Boko Haram in Igboland?

Since 2011 when the Boko Haram Islamic sect transformed into a terrorist gang, targeting churches, crowded places and security establishments, I have always lived in dread of the day when they might be tempted to export their demonic activities to the South. Up till now, the Islamists have restricted their activities to their core native areas in the North East, Abuja and environs as well as selected targets in the North Central.

But on Sunday, June 15, our worst nightmare would have become a reality if not for eagle-eyed security men who alerted the police of a strange polythene bag found abandoned at the gate of the Living Faith Church in Owerri at about 8.00am, the time just before worshippers usually troop in.

If that bomb had gone off in the heat of service, the casualty rate would have probably been in hundreds, and the immediate effect of it would be better imagined than experienced. It is one thing for people to travel to the North and become victims of religious or sectarian violence or terrorism over there. It is yet another for the fight to be brought to your own doorstep, especially for those who have suffered irreparable loss in the North and had to flee home.

I have said it before, and I will say it again: Nigeria will never be the same again once terrorists begin to attack any part of the South. There is pent-up anger we must never allow to let loose as a result of extension of terrorist aggression to the South.

Nigeria may not survive terrorist attacks on any part of the South because it will be seen as a declaration of jihad in the predominantly Christian South. This will be more so in Igboland. It might quickly radicalise non-violent agitators like the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB and the Biafran Zionist Front, BZF.

Innocent Nigerians of Northern origin earning their legitimate living might be profiled and targeted. That, in turn, could result in reprisal attacks in the North, and the country called Nigeria might be on its way to extinction. The usually peaceful and harmless Igbo masses can turn into something else when pushed beyond their tether.

If this happens, Boko Haram and its sponsors will rejoice. We would be playing into their hands.

For the past three years, I have been at the forefront of the campaign to end the Boko Haram terrorism by all means necessary.

This group is simply not a friend to anyone. It is surprising that some people in our midst have some reason or the other to develop sympathy for them to the point of offering them financial, logistical and intelligence support.

Boko Haram has wrecked a large portion of the economy of the North. The evidence is pretty obvious. For the past two years, there have been large influxes of Northern people, especially the youth, into Southern cities and even villages. They are mostly economic refugees.

I am more inclined to accepting the theory that the 486 people caught in a convoy of 32 buses in Abia last Sunday on their way to Port Harcourt were economic refugees fleeing from consequences of Boko Haram activities, rather than actual Boko Haram members as reported in the media. Of course, you cannot rule out the possibility that some of them might be agents and moles of the Islamic insurgency group seeking new frontiers for their devilish activities. The bombs discovered in Owerri and the six persons arrested provided credible justification for the sweep that netted these people.

When a part of the country is in violent crisis, it is natural for people dislodged from their natural habitat to seek refuge in safer areas. There is nothing strange about Northern people fleeing from the insurgents and settling in other parts of the country for safety, including Igboland and other parts of the South. In fact, these influxes have been going on since the upsurge of Boko Haram violence in June 2011.

Northern youth are everywhere, providing valuable labour and earning a living in many Southern towns and cities without molestation since they have been peaceful. We must continue to provide our troubled countrymen the safe haven until the Boko Haram insurgency is defeated and those who would like to go back to their native homes can do so. But they must partner with their hosts to ensure that the enemy does not cut the rope that hold us together and let us fall apart.

Northern leaders have a lot of work on their hands. Rather than facing it they are more interested in politics. Resolving the Boko Haram challenge, to me, is more important than politics. Without peace there will be no playing field for politics. Ending Boko Haram will benefit the North immensely.Some disgruntled Northern leaders are seeing only a respite for President Goodluck Jonathan if Boko Haram is over. It is the North in particular and the nation at large that will enjoy a huge respite when Boko Haram is over. President Jonathan is losing some sleepless nights over the insurgency, but it is the North that is losing about everything. It is having its people running for safety in distant parts of the country and being swept into custody on suspicions of being agents of the enemy.

The discovery of the bombs in the Owerri church is a useful alarm bell. It shows that what happened at the Catholic Church in Madalla in Niger State over three years ago can happen in any part of Nigeria if we let our guards down. Every church must partner with the security agencies to learn basic strategies for preventing terror attacks. Market leaders should also meet with their members to provide precautionary measures as well as open links to the security agencies in case of terror threats.

It is better to nip terror in the bud than losing lives and property and resorting to impulsive bloody reprisals that will only worsen the situation.

By Ochereome Nnanna

Source: Vanguard news

Man Kills His Ex-Wife And Her Boyfriend At High School Reunion!

A high school reunion reportedly ended in tragedy after an Illinois man shot and killed his ex-wife and her new boyfriend in front of about 100 witnesses.

Lori Moore and Lance Griffel

It was gathered that the victims identified as 33 year old Lori Moore, and her boyfriend Lance Griffel, 36, were attending Moore's 15th year high school reunion at an East Peoria, Illinois sports bar Saturday night. When Moore's ex-husband Jason Moore reportedly entered the Fifth Quarter Sports Bar and Pizzeria around 8 p.m. and shot his ex-wife and her boy friend in the head at point blank range.

According to reports, the shooting ended when an FBI officer who was off duty shot at Jason Moore, fatally striking him.

Police are classifying the shooting as a domestic violence-related incident.

"Domestic situations are extremely volatile, whether they end up in this kind of situation or your average domestic. There is a certain level of volatility and unpredictability that are involved. The emotion level is high and sometimes they just reach a point and people snap," Ganschow told NBC.

Fayose, Soludo, Stella Oduah have corruption cases to answer - EFCC!

Nigeria’s anti-graft police, the EFCC declared that the PDP governorship candidate in this Saturday's governorship election in Ekiti state, Ayo Fayose remains an indicted person who has a case to answer over corruption charges hanging on his neck. 



Beside Fayose, the Commission at a press briefing recently in Abuja disclosed that a former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Prof Charles Soludo and former Aviation Minister, Ms Stella Oduah were also been indicted for corruption and will be arraigned in court at the end of investigations. 

“On former governor of Ekiti State, Hon. Ayo Fayose, I think the proper place to direct that question to is the Independent National Electoral Commission which is the umpire presiding over election, it is not the EFCC. Our job is not to preside over electoral matters. If the umpire believes that the electoral law allows such person standing trial in court even though he has not been convicted to stand for election; that is the job of the INEC, it is not for EFCC to decide. 

“Fayose for your information is still standing trial on corruption charges before the federal high court, that case has been on since 2007. Based on an Appeal court decision, the matter was transferred to Ekiti state where the crime was committed and so that matter is still fresh and he has not been cleared, the case is still in court but by Nigerian Judicial tradition, we assume that he is innocent until proven guilty in court and we cannot at this moment convict him until the court decides”, Wilson Uwujaren, spokesman of the Commission reportedly made this statement while responding to a question on why the Commission will fold its hands and allow a corrupt politician standing trial for stealing stand for election that will confer on him immunity from being prosecuted for corruption.

On the former CBN governor, Soludo, the official said “the one that has to do with Soludo, yes I said the investigation has more or less indicted him and once investigation indicts somebody, the logical thing to do is to charge that person to court. If you are indicted by court investigation ,then the logical thing to do is to take you to court. When I started, the first thing I said was that the investigation has not been closed. No matter the number of years it has been on, we don’t put a timeline on an investigation, we look at all the angles to an investigation, so it is on and not closed. Also responding to an enquiry on the sacked Aviation Minister, the Commission said “on Stella Oduah, I have said it here and I want to say it again that that matter is not closed. She has been invited and she has made statement, she is not the only one that has been invited by the Commission. Officials of major parastatals in that ministry have also come here to make statement, so that investigation has reached an advanced stage and I can assure you few weeks or months time, you will get to know the details of our findings.”

I chased Boko Haram out of Niger – Aliyu!

Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger state on Saturday revealed how he was proactive in preventing the Boko Haram sect from having security base in Niger state by sacking the Darul Salam sect from their Mokwa base in 2010. 




He stated this while speaking at the Adesoye College Offa at its 22nd graduation ceremony via a press statement issued by the governors’ Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Israel A. Ebije, stressing that state governors must take security issues seriously. 

According to Eagle Online reports, the governor insisted that once the sect members comprising of Nigerians from different States and aliens were dislodged from Niger, it was the duty of their respective states (Nigerian sect members) to put them on security watch.

“We were proactive in managing Boko Haram insurgents from having a base in Niger state. Imagine having Boko Haram in the middle of Nigeria? A governor must at all times seek ways of protecting the lives and properties of people in his state” 

“Security challenges therefore does not happen just like that, it takes the indulgence of some elites who are desperate in gaining political advantage. It is the thugs they engage that are causing the nation serious security challenge”  He said.

He also urged Nigerian leaders to imbibe the culture of practicing true democracy without engaging thugs, he called on schools to build future Nigerians with moral chastity and teach them how to be goal oriented.

Proposed Admiralty Way Filling Station: Matters Arising?

With the expansion of the Ikoyi, Victoria Island and what used to be known as Victoria Island extension, those who have been around long enough will attest that the Peninsula axis is not often in the news except for developmental strides in the area. 

Recall the demonstration against the first Toll Gate on the Lagos Epe Expressway. The protests and demonstration by residents of the axis against the toll gate easily comes to mind now. The peaceful protests were led by prominent and popular Nigerians drawn from different walks of life. The protesters included, but were not limited to, respected industrialist Ausbeth Ajagu and Rights Activist, Bamidele Aturu. While the protestations lasted, there was no notable dissension against their activities from fellow residents which translated to the fact that theirs was a genuine cause. They later took their case before the courts where they sued the Lagos State Government and the concessionaire. The next time theaxis jumped into the news again had to do with another toll point. Besides toll collection, like the earlier protest, the second protest had to do with another first – the first axial bridge in West Africa on which the contentious toll was built. Again, like the first, this other protest also ended in the courts. The Lekki axis appears to be on its way back into the media and, again, the cause of it borders on developmental projects. This time around, a group of fellow residents are seeking to stop the construction of an ultra modern filling station along Admiralty Way. As with all bouts of pugilism, it has pitted two camps against one another. In the Red Corner are the promoters of the filling station, ASCON Oil; Lagos State Government through a couple of its agencies, Commissionerof Physical Planning and Urban Development, and a group of residents, six in all, are positioned in the Blue Corner. As was with the two previous instances, what started with petitions has landed in the courts awaiting adjudication. Whether the handful of estate residents who approached the courts could do so on behalf of the larger residents should ordinarily not come up with the simple reason being that advocacy has come to be part of the world we live in, post-19th century.

However, it becomes interesting and worthy of mention when another group of residents came up and countered the claims made by the initial group. This then calls into question the motives of both groups, to be fair to the two groups of residents and neutral too! This is more sowhen one recalls that the two instances that were earlier mentioned did not record any antagonism from fellow residents whose plight the protesters were actually advocating in the first place. Neither did it record any notable dissension that could make it sound like a house divided against itself which appears to be the case now. While one group is claiming that the proposed filling station portends everything but good to the community from causing traffic chaos to attracting bandits and source of inferno; the other group is claiming that the project is in sync with the rapid development and urbanization that the area requires. This is the scenario, though the official residents’ association has maintained sealed lips thus far, the two groups have elected not to. Beyond the internal dissension and the seeming aloofness of the official residents’ association however, a few questions beg for answers: did the Lekki Phase 1 Estate master-plan contain a filling station? Is the proposed filling station sitting on the exact plot earmarked for it in the master plan? Did the proposed filling station satisfy all requirements viz with Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Lagos State Government’s agencies in charge of building? Does it have the permission of the Lagos State New Towns Development Authority? Honest answers to these questions would reveal which of the two resident groups truly represents the interest of majority of the residents of Lekki Phase 1 Estate. It would also reveal which of the group either is playing to the gathering or simply in the campaign for objectives that are far from being in public interest. After all, genuine advocacy is supposed to be premised on the good of the majority as against the few.

By BADE ILEMOBADE

Are Lekki Landlords scaring investors out of Lagos?!

The desire for Nigeria to catch-up with the developed world is high among well meaning Nigerians and lovers of the African continent who point at the leading role expected of the country as the main reason for their craving. Notable areas that Nigeria has a long way to go in catching-up with the world include infrastructure and urban development. These two elements are very important in attracting businesses and investors.

Urban development in Nigeria took the front burner under the civil administration of former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, whose patriotic zeal fired up one his chief helmsmen, Nair El-Rufai, then Minister of the Federal Capital Territory to take on violators of the capital territory’s master plan in combatant fashion. This was a brave decision as many beautiful houses were pulled down and many toes stepped on in the bid to get housing and other urban development to conform to the original master-plan of the Abuja FCT. Interestingly radical El-Rufai demonstrated enough courage in attempting to stick to development plans laid out long before the administration that appointed him came to power. This saw many mansions as well as shanties, erected in violation of the FCT’s master-plan pulled down. Even very senior serving government officials were not spared the bulldozers under El-Rufai’s command. Nigerians loved this action Minister for enthroning the laws over men, no matter how highly placed. It remains one of the low points of the Jonathan administration that the reform El-Rufai started in the FCT has not been sustained. It has to be said that while the El-Rufai reign lasted, the pain was severe but well meaning Nigerians commend the strength of character and vision shown by the radical Minister is taking sides with common good and constitutionality as against personal interests and self seeking individuals. Little wonder the man’s popularity soared in the process. Sadly, less than a decade after the exit of Chief Obasanjo and his super ministers, the FCT is gradually becoming defaced with no Minister showing strong enough resolve to abide by the master-plan. Environmentalists are now taking solace in the drive by the Gov Babatunde Raji Fashola administration to position Lagos as a megacity. This drive is commendable because it has seen the visionary governor set up professional agencies like the Lagos State New Towns Development Agency to ensure the vision is achieved. El-Rufai and Fashola share the common character of championing the supremacy of the law over men, irrespective of social, religious, political or economic status. This has seen Lagos State become a reference point on discipline and rule of law in Nigeria’s democracy. The strong leadership disposition of Gov Fashola has seen opinion leaders from other states call on their governments to take a cue from him leadership. This good reputation has come under several tests that Gov Fashola had passed. There is another test, though with news filtering out that few residents of Lekki Phase 1 estate have beaten their chests that the master-plan of the estate will not stand. Nigerians are wondering, who’s responsibility it is to plan estates as I understand that few powerful individuals have taken it upon themselves to confront and fight businesses that want to follow the master-plan of the estate in opening branches there to a standstill. This action points towards impunity, impudence and decadence, banes that Nigerians must fight and get rid of or face retrogression.

The late Moshood Abiola with all he represented and represents in Nigeria did not champion any class system that killed businesses or confined other citizens behind the walls or to a safe distance from his residence. He lived in a people’s area of Ikeja and all manners of businesses, so long as they were legal, existed close to his residence. His cherished and well respected family still lives there with common people and businesses as neighbours! There is inherent danger in having a state government under Gov Fashola order the stoppage of certain commercial developments at Lekki Phase 1 estate upon the complaint of people who can boast of having the ears of those that matter! This could lead to impudence and decadence. Laws are made for men and when men feel they are above the law, it spells anarchy, mostly if they carry on as such. The drift of society towards anarchy is often gradual and Lagosians must watch out for those minded towards possessing the State under any guise as this might derail the ship of state. If claims that some powerful individuals are using every means possible to stop businesses from going on with developments provided for in the master-plan of elite estates like the Lekki Phase 1 are true, it leads to a certain kind of fear that must be guarded against if the opinion of common people like my humble self is to be addressed to avoid setting an avoidable dangerous precedence. Should this handful of people succeed in altering the master-plan laid out by the LSNDA, it makes a statement that whoever does not like the master-plan of the estate of his/her residence can follow the footsteps of these fellows and alter it to suit personal motives. This is clearly avoidable. The issue that comes to mind on this is: ‘Should the government bow to this pressure, stop the commercial developments at the Lekki Phase 1 estate, understood to include a filling station designed to international standards altering the master-plan in the process; would that not amount to changing the rules in the midst of the game?’ My simple mind tells me that the government should count on the impartiality and professionalism of its officers and reach proactive decisions should the need arise. Where one or two persons feel comfortable to coerce government into cancelling developmental projects that could benefit the masses in today’s Nigeria, it questions the integrity of leaders, professionalism of government officials and defines our quest for democracy! I am not of the opinion that government agencies are infallible, what I stand by is that master-plans are strategic and corrections to strategic plans must be done cautiously not at the behest of persons who can be adjudged to be pursuing myopic or personal interests, rightly or wrongly. Government must at all times be seen as unbiased and protect rather than expose the weaker segments of the society. Today when governments and well meaning individuals are striving to attract investment and businesses to the country, does it not amount to some form of foolhardiness to see some people chase businesses away from Lagos with her reputation as the economic capital of Nigeria? These issues are begging for answers and the business communities, not just Lagosians are watching to see the way the pendulum will swing. The master-plan of any estate is set out blindly, that is without any knowledge of who the owners or occupants would be and if it comes to a point of altering such a plan because certain people have bought into it or now live there, it spells doom. The ball is now in the courts of decision makers to send the right signals to all stakeholders by reaching a pro people and pro business decision on this.
By Sopuru Uwadiegwu

2015 elections in prospect- PDP Congratulates APC's Oyegun, Lai Mohammed, Others!

The leadership of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has congratulated the new National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Mr John Oyegun, National Publicity Secretary, Mr Lai Mohammed and other newly elected officers for their emergence at their party’s National Convention.

The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, in a statement on Saturday also told the new leadership to “ensure an issue based opposition that will purposefully and constructively engage and challenge the PDP with decency and maturity as prescribed by democratic tenets and principles”.

He further stated that Nigerians deserved a vibrant and patriotic opposition driven only by the national interest.

The PDP also urged the new APC leadership to “put the unity and welfare of Nigerians ahead of other considerations and jettison all divisive tendencies including unguarded statements that overheat the polity and pitch Nigerians against one another.

The ruling party, however, asserted its pre-eminent position and widest acceptance among Nigerians across board, insisting that “the new leadership of the APC posed no threat at all.

The ruling party said it remained the only party that had continued to be committed to the national interest, as well as providing level playing ground for all Nigerians to achieve their aspirations irrespective of religious, ethnic and gender considerations.

source: Channels news