Former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress. (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has said that he did not join the party to become chairman, but to remove the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from power.
Oshiomole, while addressing newsmen yesterday, August 28 at the fundraiser and investiture of Victoria Unuoarumi as the 10th president of Rotary Club in Abuja, that he had no regrets about the actions that led to his removal from office as chairman.
“No. Life is not all about regret. I am a very happy man. Or do you see me looking sad? I might look small but not sad.
“I had addressed newsmen shortly after my removal and said that regardless of the legality or illegality of my removal, I accepted what happened in good faith and resolved I would not contest it. I promised to remain committed, do what I can as a party member to support the party.
“You know in law, you can decide as I have done to sleep on my right. I have chosen, for the purpose of my chairmanship, to sleep on my right and it will remain sleeping and happily so. As you can see, even since I left office, I’m still active in all activities of the party because I don’t think I need to be a chairman to be of any relevance.
“I didn’t join the party because I wanted to become chairman, I joined the part because I wanted to form an alternate platform that was capable of taking PDP out of power and that objective was achieved.”
Minister of Transportation, Chief Rotimi Amaechi has admitted that anyone stealing public funds under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is doing so not openly but “quietly.”
Answering questions in an interview with Daily Trust today, August 29, Chief Rotimi Amaechi said that no individual can steal public funds openly under Buhari, adding that anyone who is caught stealing in Buhari’s government will face the consequences.
He said that the Buhari administration has managed the country’s resources better than previous administrations.
“I want Nigerians to be honest; can you openly take money from this government? I am not saying whether we are corrupt or not.
“Let us assume we are corrupt, can you openly take money from this government? In the past governments, what happened? You can take money in the streets.
“Corruption was so pervasive that nobody was talking about it. It was not hidden that people completely and openly displayed their wealth.
“Most of those who did that had nothing to do to show for it. They did not have a carpentry shop, but they were billionaires. They did not hide it; but here, if you are stealing, it is done quietly. I am not saying it is good, it is a sin punishable.
“In the previous government you could steal and you won’t be caught. If you were caught, there won’t be consequences. But in this government, if you steal there are consequences.”
Minister of labour and employment, Dr. Chris Ngige has made it clear that he would not bend the law on No-Work-No-Pay policy to favour doctors who had for sometimes now, stayed off their duties in a nationwide strike.
Speaking yesterday, August 28, when Sam Jaja, chairman of the Forum of Health Institutions in Nigeria (FCHIN), paid him a visit in Abuja, Dr. Ngige said that he will not support the demand of the doctors because it is against the law.
“(The doctors want that) section 43 of the Trade Dispute Act should not apply to them. That we should insert, in a government agreement, that they should be paid for the period they are not at work. I’m being careful about this.
“This is law and I will not lend myself to illegality, to state in the agreement that a group of Nigerians are above the law. But as a matter of fact, a clause in that agreement states clearly that nobody should be punished for participating or not participating in the strike.
“So what else do they want ? They want me to put in writing that they are above the law. That “no work, no pay” policy should not apply to them. That the “no work, no pay” is no more part of our law, despite the fact that I swore to uphold the constitution?
“This is notwithstanding that a clause in the agreement says that no one should be punished for any role in the strike.”
On his part, Jaja said the strike by the doctors is “insensitive.
“We feel so concerned the strike hasn’t been called off. Strike should be the last resort when every other effort has been exhausted in terms of finding a solution to whatever the problem is,” the chairman said.
“For any little thing, you resort to disruption of services; it does not portray the country in good light. It doesn’t also portray the profession in good light, most especially a profession that has to do with the preservation of human lives.
“It makes them (doctors) insensitive and that is not right. For whatever reason, I think we should nip it in the bud. That is what we as a Forum of Chairmen of Health Institutions of Nigeria are in for.
“We need to find a solution to this. It is not good for us and it is not good for them.”
On August 2, the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) commenced a strike over “irregular payment of salaries,” among other issues.
Efforts by stakeholders, including the national assembly, to mediate between the federal government and the resident doctors have not yielded results.
Jaja’s Book cost N8,000 per copy. (Delivery cost applies for order outside Uyo) To order your copy call: 08084876049; 08055458711 or email: ekokoisolomon@yahoo.com.
As at May 29th 2015, Nigeria was on literally fire. I mean real fire. Not the largely orchestrated noise we have today.
Nigeria was practically about being run over by Boko Haram terrorists; from the North East to North West down to Abuja FCT in the North Central and emboldened to dream of heading south. Churches and Mosques, Markets and Malls and other public spaces were being bombed all over. Even our police headquarters was not spared.
Our soldiers were not all in Sambisa or other forests and bushes. Many were in Abuja, the nation’s capital trying desperately to protect and defend our Churches, Mosques, business places and even police and military facilities. Any sincere person can attest to these. The danger and confusion were real and the fear palpable unlike the fear mongering, inciting fake news and propaganda being deliberately and mischievously spread on WhatsApp and other social media today.
Such was our undeniable, sordid, scary and dangerous situation when General Muhammadu Buhari Rtd came on board with the selfless support of many other patriotic and well-meaning Nigerians and the grace of God.
He came and first changed the Service Chiefs from potbellied ‘political’ Generals to battle tested professional soldiers. He literally and practically ordered them to stop hiding in their offices in Abuja that they had barricaded leaving us the bloody civilians to face sometimes certain death and take the battle to the devils in the bushes, forests, state capitals and local government areas of the North East and North West that had become over ran and almost surrendered or ‘ceded’ to terrorists and they did.
Within months, Abuja was secured, the barricades all over Abuja were removed, people were once more free to go to Churches and Mosques without fear of being bombed to death and without the indecency of being frisked by hand and scanned with metal detectors. More importantly, more of our soldiers were able to join their colleagues in the forests where the real battle was. Gradually, some degree of sanity and sense of normalcy began to return to the North East and the North West but the war was by no means over.
Unbeknownst to many Nigerians, that was just part one of Buhari’s assault on the insecurity bedeviling us and the nation.
As soon as 2015-16, realizing that our national armory was seriously depleted, military assets run down with no real weapons to prosecute the war, he put his military experience and personal integrity and good will to work for the good or our military and the nation. He was able to convince the West and other nations to sell vital and state of the art military assets which had been denied the nation on account of the irresponsible behavior of the immediate past Administration. Contracts for sophisticated war Planes, Aircrafts, weaponised Drones and other hardware were signed and productions started. Remember these things take time. They are not sold off the shelves. Even sanctions placed on Russia by the United States were waived so that Nigeria could receive military aircraft ordered from Russia. This was the same Nigeria that had become a pariah of sorts in international and military circles before Buhari came on board.
These Military Assets Ordered And Acquired Include Among Others:
2 Nos Mi-35 Helicopters from Russia ordered in September 2015 and October 2019.
6 Nos Leonardo AW109 Helicopters from Italy.
12 Nos Super Tucano Light-attack Aircrafts from the United States.
2 Nos Mi-171E Helicopters from Pakistan.
3 Nos JF-17 multi-role Fighters from Pakistan.
Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System from the United States.
These are precision-guided munitions with a Distributed Aperture Semi-Active Laser Seeker with an effective firing range from 11km.
2 Nos Landing Ship Tanks, (LSTs) for the Nigerian Navy.
Ordered in 2019 and completed this year; it replaced the last ones Nigeria had which were ordered by General Olusegun Obasanjo in 1976, delivered in 1979 and both have since been de-commissioned.
That done and waiting for delivery, while many of us were shouting ‘sack Service Chiefs’, President Buhari quietly faced the military institution head on. Personnel welfare, morale, training and professionalism issues were addressed. Recall that before he came, our soldiers were so demoralized such that protests were common and they were even being driven into neighboring nations by Boko haram.
Those issues were extensively addressed and our troops regained confidence and fought Boko Haram with what they had while waiting for the military assets already ordered by their Commander in Chief to arrive.
Equally worthy of note is the fact that our local capacity in military weapons, equipment, arms and ammunition production and repair has been revamped under Buhari’s watch. The Nigeria Airforce garage was revived and it started in-country refurbishment of military aircrafts which were re-commissioned into combat.
At least 23 formerly unserviceable aircrafts have been locally refurbished and restored to flyable condition since Buhari took office in 2015.
These Include Among Others:
2 Nos Mi-35P attack helicopters refurbished in May 2018
Alpha Jet NAF 455
C-130H Aircraft in Lagos
Alpha Jets in Kainji
3 Nos L-39ZA in Kano.
These locally refurbished assets not only saved money for the nation and enhanced the skills of our military engineers; they have joined in the fight against insurgency and other criminal activities in Nigeria.
In addition, the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) was revamped and it started manufacturing weapons; from bullets to 30mm rockets to even producing Nigeria’s first Mine Resistance and Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles, which was named the EZUGWU MRAP. These are presently in use in the battle field against Boko Haram and bandits by our troops.
To complete the package, over 200 personnel including pilots and engineers were trained and re-trained in different countries around the world.
The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) even went into partnership with Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing (IVM) Company, for the local manufacture and supply of spare parts for military jets conducting airstrikes against insurgents.
All these are easily verifiable.
At one point the military announced that Boko Haram had been ‘technically defeated” but many people did not comprehend. But YES it was indeed. How? Boko Haram was so decimated and incapacitated that its hitherto ability to carry out brazen attacks on cities and towns and take over entire local government areas at will was reduced to occasional hit and run attacks on soft targets. Having been so denied that joy, they faced our military with ferocity and venom and our military consistently took the hit on our behalf, while sadly many of us denigrate them and refuse to acknowledge and appreciate their sacrifice of blood, tears and death.
Now, as it became obvious that we were succeeding; old, not-so-new and new security challenges emerged. Farmer/herder clashes which had been with us for ages was given a new breathe of life, banditry; fueled mainly by the disruption of activities of illegal miners of gold and other solid minerals snowballed. In addition, secessionists from the South East and South West either birthed or ramped up their activities and all that added to the heightened state and perception of insecurity in the nation. Yet our military, alongside their Commander In Chief rose to the task, fighting on multiple fronts, defending the nation from both external and internal aggressions and aggressors.
Then, three, five and six years later, a significant amount of the heavy artillery and military assets proactively and intelligently ordered by Buhari started arriving and our already motivated troops have now happily taken the fight (what I call the ‘last fight’) to the misbehaving elements across the nation and the results we are all seeing; with scores of militants, bandits and Boko Haram terrorists neutralized and hundreds of them flying the white flag of surrender daily.
As that is happening, of course they are not expected to give up easily which is why we see the cowardly resort to attacking and abducting innocent school children including the recent attack on the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) which regrettably cost the lives of at least two of our gallant soldiers.
Unpatriotic opposition elements, people who didn’t believe that Buhari and Nigeria would succeed in caging terrorism and insecurity, those who do not want the insecurity to be tamed or end so that they could continue to exploit it for their mindless politics or to pursue their own agenda; whether ethnic, political or personal and those who want to use it as a justification for their own failures; teaming up with a lazy, unpatriotic and irresponsible media; feeding on the large population of gullible and impressionable Nigerians have tried to ramp up the noise, playing down on the undeniable exploits of our brave military under the command of an experienced Commander in Chief, Buhari while playing up and amplifying the few successes (if I may call it that) of these terrorists and enemies of the nation so as to create the impression that nothing is being done, nothing has been achieved; WHICH IS CLEARLY NOT TRUE.
A lot has been done and is being done. YES. Insecurity is still present, no question but our military has the upper hand and are running things now unlike before when ‘things were running them’. Beautifully President Buhari still has 22 clear months left in his tenure to consolidate on the fight. This is very much unlike the case in 2015, when weeks to end of the tenure of the last Administration, elections were postponed for 6 weeks purportedly to allow for the military to push back Boko Haram so that elections could hold.
Administration has significantly and undeniably re-built, re-equipped, re-professionalized and re-positioned our military such that whoever succeeds him from 2023 would have the proper military assets and resources to continue with the task of securing the nation. An advantage/privilege which was not bequeathed to Buhari by his own predecessors. A task which by the way is a continuous undertaking. There will always be security challenges; old and new, especially in a nation like ours with many politicians who have made blood their political capital added to a citizenry who do not think or understand that security is everyone’s business.
Anyone who says he or she is a sincere or patriotic Nigerian (even critic) who does not know, pretends not to know, cannot or does not understand and acknowledge this true, unbiased and factual narrative that I penned here, is not worthy to be called one.
My Igbo people usually ask in a proverb: ‘How many times will a man kill a lion before he is called a lion killer (Ogbuagu)’? The answer is once.
Buhari is a Lion Killer (Ogbuagu), whether anyone acknowledges it or not and posterity will be kind to him. He is the father of the modern Nigeria nation and Military. Those who cannot realize it now, will do so later.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has descended on a 419 Real Estate Developer and recovered the sum of N53 billion for subscribers he duped through the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria.
Chairman of the ICPC, Professor Bolaji Owasanoye who spoke during a meeting with the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee Investigating the Operations of Real Estate Developers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), said that the developer took the money without providing houses for his subscribers.
He said that the Commission would continue to deploy its mandates against developers who take public funds with the promise to provide houses for public or civil servants without doing so.
Professor Owasanoye said that unscrupulous real estate developers in the FCT have taken advantage of desperate civil servants to own houses, as a result of acute housing deficit, to scam them of their hard-earned money in the name of housing projects.
He said that the Commission is desirous of partnering with the ad-hoc committee of the National Assembly to bring sanity to the housing sector because of its critical nature to the government.
He told the committee that one of the ways to tackle housing deficit and fraudulent real estate developers in the country is for government to completely deploy technology as well as grant easy access to information.
“The lack of openness is also creating problems. Government should at least put information in the public domain where people can easily verify details of land. A lot of people are scammed from fake layout, double allocations and others.”
Earlier, the Chairman of the Ad-hoc Committee, Blessing Onoh, observed that cases of developers defrauding would-be house owners is becoming rampant.
Onoh said that it is common for real estate developers to start projects, later abandon them and move on to other sites after collecting monies from subscribers.
She said that the committee was set up to proffer solutions to the anomalies and ensure that Nigerians who subscribe to housing projects end up owning them in accordance with the terms of agreement they entered.
“We only extended an informal invitation to retired Navy Commodore Kunle Olawunmi through phone-call to come and shed more lights on his claim that there are plans by the government of President Muhammadu Buhari to Islamize Nigeria, but he began to call some social media to tell them that we have declared him wanted.”
This clarification was made today, August 28 in a media chat by a senior Defence Intelligence Officer in the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) in the Nigerian Army. He preferred to remain anonymous.
The senior DIA officer stressed that since the television interview, some senior retired and serving military officers have raised concern over the comment of Olawunmi.
“The DIA had no intention was soever to invite him until when other retired senior and serving officers, especially of the intelligence corps advised that he could assist the security service with vital information for counter-terrorism.
“The invitation was not even formal. It was a phone call by an officer that he knows. We have no reason whatsoever to declare him wanted when he knows how the system operates.”
Confirming that retire Olawunmi has not been declared wanted, the Director, Defence Information, Major General Benjamin Sawyerr said that the informal invitation to the retired naval officer was harmless.
“As a result of the information coming from intelligence circle, an officer in DIA invited retired Commodore Olawunmi to come over so that he can help with information that can assist in the fight against insurgency and terrorism. The DIA officer asked him to come on Tuesday so that he can even meet with the Chief of Defence Intelligence (CDI), Major General Samuel Adebayo. That was all.
“There was no letter or any formal invitation. It was an informal phone call. He just switched off his phone and started calling some media houses that he had been declared wanted.
“You are aware that the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor has been going on tours of geopolitical zones to meet with retired military officers to come up with information and ideas on how to tackle the myriad of security challenges in the country
“While we cannot blame Commodore Olawunmi for not attending the Southwest zone of the interactive sessions with the retired officer, he went on air in the public domain through a television channel with what he himself portrayed as sensitive classified information.
“If the military wanted to arrest somebody, it is the military police that do that. They won’t even send any signal before one could be picked up…. He could have been arrested the day or days after he made the broadcast since the system have what it takes to arrest anyone on its radar. He was not declared wanted and there isn’t any reason for his arrest as it is now.”
Many Nigerians expressed worries and concerns over comments and outbursts of retired Commodore Olawunmi on Channels television.
Olawunmi who described himself as Professor of Global Security Studies in the interview monitored by PRNigeria said that he was among the people that helped bring Buhari to power.
“I was among the people that brought Buhari to government because I believed in him… I worked with him after we bring him to power in 2015. We have a lot of hope in him and we were ready to do anything for him… What he has turned out to over the years is shocking”
In the interview, Olawunmi said that some Governors, ministers and Senators are sponsors of Boko Haram and added that Bureau De Change operators are also sponsors of Boko Haram which is also known to the government.
He insisted that the government is encouraging Islamization when he said that every Friday NDA and all government institutions opened their premises for Jumat prayers. He said Muslims come on Friday for worship in military formations and later they become members of the mess who would later spy on the institution and plan their attacks.
He added that most of the sponsors of terrorism are known within the intelligence community and that the DHQ, DMI, DSS and Police intelligence knows the sponsors very well.
He said that Buhari’s administration wants the government to be Islamised as the end game is to turn Nigeria into a Taliban type of country.
“We are currently in the worst security situation in Nigeria today. CIA actually didn’t trust Buhari before 2015. It took the intelligence community and Tinubu to convince Obama and CIA to accept him. They said he was a bigot and will plunge the country.”
He also claimed that the government directed that all media houses should be calling the criminals gunmen, bandits and unknown gunmen so that the international community would be misled that they are not terrorists, adding that tagging them terrorists would invite the international community.
He said that the government doesn’t want journalists to report the true picture of what is happening in the country.
Legendary musician and master guitarist, Sir Victor Uwaifo is dead.
A close family source confirmed that he died today, August 27 after a brief illness.
Professor, Sir Victor Uwaifo was born on March 1, 1941. He was a Nigerian musician, writer, sculptor, and musical instrument inventor, University lecturer.
He was Commissioner for Arts, Culture and Tourism in Edo State and was the winner of the first gold disc in Africa (Joromi), released in 1965 and seven other gold discs in Guitar boy, Arabade, Ekassa series and Akwete music.
He recorded under the name Victor Uwaifo and His TItibitis.
He was recognized as the most educated performing music legend, musical instrument inventor, artist, worldwide with a B.A Honors (first class valedictorian), Masters degree and Ph.D in Architectural Sculpture, (University of Benin, Nigeria).
Hackers have designed the fake digital version of THISDAY newspaper and laced it with fake news, which circulated well on social media yesterday, August 27.
In a statement today, August 28, the Managing Director of the newspaper organization, Eniola Bello, raised eyebrow over a fake news published in the said forged THISDAY with headline: “Shocking: Uzodinma declares Free Marriage Between Fulani Settlers and Imo Ladies.”
He expressed worry that this fake version of the digital edition of the newspaper was well circulated on WhatsApp, Facebook and other social media platforms.
“We wish to state that THISDAY at no time published the said story. Our lead story on Friday, August 27 was, “Buhari Elated as NNPC Breaks Jinx, Declares N287bn Profit, First in 44 Years”.
“Sadly, these merchants of fake news have chosen to leverage on the credibility and integrity of THISDAY to ply their trade.
“We completely reject this poor attempt by some unscrupulous people at impersonating our brand and identity in pursuit of whatever agenda they may have, by seeking to disseminate fake news to members of the public as emanating from THISDAY.
“For the avoidance of doubt, readers can easily verify our Friday publication from the print edition, or online (www.thisdaylive.com). We therefore call on members of the public who may have unwittingly fell for the cloned digital copy to disregard it and treat it with the utmost contempt it deserves.
“We also use this opportunity to call on security agencies to help unmask the counterfeiters behind this forgery and bring them to book.”
Three Americans from Maryland have been arrested and charged by a federal grand jury for conspiracy, violation of the Arms Export Control Act and the Export Reform Control Act, relating to the export of firearms and ammunition from the United States to Nigeria.
According to report by Peoples Gazette, the three that were charged in the indictment, which was returned late yesterday, are: Wilson Nuyila Tita, age 45, of Owings Mills, Maryland; Eric Fru Nji, age 40, of Fort Washington, Maryland; and Wilson Che Fonguh, age 39, of Bowie, Maryland.
The indictment was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Special Agent in Charge James R. Mancuso of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Baltimore; and Special Agent in Charge Timothy Jones of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Baltimore Field Division.
According to the four-count indictment, from at least November 2017 through July 19, 2019, the defendants conspired with each other and with others to export from the United States to Nigeria defense articles and items identified on the United States Munitions List (“USML”) and the Commerce Control List (“CCL”) without first obtaining export licenses.
The defendants also allegedly conspired to conceal from the United States that those items were being shipped from the Port of Baltimore in Maryland to Nigeria and at least one other location in Africa.
The defendants and their co-conspirators allegedly contributed funds for the purchase of firearms, ammunition, reloading materials and other equipment for shipping overseas. The indictment alleges that the defendants and their co-conspirators communicated about their efforts and plans to ship weapons and ammunitions using an on-line encrypted messaging application and code words in order to conceal their activities.
As detailed in the indictment, the defendants and other conspirators concealed the firearms, ammunition, rifle scopes, and other items in heavily wrapped packages and duffle bags, and inside sealed compressor units, placing those items into a shipping container destined for Nigeria without obtaining the requisite licenses from the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Further, as part of the conspiracy, one of the co-conspirators allegedly caused the submission of electronic export information to the U.S. government for the container which listed materially false information as to the identity of the exporter and the intermediate and ultimate consignee, as well as the ultimate destination of the container’s contents.
Specifically, the indictment alleges that on January 17, 2019, the defendants and their co-conspirators exported, attempted to export, or caused to be exported to Nigeria articles on the USML the export of which was controlled under the Arms Export Control Act, without first having obtained the required license or written approval from the U.S. Department of State, specifically: 38 semi-automatic firearms; over 35,000 rounds of ammunition; and 44 magazines.
On that same day, the defendants allegedly exported to Nigeria one Bushnell Trophy Rifle Optic and one Burris AR Rifle Scope, the export of which were controlled under the Commerce Control List, without first having obtained the required license or written approval from the U.S. Department of Commerce. Finally, the indictment alleges that the defendants transported 28 firearms with obliterated serial numbers, including 18 rifles.
If convicted, the defendants each face a mandatory sentence of five years in federal prison for the conspiracy; a maximum of 20 years in federal prison each for violating the Arms Export Control Act and for violating the Export Control Reform Act; and a maximum of five years in federal prison for transportation of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties.A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. The defendants are each expected to have an initial appearance this afternoon in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas M. DiGirolamo beginning at 3:00 p.m.
An indictment is not a finding of guilt. An individual charged by indictment is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings.
Seven defendants have been charged in related cases and of those, six have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.
Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended HSI and the ATF for their work in the investigation. Mr. Lenzner recognized the U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of Export Enforcement; U.S. Department of State Diplomatic Security Service; Department of Defense Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service; the Naval Criminal Investigative Service; and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service for their contributions to the investigation. Acting U.S. Attorney Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathleen O. Gavin, who is prosecuting the federal case.
Residents of the Federal Capital Territory have been called upon to be vigilant and to communicate with one another as well as to the security agencies, all suspicious people or activities within their vicinity to safe guard lives and property across the Territory.
The Minister of State, Dr. Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu who spoke to newsmen today, August 27 during the monthly Security Committee meeting that was chaired by the minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, said: “security is a collective responsibility, so, we must communicate when we see those we consider as unknown faces around our areas, especially with what we are seeing or hearing across the country.”
She however assured the residents of the safety of their lives and property as the security agencies are very alert to their responsibilities. “We are reassuring the FCT residents that the city is safe and the environment is also good with ease of doing business.
“But by and large, the security apparatus in FCT is very much awake and the information gathering network is very much active.”
On the issue of kidnappings, she said that the crime has reduced in many parts of the Territory, even as she assured that the security agencies are working hard to curb it in areas where it is rampant.
This was even as the FCT Commissioner of Police, Sunday Babaji, called for the cooperation of the residents of the FCT by giving timely and accurate information to the police, assuring them of their security and safety.
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“We only extended an informal invitation to retired Navy Commodore Kunle Olawunmi through phone-call to come and shed more lights on his claim that there are plans by the government of President Muhammadu Buhari to Islamize Nigeria, but he began to call some social media to tell them that we have declared him wanted.”
Legendary musician and master guitarist, Sir Victor Uwaifo is dead.
Three Americans from Maryland have been arrested and charged by a federal grand jury for conspiracy, violation of the Arms Export Control Act and the Export Reform Control Act, relating to the export of firearms and ammunition from the United States to Nigeria.
Residents of the Federal Capital Territory have been called upon to be vigilant and to communicate with one another as well as to the security agencies, all suspicious people or activities within their vicinity to safe guard lives and property across the Territory.
Insecurity: Between Buhari’s Present And The Past – Facts And Fiction, By Dr. Uche Diala
As at May 29th 2015, Nigeria was on literally fire. I mean real fire. Not the largely orchestrated noise we have today.
Nigeria was practically about being run over by Boko Haram terrorists; from the North East to North West down to Abuja FCT in the North Central and emboldened to dream of heading south. Churches and Mosques, Markets and Malls and other public spaces were being bombed all over. Even our police headquarters was not spared.
Our soldiers were not all in Sambisa or other forests and bushes. Many were in Abuja, the nation’s capital trying desperately to protect and defend our Churches, Mosques, business places and even police and military facilities. Any sincere person can attest to these. The danger and confusion were real and the fear palpable unlike the fear mongering, inciting fake news and propaganda being deliberately and mischievously spread on WhatsApp and other social media today.
Such was our undeniable, sordid, scary and dangerous situation when General Muhammadu Buhari Rtd came on board with the selfless support of many other patriotic and well-meaning Nigerians and the grace of God.
He came and first changed the Service Chiefs from potbellied ‘political’ Generals to battle tested professional soldiers. He literally and practically ordered them to stop hiding in their offices in Abuja that they had barricaded leaving us the bloody civilians to face sometimes certain death and take the battle to the devils in the bushes, forests, state capitals and local government areas of the North East and North West that had become over ran and almost surrendered or ‘ceded’ to terrorists and they did.
Within months, Abuja was secured, the barricades all over Abuja were removed, people were once more free to go to Churches and Mosques without fear of being bombed to death and without the indecency of being frisked by hand and scanned with metal detectors. More importantly, more of our soldiers were able to join their colleagues in the forests where the real battle was. Gradually, some degree of sanity and sense of normalcy began to return to the North East and the North West but the war was by no means over.
Unbeknownst to many Nigerians, that was just part one of Buhari’s assault on the insecurity bedeviling us and the nation.
As soon as 2015-16, realizing that our national armory was seriously depleted, military assets run down with no real weapons to prosecute the war, he put his military experience and personal integrity and good will to work for the good or our military and the nation. He was able to convince the West and other nations to sell vital and state of the art military assets which had been denied the nation on account of the irresponsible behavior of the immediate past Administration. Contracts for sophisticated war Planes, Aircrafts, weaponised Drones and other hardware were signed and productions started. Remember these things take time. They are not sold off the shelves. Even sanctions placed on Russia by the United States were waived so that Nigeria could receive military aircraft ordered from Russia. This was the same Nigeria that had become a pariah of sorts in international and military circles before Buhari came on board.
These Military Assets Ordered And Acquired Include Among Others:
2 Nos Mi-35 Helicopters from Russia ordered in September 2015 and October 2019.
6 Nos Leonardo AW109 Helicopters from Italy.
12 Nos Super Tucano Light-attack Aircrafts from the United States.
2 Nos Mi-171E Helicopters from Pakistan.
3 Nos JF-17 multi-role Fighters from Pakistan.
Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System from the United States.
These are precision-guided munitions with a Distributed Aperture Semi-Active Laser Seeker with an effective firing range from 11km.
2 Nos Landing Ship Tanks, (LSTs) for the Nigerian Navy.
Ordered in 2019 and completed this year; it replaced the last ones Nigeria had which were ordered by General Olusegun Obasanjo in 1976, delivered in 1979 and both have since been de-commissioned.
That done and waiting for delivery, while many of us were shouting ‘sack Service Chiefs’, President Buhari quietly faced the military institution head on. Personnel welfare, morale, training and professionalism issues were addressed. Recall that before he came, our soldiers were so demoralized such that protests were common and they were even being driven into neighboring nations by Boko haram.
Those issues were extensively addressed and our troops regained confidence and fought Boko Haram with what they had while waiting for the military assets already ordered by their Commander in Chief to arrive.
Equally worthy of note is the fact that our local capacity in military weapons, equipment, arms and ammunition production and repair has been revamped under Buhari’s watch. The Nigeria Airforce garage was revived and it started in-country refurbishment of military aircrafts which were re-commissioned into combat.
At least 23 formerly unserviceable aircrafts have been locally refurbished and restored to flyable condition since Buhari took office in 2015.
These Include Among Others:
2 Nos Mi-35P attack helicopters refurbished in May 2018
Alpha Jet NAF 455
C-130H Aircraft in Lagos
Alpha Jets in Kainji
3 Nos L-39ZA in Kano.
These locally refurbished assets not only saved money for the nation and enhanced the skills of our military engineers; they have joined in the fight against insurgency and other criminal activities in Nigeria.
In addition, the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) was revamped and it started manufacturing weapons; from bullets to 30mm rockets to even producing Nigeria’s first Mine Resistance and Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles, which was named the EZUGWU MRAP. These are presently in use in the battle field against Boko Haram and bandits by our troops.
To complete the package, over 200 personnel including pilots and engineers were trained and re-trained in different countries around the world.
The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) even went into partnership with Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing (IVM) Company, for the local manufacture and supply of spare parts for military jets conducting airstrikes against insurgents.
All these are easily verifiable.
At one point the military announced that Boko Haram had been ‘technically defeated” but many people did not comprehend. But YES it was indeed. How? Boko Haram was so decimated and incapacitated that its hitherto ability to carry out brazen attacks on cities and towns and take over entire local government areas at will was reduced to occasional hit and run attacks on soft targets. Having been so denied that joy, they faced our military with ferocity and venom and our military consistently took the hit on our behalf, while sadly many of us denigrate them and refuse to acknowledge and appreciate their sacrifice of blood, tears and death.
Now, as it became obvious that we were succeeding; old, not-so-new and new security challenges emerged. Farmer/herder clashes which had been with us for ages was given a new breathe of life, banditry; fueled mainly by the disruption of activities of illegal miners of gold and other solid minerals snowballed. In addition, secessionists from the South East and South West either birthed or ramped up their activities and all that added to the heightened state and perception of insecurity in the nation. Yet our military, alongside their Commander In Chief rose to the task, fighting on multiple fronts, defending the nation from both external and internal aggressions and aggressors.
Then, three, five and six years later, a significant amount of the heavy artillery and military assets proactively and intelligently ordered by Buhari started arriving and our already motivated troops have now happily taken the fight (what I call the ‘last fight’) to the misbehaving elements across the nation and the results we are all seeing; with scores of militants, bandits and Boko Haram terrorists neutralized and hundreds of them flying the white flag of surrender daily.
As that is happening, of course they are not expected to give up easily which is why we see the cowardly resort to attacking and abducting innocent school children including the recent attack on the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) which regrettably cost the lives of at least two of our gallant soldiers.
Unpatriotic opposition elements, people who didn’t believe that Buhari and Nigeria would succeed in caging terrorism and insecurity, those who do not want the insecurity to be tamed or end so that they could continue to exploit it for their mindless politics or to pursue their own agenda; whether ethnic, political or personal and those who want to use it as a justification for their own failures; teaming up with a lazy, unpatriotic and irresponsible media; feeding on the large population of gullible and impressionable Nigerians have tried to ramp up the noise, playing down on the undeniable exploits of our brave military under the command of an experienced Commander in Chief, Buhari while playing up and amplifying the few successes (if I may call it that) of these terrorists and enemies of the nation so as to create the impression that nothing is being done, nothing has been achieved; WHICH IS CLEARLY NOT TRUE.
A lot has been done and is being done. YES. Insecurity is still present, no question but our military has the upper hand and are running things now unlike before when ‘things were running them’. Beautifully President Buhari still has 22 clear months left in his tenure to consolidate on the fight. This is very much unlike the case in 2015, when weeks to end of the tenure of the last Administration, elections were postponed for 6 weeks purportedly to allow for the military to push back Boko Haram so that elections could hold.
Administration has significantly and undeniably re-built, re-equipped, re-professionalized and re-positioned our military such that whoever succeeds him from 2023 would have the proper military assets and resources to continue with the task of securing the nation. An advantage/privilege which was not bequeathed to Buhari by his own predecessors. A task which by the way is a continuous undertaking. There will always be security challenges; old and new, especially in a nation like ours with many politicians who have made blood their political capital added to a citizenry who do not think or understand that security is everyone’s business.
Anyone who says he or she is a sincere or patriotic Nigerian (even critic) who does not know, pretends not to know, cannot or does not understand and acknowledge this true, unbiased and factual narrative that I penned here, is not worthy to be called one.
My Igbo people usually ask in a proverb: ‘How many times will a man kill a lion before he is called a lion killer (Ogbuagu)’? The answer is once.
Buhari is a Lion Killer (Ogbuagu), whether anyone acknowledges it or not and posterity will be kind to him. He is the father of the modern Nigeria nation and Military. Those who cannot realize it now, will do so later.
#GodBlessNigeria
@Uche Diala
druchediala@gmail.com.