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Biafra sit-at-home protest to hold Monday, May 31 – IPOB

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Biafra sit-at-home protest to hold Monday, May 31 – IPOB

The Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB, says a sit-at-home protest earlier scheduled for Sunday, May 30 in commemoration of Biafra Day, will now hold on Monday, May 31.

A press statement by its Media and Publicity Secretary Emma Powerful, says :

“We, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) ably led by our great and indomitable leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, wish to announce that this year’s Biafra Remembrance Day sit-at-home will now hold on Monday, May 31, and not Sunday, May 30 as earlier directed.

The modification is following genuine observations about our earlier directive as many of our people observe Sundays as a day of worship.

“There will be the partial observation of the Biafra Day on May 30th. But there will be a total lockdown and sit-at-home on Monday 31st of May.

” We, therefore, expect Biafrans all over the world to stay indoors on May 31 for the respect and honour of our fallen heroes and heroines who paid the supreme price for us to live. It is our right to remember them for defending the genocidal attacks on our people between 1967 and 1970.

“Consequently, all commercial activities must be shut down on 31st of May throughout the land of Biafra. There should be no vehicular movement on that day on Biafra roads.

“Transport companies must withdraw from the road on that day. National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW); National Associations of Road Transport Owners (NURTO); and others are expected to fully comply with this directive.

“In the same vein, artisans and traders must close shop on that day. Airports, Seaports, Banks and financial institutions should all shut down in honour of our fallen heroes and heroines.”

“Okada and Tricycles organizations are also advised to withdraw from roads on that day. There shall be no social gatherings or events including burials, weddings on that day from 6 am to 6 pm.

“Parents are advised not to send their children to school on that day as no one is expected to be seen outside. Full compliance is expected from all.

“Biafrans in Diaspora are to hold peaceful rallies in their countries of abode.” the statement further read.

WTO DG Okonjo-Iweala announces her four Deputy Directors-General

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WTO DG Okonjo-Iweala announces her four Deputy Directors-General

Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala today (4 May) announced the appointment of Angela Ellard of the United States, Anabel González of Costa Rica, Ambassador Jean-Marie Paugam of France and Ambassador Xiangchen Zhang of China as her four Deputy Directors-General.

“I am very pleased to announce the appointment of four new Deputy Directors-General at the WTO. It is the first time in the history of our Organization that half of the DDGs are women.

This underscores my commitment to strengthening our Organization with talented leaders whilst at the same time achieving gender balance in senior positions. I look forward to welcoming them to the WTO,” DG Okonjo-Iweala said.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala took office as the seventh Director-General of the global trade club on the 1st of March 2021 becoming the first woman and the first African to lead the Organization.

Insecurity: Senate to meet with service chiefs on Thursday

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Insecurity: Senate to meet with service chiefs on Thursday

The Senate on Tuesday shifted its proposed meeting with Service Chiefs, the Director General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and the Inspector General of Police to Thursday.

Senate President Ahmad Lawan disclosed this at plenary.

Lawan said the security chiefs, who are supposed to brief the Senate, are still engaged at the National Security Council meeting which may extend till Wednesday.

He said: “The briefing will be very crucial, for us to be properly informed and properly guided.

“The only item on the Order Paper on Thursday will be the briefing.”

The Senate last Tuesday, after an exhaustive debate, resolved to invite the heads of the nation’s Armed Forces and other security agencies over the deteriorating security situation in the country.

It had also resolved its leadership should meet with President Muhammdu Buhari, to seek ways of mitigating the security challenges bedeviling the country.

Lawan said: “You will recall that on Wednesday we announced that the Chief of Defence Staff, the Service Chiefs, the Inspector General of Police and the DG NIA will be coming today at 11.00am to brief the Senate on the security situation.

“Today the National Security Council is continuing its meeting that it started last week. Therefore the invited security heads will not be able to come for the briefing.

“We are not sure if they will finish their meeting today. We assume it could spill to Wednesday too just like it spilled from Thursday to Tuesday.

“So to be on the side of caution, we have now fixed the date for the briefing to be Thursday, 6th May.

“I want to appeal to all of us that the briefing we will take from the Service Chiefs and other security agencies will be very crucial for us to be properly informed, properly guided and that if there is any request for supplementary budget, we should be able to understand why we should consider and approve such request.

“On Thursday, the only item on the order paper will be the briefing. We will do that as a special day for the engagement, the interaction between the Senate and the service.”

Just In: Parents of abducted Kaduna students protest at National Assembly complex

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Just In: Parents of abducted Kaduna students protest at National Assembly complex

Parents of the abducted students of the College of Forestry Mechanization Afaka in Kaduna State have occupied the National Assembly complex, Abuja, in protest.

The protesters which include members of the Students Union Government (SUG) of the institution are lamenting over what they described as the negligence of the state and Federal Government in securing the release of the children.

They chanted songs of solidarity and displayed placards demanding prompt rescue of the students. “Education is our right! Safety is our right! Freedom is our right!, Free Afaka 29! ” the parents and students chanted as they marched to the National Assembly.

The protesters joined by the Publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore and Deji Adeyanju had earlier gathered at the Unity Fountain and proceeded to the National Assembly complex.

Gunmen raided a college in northwestern Nigeria and kidnapped 39 students, government officials and parents said Friday, in the latest mass abduction targeting a school.

The abductors stormed the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization in Mando, Kaduna state, around 9:30 p.m. (2030 GMT) Thursday, shooting indiscriminately before taking students.

The Kaduna college was said to have some 300 male and female students, mostly aged 17 and older, at the time of the attack.

Kaduna state commissioner for internal security Samuel Aruwan said 39 of the students were missing while the army was able to rescue 180 people after a battle with the gunmen.

Aruwan had said the state government “is maintaining close communication with the management of the college as efforts are sustained by security agencies toward the tracking of the missing students.”

“A challenging stretch of time,” – Jennifer Gates, the eldest daughter of Billionaire Bill Gates and estranged wife

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“A challenging stretch of time,” – Jennifer Gates, the eldest daughter of Billionaire Bill Gates and estranged wife

Jennifer Gates, the eldest daughter of Billionaire Bill Gates and estranged wife, Melinda Gates, has reacted to the divorce statement issued by her parents.

Bill and Melinda issued the statement yesterday announcing that their marriage of 27 years is over. They, however, said they would continue to work together on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Jennifer, 25, wrote in parts it has been “a challenging stretch of time,” but said she’s learning to support her family at the moment.

“I’m still learning how to best support my own process and emotions as well as my family members at this time and am grateful for the space to do so,” she wrote on Instagram.

The estranged couple posted the same joint statement about their divorce on Twitter, which read: “After a great deal of thought and a lot of work, we have made the decision to end our marriage. Over the last 27 years, we have raised three incredible children and built a foundation that works all over the world to enable all people to lead healthy, productive lives. We continue to share a belief in that mission and will continue to work together at the foundation, but we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives. We ask for space and privacy for our family as we begin to navigate this new life.”

Insecurity: Presidency holds another security meeting

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Insecurity: Presidency holds another security meeting

In less than a week after the previous one, President Muhammadu Buhari is presiding over another Security Meeting at the statehouse in Abuja.

The meeting which is holding at the First Lady’s Conference Room was earlier held last Friday and adjourned till today.

Those in attendance include the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, and Chief of Staff to the President, Professor Ibrahim Gambari.

Others are  Minister of Defence, Major-General Bashir Magashi (Rtd) and the National Security Adviser, Major General Babagana Monguno (Rtd.)

The Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, Chief of Army Staff; Lieutenant-General Ibrahim Attahiru, Chief of Naval Staff; Vice Admiral Awwal Zubairu, and Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Isiaka Amoo; acting Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba are also attending the crucial meeting.

Details later..

BudgIT exposes N39.5Billion corruption racket in 2021 budget

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BudgIT exposes N39.5Billion corruption racket in 2021 budget

An investigation by BudgIT, a civic-tech non-profit organisation leading the advocacy for transparency and accountability in public finance in Nigeria, has uncovered a massive corruption racket in the 2021 budget and called on the government to audit the budget for loopholes.

BudgIT’s CEO, Gabriel Okeowo, revealed the shocking discovery in a publication it recently published, titled ‘Demanding Budget Reforms for Resource Optimisation’.

It said, “2021 has been a horrifying year for Nigerians concerning security as the country combats mutating forms of crime and terror across all its 36 states; this is despite allocating over N10.02trn to security between 2015 and 2021.

“In the 2021 budget, the entire security sector’s allocation was N1.97trn, representing a 14 per cent increase from the N1.78trn allocated in 2020.”

Increased resources allocated to the security sector means that less money is available to develop other sectors; thus, there is need for more scrutiny of how these allocations are budgeted and spent.

Likewise, BudgIT’s publication also stated that various non-security related government agencies now request and receive allocations for “Security Votes”, an opaque feature of the Nigerian security ecosystem devoid of accountability.

In the 2021 budget, a total of 117 federal agencies received allocations for “Security Votes” worth N24.3bn, despite many of these agencies already having allocations for “Security Charges” to cover each agency’s security needs.

Furthermore, BudgIT observed that the little budgetary allocation provided to other sectors are plagued with various loopholes for leakages and theft of public funds.

According to Okeowo, “Our investigations into the 2021 budget revealed at least 316 duplicated capital projects worth N39.5bn, with 115 of those duplicate projects occurring in the Ministry of Health.

“This is very disturbing especially considering the health infrastructure deficit and the raging COVID-19 pandemic affecting Nigeria.

“Even worse, agencies now receive allocations for capital projects they cannot execute. For example, the National Agriculture Seed Council has an allocation for N400m to construct solar street lights across all six geopolitical zones, while the Federal College of Forestry in Ibadan in Oyo State got N50m for the construction of street lights in Edo State. These are aberrations that need to be corrected.”

Okeowo enjoined the federal government to urgently block all loopholes in the budget creation and implementation process, some of which are highlighted in the organisation’s recently released publication.

“Nigeria is already haunted by a staggering N3.31trn debt servicing burden, which will wipe out nearly 41.63 per cent of the projected N7.99trn 2021 revenue. The federal government can maximise the little public funds left by blocking the leakages BudgIT has identified,” Okeowo added.

Nigeria’s budget can be an excellent tool to accelerate economic recovery, but if the budget is left with the current loopholes, it can cover corruption and grand theft.

He further stated that the Nigerian government already plans to borrow N4.69trn to meet its expenditure needs in 2021; thus, it cannot afford to allow these borrowed funds to be stolen by a few corrupt elites through loopholes in the budget.

“Virement provided in the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007, or the Opportunity for Corrigenda recently provided in Section 16 of the 2021 Appropriation Act Implementation Guidelines published by the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and Planning in March 2021, are handy starting tools the government can immediately use in plugging loopholes.”

Yahaya Bello says APC has outperformed PDP’s 16 year achievement

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Yahaya Bello says APC has outperformed PDP’s 16 year achievement

Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello says the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has performed beyond the 16-year achievement of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The Kogi Governor said this during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily. According to him, his party has delivered good governance to Nigerians.

“Largely, APC has performed beyond what PDP has achieved in their 16 years of governance in Nigeria,” Bello spoke from the Kogi State Government House in Lokoja.

“APC’s successes today within six years outweigh the successes of 16 years that they ruled. The statistics are there. We will remind Nigerians of where APC inherited Nigeria and where we are today.”

The Kogi state governor, is one of the Nigerian politicians who has been widely reported to be interested in succeeding President Muhammdu Buhari in 2023.

Speaking on security in his state, The Governor insisted that Kogi is the safest state in Nigeria, despite the recent attack that claimed the life of a commissioner and the abduction of a local government area in the north-central state.

He said, “I will reiterate that Kogi State is the safest state in Nigeria today. It doesn’t mean that there are no pockets of issues that we are grappling with.

“Like I always say, they will come in their numbers but they will never return back, especially the criminals. Yes, there are some notorious spots in the state.”

NewsWireNGR recalls that 4 days ago, Kogi West Council of Elders called on the governor to sustain his desire to occupy the nation’s top seat come 2023.

The group, which is made up of mostly retired military personnel, was led by the former Military Governor of Old Western State and former Minister of Police Affairs, General David Jemibewon (rtd).

Holding on to Faith: Muslims and the Search for a Conducive Environment

Khadija Yusra Sanusi
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Holding on to Faith: Muslims and the Search for a Conducive Environment

I observed Ramadan for the first time outside my home country, Nigeria, in 2015. It was in Johannesburg, South Africa when I was a student at the African Leadership Academy. Remembering it now – notwithstanding the school’s attempt to create a conducive environment – it was a bit gloomy because I didn’t have a Muslim community around me; I didn’t have a Mosque to go to for night prayers, I was not as actively involved in charitable projects as I would have been had I been at home and I was not reading the Qur’an as often as I should because I had exams and was working towards several deadlines.

The next two years were even more glum. I was in Paris as a student at the American University of Paris, taking classes and working towards even more hectic deadlines. Again, with no Muslim community to share my struggles with and to help keep me accountable during Ramadan. I was also struggling to find a Muslim community around me – having to travel to the grand mosque and paying costly taxi cabs back home. It was much harder that it was in Johannesburg. Having gone through my own battles, I wanted to speak to Muslims in non-Muslims communities, as well as converts, about their own and the advice to others in similar situations.

Jimmy, a 26-year-old American Muslim man, did not have much trouble finding a Muslim community. There are two mosques around him and “everyone there embraced me with open arms.” Because of the support he has gotten from the Muslim community, as well as the fact that “Allah truly listens to prayers”, he finds practicing his faith easy.

Jimmy said he converted to Islam the day Cristiano Ronaldo left Real Madrid, a Spanish football club. He had prayed to his then-god for the footballer to stay with the club but he left anyway. That event taught him that his god “is a false one” and he decided to find the true one. His Muslim friend, who was a fan of the Barcelona football club, had prayed for Ronaldo’s departure and his prayer was answered. “That led me to Islam,” he told NewsWireNGR.

The idea that Allah listens to prayers is even more emphasized on during this holy month.“Ramadan to me is a month of purity, healing and starting afresh,” Khadijah Mohammad, a 20-year-old Nigerian young woman living in Oxford, told NewsWireNGR. For her, it is a holy month where a servant feels connected to their Lord.

Khadijah opened up about spending Ramadan in a non-Muslim community and how different it is from Ramadan back home. It is challenging, she says; in terms of difference in Iftar (breaking fast) times, she fasts for about 15 hours in Oxford, while Nigerians are fasting for shorter. In addition, she feels isolated, as she is surrounded by people from diverse beliefs, cultures, ethics and spiritual morals than hers. Back home, she describes a uniformity in these principles. “This, I believe, always brought a sense of extreme motivation to be at your best in the holy month of Ramadan,” she adds.

In Nigeria, she is surrounded by friends, family and there are mosques around to attend lectures and sermons about the deen; in Oxford, she has not yet found such a community, except for when she visits her Nigerian friends. One of her biggest struggles is not hearing the adhan (call to prayer) and hence, not knowing when to have iftar and perform her five daily prayers. She describes it as “dispiriting”. Another is the indifference in the world around her – seeing people eating at her favourite restaurant makes crave and “all I can think about is how the bubble tea in the little girl’s hand must be refreshing.”

Khadijah is living abroad as a second-year student of Economic Politics and International Relations at Oxford Brookes University. When asked about balancing school and Ramadan, she told NewsWireNGR that it’s quite challenging. “On one hand, I have a 2000-word essay to submit and on the other hand, I have to start preparing iftar at 5pm. I generally work better at night so by the time I have my iftar, I am too full and somewhat “restless” to get to work.” She strongly believes that spirituality is essential to the deen so when these small struggles arise, she feels her spirituality is “bruised” to an extent.

Khadijah talks about the struggle to find a Muslim community in Oxford and the disappointment in not succeeding. She is constantly seeking knowledge about Islam and tries to learn as much about the religion as possible though YouTube, Muslim channels like Yaqeen Institute. The lack of a conducive religious environment in Oxford led her and her friends to start a social platform called ‘Unite The Ummah (UTU)’, which, as the name suggests, aims to unite and educate Muslims from all over the world.

As the virtual events manager, Khadijah says: “I host live events with people that have knowledge of the deen, so they can enlighten us and address topics and questions about the deen. From a personal perspective, this has inspired me to be better; I have been inspired by the speakers I have interviewed.” As a team, UTU has executed charitable projects and successful interviews with scholars via Instagram live.

When asked if she has any advice for Muslims observing Ramadan in non-Muslim communities, Khadijah said: “have faith and do not give up.” She counsels that if ever one finds him/herself slipping or spending less time religiously, they should take a deep breath and remember that Allah is most merciful. They should forgive themselves and put in an effort to be the best possible version of themselves.

It’s not always easy to find conducive environments to practice Islam but the mere thought that you are not alone is refreshing in ways we can’t even begin to explain. Whether you are struggling to find a Muslim “home” in a foreign land, or you are navigating life as a new Muslim during the holy month, the most important thing to remember is to hold on to your faith. Stay true to your religion, stay motivated and take one extra step towards becoming better every day.

Cheta Nwanze: Danladi Umar and the coming storm

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Cheta Nwanze: Danladi Umar and the coming storm


It’s been just over a month since the chairman of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCT) Danladi Umar was caught on camera physically victimising a security guard at a shopping complex. Mr Umar’s response was to say that the incident was an aggressive act performed against him by “Biafrans” even though he was the aggressor and the security personnel involved were not even Southerners. He is still in office.

Danladi Umar’s official written defence was an absurdly false record of events that claimed that he was attacked by a mob chanting secessionist and sectional slogans.

What Mr Umar’s revisionism made crystal clear to the 56 Nigerians who were somehow in the dark was that there is a hatred of the Igbo ethnic group so strong that a senior Federal Government official believes that merely signalling his hatred of the Igbo people should be enough to get him off the hook even with the existence of conclusive video evidence showing his guilt. That he is still in office with nary a reprimand a month later shows that he was right.

Danladi Umar did not make those statements expecting to be believed by any sane person. What he did was signal his commitment to a socially binding hatred in the expectation that the exhibitionism would attract support and grace from his superiors and peers. Given that as of the time of writing this, he is still in the job, it is safe to say that he calculated correctly.

Some would say that it makes no sense to have that type of widespread hatred but it does when you admit that action does not have to be morally correct or sustainable in the long-term to be logical.

This brings memories of the wrongful accusation and subsequent murder of the 14-year-old African-American Emmett Louis who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955, after being accused of flirting with a White woman.

Emmett Till was kidnapped from his uncle’s house, beaten, tortured, and shot in the head. His body was tied with barbed wire to a cotton gin fan and thrown into the Tallahatchie River.

The people arrested for his murder kept sending the signal that he was accused of flirting with a white woman and that was enough to eventually get them free. Was this because the case would have gone the same way if a white boy had been accused of flirting with a woman of any race? Not at all.

What happened was that there had been deliberate cultivation of hatred for the Negro to enable the practice of slavery, and subsequently Jim Crow, and part of the price paid to maintain social cohesion in those circumstances is to overlook offences against the other side or even reward blatantly expressed hatred and bigotry.

These practices are allowed because they ultimately provide access to resources that would otherwise have to be earned in a much costlier manner. In Nigeria, this hatred is nurtured for the Igbos primarily, and slowly but surely all other Nigerians get placed in that category when there’s a need for brutal ruthlessness.

Ethnic animosity between the Igbo and the Northern majority makes no sense. They don’t share boundaries and interact enough to justify a significant amount of hatred or love. They are quite far from each other. The distance from Bauchi to Anambra is 760 kilometres. For context, the distance from Bosnia and Herzegovina to Italy is 475 kilometres and you must get across Croatia and the Adriatic Sea to get from one to the other.

France is in between Belgium and England and the distance from London to Brussels is 246 kilometres. We would find it absurd to hear that the people in these different countries hate each other because logic would suggest that the distance between them and the presence of other entire societies and nations separating them physically takes away the proximity and border clashes that could leave them with culturally rooted hatred for each other.

Physical proximity aside, Danladi Umar is 49 years old and was born after the Civil War. A Civil War that was not in any way fought on Northern soil or had the North facing aggression. You can keep looking at individuals but you’ll never find a compelling personal justification for the hatred of Igbos. It is important at this point to continue my American comparison, that the parts of America where the hatred for the negro was strongest, places such as Alabama and Missisipi, are among the poorest in America today. The parts of Nigeria where pretty much every mistake is blamed on the Igbo people, well, look at the country’s Human Development Index map…

But for all the focus on the misconduct of the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Bureau, there is a bigger issue at play here. After his assault on the security guard, the gates of the plaza were locked and he was prevented from exiting the premises. On another day, he might have been lynched.

This resort to ‘self-help’ is becoming increasingly common and stems from the slowness and outright inability of the Nigerian state to dispense justice in a fair and timely manner. It is especially obvious when a ‘big man’ is concerned. A senator from Adamawa, Elisha Abbo, assaulted a shopkeeper and escaped any censure, even though the whole incident was captured by a camera. Abdullahi Ganduje, the governor of Kano State, was seen in several videos pocketing bribes, but everyone just moved on.

Those who do manage to get justice, often end up approaching foreign courts. Two landmark judgements against oil companies in Nigeria were gotten in courts in the Netherlands and United Kingdom. Those courts gave the aggrieved justice where the Nigerian legal system could not.

A state functions best when laws apply equally to everyone, irrespective of their status in society. This is one of the main conditions under which cooperation between large groups is possible. It enables Yusuf from Nasarawa to cooperate with Emeka from Ebonyi and Kunle from Ekiti, trusting that they are all playing by the same rules.

Where this is found not to be the case, a low-trust society takes root, which is exactly what Nigeria is. It is why the cooperation across ethnic groups and social classes that is necessary to take the country forward is absent. We are not all playing by the same rules.

Nigeria’s current Animal Farm situation of one law for the powerful and another set of laws for everyone else, inevitably means most people will retreat to their ethnic enclaves and ultimately, some will take matters into their hands.

Until Nigeria works – and is seen to work – for everyone, no matter what position you hold or what ethnic group you identify with, the common man, whatever that means, will continue to disconnect from the country, and as time passes, will seek his own version of justice, one he takes with his own hands. Following Danladi Umar’s escape, I now fully expect that within the next two years, we are going to see a member of the elite lynched.

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Nwanze is a partner at SBM Intelligence.

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Former Senate President, Pius Anyim writes open letter to Buhari

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Former Senate President, Pius Anyim writes open letter to Buhari

A former President of the Senate, Pius Anyim, has written to President Buhari; asking him to make history by setting up a commission of inquiry into the violent and non-violent agitations within the country.

In an open letter on Monday, Pius Anyim warned against shutting the people out of the process of finding solutions to the conflicts, stressing that a permanent solution would be a mirage.

Read the full letter below:

OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI.

RE: THE STATE OF INSECURITY IN THE NATION:

MY SUGGESTION

Mr. President, you may recall that on the 5th of October, 2018, I had audience with you in your office. In that meeting, with your then Chief of Staff, the late Mallam Abba Kyari, in attendance, we touched on a number of issues including the insecurity in the country and about which you directed that I should do a short brief on my suggestion and forward to your Chief of Staff.

Mr. President may wish to know that I did as you directed and submitted my suggestion to your then Chief of Staff on the 20th of October 2018.

I have decided to do this open letter just to be sure that it will get to you, because I suspect that the private one did not get to you. Most importantly, I would not have bothered to write you this letter if the unfortunate and avoidable circumstances we have found ourselves in, as a nation, have not continued to fester to the magnitude of threatening the fabric of the nation.

This letter, therefore, is to reconvey my earlier suggestion which, I want to believe, did not get to you.

PREAMBLE

The perilous threats to our national sovereignty at the time you took over the reins of power in 2015 were the Boko Haram insurgence in the North East; the armed agitation in the Niger Delta Region, and the IPOB agitation in the South East.

Mr. President, on your assumption of office the most striking promise you made to the nation was to tackle insecurity with emphasis on reclaiming the territories occupied by Boko Haram. I must admit that you did approach the insecurity challenge with commendable determination but unfortunately, the challenge, with time, became hydra-headed and no doubt went beyond your control.

Before I proceed with my suggestion, may I first put in perspective the basis of the position I will canvass in this letter. I wish to note that every violent agitation originates from a non-violent agitation that was not attended to. Today, Nigeria is bedevilled with violent and non-violent agitations.

It is also a fact that the current violent agitations originated from non-violent agitations e.g., Boko Haram started as a non-violent procession; the herders/farmers clashes which have degenerated into a deadly conflict with many states now bloody theatres of war; ethnic conflicts in Kaduna, Ebonyi, Cross River, Benue, Plateau states etc., which are escalating to an unmanageable scale; armed banditry in virtually all states of the federation particularly Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, Niger, Sokoto which has overwhelmed the law enforcement agencies, kidnapping which has become occupational in most parts of the country.

To worsen matters, Boko Haram, has acquired new impetus that they now overrun the military and have even expanded their base to Niger State. IPOB has become a regional challenge. On the non-violent side, agitations for restructuring are scaling up in momentum, ethnic consciousness and allegiance even among the elite are far eroding national concerns.

All these and many more coupled with gross downturn in the national economic, social and political space has become an apparent threat to our nationhood.

I am to add, that it must be known that military actions or even foreign help alone cannot bring permanent solutions to ethnic conflicts or nationality agitations. Mr. President, you need to create a platform to hear Nigerians out.

MY SUGGESTION

THE SEARCH FOR SOLUTION MUST INVOLVE THE CITIZENS

In the build-up to securing the Nigerian Independence, the colonial administration was confronted with reservations by minority tribes in the three regions of Northern, Eastern, and Western Nigeria about fears of domination by the majority tribes. In other to find a lasting solution, the colonial administration appointed a commission to “ENQUIRE INTO THE FEARS OF MINORITIES AND MEANS OF ALLAYING THEM”.

The Willink’s Commission of 1957, named after its chairman Mr. Harry Willink, produced a far-reaching report after extensive hearings of the complaints and suggestions from the people. It can be argued that no other document in the history of Nigeria has had a far-reaching impact on our political structure than Willink’s report.

It guided the debates in subsequent constitutional conferences before the independence; gave structure to the emergent Constitutions and indeed gave health to the socio-political structure of the nation at independence.

The greatest achievement of Willink’s Commission is that its report provided the colonial administration and the nation an in-depth understanding of the nature, dimensions, and magnitude of the fears of the minority tribes.

Accordingly, its recommended solutions became an official position and were easily accepted to be constitutionalised as a long-term measure.

There is no gainsaying that reservations about the continued existence of Nigeria are building up to a dangerous time bomb. I make bold to say that no solution except one birthed by an independently conducted engagement with fact-based recommendations arrived at with the participation of the citizens will provide an enduring solution.

The most outstanding recommendation of the Willink’s Commission as a long-time solution is the inclusion of a Fundamental Human Rights Chapter in the constitution. It was recommended that the inclusion of the Fundamental Human Rights Chapter in the constitution will protect all citizens, including the minority stock from any governmental and or majority bloc abuses.

I must say at this point that it was the recommendations of Willink’s commission that gave all the component groups in Nigeria the comfort to go into the union at independence. It has become apparent that the foundation of the various agitations in Nigeria today is that the comfort provided at independence by Willink’s Commissions Report is no longer working.

I make bold to recommend that Mr. President should make history by empanelling another commission of inquiry to inquire into the violent and non-violent agitations in Nigeria and make recommendations on the immediate-, short- and long-term solutions as a way of first de-escalating the rising tension in the land and a process for the renewal of our march to nationhood.

It is important to note that in a democracy, no action is deemed successful or completed until the buy-in of the people is secured through a democratic process. This buy-in- is an imperative that is yet to be pursued in the fight against violent agitations in Nigeria. I must say that as long as the people are not part of the process of finding solutions to the conflicts, a permanent solution will be a mirage.

THE BENEFITS OF SUCH A COMMISSION

The de-escalation of the current tension in the country and the creation of a platform for the exchange of ideas.

It is a natural governmental process of addressing challenges of public importance. The report of such a commission will put in proper perspective and provide a basis for further action.

It will offer the citizenry the opportunity and platform to share their concerns and to be heard. This helps to build confidence and reduce animosity and mutual suspicion.

It identifies the immediate and remote causes of the current challenges and provides a framework for their resolution.

Such a commission will aim not only to unravel the remote and immediate causes but also determine the various dimensions and define them accordingly. E.g. democratic agitations will be separated from violent crimes to the understanding of all. It will also capture the reasons for the agitations and the Justice thereto.

Such a Commission will propose immediate-, short- and long-term solutions and develop a roadmap towards addressing them. Such a roadmap used as a national reference document would guide further interactions and processes for implementation.

Such a document will be the foundation for a new Nigeria anchored on negotiated settlement derived from the legitimacy bestowed by citizen participation and the credibility of the commission.

Above is submitted for your kind consideration, Sir.

Anyim Pius Anyim, GCON.

Former Senate President

Federal Republic of Nigeria

2023 general elections may not hold if insecurity continues – APC Chieftain

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2023 general elections may not hold if insecurity continues – APC Chieftain

An All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain and Former commissioner in Niger State; Jonathan Vatsa has expressed doubts about the country conducting a general election amid growing security challenges.

Speaking in Minna on Monday in a statement titled:  ‘As the nation bleed, can Nigerians have credible elections in 2023’, he said if government decides to go ahead with the election amid the worsening security situation across the country, such election will not be credible.

“Nigerians should know that such election would never be credible. It will amount to sitting in one place and writing election result, and the people will definitely resist such manipulation,” he said.

“No part of this country is safe. People are being killed like flies. They have abandoned their ancestral home for fear and have no hope of returning soon,” he stated.

According to Vatsa, no credible election could be conducted in Niger State without addressing the issue of banditry. “Six or seven of the 25 local councils of the state are under siege by bandits. So which credible election will you conduct in such local council without addressing the security challenges there. It is not possible today. There are over 20,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) across these local councils.”

“The state is overwhelmed with this situation and nobody is listening to the governor. So, if you want to conduct elections in these affected communities, where are the voters?” he asked.

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