The Nation Newspaper

Category: Northern Report

  • 90-year-old rewards househelp with 3-bedroom flat

    90-year-old rewards househelp with 3-bedroom flat

    HOW does a 90-year-old reward a dutiful househelp?

    Pa Olusola Ajilore who just clocked 90 simply handed over a well-furnished three-bedroom flat to Dupe Aro who served him well. The old man marked his birthday anniversary with solemnity and thanksgiving in the church in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.

    Pa Ajilore hails from Mopa, Mopa/Amoro Local Government Area of Kogi State.

    Incidentally, earlier that day Mrs. Aro had received notice from the landlady for her inability to pay rent.

    He said the beneficiary faithfully and diligently served the family for 28 years without any blemish and rancour.

    The benefactor said the project gulped a sum of N5 million.

    Speaking with The Nation during the dedication of the house located in Tanke are of the metropolis, the pensioner said: “It was not my intention to build another house, but there is a lady who has served me for 28 years and I hereby hand over the key of the house to her. When my wife passed on in 1996, this woman continued to serve me well. Since then she has been assisting me I cannot remember one single kobo lost.

    “I tried to find out what I can do to appreciate 28 years of faithful and unalloyed service. She had never frowned at anything. We have never had any reason to argue about anything.

    “Quite a number of times if travelled outside the country she is the one in the house. She would come in the morning, prepare my breakfast and continue till about 5:50 pm to 7pm sometime before retiring to her house. She is like my first daughter. When I was thinking how I can show some appreciation, I realised that she had challenge of accommodation.

    “I want to tell you that I have never embarked on anything that had excited me like the building of this house. Each I came there and I saw something new some invigoration would come to my mind. I want to appreciate you coming to rejoice with us on a day like this.

    “I am happy now. My total pension is under N60,000, but then I appealed to quite a number of people to assist me in getting the project done; as I wanted to do that to help somebody. Even today somebody still sent me a cheque. So one thing that I am convinced about is that when you have a mind to do something and you have passion for it you will do it.

    “I told the engineers to put PVC tiles but I came and saw ceramic tiles. That was like challenging me. It is God. For me this is the highpoint of the cerebration. I throw parties and drummers they would eat and go away. If you went to the toilet you would see the residue, but this one speaks volumes. They were going to organise something that would last for a whole week but I rejected.

  • FCTA pleads with striking cleaners

    Striking cleaners at the office complex of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister and its other agencies and departments have been urged to be patient as the administration is working hard to pay their three-month salary arrears.

    Many aggrieved cleaners, mostly widows and orphans last Monday, once again down tools, and staged a protest over non-payment of salary arrears owed them by the administration.

    However, the Director, Information and Communication at the FCTA, Mrs. Stella Ojeme, during an interview, described the strike action as unfortunate, as the Administration was actually working on resolving the issue, before they (the cleaners) decided that they were going on strike.

    Attributing the delay in payment of May, June and July salaries to the striking cleaners to the Treasury Single Account (TSA) regime, the Director noted that their cadres as well as that of the secretaries and the directors were affected by the federal government monetary policy.

    The Director, told The Nation that the Acting Permanent Secretary, Alhaji Salisu Mohammed, on Monday, had a meeting with the striking cleaners, where he assured them that their salaries will be paid fully.

    According to her, because the striking cleaners came in as casual staff, the FCTA authorities are trying to do some proper alignment (paper work), in line with TSA regime.

    Mrs. Ojeme adds: “Some of them just submitted their Bank Verification Number (BVN), so they had to put everything together to be sure that there is no ghost worker among them, and start to pay them. He (acting permanent secretary) has promised them that they would be paid their May, June and July salaries. I was there with him, when he sent for the relevant files, and started processing it. Unfortunately, the cleaners were not patient.

    “The FCTA 2016 budget had just been passed by the National Assembly, and we are still awaiting the assent of President Muhammadu Buhari, before it becomes law. Then, there would be available funds to pay them their outstanding salaries.

    “They were being paid all this while before the month of May, but right now, the acting Permanent Secretary is asking for their patience and understanding.

    “I’m not saying that we should owe them, it’s not what had been planned, but the fund was not available. However, I can assure they would be paid soon. My message to them is that they should be patient as this issue will be resolved very soon.”

    Asked how the FCTA officials within are coping with the situation, she said: “Like my own office, my staff helps in cleaning the place, but for some officials who don’t feel that they need to have their offices cleaned are managing to stay in it like that pending when the striking cleaners will resume work there.”

    Meanwhile, it was gathered that the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, on return from yesterday’s commissioning of the Abuja-Kaduna railway transport service by President Muhammadu Buhari, issued a directive for the immediate payment of the three-month salary arrears owned the cleaners.

  • Thousands dread El-Rufai’s bulldozers

    Thousands dread El-Rufai’s bulldozers

    A community of over 3,000 houses in Kaduna State is in danger of demolition, writes ABDULGAFAR ALABELEWE

    Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai has since proved what he can do with a bulldozer. Residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) can testify. So can residents of the state he governs.

    The Demolition Man has waded into an old cold war between the management of Kaduna Polytechnic and Gbagyi Villa, a community of over 3,000 houses alleged to have been built on the institution’s land. You guessed it: el-Rufai’s bulldozers have come into the picture. And the people whose houses could be pulled down have protested, hoping the evil day does not come.

    Before 2011, there was no landmark demarcation between the Sabon Tasha campus of institution’s land and its neighbouring communities. The situation apparently gave room for the alleged monumental encroachment.

    Though, previous management of the institution had made efforts to stop the encroachment, it received little or no support from the government, until 2011 when the late Governor Patrick Yakowa mediated and asked the polytechnic to build a fence to prevent further encroachment. The school apparently not satisfied with the situation took up the matter in 2015, shortly after the election of Governor el-Rufai.

    Governor El-Rufai has however vowed to reclaim the institution’s land for it, despite a suit filed in the state High Court by members of the community to stop the Governor’s planned action.

    Kaduna Polytechnic, formerly known as Technical Institute, Kaduna, came into existence after the Northern Nigeria Executive Council’s meeting of 17th August, 1962. It became Kaduna Polytechnic in 1968 by the Federal Government Decree No. 20 of 1968, which was revised in 1979 by Decree .No. 79. In 1991, the institution was taken over by the Federal Government under Decree No. 40 of the same year.

    The polytechnic has four campuses spread across the Kaduna metropolis: Tudun Wada, Ungwan Rimi, Barnawa and Sabon Tasha. The contentious Sabon Tasha campus remains the only hope for the polytechnic to expand, especially for its proposed conversion to Federal University of Technology.

    Governor el-Rufai recently visited Gbagyi Villa where he said there was no going back on the planned demolition of the community.

    He told journalists, “Kaduna Polytechnic was allocated the land 40 years ago for one of the polytechnic campuses but unfortunately, nearly 70% of its land has been encroached [on] by illegal squatters.”

    The governor said his administration cannot condone illegality, warning that in Kaduna nobody can hide behind religion or ethnic group to break the law and get away with it.

    “The government will go through a process and give everyone opportunity to show that she or he has a title to the land and approval to build. If you don’t have these two, the law will apply and we will take the building down”.

    “It is unfortunate that some people have been deceived into thinking that this land is available to sell to anyone it is unfortunate. And in our system we are going to investigate and find all those who are involved in this and will be dealt with by the government.

    Barely a week after the governor’s declaration, thousands of residents and house owners in the community staged a peaceful protest, appealing to the governor not to render them destitute.

    The protesters raised placards with inscriptions including: ‘we want development and not demolition’ and ‘we are not criminals’ and ‘El-Rufai leave us alone’ among others. They also called on people of goodwill to help prevail on Governor el-Rufai to act within the law and not engage the rule of might.

    Leading the protest, Chairman, Gbagyi Villa Property Owners Association, Chris Obodumu Abba said, “It was on this same land that we were raised by our forefathers and it is the only place we know as home in Nigeria. We have become a community living together happily with other Nigerians from different parts of the country. It was part of our community land that government took over forcefully and built Kaduna Polytechnic without compensation”

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Plateau steps up diversification plan

    Plateau steps up diversification plan

    The diversification of the Plateau State economy gathers steam with the revival of Panyam Fish Farm. YUSUFU AMINU IDEGU reports

    Governor Simon Lalong is making good his promise to expand Plateau State’s revenue sources beyond federal allocation. In just over a year, Bark Farms, once sold, has been bought back, while the iconic Jos Main Market and Highland Bottling Company have had new life injected into them. The fourth to be revived is Panyam Fish Farm. The firms, once popular and substantial revenue earners, were run down and abandoned by previous administrations, leaving the state essentially with the federal government’s monthly allocations.

    Those allocations are drying up because oil prices have crashed. To stay afloat, Governor Lalong said at his inauguration that his administration would do everything possible to boost the state’s cash profile from its local sources.

    That promise is being fulfilled with the partnership of private firms. The state’s moribund companies are coming to life.

    The Lalong administration has just signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a private firm Solbec Ltd with the aim of resuscitating Panyam Fish Farm and boosting both its agricultural sector and internally generated revenue.

    Confirming the deal, the state Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mrs Linda Barau, said the new arrangement will be based on Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) between the state government and the private sector.

    According to her, the government’s effort is in line with its resolve to prioritise the agricultural sector.

    Panyam Fish Farm, which was established about 65 years ago, is reputed to be Nigeria’s largest fish farm covering a land mass of 309 hectares, with the capacity to produce about 4.9 tonnes of fish and over 10 million fingerlings annually, but was abandoned by past governments.

    A press release singed by Mr Mark Longyen, the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Lalong on Media and Publicity, said the signing of the MoU was a watershed in the state government’s effort to boost both its agricultural sector and internally generated revenue.

    Longyen noted that when it becomes fully operational, the farm’s annual revenue generating potential for the state will hit about N1.7 billion, which is about the equivalent of the state’s workers’ total monthly wage bill.

    ”Plateau State has huge aquatic and fisheries potentials, given its clement climatic conditions and myriads of tin mining ponds.

    “The state has about 20 dams and reservoirs with an estimated water surface area of 673 hectares, as well as 12 natural lakes with a water surface area of about 365 hectares,” he said.

    The farm, which is located in Mangu Local Government Area in the Plateau Central Zone of the state, also has the potential to generate employment opportunities for many people.

    It is expected that when the fish farm is fully back on stream, commercial activities, such as the buying and selling of the adult fish and or processing of same, as well as the marketing of the fingerlings across the country will reach an unprecedented level.

    The governor’s spokesman added that of the over 1,000 abandoned mining ponds in the state, 24 have been certified fit for fish production and if all these potentials are fully harnessed, the state could produce 4.9 tonnes of fish per annum.

    It would be recalled that the Lalong administration identified three key sectors, namely, agriculture, solid minerals mining and tourism, in which the state has comparative advantage, to leverage on them and diversify the state’s economy to boost its internally generated revenue for rapid economic development.

    The Cyprinus Carpio species of freshwater fish farming started in Panyam in North Central Nigeria when it was brought from Austria before Nigeria’s independence in 1960.

     

  • Cattle take over major roads

    Cattle take over major roads

    Residents bemoan cattle grazing menace, reports GBENGA OMOKHUNU 

    Mr. John Ayooba who lives in Kuje, a satellite town in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), told Abuja Review that the city’s challenges brought on by its population growth have been worsened by grazing activities, with cattle obstructing vehicular and pedestrian movement.

    He said, “It is becoming terrible, almost every day when I pass from Kuje to town I come across cows obstructing the major highway and when you call the attention of the owners to control them to avoid accident or damage to property they don’t listen. Abuja is becoming something else and government should do something urgently before the situation gets out of hand.”

    A government source said that the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) took measures in the past to curb cattle grazing but its efforts amounted to little more than verbal warnings to herdsmen to refrain from improper grazing activities along major highways.

    Another resident Tolu Abinbola said that the illegal grazing of cattle by herdsmen is just one of several problems facing Abuja, including the prevalence of street hawkers, unemployed youths, and “street urchins” which have “taken over every nook and cranny of the city.

    “I have observed how cattle and other livestock have now taken over the city centre of Abuja and I have really fallen short of words. It is not only degrading, but the distortion of the Abuja master plan also gives me a cause for concern.

    “I am neither a soothsayer nor a doomsday prophet, but public reaction to this unfortunate prowling of animals may not be good for the image of the FCT minister, Alhaji Mohammad Bello, who appears to be doing nothing about this apparent contravention of the Abuja environmental laws.

    “The activities of Fulani herdsmen within Abuja city centre are just inappropriate. For cows to be allowed to roam the city and compete for space with human beings is retrogressive and causes serious health and social crises in the hinterland where they eat up crops, pollute streams, rivers and other sources of water supply in the satellite towns and villages and cause deaths on the highways.”

    Ibrahim, a civil servant who lives in Kubwa, said, “From Kuje to Abaji and from Maitama to the presidential villa and highbrow Asokoro, Fulani herdsmen and their cattle are constantly fighting for space with motorists and pedestrians. The National Assembly, right to the office of the National Security Adviser are not spared by the herdsmen and their cattle. The herdsmen graze their cattle at the traffic junctions where police halt vehicles for upwards of 30 miniutes or completely block the road for cattle to cross to the other side of the road.

    “While we cannot run away from these cows that are a veritable source of protein that nurtures our health and bodies, they should be raised in a civilised manner. Distraught residents are sick and tired of the unprecedented ubiquity of herdsmen walking their cattle on the roads. The man-hour lost in hold-ups cannot be economically verified, but the psycho-social trauma of accidents, caused like the one on the Abuja-Lokoja expressway should move any government to action.

    “I suggest as a matter of urgent national importance that the FCT minister should quickly do something before things get worse. He must hasten to create and demarcate grazing reserves and cattle ranches to control the movement of the herdsmen seeking pasture for their livestock in the FCT and not necessarily in the city centre. We also advise that it has become expedient to constitute a committee consisting of all tribes that would campaign on the importance of unity and peaceful coexistence, because the silence of the people is like that of peace that exists in the graveyard. We are sitting on a keg of gunpowder if we allow cattle to disturb traffic, deface the streets and enter people’s premises. The time to act is now.”

    It would be recalled that few weeks ago the Federal Government on its part said it has concluded plans to build ranches for herdsmen as part of measures to address the perennial herdsmen/farmers clashes which had claimed hundreds of lives in the country.

    The government also said it would train park rangers, men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and other security agencies to protect farms and other agro-business from looting by hoodlums.

    The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh said this at the inauguration of an Inter-ministerial Committee on Security in Ministries of Agric and Interior.

    The minister explained that the nation is facing challenging times, noting that the government was concerned about protection for investments.

    He stated that the government was looking at ways to curb herdsmen and crop farmers clashes across the country by evolving solutions that would assure indigenous and foreign investors of the security of their investments.

    Ogbeh noted that President Muhammadu Buhari was committed to developing and expanding the economy, and the protection of investment.

    He said, “The current problem we are facing is the security of investment. We are inviting people, Nigerians and foreigners alike to invest in this country, especially in the agriculture industry. The crime rate is soaring and sometimes, criminality is carried out because there is no credible intelligence.

    “We are planning now to build ranches and bring our cattle rearers in manageable conditions where herdsmen and farmers would no longer have clashes. We are going to encourage agro investment. We assure indigenous investors, foreign investors that Nigeria is serious about investment and about protecting investors.

    “Nigeria can’t afford the looting of private investment by hoodlums who think that is their share of the national treasury.”

    The minister stated that the committee was expected to work out the modalities for the training and deployment of the security personnel that would be involved in investment and infrastructure protection across the country.

    He however cautioned that when deployed, the security operatives should not be converted to duties other than what they were trained for.

    “The security officers are not to be converted to private body guards or errand boys to be sent to the market or shopping malls,” Ogbeh warned.

  • Mobile court to try environmental offenders

    The chairman of Kwali area council Joseph Shazin has revealed that his administration will use mobile courts as the last resort to deal with persons caught engaging in improper dumping of refuse in the area.

    Shazin who disclosed this recently while speaking with journalists, explained that the mobile court will help to make residents abide by the environmental rules in the area.

    He stressed that despite all measures put in place by the council, some residents are defiant of such measures and had continuously dispose their waste where they are not supposed to.

    The chairman added that one of the measures his administration intends to take to overcome the menace is to embark on massive sensitization on the importance of keeping a clean and healthy environment.

    He said the council is coming up with the old ways of monthly environmental sanitation exercise, adding that the exercise will keep the residents on their toes, to do the needful and help to make the council clean.

    “We need to tackle the issue of refuse disposal fast, before it overwhelms us. It is very important to keep our environment clean at all times. This we cannot achieve, unless we have the support of the residents of the council. I am calling on them to abide by the rules.

    “We might introduce the monthly environmental sanitation. This will help us a great deal. The mobile court again is another way of keeping the residents in line. We will also embark on rigorous sensitization exercise, because a healthy environment is what we want to achieve,” he said.

  • Roads: The next nightmare

    Roads: The next nightmare

    After the weakening of Boko Haram whose fighters devastated the Northeast, residents of the region have another nightmare before them: damaged roads. Roads across the region are so bad that some states are in danger of being cut off from others. Gombe, in the heart of region, is one such state. Its roads are dilapidated, bridges failing.

    Some of those bad roads include  Gombe-Bauchi; Gombe-Biu; Gombe-Dukku-Darazo; Gombe-Potiskum and Gombe-Numan-Yola, among other roads.

    As population and human activities grow, so is the volume of running water on culverts, threatening and ultimately washing out the roads.

    Potholes are another worry.

    The Gombe-Numan-Yola Road is a known disaster. It is presently receiving attention. But how far the rehabilitation will go is what no one can tell because the one done three years ago stopped at Kaltungo.

    The most notorious bad spot is Km 34/200 on Gombe-Bauchi Road. Commuters have been crying out to the government for remedy. They say the road, which links Bauchi, Gombe, Adamawa, Borno, Taraba and Yobe states is on the verge of collapse.

    Motorists who spoke with The Nation described the road as a death trap. Now that the rains are here, the commuters have appealed to the federal and Northeast state governments to find a permanent solution to it.

    Km 34/200 lies between Bauchi and Gombe states and travellers to most other parts of the northeast use it regularly.

    For over four years now, this spot has remained a major threat to lives and property as a result of the rains and attendant erosion, which have swept the grounds and structures that hold the road together.

    In the rainy season, people are forced to wait for hours on either end whenever there is downpour or take the longer routes to their destinations. This automatically means paying extra money, extra fuel and extra hours.

    At the moment, both the retaining wall built to break the speed of water and heavy stones used to reclaim previously washed out portions are now being washed out. The NNPC pipelines around the area are exposed and may soon give way.

    “Do you know I spent the whole day there because we had to wait for the flood to recede before crossing, ” said Hajara Usman, who rushed to her home state Bauchi intending to return the following morning to Gombe where she worked in the civil service.

    Sometimes commercial commuters’ vehicle drivers truncate their journeys on either side of the bad spot and end up exchanging passengers across the spot, which becomes inaccessible when the rains are at their peak.

    Abubakar Yahaya Bula, a motorist, said he had been plying the road for the past four years and had known the spot to be like that.

    “Between God and man,” he said, “anytime it rains heavily, this place becomes a mini-motor park because we will drop our passengers, they will trek cautiously to the other side to join Bauchi vehicles; theirs too will in the same manner come and join ours to get to Gombe.

    “We thought the road would be repaired this last dry season, but it was not.”

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Buhari and the Green Alternative

    Nigeria, unfortunately fell from its vantage position as an agro- economy in the 1960s to a mono-economy solely based on oil for many years. Its agricultural produce from every zone in the country was not only enough to meet local consumption in the early sixties but was a major earner of foreign exchange.

    The discovery of oil changed the story, and became more or less a curse.

    The reason for this is that incomes from oil sales over the years were either mismanaged or a greater part of them fraudulently found their ways into private pockets.

    As a fallout of the problem, the standard and number of public infrastructures and facilities amd other public services in the country do not match the quantum of oil incomes that accrued to Nigeria in the past five decades. Nigeria is far behind nations that found oil after her, even when such countries’ daily oil output is less than that of Nigeria.

    No matter the type of government infrastructure and facility in Nigeria, the common scenario is that they are either in a dilapidated state or completely abandoned to rot away.

    The discovery of oil in Nigeria drew away attention from agricultural business while at the same time led to impoverishment of Nigerians due to its mismanagement.

    Sensing the ills in a mono-based economy, several past administrations have made attempts to take Nigeria back to its lost glory in agriculture.

    In these efforts, they introduced various agricultural programmes including ‘Green Revolution’, ‘Operation Feed the Nation’, Fadama I, Fadama II and Fadama III.

    The various agricultural programmes, over the years have not succeeded in making Nigeria an agriculturally-based economy and couldn’t change Nigeria as an oil-dependent economy.

    Most factors economic watchers have put forward for the failure were poor implementation of the programmes, lack of political will and incontinuity of laudable programmes by successive administrations.

    Right from his period of campaign for the highest office in the land, President Muhammadu Buhari has not put anyone in doubt as to his commitment to diversify the Nigerian economy mainly through agriculture and solid minerals development.

    True to his desires in line with the vision of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting chaired by President Buhari last Wednesday approved a new agriculture roadmap, called ‘Green Alternative’ for the next three years.

    It aims to ensure food security for the nation and facilitate the government’s capacity to meet its obligations to Nigerians on safety and quality nutrition of food in the country.

    The government plans to enhance the country’s foreign exchange earning capacity through agricultural exports and make Nigeria a major foreign exchange earner from agriculture.

    It intends to grow the agriculture’s share of non-oil exports earnings to 75%.

    From the 129-page ‘Green Alternative’ roadmap document, the government also intends to increase agriculture’s share of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to 23%, increase agriculture share of labour force to 70%.

    While aiming to increase agricultural activity mix by 85% in crop production, the government also plans to increase livestock and other non-crop by 15%.

    It plans to increase agriculture’s share of the budget by 2.0%.

    Everything should be done now to ensure that the ‘Green Alternative’ does not suffer the same fate with those laudable past programmes that failed.

    Special attention should be paid to the factors that led to failure of the past programmes.

     

    Outlawing sports jamboree

    It was a normal practice for many government officials who have no business with a particular sporting championship to be part of government delegation to such international championship abroad.

    In most cases, the numbers of Nigeria’s government officials to such competition always double the number of athletes participating in the competition.

    These officials who have no business at the international competition, always have a way of being part of the ‘padded’ government’s list and attend such tournament on the bill of the government.

    Rather than making adequate provision for the welfare of the athletes to boost their morales towards giving their best, such fund allocated by the government were misappropriated for the benefit of the officials.

    By virtue of their seniority in the sporting circle, they also enjoy privileges never extended to the athletes at such foreign competition.

    They stay in better hotels and received better services than the athletes.

    There have also been reports of those in charge including the names of their family members, relatives and girlfriends on government delegation to such international competition.

    As a departure from the past, President Muhammadu Buhari last Tuesday warned those in charge to avoid including names of those who have no business at the 2016 Olympic Games billed for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from 5th to 21st of August.

    He said: “We are all aware of our nation’s dwindling revenue and the current global economic challenges. It is therefore imperative that funds provided for the Games are utilized judiciously.

    “In this regard, any official who has no business at the Games should stay at home to cheer the team from here and if they must travel to the Olympics, they should do so at their own expense.” He said

    This definitely is a good development to fight corruption in such championship and ensure judicious use of government resources.

    It will ensure availability of funds to meet athletes’ welfare needs at such competition.

    This, will in turn improve the chances of Nigeria going higher on the medals table at the championship.

  • Tremor unsettles Kaduna community

    Tremor unsettles Kaduna community

    Since a rock shook and emitted sounds in Hayin Magina in Ikara Local Government Area of Kaduna State, the residents have been in terror.

    One eyewitness Aminu Na Dare Abubakar said around 10pm on the fateful day, deafening sounds were heard in their community amid serious vibrations of all houses around the rock.

    He said, “People rushed out of their houses when they heard the loud sound. It was the first time we heard such a thing in the community.

    “The vibration by the rock sent fear into the minds of the people. That was why I immediately went to inform the police Divisional Officer (DPO) in the area. The vibration continued for days before it stopped. But it affected majority of the houses located close to the rock as they all have cracks on their walls.

    “The following day, I decided to look round the rock again, that was when I now discovered cracks around the rock base and I noticed some powder-like substances that came out of the rock, obviously during the explosion. Then, I went back to the police to inform them that the sound we earlier heard was from the rock,” he said.

    Similarly, a housewife in one of the houses near the rock, Zainab Abdullahi said they now sleep with one eye open.

    She said, “We are tenants in this house. If it warrants us vacating it  for our safety we are ready to do so because the situation is scary and beyond our powers.

    “The whole thing started around 10pm at night. We were seated in the compound when we heard a loud sound; even the chickens in the building were scared. The well was closed but opened by itself as a result of the loud sound. Our eyes were open till daybreak as we couldn’t sleep out of fear of loud sounds emanating from the rock.

    “It happened like a month before the commencement of the Ramadan fast. It happened for four days.

    “The second time, we experienced it around 4pm. We performed ablutions and were about to say our Asri prayers when it happened. It was as if someone was checking the house. The sound was like that of a gun sound. We saw cracks on the rock.

    “After an interval of say like 10 days, and when we were already thinking that was all, the thing reoccurred. In fact, we were thinking it was someone who was doing something to scare us, only for us to discover it was not so. A man was caught in respect to that but after investigation he was released when we discovered he was innocent.

    “The last time we experienced these was some days to the end of Ramadan fast. But as we speak to you we sleep with one eye closed. In fact, some of our neighbours have vacated the house.”

    Another housewife, Halima Nasiru said, “When people go on top of the rock and you hear the sound, you will think it is child’s play.

    “We were in the compound one evening when it happened. We ran outside and when people saw us, they asked us what happened and we told them the rock made another sound. So, the youths turned around to see what happened. They were on top of the rock when it made another sound with smoke coming out of it and everyone scattered and ran for their lives.

    “We stop experiencing this after some time now. But the unfortunate thing is the crack on the walls of our houses as a result of the loud sound. As it is any other strike anything can happen particularly that people are living inside the houses.”

    Village Head of Hayin Magina area of Ikara, Malam Umaru Garba confirmed the incidents and said they were ready to cooperate with the government on relocating people close to the rock.

  • Condolences for murdered woman preacher

    Condolences for murdered woman preacher

    The chairman of Bwari area council, Musa Dikko has visited the family of late Eunice Elisha, a deaconess at the Divine Touch Parish of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, who was murdered while preaching at the Pipeline area of Kubwa.

    Speaking during the visit, the chairman of the council, stated that although, he had visited the family earlier on, he decided to pay another visit, together with the security team of the council, so as to reintegrate the team’s determination in bringing the perpetrators to justice.

    “I was here with some security personnel’s under the directive of the Minister of FCT, Bello Mohammed. The council security team and I, are here again to condole with the family over what happened.

    “We condemned in totality the barbaric act. Nobody is happy about it and I promise you that we will get those who committed this evil act,” he said.

    While condoling with the family of the deceased, Dikko revealed that the council have taken serious security measures, in order to further protect the lives and property of people in the council.

    “I want to assure every body of the council that the government and security agents are not sleeping until this is solved. We have also met with traditional and religious leaders in the council, because they have a big role to play,” he said.

    Responding, the husband of the murdered woman, Pastor Olawale Elisha expressed gratitude to the chairman for his visit, adding that the overwhelming support of people have brought peace for the family.

    “Bwari area council is my home. I have lived here for quite some time and my wife was well known. She was called Madam Bazango. She was well loved. The chief of this area came to condole with us too.

    “Many people, including Muslims were here crying. She died as a martyr. As it is God’s will for her to die like this, I give God the praise. I pray that her death will preach to us to maximise our day here on earth and to surrender to God.

    “Let her death preach love to us. I know and believe that we are not alone. When you know that people are supporting you, you have peace. I pray God help us to fulfil our destiny,” she said.

    Also speaking, the new DPO of Kubwa, Fatima Gimbi promised the Elisha’s family that the security forces were doing everything it could to see that the perpetrators were brought to book.