World News

Muslim-Muslim ticket: Dogara and I will work against APC – Babachir Lawal

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Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, says he will be working with former speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, against the Muslim-Muslim ticket of their party, APC.

Speaking on AriseTV on Wednesday, September 21, Babachir said northern Christian politicians are determined to kill the same faith ticket of the APC.

“The introduction of a Muslim-Muslim ticket by the APC or same faith ticket is a wicked plan to further create divisions within the north.

We try as leaders of societies to live as brothers and sisters, but this demonic proposition just came out of the blues.

For all lovers of unity in this country, in the north in particular where we are most affected, this ticket must never succeed.

And we will make sure we defeat it in such a resounding manner that nobody in his right senses will ever think about it again at least in the near future for our political journey in Nigeria.

So we are set on it and we are determined to kill it( Muslim-Muslim ticket). Our people are mobilised, and our people are ready for the election.

I and Dogara alone aren’t the only ones involved in this. Indeed, we are leaders of groups of about 40 leading Christian politicians in the north.

We started work on this years back when we suspected that if a Muslim emerge from the south as the candidate for any of the political parties there is a risk of what has happened will happen.

So, while we plan that the same faith ticket of APC should fail, we also believe that we should align with one of the leading political parties that has the chance of wining.

Our strategy is we will not just waste our vote because we want to protest the same faith ticket of APC, we will like to partner with another group that is more sensible of the Nigerian situation and realised that Nigeria needs harmony, unity and peace.”

Politics

Bauchi govt sues Dogara, 28 others over crisis in communities

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Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, and 28 persons have been dragged to a Bauchi State High Court by the state government over the killing and destruction of properties following a botched celebration in the Tafawa Balewa and Bogoro Local Government Areas of the state.

The crisis was allegedly triggered after the state government cancelled a ceremony to mark the 21st memorial anniversary of Baba Peter Gonto, a Sayawa nation crusader, the majority tribes of the two local councils.

Dogara had allegedly written a letter to the Director-General of State Security Services (SSS), and the Inspector General of Police, warning of an impending security threat if the anniversary of Baba Gonto was allowed to hold.

The action had triggered the anger of Sayawa youths who took to the streets in a protest which snowballed into violence with several people killed and properties worth millions of naira destroyed.

However, on Friday, the state government slammed an 11-count charge against Dogara and the 28 other persons, accusing them of “conspiring to cause bodily harm on people in the area in order to frustrate the progress of the memorial anniversary.”

Parts of the 11-count charges against the lawmaker and his co-defendants seen by Ripples Nigeria reads:

“Pursuant to Sections 98 (1) & (2), 100 (b) and 103 (b) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Bauchi State, 2018.

“Count One: That you, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, male of Maitama, Abuja-FCT, Air Commodore Ishaku Komo (Rtd), male of Kaduna-Abuja Road, Kaduna, Kaduna State, Rev. Markus Musa, male of Tafawa Balewa Town, Peter Emmanuel, male of Tafawa Balewa Town, Ga’Allah Daniel, male of Tafawa Balewa Town, Iliya Emmanuel, male of Tafawa Balewa Town, and others did,
on or about the 29th, 30 and/or 31st day of December, 2021 agreed to do or cause to be done an illegal act to wit:

‘You conspired amongst yourselves and others at large to incite the youths of Tafawa Balewa and Bogoro Towns to disturb public peace by burning people’s houses, blocking access roads, physically attacking invited guests and other participants attending the 21st Year Memorial Anniversary and Book Launch of Late Baba Peter Gonto at Bogoro Town.

That your actions led to the destruction and burning all facilities provided for the occasion, there by committing an offence contrary to Section 96 and punishable under Section 97 of the Penal Code Law of Bauchi State.

“On or about the 29th, 30th and/or 31st day of December, 2021, you agreed to do or cause to be done an illegal act to wit:

“You conspired amongst yourselves and others at large to commit the offence ‘Mischief by Fire’ by burning people’s houses in Tafawa Balewa and Bogoro Town during the 21st Year Memorial Anniversary and Book Launch of Late Baba Pe Gonto at Bogoro Town and to destroy and burn all facilities provided for the occasion, thereby committed an offence contrary to section 96 and punishable under section 97 of the penal code law of Bauchi state.

On or about the 29,30th and/or 31st day of December, 2021 agreed to do or cause to be done an illegal act to wit: you conspired amongst yourselves and others at large to commit the offence of Culpable Homicide during the Year Memorial Anniversary and Book Launch of Late Baba Peter Gonto at Bo Town and that you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 96 punishable under Section 97 of the Penal Code Law of Bauchi State.”

Politics

Nigeria not at dead-end, will overcome challenges – Dogara

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The former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, on Sunday expressed optimism that Nigeria would soon overcome its security challenges.

Dogara, who stated this in his keynote address at the House of Justice Annual Summit held in Kaduna, urged Nigerians not to rest on their oars until the country over the challenges.

He said: “These security challenges, as deeply disconcerting as they are, they are not strange. There is no nation on earth that has not been tried or tested. Every one of them has come to moments of national peril. We can put an end to the moral vandalism that flows from all spots of bedlam across the face of the nation.

“No season lasts forever, therefore this cup shall pass if we all do our bit such as we are doing at this summit in order to keep the promise of this great country alive.

For us to leave this Nigeria, our country that we cherish and hold dear, for others to defend is not cowardice, it is apostasy to the Nigerian creed. For those who think Nigeria has arrived at a dead-end, let us disappoint them by turning the end into a bend. We can do it!

“I need neither remind us that national security is a subject matter on the lips of all Nigerians now. I am further comforted by the recognition by House of Justice, in their thesis, that this insecurity challenge is surmountable, its enormity notwithstanding.”

The ex-speaker said the post-civil war situation in Nigeria had been largely calm except for limited instances of armed robbery.

Dogara added: “For about two decades the security situation has become unhinged. Killing, maiming, and the destruction of property have become commonplace daily occurrences.

These manifest in the form of the Boko Haram insurgency, kidnapping , militancy in the Niger Delta, the activities of the Independent People of Biafra (IPOB) secessionists in the South-East, banditry, farmer/herders clashes, cattle rustling and ethnoreligious conflicts among others. These, each sufficiently vicious in its own right, have combined to compound the quagmire of insecurity that pervades Nigeria now.”

Politics

Nigeria heading for final implosion, extinction —Dogara

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Former Speaker of the House of Reps, Yakubu Dogara has declared that it was obvious that unless Nigerians rise at different levels of leadership to halt the present trajectory, Nigeria will no doubt head for final implosion and eventual extinction.

Yakubu Dogara who delivered a keynote address with the theme: ‘Peace And Development In Nigeria: The Pragmatic Approach’, at a two-day Peace And Development Submit organized by Sultan Maccido Institute For Peace And Development Studies Of The University Of Abuja recently, said that, “As is it, we don’t have to do anything for this to happen. All we need is not to do anything at all” .

The former Speaker who is presently representing Bogoro/Dass/Tafawa Balewa Federal Constituency at the House of Reps added that, “Our hope must be rooted in the story of China, Rwanda, UAE, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, etc, which all prove the point that we can turn our ashes into glory and that nothing is impossible. If we don’t give in or give up, something must give in” .

He stressed that, “The stories of those countries are a validation of the saying that every problem comes with its own solution, but it takes only those looking for the solution to find it” .

According to him, “No doubt, it will take leadership for us to replicate those stories and I am happy that so many of us here are stepping up to provide that leadership. The hosting of this submit is a positive indicator that we are prepared, in line with our civic duties, to be up in arms against problems stultifying our development and advancement as a nation”.

Yakubu Dogara stressed that, “It will take the kind of leadership that recognizes that compassion is not tossing a coin at a beggar, it is pulling down the system that produces beggars; leadership that knows that the real problem is what we demand and what we do not demand; Leadership that believes history does not just happen to us, we make history happen; Leadership that knows that not everything that is faced can be changed but nothing can be changed until it is faced”.

He further said that, “I had warned before that in tackling unbridled violence, we must realize that guns do not kill and killing the violent does not necessarily bring peace except the peace of the graveyard.

“We kill with our minds and peace settles first in the mind before it is expressed. So the battle to build a peaceful Nigeria must be a battle for the minds of our people”, he declared.

Yakubu Dogara then advised that, “We must start doing something and speaking up. They may not listen to us but just because they won’t listen to us is no enough reason to quit. We cannot continue to remain mum and aloof and hope that somehow, someday, these radical events and voices will miraculously quieten and not grow louder. Our silence is no longer golden”.

He emphasized that, “Every generation in history have had its moment to fight. This is our own moment. This is our Pharaoh and our Red Sea. The odds are stacked against us but we are born and raised for such a time as this. It is our time. Let us stop crying and go to work. We may lose some privileges but we will win history: for fortune itself favours only the brave”.

According to him, “Today, Nigeria is faced with unprecedented crisis so much so that nothing in our history prepares us for such a time as this. We seem to have accepted killings and mass murder as our new normal and so many cold blooded murder of our brothers and sisters do no longer make the headlines in the media.

“As students, lecturers and political leaders, some of us are complicit while the few who have dared to speak up are already outrage – fatigued and have surrendered to fatalism- a feeling that nothing matters anymore. It is like Nigeria seems to be suffering from some kind of God ordained ineluctable fate”, he retorted.

He enthused that, “What we have done before doesn’t matter, all that matters is our present station. As long as we are not actively engaged in seeking for solutions to these intractable issues we are actually, wittingly or unwittingly, actively promoting it”.

Politics

‘Dogara’s name not in our register. He is not a member,’ APC denies ex-speaker in court

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The All Progressives Congress (APC) on Tuesday told the Federal High Court, Abuja, that the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, is not in its membership register and has therefore not defected to the party.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had approached the court to declare Dogara’s seat in the lower legislative chamber vacant following his defection to the APC in July last year.

PDP claimed the ex-speaker illegally defected to the ruling party after he was re-elected on its platform.

The suit was filed by PDP and its chairman in Bauchi State, Hamza Koshe Akuyam.

The Head of APC Legal Department, Dare Oketade, who filed a counter-affidavit on behalf of the party, dismissed the claim by the PDP that Dogara has defected to the ruling party.

The official said he had gone through the APC membership register and did not find Dogara’s name in the register.

Oketade said: “In fact the 5th defendant (the APC) has not received an application for membership from the 1st defendant (Dogara) or any other person acting under the instruction of the 1st defendant; neither the 5th defendant has issued any membership card to the 1st defendant.

“Recording the name of the 1st defendant as member of the 5th defendant in the membership register of the 5th defendant and the subsequent issuance of APC’s membership card to the 1st defendant confers the 1st defendant the membership of the 5th defendant.”

He said the PDP suit was speculative and instituted in bad faith and urged the court to dismiss the application in the interest of justice.

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