Premium Gist sees all, knows all
The schoolgirls of Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe in Talata Mafara local Government Area of Zamfara State who were kidnapped from their school recently, have been released by their abductors.
They are presently at the palace of the Emir of Anka waiting to be transported to Gusau, the State capital.
An aide to the President, Lauretta Onochie confirmed the release of the schoolgirls on Sunday.
The Ekiti State government on Saturday, February 27, published the name and photograph of a man who is currently serving a life imprisonment for sleeping with a 14-year-old girl in its offenders list, making him the fifth person to have the name and photographs published.
The man, Lateef Afere Oluwaseun, aged 39, and a native of Aramoko Ekiti, living at Number 38, Anaye Street, Aramoko Ekiti, before the sentence, is currently serving a life imprisonment at the Ado Ekiti Correctional Centre for sleeping with a 14-year-old girl.
He has therefore had his name and photograph registered in the Offenders Register of the state Ministry of Justice.
According to a statement from the ministry on its Facebook Wall on Saturday by Olalekan Suleman, Special Assistant to the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, the naming and shaming is in furtherance of the zero tolerance policy of the state government for violence against women and girls.
According to the statement: “The Ministry of Justice, Ekiti State, today published the details of another convicted offender.
“Lateef Afere Oluwaseun from Aramoko-Ekiti was recently convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment by an Ado-Ekiti High Court for sleeping with a 14-year-old girl.
The ministry will continue to prosecute offenders and will also ensure persons convicted do not benefit from the governor’s powers of early release from prison.”
The Kwara State Government has approved the use of hijab in all public schools in the state.
The government also directed the 10 schools it shut last week in Ilorin, the state capital, over hijab controversy to reopen on Monday.
This was disclosed in a statement released by the Secretary to the Kwara State Government, Mamma Jibril, Thursday evening.
The state government had shut down C&S College, ST. Anthony College, ECWA School, Surulere Baptist Secondary School, Bishop Smith Secondary School, CAC Secondary School, St. Barnabas Secondary School, St. John School, St. Williams Secondary School and St. James Secondary School pending resolution on the matter.
The statement read in part “Consequently, the government hereby acknowledges and approves the right of the Muslim schoolgirl to wear the hijab, and directs the Ministry of Education and Human Capital Development to come up with a uniform hijab for all public/ grant-aided schools, which will be the accepted mode of head covering in schools. Any willing schoolgirl with the approved (uniform) hijab shall have the right to wear same in public/grant-aided schools,” he said.
Also, the government affirms the right of every child in public schools to freedom of worship. The government hereby directs that the affected 10 schools should reopen to commence classes on Monday 8th March 2021.
“Similarly, the government has carefully noted submissions regarding ownership of grant-aided schools and related issues. While the status of these schools is the subject of judicial determination, this and other related matters will soon be subjected to a technical committee to advise accordingly. The government reassures all members of the public that it will act in good conscience at all times.
The government asserts that there is no victor or vanquished on the hijab question. It urges the two faith communities, especially the leaders, opinion moulders and media personalities to act with restraint and great responsibility in their public utterances and actions, and continue to live in peace and harmony with one another. The government commends all the thought and religious leaders on both sides for their forbearance, understanding and commitment to peace.”
The Venue State chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), has implored President Muhammadu Buhari to put an end to the Visa on Arrival Policy.
This call was contained in a statement issued by the Benue CAN chaiman, Rev. Akpen Leva, during a media briefing in Makurdi, Benue State, on Friday, February 26.
The CAN chairman stated that herdsmen from countries like Chad, Mali, Niger, Cameroun, and Burkina Faso have continued to troop into Nigeria and are the ones carrying highly sophisticated weapons and killing Nigerians on their ancestral land.
Furthermore, Leva noted that Nigerian Fulani was not known for violence, but for carrying sticks in their business of animal husbandry.
“We are worried by this ugly situation and we call on the President to without further delay stop the policy of Visa on Arrival to enable security agencies to check the influx of militia herdsmen,” said the CAN chairman.
The Benue CAN chairman also called on President Buhari to openly condemn the killing by herdsmen.
“We have come to a level where anything that affect other Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria, the presidency reacts with immediate alacrity, but when other Nigerians are crying, it does not worry the presidency,” he said.
He called on the federal government to enforce open grazing law and compel all those involved in animal husbandry to ranch their cattle to avoid clashes between farmers and herders.
On the recent call by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), for the creation of herdsmen commission, Rev. Leva said it is not relevant as the commission will not provide the solution to the problem of insecurity but will rather empower herdsmen to continue to attack farming communities in the country.
The Department of Security Services (DSS) has denied being involved in the alleged attempted arrest of self-styled Yoruba activist and freedom fighter, Sunday Igboho, on Friday along the Lagos-Ibadan highway.
A video had surfaced on social media platforms yesterday showing a confrontation between Igboho’s supporters and some security officials and it was widely reported that a combined team of the Police, Army and the DSS had trailed the convoy of the activist on his way to Lagos in a bid to arrest him.
It was also gathered that Igboho was on his way to Lagos to meet with some Yoruba elders including National Leader of the Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, when he was allegedly waylaid by security officials from the Oyo State Operation Burst team which made attempts to abduct him.
However, the DSS has reacted to the allegations and said its operatives were not involved in the alleged attempt to arrest Igboho.
In a statement issued on Friday by the spokesman of he Service, Dr. Peter Afunanya, the DSS said:
“The Department of State Services wishes to refute the news that it attempted to arrest one Sunday Igboho, today, at Ibadan, Oyo State.
“The said news is misinforming and should be taken as fake and therefore be disregarded. This is not true.
“The DSS did not arrest him. It did not attempt to too. Disregard such misinformation please.”
Former spokesman to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Reno Omokri, says if the soldiers, fighter jets and helicopter gunships deployed to battle the Indigenous People of Biafra’s Eastern Security Network (ESN) in Orlu local government area of Imo State were in Zamfara State, the abduction of female students of the government secondary school in Jangebe, Talata Mafara local government area of the state would not have happened.
The kidnap of the over 300 students in an early morning raid in their hostels on Friday by gunmen has caused a lot of consternation in the country with many Nigerians calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to resign for failing to provide security for citizens
In a series of tweets on his official Twitter handle on Friday, Omokri wondered why the Nigerian government and the military would concentrate its artillery and might in the South-East when the insecurity in the northern region called for a lot of concern.
He also questioned the rationale behind the number of police checkpoints at every point on roads in the South-East and South-West but none in the North-West which he said was one of the critical zones of insecurity.
“If the soldiers, artillery, and helicopter gunships sent by @MBuhari to terrorise Orlu, had been in Zamfara, where they are really needed, the #JangebeGirls wouldn’t have been abducted. SE is peaceful. Yet, there are more checkpoints there, than in the NE/NW,” Omokri he stated on Twitter, handle, @renoomokri.
In another series of tweets, he wrote:
“You can’t travel 5 miles in the SE without encountering checkpoints. Imagine if this was the case in the NW. The #JangebeGirls would have been safe. @MBuhari is more committed to punishing the 5% that did not vote for him, than in protecting the 97% that did.”
Sheikh Gumi says he will update the media on #JangebeGirls abduction. How come Gumi immediately turns up after abductions by bandits? Are they a tag team? Are they partners? I find it strange that they abduct and next thing is that Gumi turns their spokesman!”
“Nobody is safe in Nigeria. Anyone can be abducted, be they former Presidents or heads of state, or elected or appointed officials. Years of paying ransom to killer herdsmen and bandits have caught up with Nigeria. These criminals are now in control of Nigeria.”
“Zamfara pioneered amnesty for bandits. If amnesty works, the #JangebeGirls would never have been abducted. The fact of their abduction is proof that amnesty for bandits does not work. Those who brought them from Mali to fight @GEJonathan should deal with them,” he added.
The Defence Headquarters has warned persons and groups of persons attempting to prevent free movement of agricultural goods from the North to the Southern part of the country.
The Acting Director, Defence Information, Brig.-Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu, gave the warning in a statement on Friday, February 26, in Abuja.
Nwachukwu said the armed forces would not condone any attempt to disrupt legitimate economic and commercial activities in a bid to cause clashes along ethnic divides.
He called on the members of the public to promptly report anyone found engaged in such activities to security operatives.
According to him, DHQ had been notified of a video trending on social media about obstruction of vehicles conveying agricultural products from the North, heading towards the southern part of the country.
“DHQ wishes to clarify that following the tension generated by the incident, joint troops comprising the military and other security agencies were deployed to clear the Jebba – Kaduna road and have since restored normalcy in the general area.
“There is currently free flow of traffic along the axis. Members of the public, commuters, and residents are please urged to go about their normal businesses,” he said.
The Zamfara State Government has confirmed the abduction of female students of Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe in the Talata-Mafara Local Government Area of the state.
The confirmation was made by the Commissioner of Security and Home Affairs, Alhaji Abubakar Dauran in a brief interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Gusau on Friday, February 26.
Ripples Nigeria had earlier reported that the abductors in their hundreds invaded the town and took away the students at about 2am.
“I can confirm to you now that we have sadly received the report on the abduction of the students of GGSS Jangebe and right now, I am on my way to the school.
“At this moment, l cannot say how many students were taken away by the gunmen until l get there, but we have already mobilized security men and members of the vigilantatè who are now in pursuit of the abductors,” the commissioner stated.
A staff of the school who spoke to NAN on condition of anonymity said, “the gunmen in their hundreds invaded the town around 2am on Friday, shot sporadically in the air to scare the residents before coming into the school.
“After taking away most of the students, we rounded up those that escaped or hid from the bandits and conducted a census where we counted 54 students and we are still searching to see if we can get more,”
Also, a resident who gave his name as Haliru Jangebe said, the local vigilantes had tried to repel the invaders but were overpowered.
“The bandits were too many and they all seemed to be carrying heavy arms as we heard gunshots from all parts of the town and when the shots stopped, we heard that the students had been taken away”.
Femi Adesina, the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari, has debunked rumours that have been making the rounds that he is suffering from stroke.
Adesina, who wrote in his regular column on Facebook, ‘From the Inside’ on Friday, with the title, ‘My $1.9 Billion In Minnesota Bank’, lamented the fact that “people love evil reports about those serving in government, particularly about those serving in this government.”
“Have we got so bad as a people, that we can’t have genuine, patriotic service again? Quite baffling,” he wrote.
This leads me to a lie peddled about me from the pit of hell in the past fortnight. I had traveled to Umuahia, in Abia State, to deliver a paper at the Social Media Converge organized by the state government.
At the Abuja airport, I had met former Aviation Minister, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, and we greeted pleasantly, as we always do. As we spoke, the former Minister’s aide took our photograph with his phone, which was later posted online.
“The camera angle was a bit awkward. My cloth seemed too baggy than it was, and my hand appeared twisted in the seemingly oversized sleeves.
“And what next? Some people subjected my arm and legs to photoshop, twisting them further, making me appear as a stroke patient. Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.
Those who know me would testify that I like a good laugh. I laughed till my ribs ached, and I put my two feet up in the air. They were having a baleful ball, while I was having the time of my life.
“Life and health belong to God. And He has not denied me of that grace. Why then do the heathens rage, and the people imagine vain things? Let them continue to wail, and we will continue to laugh, and say; ‘back to sender.’
Ondo Chapter of the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives, (NANNM) would begin a three-day warning strike, starting March 1 to March 3.
A letter on Thursday signed by NANNM Secretary in Ondo State, Comrade Aina Emmanuel Oluwasegun disclosed this.
This decision is coming as a result of the inability of the state government to fulfill its part of the aggrement to pay hundred per cent of their salaries. The government paid fifty per cent breaching the initial agreement.
The statement reads “Sequel to the meeting the State Executive Council of National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives, NANNM held on 16th February 2021 which resolved that State Government should:
“Pay 100% salary of January 2017, December 2020, January 2021, 20% balance of December 2016, 50% November 2020 and commencement of New Salary Adjustment for Local Government Nurses within seven working days,” the statement partly read.
“Following the expiration of the seven (7) working days ultimatum without a response from the government you are directed to proceed on three (3) day warning strike from 12midnight on Monday 1st to Wednesday 3rd March 2021 at first instance.”
Gunmen have kidnapped some students of Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe, Talata Mafara local government area of Zamfara State.
Daily Trust gathered and Naijapremiumgist reports that the incident happened in the early hours of Friday.
A resident of Kawaye village identified as Sadi Kawaye told Daily Trust that his daughters, Mansura and Sakina were among those abducted.
“I’m on my to Jangebe now to see the situation myself. I was told they invaded the school around 1am,” he told our reporter over the phone.
When contacted, SP Muhammad Shehu, Police Public Relations Officer in Zamfara, said he could not react.
“Give me some time, I can’t say anything now,” he said.
Details later…
Sri Lanka has reversed a controversial mandatory order to cremate the bodies of all those who died of Covid-19.
Critics had said the order was intended to target minorities and did not respect religions. The cremation of bodies is forbidden in Islam.
The government had argued that burials could contaminate ground water.
The reversal came after a visit by Pakistan’s PM Imran Khan. Sources told the BBC that Sri Lanka has sought Pakistan’s support at a UNHRC session.
The council is expected to consider a new resolution responding to mounting rights concerns in Sri Lanka, including over the treatment of Muslims.
Sri Lanka is being called to hold human rights abusers to account and to deliver justice to victims of its 26-year-old civil war, which killed at least 100,000 people – mostly civilians from the minority Tamil community.
Sri Lanka has strongly denied the allegations and has asked member countries not to support the resolution.
The country had earlier come under intense criticism from rights groups, including the UNHRC, over the cremation order.
They said it failed to respect the religious feelings of the victims and their family members specially of the Muslims, Catholics and some Buddhists.
The government had argued that burials could contaminate ground water, based on the say-so of an expert committee, the exact composition and qualifications of which are unknown.
But political, religious and community leaders had repeatedly questioned this, pointing to the more than 190 countries allowing burials, and World Health Organization advice
It even took its fight to the Supreme Court, but the cases were dismissed without any explanation.
Public debate intensified when a 20-day-old Muslim baby was forcibly cremated.
A group of Russian diplomats and their families made an unusual exit out of North Korea on a hand-pushed rail trolley due to strict Covid measures.
The eight people travelled by train and bus before pushing themselves across the Russian border for about 1km (0.6miles) over train tracks.
North Korea has blocked most passenger transport to limit the virus’ spread.
The country maintains it has not had any confirmed cases, but observers dispute this claim.
Since early last year, trains and wagons have been forbidden to enter or leave the country. Most international passenger flights have stopped as well.
The Russian diplomats were thus left with little choice.
“Since the borders have been closed for more than a year and passenger traffic has been stopped, it took a long and difficult journey to get home,” Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a Facebook post.
Photos shared by the ministry showed the diplomats on the trolley with their suitcases amid a wintry landscape. They were also seen cheering in a video as they crossed into Russia.
The main “engine” was the embassy’s third secretary Vladislav Sorokin, who pushed the trolley across a rail bridge over the Tumen River into Russia, said the ministry.
This was after the group, which included Mr Sorokin’s three-year-old daughter Varya, had travelled 32 hours by train and two hours by bus from Pyongyang to reach the Russian border.
Ministry officials greeted them at a station on the Russian side, and the group then travelled by bus to the Vladivostok airport.
Pyongyang’s strict anti-Covid measures have affected travel movements and access to amenities. Extra troops have been sent to border areas with orders to block any possible transmission of the virus.
Over the past year, many foreign diplomats have left the country and Western embassies have closed.
Most travellers have gone overland and crossed the border into China, although there was one flight in March last year to Vladivostok carrying diplomats from Germany, Russia, France, Switzerland, Poland, Romania, Mongolia and Egypt.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday February 25, met the newly appointed chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa.
The President met Bawa at the state house in Abuja, barely a day after his nomination as head of the anti-graft agency, was confirmed by the senate.
The Bauchi State Government has released the sum of N32m for the vaccination of over 800,000 herds of cattle in the state.
The state governor, Bala Mohammed, disclosed this at the inauguration of 2020/2021 annual livestock vaccination campaign at the Galambi Cattle Ranch, Bauchi on Wednesday, February 24.
“We have released over N32m for this exercise which will cover vaccines, equipment and allowances for our staff to do this exercise.
The Ministry for Local Government has been directed to pay the allowances of all the participating staff in the 20 local government areas, as well as to purchase more materials to vaccinate more than 800,000 herds of cattle.”he said.
The Plateau State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has told Governor Simon Lalong to apologise to farmers and the people of Plateau State for saying farmers also carry AK-47 rifles.
The PDP, while reacting to comments by Lalong that farmers also carry AK-47, counseled the governor to go “back to school and learn how to talk” over comments on farmers/herders clash in the State.
According to the party, the governor lied in his comment and needs to return to school on how to talk properly on such sensitive matters.
It would be recalled that Lalong, during a TV show on Tuesday, had said security reports at his disposal indicated herdsmen and farmers carry AK 47 riffles to protect and defend themselves.
In a reaction on Thursday in a statement by its Publicity Secretary, John T. Akans, the PDP described APC’s defence of the governor as “reckless.”
The statement read in part: “The reckless response of the APC to the genuine concerns of Plateau people on the recent irresponsible comments of Governor Lalong leaves one with no feeling other than that of utter disappointment and disgust.
“We continue to wonder how a sane person or party would condone such shameful and self- indicting comments of a supposedly elected governor against his people before the entire world, describing it myopically as “a storm in a tea cup” Such an idiomatic sense needs recalibration.
The APC in its desperate attempt to do damage control has created more harm to Lalong and its party and have further exposed their cluelessness in governance.
“The writer, in his usual garrulous, uncouth manner, and attempt to divert people’s attention from the colossal disgrace and failures of the APC, failed woefully to address frank and glaring issues raised by the Peoples Democratic Party.
“They have however succeeded in exposing their immaturity in the whole saga.
“What the APC through Mallam Bashir Sati would have done was simply to apologse to Plateau people by acknowledging their principal’s lack of decorum and emotional Intelligence and his blind romance with a superior power outside of Plateau.
The damage control mechanism Bashir Sati adopted further exposes the total disregard for the masses that toiled to bring their party to power.
“On an advisory note, we urge the APC to carry out an opinion poll and weigh the level of regret by those who brought the APC to power.
It will interest Sati and his cohorts to know that intelligent people within that party have times without number hid their faces in shame, hoping and praying for 2023 to come so Mr. Lalong doesn’t continue with this show of shame and disgraceful spree of the beautiful Plateau spirit.
“For the records, the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party in Plateau State is not aware of any faction as being promoted by APC in the state because any statement released by the APC lacks facts, but always laying emphasis on faction as if they have become a competent Court of law.
Lalong’s desperate but failed attempt to create a faction within our party is known to the world. This has hugely deviated his attention from anything governance to 2023 where he hopes to be APC’s presidential running mate.
“APC on the Plateau should advice Lalong to know that having failed woefully as a Governor, he should stop deceiving himself for any future political consideration.
“Once again, Governor Lalong and Plateau APC should know, that Plateau farmers do not carry AK47″ but hoes and other farming implements, and we have no land for ranching. You lie! Lalong, you lie!.”
The spokesman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has described Senator Smart Adeyemi’s attack on Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, as one borne out of jealousy and envy of the governor’s achievements.
The Senator representing Kogi West Senatorial District had, on Tuesday, verbally attacked Ikpeazu, a PDP governor, on the floor of the Senate by calling him a drunkard during a plenary session.
The lawmaker, who was making his contribution to a motion on the urgent need for the restoration and revalidation of the Safe School Initiative in Nigeria, said Abia State is governed by drunkards.
In some states of Nigeria today, where we have highly intelligent people, highly educated people, very enterprising people, like Abia, they are governed by drunkards. The governor of Abia is a champagne drinking man.
“Abia people are impoverished more than ever before. Abia people are unfortunate.”
However, the PDP, in a statement on Wednesday, described Adeyemi’s comment as the highest form of irresponsibility and unbecoming of a sitting lawmaker.
In a short statement, Ologbondiyan said:
“Senator Adeyemi must have noted the widespread national detestation and opprobrium that he had brought to himself by his unguarded comments against the highly respected Governor Ikpeazu and the people of Abia State.
“Moreover, our party has equally noted that Senator Adeyemi’s uncouth comment is borne out of bitter envy for the achievements of Governor Ikpeazu in every sector of life in Abia State, which no APC governor, including Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State, can compare.”
The PDP also warned that it would not tolerate such comments from any individual, and urged Ikpeazu not to be to “distracted by sidetracking elements such as Senator Adeyemi, but to continue to deliver the dividends of democracy to his people.”
The Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) has cautioned militants under the auspices of the Supreme Egbesu Liberation Fighters (SELF) to jettison violence under the guise of the alleged marginalisation of the region.
Ripples Nigeria had reported that the SELF in a viral video posted on Tuesday by Africa Independent Television (AIT), complained that “no meaningful progress has been made” with the Ogboni clean-up project “because the Nigerian government has decided to place politics against the meaningful development of our people.”
According to a masked member of the group: “After accepting the amnesty pact, to date, there are no schools, no potable water, no light, no hospital and access roads for our people to enjoy.
We are coming to destroy all your infrastructure in Abuja and Lagos. As a group committed to giving total liberation to our people, we will destroy the oil facilities both onshore and offshore in no distant time, we will be seen to be crippling the Nigerian economy.”
However, PANDEF, led by a former Federal Information Commissioner, Chief Edwin Clark, said even though it is in support of the issues raised by SELF, it abhors violence.
This was contained in a statement issued by its Publicity Secretary, Ken Robinson on Wednesday, February 24.
According to PANDEF, the issues raised by SELF are ”true” and in line with its calls for attention to be given to the youths of the Niger Delta.
It said: “We had said the youth will run out of patience and that things cannot continue the way they have been going on. How can we explain that the region that produces the revenue for the country …is one of the highest in the unemployment rate in the country? And you know of the population in the Niger Delta, about 50 percent of the people are under 30.
“As it were, we are sitting on a time bomb. These young men are unemployed, there are no jobs.
The region is degraded economically. What we have today is a story of the struggle for survival because there are no jobs, livelihoods have decimated, our communities, our waterways, and our environment have been degraded. And then, you see resources from the land making billionaires every day out of an industry that operates in our backyard.
“While the military has become forces of intimidation and oppression in the Niger Delta, intimidating our young people, carelessly and unnecessarily destroying our communities on flimsy excuses, no community in the NorthEast or Northwest that the bandits and terrorists are marauding and ravaging have been destroyed by the military.
But as a responsible organisation, PANDEF would denounce any act of violence because the adverse effect will be more on our people. We will continue to assuage our youths. They have every right to be angry in the face of these inconsistencies.”
Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike has issued a scathing critique of the National Assembly over the confirmation of former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Burutai, and other ex-Service Chiefs as non-career ambassadors.
Wike made this assertion when the Senate Committee on Niger Delta paid him a visit at the Government House, Port Harcourt, Wednesday, February 24.
Wike wondered why senators, who had severally decried the poor performances of the former service chiefs cleared them for another appointment.
He said: “Let me use this opportunity to express the dismay of most Nigerians to the Senate. Convey this to the Senate. We must be courageous in whatever we are doing. Everything must not be party affairs.
You (senators) sat and discussed that the then service chiefs be dismissed. You said they’re not performing.
“Now, the same people who were not performing, have been confirmed by you as ambassadors. What kind of country are we running?
“In anything we do, we must remember that there is tomorrow; our conscience is key. It’s not because I want to be a loyalist of a party. No. There are things you cannot reconcile at all.”
In response to questions about the responsibilities of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Wike said the commission had abandoned its core mandate, leaving those who canvassed for its establishment disillusioned.
I don’t like talking about NDDC. It is unfortunate that those who fought for it, if they knew that this is how the commission will be, I don’t think that they would have even asked for it”, he said.
The governor pointed out that over the years, various National Assembly committees on NDDC had not provided sufficient direction to make the commission focus on its core mandate of developing the Niger Delta.
He further accuses some politicians of turning the intervention agency into a cash cow for sinister political agenda, while alleging that its management once spent N10bn to unseat him.
The governor urged the committee’s leadership to prevail on the management of the NDDC to embark on legacy infrastructural projects such as the eight flyovers being constructed by his administration and not to waste resources on 50 or 100-metre roads.
He said: “The chairmen of the Senate and House committees on the NDDC are from the region too. You are supervising NDDC, so why not sit down with them to know the legacy projects that they want to carry out this year in the Niger Delta states. Tell them these are projects they must make sure they executed first.
Rather than do that, you allow them to do 50 or 100 metre- road or a close that leads to someone’s house. What’s their business there?
“The National Assembly is a part of the problem of NDDC. The Presidency is a part of the problem of NDDC and the party in power is a part of the problem of NDDC. They don’t allow NDDC to perform. We too in Niger Delta are not allowing them to perform. We are the enemies of ourselves.”
The war of words between Governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, and his Benue counterpart, Samuel Ortom, will not go away in a hurry as Mohammed has challenged Ortom to prove that he (Mohammed) is a terrorist and is planning to kill him (Ortom).
Ortom had, in a press conference in Makurdi on Monday, accused Mohammed of being one of the “terrorists terrorising Nigeria” following Mohamned’s comments that Fulani herdsmen carry AK-47 rifles to protect themselves from attacks by cattle rustlers.
Ortom further alleged that he had received a death threat letter from the herdsmen and that Mohammed should be held responsible if he was murdered.
However, Mohammed has called on Ortom to prove his allegations that he is a terrorist and planning to eliminate him, challenging Ortom to substantiate his claims that he was in cahoots with anybody to kill him.
The main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) under which the two governors belong had recently made a statement that it had intervened in the war of words between both men and had called on them to stop the attacks.
However, Gov Mohammed in a statement on Wednesday through his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Mukhtar Gidado, said though he had restrained himself from joining issues with Ortom, “it would be irresponsible of him to ignore the two unfortunate claims.
The statement reads:
“In our resolve to deescalate the tension that has gripped the country over the sacking of Fulani herdsmen from Ondo State, we had resolved not to join issues with any other person over the position of His Excellency, Governor Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed, CON, on the issue.
However, while standing on that resolve, it will be irresponsible of us to ignore two unfortunate claims made by the Benue State Governor, Dr. Samuel Ortom, at a press conference last Monday.
“During the conference, Governor Ortom alleged, among other things, that:
“Governor Bala Mohammed is a terrorist, sponsoring those he described as Fulani terrorist herdsmen.
“And he, Governor Ortom, had received a letter from Fulani herdsmen to the effect that they were going to kill him (Governor Ortom) and that Governor Bala Mohammed should be held responsible if he (Governor Ortom) dies
We are therefore shocked that Governor Ortom could, in good conscience, address a fellow Governor whom he had described as a brother, as a terrorist and who should, to wit, be placed under watch should anything untoward happen to him (Ortom).
“We want to state that Governor Ortom has carried the unfortunate theatrics, for which he is well known, to a very precipitous level of brinkmanship.
“As a journalist and democrat, Governor Bala Mohammed, concedes to Governor Ortom the right to reply.
However, through his unfounded and grave allegations, the Benue State Governor has over-personalised the matter, thereby reducing the debate to a level of toxicity that is neither healthy for the country nor helpful to the People’s Democratic Party, PDP.
“One of the main attractions of democracy is the freedom of speech which we relish very much in this country.
“That is why anybody can rise and make any allegation as they choose. However, as the legal dictum goes, he who alleges must prove.
“So, if Governor Ortom is not playing to the gallery, we challenge him to substantiate his claim that Governor Bala Mohammed is in cahoots with anybody to kill the Benue State Governor.”