HURIWA Urges States to Stop Funding Support For Police And to Create Quasi Policing Body For Anti-Open Grazing Law
Angered by the report that as more southern states move to checkmate rising attacks of farmers by armed Fulani herdsmen with the enactment of anti-open grazing law, there is reportedly what is graphically described as palpable conspiratorial silence from the police hierarchy over its willingness to prosecute violators of the law, a call has gone to the Inspector General of Police Alhaji Usman Alkali Baba to order the state commands of the Nigerian Police Force to enforce the anti-open grazing laws in the states in which the states Houses of Assembly had passed the law or he quits as the lawfully recognised Inspector General of Police of the Federal Republic of Nigeria so he can head the FULANI POLICE FORCE.
Making the demand is the nation’s prominent Civil Rights Advocacy Group- HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) which expressed the importance of the holder of the office of the Inspector General of Police to comply totally with the constitutional mandates that his office confers on him or he will be inducted into the National Hall of Shame and infamy as someone who used his office to serve the selfish, clandestine and parochial interest of the armed Terrorists and Fulani herdsmen who have vowed to disobey the lawfully passed legislation in some States in Nigeria which outlaws open grazing of Livestock of all genre. HURIWA condemned the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami for constituting himself into a cog in the wheel of the progressive enforcement of the lawfully passed legislation against open grazing of cattle just as the Rights group said the ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE FEDERATION by demonstrated this deep level of loyalty to Fulani herdsmen should resign forthwith.
Besides, the HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has asked the States that enacted the legislation against open grazing of Livestock to set up a State wide armed vigilantes to carry out the enforcement of the provisions of the law because the law is constitutionally guaranteed under section 4(7) which authorises States Houses of Assembly to make laws for the good governance and security of the good people of their States. HURIWA said the states can actually take steps to enforce laws made in their States if Kano State can set up ISLAMIC POLICE which contravenes sections 10 and 214 of the Nigerian constitution so why are the states waiting for the unwilling IGP who is a willing tool of the oppressors in Abuja to ask their men to respect the law of Nigeria.
Specifically, Section 4 subsection 7 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria of 1999 (as amended) provides that: “Section 4(7) The House of Assembly of a State shall have power to make laws for the peace, order and good government of the State or any part thereof with respect to the following matters, that is to say:-
(a) any matter not included in the Exclusive Legislative List set out in Part I of the Second Schedule to this Constitution.
(b) any matter included in the Concurrent Legislative List set out in the first column of Part II of the Second Schedule to this Constitution to the extent prescribed in the second column opposite thereto; and
(c) any other matter with respect to which it is empowered to make laws in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution.
HURIWA submits that similarly, Section 214. (1) establishes the Police as the policing institution of all parts of Nigeria and not for Fulani herdsmen. Section 214(1) states thus: “There shall be a police force for Nigeria, which shall be known as the Nigeria Police Force, and subject to the provisions of this section no other police force shall be established for the Federation or any part thereof”.
HURIWA stated thus: “The findings made recently by a respected newspaper in Nigeria that the policemen are careful over these new state laws which implies that the police operatives paid with tax payer’s money belonging to the good citizens of Nigerians have been brainwashed by some Fulani Ethnic warlords embedded within the Abuja’s Seat of Power not to enforce the laws passed by the different States against public grazing of Livestock.”
HURIWA stated further: “This is a very dangerous threat to Nigeria’s national security and it is even worst because the persons being misused to undermine the security of some states in the Federal Republic of Nigeria are policemen who according to the clear provisions of the constitution are bound to implement lawfully passed laws in all states of the federation and the Ethnic interest of the holder of the office of President should not matter in the enforcement of the laws of Nigeria”.
“It is disgraceful that Nigeria Police Force is now an institution led by Ethnic warlords who are affiliates of Fulani herders because investigation showed that herders still graze their animals openly in many states that have enacted the anti-open grazing law without being intercepted by law enforcement agents”, HURIWA affirms.
“Reports say in Abia State where Governor Okezie Ikpeazu signed the anti-open grazing law on June 29, 2018, open grazing of cattle, sheep and goats were still practiced following its poor implementation. The Commissioner for Information, Chief John Okiyi Kalu, however, stated that the enforcement of the law is vested in the hands of security agencies, particularly the police.”
HURIWA said the decision made specifically on May 11, 2021, by the governors of the 17 southern states, after a meeting in Asaba, the Delta State capital, was constitutionally guaranteed and protected given that the Governors resolved to ban open grazing and the movement of cattle by foot in order to curb clashes between farmers and herders in the region.
“The governors had observed that the incursion of armed herders, criminals and bandits in the southern part of the country has created a severe security challenge, such that citizens were no longer able to live their normal lives, including pursuing various productive activities, leading to threats to the food supply, general security and sometimes death. Consequently, they resolved that open grazing of cattle should be banned across southern Nigeria via a law enacted by the state Houses of Assembly not later than September 1, this year,” HURIWA added.
The Rights group citing media reports recalled that earlier before the resolution was made by the Governors of Southern States of Nigeria, five southern states comprising Ekiti, Ebonyi, Abia, Oyo and Bayelsa had enacted anti-open grazing laws. However, the resolution prompted six more states in the region to follow suit. These include Rivers, Ondo, Enugu, Akwa-Ibom, Osun and Lagos states. This brings the total number of states in the South that has so far prohibited open grazing in their jurisdictions via legislation to 11.Additionally, Delta and Ogun states Houses of Assembly have passed the bill but their governors were yet to give their assent, while in Anambra State, the bill has scaled through the first reading.
HURIWA said the disobedience by the Inspector General of Police Alhaji Usman Alkali Baba to the laws passed by different states against open grazing of cattle amounts to sabotage and endangers the National Security even as the Rights group asked the concerned States to cut off all forms of partnership funding supports with and to the current distorted structure of the police since it is now clear that the Nigerian Police Force has become the Fulani Police force and thereafter the States should set up armed vigilantes to carry out the enforcement of the anti-open grazing law just as the AMOTEKUN SECURITY NETWORK is doing lawfully in some States of the South West States of Nigeria.
“It is basic and constitutionally binding that the Nigerian Police Force is empowered by the Constitution to carry out the fundamental functions as observed by experts as follows: the Prevention And Detection Of Crimes
This role of prevention and detection is one of the statutory functions of the Nigerian Police Force. The Nigerian police Force in as part of the larger bodies of the law enforcement agencies in the country, do place its priority in the prevention and detection of crime,secondly, the Protection Of Lives And Properties
Another functions of the Nigerian Police Force is to protect lives and properties. As the law enforcement agency, the Nigerian Police is saddles with the responsibility of ensuring that the lives and properties of Nigerian citizens are protected within their individual domain; thirdly, the duty of Preservation Of Law And Order
Nigerian Police Force is empowered through the instructions from the directive of the appointing authority to ensure that, there is public order and safety in Nigeria. The Nigerian Police Force must of necessity be ready to carry out the Performance Of Such Military Responsibility Required Of Police Force
Another function of the Nigerian Police is that, it undertakes some of the military responsibilities which may be required of the Police Force by law as part of its functions”.
HURIWA is therefore appealing to the Southern Nigeria states to defend the Constitution by compelling the Nigerian Police Force to carry out their duties and pressures can be mounted if the states cuts off all funding components they give to the police, set up state vigilantes and institute a legal challenge to force the Council of State to sack the IGP just as HURIWA asked the States to stop funding the Police Trust Fund for now.
Reminiscing on how young Nigerians in all six geopolitical zones united around a common goal to end police intimidation, oppression, and brutality, the leading Civil Society Group; HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has condemned the illegal and gestapo operational modalities of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
In a statement issued by the National Coordinator; Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, the Rights group frowned at the new way officials of the EFCC chase after suspected criminals by breaking into people’s homes describing it as detrimental to the enjoyment of the constitutionally guaranteed fundamental human rights recognised in chapter four of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and all relevant international human rights laws just as the Rights group says the officials of the Anti-Graft Agency are by these provocative and illegal actions enticing Nigerians to stage a nationwide protests similar to the #ENDSARS PROTESTS against the misconducts of the EFCC.
HURIWA warned that the EFCC, being a creation of the law must be law abiding and so tagged the modalities of operations in which operatives armed to the teeth go into people’s houses in the dead of the night like armed robbers and kidnappers, breaking into people’s houses and climbing in through the fences like hired assassins are antithetical to the law and the principle of the rule of law.
“These unlawful actions are definitely aimed as triggers to instigate the masses to stage; the kinds of demonstrations that will be almost unprecedented in dimension and massive in scale.
HURIWA revealed that Section 36(5) of the constitution is very clear that even persons charged for criminal offence before the courts of law are deemed as innocent in the eyes of the law until a contrary determination is reached by a Court of competent jurisdiction.
“It is therefore unlawful that the operatives of the EFCC will continue to behave like outlaws or persons who are above the laws of the land. EFCC is subject to the law and must be seen to be operating in compliance with the precepts of the law and in strict compliance with the RULE OF LAW”, HURIWA averred.
Continuing, HURIWA expressed worries that there have been over a dozen clandestine operations by the EFCC in which these officials of the law have been seen defecating on the fundamental principles of the law, abusing with reckless abandon the Rules of Engagement as if Nigeria is a banana republic.
Noting that these kinds of crude, debased and bakward application of brute force by the operatives of the EFCC are absolutely condemnable, despicable, reprehensible, outrageous and provocative HURIWA warned that they be checked otherwise “the EFCC should watch and see that in the fullness of time the masses will demonstrate to say enough is enough.
“In recent times, several people have made complaints concerning officials of the EFCC barging into their homes and hotel rooms at odd hours of the day, unannounced. These men do not knock on doors or wait to be invited in, some do not come with warrants or any official notice, they just fly in, eyes darting about, and noses trying to pick the scent of criminals.
The Wednesday, September 22nd 2021 night invasion of the apartment of the Abia-based Journalist; Norah Okafor by operatives of the EFCC, which saw about 25 hooded EFCC operatives bursting into Norah’s apartment in the dead of the night, after disconnecting the wire used to electrify the fence, scaled the wall and broke the gate key to gain unfettered access into the building depicts a horror scene.
“After subjecting the poor lady and other occupants of the building to over two hours of grueling physical stress, emotional trauma and destruction of their properties in the name of searching for non-existent incriminating evidence, the operatives reportedly declared ‘we have just wasted our time’.
HURIWA sees this declaration as a wholehearted, voluntary expression and admission of a disastrous blunder of a mission; that they were in the wrong place clearly for the wrong reason and at the wrong time.
Furthermore, HURIWA recalled that on August 3, 2021, Big brother Naija (lockdown) celebrity; Dorathy Bachor had in a series of Instagram stories, narrated how at 4:45am, she ran out of her room after hearing a loud bang to find EFCC officials in her living room, who told her they were looking for someone who ran into her estate, and then asked her to stay in, lock her door and not say a word.
HURIWA again pointed out that in July 2021, filmmaker; Biodun Stephen also had narrated how officials of the EFCC, “dressed in black with wielding weapons”, barged into her hotel room at 3:00am claiming to be looking for someone, but later apologised because she turned out not to be who they were looking for.
“On February 4, 2021, a man reportedly jumped to his death from the 7th floor of a storey building when EFCC officials raided the 1004 estate in Victoria Island. There are also many other reports of EFCC officials forcing their way into hostels, people’s homes, into clubs, or disrupting night parties to round up people they think are internet fraudsters.
“On October 14, 2019, officials of the EFCC raided a nightclub in Oshogbo, Osun state and arrested 94 suspected fraudsters. On January 17, 2020, they rounded up 89 persons suspected to be involved in cybercrime at 360, a night club located at Ibadan.
“Observably, there is one word that is peculiar with all of these arrests: ‘suspected’. These people being rounded up are still suspected to be fraudsters, which means that investigations have not been carried out to pinpoint who, amongst them all, is the actual fraudster.
“So to get to the fraudsters, EFCC officials barge into innocent people’s homes and spaces, and leave a trail of panic-stricken, horrified, and emotionally traumatised citizens who came face to face with gun-wielding men in black, and perhaps watched their lives flash before their eyes.
“It is not even enough to have warrants or identify yourself after you have barged in, it is abysmal that security agents would even break down people’s doors, or jump people’s fences in the first place”.
Provoked that these days, it is difficult to differentiate between robbers and men of the EFCC as they seem to adopt the same tactics in carrying out their operations, HURIWA opined that EFCC is missing their job description while noting that looters are right in their faces but they are busy chasing regular folks.
“Today it’s N100m missing in a government office, tomorrow N40m, why don’t they go and catch those stealing the common wealth blind? Instead of bringing to justice suspected high profile politically exposed persons who jump from one political party to the All Progressives Congress and are given red carpet reception by the President, the EFCC has become agents of witch-hunt, targeting largely young people”.
Hence, HURIWA emphasized the need for the EFCC to be called to order and made to adopt law based procedures in going after suspected offenders while observing all the tenets and precepts of the fundamental human rights just as the Rights Group advised that the agency must adopt clinical and professional modus operandi that will be in compliance with all the rules of Engagement.
“Why not use surveillance and intelligence gathering to go after suspected offenders in the day time and make lawful arrests instead of behaving like armed robbers or armed Fulani militia members?” HURIWA queried.
Referencing the video released by the Dubai Police last year, which gave an account of the series of investigations carried out before the arrest of Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, known as Hushpuppi and his gang, HURIWA admonished that the EFCC can learn professionalism from the Dubai Police as actions such as breaking into people’s homes and parading those who are still suspects show the insensitivity afflicting the anti-graft agency. This is because, according to HURIWA, EFCC is meant to protect the people and the country against financial crimes, not terrorising people in the same breath
“Observably from the video, the investigation, dubbed Fox Hunt II, was carried out for about 4 months, during which his social media account, fraudulent activities, and the gang’s whereabouts were closely monitored. The Dubai e-police team were tracking Hushpuppi’s every move and taking notes of all his online activities, including all the fake pages of existing websites he and his team created to redirect their victims’ payment to their own accounts.
“They also found out all the corporate emails he and his team had hacked to send fake messages to clients to redirect financial details, and people’s bank details to their own account. Before his arrest, the Dubai police could tell exactly the number of people he had scammed and how much Hushpuppi had in his account.
“During the time of his arrest, they knew exactly where he and his team were, and at what time. They didn’t need to jump fences or break into innocent people’s homes to carry out the arrest. They knew their onions.
“There’s a peculiarity with which our security agents clamp down on those they perceive to be criminals, which includes inadequate investigation, violence, blood-shot eyes, high-pitched command voices, swiftness to inflict pain, and then for many, extortion.
“Perhaps, the EFCC is no different; their recent mode of operation in breaking-in, spreading panic, battering, bullying, and half-true accusations is consistently making a horseplay of an institution that is meant to operate with intelligence and facts.
“It is disturbing that EFCC has joined the bandwagon of uniformed men terrorising the Nigerian people”, Prior to now, waking up in the middle of the night or wee hours of the morning to see men clad in black with guns, one would assume being attacked by armed robbers. But with the increase in Controversial raids of public and private spaces by EFCC officers in recent months, it is might be apt to ask “who are you” when you see men jumping your fence, so they can introduce themselves and tell if they are thieves, burglars, or from the EFCC”, HURIWA concluded.
Honourable Cafra Boaz Caino popularly known as “The People’s Chairman” has suffered a humiliating defeat in the just concluded Kajuru local government Chairmanship elections held on Saturday.
Caino lost to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP’s) candidate, Honourable Ibrahim Gajere who clinched the Chairmanship seat by a wide margin.
Announcing the results on Sunday in Kajuru, the Returning Officer, Dr Ibrahim DanMaraya said Ibrahim Gajere of the PDP polled 14,432 votes to defeat the immediate past Chairman and Candidate of the All Progressives (APC), Cafra Caino, who scored 9,095 votes.
The PDP also won nine councillorship seats, while the ruling APC won just one.
Cafra who many believe came to office in 2018 through the back door as the elections were said to have been won by the PDP but forces in the Kaduna state government House imposed Cafra against the will of the people.
It isn’t a list anyone would be proud of. In plain terms, it is a frightening list. But here it is in black and white: 6,319 persons arbitrarily and willfully killed; 3,672 kidnapped; N2, 805,049,748 paid as ransom; 6,483 widows and 25,050 orphans left behind by slain victims; 215,241 cows, 141,404 sheep, 20,600 of other animals (such as camels and donkeys) rustled; and 3,587 houses, 1,487 motor vehicles and motor cycles burnt.
Then a foot note to the list: Bandits operated 105 camps from which they launched deadly attacks on Zamfara, kill and steal the people’s properties at will; their leaders identified.
Grim figures, no doubt.
But this is just a small segment of the chilling report of the high wire banditry raging in Zamfara, but has now spilled into several states across the country, and consequently putting national security in jeopardy.
Other segments of the report include the indictment of several members of the traditional institution, top government officials and security forces.
As of the time Sunday Vanguard exclusively obtained the report last week, some of the men who engaged in the bloodletting Zamfara banditry had moved further North-West and North-Central, wreaking unprecedented havoc in Katsina, Sokoto, Kaduna and Niger states.
No white paper on the far reaching recommendations of the committee that wrote the report has been issued two years after the report was submitted to Zamfara State government.
The slightest hint yet that something was being done on the implementation of the recommendations was made during the celebration of Democracy Day on June 12, 2021, about one and a half years after the 279 page report had been submitted, when Governor Mohammed Bello Matawalle said, in a broadcast, that he had demonstrated commitment to the implementation of the report with the suspension of the emirs of Maru, Dansadau and Zurmi, who, among several others, had been indicted in the report of the panel for allegedly colluding with bandits to kidnap, collect ransom or even kill their people.
The report was submitted in October 2019 but the recommendations have largely not been implemented.
Had it been implemented, at least one former governor should be facing trial for alleged murder while several emirs, not just three who have been suspended, would have been deposed.
10 army officers would also have faced court martial.
A source close to the Government House, Gusau, however, said a panel was raised to review the recommendations and report back to government.
The committee, tagged Zamfara Committee for Finding Solution to Armed Banditry in the State, had been raised by Matawalle on his assumption of office in May 2019 to investigate the banditry that had blown into full scale war between indigenous Hausa farmers and Fulani herders in the state.
Specifically, the terms of reference included investigation of willful killings, kidnappings, destruction of properties and other related matters in Zamfara and to make recommendations to the state government on the appropriate actions to take, and investigation of the remote and immediate factors responsible for the unprecedented and wide-spread killings, maiming, kidnappings, rape, cattle rustlings, destruction of crops/grains and displacement in the state.
The investigation covered the period between June 1, 2011 and May 29, 2019.
The panel was headed by a former inspector general of police, MD Abubakar, and had diverse membership which included Senator Saidu Muhammed Dansadau, Hon. Justice Nasiru Umar Gummi (rtd), Alh. (Dr.) Sani Abdullahi Shinkafi (Wamban Shinkafi), CP Mamman Anka (rtd), Mamuda Aliyu Maradun (ex-Permanent Secretary), Alh. Ibrahim Bawa (Fulani representative), Alh. Mohammed Adamu, Perm. Sec. Home Affairs, Committee Secretary, and Barr. Aliyu Abdullahi Gusau, Director Public Prosecution, Assistant Secretary.
Co-opted members were DIG Mamman Ibrahim Tsafe (rtd), DSP Hardo Abubakar Abdulkadir, Alh. Imrana Ibrahim Aliyu and Usman Saidu Dansadau.
Promise
When the committee was submitting its report in October 2019, Matawalle had promised to implement the recommendations, assuring that he would not be diverted by any sentiment.
The governor was said to be in the entourage of President Muhammadu Buhari who was visiting the United States to attend the United Nations General Assembly last week, and his spokespersons could not be reached to speak on the status of the report.
Origin
To be sure, the Zamfara banditry, according to the report, started in a village called Dansadau.
Although there are conflicting accounts of how banditry turned deadly in the state, everyone quoted by the report seemed to agree it all began in the Dansadau village where the Hausa who, in their quest for farmlands, reportedly indiscriminately encroached into cattle routes and grazing reserves and that triggered friction between them and Fulani residents.
A member of the committee, quoted by the report, narrated that about 19 years ago, a former District Head of Dansadau, Alh. Shafiu Salihu, ignited the problem after he authorized a self-defense outfit called ‘Yan Sakai’ to kill any thief even if it was a goat he stole.
The report went on: “He (committee member) cited an example where a person was discharged and acquitted by a law of court but on getting back to Dansadau, this freed man was killed together with his father.
“This member further informed the committee that, out of brutality and inhumanity of man-to-man, he (victim) was asked to dig the grave where he was eventually killed and buried.
“The Emir of Birnin Gwari was also high handed and further fuelled friction and disharmony when he directed his subjects and other vigilante groups or ‘Yan Sakai’ to kill anybody that was found to have stolen anything.
“According to this member, that ugly scenario where people were allowed to take the law into their hands compounded the problems of mistrust and rivalry among Hausa and Fulani. In the same development, he stated that one Alh. Ishe, a Fulani man who championed the cause of Fulani, made the Fulani in Dansadau Emirate to rally behind him.
“This member added that about five or six years after Alh. Ishe took a seemingly leadership of Fulani in the area made ‘Yan Sakai’ aggrieved.
“The rivalry between ‘Yan Sakai’ and Fulani in the area under the leadership of Alhaji Ishe became so intensified and eventually Alh. Ishe was killed and his corpse was put on his car and burnt to ashes.
“Thereafter, the Fulani started launching reprisal attacks around Sangeku and Kabaro villages.
“According to the member, close relations of Alh. Ishe emphatically stated that the life of Alh. Ishe is equivalent to 1, 000 souls of Hausa men.
“Therefore, from that time, Fulani in the area started attacking Hausa communities especially in the rural areas and ‘Yan Sakai’ killing Fulani indiscriminately”.
This narration corroborated the committee finding that the first armed banditry took place late in 2009 in Anka/Maru Local Government along Anka/Dansadau Emirates’ border.
Multiple causes
The report found several causes as responsible for the Zamfara banditry.
The remote causes include institutional failure and blatant betrayal of trust by unscrupulous political leaders, traditional rulers, security officers and judicial officers; poverty, unemployment, indolence and frustration that led many youths to drug abuse and involvement in crime; influx into and settlement of illegal alien Fulani from neighboring countries in Zamfara who initially behaved and related with both indigenous Fulani and Hausa harmoniously and peacefully but later exhibited their true criminal tendencies by starting small scale armed robbery, followed by rustling of non-Fulani and indigenous Fulani cattle, and when herds of the locals were grossly depleted, they had no option but to join the gang of criminals to make a living and a means of replenishing their lost herds of cattle; proliferation of traditional rulers at all levels by successive governors with no regard to rules and regulations/due process; proliferation and widespread consumption of dangerous drugs; and high level corruption on the part of bad eggs in the security, judicial and law enforcement services.
On immediate causes, the report found indiscriminate allocation of virgin forest, forest reserves, game reserves, Fulani grazing areas, home settlement as farmlands to farmers by successive Zamfara governments from May 29, 1999, a situation which pushed the Fulani in the state to the wall and left with no option but to take the law into their hands for survival; attacks and counter attacks, reprisal and counter reprisal between Fulani and farmers on one hand and Fulani v. ‘YAN SAKAI’ on the other; injustice by some traditional rulers in land dispute management; and indiscriminate release of suspects by security agencies played varying degree of roles.
The report is unsparing of some former governors over the roles they allegedly played during their tenures which escalated banditry in Zamfara
On the alleged role of former Governor Ahmed Sani Yariman Bakura (May 1999 – May 2007), the report said: “When small scale armed robbery began to rear its ugly head in different parts of the state, he directed allocation of farmlands in government forest reserves along the major highways in order to create clear view for motorists and make it difficult for armed robbers to escape easily from the thick forest reserves.
“This policy sparked off agitation by farmers across the state for allocation of farmlands in forest reserves nearest to their respective areas.
“The governor bowed to the pressure, thus indiscriminate allocation of farmlands with no regard to Fulani interest began.
“Unscrupulous civil servants in the ministry of environment abused the policy, connived with some fraudulent traditional rulers and allocated almost as much as what was allocated officially by the state government”.
On former Governor Mamuda Aliyu Shinkafi (May 2007 – May 2011), the report has this to say: “During his four-year tenure, fraudulent civil servants enjoyed a field day.
“They allocated farmlands in government forest reserves at will without the knowledge of government.
“He too allocated some farmlands especially to some high profile individuals both within and outside the state of between 100 to 700 hectares per person.
“191 beneficiaries include legislators, political appointees and party officials”.
In the case of former Governor Abdulaziz Yari Abubakar (May 2011 – May 2019), the committee wrote: “The seed of security crisis planted during Governor Ahmed Sani Yariman Bakura’s tenure watered and nursed all through germinated fully three months into the tenure of Gov. Abdul’Aziz Yari Abubakar.
“Gov. Abdul’Aziz Yari’s failure or refusal to address the security crisis in the state at a very early stage, however, provided a fertile ground and enabling environment for the influx of bandits from other parts of the country and neighboring countries.
“This situation complicated and up scaled the armed banditry in the state to the extent of covering the entire 14 local governments of the state and spilling over to neighboring states of Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Niger and Sokoto.
“The governor’s nonchalant attitude and unflinching absence from the state provided golden opportunity to fraudulent security agencies, judicial officers and department of public prosecution in the ministry of justice to compromise the call of their statutory duties in favor of extraneous personal benefits. “Management of security is time bound and expensive.
“The constant absence of former Governor Abdul’Aziz Yari rendered security agencies orphans with no master to report to on urgent security intelligence issues and with no source of funding to avert impending attacks.
“Failure to attend to urgent and important memos on security matters from relevant ministries and departments of government was one of the factors responsible for the inability of government to tackle the security challenges.
“His administration, like those of his predecessors, allocated farmlands to big time politicians in government forest reserves which worsened the predicament of the Fulani access to grazing areas.
“His deliberate refusal to receive report from a committee he personally set up that worked for two years on ways of finding solution to the unprecedented security challenges in the state is the peak of lack of concern for lives and property in the state.
“The preponderance opinion of witnesses, complainants, traditional rulers, security agencies and civil servants showed lack of attention to security issues brought before the former governor including formal and informal intelligence.
“In spite of the human and material losses, it could literarily be said that no aid was provided to the surviving victims (IDPs) or families of the deceased.
“In spite of his ardent opposition to the Yan-Sakai group (self defense outfit) from the beginning of the security challenges up to October 2018, when 2019 elections were fast approaching, the state government formally registered and employed 8,500 of them as informal security outfit in the name of assisting the military in their fight against bandits but with the alleged motive of using them as political army to rig the 2019 elections in the state.
“This notorious group used their new status as a license to kill and extort people especially Fulani and political opponents in broad day light on market days throughout the state. “There is in fact literarily no witness or complainant that appeared before the committee that did not lament the atrocities of the self defense group.
“They were mainly responsible for the escalation of killings, kidnappings and extortions in Zamfara State from November 2018 (when they were registered and employed) to May 2019.
“One of them was alleged to have killed not less than 30 innocent people within the period under review”.
According to the report, while all the abracadabra of illegal land allocation was going on at the state level from 1999 to 2019, local government council chairmen connived with some traditional rulers to allocate as farmlands all available forest reserves, grazing areas, and Fulani settlements under their jurisdictions to few farmers, largely to politicians and high profile personalities in the affected localities.
“This is the last stroke that broke the camel’s back which pushed the Fulani to the wall with no option but fight the battle of their lives for survival”.
Charges
Arising from the alleged roles of the former governors in fuelling banditry in Zamfara, the report said: “The committee recommends that the immediate past Governor Abdul’Aziz Yari Abubakar and his aides (immediate past Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Hon. Bello Dankande Gamji, and Alhaji Sani Gwamna Mayanchi) be arrested and prosecuted for alleged multiple culpable homicide due to his acts of commission and omission”.
The committee established that whereas some traditional rulers were complicit in the escalation of banditry in Zamfara, many were negligent in their responsibility of ensuring security in their respective domains.
In fact, were the recommendations of the committee to be implemented to the letter, no less than 15 of the 17 emirs in the state would be deposed.
The story of the alleged collaboration of the Emir of Maru and a District Head with bandits was told by the Zamfara SSG, Alhaji Bala Bello Maru, in his testimony before the committee.
The report, quoting the SSG, narrated: “The Secretary to the State Government informed the committee that, they received a report that armed bandits had planned to attack some villages within the emirate and security operatives were informed accordingly.
“He further stated that, in that night, Rayau, Mahuta, Talli and Dutsin Gari villages of Kanoma District in Maru Emirate were attacked by armed bandits and 17 people were killed and many others injured.
“On the following day (5th June, 2019), all the Emirs in the State paid Sallah homage to His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Zamfara State, Hon. (Dr.) Bello Muhammad, MON, Matawallen Maradun.
“Thereafter, the Executive Governor stated that a visit to the affected villages which were all under Kanoma District should be made in company of the Honourable Member, Zamfara State House of Assembly representing Maru North, Hon. Yusuf Alhassan Kanoma, Alh. Bala Bello Maru, the Secretary to the State Government and all the security heads among other entourage.
“On arrival of the Executive Governor and his entourage, they headed to a primary school where the IDPs were accommodated. “Thereafter, the District Head of Ancient Kanoma on the hill made a welcome address and finished his speech accordingly.
“Then the suspended District Head of Kanoma below the hill was invited to make his own welcome address as his counterpart on hill made.
“As he started making his own welcome address, there were a lot of grumblings and shouting by the villagers.
“In the same development, the Emir was to make his speech and welcome address but there were a lot of shouting and disorder by the villagers and all efforts made to allow the Emir to speak failed woefully.
“On seeing the disorderly crowd, the Executive Governor addressed the gathering of the villagers and there was a lot of applauds and chanting of goodwill messages to him.
“After the Executive Governor and his entourage left for Gusau, the crowd of villagers attacked the District Head of Kanoma and injured him badly.
“It was for the timely intervention of the Hon. Member House of Assembly representing the area, the mob would have killed him. “Simultaneously, security operatives started shooting in the air and throwing teargas canisters to disperse the mob.
“The mob also started throwing stones at the Emir’s official car with a lot of commotion. “When the Governor arrived Gusau with his entourage, people started to allege that the Emir was collaborating with the suspended District Head of Kanoma and armed bandits.
“Therefore, according to the Secretary to the State Government, there were strong suspicions among public opinions that the Emir of Maru and the suspended District of Kanoma are in complicit in cases of armed banditry activities being perpetrated in the area. “Already, in the Governor’s entourage, there were the Commissioner of Police, Director of State Service, Brigade Commander who the Executive Governor sought for their advice of what to do in such ugly circumstance, which they unanimously pointed out that the episode was a big embarrassment to the government and there was the urgent need to take decisive action by suspending the duo (the Emir of Maru and the District Head of Kanoma South) pending the determination of investigation to be carried out.
“Three days after the killing of 17 people mentioned earlier, the armed bandits returned and burnt down the village.
“There was also the issue of 5 million naira ransom which was allegedly paid to HRH, the Emir of Maru through the District Head of Kanoma South.
“However, the Secretary to the State Government informed the committee there was no formal reports or petitions against the Emir from any quarter, but an isolated information from a member of the State House of Assembly, Hon. Yusuf Alhassan Kanoma, and other unspecified sources”.
Startling revelations
Zamfara State Commissioner of Police, CP Usman Nagogo, also indicted the Emir of Karu in his testimony to the panel, according to the report.
The report quoted him as saying that in 2016 when CP Shettima Istifanus was the Zamfara State Commissioner of Police while he (Nagogo) was the Zamfara State Deputy Commissioner of Police (Finance and Inspection), then government appointed him as the Peace Ambassador and Chairman to head Amnesty Committee.
“According to him, he visited Dokani forest where he saw arms and ammunitions with over 1, 000 bandits. Buhari Daji surrendered 13 AK47 assault rifles and a rocket launcher as a sign of his confidence in the amnesty programme”, the report said.
“He stated that his concern was not to wage war against the bandits but to enter into dialogue and reconciliation because even if government should deploy one million soldiers, they would not be able to defeat the bandits as they were so many with sufficient and sophisticated weapons to counter any attack on them.
“The bandits had informants everywhere and could pay as much as N500, 000 to an informant.
“He then advised then Executive Governor of Zamfara State that the government should direct the release of Buhari’s wife.
“According to him, then State Director, State Service truncated all efforts put in place by the Amnesty Committee.
“In his view, the main cause of the crisis was the Yan Sakai, Civilian JTF and vigilante groups in that whenever a Fulani man was killed, Fulani would attack the whole village killing several people and leaving scores injured.
“Finally, when he met with the Ardos and other Fulani leaders, their complaints were that they were deprived of attending markets, mosques etc. and whenever Fulani were killed, government did not visit and console them.
“However, whenever the Hausas were killed, the government visited and consoled them”.
Boko Haram/ISIS infiltration
Also testifying, DSP Hardo Abubakar Abdulqadir, Sector Commander in charge of Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi, Katsina and Kaduna states, according to the report, revealed that there was infiltration of Boko Haram and ISIS elements in Dangulbi and Dansadau forests.
“He informed the committee that his squad arrested an armed bandit at Danjibga village who had an ISIS head band and who informed the squad that there were 15 in number and were invited from Niger Republic”, the report said.
“According to the armed bandits, some of them had since moved to Sokoto, Tangaza, Gudu, Illela etc”.
17 District Heads
The report found most of the 17 emirs in Zamfara and several of their District Heads either neck deep in banditry activities or negligent in their responsibility of securing their people while others were interdicted for absenteeism.
In fact, one of them was accused of being away while 840 of his subjects were killed; two others to answer murder charge.
Only two of the monarchs got a clean bill, according to the report.
Whereas one was recommended for national honours in appreciation of his efforts to secure his subjects despite raging banditry, another was asked to be commended by the President for similar feat.
And to sanitise the traditional institution in Zamfara, the report recommended an overhaul and restructuring in such a manner that it will reflect the true tradition of the institution and be at par with its peers in north-western states with no regard to individual, group or political interests. The panel also recommended that emirates in the state be compressed from 17 to three.
Cover up
The report has no good words about the police as it noted that there was no witness that appeared before the committee who was asked about the cause of the escalation of the security crisis in Zamfara that did not point accusing fingers at the police for lack of diligence and thorough investigation, conspiracy to cover up suspects and indiscriminate and rampant releases of suspects.
It also slammed the military. It said: “It is ironic that when President Muhammadu Buhari deployed additional 1, 300 troops to Zamfara State early 2017 under the command of a Major General assisted by a number of Brigadier Generals in addition to 350 troops under the command of a Lt. Col, the security situation in Zamfara State worsened and became more complicated.
“A month before the deployment of the additional troops, a little over 100 people were kidnapped in Zamfara, while one month after their deployment, over 200 were kidnapped with owners of livestock complaining of the worst situation they ever found themselves. “Many Fulani and owners of livestock accused the troops of attacking, killing and impounding livestock of innocent Fulani and claiming success over bandits and recovering stolen cattle from them.
“Traditional rulers at different levels had complained bitterly about the sarcastical attitude of the soldiers that whenever they were directed to the point of potential attack by bandits, they deliberately divert to a different direction and attack innocent Fulani or give excuses of they had not been given order from above.
“This unpatriotic and unprofessional behavior, according to the accounts of many witnesses and complainants, complicated and worsened the security situation.
“There are also a number of complaints and allegations against the military personnel of fraudulent management of redeemed livestock from bandits and those impounded from innocent owners.
“The committee received many reports and allegations of conspiracy between some fraudulent military personnel, traditional rulers and Civilian JTF members of missing redeemed livestock; there abound, as well, complaints of fraudulent military personnel releasing bandits arrested by vigilante groups or Civilian JTF that were handed over to them.
“Such complaints and allegations came before the committee from across all the strata of the society”.
The report mentioned the case of one army captain who was handed over four arrested bandits by the vigilante group from a village in Zurmi local government Area, saying two days later, the handed-over bandits attacked the village of the vigilante group.
It noted another officer who witnesses in Zurmi accused of collecting regular levies of about N2million per bandit according to the account of a traditional ruler.
“He is obviously one of those officers accused of attacking innocent Fulani, killing, arresting some of them and commandeering some of their herds of cattle and claiming success in the fight against bandits”.
The report listed 10 military officers for “dirty involvement in escalating the menace of armed banditry, mismanagement of recovered livestock and unholy relationship with criminals”.
Three categories of bandits
It identified three categories of bandits as (a) Hardened criminals who, years before the advent of armed banditry in Zamfara, had been involved in armed robbery on the highways and other heinous crimes, (b) Those who have been forced into banditry by different circumstances, such as depletion of their herds of cattle and poverty, those whose herds of cattle had been rustled and had nothing for livelihood, those who had been pushed to the wall by atrocities of fraudulent traditional rulers, court officials and security agencies who regard banditry as easy means of building large herds of cattle, (c) Those invited from neighboring countries to assist indigenous Fulani in their battle for survival, saying about 90% of (b) above, have repented and very much desirous of integrating with their various communities to resume their normal and legitimate life and over 90% of (c) have since returned to their various countries.
“However, only a negligible number of (a) have or are willing to repent”, the report said.
It recommended the design of a special programme for rehabilitation of bandits and other repentant criminals in order to integrate them into the society and make them adopt legitimate means of livelihood while waging a serious war against unrepentant bandits/criminals.
Under its general observations and recommendations, the committee made 16 notable observations among which is that the usurpation of local government funds by state governors is substantially responsible for high level of poverty and unemployment at the grassroots level, adding: “This phenomenon has been identified as one of the major causes of drug abuse and armed banditry”.
CAN members during a Protest against killings in Nigeria
By Steven Kefas
When Gideon Akaluka, an Igbo trader was gruesomely murdered and dismembered in Kano on the 26th of December, 1994 by some irate muslim youths, some of whom prison authority said scaled the fence of the Goron Dutse prison in the ancient city of Kano to carry out the barbaric act, many like myself where toddlers or were not even born and didn’t have any knowledge of what the scenario looked like on that day.
Even though the murder of Akaluka may have been forgotten by many, recent events that have to do with religious killings in the Northern city of Kano bring to mind what happened in the past, what is happening today and what may likely happen in the future if nothing drastic is done.
Slain Reverend Shuaibu Yohanna
On the night of 22nd September, 2021 Christians who are minority in Kano were visited with the news of another gruesome and barbaric murder of a Christian missionary by name Reverend Shuaibu Yohanna who until his death was the chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Sumaila Local government area of Kano state. His murder is a reminder to the fact that Christians are now an endangered species in Northern Nigeria.
The slain Reverend, a Northeastern Evangelist of the New life Church, lived in a village called Massu in Sumaila local government area of Kano state with his wife and children.
Testimonies abound about his exploits in the vineyard of the Lord. Mobilising funds to build schools, providing potable water to both Christians and Muslims in his community.
His good works couldn’t make him immune to the barbarity of the Kano Muslim youths who at the slightest or no provocation descend on their victims with utmost cruelty even before ascertaining their guilt.
Reverend Shuaibu, believed to have facilitated the conversion of many Muslims in the area to Christianity met his untimely death when some muslim youths, over 50 in numbers according to his daughter, accosted him and began butchering him like ram to be used for barbecue.
Eyewitness accounts revealed that the Missionary was killed because, one of his converts who recently got converted but neither attends church service nor mosque had a fight with his sister in-law (brother’s wife) and he hit her with a piston and she died.
Why would Reverend Shuaibu pay for a crime he didn’t commit? Why wasn’t he given the opportunity of being tried by a court of competent jurisdiction? These are questions begging for answers.
Late Mrs Bridget Agbaheme, beheaded in Kano
Just like Reverend Shuaibu, 74 years old Mrs Bridget Agbaheme was on the 2nd of June, 2016 beheaded by some muslims in Kano for allegedly blaspheming Prophet Muhammad.
Mrs Agbaheme, who sells plastics at the local market, was in the company of her husband when she was murdered.
According to some eyewitnesses, Mrs Agbaheme’s only crime was refusing a Muslim co-trader from performing ablution at the entrance of her shop, an act the Muslims in the market deemed blasphemous and punishable by death.
The suspects responsible for her murder were eventually, reluctantly arrested but instead of facing the capital punishment for murder, the five suspects were on 3rd November, 2016 released from detention. At a court session on the day if their release, the Chief magistrate, Mr. Jibrin Muhammad discharged the five suspects and terminated the case ‘in line with the directive of the attorney-general of Kano state’.
The Kano state government also failed to tell Nigerians why the suspects were not arraigned before a higher court considering the gravity of the offence.
Gov. El-rufai during a visit to Francis Emmanuel in the hospital
Few days after the murder of Mrs Agbaheme, a carpenter by name Francis Emmanuel, 41, was stabbed by some youths along Sokoto Road in Kakuri area of Kaduna South on Tuesday for not participating in the ongoing fast accoeding to a dailytrust publication of June 9, 2016.
Francis, a witness said, had gone to buy food from a woman along the road in the afternoon after taking a break from his cabinet making work when four young men accosted him as he was eating and asked him why he was not fasting.
A fight soon ensued after some exchanges and one of the four boys was said to have brought out a dagger and stabbed Francis in several parts of his body.
Even though the Kaduna state government condemned the attack on Francis and also a high powered delegation led by the governor, El-rufai and the then Deputy Governor, Bala Bantex went to see Francis in the hospital, no suspect was arrested.
Late Evangelist Eunice Elisha, slain in Kubwa, Abuja
One month after the gruesome murder of Mrs Bridget Agbaheme, in July 2016, a 42 years old Christian preacher and mother of seven, Eunice Elisha in Kubwa, a satellite town in the Federal Capital Territory. Kubwa is just about 20 minutes drive from the Presidential villa in Abuja. Mrs Elisha had on the day of her killing gone out topreach the gospel like she does every MORNING, unfortunately she met her untimely death in the hands of Muslim fanatics.
Suspects were arrested by the police but like in the case of Mrs Agbaheme, they were released by the police in Abuja in January 2017. The police concealed the identities of the suspects all through the investigation and said they were released because they could not be linked to the murder.
“What happened is that when the incident occurred, arrests were made. But during the course of the investigation we found that the persons arrested could not be linked to the said murder. And we cannot keep them if we do not have any case against them,” Mr. Anjuguri told PREMIUM TIMES on January 14th, 2017.
“They were released under the condition that they will be invited for questioning whenever the need arises. The commissioner has instructed the Divisional Police Officer for that region to intensify efforts on the matter; the case has not been closed. The investigation is still ongoing,” said Mr. Anjuguri.
The police claimed that the suspects could not be linked to the murder of Evangelist Eunice Elisha contradicts her earlier statement that the suspects were helping in the investigation.
Nigeria, theoretically ought to be a secular state with freedom of religion and other forms of association guaranteed by the constitution but that is not the reality as Christians are oftentimes attacked either as a community or individuals.
Hundreds of Christian communities in Northern Nigeria have been held under siege by Fulani terrorists. Killings of Christians in genocidal proportion have continued unabated with no one being prosecuted for such crimes against humanity. The Nigerian Fulani government headed by Maj. Gen. Muhammad Buhari Rtd has done nothing serious to put an end to the carnages against Christians in the Northern part of the country.
With the Nigerian government’s poor handling of the crisis, the international community must as a matter of urgency begin to call out the Nigerian state for abating genocides in the country.
The leading CIVIL SOCIETY GROUP- HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has condemned the illegal and gestapo operational modalities of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) which are detrimental to the enjoyment of the constitutionally guaranteed fundamental human rights recognised in chapter four, and all relevant international human rights laws just as the Rights group says the officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (HURIWA) are by their provocative and illegal actions enticing Nigerians to stage a nationwide protests similar to the #ENDSARS PROTESTS # against the misconducts of the EFCC.
“The EFCC is a creation of the law and so it must be law abiding but the modalities of operations in which the operatives armed to the teeth go into people’s houses in the dead of the night like armed robbers and kidnappers, breaking into people’s houses and climbing in through the fences like hired assasins are antithetical to the law and the principle of the rule of law and these unlawful actions are definitely aimed as triggers to instigate the masses to stage the kinds of demonstrations that will be almost unprecedented in dimension and massive in scale.
The Rights group through the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko said Section 36(5) of the constitution is very clear that even persons charged for criminal offence before the courts of law are deemed as innocent in the eyes of the law until a contrary determination is reached by the competent court of law. It is therefore unlawful that the operatives of the EFCC will continue to behave like outlaws or persons who are above the laws of the land. EFCC is subject to the law and must be seen to be operating in compliance with the precepts of the law and in strict compliance with the RULE OF LAW”.
HURIWA said there have been over a dozen clandestine operations by the EFCC in which these officials of the law have been seen defecating on the fundamental principles of the law and have abused with reckless abandon the Rules of Engagement as if Nigeria is a Banana Republic and these kinds of crude, debased and bakward application of brute force by the operatives of the EFCC are therefore absolutely condemned as despicable, reprehensible, outrageous and provocative and must be checked otherwise the EFCC should watch and see that in the fullness of time the masses will demonstrate to say enough is enough.
This same EFCC is around when the President gives red carpets reception to suspected high profile politically exposed persons who jump from one political party to the All Progressives Congress but the EFCC has now become agents of witch-hunt targeting largely young offenders and this body has started operating as if it is a reckless, lawless and primitive contraption but this is not so. The EFCC must be called to order to adopt law based procedures to go after suspected offenders and observe all the tenets and precepts of the fundamental human rights and indeed must adopt clinical and professional modus operandi that will be in compliance with all the rules of Engagement. Why not use surveillance and intelligence gathering to go after suspected offenders in the day time and make lawful arrests instead of behaving like armed robbers or armed Fulani militia members?”
HURIWA recalled that Norah Okafor, a journalist, has narrated how officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), stormed her residence at an ungodly hour.
In a social media post, Okafor said masked men robed in black and armed to the teeth stormed her apartment like armed robbers, at exactly 1:36 am on Thursday.
She said they destroyed properties, assaulted residents, and forcefully collected car keys, mobile phones, and computers.
“At exactly 1:36am, I was alerted by my brother that there were armed robbers at my gate trying to make their way into the compound. Because it was an electric fence, I didn’t bother enough because I felt they can’t make their way in.
“Alas, I was wrong. 2am on the dot they made their way into the compound. They came prepared. Over 25 of them with two hilux buses, masked and dressed in black upon black.
“A huge one climbed the fence, with a plier and immediately cut off a few of the wires, jumped into the compound and with an axe, broke the gate key open and zoom they made their first entry into my apartment.
“As a nude sleeper, while they tried to make their way into the compound, I found something to wear while my brothers and I were thinking of a way of escape. The worst case scenario for me is that they will rape or take the only valuable available (a car key) so I prepared my mind.
“The next thing I realized was that about 7 of them were already in my room with shouts of “lie down, face down, on the light, where’s your phone, where’s your car key? Where’s this and that.. Confused me. Seeing over 25 hefty men with different kinds of guns, mhen, e don be, be that. I handed the phone to them with the key, before then, they have already taken hold of my laptop.
“I turned to be sure these were armed robbers, and they asked for my passwords to all the devices collected with masking tape to identify each. Still in shock, I heard someone destroying everything in the kitchen, my room, that of my brothers and all the drawers. I was still asking myself what’s happening? They asked me to stand and follow them downstairs, lo and beyond, they unmasked themselves, hmmmm… are these kind criminals? I asked. All my neighbours were already going through the same pain as I.
“They have already given my brothers a beating of their lives, carried my neighbour downstairs and tried unlocking all the cars in the compound. And after searching all the phones and laptops, three of their men walked in, lo and behold, it was EFCC. What? I screamed. Shut up, was the next thing i heard and when they couldn’t open my phone, they asked me to, I did and after a while I just asked, please where is your office so I can come pick up my things on my way to work, they asked me what I do and I said “journalist”, asked my neighbour he said “lawyer”, the other “doctor”. They looked at me, handed over the phones and said, “we just wasted our time.
“These fools, spent over one hour molesting and destroying things in this compound. I feel so pained and embarrassed right now. Is this how EFCC operate? How did we get here? Who is the informant? I am just confused right now. Thank God my mum isn’t here.”
HURIWA recalled too that the Economic and Financial crimes commission, EFCC, allegedly invaded the house of the Big brother Naija celebrity, Dorathy Bachor.
Dorathy, who emerged the 1st runner up of the Big Brother Naija, Lockdown season, condemned the act.
Expressing her anger via a post on her Instagram page, the busty Delta state indigene shared some pictures of the supposed EFCC officials.
Operatives of the EFCC on Tuesday violently seized access cards and broke into hotel rooms in an overnight raid in Lagos, Peoples Gazette has learnt.
Dozens of hotel guests were left traumatised after anti-graft agents breached their privacy at Parktonian Hotel in Lagos affluent Lekki neighbourhood, witnesses said.
Many of the guests, including couples, were passing the night at the mid-size hotel when EFCC agents broke in at about 4:00 a.m. Some of them said they were naked under the duvet when agents broke in and were not even allowed to dress up before being interrogated by the officers, who said they were on a manhunt for suspected Internet fraudsters.
“The officers broke into my hotel room as I was sleeping,” a victim told The Gazette on Tuesday afternoon. “The incident that played out was just too traumatic for me to narrate.”
The witness said the officers started breaking into rooms after collecting the master access card to open all rooms from the management at gunpoint.
“They broke into the hotel and threatened to shoot the receptionists and management if they didn’t immediately release the master access card to them,” a witness said. “So the hotel workers had to comply immediately.”
Another witness who narrated his ordeal described it as “embarrassing and traumatising,” as he was unclad when operatives barged into the room.
Many foreigners, including some potential investors who came into the country to carry out preliminary studies on a cable manufacturing project, were caught in what witnesses described as “violent and uncivilised conduct” of the operatives, who were about two dozen.
The victim pleaded strict anonymity to avoid being victimised by EFCC agents. Some witnesses had previously reported being physically attacked by EFCC operatives for providing information about illegal and corrupt raids to the media.
“They continued to search other rooms. They went away with about 13 occupants,” he said. “I was naked, and I had to beg them (for me) to put something on. I am actually hypertensive, but I put myself together because I am not a criminal in any way.”
He described the experience as “embarrassing and traumatic,” noting that “nobody wants to sleep in a hotel where their privacy and security cannot be guaranteed.”
The witness added, “I am not going back to that hotel. They won’t go to Transcorp where people who are looting Nigeria’s money are staying.”
The hotel owner, Obinna Obiora, told The Gazette that he would comment on the matter later. The Gazette could not immediately confirm whether or not the officers had a warrant to invade the hotel.
When contacted by The Gazette, the spokesperson for the anti-graft agency, Wilson Uwujaren, claimed he was unaware of the raid.
“I haven’t got any report of such, but I’ll confirm from the Lagos office if there was any raid,” Mr Uwujaren told The Gazette over the telephone.
Controversial raids of public and private spaces have become increasingly common amongst EFCC officers in recent months. The department was established to fight economic crimes, but it has recently retooled itself towards a relentless crackdown on suspected Internet thieves, widely known as Yahoo Boys.
Earlier this year, an unidentified man jumped from the seventh floor of a storey building located at 1004 estate at Victoria Island, Lagos, during a raid by EFCC officials.
Few weeks back, a similar incident played out at Oasis Park Estate, Osapa London, Lagos, where EFCC operatives frightened residents when they broke into homes in search of a purported Internet crook, who was not even around at the time of the raid.
HURIWA accused the EFCC of not just violating the laws but also abusing with reckless abandon the UN declaration on adherence to the Rule of law.
HURIWA said the midnight raids by EFCC offends the Declaration adopted on 24 September 2012 by the United Nations General Assembly at the High-level Meeting on the Rule of Law at the National and International Levels reaffirmed that “human rights, the rule of law and democracy are interlinked and mutually reinforcing and that they belong to the universal and indivisible core values and principles of the United Nations”.1 Indeed, government responsiveness to the interests and needs of the greatest number of citizens is strictly associated with the capacity of democratic institutions and processes to bolster the dimensions of rights, equality and accountability.
If considered not solely an instrument of the government but as a rule to which the entire society, including the government, is bound, the rule of law is fundamental in advancing democracy. Strengthening the rule of law has to be approached not only by focusing on the application of norms and procedures. One must also emphasize its fundamental role in protecting rights and advancing inclusiveness, in this way framing the protection of rights within the broader discourse on human development.
A common feature of both democracy and the rule of law is that a purely institutional approach does not say anything about actual outcomes of processes and procedures, even if the latter are formally correct. When addressing the rule of law and democracy nexus, a fundamental distinction has to be drawn between “rule by law”, whereby law is an instrument of government and government is considered above the law, and “rule of law”, which implies that everyone in society is bound by the law, including the government. Essentially, constitutional limits on power, a key feature of democracy, require adherence to the rule of law.
The Nasiru El-rufai led government has issued a demolition notice to the Nigerian Union of Journalist (NUJ) Kaduna state chapter over what the government tagged ‘ absence of planning/building permit’
The demolition notice was contained in a letter sighted by MBT. The letter, dated 23rd September, 2021 was written by the Kaduna state Urban Development Authority (KASUPDA) and signed by Ismail Dikko on behalf of the director general of KASUPDA.
The Nasiru El-rufai led government has had numerous battles with journalists in Kaduna since it came onboard in 2015. Some journalists in the state were jailed over their reportages and sometimes comments on social media.
Efforts to speak with the NUJ state Chairman proved abortive as at the time of filling this report.
Governor Aminu Bello Masari of. Katsina State, has said that danger looms for northern children if northerners fail to wake up from their slumber.
According to Governor Masari, the lifestyle of citizens from the region coupled with the looming population explosion is bound to escalate the plight of children in the area if nothing is done urgently.
While drawing comparison with their southern counterparts, using two key demographic variables, marriage and birth rate, Masari said about 80 per cent of men in the south stick to one wife while the same percentage of men in the north marry two to four wives.
Governor Masari made the remarks while declaring open the “Katsina Future Summit” organised by a coalition of non-governmental organisations known as “Save Katsina Group” to orchestrate a dependable future for people of the state.
Similarly, according to the Governor, the average number of children a person from the south is likely to have is three while the average in the north is about nine.
Consequent upon this, Governor Masari warned that to continue walloping in the old order may worsen the living standard of people from the north, particularly children and by implication, the entire nation.
To that effect, Masari is calling on his fellow northerners to rise up to seek and apply the required knowledge to tame the menace of the looming population explosion.
“In 1987, when Katsina was created, the population was about 3.8 million. How many years today, we are talking about 8 million.
“That land of Katsina that was 500 years ago is still the same land. It has not increased in size but has increased in population.
“So, how do we conquer the situation, accommodate ourselves, our future children and grandchildren without the requisite educational knowledge?
“Gentlemen, we need to sit up. The challenges of the future with population explosion and with the character and nature of Hausa man which is totally different from the culture and traditions of our southern partners.
“What is the average of a person per child if you go to Lagos and other southern parts? It is an average of 3 to 1. What is the average here in the Northwest, Northeast and others? A woman gives birth to the average of 9 here in the North.
“What is the average age of marriage? 80% marry one wife in the south while in the North, 80% percent marry from two to four. Multiply the numbers and see for yourself.
“If we continue in this way obviously out of school children and abandoned children are going to be much more,” Governor Masari queried.
In the same vein, Masari further admonished youths to “work very hard against the menace of drugs and other intoxicants” which he said is one of the major factors fuelling banditry in the north.
“Everyone of us, we owe a debt to the society that we come from: to the villages, to the communities, to the houses, to the families and even to ourselves.
“The society belongs to all of us. Leadership is about the wisdom of the old and the energy of the youths blended together that is what makes a very good progressive, enterprising, developmental community or society.
“What is fuelling banditry in our communities? What is fuelling criminality in our communities? We must stand up against the evil criminality of drugs From the experience we have gathered within the last six years, we have seen the role of drugs influencing some of these bad behaviours and actions to the youths. We must work very hard against the misuse of drugs and other intoxicants,” Governor Masari added.
The Coordinator of Save Katsina Group in the state, Comrade Hamza Umar Saulawa speaking with Journalists at the two days summit, held at the state’s Local Government Service Commission’s Conference Hall said the summit was necessitated by the alien challenges the state is currently experiencing.
“We decided to come up with the summit after a long brainstorming discussion and identification of problems.
“You know Katsina is one of the true pillars in Nigeria when it comes to education, hospitality, peace and security. But unfortunately, for some couple of years now, we’re at the back. That’s why we say let us all come together and identify the problems, where and how it started.”
The House of Representatives on Thursday in Abuja moved to amend the Power sector reform Act of 2005, to strengthen the sector for efficient service delivery; and for related matters.
Rep Magaji Aliyu, Chairman, House committee on Power, leading the debate on the general principles of the bill, told the House that the amendment sought was long overdue.
He said that the amendment was with a view to providing the legal and institutional framework for the implementation and coordination of rural electrification projects.
Aliyu said that the amendment also sought the establishment of the National Power Training Institute and Regulatory Provisions, as well as the establishment of a Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Agency.
The document in clause 32 introduced a new clause ”94A”, after the existing section 94 in the principal Act to provide stiffer penalties for crimes committed against electrical infrastructure.
Giving a background to his presentation, Aliyu reminded his colleagues that the Act was enacted as far back as 2005 as a consolidated legal framework to regulates the power sector in Nigeria.
“For about one and a half decade, the Act has not been amended until now, following increasing challenges that affect the efficiency, corporate stability and prospects of the power sector,” he said.
He said that in exercise of its powers, the Committee on Power initiated amendment of the Act aimed to overcome the challenges for a better power sector in Nigeria.
According to him, the proposal was supported by inputs from stakeholders, including the Federal Ministry of Power, Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA), power generation companies, Association of Nigeria Electricity Distribution and the National Power Training Institute of Nigeria.
In the absence of any dissenting voice, the bill was passed and referred to the committee on power for further legislative actions. (NAN)
The leading CIVIL SOCIETY GROUP- HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has lambasted the Borno State GOVERNOR Mr. BabaGana Umara Zulum for engaging in unholy communions with terrorists of the boko haram genre who have blood in their hands and have caused the deaths of over 30,000 Nigerian citizens most of whom are Borno State indigenes.
HURIWA recalled that the Borno State Government had flagged off a public campaign programme designed to reconcile and reintegrate repentant Boko-Haram elements. The programme, funded by European Union, EU, is being executed in collaboration with UNICEF, UNDP, and IOM.
HURIWA citing media reports stated that at the flag-off ceremony at the Shehu of Borno Palace on Wednesday in Maiduguri, the State Commissioner of Information and Culture, Babakura Abba-Jato, said there is the need to accept the repentant insurgents, particularly women and children who are also victims that were forced to stay with the insurgents.
Mr Abba-Jato said investigation showed that majority of the 6,000 that surrendered were women and children and some men in communities occupied by the insurgency who were forced to stay and farm for the insurgents.
HURIWA quoted the Bornob State government official as saying thus: “We also have those that carry arms that are being profiled by the authorities in line with International laws relating to such development,” just as the Commissioner of Women Affairs, Zuwaira Gambo, who spoke on women and children as the worst affected by the insurgency and other conflicts, urged for public support in ensuring that they are reintegrated.
HURIWA however faulted the United Nations, European Union and the Borno State Government for aiding and abetting terrorism by pretending to be organising reconciliation between terrorists and the victims of terrorism especially when these offenders of the law did not go through the standard trial permitted by the Constitution and the Counter terror law.
The group Condemned the bizzare reconciliation and stated that what terrorists need is not reconciliation but adequate prosecutorial actions to pay for their crimes against humanity. The group therefore accused the Borno State Governor of committing treason and aiding and abetting terrorism which will inevitably be challenged in Nigerian court or the International Criminal Court in The Hague Netherlands soon.
