Terrorist attacks: We’ll hold Buhari accountable, I’m pained – Ndume

Senator Ali Ndume of Borno South Senatorial District has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to start taking responsibilities and act like Commander-in-Chief over the terrorist attacks happening on a daily basis in almost every part of the country.

According to him, it is the responsibility of the President to address Nigerians and not his advisers releasing statements after every attack.

Featuring on Channels Television on Thursday evening, Ndume said he was totally disappointed with the response coming from political leaders who should be ordinarily responsible for the lives and well-being of Nigerians.

Ndume said he feels pained to be called a Senator because most of them were almost helpless in the current situation and were like mere observers.

Asked whose responsibility it is to brief Nigerians after such fatal attacks on citizens, Ndume said, “the service chiefs are there, the NSA is there and the President is there.

“This is not a State matter but if it was in the State, the State Governors should be doing that. You see it happening everywhere. You see it happening everywhere.

“Honestly, we’re in trouble. Don’t take these things lightly. I’m worried…we should be talking about how to address this matter and what citizens need to do…I’m really disappointed with the response of so many leaders.

“And it’s our responsibility. The responsibility of the government is security and welfare of its citizens and then you have leaders responding as if it is a casual thing and not their responsibility.

“It is our responsibility. I feel pained to be called a Senator and almost like helpless- most of us are like that- sitting down as observers.”

On how he’ll fix the current security situations, Ndume added, “I’ll call the security Chiefs to brief me properly, then I’ll brief the nation on what is going on, sharing with them what needs to be shared without compromising the security situation.

“The President or whoever is in charge is supposed to sit some people down and get results, not just making statements. I’ve said it before, when it comes to issues like this, it is the President who is supposed to be addressing Nigerians, not some advisers.

“The President should be taking responsibility. He is the President! You see, religiously, by the time you ask people to elect you as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, anything that happens to any Nigerian, we’ll hold you accountable for it “

A nuclear facility in Iran was hit by a “terrorist act”

A nuclear facility in Iran was hit by a “terrorist act” a day after it unveiled new advanced uranium centrifuges, a top nuclear official says.

He did not say who was to blame but urged the international community to deal with nuclear terrorism.

Israeli media suggest the incident was a result of an Israeli cyber attack.

Last year, a fire broke out at the Natanz underground facility, which the authorities alleged was the result of cyber sabotage.

The latest incident comes as diplomatic efforts to revive a 2015 nuclear deal – abandoned by the US under the Trump administration in 2018 – have resumed.

On Saturday, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani inaugurated new centrifuges at the Natanz site, which is key to the country’s uranium enrichment programme, in a ceremony broadcast live on television.

Centrifuges are needed to produce enriched uranium, which can be used to make reactor fuel – but also material for nuclear weapons.

It represented another breach of the country’s undertakings in the 2015 deal, which only permits Iran to produce and store limited quantities of enriched uranium to be used to produce fuel for commercial nuclear power plants.

What has Iran been saying?

On Sunday, a spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI), Behrouz Kamalvandi, said an “incident” had occurred in the morning involving the nuclear facility’s power network.

Mr Kamalvandi did not provide further details but told Iran’s Fars news agency there there had been “no casualties or leaks”.

Later state TV read out a statement by AEOI head Ali Akbar Salehi, in which he described the incident as “sabotage” and “nuclear terrorism”.

“Condemning this despicable move, the Islamic Republic of Iran emphasises the need for the international community and the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] to deal with this nuclear terrorism,” he was quoted as saying.

“Iran reserves the right to take action against the perpetrators.”

The IAEA said it was aware of the reports of an incident but would not comment.

Last July, sabotage was blamed for a fire at the Natanz site which hit a central centrifuge assembly workshop.

How could Israel be involved?

Israeli public broadcaster Kan said that it could be assumed that the incident was an Israeli cyber operation, citing the discovery in 2010 of the Stuxnet computer virus, believed to have been developed by the US and Israel, which was used to destroy centrifuges at Natanz.

Haaretz newspaper also said the incident could be assumed to be an Israeli cyber attack.

Ron Ben-Yishai, a defence analyst at the Ynet news website, said that with Iran progressing towards nuclear weapons capability it was “reasonable to assume that the problem… might not have been caused by an accident, but by deliberate sabotage intended to slow the nuclear race accelerated by the negotiations with the US on removing sanctions”.

The Iranian nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), has been in intensive care since Donald Trump pulled the US out of it.

Under the Biden administration diplomatic efforts have been redoubled to revive it.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned against a return to the deal, and declared last week that Israel would not be bound by a new agreement with Tehran.

What happened to the deal?

The nuclear deal only allows Iran to produce and store limited quantities of uranium enriched up to 3.67% concentration. Uranium enriched to 90% or more can be used to make nuclear weapons.

Mr Trump said the accord was based on “a giant fiction that a murderous regime desired only a peaceful nuclear energy programme” and reinstated crippling economic sanctions in an attempt to compel Iran to negotiate a replacement.

Iran, which insists it does not want nuclear weapons, refused to do so and retaliated by rolling back a number of key commitments under the accord.

It has since accelerated the breaches in an attempt to increase pressure on the US. They have included operating advanced centrifuges to enrich uranium, resuming enrichment to 20% concentration of the most fissile U-235 isotope, and building a stockpile of that material.

Bandits in military uniform strike again in Niger, kidnap women, children.

Some gunmen believed to be bandits have struck again in Niger State.
The bandits were said to have abducted women and children in Gurmana village in the State.
Disclosing this, former Kaduna Central Senator, Shehu Sani alleged that the bandits who wore military uniform struck at about 4 p.m.


In a tweet, the former lawmaker claimed that some of the residents who tried to escape drowned in River Kaduna.

“Bandits in Military uniform attacked Gurmana, a village in Niger State around 4pm yesterday. They abducted mostly women and children.
“Some who tried to escape drowned in the River Kaduna. I spoke to one of the survivors, a teacher, now seeking refuge in Kuta, Niger State. A tragedy, a day,” he tweeted.
This is coming barely a week after bandits had abducted some students from Government Science College in Kagara.

Zabarmari Attack: Religious Scholars Say President Buhari Has Failed On Security Grounds.

It seems that Islamic scholars in Nigeria withdraw their support for the Muhammadu Buhari led government as a result of what they say is a lack of focus on addressing security issues, especially in the North.

Many scholars interviewed by the BBC have said that President Buhari’s government must work hard to address the country’s security crisis or else God will be angry with it.

The red card comes after suspected Boko Haram militants killed at least 43 farmers in the northeastern state of Borno.

Mallam Aminu Ibrahim Daurawa, a prominent cleric in Kano State, told the BBC that President Buhari must change his approach to the security situation in the north.

“We call on God-fearing leaders to know that he will question the lives of the 200 million people living in Nigeria. This government promised us that they will do their best to see that they take action on security, agriculture and livestock as well as corruption,” he said.

He added: “These three things are now getting worse and worse in this country”.

Mallam Halliru Maraya also said that it was clear that the Buhari administration had failed to protect the lives of the people.

“The government’s main function is to protect the lives and property of the people and to provide welfare to the people as enshrined in the constitution. This shows that the main function of the government is clearly failing. In fact, the government has failed.” he said.

For his part, Malam Musa Yusuf, popularly known as Asadus-Sunnah, focused on clerics who remained silent despite the killings in northern Nigeria.

According to him: “Any cleric who goes to the pulpit on Friday and does not come out to speak on this issue of insecurity is a traitor to the society and Islam. There is no reason to kill people. you go up to the pulpit and preach to them about the importance of charity or supererogatory fasts.

He reminded the silent scholars that if they see that this problem does not affect them now, they should know that if it continues to happen one day it will come to them.

During President Goodluck Jonathan’s presidency, clerics prayed and chanted slogans as insecurity ravaged northern Nigeria.

But since President Buhari came to power, their voices have rarely been heard, except now that they have tried to tell President Buhari the truth.