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Tag: Adamawa

  • Just before the Adamawa governorship election

    Just before the Adamawa governorship election

    October 17 would present another opportunity for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to show their strength and preparedness ahead of the 2015 elections. Prior to the removal of Admiral Murtala Nyako as governor of the state, both parties had been locked in argument with regards to which actually is dominant in the state and the region. How the question is answered by the electorate could give a glimpse into what to expect in the general elections next year.

    Nyako had been elected on the platform of the ruling federal party. He enjoyed the full backing of the Federal Government and had enough access to tangible and intangible resources needed to attain victory at the polls in this clime.

    By the time he elected, along with his colleagues in Kano, Sokoto, Kwara and Rivers, to defect to the APC last year, it had become difficult to decide who owned the land. Yes, Nyako was governor, but the PDP had commanding control of the state legislature. It was obvious that he had problem getting the crucial support of the mass of the people. So, the APC could not sit pretty in the state. Yet, it was clear that a loss of the state would mean that the party’s relevance in the North East region is exaggerated unless it is able to break new ground in days ahead.

    The PDP, too, realized that, with the enormous power and other resources available to an incumbent governor, APC could not be trusted with state authority in the run-up to the set of elections next year. It chose to act fast. A plot was hatched to impeach the governor. By last month, the deed was done and it left the field wide open, but with the scale tiled in PDP’s favour should they go to the poll as things stand today.

    The impeachment has brought forward the poll. Naturally, with Nyako deposed, the APC is still destabilized in the state. The governor insists that the removal was achieved in breach of section 188 of the Constitution and could be declared null and void by a law court. The legislature faults this, claiming all righteousness was fulfilled in achieving its objective. The Judiciary was involved as the panel that returned a “guilty verdict that got Nyako kicked out was set up by the Chief Judge whose responsibility it is to either hear or assign any case that might arise from the exercise. The earlier defection of General Buba Marwa and Mr. Boni Haruna, a former governor, had already weakened the APC in the state. The influence of Professor Jubril Aminu and former PDP national chair Bamanga Tukur cannot be fully discounted, either.

    However, less than 60 days to the election, the PDP is unsettled also. Nuhu Ribadu who was the presidential flag bearer of the Action Congress of Nigeria in 2011 has been drafted by the powers that be to run for the governorship. This is displeasing and distressing to the likes of Marcus Gundiri, Umar Ardo, Marwa and Acting Governor Funtiri. They all have their eyes on the vacant seat and believe they deserve it more than any recent deserter from the APC.

    MARWA who was earlier a presidential aspirant in 2007 crossed over to the Congress for Progressive Change in an elusive bid to secure access to the Government House in Yola in 2011 and has been traversing the state to canvass votes following the return of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to the APC fold. He would do anything to resist Ribadu.

    Again, there is the Bala Ngilari angle. The former Nyako deputy has denied that he ever resigned. He therefore told the legislators who claimed they were in receipt of a resignation letter purportedly signed by him that he should simply be installed the governor. The case is already in court. Should Ngilari succeed, there would be no vacancy to be filled on October 17. But, with the justice mill grinding so slowly, could the judiciary step in early enough to stave off the by- election? What weight could Atiku still pull in the state in favour of the APC, realizing that an APC victory at the poll would boost his claim to the party’s presidential ticket? What would the national leadership of the APC do to restore the hope of the people in it as a messiah waiting in the wings?

    Adamawa State may not evoke the same image of power as Kaduna or Kano, but, this election is as important as any other given the development in the polity in the past few months.

  • ‘Why I want to rule Adamawa’

    ‘Why I want to rule Adamawa’

    Hon. Jerry Kumdisi is the Chief Whip of the Adamawa State House of Assembly. In this interview with VINCENT IKUOMOLA, he speaks on his governorship ambition and other partisan issues.

    WHY do you want to be the governor of Adamawa State?

    I have been nursing the ambition for some time. I had expressed my interest in the position long before the impeachment. I had even started my campaign, although not in the open.

    I have won election three times and I have gone round the state. So, I am familiar with the problem of Adamawa. The people of Adamawa also know the kind of person I am. They know how I have represented them at the House of Assembly. I also know that I will give Adamawa a new direction, totally different from what it used to be. I believe my chances are very bright.

    You know that we impeached our governor recently. You don’t impeach someone who is doing well. If you do that, the people of the state would chase you out of your house. The former governor was out of tune with the people.

    But, you gave Nyako a vote of confidence some months ago?

    I agree that there was a vote of confidence, but we all know how that confidence vote came about. It may be of no value to begin to dissociate myself from the action because, if the House takes a decision, whether you voted for or against such a decision, it is binding on you. You are bound to be part of it.

    But, some of us didn’t agree with the confidence vote. But, we were in the minority. We didn’t have the voice to say that this vote of confidence cannot stand. The way our democracy operates is that sometimes, when some members want to get favours from the executive, they engage in praise singing. It happens in all the states.

    Why did it take the House more than seven years to realise that they needed to remove Nyako?

    Everything has its time. When things like that were going on, the governor had his own men. But gradually, those members fell out with him and joined some of us that had not been with him from the beginning.

    Is it true that members of the House were paid to impeach the former governor?

    Reward from who? What favour or reward were we looking for? As far as I know, we didn’t do it because we wanted a favour from anybody. We impeached Nyako because he was not doing well for the state.

    Secondly, as people who were supposed to be working together, he didn’t think that we mattered in the administration of the state. As our governor, we had the right to ask for certain things from him. One of such things was our constituency projects. We expected that every member ought to get it so that he or she can execute some projects in his or her constituency and remain relevant.

    But, since Nyako came to power a little more than seven years ago, he awarded contracts for constituency projects only once. I was part of it. I have been in the House since 2003. I know the governors that were there before him. I can tell you what they did and what they didn’t do.

    What was the role of the Presidency in the impeachment saga?

    Nobody induced us to impeach the governor. I am not aware of any inducement from anywhere. If you talk of those that worked with Nyako in his early years, I was one of them. But, we fell out because he didn’t do what we expected from him. Even before his ouster, there had been previous moves to impeach him.

    I was part of those who wanted to impeach him when President Umaru Yar’Adua was in power. We served him the impeachment notice then, but because he was still in the PDP and the party was one family, we were called to a meeting in Abuja and told to stop the impeachment move. We told them what the governor was doing and yet, he was not called to order by the party.

    We tried to resist the intervention, but the late President Yar’Adua asked the Vice-President, Goodluck Jonathan, to sit with us because he was traveling abroad. We agreed on certain things with the governor. He was asked to implement the agreement, while we were asked to drop the impeachment move. We did as agreed.

    When I was coming for the third term, the same Nyako denied me the PDP ticket. I went to the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and won my election. I returned to the PDP after our inauguration. It was the same Nyako that begged me because he knew that, if I was not there in my local government, he would not have won my council during his bid for a second term in office.

    He told me that he did everything he could to ensure that I was defeated in the election. He said he was sorry for doing all that and pleaded with me to return to the PDP for us to work together. Election was coming and he needed everybody around at that time to help him to win. That was how I returned to the PDP.

    Why are the mistakes of Nyako, which you will avoid, if you become the governor?

    One other major mistake Nyako made was to involve his family in government and governance. His wives were in government fully.

    His first son left the Navy where he was a commander to come and became the de facto deputy governor to his father. His children were playing one role or the other in government.

    Our Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) unit was headed by his younger brother’s son. So, his government was dominated by members of his family. The government was popularly referred to in Adamawa as ‘Family and Friends’. If you mention ‘family and friends’ in the presence of any Adamawa person, he or she will know you are referring to Nyako.

    When you involve your family in governance, you cannot change anything because they will dip their hands in so many things and places. And because you didn’t stop them, you may not have the moral fibre to prevent others from dipping their hands in places that you don’t like.

     

     

  • Adamawa youths vow to resist imposition of Ribadu

    Adamawa youths vow to resist imposition of Ribadu

    Youths in Adamawa State have vowed to resist the imposition of Malam Nuhu Ribadu by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    This followed Ribadu’s  defection from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the PDP. The pioneer chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), it was learnt, may have picked the party’s governorship ticket.

    The youths, under the aegis of the Adamawa Youth Alliance for Change (AYAC), warned the PDP leadership to beware of people like Ribadu, who were coming into the party to cause chaos.

    The group’s president, Mr. Umar lya Gulak, with other leaders, who addressed a news conference in Kaduna yesterday, said: “We are ready to resist any attempt to impose any candidate on us.”

    AYAC said it has endorsed Senator Abubakar Halilu Girei of the PDP.

    It said: “After studying the situation, we have agreed that of all the governorship aspirants, Senator Girei stands out. We are supporting him.

    “Following the impeachment of former Governor Murtala Nyako and the resignation of his deputy, James Bala Ngilari, we have monitored the political activities in the state and have taken a stand.

    “We have also monitored the political calculation and manipulations of those aspiring to govern the state. We have looked at the pedigree of the aspirants.

    “Based on our assessment, we have concluded that  Senator Girei is the most experienced and credible.”

    The group urged the people to ensure that a credible candidate is voted into office.

    “We have seen that credibility in Senator Girei,” it added.

  • Adamawa: Ngilari loses bid to stop INEC’s planned bye-election

    Adamawa: Ngilari loses bid to stop INEC’s planned bye-election

    EX-ADAMAWA State’s Deputy Governor, Bala Ngilari, yesterday lost in his bid to restrain the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from conducting a bye-election to fill the vacant governorship seat following the impeachment of Admiral Murtala Nyako. Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja, refused Ngilari’s exparte motion in which he sought an interim restraining order against INEC. The judge ordered that INEC be put on notice and fixed next Tuesday for hearing of the motion on notice containing similar prayer of injunction. Justice Ademola, who listened to Ngilari’s lawyer, Festus Keyamo moved two ex-parte motions filed for the plaintiff, granted his prayer for substituted service, via the newspaper. The judge also granted the plaintiff leave to serve court processes on the defendants outside Abuja. Ngilari, whose office was declared vacant on July 15 by the state’s lawmakers following their impeachment of the governor, had earlier this week sued the legislators and asked the court to sack the state’s acting Governor, Ahmadu Umaru and make him (Ngilari) the governor. The suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/545/14, has Umaru, the Speaker, Adamawa State House of Assembly, the House of Assembly, the Acting Governor, Adamawa State, Nyako and INEC as defendants. Ngilari, who denied resigning his position within the contemplation of the provision of Section 306(1), (2) & (5) of the Constitution, said the purported resignation letter he sent to the Speaker was not meant for to be acted on by the House of Assembly. He stated, in a supporting affidavit, that “I did not submit any letter of resignation to the 5th defendant (governor) or any other person other than the 1st defendant (the Speaker). “I only submitted a purported letter of resignation (exhibit A), to the 1st defendant but I never intended to comply with the strict provisions of sections 306 (1), (2) & (5) of the 1999 Constitution by submitting it to the 5th defendant (the Governor). “I never intended exhibit A (the letter) to be any subject of debate or resolution by the 2nd defendant (House of Assembly), but a private correspondence between myself and the 1st defendant, hence it was marked ‘secret’. “That exhibit A was only submitted to the 1st defendant with the intention of discussing the contents with him privately at a more convenient time to alert him at a possible action I may take at a later date because of certain political developments in Adamawa State, hence I did not submit it to the 5th defendant (as Governor of Adamawa State) as strictly stipulated by section 306(1), (2) & (5) of the 1999 Constitution. “That I was therefore shocked to see that my letter was read and acted upon by the entire members of the 2nd Defendant when it was never addressed to them,” Nggilari stated. The embattled Deputy Governor raised seven questions for the court’s determination, and asked the court to restrain INEC and its agents from conducting a bye-election to fill the office of the Governor following the impeachment of the governor and the purported resignation of his deputy. He is seeking an order “removing the 3rd defendant (Umaru) as the Acting Governor of Adamawa State forthwith”, and “an order directing the Chief Judge of Adamawa State (or Acting Chief Judge, as the case may be) or the President of the Customary Court of Appeal to swear” him (the plaintiff) in as the state’s substantive governor.

  • Adamawa: Nyako’s deputy asks court to sack acting governor

    Adamawa: Nyako’s deputy asks court to sack acting governor

    Adamawa State’s former Deputy Governor Bala Ngilari has asked Federal High Court in  Abuja to sack acting Governor Ahmadu Fintiri and make him the governor following the impeachment his former boss, Murtala Nyako.

    The request formed part of the prayers in a suit he filed against Fintiri and five others. The suit was instituted on his behalf by his lawyer, Festus Keyamo.

    Also sued are the Speaker, Adamawa State House of Assembly, the House of Assembly, the acting governor, Nyako and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    The House of Assembly had, shortly after impeaching Nyako on July 15, declared the deputy governor’s seat vacant upon accepting a purported resignation letter allegedly written to the Speaker by Ngilari.

    The plaintiff, who denied resigning his position within the contemplation of the provision of Section 306(1), (2) & (5) of the Constitution, said the purported resignation letter he sent to the Speaker was not meant to be acted on by the House of Assembly.

    He stated in a supporting affidavit that “I did not submit any letter of resignation to the 5th defendant (governor) or any other person other than the 1st defendant (the Speaker).

    “I only submitted a purported letter of resignation (exhibit A), to the 1st defendant, but I never intended to comply with the strict provisions of sections 306 (1), (2) & (5) of the 1999 Constitution by submitting it to the 5th defendant (the Governor).

    “I never intended exhibit A (the letter) to be any subject of debate or resolution by the 2nd defendant (House of Assembly), but a private correspondence between myself and the 1st defendant, hence it was marked ‘secret’.

    “That exhibit A was only submitted to the 1st defendant with the intention of discussing the contents with him privately at a more convenient time to alert him at a possible action I may take at a later date because of certain political developments in Adamawa State, hence I did not submit it to the 5th defendant (as Governor of Adamawa State) as strictly stipulated by section 306(1), (2) & (5) of the 1999 Constitution.

    “That I was, therefore, shocked to see that my letter was read and acted upon by the entire members of the 2nd Defendant when it was never addressed to them,” Nggilari stated.

    He raised seven questions for the court’s determination. He is pleading with the court to, among others, restrain the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and its agents from conducting a bye-election to fill the office of the governor following the impeachment of the governor and the purported resignation of his deputy.

    He seeks an order “removing the 3rd defendant (Umaru) as the Acting Governor of Adamawa State forthwith”, and “an order directing the Chief Judge of Adamawa State (or Acting Chief Judge, as the case may be) or the President of the Customary Court of Appeal to swear” him (the plaintiff) in as the state’s substantive governor.

  • Adamawa splashes N300m on 21Prado SUVs for council chiefs

    Adamawa splashes N300m on 21Prado SUVs for council chiefs

    •Acting governor defends purchase

    The administration of the Adamawa State Acting Governor, Umaru Fintiri, has spent over N300 million on Prado Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) for 21 local government chairmen barely a month in office.

    Each local government chairman was allegedly given N5 million cash for what a government source described as rate for the initial servicing of the SUVs.

    The “curious gifts” were coming barely two weeks after the local government chairmen defected from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    The same Acting Governor, who splashed cash on the council chairmen, will today inaugurate a Judicial Commission of Inquiry into alleged mismanagement of funds by the immediate past administration of former Governor Murtala Nyako.

    Investigation by our correspondent revealed that the 21 Chairmen were given the SUVs at the Government House in Yola after a PDP stakeholders’ meeting last Friday.

    Some of the chairmen, especially those without potable water in their areas, were said to be “moody” when the SUVs were handed over to them.

    Findings in one of the respected auto marts in the country showed that a brand new Prado SUV is between N9.3 million and N11 million depending on taste.

    A fairly used Prado SUV is within the price range of N7.1million and N8.5million based on preferred choice.

    It was learnt that many of the stakeholders were shocked when the chairmen, who came to the session mostly in Peugeot 406, were “transformed” into SUVs unsolicited.

    Although the acting governor, through his Director of Press, Solomon Kumanga, admitted that the SUVs were bought to enable the local chiefs to traverse the state’s difficult terrain, investigation confirmed that it was for political motive.

    It was learnt that the car gifts were meant to compensate the chairmen for defecting to PDP; secure their support for the Acting Governor, who is lobbying to remain in office to complete Nyako’s tenure and to back the re-election bid of President Goodluck Jonathan.

    One of the stakeholders, who spoke in confidence, said: “This is certainly a misplacement of priority. We did not bargain for this after the exit of Nyako.

    “Why will an acting governor rush to go and buy Prado SUVs for local government area chairmen or why will he approve such for these office holders? Why should the purchase of SUVs be the first significant decision this new administration will take? I hope we are not moving from frying pan to fire.

    “During Nyako’s period, only negligible public officers were using Prado SUVs. For a state without enough funds, why SUVs? I think those behind the impeachment of Nyako in Abuja should call the acting governor to order.

    “I knew at the stakeholders’ session, some of these chairmen supported moves by some people for Fintiri to continue in office to complete the tenure of Nyako.

    “They are saying Nyako mismanaged funds, but what do you make of this type of reckless spending now?”

    Some of the local government chairmen confirmed that they were given SUVs and cash on Friday at the Government House.

    One of them said: “We did not really complain about cars, but the state government deemed it fit to give us the SUVs to ease our movement.”

    Kumanga, while confirming the distribution of the SUVs to the chairmen, was quick to add that the funds used for the purchase of the SUVs came from the Joint Account of the Local Governments in the state and not the purse of the state government.

    He also said the chairmen agreed to buy the SUVs at their Joint Account meeting recently.

    Kumanga, who took a little break to clarify things with his boss before responding to our correspondent, said: “The plan to buy the SUVs had been in the offing long before the administration of the Acting Governor came on board.

    “The chairmen agreed at their Joint Account meeting and they wanted the vehicles to be bought for them. The vehicles were bought from their own Joint Account and not from the coffers of the state government.

    “They opted for SUVs at their Joint Account meeting because of the difficult terrain of the state.

  • Adamawa: Ribadu may bow to pressure to join PDP

    Adamawa: Ribadu may bow to pressure to join PDP

    Former Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, may join the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to contest the governorship election in Adamawa State, it has been learnt.

    The decision followed intense pressure major stakeholders put on him to accept the party’s ticket.

    Also, some extended family members, relations and associates have been asking Ribadu to use PDP as a platform to realise his governorship ambition.

    Adamawa State youths, under the aegis of Concerned Youth for Good Governance, mounted pressure on Ribadu yesterday to defect to PDP for the governorship election.

    A source said relations, associates and friends have been mounting pressure on Ribadu in the last two weeks to join the PDP for the governorship race.

    It was gathered that some of those solicited by the PDP leadership to convince Ribadu had earned the confidence of the former EFCC chief over the years.

    Some of the stakeholders were said to be so desperate that they invoked God’s name to pressurise Ribadu.

    The source said: “From the look of things, Mallam Ribadu may bow to pressure to join the PDP. His inevitable choice is informed by a bigger picture of saving Adamawa State from underdevelopment.

    “The PDP may appear a bitter pill to swallow but the exit of ex-Governor Murtala Nyako has weakened the All Progressives Congress (APC), with most members defecting to PDP.

    “If Nyako had been around, the APC governorship ticket would have been automatic for Ribadu. But the situation in APC in Adamawa State now is that former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar is now firmly in control of the party’s structure in the state. Given their antecedents, there is no way Atiku will allow Ribadu to be APC’s governorship candidate.

    “Even if Atiku is forced to concede the APC ticket to Ribadu, he will win, but PDP will control the House of Assembly. We will then have a replica of the situation in Nasarawa State where Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura is at the mercy of the lawmakers.

    “All these calculations make Ribadu’s defection to PDP a fait accompli. He is just waiting for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue guidelines.”

    Also, youths in Adamawa State, under the aegis of Concerned Youth for Good Governance, yesterday mounted pressure on Ribadu to defect to the PDP for the governorship election.

    The youths spoke at a rally and a media briefing at Lelewa Hotel in Yola, the state capital. The briefing was addressed by their chairman, Mallam Isa Toungo.

    The youth leader urged the stakeholders to save Adamawa State from bad governance by giving Ribadu a chance to lead the state on the platform of the PDP.

    He said: “We call on all well-meaning citizens of Adamawa State to support our crusade of saving the state from collapse.

    “In a nutshell, the content of this initiative is to strengthen our corporate existence as a people of the state with historical background living together for over 200 years.

    “As of now, part of the strategies to bring sanity into the state is closely related to bringing in a well-deserved person as its chief executive to steer the state out of the present mess.

    “That personality should be a man of excellent moral background, proper orientation, integrity, unimpeachable character and with a good track record of service. These should be the qualities that would determine the future leadership of our state.

    “It is in the light of the afore mentioned reasons and considering our present political and economic circumstance in the state that we call on Mallam Ribadu to come out and salvage our situation by agreeing to join the PDP and contest the governorship election.

    “As we call stakeholders of the ruling PDP in the state, we assure him of our support and urge him to see all political parties in Nigeria as the same. So, a call to join the largest political party in Africa to bring the desired positive change to the people of Adamawa State has become necessary.

    “This is more so because in the Nigerian political system, parties are only used as platforms for electoral purposes, not for ideological difference.”

    Toungo also explained why Adamawa youths chose Ribadu for the PDP.

  • Pressure on Adamawa council chairmen to dump APC

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is mounting pressure on local government chairmen and Development Area Administrators in the state to return to dump the All Progressive Party and return to the party following the successful impeachment of the state governor Murtala Nyako.

    The local government chairmen and development area administrators had followed Governor Nyako to the APC, but the PDP now want the back, describing them as ‘prodigal sons’.

    Chairman of the PDP in the state, Chief Joel Hammanjoda Madaki, pleaded with them to go back to their wards and revalidate their memberships of the party so that the PDP can win a landslide victory in the forthcoming elections.

    He said, “We in the Peoples Democratic Party PDP are calling on you all the LGAs and all 50 Area Administrators to please return to the PDP the party in which you were elected before you later declared for the All Progressive Congress Party”

    Chief Joel Hammanjoda Madaki said, “The PDP now regards you as prodigal sons who left the party but now the party is calling on you to retrace your steps and go and revalidate your memberships of the party at the ward level so that we can now officially receive you along with the Acting Governor”

    The council chairmen and area administrators had defected from the PDP to follow former Governor Murtala Nyako to join the All Progressives Congress last year, who left the party due to the lingering crisis in the PDP involving Nyako and the former PDP chairman Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, who were fighting for the soul of party in the state.

    Speaking at the PDP secretariat the chairman of Michika Local Government Area of the state Hon Vandi favanza who spoke on behalf of his colleagues pledge to carry the message of the Adamawa State PDP back to their respective Local Governments.

    “We are not strangers in the PDP because we came into power on the platform of the party but we left the party with former Governor Nyako to the APC to secure our positions, if not the powers that would booted some of out of our seats, therefore we promise  to consult our people and report back to the chairman.

    In the same vein the Gombi local government chairman Hon Rufai Umar express fear that the PDP executives at their local government levels may not accept them due to sentimental reasons that may have been existing between them.

    Rufai pointed out that unless the PDP set up a consultation and reconciliation committee to visits all the 21 LGA it would be very difficult for many of the chairmen to return to the PDP

    He however pleaded with the state exco to set a reconciliation committee that will harmonize them at the local level so as have good working relationship with the local government exco of the PDP across the state.

     

  • Man loses dad, wife, maid in Kano bombing as 30 die in Adamawa

    Man loses dad, wife, maid in Kano bombing as 30 die in Adamawa

    Five persons died yesterday in Kano when suspected insurgents  hurled explosives from the window of a school at a church building as worshippers were leaving after a mass.

    Eight others were injured in the attack on St. Charles Catholic Church on Zungeru Road in the ancient city.

    The dead, according to sources, include Mr. Ugochukwu Okoli (32), his wife, father and his maid. They were said to have gone for the mass for thanksgikving and were leaving after the service when they were hit by the explosives.

    Kano State Commissioner of Police Aderenle Shinaba, said the suspects had gone to a church on Zungeru Road, where they hid themselves at a primary school, close to the church and threw explosives at the unsuspecting  worshippers. He said no fewer than five people died and eight were injured. Three suspects were arrested.

    The police said in Abuja that five suspects were arrested in total.

    An sms message from police spokesman Frank Mba said two of the suspects were arrested in connection with the failed attack on the Isyaku Rabiu Mosque. Three were held in connection with the attack at St. Charles Church.

    The statement said: “All the suspects are currently undergoing interrogation at different police facilities in the state.

    “The police have stepped up patrols and surveillance in the city and other major cities across the nation. Police operatives are carrying out overt and covert operations nationwide, while special teams are carrying out sweeping raids in suspected terrorist hideouts.

    “Citizens are enjoined to remain vigilant and continue to support the security agencies during the operations.”

    The Catholic Bishop of Kano, Bishop John Namanza, said the community protected itself beyond imagination.

    Rev. Namanza described the attack as uncalled for, saying those who threw the bomb were unholy.

    Although the Bishop praised the security operatives for their response, he lamented that it was belated despite the early information passed to them that the church was a target.

    He called on security agents and the state government to strengthen security around the vicinity.

    Also yesterday, suspected terrorists attempted a suicide attack at Kofar Nasarawa in Kano. A woman bomber tried to lure some security men, who were stationed by the North West  gate with Sallah food but she blew up herself.

    The bomber, who arrived at the scene under the newly built flyover at about 12:30 pm, reportedly  made an attempt to deceive the security operatives that she brought sallah food for them, but the security men suspected foul play.

    The security men, it was learnt, took to their heels when they noticed that the woman was advancing towards them. They threatened to gun her down.

    However, luck ran out for the bomber, who secretly concealed the explosives under her hijab, when the bomb suddenly exploded and killed her.

    The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) condemned the blast.

    The religious body also expressed sadness at the “unfortunate” incident in Zaria, which led to the killing of some people, including the sons of a renowned Islamic scholar El-Zakzaky.

    CAN said it was saddened by the implication of the incident as it is capable of throwing the community into more crises.

    In a statement signed by CAN National President Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, the clergy urged the people to exercise restrain and live peacefully as the security is up the task of bringing perpetrators to book.

    “CAN commiserates with Islamic scholar El-Zakzaky over the loss of his sons, appealing to him to take solace in God. CAN says the demise of the scholar’s sons is most unfortunate and regrettable, particularly at a time when the energy and wise counsel of all in the society is needed to tame insecurity.

    “CAN appealed to Nigerians to live peacefully irrespective of religious, ethnic and political difference in the quest for new national re birth.

    CAN reiterates its earlier call for Nigerians to give useful information to security agents as they try their best to tackle the insurgency.”

    Pastor Oritsejafor described the blast as barbaric and inhuman. While commiserating with families of the deceased, he called on Nigerians to be security conscious.

    Thirty people were killed in attacks at the weekend on communities in Hong local government area of Adamawa State.

    Gunmen believed to be Boko Haram fighters attacked Zar Mubeng and Lubeng villages.

    The village head of Zar community, Wing Commander, Dauda Daniel (rtd), is still missing in the aftermath of the attacks.

    The attacks led to the death of nine people in Zar, the source said.

    Some relatives of the community leader said he is yet to be found. There are concerns that he might have been abducted by the gunmen.

    The worst-affected community is Mubeng where it was gathered that 20 people were killed.

    The number of those killed in Lube could not be ascertained yet, said one of the villagers who fled the community as a result of the attacks.

    The eye witness, who identified himself as Lazarus, said most of the people in his community scampered to safety before the rampaging gunmen got there.

    The Adamawa State police could not speak on the development. Haa Micheal, the spokesman, has just been appointed.

    Micheal said he is only privy to a rumoured attack in the Hong area but didn’t have details of the attack.

    Last night, Garkida town in Gombi Local Government Area of the state was under attack by gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram members.

    Sources speaking from the town on telephone said they heard heavy gunfire and cries of helpless residents.

    They also noticed that many houses were on fire.

  • Photo: Eid-el-Fitr celebrations in Nigeria

    Photo: Eid-el-Fitr celebrations in Nigeria