IBB Started Religious Crises In Nigeria – Confab Delegate!

DR Maryam Abdullahi, a delegate representing Civil Society Organisation, CSO, at the on-going National Conference, Tuesday, accused former military President, Ibrahim Babangida of starting religious crises in Nigeria.

Dr Abdullahi said the former military ruler pushed Nigeria into membership of the Organisation of Islamic Conference, OIC, without the consent of the people he was ruling, a development, she said started religious crises in the country.

She insisted that the relationship between Christians and Muslims deteriorated when Nigeria was admitted as a full member of Organisation of the Islamic Conference.

Abdullahi, specifically said Babangida, who pushed for Nigeria’s full membership of OIC, did that to manipulate religion in order to perpetuate himself in the office, insisting that this was the beginning of mistrust between adherents of the two faith because of mutual suspicion of possible Islamization of Nigeria.

Abdullahi spoke while making her contribution to the debate on the report of the conference Committee on Religion, during plenary.

The delegate who spoke to the applause of her colleagues, said: “The relationship between Christians and Muslims deteriorated when Nigeria was admitted as full member of Organisation of the Islamic Conference.

“This made Christians to start resisting any move that would portray Nigeria as an Islamic state.

“Consequent to this, there is the prevailing mistrust and disharmony between the adherents of the two religions in the country.

“Mr. Chairman, the then Head of State, that pushed for the admission of Nigeria into OIC did not do that in consultation with the Muslims. He did that in order to manipulate religion as a political tool to perpetuate himself in office and now Nigeria is the worst for it,” she said.

She, however, cautioned against viewing every political policy from religious perspective, explaining that OIC an economic forum not only for Islamic states but also for countries that have Muslims minority.

Dr Abdullahi appealed to the conference to allay the fears of Nigerians that nobody would Islamize or Christianize Nigeria and urged political class to stop manipulating religion and ethnicity in order to achieve a political goal.

She called for strengthening of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council in order to promote inter-religious peace and stability, while also calling for inter-religious dialogue in Nigeria.

But the recommendations by the Committee on Religion that governments at all levels shall not utilize public funds to sponsor any religious pilgrimages for any category of citizens and government functionaries generated heated arguments among delegates.

Similarly, the recommendation for establishment of a National Religious Equity Commission to be jointly chaired by a Muslim and a Christian, generated heated debate among the delegates.

While some delegates applauded the report, others condemned the two recommendations, describing them as unnecessary.

The immediate past Minister of Education, Professor Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufa’i, in her contribution, commended the work of the committee and supported the recommendation that government should stop sponsorship of delegations on any pilgrimages.

But she disapproved the recommendation for establishment of a National Religious Equity Commission, arguing that Nigeria already had too many commissions and that there were bodies on ground, especially the National Human Rights Commission to deal with such issues as stipulated in the committee’s recommendation.

Also contributing, another delegate, Mr. Atedo Peterside, said he endorsed over 90 percent of the report in view of the excellent work done by the committee but disagreed on the recommendation for establishment of a National Religious Equity Commission.

He argued that establishing the commission was like what he described as “using a single evidence to arrive at different results.”

Mr Peterside drew the attention of the delegates to the situation in France where he said religious organisations came together to address some of the problems they faced instead of bringing the government into it.

“I have strong reservations in this. We should not allow government to get into religion under any guise. Countries that don’t take religion so seriously make far progress than those, who embrace religion.

“As beautiful as this report is, we should be careful. This is the kind of item for which it is very clear that fundamental rights are the issues. Those rights should be handled by religious NGOs and we should not elevate religion above fundamental human rights,” he added.

Boko Haram will not stop 2015 elections – Jonathan!

President Goodluck Jonathan has said that the insecurity currently plaguing the country would not stop the conduct of elections next year.

The president is said to have stated this at the 2014 Democracy Day Inter-denominational Church Service in Abuja.

He also added that the terrorism unleashed on the nation by Boko Haram was meant to bring down his government.

He said the nation would continue to move forward, notwithstanding the setbacks occasioned by the terrorists’ activities.

“I can assure you that the next Democracy Day will witness a new government. I remember when I was in my village this morning to collect my permanent voter’s card, a journalist asked me whether there will be elections in Nigeria, and I told him there would be elections in this country.”

This country will continue to move forward in spite of some of the setbacks we are witnessing,’’ the President said.

Jonathan said Nigeria would overcome every dark forces facing it, in spite of forces of development as well as forces of retrogression operating in the country.He thanked all the religious faiths for their prayers for the administration and the country at large, saying this had kept the nation together.

“Without your prayers, it would have been worse. With your prayers, our girls will be seen by our security men. All these distractions were planned to bring this government down. Since they failed, terror will also fail. Forces of darkness will never prevail over light. I call on all Nigerians to continue to pray and, with God on our side, we shall overcome,’’ Jonathan said.

He said his administration’s Transformation Agenda was not a mere campaign promise, but had yielded visible dividends and positive developments in every sector in the past three years.

Congregational prayers were offered for security, peace and development, as well as for the victims and families of recent bomb blasts. Prayers were also said for the successful search for and rescue of the Chibok schoolgirls, as well as for President Jonathan and his family and the three arms of government.The service was attended by the First Lady, Patience Jonathan, the President’s mother, Madam Eunice, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha.

Others in attendance were the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Sen. Anyim Pius Anyim, cabinet ministers, members of the diplomatic corps, service chiefs and presidential aides.

Kim and Kanye West's First Photos as a Married Couple!

Here's the first official photos of kim Kardashian and Kanye West as newlyweds.

In this first of the exclusive photo, the couple shared a newlywed kiss in front of the gorgeous white flower wall erected for the occasion immediately following their vow swap.

More Photos:

Flight MH370: Malaysia releases raw satellite data!

According to BBC news, the Malaysian government has released the raw data used to determine that the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 with 239 passengers on board, mostly Chinese nationals, which went missing on 8 March as it flew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, crashed into the southern Indian Ocean.

The data was first released to relatives of passengers, who have been asking for greater transparency, before copies were also provided to media.

The document released on Tuesday comprises 47 pages of data, plus notes, from British firm Inmarsat.

The sate lite data released includes the hourly "handshakes" between the plane and a communications satellite that led investigators to conclude that the plane ended its journey far off Australia.

"Inmarsat and the DCA have been working for the release of the data communication logs and the technical description of the analysis," Malaysia's civil aviation authority said in a statement.

BBC science correspondent Jonathan Amos says although the data is now open for scrutiny, it would be a surprise if something new turns up.

Independent teams have already assessed it and come to the same conclusion: MH370 lies somewhere far off the coast of western Australia, he says.

The Australian government is now preparing for a fresh deep-sea search using commercially-contracted equipment.

Women Demobilize Boko Haram Insurgents In Borno!

Residents of Attagara and Kawuri villages in Gwoza and Bama local government areas of Borno State, respectively, repelled attacks on their community by suspected Boko Haram insurgents.

A resident told Vanguard news that the attackers invaded the village yesterday on motorcycles but met some women.

According to the resident, “they wanted to hit the women with sticks but when they raised the sticks, their hands refused to descend.

“Three of the insurgents fled, but seven were not lucky as the women alerted the people,” and the vigilante group in the community rushed to the scene, disarmed the seven insurgents, who were later lynched.

Attagara, a border community with Cameroon is about 10 kilometres South-East of Pulka District in Gwoza Local Government Area of the state and about 130 kilometres from Maiduguri, the state capital.

Also, scores of gunmen suspected to be members of Boko Haram were killed yesterday through the combined efforts of members of the vigilante youths, otherwise known as Civilian JTF, and the military in Kawuri village, Bama Local Government Area of Borno State.

A 20-year-old vigilante youth identified as Mallam Mamman Yakubu,  who participated in repelling the insurgents, said: “We were able to kill many of the terrorists who invaded our community yesterday night.”

On whether arrests were made, Yakubu said they were not interested in any arrests because Boko Haram members hardly reveal any secret when arrested.

A top security source, who confirmed the incident, reportedly said that three dead bodies of the terrorists were recovered yesterday morning in Kawuri, adding that more of the terrorists were killed in a nearby bush of Kawuri when they attempted to flee to the Sambisa Forest.

Senate warns against award of contracts not covered by budgetary allocation!

The Senate Committee on Aviation has warned the Ministry of Aviation, against awarding contracts that are not covered by its budgetary allocation.

The Chairman of the Committee, Senator Hope Uzodinma, gave the warning in Abuja during an oversight visit by members of the Committee.

The warning followed the discovery that contracts awarded by the Ministry under BASA arrangement had over-shot ten billion Naira allocated for the programme in the 2013 budget.

Senator Uzodinma therefore asked the Ministry to forward to the Committee, details of all awarded contracts and loans obtained.

Responding, the Supervising Minister, Mr Samuel Ortom, said due process was followed in the award of the contracts.

It was gathered that the Ministry of Aviation was allocated forty point two billion Naira in the 2013 Budget, out of which twenty point seven billion Naira was released.

culled.

Sudan woman facing execution for apostasy gives birth in prison!

The pregnant Sudanese woman sentenced to death after refusing to renounce her Christian faith in favor of Islam reportedly gave birth in prison.

Information revealed that 27 year old Meriam Yehya Ibrahim, gave birth to a girl early Tuesday in the hospital wing of a prison in Omdurman, the twin city of Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, one of her lawyers, Elshareef Ali, said by phone. Her 20-month-old son has been held with her in prison since late February, Ali said.

Ibrahim was convicted of apostasy and adultery by a court in Khartoum on May 11 in a case that’s sparked criticism from the U.S., U.K. and international rights groups including Amnesty International. 

The court gave her three days to recant her faith and sentenced her to death by hanging when she refused.

Her legal team lodged an appeal with the Sudanese court on May 22, saying the verdict contradicts the country’s 2005 constitution, which enshrines freedom of faith, as well as international rights agreements to which Sudan is a signatory, Ali said.