Senator representing Kogi west senatorial district Dino Melaye, has said that last Monday’s stage-managed parade of crime suspects in Lokoja by the Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood, where a suspect was tutored to implicate him, was a continuation and expansion of the Police attempt to have him arrested at all cost and ultimately kill him.

“It is worrisome that the Police Headquarters has gotten itself entangled in the Kogi political crisis and has taken a side. It is however bizarre and unprecedented that the FPRO, Mr Moshood, will have to travel to Lokoja last Monday in order to act a script written by Governor Bello. A discerning mind will ask that how many times has Mr Moshood travel to Sokoto, Enugu or Lagos to parade suspects on behalf of a Police Commissioner?”

Melaye, who was reacting to social medium report yesterday, Saturday, that he had fled Nigeria, said that he did not go anywhere from Nigeria because of the allegations leveled against him by the Nigeria police.

Senator Melaye in a statement today, Sunday said: “I did not flee Nigeria and have no reason to flee my country leaving behind my family as the online paper wants Nigerians to believe. My attention was drawn to their lies this night, hence this public statement, lest the unsuspecting members of the public and my supporters believe the lies.

“The lies in the SaharaReporters’ so-called news report are nothing but to cause serious disharmony in the Senate and among united majority Senators, who are resolute in defending democracy and its institutions no matter whose ox is gored.

“For the avoidance of doubt, I have not received any court summon either in person or by proxy in my house or office for me to appear on March 28 as being insinuated by the Police regarding the latest allegation against me.

Senator Melaye said that he had taken up the issue with the international community, claiming that the Nigeria Police had a sinister motive in the matter.

“It has become expedient for me to issue this statement to the public and to let you know that I have taken the matter up with the international community in order to report this undue intimidation and harassment.

“Let me reiterate here for the umpteen times that no amount of intimidation, blackmail, arrests or threats will stop me from championing the cause of the masses,” said the senator.

But the police, in a statement by the Force PRO, Moshood, said that all efforts to make Dino Melaye come to court and face the charges brought against him had proved abortive.

“As we speak, Sen Dino Melaye despite the letter sent to the Senate President as mentioned refused to honour Police invitation till date and also refused to appear in court and has also continued to evade the service of criminal summon on him to appear before the Federal High Court, Lokoja on the 28th of March, 2018 to answer to the charge of Criminal Conspiracy and unlawful possession of prohibited firearms against him and Mohammed Audu.

“The Nigeria Police Force is, therefore, using this medium to advise Senator Dino Melaye and Mohammed Audu in their interest to comply with the order of the court and appear on 28th of March 2018 before Federal High Court, Lokoja to answer to the criminal charges against them.

“If they continue to be evasive and fail to comply with criminal summon issued on them by the Federal High Court, Lokoja to appear on March 28, 2018 to answer to the criminal charges of conspiracy and unlawful possession of prohibited firearms against them, the Force, will obtain warrant of arrest for the arrest of Senator Dino Melaye and Mohammed Audu and will definitely declare them wanted throughout the country and on INTERPOL platform for them to be arrested in any country where ever they are sighted and handed over to the Nigeria Police Force for continuation of their trial.” [myad]

Kaduna Central Senator, Shehu Sani has warned that Nigeria is tip toing through a minfield with a call for ‘war’ by the former Defence minister, retired Lt. General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma against the background of how President Muhammadu Buhari understands the message.

In a short statement on his Facebook page today, Saunday, Senator Sani wrote: “YOU can’t claim to know Buhari more than Danjuma does.” 

“YOU can’t claim to know Danjuma more than Buhari does.”

“YOU can’t lecture Buhari and Danjuma about WAR and PEACE.”

“Buhari has heard Danjuma’s Radio message.And I believe he has decode the message.”

“THE NATION is tip toeing through a minefield;The two Generals are experienced to know better that its fate lies in every step.”

General T. Y Danjuma, had, yesterday, Saturday at the first convocation of Taraba State University, asked Nigerians to defend themselves against the herdsmen arms bandits, warning that any Ngerian who depended on the military to defend them would die as their would be no such protection. [myad]

The leadership of Miyetti Allah, a socio-cultural cultural binding all the Fulanis in the country, led by the National President, Muhammed Kirowa, has opened up, accusing some governors and political leaders of fueling the herdsmen/farmers clashes and killings in some parts of the country.

He told the Northern States Governors’ Forum at a meeting with the national leadership and state chapters of the Miyetti Allah cattle Breeders Association as part of efforts to find lasting solutions to the continued clashes, that the approach to conflict resolution adopted by political leaders in some states is not helpful in finding lasting peace.

According to him, political leaders, especially Governors, should approach issues of peace in neutral perspective, not as biased party.

He said that their members have lived in many of these conflict-prone communities for centuries without conflict, but wondered why the situation is getting out of hand now.

The meeting, which held in Sokoto, had in attendance NSGF chairman and Borno Governor, Kashim Shettima, host Governor, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal and their counterparts from Kano (Abdullahi Ganduje), and Kaduna, Nasir El-Rufai. Governor Nasiru El-Rufai joined the meeting after it started.

Though no formal communique was issued at the end of the meeting, reports indicate that the gathering discussed genesis of the crisis, efforts to contain it and how to entrench permanent solution.

Governor Shettima has said that the 19 northern states are worried by the rising cases of insecurity involving herder and farmers, and expressed optimism that their intervention will help in finding lasting solution to the conflicts.

He said they are intervening in order to complement efforts of the federal government, and said they hope to adopt local-conflict resolution mechanism to bring back trust and understanding among all the people of the region.

“We have seen enough crisis in the North East with Boko Haram. We cannot afford to let any other conflict linger without a solution. We hope to hear from all sides and finally come up with a workable plan that will restore confidence and entrench lasting peace in our region.” [myad]

A socio-political group, Middle Belt Conscience Guard (MBCG), has fingered the former Chief of Army Staff, retired Lt General Theophilus Danjuma and the Taraba State governor, Diarus Ishaku in the lingering armed conflicts between herdsmen and farmers inTaraba State and its environ.

The group made the allegation on Sunday in Abuja at a Press conference addressed by its national President, Prince Raymond Enero in response to the reported call by T. Y Danjuma on citizens of Taraba State to defend themselves against armed bandits.

The group described the comments made by the former Army chief as unfortunate and unbecoming of a supposedly elder statesman who should commit to peace and unity of the nation rather than using his experience to fuel communal and ethnic crisis.

“Prior to the issuance of Danjuma’s poisonous directive, the Taraba state governor, Mr. Darius Ishaku has been fingered in the escalation of the crisis between the farming and pastoral communities in Taraba state, especially on the Mambila Plateau.

“The governor reportedly armed ethnic militias to carry out attacks on other ethnic groups, which consequently fueled reprisals in other states of the Middle-Belt and beyond. A couple of other states copied the Taraba example and armed militias with the same consequence of endless reprisals that have seen the circle of violence enter a continuous loop and spiraling across the country”, the group stated.

It further alleged that the former Army Chief was using his international connections in collaboration with some governors in the region to import weapons and arm local militia that have been perpetrating mayhem in the region.

“TY Danjuma has revealed himself as the godfather of the militias and the governors are merely field commanders. The godfather has the international connections to procure black market weapons, the limitless resources to procure the arms and the incentive to distribute them.”

” His call is just an attempt to project an argument for the weapons to get on our streets”, the group maintained.

The group while insisting that the unity and peace of the country should not be sacrificed for whatever reason called on the military to ensure that weapons are taken off the hands of militia and ensure that peace thrives in the land.

It further expressed dissatisfaction that more than 24 hours after TY Danjuma made such heinous remarks, he has not yielded to reason to retrace his steps adding that he will be dragged before the competent legal authorities – domestic and international – for any life lost because of his declaration of war.

“Danjuma’s call for people to “defend yourselves” is in no way to be taken lightly. He made that call only because he has the arsenal to deploy by way of providing weapons to his ethnic group to kill others. It has happened before during the Jukun/Tiv clashes. There is no guarantee that the geo-political zone can survive another round of crisis fueled by TY Danjuma supplied weapons.

“The call made to the people to defend themselves is apparently out of frustration because the governors he uses as his field commanders have been stumped with the launch of Operation Ayem Akpatuma (Cat Race) by the Nigerian Army. The operation had led to the uncovering of the militias that were armed under different and different names but all aimed at perpetrating genocide”, the group alleges. [myad]

Minister of information and culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has revealed that the government of President Muhammadu Buhari has long embarked on cessation-of-hostility talks with Boko Haram insurgents across the Northeast.

“Unknown to many, we have been in wider cessation-of-hostility talks with the insurgents for some time now. The talks helped to secure the release of the police officers’ wives and the University of Maiduguri lecturers recently. And the talks did not stop thereafter.

“Therefore, we were able to leverage on the wider talks when the Dapchi girls were abducted. As I said earlier, the insurgents decided to return the girls to where they picked them from as a goodwill gesture. All they demanded was a ceasefire that will grant them a safe corridor to drop the girls. This is not new. Even in larger war situations, safe corridors are usually created for humanitarian and other purposes. Consequently, a week-long ceasefire was declared, starting from Monday, 19 March. That is why the insurgents were able to drop the girls. This counters.”

Lai Mohammed, who was reacting to insinuations that the Buhari government paid some ransom to Boko Haram before the release of Dapchi school girls, said:”as I have said at many fora, we neither paid ransom nor swapped any Boko Haram member to secure the release of the girls, This is a fact, irrespective of how a section of the press has tried to spin the story.”

He accused the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of spreading falsehood through the proliferation of fake and hyperpartisan news that has flooded into Nigeria’s laptops and living rooms.

“Nigerians should prepare to see more avalanches of disinformation and fake news. But they should not lend any credibility to such reports. They belong to the trash can!

“The insurgents brought the Dapchi girls back to the location of the kidnapping themselves as an apparent gesture of goodwill, following relentless efforts by the Government to find long-lasting solutions to the conflict.

Lai Mohammed wrote off  the conspiracy theories being propounded in some quarters concerning why it was so easy for the insurgents to drop off the girls without being attacked by the military.”

“The PDP and its co-travelers do not understand that terrorism is a global problem. A terror attack on any country is an attack on all countries. The UN was among the first international organizations to condemn the abduction of the Dapchi girls and also among the first to welcome their release.

“We appeal to the media to be more discerning in disseminating materials that serve no other purpose than to sabotage the ongoing efforts to end the insurgency and secure the release of the remaining Chibok and Dapchi girls. Obviously, the naysayers are growing more desperate and will stop at nothing, including disinformation and fake news, to muddle the waters.

“Finally, let me use this opportunity to react to the fake news making the rounds concerning a supposed Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, named David Bako, who said he was part of an alleged conspiracy by the Government to abduct the Dapchi girls.

“This is a classic example of what I have just said: Disinformation and fake news! I can tell you categorically that this David Bako is fake. There is no such soldier in the Nigerian Army. There was no conspiracy anywhere. The intention of those behind the disinformation and fake news is to cause disaffection between Christians and Muslims, and between Southerners and Northerners.” [myad]

The Nigerian Army has alerted members of the Nigerian public to beware of the information warfare which social media had since embarked on to smear the integrity and reputation of some individuals and public institutions.

´It is imperative to know that these baseless and inane allegations are not new in the cyber space, knowing the fact that we are in the age of information warfare.”

Reacting to a news report in social media that one deserted Sergeant David Bako leakd how Dapchi Girls abduction was planned in the villa and executed with N80 million, the Nigerian Army said that it has crosschecked its records and cannot find any one call Sergeant David Bako who neither serves in the Army, deserted nor dismissed. It said that an Intelligence source reveals that the website, Dailyglobewatch.eu with country code top-level domain (ccTLD) .eu used in publishing the said story, is obviously fake and therefore not correct.

“Based on our findings, the website was registered on the 14 of April 2017 and the last updated was on the same date and will expire on the 14th April 2018. We are very familiar with reports of this nature and will advice the general public to disregard such claim and desist from sharing such information on the New Media as this is against the Nigerian Cybercrime Act 2015.
“The Nigerian Army therefore disassociates itself with such fictitious report and request the public to disregard the confession made by the so call Sergeant David Bako who has not been in the Army at all.”
In a statement today, by the Director of Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Texas Chukwu, the Nigerian Army expressed worry over the level at which some people could condescend so low to fabricate facetious allegation against the Nigerian Army and the military at large for cheap political gains or simply an act of pure wickedness, thus the public should disregard such facetious allegation.
“The Nigerian Army wishes to reiterate its commitment to remain apolitical and non-partisan in the discharge of its constitutional roles. We would also like to reaffirm our unconditional support and obedience to civil authority as well as reassuring Nigerians that these Fifth columnists will not succeed in their mischief as they will be fished out and dealt with accordingly.” [myad]