Category: Featured

Islamic scholar, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi has described the declaration of bandits as terrorists as a decision taken for mere political expediency, which will not change anything.

According to him: “I think the Federal Government has succumbed to media blackmail by a section of the country. It will not have any practical value because even before the declaration they are being fought and treated as terrorists.”

In a statement by Malam Tukur Mamu, the Dan-Iyan Fika and Media Consultant to Sheikh Gumi, the Muslim scholar said: “So it’s just a nomenclature which I believe will not change the dynamics on ground.

“If you can remember IPOB was also declared a terrorist organisation, the declaration was even backed by the order of the Court but as you can see even the international community did not recognise FG’s declaration of IPOB. So it has failed to be effective or to achieve the desired results.”

“They have not been ban from travelling to other countries while their citizenship remains intact, it has not been denounced. So what type of declaration is that?

” I sincerely hope that Nigerians will not take the herdsmen as terrorists but should regard the criminality of the few among them against innocent people as acts of terrorism just as we see IPOB and their attacks on security agencies and other northern citizens as acts of terrorism. Very few herdsmen are bandits if you go through their population.”

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“I hope this declaration will not give the license to people to be profiling herdsmen in general as terrorists and taking laws into their hands against them. It will cause more mayhem.

“The declaration will not change anything, it will not change the dynamics. Already the military is engaging them. It didn’t stop them from kidnappings and killings. The declaration will not end their aggression against the society.”

He added: “The Fulani banditry is a socio-economic problem. We have seen it, we interacted widely with them. We told the federal government the way out. It can only be won through engagement, dialogue and justice. That is why today there is relative peace in the Niger Delta because government have accepted the painful reality of rehabilitating and empowering them.”

“There has to be equitable distribution of wealth in Nigeria and justice for every one. People don’t want to accept it, before the issue of banditry that now affects all of us, the Fulanis have suffered so much.”

“They have lost their legitimate means of livelihood, I mean their cows through cattle rustling and extortion by security agencies. That has to be addressed as a means of genuine reconciliation and integration. They should have sense of belonging.”

Operatives of the Ondo State Police Command, hunters and Amotekun Corps have begun search for four teachers abducted by gunmen on Thursday afternoon.

The abductors were said to have demanded a ransom of N35m.

Those abducted were Principal of Auga Community Grammar School, Mr Joshua Adeyemi; his vice, Mr Ifedayo Yesufu and three teachers, including Mrs Bukola Oloyede, Funmilayo Adagunodo and Blessing Okeke.

Wife of the Principal, Mrs Hellen Adeyemi, said the abductors contacted the family to demand the ransom for release of all the teachers.

Mrs Adeyemi said the N35m was too huge for the affected families to pay.

Read Also: Jos communities lament incessant kidnappings

They were kidnapped on Thursday while travelling on the Auga-Ise road in Akoko East local government area of Ondo State.

Mrs Okeke was later released because she was heavily pregnant.

Monarch of Auga, Oba Samuel Agunloye, said the community would work with security agencies to ensure release of the teachers.

Spokesman for the Ondo Police Command, DSP Fumilayo Odunlami, confirmed that men of the anti-kidnapping unit were already combing the bush

Meanwhile, a middle-aged man, Identified as Clark, has been killed by suspected cultists in Okitipupa, headquarters of Okitipupa local government.

Witnesses said two rival cult groups clashed in the area and Clark was later found dead.

DSP Odunlami said corpse of the deceased has been deposited in a morgue, adding that investigation has commenced into the matter.

The Plateau Police Command has confirmed herdsmen killed 10 persons and burnt 30 houses in the early Friday attack on Ta’agbe village of Miango, Bassa Local Government Area.

The spokesman of the command ASP Gabriel Ubah confirmed this in a statement in Jos.

Read Also: PHOTOS: Herdsmen raze houses, food silos in Plateau

Ubah said on receiving the information, the Police Commissioner CP Bartholomew Onyeka and other senior officers of the command immediately moved to the scene of the incident for an on-the-spot assessment.

He said the CP has directed for discreet investigation and assured the community of his readiness to fish out the perpetrators of the barbaric act.

The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has threatened to shut down the country if the Federal Government implements the planned fuel subsidy removal.

The students’ body also rejected the government’s plan to pay N5,000 transport allowance to 40 million Nigerians to cushion the effect of soaring fuel prices.

Addressing Journalists in Abuja on Friday, NANS President, Comrade Sunday Asefon, said the union would mobilise its 41 million members across the country to protest what it called a “strange proposal.”

Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, had announced that the government would remove fuel subsidy and replace it with a monthly N5,000 transport grant to 40 million poor Nigerians.

Asefon however, noted that with the present economic realities, it was wrong for government to contemplate something as critical as deregulating the petroleum sector “without thinking it through, without consultation and without a robust debate.”

He described the move as a plan by government to get money at all costs to squander and finance the ostentatious lifestyles of public officers and senior civil servants, adding that any attempt to aggravate the economic woes of Nigerians would not only be unconscionable but reckless.

He said: “Nigerians are really suffering. We are in dire socioeconomic straits. We are weeping in our hearts and souls. We are dying in silence. We feel the agony and anguish because we are practically involved.

“It will amount to testing the patience of Nigerians too far. And we wish to warn against it. The country is very stretched and tensed. In case the government is not aware, we are passing them this intelligence free of charge now. Again we advise, let the government not stretch it further.

“The consequences will be dire. The people are already flamed. Mendacity will beget mendacity
NANS is happy that the organised labour and civil society groups have all rejected the proposal.

“We shall ensure that the entire country is shut down and paralysed should the Federal Government proceed with its insensitive plan of deregulation, or even any further increase in the pump price of fuel. We have had enough.

“We know that neo-liberal and imperial economists will soon emerge to confuse themselves with some well rehearsed stale analysis and commentaries.

“It is therefore very strange that the Federal Government could contemplate the removal of fuel subsidy now. The four refineries are not functioning, and if they are functioning at all, it is at a near zero level.

“There is a zero consultation with stakeholders to even consider issues around deregulation and why it should or should not be. The survival of Nigerian workers and their wards is yet to be discussed, yet a date that may take lives out of them have been fixed.

“Furthermore, inflation is already passing a skyrocket level. So we may need to find a word to describe the kind of inflation that will be experienced if the pump price of PMS goes above 200 percent.

” In fact, we are very convinced that the Federal Government is acting impulsively on a matter as sensitive as this. And our conviction is based on many things that cannot just add up. Beyond the issues already raised, let us consider the following economic confusions:

“In 2022 Appropriation Bill, the FG already provided for fuel subsidy. One then wonders why it will provide for what it plans to eliminate.

“Upon which data did the Honourable Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning determine that only 40 million Nigerians are vulnerable? And what is the definition of vulnerability in our socioeconomic context?
Where does she intend to generate the money which will be paid to those 40 million Nigerians since there is no provision for it in 2022 Appropriation Bill?”

Asefon urged the government to rescind the plan till adequate arrangements like refining at home and utilising the nation’s petrochemical by-products are made.

Taiwo Oluyale and Kehinde Olulaye, who graduated with First Class at the 2019/2020 academic session were the cynosure of all at the convocation ceremony of the Federal University of Technology, Akure ( FUTA) at the school auditorium.

Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Joseph Fuwape, who heaped praise on the sisters, said the institution stood tall among others.

Both sisters graduated from the Department of the Building Technology.

Taiwo emerged the best graduating student with a 4.89 CGPA while Kehinde made 4.82 CGPA.

Prof. Fuwape said a total of 160 students graduated with First Class honours while 1,334 students had Second Class ( Upper) Division.

Fuwape stated that 1,483 students made Second Class ( Lower) Division, 222 students had Third Class Division and six had Pass.

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The FUTA VC said the institution’s vision was to be among the top world class universities.

He urged the graduands to sharpen their ability in order to interrogate phenomena and situations objectively.

Fuwape tasked parents and guardians of the graduands to give them some amount of Independence to make their ways in life as well as continued needed help.

Pro- Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of FUTA, Dr. Godknows Igali, called for cooperation for the university to witness what he termed ‘unprecedented academic, infrastructural development and peace throughout our tenure,” he said.

He said all stakeholders must steer the ship of the university to a greater problem-solving mode so for the institution to remain relevant at the top.

Emir of Katagum and Chancellor of FUTA, Alhaji Umar Farouk, tasked FUTA alumni to give back to their Alma mater.

Taiwo, on her part, said she never competed to be the best.

She said she and her sister studied together as well as made efforts to have a balance between studying and having good social life.

The renewed communal crisis in Ikare Akoko, in Akoko Northeast Local Government Area of Ondo State have continued despite the 24-hour curfew imposed by Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu.

Akeredolu imposed the curfew following killings of some persons and persistent shootings..

Residents in the community defied the curfew and attempted to destroy a building housing a bank in the community.

The building reportedly belonged to a rival traditional ruler of the town, the Owa-Ale of Ikare, Oba Adeleke Adedoyin.

Oba Adedoyin and the Olukare of Ikare, Oba Akadiri Saliu Momoh are at loggerheads as the Olukare regarded the Owa Ale as one of his Chiefs.

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Olukare is regarded as a Class A monarch while the Owa Ale is in the Class C category.

Eyewitnesses said some residents of the town moved freely disregarding the curfew while hoodlums attacked the building.

Windows and doors of the bank were broken but intervention of the police stopped the building from being set ablaze.

He said the damage had been done before the police arrived at the scene.

Ondo Police spokesman, DSP Funmilayo Odunlami, who refuted claims that the police failed to ensure compliance of the curfew order, said policemen were on ground to maintain peace.

Situation in Ikare Akoko has become so tense that residents in some parts of the town banned other residents from visiting their area for business activities.

Ten persons were reportedly killed in an early hours attack on Friday by suspected herdsmen at Te’egbe village of Miangi District in Rigwe Chiefdom of Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau state.

The Nation had reported the herdsmen killed two persons in an ambush last Tuesday at Ancha village of Miango district, Rigwe Chiefdom of Bassa LGA.

It was gathered herdsmen launched the latest attack around 2:00am in the community during which ten persons were reportedly killed.

The rampaging herdsmen also reportedly set ablaze houses during the invasion.

Read Also: Herdsmen kill two in Plateau

Plateau Police spokesman ASP Ubah Ogaba, confirmed the attack to The Nation on phone.

He said: “We are aware of the incident and we shall brief you”.

But several calls to the Military Information Officer of the Operation Safe Haven, Major Ishaku Takwa, were not answered as of the time of filing this report.

Governor Simon Lalong condemned the incident.

Lalong, in a statement by his spokesman, Dr. Makut Simon Macham, said: “The persistent attacks in this general area remain condemnable and unacceptable to Government.

“As such, no resources and efforts will be spared in painstakingly following up on the trail of those who derive joy in attacking and killing innocent citizens and destroying their homes and means of livelihoods.”

He directed the Plateau State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) and the Peace Building Agency (PBA) to immediately visit the area and assess the level of damage with a view to carrying out immediate intervention and bringing succour to people who are in need as a result of the barbaric attack.