PDP National Chairman, Ayu | Photo credit: Premium Times
The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Iyorcha Ayu has made it clear that he has no intention of resigning from his position.
In a statement today, August 15, through his special assistant on communication and strategy, Simon Imobo-Tswam, Senator Ayu said that he intends to serve out the four-year mandate given to him by the PDP.
“The PDP National Chairman, Dr. Iyiochia Ayu, has not resigned and has no plan of resigning. For clarity and emphasis, he was elected for a tenure of four years.”
The position of the PDP chairman came against the backdrop of the crisis rocking the main opposition party over the emergence of Atiku Abubakar as the party’s 2023 presidential candidate and the subsequent emergence of Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa as his running mate.
The camp of Rivers State Governor, Nyeson Wike has demanded his resignation as part of the solutions to the crisis affecting the PDP. Wike is alleged to have insisted that Ayu should resign to address the issue of having the party’s national chairman and its presidential candidate coming from the same Northern region.
Patent medicine dealers have called on the Federal Government to factor them into the immunisation programme in Nigeria.
The national president of the National Association of Patent and Proprietary Medicine Dealers (NAPPMED), Prince Joel Odoh, who spoke to newsmen in Abuja, said that patent medicine dealers who are all over the country, are highly dedicated and experienced.
He said that the union has over 627, 000 registered members across the country, with good structure to take the scheme to the grass-roots for quality health delivery in Nigeria.
“The ministry should consider our members for immunisation programmes instead of hurriedly training non-health professionals and sending them to the field. This is about health.
“Patent medicine dealers have been in this field for many years. Our association is over 60 years. A majority of us have garnered experiences through trainings and on the field, hence we can discharge primary health roles effectively.”
He commended the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control for making identification of fake drugs easy.
“We commend NAFDAC that numbers drugs. Our members know how to identify fake and counterfeit drugs. Anybody selling them simply wants to do that. There are numbers inscribed on these drugs for easy identification.
“Our members know that getting these drugs from open markets may make them vulnerable to fake drugs. I urge them to be very careful by simply observing those precautions. Some of us who get drugs from manufacturers directly also check these facts meticulously.
“We have stringent measures for erring members. If it is the government that arrested such sellers, we won’t go there. If it is our task force that arrested them, because we have task forces at unit, state and national levels, after dealing with the persons in accordance with our rules, they will be handed over to NAFDAC for further actions.”
The government of Saudi Arabia has rejected the United Nations (UN) document on the Convention on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) Agreement, a veiled reference to women emancipation.
CEDAW is an international treaty that was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly.
The Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Adel Al-Jubeir, in a statement today, August 15, described CEDAW as against the provisions of Islamic Sharia.
Though some Arab countries have begun to agree to the CEDAW agreement, but the Saudi government insisted that some provisions in the document are dangerously contradictory to the provisions of the Holy Qur’an.
Minister Adel Al-Jubeir listed such provisions as follows:
1- CEDAW says that a woman is like a man but the Qur’an says: “And the male is not like the female.”
2- CEDAW says a man is not allowed to have polygamy but the Qur’an says: “Then marry as many women as you like, two, three and four.”
3- CEDAW says that children are named after their mothers but the Qur’an says: “Call them to their fathers.”
4- CEDAW says: There is no waiting period for a woman (after divorce) but the Qur’an says: “And divorced women await three readings by themselves.”
5- CEDAW says the man does not have guardianship over the woman and the father does not have guardianship over his daughters but the Qur’an says: “Men are the guardians of women.”
6 – CEDAW says male and female in inheritance are one but the Qur’an says: “The male shall have the share of two females.”
7- CEDAW says a man can marry a man like him and a woman can marry a woman like her but the Qur’an says: “Do you come to the remembrances of the worlds.”
8- CEDAW gives women the right to have an abortion but the Qur’an says: “And do not kill your children.”
9- CEDAW does not criminalize sexual relations outside of marriage for both spouses but the Qur’an says: “Do not approach adultery, for it was an indecency and an evil way.”
10- CEDAW says: A woman is bound to whomever she wants, separates whenever she wants, and reconnects whenever she wants but the Qur’an says: “Magnorous women who do not intermarry, nor take wives’ wives.”
11 – CEDAW says: The age of marriage is after eighteen but the Qur’an says:
“And afflict the orphans until they reach the age of marriage.”
Saudi government stressed that whoever wants to stand by CEDAW and defend it must know that he is disobedient to God, and denies His Book and the Sunnah of His Prophet..
“Work diligently to dissolve the conservative society, and work to push it to follow lust and perversion.”
Let’s call it a tale of two WhatsApp broadcasts. On 5 June 2022, I received this chat from an older friend whom I call “uncle” because of the age difference: “Today in Owo at St Francis Catholic Church, Owaluwa Street, Owo, Fulani herdsmen on rampage”. It was accompanied with videos of the terror act in which 80 defenceless worshippers were murdered in cold blood. I can’t stand gory sights, so I did not open the videos. I already read the news and the heart-wrenching details and did not need any visuals. The Owo attack shook me gravely: I started fretting and wondering if the terrorists were about to open a new frontier in their attacks on the peace and stability of Nigeria.
On 9 August, I received another WhatsApp broadcast from uncle. It had a title: “Owo Massacre: Arrested Suspects are Mostly Ebira.” It read: “Two of the masterminds of the deadly terrorist attack on St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State, South-West Nigeria have been arrested. The suspects described as top commanders of Islamic State West Africa Province ISWAP in Nigeria, are 39-year old Jimoh Ibrahim, Idris Abdul Malik Omeiza, Momoh Ojowu Abu, Aliyu Yusuf and Auwal Onimisi”. By popular accounts in June 2022, echoed by sections of the media, the attackers were “Fulani herdsmen”. Two months later, they were Ebira from Kogi state.
You see, to set Nigeria on fire through ethnic profiling and hate-mongering in order to promote the “this country cannot work” mindset is not that difficult. Just craft a fantastic narrative that will sell ethnic and religious prejudice and get the hate merchants to help you nurture it. You are good to go. If some Yoruba taxi drivers in Jos are found to have kidnapped a passenger, just start a narrative around “Yoruba kidnappers” and soon enough, every criminal in Plateau State and northern Nigeria will be called “Yoruba kidnapper”. Anytime anyone is kidnapped, the template is set: “Yoruba kidnappers abduct passengers in Riyum”. It doesn’t matter if the kidnappers are Berom or Hausa.
If an Igbo is arrested for internet fraud or drug pushing and your interest is in casting the Igbo ethnic nationality in bad light, your job is made easy. All you need to do is develop a narrative that Igbos are internet fraudsters or cocaine pushers. Ignore the fact that Igbos are doing excellently in science and technology, commerce, sport and other spheres of life. Just focus on the 0.0001 percent involved in internet fraud and conclude that all internet fraudsters are Igbo or that Igbo people are fraudsters. Discount the fact that Yoruba, Edo, Ibibio and Hausa people are also being arrested and jailed for internet fraud. You must ignore that detail — because it won’t help your hate-mongering duty.
Let me be clear again: I do not deny that many criminals wreaking havoc across the country are Fulani. This has been well established in many places, north and south. I also know that there is a perception that the criminal elements are getting a pass because President Muhammadu Buhari, himself a Fulani, has failed to come down heavily on them. It is a very popular notion. What I object to, and will continue objecting to, is the demonisation of a whole ethnic group because of the criminal conduct of a tiny minority. Suddenly, all kidnappers and killers in Nigeria are “Fulani”. People of other ethnicities are clean — they don’t kidnap or kill. That is the prevailing narrative.
Here is my point: we should never rush to attribute crimes to members of an ethnic group before the actual facts are established. In August 2017, gunmen attacked St Philips Catholic Church, Ozubulu, Anambra State on a Sunday morning, killing 35 worshippers. Internet was immediately awash with claims that “Fulani herdsmen” and “Boko Haram” were behind the massacre. The police commissioner said it was local war. He was savaged and ridiculed on Twitter over the “newfound efficiency” of the police in establishing the facts of a crime. It did not take us long to discover that it was indeed a gang war between drug lords who were trading in meth. Ethnic profiling is deadly.
How do we tackle ethnic profiling? The least we can do is stop prefixing terrorists, bandits, robbers, drug pushers and fraudsters with “Yoruba”, “Igbo”, “Fulani”, etc. Criminals are criminals. There is no ethnic group in Nigeria that does not have criminals in abundance. I felt quite uncomfortable when the military authorities identified the suspects behind the Owo attack as “Ebira”, “Egbirra” and “Ebra”. I believe it was enough to identify them as coming from Okene, Kogi State, and leave the rest unsaid. I suspect the authorities were eager to disprove the “Fulani herdsmen” claim, but they may end up profiling the Ebira. Every Ebira now stands the risk of being perceived as a terrorist or bandit.
Ethnic profiling promotes ethnic hate. We have to deal with it. For starters, maybe we should start celebrating the good in others rather than magnifying the bad in them? Maybe we should free our minds to also see the professionals and entrepreneurs from other ethnic groups, not just the outlaws? Maybe we should start seeing others as human beings like us: imperfect, self-interested, territorial and capable of doing good and bad? Maybe we should judge people individually rather than collectively? As a Nigerian who has experienced prejudice in foreign lands because of the adventures of a few fraudulent Nigerians abroad, I can never be an evangelist for ethnic profiling.
When Mr Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, picked Dr Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed as his running mate, I was gratified by the way “Obidients” welcomed him with open arms. They started celebrating his two degrees in economics. They started casting his Fulani roots as an electoral asset. I said: “This is it”! On another day, those who celebrated him would typically have called him a “Fulani terrorist” or “Fulani cow”. They would otherwise have derided his degrees as a product of “quota system”. But the same human being, from the same ethnic stock and the same religion, is being cast in a good light. Yes, that is what you see when you pocket your prejudice.
Aside ethnic profiling, identity politics is also being deployed to promote ethnic hate. You will later find out that people are just playing politics. For instance, the heartland of the resistance to “Fulani jihad” in northern Nigeria today is Benue State. Yet, I understand that most Benue delegates voted for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, a Fulani Muslim, in the presidential primary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Dr Iyorchia Ayu, the PDP Chairman and a Christian from Benue, worked for Atiku, not Chief Nyesom Wike, his fellow Christian. Ayu embraced Rt. Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, another Fulani Muslim, hailing him as the “hero of the convention” for delivering his delegates to Atiku. Politics!
Mr Babachir Lawal, the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, has been campaigning against Muslim-Muslim ticket since Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential flagbearer, picked Alhaji Kashim Shettima as his running mate. However, he worked for Tinubu, a Muslim, in the APC primary despite the fact that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, a pastor, was also in the race. It would appear Lawal completely forgot about religion in this instance. It is understandable: if Osinbajo, or Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi had won the APC ticket, Lawal would not be in running for the VP slot. Tinubu settled for a Muslim and Lawal became a fiery northern Christian activist. Politics!
Anyone familiar with my writings knows that I am an advocate of “balancing” in a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society. I do not wish to depart from that. Not yet. However, I am intelligent enough to understand that we freely deploy politics and prejudice to promote a narrative. We take certain positions and ignore certain facts and realities because of our undeclared self-centred agenda; which is perfectly human. The dangerous part, for me, is when we go overboard to propagate and promote ethno-religious hate and stoke fire. We need to draw a line. We have to choose between promoting peace and propagating hate. If Nigeria catches fire, we will all suffer the consequences.
As I was putting finishing touches to this article, I received this instructive broadcast from a friend: “Take a good look at the ongoing case of Ahmed Idris (the suspended Accountant-General of the Federation); he is being prosecuted alongside an accomplice in person of Godfrey Olusegun Akindele, a Yoruba man. They are being defended by the chambers of Kalu Uche & Co; all before a Yoruba judge – Adeyemi Ajayi. So, in summary, a Hausa/Fulani man stole, his partner in crime is a Yoruba man, he is being prosecuted by the EFCC (Economic and Financial Crimes Commission) headed by another Hausa/Fulani man but engaged the services of a Yoruba prosecutor… and the accused are being defended by an Igbo man.”
The writer concluded: “Those who steal our common patrimony are always united in corruption, irrespective of tribes and religions; but whenever they want to hoodwink the unsuspecting citizens for their own gains, they amplify our fault-lines”.
That is my point. We are all victims of insecurity, kidnapping, terrorism, corruption, inadequate infrastructure, economic hardship, and poor governance. Yet, we have managed to allow ourselves to be hoodwinked into promoting ethnic hate through profiling and identity politics. When those destroying Nigeria gather to plot and plunder, the last thing on their mind is ethnicity or religion. I hope we would wake up to this reality someday.
AND FOUR OTHER THINGS…
PARIS CLOBBERS
Mallam Abubakar Malami, the Attorney-General of the Federation, has been fighting tooth and nail to make us pay $418 million to consultants who said they were engaged to help use their calculators to determine what was due to the states from the Paris Club refund. On Thursday, he insisted that the claims are justified. What he did not add was that there is still a case in court challenging these claims. If we are really serious, the EFCC should have been unleashed on the claimants and their lobbyists by now to uncover the shady details — as was done in the P&ID case. But it seems there is more to this than we are being told. Nigeria!
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
The arrest of suspected perpetrators of the 4 June 2022 Owo massacre is heart-warming, even if it cannot bring back the lives of those heartlessly gunned down by the terrorists. I don’t know if anyone has noticed this, but Ondo is one of the very few states where perpetrators of these dastardly acts are being brought to justice. In June 2022, three persons were sentenced to death for the murder of Mrs Funke Olakunrin, daughter of Reuben Fasoranti, the former leader of Afenifere. In 2017, seven people were imprisoned for life for kidnapping Chief Olu Falae, former Minister of Finance. Rather than just lamenting and alleging conspiracy, we should seek justice. Always.
BANDITS’ PARADISE
Seven more kidnapped victims of the Abuja-Kaduna train attack were released on Wednesday after over four months in captivity. The sorry sight of a family with four children hit me very hard. This is what Nigeria has become. The bandits, or terrorists, are having a ball at our expense. According to reports, not only did the Federal Government meet their demands of having their commanders and family members released from prison, they still went ahead to collect ransoms before releasing their victims. We do not want to use military force because they are using the victims as human shield. Clearly, the advantage is with the criminals until we figure out how to conquer them. Damning.
ASUU ISSUE
It is now six full months since university students have been at home as a result of the strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). A big bone of contention, obviously, is the insistence by the Federal Government that university employees should be enrolled on the integrated personnel and payment information system (IPPIS) for more transparency on the wage bill. ASUU has developed the universities transparency accountability solution (UTAS) which it says is better. For us to resolve this crisis and move forward, I would advise that (1) the Federal Government should accept UTAS (2) ASUU should allow UTAS to be linked to BVN. Compromise.
Former Vice President of Nigeria and Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, took his home State, Adamawa by storm today, August 15, along with the party leaders, including former vice president Namadi Sambo, the vice presidential candidate and governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa, governor of Adamawa State Ahmadu Fintiri and national chairman of PDP, Iyorchia Ayu.
Atiku promised the decampees that he will work for them, saying: “I have been serving the people since I joined politics 30 years ago and that is my promise to you all today.
“I believe that Governor Fintiri has done a good job and that we should join hands to make sure he wins his second term election.”
This was even as the chairman of the party, Iyorcha Ayu said that the rate of defection from the APC to the PDP is increasing by the day, adding that the frequent defections indicate that the opposition party is waxing stronger.
“It is clear everywhere that the PDP is back. Today, we are here to take in new members into the PDP. Very soon, this venue shall be hosting the President of Nigeria who is your very own son.
“I welcome the new entrants to our party and I therefore hand them over to Governor Fintiri. I urge the governor to continue with his good work in making Adamawa better than he met it,” Ayu said.
Speaking on behalf of the supporters and the decampees from various electoral wards across the state, Shuaibu Babbas, a member of the Adamawa State House of Assembly from Fufore Gurin constituency, said that their loyalty and commitment to the PDP in its quest to oust the APC and fix the broken state of the country’s socio-economic and political fabrics is firm.
It is the first time that the presidential standard bearer will be visiting his home state after the presidential primaries election of the PDP.
The Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund ( NSITF) has said that termites have eaten up N17.158 billion vouchers which led to the failure by it to justify the spending of N17.158 billion in 2013 without the required documentary evidence.
Senator Matthew Urhoghide-led Senate Committee on Public Accounts that is looking into the NSITF spending, noted with surprise that the 2018 Audit report by the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation confirmed that N17.158 billion was the total amount of money that was transferred by NSITF, from its Skye and First Bank accounts into various untraceable accounts belonging to individuals and companies from January to December 2013.
In the report, 50 different queries bordering on alleged misappropriation of funds by management of the agency were raised which are being looked into by the Senate Committee.
Specifically, on the N17.158billion unsubstantiated transfers made by NSITF , the query read: “Management of NSITF as shown in statements of Account No. 1750011691 with Skye bank plc, for the period 1st January, 2013 to 20th December, 2013, and Statements of Account No.2001754610 with First Bank Plc for the period 7th January, 2013 to 28th February, 2013, transferred amounts totalling N 17,158,883,034.69billion to some persons and companies from these accounts.
“However, payment vouchers relating to the transfers together with their supporting documents were not provided for audit. Consequently, the purpose(s) for the transfers could not be authenticated.
“These are in violation of Financial rule 601 which states: “All payment entries in the cashbook/accounts shall be vouched for on one of the prescribed treasury forms. Vouchers shall be made out in favour of the person or persons to whom the money is actually due.
“Under no circumstances shall a cheque be raised, or cash paid for services for which a voucher has not been raised.”
In sustaining or vacating the query, the Senate Committee interrogated NSITF’s past and present managements on where monies, totaling N17.158 billion were transferred to between January and December 2013.
At the end of the day, none of the managements could offer satisfactory explanations on the undocumented multiple transfers as those at the helm of affairs in 2013 told the committee that documents like vouchers were left behind by them.
On his part, the present Managing Director of NSITF , Dr. Michael Akabogu said that no documents of such was in their kitty, saying: ”the Container the said documents were kept by past management has not only been beating by rains over the years but even possibly being eaten up by termites
“As directed by this committee , I told the past management officers on the need for them to help us out in answering this query with necessary documents which have not been made available for us.”
However in his submissions, the Managing Director of NSITF from 2010 to 2016 , Mallam Umar Munir Abubakar said that he was unaware of the query and have no explanations for it since the audit was not carried out during his tenure .
But his successor, Adebayo Somefun who was head of the agency from May 2017 to July 2020, said that those in the account section should be able to trace the documents which the current General Manager, Finance, alleged to have been locked up in an abandoned container within the premises of the Trust Fund in Abuja.
Not happy with the submissions of the past and present NSITF officials, the committee through its Chairman, Senator Urhoghide, descended heavily on them by ordering them to re–appear before the committee with all the requested evidential documents unfailingly on Thursday, September 22, 2022.
”This committee has given you people more than enough time to respond to queries slammed on NSITF in the 2018 Audit report by the office of Auditor General of the Federation.
”The queries are 50 in number, ranging from one misappropriation to the other, in billions of Naira . The one on N17.158 billion multiple transfers carried out in 2013 has not been answered at all, not to talk of N5.5 billion allegedly diverted into a commercial bank account without approval; N2.2 billion unauthorized Investment without adequate records etc.
”These are completely unacceptable and the committee will make sure that these queries are sustained if required evidential documents on monies spent or misappropriated, are not provided.”
Former personal assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari, Bashir Ahmad, who resigned to contest a primary election in Kano State under the All Progressives Congress (APC) but failed, has been re-engaged in the Presidency.
He is now Special Assistant to the President on Digital Communications.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, who confirmed the reappointment of Bashir Ahmad in a letter of appointment addressed to him, dated July 20, 2022, said that the appointment took effect from July 19, 2022.
Bashir Ahmad had contested the APC primary for the Federal House of Representatives ticket for Gaya, Ajingi, Albasu Federal Constituency in May 2022.
It was gathered that Ahmad had resigned his previous position as Personal Assistant to the President in line with President Buhari’s directive that all political appointees seeking electoral offices should step down.
Ahmad, who was seen several times at the Presidential villa is so far, the only presidential aide that has been reappointed by the president since the conclusion of the APC primaries.
All cabinet members and presidential aides who resigned to contest for various electoral offices in the APC but failed to secure the tickets are not so lucky to be re-engaged.
Soldiers of the Nigerian Army have launched surprise raid on the enclaves of terrorists, especially in parts of Niger and Kaduna states, killing and dislodging them from their strong holds.
Reports reaching us in Greenbarge Reporters online newspaper said that a multiple airstrikes by two Nigerian Air Force fighter jets have killed scores of Boko Haram terrorists in Niger State with the possibility of having eliminated a notorious Boko Haram Commander, Aminu Duniya.
Reports said that the terrorists were neutralized after intelligence revealed that they had assembled at Kurebe in Shiroro Local Government Area, for an important meeting hosted by Duniya.
The wanted terrorist Commander was said to have invited his fellow criminals to his enclave at Kurebe, to the meeting which obviously attracted numerous terrorists, who came in large numbers on their motorbikes.
It was gathered that Kurebe is a known terrorists’ haven as local inhabitants of Kurebe have since vacated the villages in and around the area after terrorists drove them away in 2021.
According to a NAF intelligence operative, though their bombardments eliminated many terrorists, it remains unclear if Duniya was neutralized.
“The strike at Kurebe came barely hours after a coordinated joint air and ground operation killed several terrorists operating around the Damba – Galbi axis in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
“The activities of the terrorists continued to make life unbearable to locals in the area. So, when intelligence had revealed that the terrorists planned on over-running a nearby village within the vicinity, the military saw that as an opportunity to surprise them.
“While NA troops laid siege around the location, NAF aircraft were directed to the suspected location of the terrorists which were then attacked. Several terrorists were confirmed killed after the strike.
“The fleeing bandits and terrorists are now in the habit of hiding in abandoned homes and farms… In several instances, they even hide under rustled cattle.
“They even attempt to use captives as human shields, but the Airforce and ground troops are doing fantastic jobs in minimising likely fatalities in case of collateral damages.”
The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Usman Baba, has directed officers and men to be on offensive and provide tight security in all schools, hospitals and critical national infrastructure nationwide.
The Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, in a statement today, August 14 in Abuja, said that the IGP has also ordered regular patrols, stop-and-search, raids as well as embarking on show of force by tactical commanders to clamp down on crime and criminality in some states of the federation.
The police boss, who reviewed the general security situation across the country in reports filed by police commands and formations, called on strategic police managers at various levels to prioritise the use of intelligence gathering, particularly traditional and local intelligence to locate criminals’ hideouts and flush them out.
Baba ordered all officers and men of the force to be on the offensive and to take the fight against crime to the doorposts of suspected criminals, including bushes and uncompleted buildings.
He called on the officers to profile suspects and charge those found wanting to courts accordingly.
Baba enjoined Nigerians to cooperate with the police as many police operatives would be seen at strategic areas, routes and communities.
He said the idea was to suppress the antics and criminal activities of men of the underworld.
Baba, however, warned police officers and men to be civil, professional and humane in the discharge of their duties.
He pledged the commitment of the police to the protection of lives and property by decimating criminal elements that target schools, hospitals and other critical national infrastructure.
The executive secretary of the Jigawa State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Sani Yusuf, has confirmed that flood has claimed the lives of 50 persons while many people are displaced.
Speaking to news men today, August 14, Alhaji Yusuf, said that the flood destroyed thousands of homes in the state, adding that the situation forced Jigawa residents to take refuge in other places, which include government buildings.
He said that the state government accommodated many displaced persons in 11 temporary camps.
Alhaji Yusuf said that some of the victims are from Balangu village where no fewer than 237 houses were destroyed with four people dead.
“We have so many displaced persons about 11 temporary camps. In Balangu alone 237 houses have been damaged and they are now living in a temporary camp.
“Four people also died in that same village, after the six in Kafin Hausa. So, when you go around the state we lost about 50 people to the flood now. Even yesterday, seven people from the same family died.”
He said that as part of the Federal Government’s intervention efforts, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Sadiya Umar, visited the North-Western state to distribute relief materials.
The minister was in the state alongside the Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mustapha Habib, to provide succour to the victims.
Sadiya Umar said that she was in the stateon the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari, to provide the necessary support to the flood-ravaged victims.
“This incident is particularly sad because it has become perennial. This is causing serious damage to schools, houses, and the livelihood of the people.
“Upon receiving this unfortunate news, President Muhammadu Buhari directed the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management to activate the National Emergency Management Agency to respond and provide the necessary support to the affected persons.”
The Jigawa State Governor, Badaru Abubakar, commended the Federal Government for what he describes as a quick response to the incident.
He lamented that the flood has caused so much trauma to the victims, expressing the hope that the government’s intervention will cushion the effect on the people.
“The latest incident happened four to five days ago and already relief materials are on the ground. We have seen the kind of support we received during the COVID-19 pandemic and all afflictions.”
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The Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund ( NSITF) has said that termites have eaten up N17.158 billion vouchers which led to the failure by it to justify the spending of N17.158 billion in 2013 without the required documentary evidence.
Former personal assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari, Bashir Ahmad, who resigned to contest a primary election in Kano State under the All Progressives Congress (APC) but failed, has been re-engaged in the Presidency.
Soldiers of the Nigerian Army have launched surprise raid on the enclaves of terrorists, especially in parts of Niger and Kaduna states, killing and dislodging them from their strong holds.
The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Usman Baba, has directed officers and men to be on offensive and provide tight security in all schools, hospitals and critical national infrastructure nationwide.
Of Ethnic Profiling And Prejudice, By Simon Kolawole
Let’s call it a tale of two WhatsApp broadcasts. On 5 June 2022, I received this chat from an older friend whom I call “uncle” because of the age difference: “Today in Owo at St Francis Catholic Church, Owaluwa Street, Owo, Fulani herdsmen on rampage”. It was accompanied with videos of the terror act in which 80 defenceless worshippers were murdered in cold blood. I can’t stand gory sights, so I did not open the videos. I already read the news and the heart-wrenching details and did not need any visuals. The Owo attack shook me gravely: I started fretting and wondering if the terrorists were about to open a new frontier in their attacks on the peace and stability of Nigeria.
On 9 August, I received another WhatsApp broadcast from uncle. It had a title: “Owo Massacre: Arrested Suspects are Mostly Ebira.” It read: “Two of the masterminds of the deadly terrorist attack on St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State, South-West Nigeria have been arrested. The suspects described as top commanders of Islamic State West Africa Province ISWAP in Nigeria, are 39-year old Jimoh Ibrahim, Idris Abdul Malik Omeiza, Momoh Ojowu Abu, Aliyu Yusuf and Auwal Onimisi”. By popular accounts in June 2022, echoed by sections of the media, the attackers were “Fulani herdsmen”. Two months later, they were Ebira from Kogi state.
You see, to set Nigeria on fire through ethnic profiling and hate-mongering in order to promote the “this country cannot work” mindset is not that difficult. Just craft a fantastic narrative that will sell ethnic and religious prejudice and get the hate merchants to help you nurture it. You are good to go. If some Yoruba taxi drivers in Jos are found to have kidnapped a passenger, just start a narrative around “Yoruba kidnappers” and soon enough, every criminal in Plateau State and northern Nigeria will be called “Yoruba kidnapper”. Anytime anyone is kidnapped, the template is set: “Yoruba kidnappers abduct passengers in Riyum”. It doesn’t matter if the kidnappers are Berom or Hausa.
If an Igbo is arrested for internet fraud or drug pushing and your interest is in casting the Igbo ethnic nationality in bad light, your job is made easy. All you need to do is develop a narrative that Igbos are internet fraudsters or cocaine pushers. Ignore the fact that Igbos are doing excellently in science and technology, commerce, sport and other spheres of life. Just focus on the 0.0001 percent involved in internet fraud and conclude that all internet fraudsters are Igbo or that Igbo people are fraudsters. Discount the fact that Yoruba, Edo, Ibibio and Hausa people are also being arrested and jailed for internet fraud. You must ignore that detail — because it won’t help your hate-mongering duty.
Let me be clear again: I do not deny that many criminals wreaking havoc across the country are Fulani. This has been well established in many places, north and south. I also know that there is a perception that the criminal elements are getting a pass because President Muhammadu Buhari, himself a Fulani, has failed to come down heavily on them. It is a very popular notion. What I object to, and will continue objecting to, is the demonisation of a whole ethnic group because of the criminal conduct of a tiny minority. Suddenly, all kidnappers and killers in Nigeria are “Fulani”. People of other ethnicities are clean — they don’t kidnap or kill. That is the prevailing narrative.
Here is my point: we should never rush to attribute crimes to members of an ethnic group before the actual facts are established. In August 2017, gunmen attacked St Philips Catholic Church, Ozubulu, Anambra State on a Sunday morning, killing 35 worshippers. Internet was immediately awash with claims that “Fulani herdsmen” and “Boko Haram” were behind the massacre. The police commissioner said it was local war. He was savaged and ridiculed on Twitter over the “newfound efficiency” of the police in establishing the facts of a crime. It did not take us long to discover that it was indeed a gang war between drug lords who were trading in meth. Ethnic profiling is deadly.
How do we tackle ethnic profiling? The least we can do is stop prefixing terrorists, bandits, robbers, drug pushers and fraudsters with “Yoruba”, “Igbo”, “Fulani”, etc. Criminals are criminals. There is no ethnic group in Nigeria that does not have criminals in abundance. I felt quite uncomfortable when the military authorities identified the suspects behind the Owo attack as “Ebira”, “Egbirra” and “Ebra”. I believe it was enough to identify them as coming from Okene, Kogi State, and leave the rest unsaid. I suspect the authorities were eager to disprove the “Fulani herdsmen” claim, but they may end up profiling the Ebira. Every Ebira now stands the risk of being perceived as a terrorist or bandit.
Ethnic profiling promotes ethnic hate. We have to deal with it. For starters, maybe we should start celebrating the good in others rather than magnifying the bad in them? Maybe we should free our minds to also see the professionals and entrepreneurs from other ethnic groups, not just the outlaws? Maybe we should start seeing others as human beings like us: imperfect, self-interested, territorial and capable of doing good and bad? Maybe we should judge people individually rather than collectively? As a Nigerian who has experienced prejudice in foreign lands because of the adventures of a few fraudulent Nigerians abroad, I can never be an evangelist for ethnic profiling.
When Mr Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, picked Dr Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed as his running mate, I was gratified by the way “Obidients” welcomed him with open arms. They started celebrating his two degrees in economics. They started casting his Fulani roots as an electoral asset. I said: “This is it”! On another day, those who celebrated him would typically have called him a “Fulani terrorist” or “Fulani cow”. They would otherwise have derided his degrees as a product of “quota system”. But the same human being, from the same ethnic stock and the same religion, is being cast in a good light. Yes, that is what you see when you pocket your prejudice.
Aside ethnic profiling, identity politics is also being deployed to promote ethnic hate. You will later find out that people are just playing politics. For instance, the heartland of the resistance to “Fulani jihad” in northern Nigeria today is Benue State. Yet, I understand that most Benue delegates voted for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, a Fulani Muslim, in the presidential primary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Dr Iyorchia Ayu, the PDP Chairman and a Christian from Benue, worked for Atiku, not Chief Nyesom Wike, his fellow Christian. Ayu embraced Rt. Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, another Fulani Muslim, hailing him as the “hero of the convention” for delivering his delegates to Atiku. Politics!
Mr Babachir Lawal, the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, has been campaigning against Muslim-Muslim ticket since Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential flagbearer, picked Alhaji Kashim Shettima as his running mate. However, he worked for Tinubu, a Muslim, in the APC primary despite the fact that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, a pastor, was also in the race. It would appear Lawal completely forgot about religion in this instance. It is understandable: if Osinbajo, or Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi had won the APC ticket, Lawal would not be in running for the VP slot. Tinubu settled for a Muslim and Lawal became a fiery northern Christian activist. Politics!
Anyone familiar with my writings knows that I am an advocate of “balancing” in a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society. I do not wish to depart from that. Not yet. However, I am intelligent enough to understand that we freely deploy politics and prejudice to promote a narrative. We take certain positions and ignore certain facts and realities because of our undeclared self-centred agenda; which is perfectly human. The dangerous part, for me, is when we go overboard to propagate and promote ethno-religious hate and stoke fire. We need to draw a line. We have to choose between promoting peace and propagating hate. If Nigeria catches fire, we will all suffer the consequences.
As I was putting finishing touches to this article, I received this instructive broadcast from a friend: “Take a good look at the ongoing case of Ahmed Idris (the suspended Accountant-General of the Federation); he is being prosecuted alongside an accomplice in person of Godfrey Olusegun Akindele, a Yoruba man. They are being defended by the chambers of Kalu Uche & Co; all before a Yoruba judge – Adeyemi Ajayi. So, in summary, a Hausa/Fulani man stole, his partner in crime is a Yoruba man, he is being prosecuted by the EFCC (Economic and Financial Crimes Commission) headed by another Hausa/Fulani man but engaged the services of a Yoruba prosecutor… and the accused are being defended by an Igbo man.”
The writer concluded: “Those who steal our common patrimony are always united in corruption, irrespective of tribes and religions; but whenever they want to hoodwink the unsuspecting citizens for their own gains, they amplify our fault-lines”.
That is my point. We are all victims of insecurity, kidnapping, terrorism, corruption, inadequate infrastructure, economic hardship, and poor governance. Yet, we have managed to allow ourselves to be hoodwinked into promoting ethnic hate through profiling and identity politics. When those destroying Nigeria gather to plot and plunder, the last thing on their mind is ethnicity or religion. I hope we would wake up to this reality someday.
AND FOUR OTHER THINGS…
PARIS CLOBBERS
Mallam Abubakar Malami, the Attorney-General of the Federation, has been fighting tooth and nail to make us pay $418 million to consultants who said they were engaged to help use their calculators to determine what was due to the states from the Paris Club refund. On Thursday, he insisted that the claims are justified. What he did not add was that there is still a case in court challenging these claims. If we are really serious, the EFCC should have been unleashed on the claimants and their lobbyists by now to uncover the shady details — as was done in the P&ID case. But it seems there is more to this than we are being told. Nigeria!
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
The arrest of suspected perpetrators of the 4 June 2022 Owo massacre is heart-warming, even if it cannot bring back the lives of those heartlessly gunned down by the terrorists. I don’t know if anyone has noticed this, but Ondo is one of the very few states where perpetrators of these dastardly acts are being brought to justice. In June 2022, three persons were sentenced to death for the murder of Mrs Funke Olakunrin, daughter of Reuben Fasoranti, the former leader of Afenifere. In 2017, seven people were imprisoned for life for kidnapping Chief Olu Falae, former Minister of Finance. Rather than just lamenting and alleging conspiracy, we should seek justice. Always.
BANDITS’ PARADISE
Seven more kidnapped victims of the Abuja-Kaduna train attack were released on Wednesday after over four months in captivity. The sorry sight of a family with four children hit me very hard. This is what Nigeria has become. The bandits, or terrorists, are having a ball at our expense. According to reports, not only did the Federal Government meet their demands of having their commanders and family members released from prison, they still went ahead to collect ransoms before releasing their victims. We do not want to use military force because they are using the victims as human shield. Clearly, the advantage is with the criminals until we figure out how to conquer them. Damning.
ASUU ISSUE
It is now six full months since university students have been at home as a result of the strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). A big bone of contention, obviously, is the insistence by the Federal Government that university employees should be enrolled on the integrated personnel and payment information system (IPPIS) for more transparency on the wage bill. ASUU has developed the universities transparency accountability solution (UTAS) which it says is better. For us to resolve this crisis and move forward, I would advise that (1) the Federal Government should accept UTAS (2) ASUU should allow UTAS to be linked to BVN. Compromise.
Kolawole is the Publisher of TheCable.