The crises rocking the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) in Gombe State took a new dimension on Wednesday night with the resignation of a former Commissioner for health, Dr. Ahmed Gana; the Special Adviser to the Governor on Social Investment, Mrs. Dijjatu Bappa and a party stalwart, Dr. Jamil Isyaka Gwamna.

The resignation of Bappa and Gwamna is coming on the heel of the defection of Dr. Ahmed Gana to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) two days ago.

Bappa, in her letter dated February 1st 2022 to the Governor, said the resignation was with immediate effect.

She did not state the reason for her resignation but simply told the Governor she had terminated her service.

Gombe business mogul and APC stalwart Dr. Jamil Gwamna also resigned from the party.

Gwamna was a governorship aspirant of the opposition PDP in 2019 general elections.

Read Also; Why APC is in crisis, by Buni, Reconciliation Panel

He defected in 2019 to APC with his supporters to pave way for Governor Inuwa Yahaya’s election.

Gwamna was also a strong stalwart who contested against former Governor Danjuma Goje in the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party, (ANPP) in 2007.

In his letter of resignation addressed to Jekadafari ward APC Chairman, Dr Gwamna said his decision to resign from the APC was after wide consultations with his family, political associates and supporters.

The letter reads: “I write with all sense of humility and respect to notify you of my decision to resign from the ruling All Progressives Congress.
“I took the decision after wide consultations with my family, political associates and my supporters.

“I appreciate all the privileges I enjoyed in the party while I was a member and I wish the party well.”

Unlike Gana who has crossed to the PDP, Gwamna kept mute on his next political move although there are indications from some of supporters that he may be returning to the PDP.

Confirming the resignation letter through a telephone interview, Gwamna’s media consultant Dahiru Hassan Kera, said the letter was authentic.

By Mike Odiegwu, Port Harcourt, Vincent Ikuomola, Emmanuel Badejo and Yetunde Afolabi

The seeming unity among Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders before and after its convention last October may hit the rock with the tense struggle for the 2023 presidential ticket.

Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike yesterday insisted that it was the turn of the South to provide the party’s standard-bearer in the election.

Last week, Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed said the party would field a candidate from the North in 2023 because the president produced by the PDP – Goodluck Jonathan – was a Southerner.

Governor Mohammed noted that rotation of presidential office is for the All Progressives Congress (APC) because President Muhammadu Buhari is a northerner.

Besides Governor Mohammed, Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Senate President Bukola Saraki, all from the North, have indicated interest to contest for President on PDP platform.

Wike, speaking to PDP stakeholders at the Government House in Port Harcourt yesterday, warned against undermining the interest of the South whenever the opposition party decides the choice of its presidential standard-bearer.

Also, Ijaw Leader Chief Edwin Clark said zoning was required for peace and national unity.

The elder statesman wrote an open letter to Atiku, Saraki and other aspirants from the North, warning that the retention of the ticket in the region may be a recipe for chaos.

Southern governors, last year, voted for rotation of the presidential seat to the South.

Wike said: “Please, discountenance anything you’re seeing and hearing; all those social media posts. The South will make a statement very soon. It is not about you’ll be vice president to this or that.”

He added: “Nigerians will know that we are not joking. People take the South for granted, saying that they are not together. No problems. If we didn’t know yesterday, today, we know.

“We are assets. We are not a liability. When we say we are going to support the party, we support the party with everything we have. We are not in America where you do television campaigns.

“When we come out, we will choke them. They know it. So, everybody should relax, let the south do their homework and then they’ll make a proper statement.”

He said those planning to use money to overwhelm the internal democracy and buy off the ticket would be disappointed.

He said: “What is necessary is how the party must be cohesive, to make sure that the party gets it right.”

He criticised PDP Chieftain Dr. Raymond Dokpesi who is rooting for Atiku, saying: “With all due respect. If we follow the kind of statement that Dokpesi is making every day, by now, the party would have been destroyed. But, we say no.”

The governor said those calling for the PDP to jettison zoning of elective offices were doing that for selfish and personal interests that do not reflect the true spirit of federalism.

He added: “I stand on Southern Governors Forum decision on zoning. I was at the meeting where it was decided that zoning should come to the South and we took that decision together. I cannot go against that stand.”

According to him, it will be unfair for the presidential ticket to go to the North as the zone had produced the party chairman in the person of Senator Iyorcha Ayu.

He said: “The people in the South are of the view that power should come to the zone in 2023.”

Clark maintained that zoning remained the best antidote to breakup.

The former National Commissioner went down memory lane to remind them that the principle of rotation dates back to the pre-independence era.

He therefore appealed to the PDP chieftains from the North who had indicated interest to run for the coveted seat to allow the principle of justice to reign

Clark said: “It will be disastrous to suppress the rights of other Nigerians without regard for justice, equity and fair play.”

He added that any attempt to use the force of power, population, religion and ethnicity will not do the nation unity any good.

“In 1999, the zoning pattern was also observed, more so, the country wanted to compensate the Yorubas because of the June 12 incident.

“That was how Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, from the South, contested the elections with Alhaji Atiku Abubakar from the north as his running mate under the PDP.

“Chief Olu Falae, also from Southern Nigeria, also contested with Alhaji Umaru Shinkafi from the north, as his running mate under the Alliance for Democracy (AD).

“Zoning was sustained at the end of Chief Obasanjo’s tenure of eight years, giving the Presidency to the North in 2007, whereby Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Governor of Katsina State, Northern Nigeria, became the presidential candidate of the PDP and Dr. Goodluck Jonathan from Bayelsa State, Southern Nigeria, became his running mate.

“It is instructive that the nation’s two main parties, the APC and the PDP, have been religiously following the zoning and rotation system between the north and the South. By 2023, the North would have ruled for another eight years.

“It is, therefore, rational and right, to insist that the Presidency should rotate to the south. It does not matter whether the presidency has been produced from the APC or the PDP since 2015.

“To which sub-region the presidency should be further zoned to in the south, is a different matter entirely. At the appropriate time, we will decide as to which area, section or region of the three regions of Southeast, Southsouth and Southwest, should have it.”

He further argued that when it comes to which region has had the most opportunity, the North “has had the Presidency for about 45 years of our nation’s history as an independent country, including both civilian and military regimes.

“The 17 Governors of southern Nigeria both of the APC and the PDP, under the leadership of Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN, Governor of Ondo State, resolved at a meeting in Asaba, Delta State, that the Presidency should rotate to the South in 2023, in keeping with the tradition of zoning.

“The South and Middle Belt Leaders Forum, under my leadership, has held two important meetings to support the resolution of the 17 Governors of the Southern Nigeria, that presidency of the country, should rotate to the south.”

It was a sweet relief yesterday for non-immigrant visa applicants in Nigeria, following the kick-off of the no-interview visa renewal regime by the United States (U.S.) Mission in Lagos.

The new visa application regime, which was unveiled at a briefing at the U.S. Consulate in Lagos, is a pilot project, which the mission plans to extend next month to its embassy in Abuja.

“The number of qualified applicants who can apply using the new procedures will be limited initially. Applicants who meet the criteria may apply in Lagos until the service is extended to Abuja. Please note that only one member of the family unit is required to drop-off the application documents, children are not required to come drop-off in person,” a statement by the mission  said.

It added: “Processing may take up to two months. Although we anticipate most cases will be processed within a few weeks, once you submit your travel documents, we will be unable to return these to you until your has been completed.”

On eligibility criteria, it said: “You may be eligible for a visa renewal without an interview if your application in for a B1/B2, F. M. J (academic only), H. L or CD (combined only) visa, and you meet each of the following criteria.

“Your previous visa was issued in Nigeria. Your previous visa is in the same classification as your current application. Your previous visa was a full validity, multiple entry visa.

“Your previous visa expired within the last 24 months or will expire in the next three months from the date of application.

“You have all your passports covering the entire period since receiving the previous visa and the passport with the most recent visa.

“You have never been arrested or convicted of any crime or offence in the States, even if you later received a waiver or pardon.

“You have never worked without authorisation or remained beyond your permitted time in the United States.”

Speaking with reporters, U.S. Mission Country Consular Coordinator Susan Tuller, cautioned applicants against patronising third parties to enjoy the service. She urged applicants to rely only on information from genuine sources.

The statement further reads: “Third parties unaffiliated with U.S. Embassy, Abuja, and Consulate General, Lagos, may seek to take advantage of various visa services to target visa applicants with fraudulent offers or claims.

“Applicants should fill out their own forms and make their appointments themselves via the official websites.

“As future opportunities for interview waiver appointments become available, they will be communicated via our website.

“Remember to rely on information only from genuine sources the statement by the Mission also urged applicants to shin third parties.”

It urged those with life-or-death emergency to request an expedited visa appointment.

By AbdulGafar Alabelewe, Kaduna and Justina Asishana, Minna

• 1,192 killed, 3,348 kidnapped in Kaduna last year

• Insurgents kill 3 soldiers, 8 others in Niger

Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai yesterday called for the establishment of a theatre command to tackle insecurity in the Northwest and Niger State.

Bandits have turned the region and the state into killing fields, with villages frequently sacked and houses destroyed almost daily.

Between Sunday and Monday, terrorists killed no fewer than 11 people in Niger communities.

Our correspondent learnt that three soldiers, four vigilantes and four villagers were killed in Mariga and Paikoro local government areas.

El-Rufai spoke while receiving the 2021 annual security report presented by the Kaduna Commissioner of Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan.

The governor said there was now an insurgency in the six Northwest states and environs.

Citing the report, he said 1,192 persons were killed by bandits and other violent attacks across the state in 2021.

The report adds that 3,348 people were kidnapped and 891 others injured within the year.

El-Rufai believes the situation requires a dedicated theatre command as it is in the Northeast.

He said: “The Kaduna State Government appeals to the Federal Government to create a Theatre Command similar to the situation in the Northeast to confront the insurgency that has emerged in five states of the Northwest and Niger State with continuous and contiguous forest ranges.

“The creation of such a Theatre Command will enable a holistic approach to counter-insurgent operations across the six affected states and the enhanced coordination of the resources of the Armed Forces, the Police, the SSS (State Security Services), our respective state vigilance services, hunters and other local volunteers to fight the insurgents.”

The governor said at least nine persons were kidnapped daily last year across Kaduna, especially in Kaduna Central.

“There is also an escalation in the number of persons killed by a whopping 255 compared to those sadly killed by banditry and criminality in 2020 in spite of our best efforts in supporting the Federal security agencies to bring an end to this phenomenon.

”As we digest these sad statistics, we pray for the repose of the souls of those killed, pay tribute to the victims of various crimes, reiterate our solidarity with them, and reaffirm our resolve to continue to protect our people, and stop the criminals.

“The victims of these outlaws cut across our state, though we note the persistence of certain narratives that try to coat sheer criminality in ethnoreligious or regional hues, depending on the identity of the victims,” El-Rufai said.

The governor said there must be an urgent national effort to strengthen the security forces.

“The military and police need modern technology, advanced armaments, equipment and more boots on the ground.

“The security of our communities depends on the robust projection of state power, and that can only be done with sufficient security personnel to overawe and deter criminals.

“The prerogatives of the state need to be asserted, not merely proclaimed. The people we put in uniform must never be placed in avoidable danger, outgunned or outnumbered by non-state actors.

“It is when the terrorists are decimated that ‘soft’, non-kinetic peacebuilding will gain traction,” El-Rufai said.

He restated his position that bandits do not repent.

“We continue to emphasise that as a state government, we do not believe that there is any phenomenon like ‘repentant bandits’.

“Any person that makes a conscious decision to secure arms, challenge the authority of the Nigerian state and threatens the lives and property of Nigerians does not deserve to live or be granted any concession by the society.

“There are no immediate or remote causes to justify terrorist conduct.

“Those that hide behind these are either ethnic jingoists, religious apologists or fail to recognise that no legitimate government can survive by tolerating terrorists or negotiating with those that menace law-abiding citizens.

“While acknowledging their efforts and sacrifices of lives and limb, we, therefore, urge our military, police and other security agencies to ensure coordinated actions and intensify simultaneous kinetic operations against these terrorists until they are decimated to the point of surrender,” the governor said.

In the Niger attacks, terrorists were said to have ambushed and killed three soldiers who were on patrol, as well as four vigilantes in the Kwanan Dutse community in Mariga.

In Paikoro Local Government Area, four people, including a 20-year-old boy, were killed and several others injured when the terrorists attacked Ishau, Kuna, Amale, Adunu, Kudami communities.

Our correspondent learnt that the insurgents, who came in numbers, were armed with sophisticated weapons, but were forced to retreat by the vigilantes.

Niger Police Command spokesman, Abiodun Wasiu and the Chairman of Paikoro LGA, Mallam Yohana Yakubu, could not be reached to confirm the attacks as their phones rang out.

Over 18 people were killed and 40 injured when terrorists invaded the Galadima Kogo community in Shiroro Local Government Area in Niger at the weekend.

Governor Abubakar Sani Bello, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mary Berje, said the state government had secured clearance to carry out intensive military operations in Shiroro, Munya and Rafi areas.

“We have run out of patience with the terrorists and we’ll use every means possible to bring an end to these incessant bloody attacks on innocent people.

“We will do everything to stop the killings and return normalcy to the affected communities,” he vowed.