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NIN-SIM linkage has greatly reduced kidnapping, banditry -Says Pantami

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NIN-SIM linkage has greatly reduced kidnapping, banditry -Says Pantami

Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami has claimed that incidents of terror such as banditry and kidnapping in the country have reduced significantly because of the ongoing enforcement of a policy that ensured citizens obtained a National Identification Number (NIN).

According to the minister, unregistered, and partial registered Subscriber Identification Module, popularly called (SIM) cards were being used to perpetrate crime in the country. While before his assumption as minister of the sector nobody knew the total number of unregistered sims.

The minister stated this on Thursday in the Nigerian capital, Abuja as part of successes recorded since assuming office, in 2019.

“When I was assigned to supervise the sector on 24, August 2019, unregistered, and partial registered sims were being used to perpetrate crime in the country. Nobody knew the total number of unregistered sims,” he said.

“Within less than 15 days in the office, we have engaged the NCC as a regulator. We have directed them to carry audit exercise to enable them come up with unregistered and partial registered sims. They came with around 9.4 million which is enough to populate another country. It was the first time we didn’t know the total of unregistered sims in the country.

“And we went further to direct NCC, to ensure that by 25th September 2019, that is only one month few days in office, I spent there to ensure that by end of September 2021, no sim that is not registered will be on our network. NCC as a regulator implemented that effectively.

“From end of September 2019, to 2020, you will discover that even kidnapping and banditry reduced to the barest minimum. It was a time that hardly can you spend one month or more without hearing about kidnapping.

“The more you come up with policies to make the system effective the more criminals will come up with another strategy to compromise the policies.”

He also claimed that before the introduction of the NIN registration policy, some Nigerians in collaboration with a handful of agents of telecommunication officials engaged in illegally preregistering sim cards which were sold to criminal gangs to perpetrate crime.

Recall that in December 2020, the Federal Government had declared that after December 30, 2020, all SIMs that were not registered with valid NINs on the network of telecommunications companies would be blocked.

It later extended the December 30, 2020 deadline following widespread opposition against the earlier announcement and gave three weeks’ extension for subscribers with NIN from December 30, 2020 to January 19, 2021.

It gave six weeks’ extension for subscribers without NIN from December 30, 2020 to February 9, 2021 and further issued an eight weeks extension on February 2, 2021 but many organisations had called for further deadline extension or outright suspension of the NIN registration process.

The last extension in May 4 however set the expiration date for the SIM-NIN linkage to June 30

Islamic cleric, Sheik Ahmad Gumi, has urged the Federal Government to align with splinter bandit group

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Islamic cleric, Sheik Ahmad Gumi, has urged the Federal Government to align with splinter bandit group

Kaduna-based Islamic cleric, Sheik Ahmad Gumi, has urged the Federal Government to align with splinter groups among bandits as a unique way to ending mass abduction of school pupils.

Gumi, gave this advise in an interview with The PUNCH published on Friday. The newspaper quizzed Gumi on the recent abduction of 156 Islamiyya schoolchildren in the Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State, and Gumi responded that many bandits were ready for a dialogue, adding that government could use them to fight the “ugly ones.”

He said, “We are always trying to do our best, but you see, you need two hands to shake. You know these people (bandits) need engagements from the government itself. If you dialogue with them without the involvement of the government, it is a problem.

“Government needs to be proactive with them. We have a lot of them that are ready to fight the bad ones. Use the bad to fight the ugly, and use the good to fight the bad ones when you’re done with the ugly. Look at Boko Haram, who finished Shekau? Was it not the splinter group? So, it is easy.

“All these agitations you see, if the government can do a splinter group and the splinter group is empowered, every man wants power and money, they will do your job. There are many ready to submit themselves. All the ones you see me meeting in the bush, they are all telling us, ‘we are ready.”

Gumi, a soft-spoken cleric who has been advocating peace deals between the government and terrorist herders has at different times claimed extending the olive branch is the only way to solving banditry problem in the country.

He had held series of meetings with bandits terrorizing Kaduna and Zamfara State. The cleric was involved in negotiations with bandits who abducted 317 female students were abducted from Government Day Secondary School, Jangebe at Talata Mafara Local Government Area in Zamfara State in February.

In Calabar, students are protesting

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In Calabar, students are protesting

Security operatives have fired shots to disperse protesting students of the Calabar campus of the University of Cross River (UNICROSS), in Cross River state.

The students Friday, were protesting the killing of their colleague killed by armed phone snatchers and demanding that two of the alleged assailants arrested by the school security be released to them.

A source within the school confirmed that a 300-level student of the Department of Visual Art was stabbed by robbers within the Calabar campus of the school at about 8 PM, Thursday evening.

The source who gave the name of the victim as Moses Nkasi said the deceased: “was robbed by phone snatchers. After they left with his phone, he felt he could confront them and get his phone back, or maybe he felt he could reason with them. It was when he went back to meet them that he was stabbed in the chest.”

He added that the victim was quickly rushed to the hospital where he was declared dead.

“The school security arrested two of the assailants and retrieved the victim’s phone. The students just feel justice will not be done and that is why they are demanding that the school security provide them.” The source said.

As at the time of filing this report, heavily armed security men manned the closed gates of the university, with students back to their hostels

Zamfara state gripped by humanitarian crisis as violence escalates

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Zamfara state gripped by humanitarian crisis as violence escalates

Rising violence in northwest Nigeria’s Zamfara state is causing a humanitarian crisis, warns international medical organisation Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) today. MSF is calling for an urgent humanitarian response for people in the region, who are desperately short of food, drinking water, shelter, protection and basic services, including healthcare.

“Our teams in Zamfara state have witnessed an alarming rise in preventable illnesses associated with a lack of food, drinking water, shelter and vaccinations,” says MSF’s Dr Godwin Emudanohwo, speaking from the hospital MSF supports in the town of Anka. “Children keep on arriving here in a very bad condition. In the first four months of 2021, our teams in Anka, Zurmi and Shinkafi treated 10,300 children for severe acute malnutrition, measles, malaria, watery diarrhoea and respiratory infections. This is 54 per cent higher than in the same period last year.”

What began as occasional clashes between farmers and herders competing over increasingly scarce land and water resources has now evolved into generalised random violence by armed groups, who use kidnapping and plundering as a lucrative source of income.

People who make it to MSF health facilities say that the surge in violence has driven them to flee their homes, farms and grazing lands. Some have sought protection in Zamfara’s larger towns, such as Anka, where they are sheltering in camps, both formal and informal. Living conditions in the camps are dire, with no regular food distributions or proper shelter and with insufficient water and sanitation facilities, according to MSF teams. Other people have stayed in villages, too afraid to travel on insecure roads and delaying their trips to seek healthcare or fulfil other basic needs.

‘There’s hardly any food’

“There’s hardly any food to give to my children,” says Halima, two of whose children are being treated for severe acute malnutrition by MSF in Anka hospital. “We can no longer grow crops because criminals attack our farms. Two of my children got measles and they were growing very thin. The roads are very dangerous but I had to risk our lives and bring them to hospital. Last time, when their elder sister got measles, I decided too late to travel by road and bring her to hospital. She had complications and now she is blind.”

In February 2021 there were more than 124,000 displaced people living in in Zamfara state, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) – an increase of more than 12,000 since August 2020. In Anka town alone, MSF teams have counted more than 14,000 displaced people, with around 1,599 arrivals in the past four months.

“We had to flee our grazing lands and most of our cattle were stolen,” says Nana, who is sheltering in a camp for displaced people on the edge of Anka. “Now there’s very little for us to eat. I make a living by selling cows’ milk to local people.”  

The 150 beds in MSF’s paediatric ward in Anka hospital are already full, but staff fear the worst is yet to come. “We are currently running over our bed capacity in Anka hospital,” says Dr Emudanohwo. “Families tell us they won’t be able to farm for the new season, which means a new cycle of hunger. And the rainy season is yet to start, when malaria and other seasonal diseases increase. People here need food, safe water and vaccinations now.”

Rise in kidnapping and sexual violence

As the violence spirals, reports of kidnappings, killings, armed robbery and sexual violence have multiplied. 

“From January to April, our teams in Zamfara have received over 100 survivors of sexual violence,” says MSF’s Dr Noble Nma, medical activity manager in Shinkafi, where MSF runs a clinic for survivors of sexual violence. “Women and sometimes men are abducted by armed men and subjected to violation for a few weeks before being returned to their community. This is in addition to the violence faced by women within the community itself.”

Fear of travelling along dangerous roads means that rape survivors often seek support late, or not at all. “The survivors are afraid to take the roads, so they usually arrive at our clinics too late to prevent sexually transmitted infections, with serious mental trauma and in desperate need of protection,” says Dr Nma. “They tell us that there are more survivors out there who are afraid to travel here, so we fear that we’re only seeing the tip of the iceberg.”

MSF is one of just a few aid organisations working in Zamfara state. This is not the first time it has raised the alarm on the urgent need for increased humanitarian assistance and protection in the region. 

“Our teams have witnessed the speed at which the situation in Zamfara state has deteriorated,” says Froukje Pelsma, MSF head of mission in Nigeria. “The lives of people in northwest Nigeria are now dominated by hunger, abuse and preventable diseases. What is happening here is a humanitarian emergency that needs urgent attention and a fast and proper response. The authorities and all relevant stakeholders should assume their responsibilities towards affected communities.”

MSF has been working in northwest Nigeria’s Zamfara state since 2010. In Anka, MSF manages a 150-bed paediatric ward in Anka hospital, provides primary healthcare in the town’s largest camp for displaced people and runs outpatient malnutrition clinics in Anka town and surroundings. In Shinkafi, MSF manages a 39-bed malnutrition ward, an isolation tent for other diseases and a clinic for survivors of sexual violence; teams also provide surge capacity for treating malaria. In Zurmi, MSF supports a 30-bed paediatric malnutrition centre and a clinic for survivors of sexual violence. MSF teams also provide mental health support in all of these locations.  

MSF teams currently work in 11 states across Nigeria: Borno, Jigawa, Zamfara, Sokoto, Benue, Ebonyi, Kano, Bauchi, Katsina, Kebbi and Rivers. MSF has been working continuously in Nigeria since 1996.

Governor Ganduje of Kano raises alarm, says bandits are moving to Kano – occupying Falgore forest

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Governor Ganduje of Kano raises alarm, says bandits are moving to Kano – occupying Falgore forest

Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje,has called on the military to take action against the bandits who have converted some forests in the state to their hideout.

Ganduje made the call when he met with Farouk Yahaya, chief of army staff, at the Defence Headquarters in Abuja on Thursday.

He said bandits had started converging in Falgore forest, and expressed fears that they may be planning to carry out attacks in the state.

Ganduje expressed his commitment towards supporting the security agencies to sustain the peace in the state.

The governor called for the prompt completion of the army training facility at Falgore forest, noting that it will boost the military presence in the area.

“My visit here today is to condole with the Nigerian Army over the death of the former Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Ibrahim Attahiru and ten other officers,” he said.

“It was painful, it was untimely and sorrowful but we are consoled that they died in active service to the nation.

“I am also here to seek the help of the Nigerian Army to sustain the peace in Kano State; bandits have converted some forests in the state to hideouts.

“We are building houses, schools and hospitals for the herdsmen in some of the forests but we want the Army to commence activities at the Falgore forest.”

In response, the army chief said he will visit Falgore to see how work could resume on the army training facility in the forest.

“Nigeria Is a Failed State” – John Campbell says government has lost control and Garba Shehu fires back

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“Nigeria Is a Failed State” – John Campbell says government has lost control and Garba Shehu fires back

John Campell, the former US Ambassador to Nigeria in his Op-ed for Foreign Policy says “Nigeria has long teetered on the precipice of failure. But now, unable to keep its citizens safe and secure, Nigeria has become a fully failed state of critical geopolitical concern. Its failure matters because the peace and prosperity of Africa and preventing the spread of disorder and militancy around the globe depend on a stronger Nigeria.”

The Senior Fellow for Africa @CFR_org, in the 11 paragraph article, narrated how the Nigerian economy is usually estimated to be Africa’s largest or second largest, after South Africa. Long West Africa’s hegemon, Nigeria played a positive role in promoting African peace and security.

He said with state failure, it can no longer sustain that vocation, and no replacement is in sight. “Its security challenges are already destabilizing the West African region in the face of resurgent jihadism, making the battles of the Sahel that much more difficult to contain. And spillover from Nigeria’s failures ultimately affect the security of Europe and the United States”.

According to the former envoy, “This designation of repeated failure is not a knee-jerk, casual labeling using emotive and pejorative words. Instead, it is a designation informed by a body of political theory developed at the turn of this century and elaborated upon, case by case, ever since. Indeed, thoughtful Nigerians over the past decade have debated, often fervently, whether their state has failed. Increasingly, their consensus is that it has”.

He proceeded to say there are four kinds of nations: the strong, the weak, the failed, and the collapsed. According to previously published research estimates, of the 193 members of the United Nations, 60 or 70 are strong—the nations that rank highest in the listings of Freedom House, the human rights reports of the U. S. State Department, the anticorruption perception indices of Transparency International, and so on. There are three places that should be considered collapsed: Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemen.

Eighty or 90 U.N. members are weak. Weakness consists of providing many, but not all, of essential public goods, the most important of which are security and safety. If citizens are not secure from harm within national borders, governments cannot deliver good governance (the essential services that citizens expect) to their constituents, his article read in parts.

In the piece also contributed by Robert I. Rotberg, the founding director of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Program on Intrastate Conflict, “Possibly a dozen or so states are failed, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, and Myanmar. Each lacks security, is unsafe, has weak rules of law, is corrupt, limits political participation and voice, discriminates within its borders against various classes and kinds of citizens, and provides educational and medical services sparingly.”

The authors added, “Most of all, failed states are violent. All failed states harbor some form of violent internal strife, such as civil war or insurgency. Nigeria now confronts six or more internal insurrections and the inability of the Nigerian state to provide peace and stability to its people has tipped a hitherto very weak state into failure”.

“At a bare minimum, citizens expect their states to keep them secure from external attack and to keep them safe within their borders. The bargain that subjects long ago made with their sovereigns was being kept from harm in exchange for allegiance and taxation. When that quid pro quo breaks down, a state loses its coherence, its social fabric disintegrates, and warring factions subvert the social contract that should provide the fundamental foundation of the state. Nigeria now appears to have reached the point of no return.”

Boko Haram, a fundamentalist-inspired militia of possibly 5,000 attackers, also raids neighboring Chad and northern Cameroon, and is believed to shelter in the Sambisa forest along Borno’s mountainous border with Cameroon. Exactly why a Nigerian Armed Forces of 300,000 troops and a $2 billion budget has failed to extirpate Boko Haram is not clear; corruption in the military is allegedly a major factor, as well as inconsistent leadership from officers and politicians. (And, like Afghanistan’s Taliban, Boko Haram seems to have some limited local support.)

According to political theory, the government’s inability to thwart the Boko Haram insurgency is enough to diagnose Nigeria as a failed state. But there are many more symptoms.

But the Nigerian presidency on Thursday says John Campbell, a former US ambassador to Nigeria, has been “consistently” proven wrong over his predictions that the country will collapse. The presidency was reacting to a recent article co-authored by Campbell and Robert Rotberg.

Reacting in a statement on Thursday, Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman, said while Campbell is entitled to his opinions, events have proven his predictions wrong.

Shehu further said Campbell distorted facts to suit an argument when he wrote in the article that President Muhammadu Buhari requested that AFRICOM be moved to Nigeria.

“Ambassador Campbell has been predicting the collapse of Nigeria for several years. He is of course entitled to his opinions, even where events consistently prove him wrong. But facts should not be bent to support distorted opinions,” Shehu wrote.

“President Buhari did not request that AFRICOM move to Nigeria. The transcript of the call with Secretary Blinken is available on the State Department’s own website.

“It’s not just a question of the invented addition of ‘to Nigeria’ with regard to AFRICOM. It sums up a piece that attempts – subtly but revealingly – to shift facts to suit an argument. Nigeria faces multiple challenges, not least of which is the dissemination of fake news and prejudiced opinion.

“This is something we have come to expect from partisan blogs and politically motivated lobbies. It is still a surprise, and a disappointment, to see them joined by Foreign Affairs.”

Food blockade: Ohanaeze Ndigbo say there are conspiracies against the South-Eastern region by ’those who want to destabilise the region’

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Food blockade: Ohanaeze Ndigbo say there are conspiracies against the South-Eastern region by ’those who want to destabilise the region’

The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has alleged that there are conspiracies against the South-Eastern region by ’those who want to destabilise the region’.

In an interview with SaharaReporters on Thursday, Okechukwu Isiguzoro, Secretary-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo said the insurrection in the South-East is caused by some northerners who want Igbo people to denigrate into civil disobedience that will open them up for attacks.

Isiguzoro was reacting to a statement by the Secretary of Onion Dealers Association in Imo State, Halilu Muhammad, who noted that the association had withdrawn onion shipments to the South-East until further notice.

SaharaReporters had earlier reported how members of the association claimed they lost over N13 million to the recent seizure of onion trucks heading to the South-East.

Muhammad had made a claim that gunmen intercepted two onion trucks heading to the South-East and sold them to locals for N9,000 per bag instead of N15,000.

Ohanaeze, however, described it as a simple strategy aimed at using the weapon of hunger against the people of the South-East.

Isiguzoro noted that the Ohanaeze will never instigate the stoppage of palm oil shipment to the Northern region.

He noted that the insecurities ravaging the region are allegedly caused by a northern cartel that wants to deny Igbo people their rightful position in Nigeria. 

Ohanaeze however vowed that it would never allow Igbo people to stoop low to civil disobedience but rather allow peace to reign.

Isiguzoro said, “We have observed that all the things happening to South-East are well-coordinated attacks by a cartel that wants to destabilise South-East for economic and political reasons. 

“First, you hear the National Chairman of Arewa telling the northerners to leave the South-East that the region is no longer safe for them. You have also seen the American embassy warning the people of southern Nigeria that northern bandits and Boko Haram are moving to the South to destabilise the South, particularly the South-East.

“You have seen President Muhammadu Buhari threatening to unleash the war experience against the Igbos. And currently, we can see the perishable goods. They have done it before and they are using hunger as a strategy to ensure that the South-East does not keep up the political aspiration for 2023. 

“All these are the handiwork of northern cartel aimed at denying Igbos their rightful position in Nigeria and pushing them to civil disobedience that will lead to another civil war but the South-East will overcome all these evil conspiracies.

”Igbos are known all over the world as emergency experts that can handle any delicate situation and turn it into a gold mine.

“Ohanaeze will not instigate the blockage of palm oil to the North because Igbos have over N22 trillion worth of investments and property in the 19 northern states and whatever has been happening, including the (Ahmed) Gulak assassination is to prompt the repeat of 1966 massacre but we will resist them this time around.

“We are calling on those who are behind these to stop before it is too late, whether they block onions or do not block onions to the South-East, we will overcome this conspiracy. 

“Most of them are surprised that 51 years ago, we came out of civil war and we rebuilt our cities and they are trying to destroy our cities so they have unleashed insecurity, they have threatened us with civil war again, about killing of 3 million Igbos, mostly children and women. 

“They have threatened us with blockage of food to the South-East. They have even killed their own person in the South-East to instigate a crisis in the North but we are calling on the Northern governors, we are calling on patriotic Nigerians living in the 19 northern states, who are not part of this conspiracy to ensure that we promote things that will bind us together rather than things that will lead us to separation and that will lead us to go our separate ways. 

“This is the right time to checkmate this erroneous or this evil plan against the people of the South-East. But remember the dynamics and indices of 1966 have changed, we are now in the global world. Those factors that made them have the upper hand in 1966 are no longer feasible in 2021. Igbos will fight them at their doorstep but for now, we are calling for peace.”

Police confirm NewsWireNGR report on the murder of Unilorin female student, raped to death

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Police confirm NewsWireNGR report on the murder of Unilorin female student, raped to death

The Kwara State Police Command has confirmed the death of a female student in University of Ilorin, Olajide Omowunmi Blessing who was raped to death.

The deceased, who is a 300-level student of the Agricultural Science Department was reported to have been raped to death in her Tanke, Ilorin home on Tuesday.

The rapist left a note on the lifeless body of the victim that read “No forgiveness from the University of Ilorin”. The identification card of the student was also placed on the body.

Confirming the incident in a statement on Thursday, the Kwara Police Command Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Bagega said he has directed an immediate investigation and arrest of the attacker.

The statement read, “The deceased stayed with her elder sister. The elder sister came back from work at about 06:00pm on Tuesday, saying that she had tried several times to reach her on the phone but couldn’t as the phone kept ringing.

“She came back from work to meet the door of her apartment locked and couldn’t gain entry despite repeated knocks on the door. She then called some neighbors who helped to break open the door.

“They all met the deceased lying dead on the floor when they entered with her two hands tied to the back and her mouth gagged. She was met naked, bruises were noticed on her private parts, her mouth was covered, among others.

“Also, a note said to have been written on a piece of paper was placed on her chest containing a message, ‘Unilorin doesn’t forgive’.

“The people later informed the police at F’ Division Police Station, who discovered the dead body, snapped the picture, and took the corpse to the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH) for autopsy.”

South-East Crisis: ‘Rounding up youths and extra-judicial killings won’t solve the issue’ – Senator Abaribe

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South-East Crisis: ‘Rounding up youths and extra-judicial killings won’t solve the issue’ – Senator Abaribe

Senate minority leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe said the federal government shouldn’t make general assumptions on the attacks in south-east, as that can lead to persecution of innocent people.

The Senator was reacting to President Muhammadu Buhari’s threats to clamp down on those “misbehaving in certain parts of the country”.

“Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand. We are going to be very hard sooner than later,” he had said on Wednesday in a tweet that generated various reactions with Nigerians reporting the President’s account on the micro blogging site for hate speech.

Twitter has since pulled down the post.

While speaking on Arise TV on Thursday, Abaribe said “Every point that we are that ‘oh! something had just happened’ and then there’s a blanket statement that it’s this set of people, yet none have been gotten and tried. Civil engagement dictates that you investigate, apprehend and prosecute”.

“We are happy that Nigerians are seeing that what is here is not an Igbo problem, but a criminal syndicate going around all parts of the county and the government needs to unravel this. If a criminal burn a police station, you do nothing and then go and arrest every villager that you see on the street; which is what is going on in the south-east, you are not resolving the issue.

What you’re letting everybody know is that it is us versus them, which is not a good way of building unity in the country. So, we in our statement now said the inspector-general of police and other security agencies conduct an in-depth investigation, bring and try them in court.

“Not to just round up youths that you see, conduct extra-judicial killings and say you’ve resolved the issue. You don’t. You actually pushed it underground and it continued to fester. So, we have been calling for an engagement that will resolve the issue bedevilling the country.

“Suppose these attacks being done in quick succession in Igboland are meant to scuttle the proposal for an Igbo presidency — I hope you can also look at it from that perspective”.

“But we don’t know. And what we’ve been saying is try to fish out some people; try to investigate; try to hold some people and conduct a thorough investigation. Then, we’ll know who is doing this, who their sponsors are and why they are doing it.”

Buhari receives Governor Ben Ayade in Aso Rock

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Buhari receives Governor Ben Ayade in Aso Rock

President Muhammadu Buhari, on Thursday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, received the Cross River State Governor, Professor Ben Ayade, who recently defected from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.

This is two weeks after he dumped his previous party.

Though he was espected to be introduced by the leadership of the APC, he was led to the President by Chief of Staff to the President, Professor Ibrahim Gambari.

Speaking on why he was joining the APC, Ayade had highlighted the character attributes of President Muhammadu Buhari and the realisation that Cross River, which has been emasculated economically following the ceding of its oil wells, needed to be in sync with the party at the center, as the main reasons for moving.

Ayade said until he defected to be ruling party, he was a committed and dedicated member of the PDP.

Details later..

‘No general has retired over Yahaya’s appointment as COAS’ – DHQ says

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‘No general has retired over Yahaya’s appointment as COAS’ – DHQ says

The defence headquarters has denied reports of mass retirement in the Nigerian army following the appointment of Farouk Yahaya as chief of army staff.


DHQ spokesperson, Bernard Onyeuko, said the military headquarters has not authorised any retirement caused by Farouk’s appointment.

Yahaya, a major general, was appointed as army chief to succeed Ibrahim Attahiru, who died in a plane crash in May.

Addressing journalists in Abuja on Thursday, Onyeuko said not a single army officer has retired because of Yahaya’s appointment.

“At this point, you are all aware of the appointment of the new chief of army staff, Major General Farouk Yahaya. This has stirred up a lot of rumours in the media about mass retirements in the military.”

“I wish to use this medium to dispel such unfounded rumours as retirement is only on a voluntary basis for senior officers who desire to do so.

“At this point, no retirements have been authorised by the military high command.” he said.

Yahaya’s appointment had stirred controversies because his seniors are still in active service.
There were also reports that many generals — who are of course 35 and 36 — would be forced to retire to pave way for the new army chief, who is of course 37.

Some of the officers said to have retired are from southern Nigeria including Benjamin Ahanotu, chief of policy and plan at the army headquarters who is from Anambra state.

‘Because Nigeria is facing security challenges, does not automatically make the country a failed state’ – Lai Mohammed

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‘Because Nigeria is facing security challenges, does not automatically make the country a failed state’ – Lai Mohammed

The Federal Government says for anyone to declare Nigeria a failed state on the basis of its security challenges, is “preposterous’’.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed stated this in response to a recent declaration by the Council on Foreign Affairs (CFA) in the U.S. that “Nigeria is at a point of no return with all the signs of a failed nation’’.

In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja, the minister stressed that “Nigeria is not and cannot be a failed state’’.

Mohammed said the declaration by the Council did not represent an official U.S. policy.

“This declaration is merely the opinions of two persons, former U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria and a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations John Campbell, and the President Emeritus of World Peace Foundation, Robert Rotberg.

“Declaring any nation a failed state is not done at the whims and caprices of one or two persons, no matter their status.

“Just because Nigeria is facing security challenges, which we have acknowledged and which we are tackling, does not automatically make the country a failed state,’’ he said.

“Yes, the Council on Foreign Relations is a prominent U.S. public policy Think Tank, but its opinion is not that of the U.S.

“Like former U.S. Senator Daniel Moynihan said, ”You are entitled to your opinion but not your facts”.

Mohammed reiterated that Nigeria did not meet the criteria for a nation to become a failed state.

He listed the criteria to include inability to provide public service and inability to interact with other states as a full member of the international community.

“Yes, the non-state actors may be rampaging in some parts of the country, they have not and cannot overwhelm this government,’’ he said.

The minister noted that it was not the first time it was predicted that Nigeria would fail or break up.

“We were even once told that Nigeria would break up in 2015.

“But their doomsday predictions have all failed and will fail again,’’ he said.

NAN reports that the declaration by CFA that Nigeria was a failed state and would eventually collapse was contained in a research finding recently released through Campbell and Rotberg.

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