The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has declared January 8, 2017 a national day of mourning over the killings in Southern Kaduna and other part of the country.
The day would be observed as a fervent day of prayer and empathy for those affected by the crisis.
A statement signed by the CAN general secretary Rev. Musa Asake on Friday blamed the president for prolong silence over the crisis saying, the silence was perceived as “official endorsement of the dastardly and ungodly acts”.
The statement reads: “In view of the present predicament, the president of CAN has directed that Sunday, January 8, be declared a national day of mourning by all Christians, including those in the diaspora. We are to pray fervently for our southern Kaduna brothers and sisters who are victims of these wanton killings and also for the peace of our dear country, Nigeria”.
“While we commend President Muhammadu Buhari for waging war against the Boko Haram fundamentalists since his assumption of office, his silence in the ongoing genocide in the last few weeks speaks volumes over the perceived official endorsement of the dastardly and ungodly acts.
“We know that southern Kaduna has been under 24 hour curfew daily as directed by the governor, yet the enemies of the people are still prowling going from house to house, killing defenceless people, without government protection. The security operatives in the area appear to be turning blind eyes to the killings.
“The recent defence of the president’s silence that the president has received briefing from the governor of Kaduna State over the matter is unacceptable because the presidency knows that the people of the affected area had already protested against the governor’s unacceptable biased handling of the continued killings. Common sense tells anyone that at that instance, the president has to more directly wade in because lives are involved. The continuous killings have shown that the governor of Kaduna state lacks the will power to arrest the situation and bring it under effective control”.
The Christian body also condemned the explanations given by a presidential aide, Femi Adesina, on why the president has not commented on the killings.
Mr. Adesina had said that the president cannot comment on everything as the country is a federation. He said Governor Nasir El-Rufai had demonstrated capacity in handling the situation in the state.
The Department of State Services (DSS) has arrested three Boko Haram members in Kano State, North-west Nigeria, over planned attacks during the festive season with Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), as well as other suspected kidnappers, armed robbers in some states of the country.
A statement issued by a DSS official, Tony Opuiyo, on Friday noted that in the last quarter of 2016, the service in continuation of the fight against terrorism, on 30th November, three suspected Boko Haram fighters namely Samaila Muhammad, Sanusi Musa and Hudu Muhammad were arrested at Dirbunde village of Takai LGA in Kano State.
According to him, the trios have perfected plans to carry out series of coordinated attacks with Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in selected States of the North-West zone in the month of November, 2016 to disrupt festive activities during the end of year and the new year of 2017.
He also said operatives of the Service arrested Sani Digaru, along with one Mohammed Ali, on 25th December, along Gombe-Dukku road, in Gombe State.
Digaru was, however, fatally shot when he attempted to escape from arrest. The arrest was sequel to earlier intelligence that he was in possession of N2 million meant for the coordination of a terrorist operation in Yobe and Bauchi States.
Opuiyo said following offensive against kidnappers and other criminals, the Service apprehended the trio of Abubakar Musa, Ismail Musa and Suleiman Mainasara, on 29th November, 2016, at Aduwawa in Benin city, Edo State.
He explained that: “Prior to their arrest, they were members of a kidnap gang that terrorised commuters and residents of communities along the major highways between Edo and Kogi States.”
“Similarly, on 30th November, 2016, one Ibrahim Adamu and three of his associates namely; Umar Abubakar, Ibrahim Salisu and Abdullahi Abubakar, were arrested at Ibilio village in Edo State.
He said the quartets were part of a larger gang that specialized in the kidnap of people along the Edo-Kogi corridor.
He added that on 20th December, 2016, at Katsina-Ala town in Benue State, another gang of suspected kidnappers comprising one Ernest Benze, Terkura Tyokishir alias Mpoto, and Anun Aondona, identified as members of the Terwase Akwaza kidnap syndicate, were arrested for their complicity in kidnap incidents in the State.
He noted that it would be recalled that the Terwase gang is known for its notoriety and credited with various dastardly and violent acts in the State.
He also said one Usman Sanusi Musa aka KEKE, a notorious kidnap kingpin was intercepted by the Service on 15th December, 2016, at Sabuwar-Kaura village in Doguwa LGA, Kano State.
Musa is said to be a high-profile criminal who, in conjunction with other criminal associates of his gang has been terrorizing residents and communities in Bauchi, Kaduna, Kano and Plateau States.
In Abuja, the DSS arrested some suspects who specialized in robbing visiting foreign residents/customers of luxury hotels.
“For instance, on 5th December, 2016, the gang robbed an expatriate in a high brow hotel in Abuja and carted away his money and other valuables.
“However, acting on actionable intelligence and with the support and cooperation of sister agencies and the hotel management, the service arrested one Ikechukwu Obadlegwu and Ikechukwu Joseph Eke.
“While Obadlegwu carried out surveillance on potential targets for the group, Eke was the alleged kingpin and mastermind of the whole operation.
“Also, at Gwaron Dutse, Kano Municipal, Kano state, Auwalu Abdullahi Yakasai, a notorious fraudster, was apprehended for allegedly defrauding Jaiz and Unity Banks of N100 million and N50 million respectively.
“The service also arrested one Bashir Shuaibu on 5th December, 2016 at Tsamiya village, Gezawa LGA of Kano state for obtaining money from unsuspecting victims through threat messages. He was arrested while in the process of defrauding another victim.
“On 28th December, 2016 about 0930 hours, at Ben Kalio Housing Estate, Damaturu, Moh’d Yusuf Daya, a 10-yearold boy was kidnapped.
“The kidnappers subsequently demanded for a ransom of five million naira ransom.
“However, about 1920 hours same day, the service rescued Muhd Yusuf Daya, at Potiskum town, Potiskum LGA. Meanwhile, the victim’s mother Barakat Daya and her friend, Rukaiya Danladi, have been arrested for culpability in the incident,” the statement added.
The statement further urged Nigerians to report any suspicious persons, parcels, vehicles to the nearest security formations.
“Members of the public are further enjoined to see (our) societal and individual security as a collective effort and to patriotically support security and law enforcement agencies with critical information that can help in keeping the country safe in the coming year, 2017.”
President John Dramani Mahama has given the assurance that he will hand over a peaceful and stable Ghana to his successor; Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, come January 7, 2017.
Ghana’s Citi-Fm reported that, Mahama said; “I inherited a peaceful and stable country from my predecessor, the late President John Evans Atta Mills and will also hand over a peaceful and stable government to my successor, the President-elect, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo.”
President Mahama gave the assurance when members of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference called on him at the Flagstaff House, Kanda.
The Bishops were at the Presidency to commend him for his demonstration of statesmanship after peacefully conceding defeat in the just ended December 7 polls.
They were led by their President; the Metropolitan Archbishop Philip Naameh, of the Tamale Metropolitan Archdiocese and Archbishop Palmer-Buckle, Vice President and Accra Metropolitan Archbishop.
President Mahama said as a Christian, he believed in all the tenets of the Bible, which partly stated that “the voice of the People is the voice of God” and would therefore continue to play his role towards the growth and development of the country.
He said the intercessory prayers of the religious people of Ghana could not be taken for granted and called on the Catholic Bishops to offer the same support they offered him to the incoming government to ensure the perpetual growth of the country.
Ghana, he added, would continue to be respected by her peers and the international world for the respect for democracy and constitutional rule and called on Ghanaians to unite for their common development goals.
Archbishop Naameh, President of the Conference said Ghana would forever remember President Mahama for his numerous infrastructural developments dotted throughout the country.
He pledged the prayer of the conference for him even in his life after the Presidency and urged him to continue to offer any other suggestions that could move the country forward.
“We the Catholic Bishops conference will like to commend you for your demonstration of statesmanship, which has seen Ghana’s general election through peacefully,” he said.
The contributions of family planning initiatives to improving maternal and child health indices cannot be overemphasised, hence, efforts by Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative (NURHI) to ensure more women in Kaduna, North West Nigeria have access to variety of childbirth spacing methods.
Apart from the provision of free commodities for childbirth spacing by Nigerian government to its citizens, NURHI has renovated some Primary Health Care facilities to provide clean and conducive environment for provision of services to clients.
The Childbirth Spacing campaign, driven by NURHI has gained support of religious, traditional and community leaders who have also championed the cause to mobilise and enlighten their followers.
The District Head of Jaji, Kaduna state, Danjuma Mustapha recently told Journalists during the tour of health facilities renovated by NURHI in his domain that the palace is doing a lot in mobilization and enlightenment of women and men on the importance of childbirth spacing.
He commended NURHI’s social mobilization strategy, which he said has positively impacted both men and women resulting in a massive turn out at the family planning facilities.
He said the just concluded 72-hour makeover (renovation) of the Jaji Primary Health Care by NURHI was a welcome development and assured that the traditional council is fully in support of every step that will be taken to promote child spacing in Jaji. He called on the state government to join forces with NURHI in the provision of everything needed to maintain effectiveness of the facility.
He debunked assertions that Islam was against Child Spacing saying: “I don’t think Islamic religion is against child spacing, that is why we talk to the men in mosque on the importance of child spacing and also enlighten them on the dangers of the mothers health if she does not space her children. And even with the discouragement from some fanatics so many people are still interested in child spacing”.
The Family Planning Provider who is also in charge of the facility, Hauwa Sani commended NURHI for its effort in childbirth spacing campaign. She said “NURHI has really done a lot for our family planning unit; they provided us with everything both the commodities and consumable and also help us in creating awareness”.
She revealed that the response was encouraging as most men now support their wives and even bring them to the facility. She said the men sometimes come alone to the facility for enlightenment on child spacing before bringing their wives and attributed this to NURHI’s giant stride in creating awareness among the people.
Hauwa added that “child spacing has come to stay and it will go a long way to put an end to maternal and child mortality, because so many women die out of ignorance, but now that there has been a lot of enlightenment and awareness programs women now know how best to maintain their health”.
Other Facilities
At the Kanfanin Zango primary health care also in Igabi local government of Kaduna state, the turnout was impressive as so many women were been counseled on the different methods of family planning, so they could make a choice while some were waiting to be attended to.
The medical officer in-charge and family planning provider, Hadiza Bello said NURHI has contributed to the development of their primary health care center by building a new family planning unit and also provided new equipment and everything needed. They also set up a health committee who have did well in mobilizing the men in Kamfanin Zango to support their wives, and so there have been a massive attendance in the facility.
It was a motivating one at Kwarau Tasha primary health care center with a very clean environment; NURHI just like in other places had renovated not only their family planning unit, but the whole facility and also provided the needed commodity and consumables for family planning.
Hindatu Adamu Rigachukun the facility in-charge and family planning provider said they have been able to achieve a high response from women who are interested in child spacing because there is an amiable relationship between the health workers and the people in the community.
She said to encourage the people to embrace child spacing, the health workers attended a lot of the ceremonies that take place in the community like weddings and naming ceremony and use such occasion to enlighten women and even men on the importance of child spacing. Sometimes they visit them in their houses to talk on the issue of child spacing and nutrition.
Hindatu was able to bring in the religious aspect of child spacing to the people, she said “Islam is not against child spacing, as a Muslim and also a health practitioner I know that the religious aspect of child spacing is the method of breast feeding for 24 months; the difference is that there are so many new method now.”
At the Mando primary health care center, Lami Dauda Amutu in charge of the family planning unit noted an increase in attendance as over 170 clients were consulted between 16th November and 14th December 2016, this she attributed to the awareness programs by NURHI and the facility development committee made up of the traditional leaders, the youth and some members of the community who have shown a high level of support for childbirth spacing.
The Rigasa General Hospital attracts so many people, most especially in the family planning unit. The unit in-charge Tawakaltu Imran said since the commissioning of the 72-hour makeover family planning clinic has encouraged a good response even the men that were against child spacing are now in support.
On the eve of 2016 Christmas, Goska village, about 6 kilometres away from Kafanchan in southern Kaduna, northwest Nigeria was attacked by suspected Fulani herdsmen.
These pictures depict what remains of the village today.
As at the time of the attack, the whole area was under 24-hour curfew, which required every resident to remain indoors, except for the heavily armed military personnel allowed to patrol the area.
Southern Kaduna Peoples’ Union (SOKAPU), a socio-cultural progressive and rights group, is blaming Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state, northern Nigeria, for the killing of its people on Christmas eve.
This was contained in a statement by the National Public Relation Officer of the Union, Yakubu Kuzamani.
Goska, a village near Kafanchan in southern part of the state was attacked on that fateful day, at a time when the whole area was under a 24-hour curfew – meaning, every person must remain indoor, except for the security personnel who patrol the area to enforce the curfew.
6 people were reportedly killed in the attack and several others injured.
A survivor had told AFRICA PRIME NEWS that “the attackers came in the daytime shooting sporadically into the air, but were initially repelled by military agents. Later the military withdrew from the vicinity for a break. That was when the Fulanis came back to attack our village burning houses and killing the innocent ones,” says a villager who escaped death during the attack, and chose to remain anonymous for fear of his life.
Barely two days to the attack, the Governor had announced intention of meeting president Buhari on the need to establish two military bases in the area. That was in addition to other steps taken to enforce law and order in the area.
The SOKAPU statement by its National Public Relation Officer, Mr. Kuzamani questions “Where was the surveillance helicopter that flew round Kafanchan during the day? What happened to it during the attack? Where were all the hundreds of security personnel quickly mobilised to Southern Kaduna? For some times we have been crying and screaming ourselves hoarse that we need security in Southern Kaduna but nobody paid any attention until when someone felt the need to ensure that his curfew isn’t flouted.
The statement further says, “We are saying it calmly that all men of goodwill should hold Governor El-rufai responsible for the killings in Goska, due to his inflated ego, unguarded utterances, appallingly undignified conduct in handling the killings in Southern Kaduna and his morbid penchant for deliberately living in denial of the actual people and reasons for the killings in our area since he became Governor.”
Killings in the area had continued unabated since it began more than 10 years ago. It escalated recently for a combination of factors, including what Church Leaders say, decision of government to carve grazing reserves for the Fulani herdsmen in the area, and the Miyetti Allah Fulani group called, killing of their brothers.
A recent media report has quoted Governor El-Rufai saying he paid his Fulani kinsmen some amount to stop the killing in southern Kaduna. The report has angered many people in the region and around Nigeria. The Governor did not discredit the media report, until the Senator representing Southern Kaduna, Danjuma La’ah, tongue-lashed the governor in a media conference.
The Senator had in a parliamentary plenary called on Nigerian government to declare State of Emergency on southern Kaduna until security situation improved in the area.
Senator La’ah and SOKAPU said more than 10 communities had been taken over by the Fulani herdsmen, after dislodging residents of the villages, rendering them homeless.
Governor El-Rufai had said there were saboteurs in the security situation, adding that some people were using the situation for political gains. He however did not go ahead to name the political beneficiaries of the crises.
As part of security measures, the governor had arrested a number of individuals in Southern Kaduna who asked people of the area to defend themselves.
The Governor had kept saying some people were behind the attacks, but he had not in any time mentioned any name. This had gone contrary to the nature of the man, who had shown no fear of individuals, especially when it comes to issues around governance, or his interests.
In a statement on the latest killing, Special Assistant to the governor on Media and Publicity, he said, “Government and security agencies will not be deterred; we will continue to be resilient, up and doing and courageous in tackling this unfortunate situation,” the statement added.
“Their tactics are to create a chasm, divide people, breed hate and prejudice and plunge the state into chaos but we will triumph over these evil forces by the grace of Almighty God.
“No amount of evil will change our deep commitment. We will continue to be firm, decisive and put lives of our citizenry and their wellbeing as our ultimate goal”, the statement says
It adds that, all those involved will be brought to book.
The Press Statement By SOKAPU
Once again the Southern Kaduna Peoples’ Union (SOKAPU) has had to painfully send out condolences to the murdered people of Goska village in Jema’a Local Government Area of Kaduna State. Ironically, on a day that our people ought to be joyously celebrating the Christmas festivities, was the day they were reduced to burying their loved ones, treating the wounded in hospitals and coping with a fresh batch of internally displaced people of Goska village whose houses were burnt down.
Burnt and killed on 24th December 2016, while happily engrossed in preparing for the Christmas celebration, secured in their knowledge that a 24-hour curfew meant to keep them indoors would also keep away their killers. Alas how wrong they were.
SOKAPU is calling on all people of goodwill to personally hold Governor Nasir El-rufai responsible for all those murdered in Goska village because these killings took placed under a 24-hour curfew, imposed on Zangon Kataf, Kaura and Jema’a LGs by the Governor. While people were forced to stay indoors, pampered marauding herdsmen whose presence around Goska has been noticed and reported by people around that area for almost three days, attacked the town and for hours killed and burnt without let or hindrance from security. This amply confirmed our assertion that the 24-hour curfew slammed on the 3 LGs in Southern Kaduna was just to punish the people for daring to protest the persistent killings in their villages on 20th December when El-rufai visited kafanchan.
It means the Governor lied on December 21 when, in justifying the 24-hour curfew slammed on the 3 LGs said, “The State Security Council said it took the step following credible intelligence about risk to lives and property in the areas.” More than 20 communities have been attacked and hundreds killed without the Governor getting any ‘credible intelligence’ to lives and property but he became drowned in ‘credible intelligence’ to justify his curfew when youths and women protested the killings in his presence.
To confirm that the Governor’s sole intention was to punish those who protested against him, look at the answer he gave State House correspondents when on 22nd December, he visited Aso Rock to get endorsement for the 24-hour curfew from Mr. President. “I don’t think the state government should be blamed, those responsible for the violence that broke out in those parts of the state should be held responsible for that. We have not imposed curfew in other parts of the state, we had to impose curfew here because of the situation that was caused by irresponsible behaviour by certain people.”
Those who initially thought the 24-hour curfew was to stop the herdsmen from continuous killings now can see the real reason for it.
Even the hundreds of policemen, soldiers and other security personnel quickly drafted to those 3 LGs, especially Kafanchan were just to enforce the curfew and arrest those the Governor felt disrespected him or trying to defend themselves and not to stop the killings. This was further confirmed by the attack on Goska, because despite the hundreds of security men brought in from all over, Goska village, just some few kilometers away from Kafanchan town was still attacked. And like always, the security went to Goska village after the marauders had killed, burnt and left.
Where was the surveillance helicopter that flew round Kafanchan during the day? What happened to it during the attack? Where were all the hundreds of security personnel quickly mobilized to Southern Kaduna? For some times we have been crying and screaming ourselves hoarse that we need security in Southern Kaduna but nobody paid any attention until when someone felt the need to ensure that his curfew isn’t flouted.
With the attack on Goska, who will the Governor now blame? He has blamed everybody for the continued killings in Southern Kaduna except himself or those he paid money to stop the killings. So who will he now blame for the Goska attack? Maybe they were Niger Delta militants disguised as fulanis!
We are saying it calmly that all men of goodwill should hold Governor El-rufai responsible for the killings in Goska, due to his inflated ego, unguarded utterances, appallingly undignified conduct in handling the killings in Southern Kaduna and his morbid penchant for deliberately living in denial of the actual people and reasons for the killings in our area since he became Governor.
We condemn the attack in Goska village and condole with the bereaved. SOKAPU is calling on all our people to remain calm, never to go on any reprisal, never to take the law into their hands and remain law-abiding. In the midst of all this, we are wishing all people in Kaduna state a Merry Christmas and a prosperous new year.
Signed: Mr. Yakubu Kuzamani National Public Relation Officer
Nowadays a lot of people are turning to black magic in order to achieve all kinds of evil and selfish purposes – controlling or doing harm to people, accumulating wealth, and promotion at work or to become famous – and this invariably involves spell casting, sacrifices and the consultation of entities and deities of questionable nature.
No good comes out of the usage of black magic as it upsets the natural balance of things; it’s cheating nature, the universe, and people’s destiny and even, perhaps, the destiny of a locality such as a country. Any individual using black magic can be assured that whatever evil they do or send out will make them subject to the Rule of Three law which is to say whatever evil you do will come back to you three-fold.
For those who mess around with black magic and are probably unaware of what they are doing let them me illustrate with the pyramid of universal power below:
All power comes from God (this can also translate to mean God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost) and he’s at the peak of the pyramid. Following closely on the next rung are the Archangels, Angels, Holy Men, Prophets (- not self-proclaimed prophets!) and Saints.
At the base of the pyramid comes Lucifer and his legion of fallen angels, base spirits, non-embodied entities and demons – the lowest of the universal power structure – which, unfortunately, are what humans contact when using black magic.
Now because all these evil base spirits in the lower section don’t have ultimate power like God they tend to trick people into achieving their own diabolical desires. They always demand something in return for giving people ‘power’ they request. They don’t do anything for free! They’ll always want something in return which can involve anything from paying homage to them, wearing of clothes of a certain colour, periodic ritual offerings and so on. Failure to follow their instructions to the letter and the individual will incur their wrath – how many people have died or gone mad because they disobeyed instructions given to them?
And talking of sacrifices – and I’m not talking about sacrificing a goat or a chicken here – a human sacrifice! People who seek high office or wealth are known to use human sacrifices to achieve their aims. A human soul is created by God, something Lucifer and all the base spirits or any Man can re-create. In doing so one incurs the direct wrath of God (- thou shalt not kill!) and the repercussions are severe. The punishment for the individual can range from incurring a generational curse on his family from God to the banishment of their own soul when they die. In most cases such people begin to pay for their crimes before they even die, for instance how many rich people (of questionable wealth) or politicians suddenly lose ( to death) the one thing – wife, son, daughter, etc – he or she loves the most? When using evil spirits or black magic you never know what’s in the small print – what you tend to lose to obtain what you want- and you’ll never be told!
Now to use black magic people need to go to somebody who practises it – babalawo, witchdoctor, a witch or somebody who is knowledgeable about it – and they go to them under the pretence they are very ‘powerful’. The truth is no babalawo knows how powerful he is. He will claim he is but he doesn’t know. In the absence of a universal system that will denote whether he has a ‘diploma’, ‘BSc’, ‘MSc’ or ‘PhD’ in witchcraft and black magic you can only take his word for how powerful he claims to be; he’ll be knowledgeable in some areas but not all and hence the reason why people go from one place to another seeking a more powerful practitioner. So if you do juju with one babalawo there’s the possibility a more powerful babalawo up the road can unravel it. So you’ll forever be going from one babalawo to another seeking the more powerful one. Unfortunately there aren’t any as all witches and witchdoctors, themselves, will admit that all power comes from God.
Follow me on Twitter: @Archangel641 or visit http://www.archangel641.blogspot.co.uk
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has declared January 8, 2017 a national day of mourning over the killings in Southern Kaduna and other part of the country.
