry, kidnapping, terrorism, religious tension, and general insecurity, particularly in the North and his home state of Katsina. The BYF President stated that the President was always blaming others for his failure to guarantee the security and welfare of Nigerians.

Furthermore, BYF expressed concern about the President’s celebration of the defeat of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2023 elections in Benue state. They stressed that “mocking Benue people” did not negate the fact that Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) used state instruments to militarize the polls and essentially seize the state for their allies, who they believe will undermine the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law of the state to relinquish land to Fulani pastoralists.

BYF warned the governor-elect, Father Hyacinth Alia, to be mindful that he was viewed as an ally of the state’s enemies and should be cautious not to trade the people’s lives for political convenience and correctness. The group also advised the Benue APC to reconsider its stance and change the narrative of justifying the killings in the state.

Turbaning in Christian community in Southern Bauchi leads to violence

The Middle Belt Times reports that during the turbaning and installation of the local head in a predominately Christian community in Sang, a community in Bogoro local government, one person was killed, several others were injured, and 64 homes were set on fire as protests erupted

Markus Bitrus Lusa, the chairman of the caretaker committee for the council’s Sang village in Bogoro local government area in Bauchi State, expressed concern about the recent killings and disorder there as worrying.

The chairman made this claim in a statement that was made accessible to media in Bauchi yesterday and was signed by the local government’s information officer, Gomna James.

Lusa also appealed to the people of Sang village to go about their normal business as normalcy has since been restored.

He also urged them to collaborate with law enforcement and security organizations to find long-term solutions to the issue.

Workers in the Plateau protest 45 months of unpaid wages

Over 45 months of unpaid salaries caused ad hoc staff to disrupt operations at the Plateau State College of Health Technology in the state’s Pankshin Local Government Area yesterday.

At around 10 a.m., they blocked the institution’s main gate while holding signs that described their suffering.

Mr. Wambutda, their leader, called it disgusting that despite their hardship, there are constant staff substitutions in open jobs without giving the ad hoc workers any attention.

“The non-confirmation/absorption, continual replacement of staff, and non-payment of our stipend for 45 months are the reasons for the protest.

He stated, “The demonstration is a chance to draw the government’s and other relevant agencies’ attention to the injustice and unfair treatment we have endured in the institution for the last years.

The demonstrators vowed to keep up their activity until their demands were satisfied. The Provost of the College, Dr. Fwangje, did not return calls at the time of the news, therefore there was no official statement on the incident.

Ortom and The Middle Belt Forum Call For Postponement of 2023 Census

The Middle Belt Forum and Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State have urged for postponing the 2023 census until Internally Displaced Persons (IPDs) in the region are relocated.

When the Middle Belt Forum’s leadership visited the state to express their condolences over the murder of more than 134 people in one week, Ortom made this call.

The Mgbam village in the Guma Local Government Area was the scene of the attacks. Herdsmen are accused of carrying out the attacks in the state’s Apa, Otukpo, and Guma regions.

The governor was comforted by the Middle Belt Forum’s leadership, who also took the opportunity to urge the National Population Commission to postpone the census’s start date from May 3, 2023.

Ortom claims that during the past six years, numerous lives have been lost as a result of these attacks on Benue communities.

JUST-IN: In New Kaduna Attack, Bandits Kill 9 and Kidnap 20

At the Sabon Layi community in the Birnin Gwari local government area of Kaduna State, bandits killed nine locals, including four vigilantes.

Nine people were slain by intermittent shooting by the bandits who are claimed to have assaulted the region in huge numbers before kidnapping over 20 others and rustling several livestock.

As previously mentioned, troops of operation Forest Sanity under the 1 Division Nigerian Army ambushed and neutralized a notorious bandit leader, Isiya Danwasa, and his gang after receiving a tip from human intelligence sources.

We’ve Lost 130 People In 10 Days, Says Ortom

Samuel Ortom, the governor of Benue State, has disclosed that over 130 people had reportedly been killed by purported armed herdsmen in the state during the past ten days.

The governor also announced the two-week suspension of the operation of livestock guards who are tasked with apprehending stray animals during an enlarged security meeting in Makurdi.

He claimed that the decision to halt the operation of livestock guards was made to allow the herdsmen who had flooded the state with herds of cattle within the allotted time to return to where they had come from. He added that, in the event that they were unaware, the security agencies leading them should inform them that open grazing is illegal in Benue.

Governor Ortom also confirmed that the President has issued directives to ensure the arrest of the perpetrators of the recent massacre across the state.

Ortom further stated that, “In order not to join issues and create more problems, I have taking it that the herdsmen who have flooded the state with their cattle are not aware that there is a law prohibiting open grazing in Benue, so we have decide  to step down the operations of the livestock guards for two weeks to enable them go back to where they came from so that our people will go to their farm unhindered.

“So, I am sounding this warning that no one should go after them to rustle their cattle and claim to be members of livestock guards or attack or kill anyone, because anyone caught perpetrating evil will be dealt with according to the law.”

The 1999 Nigerian Constitution is like the system of Victorian treaties of the past!

By Ndidi Uwechue

Although indigenous peoples of Nigeria curse Frederick Lugard, the Amalgamator, before him was an equally unjust man also with racial supremacist views: the merchant George Dashwood Taubman Goldie who formed the Royal Niger Company (RNC), originally the United African Company then the National African Company. Even before obtaining a Royal Charter that gave Goldie and his company enormous powers, Goldie had managed to get Treaties signed by native Traditional Rulers. Some would have signed those Treaties under threats (“by gunpoint”) but some would have happily signed them for personal gain (ie the willing tools). By these Treaties, Traditional Rulers handed over the Sovereignty of their People to Goldie and his RNC. Quoting from Royal Niger Company by nigerianscholars.com: 

“Even before gaining its charter, the [Royal Niger] Company signed treaties with local leaders which granted it broad Sovereign powers. One 1885 treaty read:

We, the undersigned King and Chiefs […] with the view to the bettering of the condition of our country and people, do this day cede to the National Africa Company (Limited), their heirs and assigns, forever, the whole of our territory […] We also give the said National African Company (Limited) full power to settle all native disputes arising from any cause whatever, and we pledge ourselves not to enter into any war with other tribes without the sanction of the said National Africa Company (Limited).

We also understand that the said National African Company (limited) have full power to mine, farm, and build in any portion of our territory. We bind ourselves not to have any intercourse with any strangers or foreigners except through the said national African Company (Limited), and we give the said National African Company (Limited) full power to exclude all other strangers and foreigners from their territory at their discretion.

In consideration of the foregoing, the said National African Company (Limited) bind themselves not to interfere with any of the native laws or customs of the country, consistently with the maintenance of order and good government … [and] agree to pay native owners of land a reasonable amount for any portion they may require.

The said National African Company (Limited) bind themselves to protect the said King and Chiefs from the attacks of any neighbouring tribes (Ibid.).

The company considered itself the sole legitimate government of the area, with executive, legislative and judicial powers, all subordinate to the rule of a council created by the company board of directors in London…”

While the Nigerian reader may be shocked at the text of this example of a Treaty in Victorian times, TODAY the 1999 Constitution, a known Forgery foisted upon Nigerians achieves the very same thing! Here are some ways the 1999 Constitution robs Nigerians. Firstly, by the false claims in its Preamble, the Sovereignty and Self-Determination of indigenous Ethnic Nations are hijacked, and it is made to look as if Ethnic Nations put their signatures to it.

Secondly, through the 68-item Exclusive List (Second Schedule, Part One) indigenous Ethnic Nations lose control of their lands and the valuable resources in them. 

Moreover, since Arms and Ammunition are in this Exclusive List, Ethnic Nations cannot protect themselves against armed invaders, and must depend on Central Government, and if such government has been accused of being complicit with the genocidal insecurity as President Buhari has been, indigenous peoples then face a serious existential threat.

Thirdly, although in Chapter 2 of that 1999 Constitution, welfare and security are promised to Nigerians, these are cunningly ousted in Chapter 1 by section 6. (6)(c).

Just as those Treaties of old were intended to steal from indigenous peoples, and dispossess them, those are also the goals of the illegitimate 1999 Constitution, whose beneficiaries are the Fulani, rigged into dominating power by the departing British in 1960. As the NINAS Alliance of indigenous Ethnic Nations of the South and Middle Belt has identified, that 1999 Constitution is the instrument used to rob indigenous Ethnic Nations, and also bring about Ahmadu Bello’s Declaration of 1960 that Nigeria would be converted into the “estate” of the immigrant settler Fulani. 

Sovereignty is defined as the most essential attribute of an indigenous Ethnic nation in its ancestral land, meaning that it has dominion and supremacy to control its present and its future. Therefore, playing the role of the “ever ignorant African” is not advisable in this, the 21^st century. So it is not acceptable for indigenous Ethnic Nations of Nigeria to continue to allow the 1999 Constitution to rob them of their inalienable position of Sovereignty, and power of Self-Determination. The same way Nigerians are today horrified that (somehow) those Victorian-age Treaties got signed, is the same way future generations will be horrified that indigenous Ethnic Nations allowed the operation of a Forgery, that illegitimate 1999 Constitution, over them, their resources, their lands, and their future. Therefore, terminating the operation of the 1999 Constitution is a task that MUST be done! 

As at today, the 1999 Constitution has been Repudiated and a Constitutional Force Majeure declared. Not surprisingly, the Fulani-dominated government has refused to acknowledge this – a big mistake on their part because indigenous Ethnic Nations did not make or agree that 1999 Constitution, and therefore did not sign away their Sovereignty. What not just Nigerians, but the rest of West Africa deserve is that Unitary Nigeria, a Union of death maintained by gunpoint, be brought down in a peaceful and controlled manner, and then be Renegotiated using globally accepted tools, which is what the NINAS-template Transitioning Arrangement is about. The NINAS Propositions have been on the Table since 16 December 2020. 

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.

Niger Delta Congress issues statement – condemns acts of terrorism against the Middle Belt people

The Niger Delta Congress (NDC) has issued a statement condemning acts of terrorism against the peoples of the Middle Belt in the wake of herdsmen attacks in Southern Kaduna and Benue

In a statement signed by Mudiaga Ogboru, the National spokesperson for the NDC, the statement read:

“In our commitment to see the entrenchment of Justice, and the sociopolitical and socioeconomic advancement of the Niger Delta, it would be against the dictates of good conscience to be silent in the face of oppression as it affects other peoples in other regions in Nigeria, who like us yearn for justice, security and prosperity.

In the past few days, Middle Belt States such as Benue and the Southern parts of Kaduna have been at the receiving end of terrorist attacks which has led to death, destruction and despair within the indigenous communities in this region. These different attacks have been reported to have resulted in the tragic loss of lives of no less than 60 persons.

We are concerned by the provocative incompetence of those in government charged with the responsibility to secure the people and their communities, and because we affirm the sanctity of life, we call on all stakeholders at all levels, all people of conscience to lend their voices to the Middle Belt in this period of its festering security challenges to ensure that the killers responsible for these atrocities are brought to justice.

On behalf of the Niger Delta peoples, the NDC commiserates with the communities and families of the victims of these resurgent terror attacks and show solidarity with the peoples of the Middle Belt. May Justice and prosperity prevail in the Middle Belt as we pray and demand that it prevails in the Niger Delta”