Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council, the youth wing of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has made it clear that Igbo cannot leave the North after spending over N44 trillion to develop the region.
The group also instructed the Igbo living in the North to prepare to defend themselves against possible attack by Northerners.
The Ohanaeze youth wing was reacting to the three-month ultimatum given to Igbo to leave the Northern parts of the country over the agitation for Biafra in the South-East.
A coalition of Northern groups, including the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, had, yesterday Tuesday, told all Igbo in the North to leave the region by October 1.
Reacting to the development, the Ohanaeze Youth Council urged Igbo in the North to ‘stay put.’
“Igbo cannot leave the North after spending over N44trn to develop the region.”
Addressing news men after a meeting in Enugu, the National President of the OYC, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, said the ultimatum issued to Igbo by the Northern groups was a call to arms, and should be treated as such by security agencies.
Nigeria now has a total of 45 registered political parties that can contest any election, with an additional five registered by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
The new parties are Young Progressive Party (YPP), Advanced People’s Democratic Alliance (APDA), New Generation Party of Nigeria (NGP), All Democratic People’s Movement (ADPM) and Action Democratic Party (ADP).
The National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Prince Adedeji Soyebi, who spoke to news men shortly after a meeting of the Commission in Kaduna, said that the five new parties were picked from 95 political associations that applied for registration.
According Soyebi, two of the associations had earlier withdrawn their applications voluntarily, while the remaining 88 did not meet the requirements for registration as political parties.
“The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) held its usual weekly meeting today and reviewed, among other things, the on-going nationwide Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise, which began on 27th April 2017.
“In the meeting with the Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) and Administrative Secretaries, the Commission received and considered submissions from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, as well as reports from some accredited observers of the CVR exercise.
“The Commission noted the challenges encountered so far, and is addressing them.
“At present, 95 Associations have applied to the Commission for registration as political parties. Two of the associations voluntarily withdrew their applications.” [myad]
The Kaduna State Government has warned those it referred to as ‘some self-appointed northern youths’ that it would allow such group to use the discourse around restructuring of Nigeria to promote their own agenda of hate, division and incitement.
The government, in a statement by Special Adviser to governor Nasiru Ahmed El-Rufai, Sauel Aruwa, reacting to press statement by the Northern youth organizations, threatening the safety and property of Igbo people living and doing businesses in the Northern region, stressed that this sort of opportunists cannot be allowed to distort debate, or turn it into a pretext for a barely-disguised agenda of displacement and dispossession of some citizens.
“Government assures every resident of our state that their constitutional and human rights to live peacefully and own property wherever they choose is sacrosanct. Even people who may feel unhappy about irresponsible comments or actions that have taken place in other states must know that two wrongs cannot make a right.
“The Kaduna State Government believes in and will uphold the right of every Nigerian to live safely and develop his/her full potentials within its territory.
“Reckless disregard for the rights of other citizens drips through the press statement by these “northern youths” who have chosen
“We will not tolerate such irresponsible statements and conduct in our state. The statement issued by the “northern youths” violates the laws of Kaduna State. Therefore, the Kaduna State Government has directed that its Ministry of Justice should prepare charges and prosecute the signatories and anyone complicit in arranging this egregious assault on the rights of fellow citizens.
“Preparatory to prosecution, the police have been directed to immediately arrest, interrogate the signatories to the statement and investigate all the circumstances and persons that may be implicated in the matter.
“The Kaduna State Government urges all residents to ignore the threats from the “northern youths”. We are in contact with the leadership of the Igbo community in Kaduna, and we delighted to say that this community, like all our other communities, believes in the strength of the constitutional order to protect all citizens.
“KDSG wishes to encourage all our people to celebrate the diversity with which the Almighty has blessed us, to continue to shun agents of division, and to stand firm in upholding a common humanity. Everyone has a right to live in peace and harmony.”
This was even as the minister of Interior, retired Lt Gen Abdulrahman Bello Dambazau asked all well meaning Nigerians to go about their normal activities as Government would bring to bear the full weight of the Law on any individual or group violating the rights of citizens of the Country.
In a statement by his Press Secretary, Ehisienmen Osaigbovo, the Minister lamented the spate of such spurious and unwarranted calls for separation, saying that citizens are free to go about their normal businesses and would not be harassed or deterred by any group or persons.
The minister advised the various ethnic groups to desist from flaming the embers of hate, animosity, discord and disharmony and adhere strictly to the teachings of our good values of religions and cultures that encourages good neighborliness, national unity and Integration, and love for one another.
He also advised youth to avoid being instrument of violence, animosity and disharmony among our citizens. And that they should rather focus their attention and energies on actions, that would engender national unity, integration and cohesion. [myad]
Tension is mounting in Ikere-Ekiti, Ekiti State, over move by the government of Ayodele Fayose to pull down a tree which serves as shrine for the village, insisting that the tree is obstructing the ongoing road dualisation in the town and must be cut down.
This is even as the Olukere of Ikere, Oba Ganiyu Ayodele Obasoyin, said: “cutting down the sacred tree and demolishing the Ereja was akin to passing a death sentence on him (Olukere).
“Yesterday (Monday), the governor led the police to Ikere that the shrine be bulldozed; it is when a king dies that the branches of the tree are cut off and I went to meet the governor that he should not pass a death sentence on me.
“I want to say that Fayose wants to kill me; by ordering that the tree, which represents my life, be uprooted and the people resisted him. My subjects said they don’t want a tenant that will be making life difficult for the owner of the land because I am the owner of Ikere.
“The Ereja is where Ikere people meet once in every year if that tree is removed, it means they have killed the Olukere. The people came out yesterday (Monday) that they don’t want their king to be killed.
“This is the tradition here, the tree branches are cut if the Oba dies. In every community, we have traditional heritage and cultural heritage and nobody can kill our cultural heritage.
“The only way forward is that government should see reason with the people of Ikere and respect the people’s cultural heritage. If there is no town, you cannot be governor over people.
“They have that type of tree in Afao-Ikere, it was preserved for them and was not cut for a road project. The expatriate contractor said the sacred tree at Ereja does not hinder the construction work.”
The Olukere, who quoted from the 1933 Intelligence Report, said his throne was the first in Ikere and should be accorded due honour, respect, and recognition by the state government.
Some youths and traditionalists of the town, today, Tuesday, continued with the protest and held up traffic for hours and also lit bonfires at Odo-Oja area of the town.
The indigenes claimed that the historical site known locally as the “Ereja” was the source of Ikere and was the place where the town was established and that removing the tree would be a bad omen. It is also the location where the annual Olosunta Festival is celebrated.
The residents had sacrificed a goat and pigeon and also placed other fetish objects at the site while palm fronds were also tied around the shrine.
Angry residents also formed a human shield around the shrine to resist any plan to demolish the site and uproot the sacred tree.
The Olukere was joined at his palace by the Alare of Are-Ikere, Chief Oguntuase Atitebi and the Elejoka of Ikuomoba-Ikere, Chief Benjamin Owolade, who both claimed that Olukere was the head of the community.
The state Commissioner for Information, Mr. Lanre Ogunsuyi, said the road construction must continue because, for every developmental effort, people must make sacrifices.
“Houses had been demolished, now that it is the shrine, it is only proper that we relocate the shrine to a proper place.
“With the necessary appeasement, the shrine could be relocated. All the gods in Yoruba land are for protection and not for death. We want to assure him (Olukere) that nothing bad will happen to him.
“The government will continue with the construction of roads, government must carry on with its responsibilities.” [myad]
The Senate, today, Tuesday, began the probing of the President Muhamadu Buhari’s Ogoni land cleanup as the legislature directed its committee on environment to investigate the implementation of the cleanup.
The exercise was launched by President Muhamadu Buhari in 2016 with an estimated cost of $1 billion.
The decision of the Senate followed a motion moved by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, to mark the World Environment Day.
The senate directed its committee to also assess the progress of the Great Green Wall programme initiated to control desertification in the country.
Moving the motion, Senator Tinubu expressed dismay that despite the launch of the project, work has not commenced in the area.
Contributing, Senator Magnus Abe said that there was nothing on ground yet to show that the clean up was designed to actually cleanup the area.
He said that farmlands were still polluted while rivers of oil spills still abound even as he called on the Federal Government to review the country’s environmental regeneration programmes to take care of environmental issues in the country.
Ogoni land is located in Rivers State on the coast of the Gulf of Guinea, east of the city of Port Harcourt. It extends across the Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Khana, Gokhana, Eleme and Tae.
In a 2011 assessment of over 200 locations in Ogoniland by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), it was found that impacts of the 50 years of oil production in the region extended deeper than previously thought.
Because of oil spills, oil flaring, and waste discharge, the alluvial soil of the Niger Delta is no longer viable for agriculture.
In many areas that seemed to be unaffected, groundwater was found to have high levels of hydrocarbons or were contaminated with benzene, a carcinogen, at 900 levels above WHO guidelines.
In the 2017 Democracy speech by Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, he said that the Ogoni Land clean up was an environmental priority of the government which was why it began last year. [myad]
The Presidency has openly accused the nation’s judiciary of compromising in the current war against corruption, saying that members of the judiciary are drifting in the wrong direction by showing solidarity with their colleagues who deserve condemnation.
Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Professor Itse Sagay, who spoke in an interview with Channels Television, insisted that the recent action of the National Judicial Council (NJC) suggests a compromise, which is unbecoming of the profession.
“Within the country, we are beginning to see a major problem of the judiciary not seeing its role as a very major one in the battle against corruption.
“Therefore, they are exhibiting some sort of esprit de corps or solidarity with their brethren who, in fact, they should excoriate and condemn for bringing down the image of their sacred institution.
“Those are some of the major problems, but we have plans to ensure that the drift in the wrong direction does not continue.”
He expressed the urgent need for the judiciary to check the trend because Nigeria can never have a successful fight against corruption without the full backing of the judiciary. [myad]
America and its allies have begun what has been described as the long and difficult battle to capture the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, the Islamic State’s de facto capital.
The U.S.-led coalition fighting the extremist group said today, Tuesday that Kurdish-led militants has atrted laying the groundwork for the offensive in November, edging through the surrounding province and cutting supply lines into the city.
But a showdown for the city itself will prove a major test for the coalition, with the potential for high civilian casualties.
“The fight for Raqqa will be long and difficult,” Lt. Geneneral Steve Townsend, the coalition’s commanding general, said in a statement.
In northeastern Syria, the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a group dominated by Syrian Kurdish militants, announced that a “great battle” had begun.
Islamic State militants seized Raqqa in January 2014, transforming it into the hub from which the group’s leadership planned expansion throughout the region and attacks around the world.
Three and a half years later, the city has diminished in importance as the group has lost two-thirds of its self-declared caliphate across Syria and Iraq. Western diplomats and experts monitoring the group say the Islamic State has relocated foot soldiers and senior leaders to the eastern province of Deir al-Zour, where an even tougher fight against the militants can be expected.
But U.S. officials estimate that at least 3,000 Islamic State fighters are still holed up inside Raqqa, where they have erected defenses against the anticipated assault.
Among them are as many as 200,000 civilians, who aid groups fear may be used as human shields, a tactic employed by the Islamic State in its strongholds across Syria and Iraq as coalition forces closed in.
Conditions inside the city are understood to be dire. According to a recent assessment by the Syria Relief Network, a coalition of nongovernmental organizations, two-thirds of the population are living on two meals a day amid dwindling supplies of essentials because of the siege.
SDF forces reached the northern and eastern gates to Raqqa last week after intense clashes under the cover of U.S.-led airstrikes.
Talal Sillo, a spokesman for the SDF, said Tuesday that the “great battle” is underway. “Morale is high and military readiness to implement the military plan is complete, in coordination with the U.S.-led coalition,” he told reporters in northeast Syria, flanked by representatives of Kurdish male and female fighting units, as well as Syrian rebel groups and Arab tribesmen.
Washington’s decision to back a Kurdish-led force has soured relations with Turkey, a NATO ally, which is battling Kurdish militants within its own borders. In Ankara, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Tuesday that the army is not ruling out military force if the battle for Raqqa is seen as a threat to Turkey.
The U.S.-led coalition emphasized the SDF’s “multi-ethnic” composition in its statement Tuesday. But Arab fighters within the SDF have long maintained that they are the junior partner in a force dominated by battle-hardened Kurdish fighters.
“Sometimes we feel like we are decorations. None of the Arab forces have any real power in this battle,” one man said in a recent interview, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said Tuesday that the SDF has captured some buildings in the Mishlab area and that Islamic State fighters have withdrawn from parts of the district. A second attack was reported against military barracks, Division 17, on the northern outskirts of Raqqa.
“It’s hard to convince new recruits that ISIS is a winning cause when they just lost their twin ‘capitals’ in both Iraq and Syria,” Townsend said in the coalition statement, using an acronym for the Islamic State.
Islamic State fighters are also under pressure across the border in Iraq, where U.S.-backed forces are locked in a grinding battle to retake the last neighborhoods held by the extremist group in the sprawling city of Mosul.
The group’s defeats across the two countries are believed to have strained its finances, which were heavily dependent on the ability to tax and extort populations under its control.
As Islamic State forces dig deep across their remaining territory, civilians have increasingly been caught in the crossfire, dying from the militants’ bombings and land mines as well as from coalition airstrikes and SDF shelling.
The International Rescue Committee said Tuesday that it was “deeply concerned” for Raqqa’s civilians and warned that they risked “facing the full brunt of the assault to come.”
Separately on Tuesday, the Pentagon said it had launched a second airstrike in a month against pro-government forces that it said threatened U.S. and allied troops based in southern Syria.
“Despite previous warnings, pro-regime forces entered the agreed-upon de-confliction zone with a tank, artillery, anti-aircraft weapons, armed technical vehicles and more than 60 soldiers,” the coalition said in a statement. It was not clear how many of those pro-government troops had been killed. [myad]
President of the Idoma National Forum, the apex-social economic group of Idoma community, Barrister Amali Amali, has described the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu as insane for counting Idoma community as part of Biafra territory.
He stressed that anyone who holds the view that the Idoma community is part of Biafra territory is insane and should visit a psychiatrist home, adding that those agitating for the Republic of Biafra were not born during the civil war.
The INF President, who said that Biafra is dead and buried, made it clear that Idoma men were part of the federal troops that waged war against the Biafran soldiers and have never supported idea of a divided Nigeria.
“Whoever says Idoma community is part of Biafra is insane and must visit the nearest psychiatrist home. These people making such claim were not around during the civil war.
“Idoma men were among the federal troops that fought against the Biafran warlords. We have never been part of Biafra and anyone who thinks we are must be out of his mind.”
Amali was reacting to the recent claim by the IPOB leader, Nnadi Kanu, who declared that Idoma is part of Biafra land.
Kanu had said, “In line with this remarkable sit at home, I will not hesitate to congratulate the people of Abia state, Anambra state, Akwa Ibom state, Bayelsa state, Cross River state, Delta state, Ebonyi state, Enugu state, Imo state, Rivers state including the good people of Igbanke in Edo state, Igala clan in Kogi state and Idoma/Igede/Agatu in Benue state for sending a clear and unmistakable message to the whole world that this Biafra self determination effort driven by IPOB is uncompromising.” [myad]
The grand patron of Biafran War veterans, Dr. Ramas Asuzu has questioned the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu for demanding the creation of Biafran Republic from Nigeria without consulting Igbo leaders. He questioned Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, the founder of the Movement for Actualization of sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and leader of Biafra Independence Movement (BIM) for starting the struggle and ending up enriching himself and abandoning it.
Speaking to newsmen on the outcome of the May 30 sit-at-home Biafra Heroes day celebration, Asuzu described Kanu and Uwazuruikes’ activities as one that smacks of personal interests and self egoism.
“While Kanu of IPOB continues to bask in the euphoria of a hero since regaining his freedom, Uwazuruike of MASSOB, started the same way and ended up enriching himself and abandoning the struggle.
“Before Kanu embarked on that struggle, he should have first consulted Igbo leaders widely and seek their input rather than taking a plunge that has not yielded any result so far.
“Late Odumegwu Ojukwu fought for the Igbo course with his whole might, yet, the world powers deprived us that freedom.
“Although Kanu started with negative approach by abusing everybody through Radio Biafra, I think he should have consulted the elders before such liberation journey. I don’t know if he actually did so, but as the grand patron of War veterans, I suppose to be on the roll.”
Asuzu who also claims to the spiritual head of Igbo emancipation, lamented how Ndigbo have been losing out in the country’s power play, warning that the restoration or actualization of Biafra is not the panacea to Igbo’s problem.
“I think Kanu and Uwazuruike should have placed the rights of Ndigbo on top priority before the agitation for restoration or actualization of Republic of Biafra.
“I am warning that with the present position of the Country, Nigeria may likely disintegrate naturally, without shooting a bullet.
“I don’t think there is need for any agitation in order to realize Biafra. The only best way for that is through the optimum implementation of the national Conference report.
“This is the only way out. Let the power be at the centre, so that the component zones will not be weak. Let the South East be governed independently while the North West be on their own, likewise others. This will stop the craze of second tenure and the madness of being in power perpetually. Causing violence or abusing people in the radio will not bring any solution to our problem.
“Biafra can never be dead but only when Ndigbo speak with one voice, the dream shall come true. Nnamdi Kanu may be right in whatever he is agitating for but who can predict what the mind habours. Whatever they are doing is on their own, and that is why the South East governors have been mute over the whole deal.
“For me, if Kanu really wants to do anything, he has to properly consult the Igbo Elders Council. They will sit down together to know whether Kanu should be the leader because we have seen them a lot.
“However, I must expressed my happiness over the release of Kanu but I must also note that his detention for so long a time before granting him bail has ended up making him Kanu popular”. “I thank the federal government and President Muhammadu Buhari for having done something that supposed to have been done for a very long time because the continued detention of Kanu has made him to be one of the famous men in the world.
“The demonstration of his mindset for Igbo liberation has given him a pat on his shoulder because I don’t know any Igbo man that would present himself to fight for the liberation of Igbo nation from the shackles of marginalization in Nigeria.
“As for Uwazuruike, the MASSOB leader, I take a swipe on the him because his actions were more of a Chinese revolution which looks like drinking tea in the interest of the masses.
“When Uwazuruike was agitating for Biafra nation, he was not using Limousine but now he moves on fleet of exotic cars with private security and he doesn’t talk any longer”. “So also we don’t know the mission of Kanu for now because within a short time, he may start using private Jet.” [myad]
The President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, has challenged officers of the Nigerian Customs to rise up and stop the renewed smuggling of food items, especially ricwe ans chicken or the job would be given to other set of Nigerians to do.
The Senate President, who spoke when he received in his office, representatives of Poultry Farmers’ Association of Nigeria, said: “this is economic sabotage we are talking about and the management of the Nigeria Customs must rise up, either they are ready to do it or we give it to people that are ready to do it.”
A statement by his Special Assistant on Print Media, Mr. Chuks Okocha, quoted Saraki as lamenting the high rate of smuggling of food items and called for immediate stop to it.
“We all know that about 40 per cent to 50 per cent of poultry products are still being smuggled into the country and this is bad. “Something needs to be done about it. Nigeria Customs must sit up because it is an economic sabotage.
“It is now that we must stop this smuggling particularly on agricultural products like rice and chicken.
“We will take this up aggressively. Without that, we are only wasting our time. Nothing we are going to do at this level in support of agriculture if products are still going to be smuggled in.
“Chicken is still being smuggled in and rice as well. This is something we must fight as a nation.
“If there are challenges the Customs is having, let them tell us. We are ready to support them. This is a fight we must win.
“ Ordinarily, if we are talking about diversifying the economy and we still allow the smuggling of chicken, there is no way organizations like your own can survive.”
On non-payment of compensation to farmers who lost their birds to the outbreak of the Avian Influenza, the Senate President said that the senate would play its part to ensure that affected farmers were compensated.
“We will see what we can do particularly on the issue of non-payment of compensation to farmers that lost their birds to the Avian Influenza. These farmers who are doing well need our encouragement.
“This is where government will show true interest in agriculture and ensure that all compensation is paid.”
On access to finance, Saraki decried the high interest rate charged by banks, saying, “I am surprised and this is the aspect we have to take up’’.
He expressed concern that farmers borrowed money from banks at interest as high as 25 per cent, adding that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) ought to support farmers, particularly the serious ones.
Earlier, the leader of the group, Alhaji Usman Dantata, said that the progress of poultry farming in the country was being undermined by the activities of smugglers and high interest rates.
“We humbly request you to implore the Nigerian Customs Service to do more to curtail the level of smuggling.
“We are equally concerned about difficulties in accessing finance for poultry and other agriculture production by most farmers.
“Where available, the interest rate is between 25 per cent and 27 per cent and the collateral terms are very stringent and the tenure of loan is very short.
“The repayment plan does not match the long term nature of our business and the potential cash flow available for debt service of agriculture business in Nigeria.” [myad]
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