The Commissioner of Police in the Nigeria Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Musa Kimo has warned Igbo people agitating for the Republic of Biafra, under the canopy of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) not to carry out the planned protest in Abuja.
A statement by the commissioner today, Sunday via the command’s spokesman, ASP Usen Omorodion said that as a professional organization, the command would not fold its arms and watch criminal elements hide under the guise of such protest to cause breakdown of law and order.
He advised residents to go about their lawful duties without fear and molestation. [myad]
Medical doctors in Nigeria, under the umbrella of Medical Association of Nigeria (NMA) have frowned at move by the federal government to harmonize salaries of health workers in the country.
A communiqué issued today, Sunday, by the NMA President, Dr. Mike Ogirima, at the end of its 57th Annual General Meeting and Delegate Conference in Calabar, said: “what we are against is the fact that everybody cannot be equated to be equal. In the animal kingdom, all animals are equal; but some are more equal than others.”
The communiqués said that although health workers face many hazards in the discharge of their duties but that their output cannot be compared to doctors who performed the bulk of the medical services.
“There is an attempt to harmonize the salaries and the Federal Ministry of Health is at the lead of that attempt, which is currently causing a lot of disharmony in the health sector.
“Medical doctors are highly skilled and few in the country; the cut-off mark for medical students now is 280 and above. Everybody wants to accept that title of doctor in the medical set up; we are not against that.”
The association said that it is not against moves to enhance the welfare of other health workers, but insisted that relativity should be maintained.
“We are not saying that the welfare of other medical workers should not be taken care of, but that relativity should be maintained when we talk of salaries of health workers in the hospitals.
“The NMA is calling on government to evaluate different professionals in the health sector and audit the output they put at work.
“With that, there will be more objective data and statistics to buttress our point, asking for maintenance of the relativity.”
The doctors lamented the deteriorating state of infrastructures in public health institutions across the country and called on governments at all levels, to place premium on developing the sector.
They called on the federal government to be proactive by having a strong rapid emergency response team to handle outbreak of diseases, just as it stressed the need to resume local production of vaccines in the country.
The NMA condemned the poor handling of the outbreak of Cerebral Spinal Meningitis in many states across the country.
The NMA also ratified the adoption of the association’s seal/stamp for medical practitioners to check quackery in the profession.
House of Representatives speaker, Yakubu Dogara has raised the hope of Nigerian workers with a promise that the House will soon pass a new minimum wage bill.
Yakubu Dogara, who was fielding questions from State House Correspondents today, Sunday, after closed door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said Reps said that the issue of increasing workers’ salary and wages has become necessary in view of the current inflation, naira devaluation and rising cost of living.
“I wish to congratulate the entire Nigerian workers as they join their counterparts the world over in commemorating the International Workers’ Day.
“While commending you for your sacrifice and commitment to the service and building of the nation, I wish to assure you that the National Assembly and in particular , the 8th House of Representatives remains committed to the passage of the National Minimum Wage Bill when it is presented by the Executive and initiating other laws and legislative interventions that will promote the welfare and well being of Nigerian Workers.”
Dogara asked workers, especially civil servants to rededicate themselves to duty and support government’s laudable policies and programmes.
“As you mark this historic day, I wish to remind Nigerians of the sacrifices made by the working class in nation building and commit yourselves to doing even more in supporting government’s activities that will better the lots of our citizens.” [myad]
Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Kogi State, Comrade Onuh Edoka and his Trade Union Congress (TUC), counterpart, Comrade Ojo Ronti, have announced that there will be no May Day workers’ celebration in the state tomorrow, May 1st because of the fact that state government is owing most workers 14 month salaries.
In a statement in Lokoja, the union leaders emphasized that there is no reason to celebrate “as workers and pensioners have been experiencing hardship in the past 14 months due to the non-payment of salaries and pensions.”
They said that the non-payment of salaries to a large number of workers and pensioners have destroyed the civil service and the workforce, even as they expressed dissatisfaction with the non-release of the report of the staff screening review and appeal committee to the union to study and come up with its observations and position.
They faulted the claims by some government aides on social media that all workers have been paid their salaries.
The NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, had, last week, lamented Governor Yahaya Bello’s treatment of workers, saying: “it is interesting to note that Kogi tops the chart of non-salary paying states with 15 months backlog in spite of warehousing for the government of Yahaya Bello the first bail-out fund and the second bail-out.
“Salaries and pensions constitute fundamental human rights of workers and pensioners and nothing should be done to threaten these or else the lives of workers, pensioners and their families are put in jeopardy.”
He advised the governor to pay up outstanding salaries, pensions and negotiate with striking workers in tertiary institutions without any further delay. [myad]
The leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo has said it will meet with the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, in a bid to convince him to embrace their call for restructuring of the country rather than secession.
The Deputy National Publicity Secretary of Ohanaeze, Chuks Ibegbu, said in an interview that the association intends to find a ‘common ground’ with Kanu on the agitation.
“Ohanaeze will definitely discuss with him (Kanu). Ohanaeze has been making efforts to parley with all the pro-Biafra groups and find a point of agreement with them on these issues.
“Even before now, Ohanaeze wanted to send a delegation to see him in Kuje Prison. We planned it before he was granted bail. We will engage him and some of his associates so that we can find a common ground. He is our son, we understand him and he will understand us. If there are areas of divergence, we will find ways to address it so that we can work together.
“At the planned meeting, Ohanaeze intends to make Kanu understand and appreciate its position, which is the restructuring of the country, rather than secession. Ohanaeze’s position is restructuring and his (Kanu’s) position is secession. We will not tell him to drop his desire for self-determination but we will make him understand that Ohanaeze’s position is the position of the Igbo people.
“He has the right to seek self-determination, but we will make him appreciate Ohanaeze’s position, which is restructuring and social justice. Ohanaeze’s position is the position of the totality of the Igbo people. We will also make him understand that there is no need to insult anybody in the agitation, and no need for violence – of course he has never been violent.”
“Restructuring is the only solution to the problems in this country. With restructuring, even the issue of corruption would be addressed. What generates corruption? When the system is suffocating people, when the system is not properly coordinated, people will be stealing here and there. You cannot stop corruption by force. Even the issue of lopsided appointments is corruption. We have to address the fundamental issues.”
Nnamdi Kanu, who has been in detention since October 14, 2015, was finally released from Kuje Prisons, Abuja, on Friday, after meeting his bail conditions. He is being tried for treasonable felony. [myad]
The Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, has said the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, is after his life but the police boss said that the governor is telling lie as there is no such plan..
Governor Wike told journalists in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, today Saturday that before he travelled to Kaduna on Friday, the IGP had directed his crack team to invade his home in Asokoro, Abuja, supposedly acting on information from a whistle-blower.
“I want to reiterate that the Inspector-General of Police is after my life.”
He claimed that the planned raid was aimed at planting firearms, cash and other incriminating exhibits in his Abuja home, claims the police have denied.
“All attempts are being made so that they will go and plant either AK-47 or $1m in the governor’s house. They can even plant costly wristwatches as a propaganda tool.
“I said I have to let Nigerians know that this is not the way to go about in democracy. Rather, this is an attempt to truncate democracy. That someone differs on issues does not mean you have to go after the person’s life.”
The governor said that the police also planned to obtain a search warrant from the court on Tuesday, as Monday is a public holiday, under the guise that they unaware that the house in question belonged to a sitting governor.
He called on the police to come to his home in rivers to conduct their search, instead of his Abuja residence, which he hardly visits.
“Nigerians should be aware that should they raid my house in Abuja and claim they found anything, it is incorrect. I have not been going to Abuja, but I will be in Abuja to wait for them to see how they plan to plant guns in my house.”
In a swift reaction, the Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood denied the governor’s allegation, saying that the police never plants incriminating materials in the house of anybody.
The Force PRO also said he was not aware of any plan by the police to raid the Abuja home of Governor Wike, adding that the Police would always act within its constitutional mandate of protecting lives and properties including the prevention of crime. [myad]
On April 30, 1932, in the sleepy, rural community of Mopa, in the present day Mopa-muro local government area of Kogi state, a baby boy was born to the family of Pa Solomon Iwalaiye and Mama Dorcas Omoboja. The boy ended up being the only surviving child of his mother, due to the fact that the children that came before him died in their infancy.
If you are conversant with the poem – Abiku (spirit child) – with the opening lines being: “Coming and going these several seasons…” and the closing lines: “Then step in, step in and stay; for her body is tired, tired, her milk going sour; where many more mouths gladden the heart”, written by John Pepper Clark, you would understand the pains of Mama Omoboja.
The birth of the boy on a Sunday, the day of the Lord, was to serve as a terminus to the tragic narrative of infant deaths that had plagued her, little wonder she was called Mama Sunday while she lived. In Yoruba land, such children are given special names that would define their individualities. He was not only named Sunday, he was also called Bolorunduro (meaning, one standing with God). Bolorunduro (Duro, for short), in the Yoruba folklore, literally means “do not go.”
Sunday Bolorunduro, the son of Pa and Ma Solomon Iwalaiye Awoniyi, survived the vicissitudes of life to become a personage who positively impacted his eon. He was Secretary to the Executive Council of the Northern Regional Government where he worked very closely with the late Premier, Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto. And, because of that closeness, he was schooled in and affected by the Sarduana’s world outlook. He thus became known as Sardauna Keremi (meaning, in Hausa, small or little Sardauna).
He was a consistent man of industry, courage, fairness, transparency, propriety in conduct, a stickler for integrity and widely respected and trusted public administrator. I had a rare privilege of a very close relationship with the Sardauna Keremi, who was also the Aro of Mopa, as a retired public servant who was actively engaged in politics and socio-cultural engagements in the third and fourth republics before he passed on due to injuries he sustained in a fatal crash along Kaduna road on November 19, 2007. He was then the chairman of the national executive committee of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and was travelling to attend a meeting of the forum.
This is the tenth year of his passing; and, I have decided to do two ultimate posthumous publications on him: one to commemorate his birthday, 85 years today; and, the second, a befitting ten-year remembrance tribute on November 28, this year. He died on that date at 11 pm in a London hospital, despite effort to save him.
B. Awoniyi, as he was popularly known, was a good and decent man whose reputation was unimpeachable. Our paths crossed in Abuja. I was deputy bureau chief of Vanguard newspapers and had the responsibility to furnish him with complimentary copies of the newspaper every day, being a director of the newspaper. That was how I ended up having daily engagements with the profound mind that he typified.
I learnt many virtuous things from him: integrity, discipline and fastidiousness. He also taught me to love country and eschew nepotism. He would do what he had promised. He was disciplined with time management and fastidious with his writings. He would have to go through his speeches many times, making amends and supplying accurate details.
Awoniyi followed my progress in journalism. He would always have one positive comment to give about my reports. There was a particular tribute I wrote during one of his birthday celebrations. He called me up and excitedly, on the other end, declared: “Oj (short form for Ojeifo, which was how he referred to me), I have just finished reading your brilliant write-up. You have done what Napoleon could not do. You have surpassed yourself.”
Now consider this: I was asked by the publisher of Vanguard newspapers, Mr Sam Amuka, to immediately resign my position as Bureau Editor of the Abuja office on August 12, 2005. The then Administration Manager, Mr Timothy Etoh, had called to pass across the management decision to me. He asked me what I did to the publisher and I asked Mr Etoh what the publisher said my offence was. What he told me was that the publisher said he came to the Abuja office and one of the florescent tubes in the office was not working.
Although, I knew the workplace politics that underpinned my exit from Vanguard; it was certainly not on account of editorial incompetence or gross professional misconduct. Awoniyi was in London when the management took that decision. I called him up to brief him. He was shouting at the other end. “I am calling Sam right away,” he said with pains in his voice.
But he got a shocker from me when I told him he should not bother to call him and that I would rather move on with life. He could not believe what I said. Between the time that I spoke with him and two days later when he returned to Nigeria, he had called me and my wife separately nineteen times on phone. It was incredible. He was encouraging and assuring me that God and my goodwill would speak for me.
I moved on with life. I took the next six months to round off a postgraduate programme at the University of Abuja. Immediately, I completed the programme in 2006, it was Awoniyi who discussed, without consulting with me, with Malam Kabir Yusuf, who was then the editor-in-chief and managing director of Daily Trust newspaper on the possibility of my working with the newspaper. That was how I berthed in Trust as a special correspondent for six months before I resigned and joined THISDAY as political editor in Abuja in 2006.
Awoniyi also became very interested in my family. I remember when I travelled to Indonesia in 2000 to cover the Inter-Parliamentary Union conference and my pregnant wife gave birth to my second son, he took it upon himself to visit her constantly in the hospital while I was away.
One day, he called on phone. When I picked, he exclaimed: “Omo okun, aku rigidi” (meaning, son, take care; we are taking things in our strides). At first, I was flummoxed. Then I replied: “This is Ojeifo, Sir.” I thought he dialed the wrong number. Then he replied: “I know.” At that point, it occurred to me that, as a father, he was trying to integrate me into his Okun heritage as a foster son of sorts.
He would always inform me of his movements, including the fatal last trip to Kaduna. Besides, he always met minds with me on his media engagements. For instance, when he was contesting to be chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in November 1999, I played some roles. He ensured that he discussed with me appointments from journalists for interviews before granting them. The relationship was very close and I still cherish it even in his absence.
While I contemplate a final good bye to this great man in a posthumous publication (in which I would explore his many parts) on November 28, this year, I wish to leave you with an apt description of Awoniyi, former super permanent secretary, businessman, third republic senator and politician, which was contained in his citation for the award of national honours of Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) in 1977: “A man of great integrity and deep sense of public service, a candid and fearless adviser, a brilliant, innovative, yet, self-effacing officer.” I concur and this tribute is celebratory of his personality.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan has made it clear that he never personally promised to do one term of four year in office.
He said: “Of course, at that period, the issue of one term was brought several times at different meetings and some people took it upon themselves to pledge on my behalf but I never said I was going to spend only one term… the question was always usually randomly asked and I never made any such commitment to anybody.”
Dr. Jonathan who spoke against the backdrop of a book: “Against the Run of play: How an incumbent President was defeated in Nigeria,” written by the Chairman of ThisDay Editorial Board, Segun Adeniyi, however admitted that there was indeed a gentleman’s agreement that he was going to do just one term and leave office.
He said that he later changed his mind so long he did not contravene the constitution, explaining: “you can make a political promise and change your mind, so long as it is within the law.”
The former President, who was obviously not comfortable with the content of Segun Adeniyi’s book, said: “I had made a proposition for a single term of seven years. That was the context in which I spoke in Addis Ababa that if the idea was accepted, I would not run again. It was not in the context of a second term of four years.
Adeniyi controversial book, which Dr. Jonathan said is filled with so many distortions, was formally presented to the public in Lagos yesterday, Friday 28.
The author, in the book, narrated how Jonathan lost the 2015 election and blamed ex-United States of America’s President, Barack Obama for his loss to President Muhammadu Buhari.
In a series of tweets, the former President said that the accounts of what transpired in the election by some respondents in the book were false, saying that he will soon come out with his own version on what actually transpired during the election.
“I have just read Segun Adeniyi’s new book, ‘Against the Run of Play’ which has so far enjoyed tremendous reviews in the media. My take on it is that the book as presented contains many distorted claims on the 2015 Presidential election by many of the respondents
“There will obviously be more books like that on this subject by concerned Nigerians.
“However, I believe that at the right time, the main characters in the elections, including myself will come out with a true account of what transpired either in major interviews or books.” [myad]
The United Nations Children’s Funds (UNCEF) has said that no fewer than 600 school teachers have lost their lives in the Lake Chad region ravaged by the Boko Haram insurgency.
“Boko Haram, whose name in the Hausa language means ‘Western Education is Forbidden,’ has killed more than 600 teachers and forced over 1,200 schools to close during its eight-year insurgency in Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad.”
In a statement, UNICEF said that schools are particularly vulnerable to bombings, attacks and abductions by the insurgents and that many people lacked detailed safety plans.
The UN agency said that it is now targeting 158,900 Children to benefit from the training program, which is expected to run until the end of the year.
“The training program, run in partnership with the European Union, encourages teachers to evaluate the risks facing their schools and helps them develop action plans so that students and teachers know what to do in case of emergency.
“Ensuring access to education for crisis-affected children is important, however opening schools is not enough,” said Marie-Pierre Poirier, UNICEF’s regional director for West and Central Africa said in the statement.
“Children and teachers need to be equipped with knowledge and skills, to be prepared and able to mitigate the effects of something dangerous happening around the school premises.”
The UNICEF spokesman, Patrick Rose said: “some of the plans include appointing student leaders, designating assembly points and practicing emergency evacuation techniques. Some 1,600 teachers have been trained so far.
“The training also includes techniques for providing traumatized children with psychological support and making schools feel like a safe place in the midst of the chaos.
“Teachers learn games that can have a healing effect, and how to incorporate lessons about looking after each other into the children’s activities.” [myad]
The Nigeria Police Force has alleged that four suspects confessed that they were sent by the Chairman of Ijumu Local Government Area of Kogi State, Taofiq Isah to assassinate Senator Dino Melaye.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Chief Superintendent of Police Jimoh Moshood, who paraded the suspects along with the local government chairman and his Police orderly, Ede James, alleged that the council chairman directed one Abdulmumini, a.k.a Iron, now at large, who was said to be his personal assistant, to execute the assassination plot.
The Force spokesman said that the council chairman also recruited other members of the vicious and notorious hired assassins gang, adding that investigations have so far indicated that the council chairman actually masterminded the attempted assassination of Melaye.
The other suspects were identified as Ade Obage, 29; Abdullahi a.k.a Eko; as well as Ahmed Ajayi, 45, and Michael Bamidele, 26 – both security men at Isah’s residence.
The Police spokesman said that different types of arms and ammunition used for the attack have been recovered from the suspects. They include five AK-47 rifles, one Berretta pistol, two locally made single-barrel shotguns, 25 expended shells of 7.62mm ammunition, 13 expended shells of 9mm ammunition, 12 expended shells of gauge cartridge and one ambulance (Hyundai bus).
The suspects who were arrested by a team from the Police Special Tactical Squad, deployed by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, after the attack, on April 15 attacked the Senator’s residence in Kogi State with the intention of killing him. [myad]
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