Nigeria News
Boko Haram amnesty act of wickedness – Oritsejafor
The President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, said yesterday that the planned amnesty for members of the Islamist sect, Boko Haram, by the Federal Government amounts to an act of wickedness.
He wondered how government could be talking of amnesty for the fundamentalists without any thought for the welfare of victims of their insurgency.
But the Northern States Governors Forum (NSGF) is in full support of the planned amnesty and wants the committee set up by the Federal Government to work out the modalities expanded to include ‘critical stakeholders.’
Speaking as a special guest at the 80th birthday of the President, Apostolic Church of Nigeria, Pastor Gabriel Olutola, in Lagos, yesterday, Pastor Oritsejafor advised the federal government to first consider the welfare of victims of Boko Haram insurgence and ensure that Boko Haram embraces peace before considering amnesty for it.
The CAN president faulted the circumstance surrounding the setting up of the amnesty committee.
He said: “I don’t know if the president has actually set up a committee. It is still a rumour to me. But if he has, I think that is a bit dangerous because some of us are stakeholders. I think it is important to consult with all those who ought to know so that they can share their own opinion and also be able to speak on what amnesty is all about.”
He also spoke on the much speculated second term ambition of President Jonathan.
He said: “Well, I don’t know about his (Jonathan) second term ambition because I am not a politician. I am a pastor. But that would be wicked. I don’t see why he would have to consider that, because we are facing a very serious situation in Nigeria.
“I don’t see why he would have to do that (grant amnesty). Let us not turn this situation into politics. Let’s face it for what it is. The security of the people is the number one responsibility of the president. And I think at this point, Jonathan must wake up and just face it and do what he has to do. But these people who are putting pressure on him left and right, may God help them and deliver Nigeria from their hands.”
Stressing that CAN is not in any way opposed to amnesty, Oritsejafor, stressed: “When you talk of amnesty, you are also talking about forgiveness. But if you read Luke 15, the Bible is talking about the prodigal son and in verses 17 and 18, the Bible says, ‘when he came to himself.’ In other words, he realised that what he had done was wrong.
“But the people we are dealing with, do they accept that what they are doing is wrong? When he (the prodigal son realised it, then he came to his father to ask for forgiveness.”
Reacting to a call by former First Lady, Turai Yar’Adua, that President Jonathan should extend the same gesture her late husband granted the Niger Delta militants, Oritsejafor said, “Comments like this show that those who hold those views either don’t know or pretend not to know what is really happening. If they don’t know, they should meet those who know.”
Oritsejafor said it was wrong to draw a parallel between the Niger Delta and the Boko Haram situations. The Niger Delta militants, he explained, were identified by leaders of the area and agreed to lay down their arms within the period specified by the government before they were offered amnesty.
“The leaders in the North, instead of talking and talking, they should go and identify these (Boko Haram) boys. Jonathan cannot do that. He doesn’t know where to go. That is why he must be careful the way he gets involved with some of these agitators,” he said.
Going down the memory lane on how the Niger Delta militants were appeased, Oritsejafor said, “Amnesty did not just happen. What happened was that the leaders from the Niger Delta were able to identify the leaders of these militant groups. Yar’ Adua did not identify them. The leaders in the area identified them and brought them to Yar’ Adua and said ‘these are the boys.’
“Jonathan himself was given the marching orders by Yar’ Adua. He came to the Niger Delta. Incidentally, I’m from that area-and some of us took him to the creeks. I went personally. He went with these boys, he talked with them. Yar’Adua now said, ‘you have three months to drop your arms. If you drop your arms, then we would start discussing amnesty or any other issue. But if you don’t, you will all be killed.’
“People like Chief Edwin Clark and several others went into the creeks, discussed with the boys, convinced them and within the three months grace, most of them dropped their arms. That was what gradually gave birth to amnesty. So, what are we talking about now? That a committee would just come out and say ‘now there is amnesty.’ I don’t think that is what Jonathan wants. I would be surprised if that is what some of these Northern leaders themselves want.
“I think we should be concerned about the victims. How are we going to take care of them? How are we going to compensate the people they left behind? What about the churches that have been burnt? There are so many unanswered questions that I am wondering why we are putting the cart before the horse.”
The CAN leader also urged the government to intervene in the spate of attacks by Fulani herdsmen on several communities in the country.
His words: “What we hear today about Fulani herdsmen is a very dangerous trend. Government and security agencies should look into it. Is there a connection between them and Boko Haram? The Fulani herdsmen we used to know went about with their sticks and guarded their herds.
“But today, they are killing and maiming in places like Kaduna, Plateau, Ogun, Oyo, Cross River, Delta, Benue, Nasarawa and even inside Abuja. And now they are carrying AK47. Who are these people? Leaders of the Fulani community should look into this. Government should help us with these issues.”
The Northern governors in expressing support for the planned amnesty yesterday said President Jonathan was on the right path.
The Chairman of the forum and Governor of Niger State, Dr Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, in a statement through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Danladi Ndayebo said the move “underscores the resolve of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led government to restore peace in the region.”
He said a peaceful atmosphere would reinvigorate the region’s development.
It said: “The Northern States Governors Forum (NSGF) encourages President Jonathan in his effort to find a lasting solution to the Boko Haram crisis, with the hope that members of the sect would make themselves available for dialogue.
“The Forum calls for the expansion of the committee’s membership to include critical stakeholders in the region whose input would facilitate quick resolution of the crisis.
“State Governors, traditional rulers, the clergy – Christian and Islamic – academics, retired military men, businessmen and former public officers should form part of the current effort at fashioning out strategies to address the disturbing state of insecurity and to proffer practical and enduring solutions to the insecurity in the region.”
Recalling that the NSGF had, last year, inaugurated a 41-man peace committee headed by former Director General of the NIA, Ambassador Zakari Ibrahim whose membership cuts across people with diverse backgrounds, it said:”Although the committee is yet to submit report of its findings, its interface with some stakeholders in the troubled states in the North East is responsible for the progress so far made.”
The governors spoke as Northern elders called for the establishment of a permanent amnesty commission to address the issue of pardon for deserving people from time to time.
They have already sent their proposal to President Goodluck Jonathan, in black and white, according to a former Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Prof Ango Abdullahi.
The commission will be different from the committee constituted last week by President Goodluck Jonathan last week to work out modalities for granting amnesty to members of the Islamist sect, Boko Haram.
Professor Abdullahi told the Hausa service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) monitored in Kaduna that the proposed commission, expected to be backed by law, would be operating independent of government.
He said: “We went with this advice in writing. Our thinking was that if the government felt it would be granting amnesty just like that, then there should be an independent body whose responsibility will be to set up how this amnesty will be granted, and also those affected will not be afraid to come out.
“We suggested the establishment of an amnesty commission. A commission is different from a committee but I hope it is a step that will lead to the commission.
“If a commission is established by law, it is independent and with honest individuals appointed to lead it, they will set up the process through which the desired objectives would be achieved.”
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The Kano State Government on Saturday said it has transferred 1,098 ‘almajiris’ to different states of the country.
The commissioner for local government, Murtala Garo, disclosed this while presenting a report before the state’s task force on COVID-19 at the government house, Kano.
Almajiris are children who are supposed to be learning Islamic studies while living with their Islamic teachers. Majority of them, however, end up begging on the streets of Northern Nigeria. They constitute a large number of Nigeria’s over 10 million out-of-school children.
Mr Garo said the Kano government transported 419 almajiris to Katsina, 524 to Jigawa and 155 to Kaduna. He said all of them tested negative for coronavirus before leaving the Kano State.
Despite the coronavirus test done in Kano for the almajiris, the Jigawa government earlier said it would quarantine for two weeks all the almajiris that recently arrived from Kano.
Mr Garo said another 100 almajiris scheduled to be taken to Bauchi State also tested negative to COVID-19.
In a remark, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje said the COVID-19 situation in Kano was getting worse. He appealed for a collaborative effort to curtail the spread of the virus in the state.
Mr Ganduje, who commended residents for complying with the lockdown imposed in the state, said the decision was taken to halt the spread of the virus.
Kano State, as of Saturday night, has 77 coronavirus cases, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.
The decision to transfer the Kano almajiris is part of the agreement reached between Northern governors that almajiris in each state be transferred to their states of origin.
However, even before the latest agreement by the governors, the Kano government had been transferring almajiris to other states and neighbouring countries after it banned street begging in the state, most populous in Northern Nigeria.
Despite the transfers, however, no concrete step has been taken to ensure such children do not return to Kano streets as there is freedom of movement across Nigeria although interstate travel was recently banned to check the spread of the coronavirus.
Sourced From: Premium Times Nigeria
By Ugochukwu Alaribe
Operatives of the Abia State Vigilante Service, AVS, popularly known as ‘Bakassi Boys’ have arrested 24 market women hidden in a container truck, at Ekwereazu Ngwa, the boundary community between Abia and Akwa Ibom states.
The market women, said to be from Akwa Ibom State, were on their way to Aba, when they were arrested with the truck driver and two of his conductors for violating the lockdown order by the state government.
Driver of the truck, Moses Asuquo, claimed he was going to Aba to purchase stock fish, but decided to assist the market women, because they were stranded.
A vigilante source told Sunday Vanguard that the vehicle was impounded while the market women were sent back to Akwa Ibom State.
Commissioner for Home Land Security, Prince Dan Okoli, who confirmed the incident, said that smuggling of people into the state poses great threat to the state government’s efforts to contain the spread of COVID- 19.
Sourced From: Vanguard News
Operatives of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Yaba of the Lagos State police command have arrested one Mrs Nene Steve for allegedly killing her maid, Joy Adole
The maid was allegedly beaten to death by Nene for requesting for her salary at their residence located at 18, Ogundola Street, Bariga area in Lagos.
Narrating the incident, Philips Ejeh, an elder brother to the deceased said that he was sad when they informed him that his sister was beaten to death.
He explained that the deceased was an indigene of Benue State brought to Lagos through an agent and started working with her as a maid in January 2020.
‘’She reported that her boss refused to pay her and anytime she asked for her salary she will start beating her.
She was making an attempt to leave the place but due to the total lockdown she remained there until Sunday when her boss said she caught her stealing noodles and this led to her serious beating and death,’’ Ejeh said.
He called on Lagos State Government and well- meaning people in the country to help them in getting justice for the victim.
The police spokesman, Bala Elkana, stated that the woman and her husband came to Bariga Police Station to a report that their house girl had committed suicide.
Detectives were said to have visited the house and suspected foul play with the position of the rope and bruises all over the body which confirmed that the girl had been tortured to death and the boss decided to hang up the girl to make it look like suicide.
He said: “The police moved on with their investigation and found a lot of sign of violence on her body that she has been tortured before a rope was put on her neck.’’
He added that the police removed the corpse and deposited it in the mortuary for autopsy to further ascertain the cause of the death.
Elkana said the matter has been transferred from Bariga police station to Panti for further investigation while the couple have been arrested and will be charged to court.
Ostensibly alarmed by the latest killings of dozens of soldiers by Boko Haram insurgents, President Muhammadu Buhari has summoned an urgent meeting of Service Chiefs to find ways to stop the trend.
He has also dispatched the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, to the neighbouring Republic of Chad for an urgent meeting with President Idris Deby and his defence counterpart.
Knowledgeable sources said in Abuja on Friday that the president is worried by on the deterioration of security situation on the Nigeria – Chad Border that has led to the recently increased Boko Haram terrorism in the area.
The sources which did not want to be named in Abuja said: “Nigeria has a Chad problem in the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) put together to secure the Lake Chad basin areas and repeal the Boko Haram terrorist attacks against all the countries neighbouring the Lake.”
The sources noted that Chad is believed to be having their own internal security challenges and this has reportedly led to their pulling away their own troops manning their own border around Lake Chad, saying: “That lacuna is being exploited by the Boko Haram terrorists, who go in and out of Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon to launch terrorist acts. This is a clear illustration of the fact that terrorism is beyond national borders.”
When contacted, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, confirmed that the Defence Minister is going to Chad but said he is unaware of the purpose.
Meanwhile, the military authorities are said to be in the process of identifying the families of the latest victims with a view to making contact with them.
Credible sources revealed that it is the reason the president is yet to make any pronouncement on the matter.
“The President has called an urgent meeting with the Service Chiefs, as well as the fact that families of the latest victims of the Boko Haram are being identified and contacts made before a government pronouncement on the tragic attacks. This, it is understood, is the reason for the silence of the government over the incident,” the source said.
Sourced From: Tribune
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