Senior Special Assistant to the president on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, has described members of the Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB) and other groups agitating for a Biafra State as ignorant of the history of Nigeria.

Garba told news men that as far as he was concerned, Nigerians paid the ultimate prize of going to a-three-year civil war, where over one million people lost their lives.

According to him, those who are protesting for a State of Biafra have no information about the political history of the country, adding that the issue of Biafra was settled at the end of that civil war.

“Remember that this country fought a civil war for 30 months in which one million people were killed. The issue of Biafra was settled at the end of that civil war.

“What is there again? It is people who haven’t read Nigerian history and don’t know about it that are trying to raise new dust.”

Recently, Buhari was said to have thrown his weight behind the liberation of the Saharawi people in Morocco, a statement which most Nigerians frowned at against the agitation of the Biafra group.

Garba said: “For anybody to make comparison between Western Sahara and Biafra, that is a display of knowledge deficit in international politics. One, Western Sahara is a classic case of decolonization.

“It is the last remaining colony on the African continent and we all owe it a duty to ourselves to liberate Western Sahara.

“In fact, as military Head of State, President Buhari was the first to recognize Western Sahara and then the rest of Africa followed.

“So, he is being consistent. But Biafra is for the dismemberment of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which is already a settled entity. These two scenarios are clearly different.” [myad]

The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) has warned Nigerians to brace up for more hot days, warm nights and heat waves.

This is coming on the heels of the global average air temperature of the earth which is hitting 1°C hotter than it was at the start of the twentieth century.
In a statement by the Head of the Public Relations Unit, Eva Azinge, NIMET noted that with the long residence of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the current warming would continue beyond 2100, even when the emission of greenhouse gases is reduced.

The statement said, “We must therefore prepare for a future with more hot days, warm nights and heat waves because of past and present emissions. This preparation will require smart adaptation strategies and engaging in climate resilient practices to cope with the damage that has been done.” [myad]

The National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) has confirmed another pipeline blast at an oil field, operated by the Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC) in Bayelsa, killing three people.
The Director-General of the agency, Dr Peter Idabor, who confirmed the deaths said that a staff of the agency was lucky to escape death during the incident.

A source in Olugboro Community said that those who died were maintenance workers, repairing crude oil pipelines at Olugboro in the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa.

The explosion, which occurred on Easter Sunday, also left several people injured.

Idabor said that the survivor had drawn the attention of oil workers to the breach of safety procedure and left the scene shortly before the incident occurred.

“I received a report of the incident from our staff in Yenagoa office and luckily one of our officers on the team survived.

“Because of the safety conditions of the place after inspection my staff left the place and he was not affected.

“I am going to report the matter officially to the minister of environment today,” Idabor said.

On July 9 last year, a similar blast at Agip’s oil field in Azuzuama in Southern Ijaw left 14 people dead.

A regulatory official of the Bayelsa State Ministry of Environment and NOSDRA and 12 maintenance crew members were among the victims. [myad]

President Muhammadu Buhari has said that the political history of Nigeria would be incomplete without capturing the roles of the founder of the second republic’s Nigerian Advance Party (NAP), Dr. Tunji Braithwaite, who died in the early hours of today.

In a condolence message issued by his senior special assistant on media and publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, the President called on political leaders to emulate the virtues of the founder of NAP during the Second Republic, “who perceived politics as a platform for honest service to the nation rather than an opportunity to make money.”

President Buhari said that late Dr. Braithwaite was quintessentially selflessness, patriotic and committed to national development as his passion to serve the people never waned despite not winning in the presidential elections.

The President recalled the immeasurable contributions of the late sage to the development of democracy, rule of law and human rights in Nigeria, assuring his family and friends that the political history of the country would be incomplete without capturing his roles.

He believed that the passing away of the lawyer, author and politician came at a time that his wisdom, intellectual depth, vast knowledge and experience were sorely needed by the country even as he sympathized with his immediate family, friends, professional colleagues and political allies.

Buhari prayed that God will grant his soul eternal rest, and comfort his loved ones. [myad]

The Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) also known as Shiite has distanced itself from reports that it planned to kidnap military officers to demand the release of its leader, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky.

In a statement by its spokesman, Ibrahim Musa, IMN described the reports as mischievous and calculated to give the movement a bad name.

“Our attention has been drawn to a false, unsubstantiated and mischievous claim, that looks more like a planned operation aimed at painting the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) black, of some ‘intelligence’ report that the IMN may plan kidnap of military officers for ransom for the release of our revered leader, His Eminence Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky.

“Typically, this was followed by the alleged kidnap of an Army officer in Kaduna with the Nigerian Army issuing statement calling on the public to give information that would lead to the arrest of the perpetrators.

“Soon, some media outlets were quick to quote these malicious sources linking the IMN with the alleged kidnap.”

He said that the government and its Army are going further with their plans of campaign of calumny and false propaganda against the Movement, ranging from smear documentaries on Television networks, advertorials in daily newspapers, sponsoring fake non-governmental organizations and engagement of some very dubious characters to malign the IMN and its leadership, to engaging in organized crimes and attributing same to the Movement.

The statement declared that the IMN under the leadership of Sheikh Zakzaky has never and will never engage in any form of crime to meet any of its objectives.

“Crime and criminal activities are fundamentally sinful and are not in our character. The Islamic Movement knows that due to official administrative ineptitude and official negligence of constituted authority, a lot of crimes including kidnapping are prevalent in the country.

“As a religious body, the IMN condemns and preaches against all forms of crime. Therefore, it is virtually illogical and unreasonable for anyone to presume that the IMN would turn around to engage in such acts of immorality.”

The statement said that the IMN is a peaceful mass movement, with enlightened and responsible members, adding that for close to four decades now, it has conducted its activities in the most civilized manner and cannot in any way be derailed from that golden track record.

“IMN will therefore never be lured or diverted into any form of crime or violence. We are forced to believe that the government and its Army are resorting to these vicious campaigns in desperation.

“They wish not only to bury their crimes against humanity, but also to justify the bestiality they meted on the innocent unarmed members of the movement between 12th and 14th of December 2015, including burning IMN members alive, sexual mutilation and harassment of women, as well as abduction and illegal detention of members including the leader of the movement, besides killing over 1000 unarmed citizens.”

Zakzaky has been in detention since his arrest following a clash between the Nigerian Army and his followers in Zaria on December 12, 2015.

The Presidency was reported to have said that the Shiite may have been behind the abduction of a military officer, Colonel Samaila Inusa who was kidnapped in Kaduna on Saturday. [myad]