Following re-run elections in Rivers State, south-south Nigeria, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has issued interim report where it calls for co-operation from stakeholders for the commission to conclude its assignment to bring about results that are acceptable to Stakeholders.
The report in full reads:
“Following the release of the timetable for the conclusion of the National and State Assembly re-run elections in Rivers state on 3rd November 2016, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) proceeded to conduct the elections in the state as scheduled today, Saturday, 10th December 2016.
“The elections were generally peaceful and the turn-out was impressive except in Akuku-Toru, Gokana, Khana, Andoni and Tai Local Government Areas. There were alleged reports of dynamite explosions in Akuku-Toru; INEC officials were attacked in Khana; electoral materials were snatched in Andoni; and our staff were prevented from conducting the elections in Tai State Constituency. “n a few other areas where hoodlums threatened the conduct of the exercise, the security agencies intervened and ensured that the elections were conducted in a peaceful atmosphere.
“In the meantime, actual voting has ended in most Polling Units (PUs). We urge the good people of Rivers state to continue to cooperate with the Commission so that ultimately, we would have results that are acceptable to the Stakeholders.
“We will write this for all to read. Anyone, soldier or not, that kills the Fulani takes a loan repayable one day no matter how long it takes” – Mallam Nasir El Rufai, 2012.
I will never forget these words. How I wish that my friend and brother, Governor Nasir El Rufai, expressed the same level of angst, cold rage, chilling resolve and passion for vengeance after the murder of millions of defenceless and innocent non-Fulanis, including women and children, in his own Kaduna state and indeed all over the country since the coming to power of the Buhari regime one year and seven months ago.
How I wish that he could have learnt a lesson or two from other Nigerian leaders of Fulani extraction who are far more restrained, mature, experienced, knowledgeable and responsible than him like Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, Hon. Minister Kabiru Turaki, Hon. Minister Hadi Sirika, Governor Sule Lamido, Col. Abubakar Dangiwa Umar, General Aliyu Gusau and countless others that careless and ill-advised assertions, vicious threats and a lack of decorum and restraint have no place in public discourse and could lead to unimaginable consequences including the loss of innocent lives. After all, we are ALL Nigerians.
Given the circumstances I am constrained to write the following for all to see: the spilling of innocent blood in the name of vengeance, religion, ethnicity or anything else is expensive and it comes with a heavy price.
Those who willfully shed it will face the consequences of their actions. They will pay a heavy price from generation to generation both in this world and in the world to come.
Given all the horror stories of murder and butchery that we hear about in Kaduna state today things have certainly got out of hand and every Nigerian, whether they be Christian or Muslim, ought to be deeply concerned.
Such is the carnage and wasting of innocent lives that I cannot but support the columnist Sam Omatseye’s call on Christians in southern Kaduna to rise up and use all lawful means to defend themselves from what can, to all intents and purposes, only be described as genocide.
I also support the appeal to the Christian Association of Nigeria to use all lawful means to assist and support them and I commend the gallantry and resilience of the Southern Kaduna’s People Union (SOKAPU) who have consistently spoken out and resisted the evil that the good people of southern Kaduna have been subjected to over the years.
For as Thomas Jefferson, one of the great founding fathers of the United States of America once said, “when injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty”.
Self-defence, like self-determination, is a fundamental and inalienable human right and those that take pleasure in mass murder and carnage must be resisted and stopped.
Those that kill, maim and destroy their fellow human beings and compatriots in the name of ethnic and religious hegemony and under the guise of cattle-rearing and herding cows must be brought to justice.
When the International Global Index identified a group that they described as the “Fulani militants” and “herdsmen of Nigeria” as the “fourth most deadly terrorist organisation in the world” the international community was shocked and many world leaders expressed their concern and outrage.
It was only in Nigeria that we took it in our stride and that people found it difficult to comprehend the implications or appreciate the dangers and complexity of the challenge that we were faced with.
It was also only in Nigeria that the government brushed the matter under the carpet and refused to disarm the murderous terrorists or even condemn their actions.
It was only in Nigeria that everyone hid under their beds and ran for cover and refused to say it as it is even though they all knew the truth.
It was only in Nigeria that the blood and the lives of the numerous victims of the Janjaweed-style marauders and murderers were regarded as being less precious and less sacred than the blood of their tormentors and killers.
The fact of the matter is that this is a major issue and a collective challenge. This fight is beyond politics: it is an ancient struggle which is being fought in pursuance of an ancient cause.
Worst still it has an international and global dimension. Simply put, it is essentially about the supression and systematic destruction and humiliation of the so-called “lesser peoples” and supposedly “inferior ethnic nationalities” of the hybrid mega-nation called Nigeria.
It is about the enslavement, the breaking of the will, the total subjugation and the complete annihilation of an entire people and various ethnic nationalities within that mega-nation.
It is about the forced aquisition of the land, culture, destiny and souls of others, ethnic and religious domination and good old-fashioned conquest.
That is the monuemental challenge that we are faced with in Nigeria today by those that covertly commissioned and armed the herdsmen and that are using them to do a dirty job.
Yet few wish to admit let alone discuss, hear or publish such bitter truths in our country. And those of us that are willing to do so are insulted, attacked, maligned, persecuted, threatened, ostracised and labellled as rebels and dissidents simply because we have cultivated the strength and courage to identify the problem, speak the truth and stand up for the weak and the oppressed.
The tyrant forgets that truth and timely counsel is worth its weight in gold. He forgets that it is better to have an honest and vocal opposition than to have a false friend.
He forgets that he either controls those in his inner circle and his numerous courtiers, security chiefs, Ministers and advisors or they will end up controlling him and pushing him to fatal error.
We his subjects try our best to keep quite and ignore the commission of atrocities that we see in our nation every day by his security forces and his blood-thirsty and blood-curdling kinsmen that have constituted themselves into a well-armed reserve army and a formidable and murderous ethnic militia.
Instead of speaking out boldly and loudly or protesting in the streets we choose to keep the peace and stay at home and pray.
Yet, unabated, the horror show simply goes on and on. The nightmare continues to unfold and the black flag of death, destruction and carnage is hoisted higher every day.
No-one is spared in this bloodfest of terror and butchery. Today it is the defiant Biafrans and the good people of the south-east that are being shot, slaughtered, tormented and “cut to pieces” and tomorrow it is the good people of Agatu and the Middle Belt or the residents and farmers of the south-west and the Niger Delta.
And in all this our response is nothing but fear, trepidation and weakness. Our collective resolve to stand against evil has long been broken. We continue to bite the bullet, take the pain, reign in our rage, maintain our stoic and cowardly silence and encourage those that seek to avenge their loved ones and kinsmen to do nothing, to remain calm and to leave it all to God.
Yet there are some things that are beyond the pale and that cannot be ignored. When those that are charged with the responsibility of protecting us and bringing those that kill our kith and kin to justice are complicit in the barborous actions of the terrorists we cannot remain silent. And if we do God Himself will judge us.
When you talk like that you are provoking the sensitivities and rage of every non-Fulani in your state and in the entire nation.
When you say such a thing you are rubbing raw salt in a fresh wound and you are plunging a sharp and long butchers knife deep into the hearts of the loved ones of all those that were murdered and mutilated in your state and elsewhere by those barbaric killers that you have described as your kinsmen and friends.
When you speak so callously and with such insensitivity you are murdering and butchering the murdered and burchered victims all over again, rubbishing their memory, insulting their families and pissing on their graves.
When you talk like that it means that you are what is known as an “enabler” or as an “accessory after the fact” in law and you are nothing but an accomplice to and friend, sponsor and sympathiser of mass murderers.
It means that you are not just a murderer but you are also a genocidal maniac. Worse of all you know very well that the money that you have publicly admitted to giving them will be used to buy more deadly weapons and ammunition which will then be used to slaughter, maim, kidnap and terrorise even more innocent and defenceless people from your constituency and elsewhere in Nigeria.
If it is not Shiite Muslims that are being killed in Kaduna today it is our brothers and sisters in southern Kaduna. Not only are they massacred but they are also buried in unmarked mass and shallow graves where pigs feed off their carcasses and decaying flesh.
How wicked and heartless can we be to one another? Where is the milk of human kindness? Where is compassion and mercy? Where is justice, succour and protection for the poor, the deprived, the unconnected and the needy?
Those that bathe in the blood of the innocents and that delight in indulging in cruelty and crushing the bones of the weak may have today but tomorrow belongs to us.
As the leader of the American-based Nation of Islam movement, the respected Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, once said,
“God is on the side of the weak, the oppressed. God is never in favor of the tyrant! And fighting against tyranny really is obedience to God. So God will have His way, no matter what the jury or government does. But if they are wicked enough to deny these families justice, then God will answer—and I fear the terrible nature of His chastisement. Be warned”.
Permit me to conclude the first part of this write up with the words of Senator La’ah who represents the people of southern Kaduna in the Senate.
In a statement he issued to newsmen on Wednesday 4th December the Senator asserted that Governor El-Rufai has been able to identify the killers and their locations.
He added, “This will lead to their sponsors in Nigeria and other places. Nigeria should then use its diplomatic relationship and extradite these murderers of its citizens, plunders and arsonists to face justice in Nigeria.
“After Governor El-Rufai’s term in office, it should be possible to prosecute him for being an accessory to mass murder, since he has refused to reveal these findings to the rightful authority for actions to stop the evil that is spreading to many states today.
“This is from the outcome of Newspapers’ and online captions quoting governor El -Rufai as saying that he has had to trace some of the murderous Fulani herdsmen that have been killing defenceless innocent Southern Kaduna natives and destroying their villages, the news sources said that after tracing them, he told them that he was also a Fulani man and paid them sums of money to stop the massacre, burning and tearing down of scores of communities in Southern Kaduna.
“That not done with, the Governor also uttered a very bizarre threat that he has compiled for arrest and prosecution, names of persons asking the people of Southern Kaduna to defend themselves against the obvious inability of the Chief Security Officer of the state – Governor Nasir El-Rufai – to secure their lives and property and save them the trauma of being under perpetual fear of further unprovoked violence.
“Knowing how swiftly he reacts to any untoward issue unfairly thrown at him in the media, I have waited for days to hear or read a rebuttal from him but to no avail.
“This therefore confirms these unfortunate utterances as truly that of the governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai.
“I wish to state that these statements are not only unfortunate, callous, insensitive, crude and demeaning of his office and intelligence, it throws him up as a bigot and hater of Southern Kaduna and we are holding him as an accomplice in the ongoing genocide in Southern Kaduna.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has appointed Mauritius Commercial Bank Ltd, MCB Investment Management (MCBIM), a subsidiary of MCB Capital Markets, as Fund Manager for its first multi-jurisdictional Fixed Income Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) in Africa. The Board of Directors of the AfDB has also approved a seed equity capital investment of USD 25 million for the ADBF.
The primary objective of the African Domestic Bond ETF (ADBF) is to encourage bond issuance in local currencies by facilitating access to local fixed income markets for investors. The ETF will be invested in both government and corporate bonds, and will initially be listed on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius.
MCBIM pioneered this area in early 2013 with the launch of the MCB Africa Bond Fund, an actively managed USD denominated fund that focuses on the local currency bond markets of 13 countries in Africa. The fund has consistently outperformed its benchmark since inception and is up 9.52% in absolute terms this year.
Through this initiative, the AfDB aims to strengthen African economies by reducing their dependency on foreign currency denominated debt The ADBF was conceived as part of the AfDB’s African Financial Markets Initiative in 2008. Through this initiative, the AfDB aims to strengthen African economies by reducing their dependency on foreign currency denominated debt, increase the range of available financing options and act as a catalyst for regional market integration.
Stefan Nalletamby, AfDB’s Director for Financial Sector Development said “In developing markets, it is particularly important for the lead institutions to act to reduce financial market impediments and instill local and international investor confidence. AfDB is leading the establishment of the ADBF as a sovereign fixed income ETF investing in different countries which will be the first time an institution of this kind is established in Africa. AfDB is the premier development Bank for Africa and the Bank’s leadership in the establishment of ADBF is demonstrable of the Bank providing a local solution to several structural weaknesses.”
Rony Lam, Chief Executive Officer of MCB Capital Markets said “We are privileged to have been selected by the AfDB as Fund Manager for this ground-breaking fund. The ADBF will pave the way for the development of local bond markets in Africa and we are proud to be associated with this important initiative. This demonstrates MCBIM’s fund management capabilities and confirms our position as one of the leading Africa fixed income specialist firms.”
The ADBF will be managed by MCBIM’s Fixed Income team, led by Abhimanyu Yadav.
European Union and Benin Republic have signed an agreement to implement two flagship governance programmes in Benin, aimed at supporting the government’s efforts to reduce poverty and promote reforms.
With financing worth €184 million from the EU, the package consists of direct support to the national budget and support for the decentralisation process.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, in the presence of President Patrice Talon of Benin Republic, EU Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica said “The EUR 184 million aid package shows the EU’s commitment to supporting the Beninese Government in its efforts to introduce good governance, improve the management of public finances and fight fraud and corruption. The efforts already undertaken in these areas must be commended and continued. They are key to winning the trust of the Beninese people, of private investors and of donors,’ he said.
The first financing agreement consists of a Good Governance and Development Contract (GGDC) for EUR 114 million, EUR 103 million of which is for direct budget support over a period of five years from 2016.
Payments under this contract will be established on the basis of a policy dialogue with the government on the progress of reforms in these areas. Technical support for a total of EUR 11 million euros will be provided to help the country achieve the objectives of the Good Governance and Development Contract.
EUR 70 million will go to a programme to support local development (Programme d’Appui au Développement Territorial, PADT), which will help implement Benin’s decentralisation and devolution policy. Sectoral budgetary support of EUR 60 million will mostly be channelled through the support fund for local (communal) authorities.
The amount of the annual instalments will depend on the results achieved by the Beninese Government, as estimated using a set of 10 indicators to evaluate progress in reforming local government, in terms of both the transfers of government resources to the communes and the management of these resources by the communal authorities.
There will also be EUR 10 million in additional support under this programme for capacity-building at all administrative levels in order to support the National Association of Benin’s Communes and for financing innovative regional development projects proposed and implemented by the Beninese communes.
Over the past two years Benin has gone through a full electoral cycle, with local, communal and parliamentary elections in 2015 and presidential elections in 2016. One of the main challenges facing the new government is corrupt practices and the impunity accorded to such practices.
By concluding a Good Governance and Development Contract the EU intends to support the government in stamping out these practices and consolidating public finances. This support follows on from a similar contract under the 10th European Development Fund (EDF).
Benin has been engaged in a process of decentralisation designed to bring decision-making closer to citizens since 2003; this process is based on 77 communes. The European Union has supported decentralisation in Benin since reforms began in 2003 with three programmes for a total financing of some EUR 68.8 million.
The most recent programme of support for local development under the 10th EDF (2012-2016) combined sectoral budgetary support (EUR 41.2 million) and institutional support (EUR 3.8 million). In so doing the EU has supported the implementation of the national decentralisation policy, enhanced the communes’ capacity and resources (including financial), while encouraging the government to make budgetary commitments to the local authorities.
Benin receives EUR 372 million under the 11th EDF for the period 2014-2020. The three priority sectors for this support are: good governance with EUR 184 million, the sustainable development of agriculture with EUR 80 million and access to modern, sustainable energy for EUR 80 million. Civil society support will receive EUR 18 million, while EUR 10 million will go to measures to support the implementation of the national indicative programme.
By Iyakale Yakubu Jos (Nigeria) — A study by United Nations (UN) has shown that traditional and religious leaders play effective role in resolving conflicts in northern Nigeria
Conducted in Plateau State, north central nigeria, the study reveal that traditional and religious leaders were key peace drivers that ensured resolution of the crises experienced in Plateau state between 2001 to 2014.
UN Lead Consultant, Dr Abdul Hussaini, stated this in Jos, at a meeting to validate Review of the Plateau State Peace Architecture.
He said respondents in the study drawn from three local government areas in the three senatorial zones of the State said, the traditional and religious leaders were more reliable in their responses even before the Nigerian Police.
“The responses were based on the antecedents for effective response as key players in the peace process in Plateau,” he said.
Hussaini said, the study revealed that women were not perceived as prominent key stakeholder in the peace building process, but were influential in mobilizing women for peace building talks.
“The study also showed that women were more involved in the peace process at the community peace committees, interreligious peace council and the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) committees,“ he said.
He noted that the traditional and religious institutions who were rated most reliable in effective response were patriarchal in nature, thus the low percentage of women in the institutions to be drivers of the peace process.
The Consultant expressed worry that despite findings indicating low engagement of women in peace processes, the society has rated the State Security Architecture of the Plateau as inclusive.
He said that the study recommended that a critical mass of women peace building leadership should be reinforced where women would demand for the full implementation for the affirmative action for women representation in key positions in government at all levels.
In a remark, Plateau State Commissioner for Women Affairs Rufina Gurumyen, said the State was committed to raising the quality of women in the peace building process despite their economic challenges.
Represented by Director Planning and Research in the Ministry, Retshik Tireng, the Commissioner said the critical perusal of document would ensure it was instrumental in bridging the wide vacuum of the absence of women in the peace building process of the State.
Executive Director for Justice, Peace and Reconciliation Movement (JPRM), a community based organisation, Justina Ngwobia said, women should be engaged especially at the grassroots levels in peace and security talks.
She cautioned women not to be unruly in their desire to be engaged in the peace process, but be partners in progress with the men for the actualisation of the desire.
The unity of Nigeria is non-negotiable as the country must remain one indivisible country and progress on that threshold to become a world power in the future.
That is the belief of majority of ordinary Nigerians who earn their livelihood surviving from hand to mouth on a daily basis.
But some careless decisions, actions or inactions of some people in authority is constantly threatening the unity of the country as such may be perceived as deliberate attempts to discriminate against people of other tribes or religions in the country.
Only recently, Nigerians woke up to the news that over 200 staff of the Federal University Dutsinma, Katsina State have been unduly relieved of their appointments by the institution’s authority.
Though the news has been suppressed on the mass media either by act of commission or omission, few Nigerians that heard about the development have condemned it in totality.
The letter of the termination of appointment which was duly signed by the Registrar, Aliyu Dalha Kankia, said that the Vice Chancellor, Professor Haruna A. Kaita endorsed the sacking of the staff.
“By this letter, the Bursar is directed to stop your salary with immediate effect and to pay you one month’s salary in lieu of notice. Payment of the one month’s salary should be subject to submission of duly filled clearance form,” the letter that was served the sacked staff read.
Just like that, people that had contributed to the institution for not less than a year and that were not prior to then, issued queries or warnings for any wrong doing were unbundled without blinking of an eyelid.
The manner it was done, is what is leading to suspicion from the affected staff, who are of the opinion that they were sent packing simply because they were not indigenes of Katsina State, nor Muslims, an allegation that is weighty, considering the fragile unity the country is battling to salvage.
Two days after the letters were issued, on September 8, 2016, an internal memo circulated within the institution, which originated from the Registrar, described the sack as efforts aimed at ‘sanitising’ the university system of all irregularities and abuse of due process.
The memo stressed that a number of staff of the institution had been on temporary appointment for over one year in most of the cases, which had expired without being renewed.
“Technically and legally, these staff do not have employment with the university. Some of the affected staff have unavailingly tendered letter ‘regularising’ already expired and non-existing appointment.
“The university authority become concerned about the myriad infractions and undue processes and resolved to carryout its statutory responsibility of correcting the wrongs and insisting on due process,” the memo stated.
The question the Vice Chancellor and Registrar may be required to answer is that, how does sacking staff who were not made permanent staff by the institution correct the so called infractions? If indeed they had genuine intentions in correcting the wrongs, why didn’t they just regularise the arrangement and made them permanent staff, instead of sacking them, including a professor, who was the only professor in a department?
In another argument, it is on record that same staff that were sacked, had in February this year undergone interview for regularization. The interview according to an internal memo from the institution, had taken place from Wednesday February 10 to Thursday February 11, at the Senate Chamber and Registry Conference Room of the institution.
That memo with reference number FUDMA/REG/94/1/43 which was signed by Vandu Z. Augustine on behalf of the Registrar, was addressed to all junior and senior staff that were on temporary appointment.
So what happened to the result of the interview, which was gathered that also had on its panel, a team from the Federal Character Commission?
From the list which I got a copy, not even one of those who attended that interview was spared by the broom the institution’s administrators used in sweeping out ‘undesirable elements’ from their system.
It is pathetic and sad that in the history of our nation at this point in time such incidents can be done with impunity and in broad daylight, without any higher authority coming out to challenge same, another argument that links further suspicion to the drama.
Yet another angle is the fact that the key administrators of the institution are from Katsina State, which co-incidentally is the home state of President Muhammadu Buhari, a reason many believe he should act to save himself from the conspiracy theorists that suspect he is also in the know of the entire happening.
The argument is that the Chairman Governing Board of the institution, is from Katsina State, just like the Vice Chancellor and the Registrar. This school of thought is of the opinion that it was a deliberate attempt at weeding out non-indigenes of the state, so that they can be replaced with indigenes.
Just like an answer to their prayer, on November 21, 2016, the university’s authority placed an advert on the Daily Trust Newspapers, page 26, requesting for applications to fill in vacant position of staff that were sacked barely two months earlier.
This is a call to action for those in authority to take a closer look at the development at the Federal University Dutsinma, in view of the suspicions being raised by those affected. The development should be properly investigated and those found to have been wrongly sacked should be re-instated. Nigeria does not need more issues that will lead to bad blood at this point in time. We should conduct ourselves and live as brothers to move the country forward.
Jacob Onjewu Dickson is the Founder, Minorities Unity Movement (MUM), he can be reached on jacobnewnigeria@gmail.com
Africa Media Development Foundation (a non-governmental organization) in conjunction with a Kaduna-based software solution group, NextMerge on Tuesday, trained 20 Kaduna-based Journalists on blogging and effective use of the internet in order to enhance their professional skills in respect to advancement in technology.
The Coordinator of Africa Media Development Foundation (AMDF), Sekyen Dadik, in her opening remarks said the essence of the training was to prepare, train and encourage journalists to be abreast with advancing technologies while taking up their responsibility of informing the public with factual and timely reports instead of allowing unprofessional take over their work.
According to her, journalism is revolving hence the need for trainings and retraining, noting that there would be a time when everything will be internet driven, and anyone who is not up to date would be relegated to the background.
She added that the training was also aimed at providing a platform for bloggers to have access to software and ICT problem solvers to enable them deliver effectively, and to encourage others to build up blogs.
While making his presentation, Silas Auta of NextMerge, who took the trainees on the rudiment of blogging, expressed worry over increase number of blogs managed by unprofessional with misleading information at the expense of trained media practitioners. He noted that, AMDF has provided a platform where issues relating to launching and managing blogs can be gained.
In a remark, representative of the Correspondent Chapel of the Kaduna Council of the Nigerian Union of Journalist, Dominic Uzu, urged participants to make judicious use of the knowledge gained during the training to be up to date.
He said, “It is very important I commend participants who are here to be part of the reality on ground. I urge you to take every session of the training very seriously no matter how old you are. It is a lifetime experience and we cannot just afford to be left behind”.
AMDF is a non-governmental organization aimed at enhancing media professionalism through trainings of media professionals among others while NextMerge is a group of young software and ICT professionals based in Kaduna state.
Following re-run elections in Rivers State, south-south Nigeria, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has issued interim report where it calls for co-operation from stakeholders for the commission to conclude its assignment to bring about results that are acceptable to Stakeholders.
