The Nation Newspaper

Tag: crisis

  • Community refutes crisis ‘rumours’

    Community refutes crisis ‘rumours’

    ‘Let the truth be told, Ibeku is not for sale and the days of imposition are over forever and so anybody pushing for the recognition of any person through the backdoor other than Ukaegbu is trying to cause trouble’

    The stakeholders of Ibeku kingdom in Umuahia North council area of Abia State have denied that there is crisis in their community, urging those spreading the crisis ‘rumours’ to desist.

    Speaking during a stakeholders’ meeting in Umuahia, the state capital, the spokesman of the group, Chief Joshua Ogbonna said those behind the reports were people ostracised by Ogurube IV, Eze Samuel Onuoha for opposing him.

    Ogbonna said that the Ibeku Egu Asa Development Association (IEADA), on January 26 this year, conducted an election for the executives of the association which produced Chief Princewill Ukaegbu which did not go down well with some people.

    He said such people, 31 in number, were causing problems in the community and saying things against their revered Ogurube which led to their being cursed.

    “They have been told what to bring to appease the gods, which they have started doing,” he said.

    The Ibeku stakeholders spokesman said that what took place last week which was reported in the press, “Is those who have been ostracized after presenting materials to appease the gods which the Ogurube did for them and they are free to join IEADA”.

    Part of a statement which Ogbonna read said, “For the avoidance of doubt, there was no peace settlement meeting ever held in Ibekuland, rather what transpired was that those who were sanctioned and ostracized by the Ogurube-in-council for desecrating the land…had gone to the Ogurube to beg for pardon and appeasement of the gods of the land. Let no one be deceived as the purported peace settlement did not take place, all that transpired was a mere plea for re-admission of those who had despised the stool of Ogurube.

    “Let the truth be told, Ibeku is not for sale and the days of imposition are over forever and so anybody pushing for the recognition of any person through the backdoor other than Ukaegbu is trying to cause trouble”.

  • NUPENG seeks dialogue over Capital Oil crisis

    NUPENG seeks dialogue over Capital Oil crisis

    The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has called on the Federal Government to embrace dialogue to resolve the lingering impasse between the management of Capital Oil and Department of State Security (DSS).

    There has been disagreement between Capital Oil and DSS over the former’s alleged illegal sale of petroleum products stored in its tank farm by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

    But NUPENG, in a statement  by its President, Comrade Igwe Achese, stressed that it did not support the illegal diversion and sale of petroleum products stored in Capital Oil’s tank farm by NNPC.

    It, however, stated that it was of the opinion that the Federal Government cannot sit down and watch workers lose their jobs, as in the case of Capital Oil, where over 2,000 workers are idle.

    NUPENG stated that workers had the right to protest the non-payment of their salaries and allowances and that the Federal Government should secure the jobs of those working in the sector. It added that the global practice was for the government to secure and create jobs.

    The union cited the case of Seawolf Oil Services that was taken over by the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) where the workers have not been paid the backlog of salaries and entitlements for over five years.

    Achese said NUPENG believed that the job creation mantra of the government should be allowed to come into play, rather than paving way for job losses as with the closure of Capital Oil.

    He called on the government to allow the workers resume work at the depot and load products so that their salaries can be paid instead of throwing them into the unemployment market for no fault of theirs.

    The union urged the government to use social dialogue to resolve the Capital Oil impasse, so that the 2,000 workers in the organisation and their families do not suffer untold hardship.

  • Fatherhood crisis (2)

    Fatherhood crisis (2)

    “Sir, is it a crime not to have a son?” was the question a reader posed when she called to react to my article last week. Of course it can’t be a crime, was my instant reply. That was how a normal phone conversation turned personal and emotional. My intention was to conclude today with some nuggets I have learned on fatherhood over the years, but all that changed with four ladies calling and raising the same issue – their inability to produce a male child.

    They were challenged to voice out their concern after reading what the lady in the public transport I quoted last said regarding male children; they said they can easily identify with her outburst. The lady whose story I’m about to recount is quite touching. She met her husband ten years ago in Port Harcourt before they relocated to Lagos when he got a well-paying job. She describes him as a “cosmopolitan gentleman” who has no room for some of our culture and belief system, even regarding male children.

    Their ten year marriage produced two girls; and given the penchant for a male child, she was worried and voiced her concern to her husband who always brushes it off. He was content with his girls and would do everything possible to ensure they get the best education. He invested on their behalf and has opened bank accounts with millions in there for them. But all this changed in December 2015 when they went home for the Christmas holiday.

    On getting back, she discovered her husband became distant and every conversation always ends with “I wish I had a male child.” As a result, she has been trying to get pregnant again with the hope she might have a male child – albeit unsuccessfully so far. He started keeping late nights and snaps easily; this is now affecting their daughters negatively.

    “I am prepared for the worst and won’t be surprised if he comes home one day and say he has a child with another woman,” she concludes. The discussion with the other ladies followed this trajectory, but not as detailed and emotional like the former. I encouraged the ladies to keep the faith with just one example from The Bible since they were all Christians – the story of the daughters of Zelophehad as recorded in the book of Numbers 27:1-11. This is one of my favourite stories because of the lessons therein. Readers who are not Christians should read on as there are lessons in leadership, faith and boldness to learn.

    Numbers 27 is the appeal of Zelophehad’s five daughters – Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah – to Moses in regard to their inheritance. Their father had died without any sons, and under the law of the time, his daughters were left without an inheritance. The commentators who go into this say that such an appeal was virtually unheard of because at that time a woman’s role in society was only slightly higher than a child’s.

    Moses – the Bible stated – does two very interesting things. He not only hears the appeal of these ladies, he humbly admits that he did not know the answer. He takes it to God, and God not only hears it, He gives the ladies more than what they asked for, as all they had asked for was the land. God says, in effect, “Not only can you have the land, but you have the right to pass it on just as if you were Zelophehad’s sons.” It came under their power completely.

    The point is that no leader under God can afford not to listen with fullest attention to the appeals of the lowly or to their counsel. He cannot afford to be in an attitude in which he will not listen to the people that he is supposed to be leading. It is a very important lesson and principle of law that comes out of Moses’ humility, meekness, and willingness to hear, whereas other leaders of his day would likely have not even allowed those women to come into their presence.

    Even though the Bible didn’t go into details, one can conjecture what happened that faithful day when these daring daughters caused a bloodless revolution and forced the Almighty God to rewrite the rules regarding inheritance. Would this have happened if the women were timid and accept all what was thrown at them without question? I doubt seriously if that were to be the case. Anytime I read that story I always picture the kind of man Zelophehad was; and better still his wife who was not even mentioned in the story.

    What even made these girls hope like they did? What made them think they ever had a chance to inherit this land? Everything looked against them. No one had ever contemplated a situation like this before. But something made them realise that there was at least a chance that, if they asked, they could have their inheritance. And they determined to ask. Now, what was it that made them hope like that? I hope that you read your Bibles with what has been called the gift of sanctified imagination. The Bible is intended to be read that way – that you fill in some of the details with a bit of imagination and yet guided by the lines that are set forth in the stories involved.

    Despite assumptions that relatives might have approached him to take another wife that will bear him a son, Zelophehad must have looked the other way and told his daughters that they were special even though they were not men. He must have taught them to be submissive to their husbands – as scripture teaches – and to be partners in training their children. He may have even sent them to the best Ivy League university in the land. He also must have taught them to speak against injustice when they see one; but thy must do this humbly and submissively with fact to back it up –which was what they eventually did.

    On the flip side, I praise and admire Moses for his foresight. Perhaps there were some hardliners who would have appealed to him not to ‘rock the boat’ by giving the women audience because they have no right to be anywhere near the tent of meeting in the first place. But not Moses, he was a leader to the core.

    There are only two cases in the life of Moses in which a woman came before him for either a judgment or in accusation. This was one of them, and the other one was his sister, Miriam. We know what happened to Miriam. It makes for an interesting contrast.

    Moses could have done several things.  He could have just ignored them and hope they went away.  He could have said that women had no right to speak at the tent of the meeting and sent them away.  He could have also said that women have no right to own property, after all women themselves are property, so how can property possibly own property, therefore they have no right to own appeal and sent them away.  Moses could have just taken the easy way out, and said that the law is the law and there is nothing which can be done about it and sent the women back to their tents.  Or, another option, which is the one he took, and really is the most shocking of the options, is to take the request seriously and to ask for a ruling on it, because what we really have here is a legal situation looking for some clarification.

    So Moses goes to God.  And God says that the daughters of Zelophehad are right in what they ask for and thus a new set of inheritance laws. Instructively, this land these women were asking for, they had never seen. In chapter 26, the Promised Land was being divided amongst the people. The generation that went before them were fearful about entering the Promised Land and as a consequence they all died in the wilderness and did not get to enter the Promised Land.

    But the daughters of Zelophehad were determined to enter and a new law gave them the right.

  • Police seals off PDP secretariat in Jos

    Police seals off PDP secretariat in Jos

    The Nigerian Police on Friday morning sealed off the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) secretariat in Jos over clash of factions.

    Details soon…

    PDP Secretariat in Jos
  • Fatherhood crisis

    Fatherhood crisis

    Several years ago, I used to sit “at the feet” of a retired war-time army General discussing various societal issues, especially the problems of Nigeria. In one of our discussions, a guest joined us and informed the General that his son – who was a commissioner in his home state – has been accused of embezzling public funds. Without blinking an eye lid, the General said: “That can never happen, I didn’t raise my sons to be thieves. Go and tell the governor to investigate him.” He continued our discussion as if nothing had happened.

    About a month later, the General – who is now late – sent for me and handed me an open newspaper without uttering a word; there was also another newspaper on his lap. The news story I read was the outcome of a probe panel set up by the state government to investigate if the commissioner (the late general’s son), or his accomplices, embezzled public funds. When I was done reading the first story, he handed me the second newspaper.

    The news story – which was about the panel’s report – did not find the commissioner culpable in any act of embezzlements of public fund and he was allowed to continue serving the state in that capacity. The second story – a feature story written by the same reporter – was quite detailed from an entirely different angle. The reporter focused on the family background of all those accused – that is the commissioner and his perceived accomplices.That of the commissioner was quite instructive.

    The reporter wrote about the General, his long years of impeccable service in the military with particular reference to his Civil War records and how he treated his men. He also focused on the commissioner’s brothers and how they are excelling in their chosen fields of endeavour. What he succeeded in doing was to draw a strong correlation between one’s conduct and the family one is raised in. He did this without even interviewing the General; he only interviewed close associates of both the General and his son which further added impetus to his report.

    After I finished reading the two stories, he delivered a strong sermon on fatherhood to me, which has been helping me since I became a father myself. He told me he was confident in the sons and daughters he raised, ensuring they lived, not only within their means, but to be content with whatever they have. He also informed me that he taught them not to focus on his earthly properties but strive to have theirs and train their own children along that line. I wasn’t surprised when he passed on that his house was put up for rent – all because his children were encouraged to strive for theirs or rent one until they have theirs.

    Slightly over a year ago, I – alongside other customers – was on the queue at a supermarket waiting to pay for purchases made when a young man in his 20s walked past all of us to the cashier to make payment. The gentleman in front politely asked him if he’s not aware of the other people in the queue. He simply waved and said “so?” The visibly angry man pushed him away and told him to join the queue. He was trying to cause a scene when we all insisted he joined the queue. He didn’t but simply walked away.

    I have witnessed incidences of queue jumping and other deep societal challenges to arrive at the conclusion that we may be facing a fatherhood crisis in the country. Many of our young men and women are behaving as if they do not have fathers. As a result, we should – more than ever – be concentrating on the family backgrounds of those committing crimes in the country. I will also like to encourage my colleagues in the media to go the extra mile – like the reporter of the general’s son did – to investigate the family backgrounds of those that have been involved in looting our treasuries. Isn’t it time we seriously look in this direction?

    Why are most families struggling and suffering? They are because fathers are absent and their absence impacts the critical development of their sons and daughters. Fathers are as much critical to their daughters as well as their mothers. Obviously, fathers provide half the genetic material for personality development. Studies show that fathers are primary and most valuable support persons for the mother during pregnancy and childbirth. Also a healthy relationship between children and their fathers are important for good development.

    Children from homes with absentee fathers are more likely to run away from home or live on the street. Studies have shown that achievement level, sense of mastery, and marital happiness of girls correlate with the presence of an involved father. Security regarding females and their fathers is a key element since it greatly shapes their development

    Dearth of statistics aside, I am convinced that millions of Nigerian fathers struggle as adult parents because they lacked a model of effective fathering in their own lives. Men who experienced this form of parental neglect from their own families of origin oftentimes becomes emotionally and physically absent to their own families formed through marriage.

    There is thus the importance of preparing such fathers for fathering by first helping them overcome detached relationships they had with their own fathers. One would argue that the key to becoming a father isn’t merely commitment to wife, children and family, but about prior and primal step of manhood in becoming a son.

    Without realising it, a lady in a public transport I was in blurted out: “they will not allow you have peace if you don’t have a son, are all these not sons?” She was referring to a group of miscreants popularly referred to as “area boys” squabbling over a bag that they apparently snatched from a lady. Though everyone in the bus burst out laughing, but the import of what the lady said should ring out loud. Apparently, she must have been harassed by her in laws for not producing a male child.

    The “area boys” syndrome should point us in the direction that we are a people under siege; siege of illegitimate fathers who continue to have children they can’t cater for. The kids drop out of school, start to roam the streets, end up at bus stops and begin to eek a living as touts. Soon they are old enough to impregnate a girl. The girl gives birth to another tout/area boy or another girl that would almost certainly be impregnated by a tout. And the cycle continues creating an endless supply of terrorists, gangsters and pimps for the underworld.

    Beyond traditional fatherhood, we are now dealing with another crisis – single parenthood. Look around you and it will surprise you the number of single ladies that now have children. Most often than not, the fathers of these children are hardly present – that is those who accept responsibility in the first place.

    Demographic studies on father’s absence and divorce indicate that children – especially boys – growing up without fathers usually have problems in the areas of sex-role and gender-identity development, school performance, physical adjustment, and perhaps in the control of anger and aggression. Equally too, the age at which a daughter loses her father is meaningful since it influences her perception of male, the world as well as her academic advancement – all because of missing the key element of a father.

    A single mom raising her son alone once told me that her son had no contact with his biological father. As a result, she notices he has hostility toward his father based on very limited past contact. She went further to explore emotional and social consequences the absence of a father is having on him.

  • Fresh cracks in PDP govs forum over Sheriff

    Fresh cracks in PDP govs forum over Sheriff

    Some governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are reviewing their opposition to the planned national convention of the party by the Ali Modu Sheriff faction of the party.

    The governors, The Nation, can now reveal, are calculating that they will be taking a big risk if they fail to be part of the convention for as long as the Court of Appeal’s verdict recognizing Sheriff as chairman has not been reversed.

    A new leadership is to be elected at the planned convention.

    Some of the governors, it was gathered, are of the opinion that they should join Sheriff in organizing the convention, since  the former Governor of Borno State remains the one recognised by law, for now, as the party leader.

    But others are opposed to the Governors’ Forum having anything to do with the planned convention, preferring instead to wait for the outcome of the former President Goodluck Jonathan peace initiative. The opposing governors are said to be angry with Sheriff for walking out on party leaders at the last peace parley in Abuja.

    A party source said:”They claim that he (Sheriff) insulted the entire party and the former president with his action on that day and with his subsequent statements in the media and elsewhere. They also feel that for him to announce that he is going on with the convention with or without the other faction is a breach of all agreements earlier reached.

    “Also, some of those opposed to Sheriff are still optimistic that the Supreme Court will upturn his judicial victory soon. And when that happens, he will lose all legitimacy to hold a convention for the party. They are impatiently waiting for the Court to make a pronouncement that will finally halt Sheriff and his camp in their bid to foist a new leadership on the party.”

    The Nation learnt that the disagreement among the governors over the planned convention is aptly responsible for the inability of the forum to meet lately.

    It is feared that calling a meeting of the forum at this time will not be in the best interest of the party and the forum.

    Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State, who is also the Chairman of the Forum, is in the vanguard of the opposition to Sheriff and the planned national convention being put together by his team.

    Sources said Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State who headed the peace and reconciliation committee set up by ex-President Jonathan believes strongly that the convention, as planned by his reconciliation committee, remains the solution to the crisis within the party.

    A source said:”In spite of the seeming collapse of the peace effort put in place by his committee, Dickson is still working hard to get the Governors’ Forum to throw its weight behind the planned national convention. But Fayose, who is the chairman of the Forum, is determined not to be part of the convention as being planned.

    “Consequently, the governors are sharply divided over the matter. What we now have are governors who support Dickson’s view as well as those who are aligning with Fayose.

    “ While I can tell you more governors want to be part of the convention based on the last court ruling that pronounced Sheriff as the authentic chairman of the party, it is also important to note that Fayose is not the only one opposed to the convention.”

    Speaking on the matter only after pleading for anonymity, a media aide to one of the PDP governors in the Southsouth revealed that his governor is one of those opposed to the Forum’s participation in the convention. According to him, it is true that some governors are going round trying to mobilise others to support the convention, “Their argument is the need to comply with court rulings. Well, they are entitled to their opinion but my governor is opposed to such participation. We will have nothing to do with people who insulted the party elders without a second thought.

    “And it is also our strong belief that the Supreme Court will remove these impostors from the leadership of our party soon. We are optimistic and unrelenting in our pursuit of justice in the leadership struggle that has adversely affected the PDP since after the decisive 2015 general elections.”

  • Ile Ife crisis: Monarch, pastor, four others remanded in prison

    Ile Ife crisis: Monarch, pastor, four others remanded in prison

    Ttraditional ruler in Ile-Ife, the Alapoje of Apoje, Oba Ademola Ademiluyi and a Pastor, Mr Taiwo Fakowajo, were among six suspects ordered to be remanded in prison custody by an Osogbo High Court for involvement in a bloody clash on March 8 between the Hausa settlers and Ife indigenes in Ile-Ife, Osun State.

    They were arraigned in court along with Eluwole Akeem; Jimoh Sakiru; Daniel Olarenwaju and Bamidele Elurisanmi after two earlier postponements.

    The suspects were arraigned on a 14-count-charge of murder, armed robbery, arson, stealing, conspiracy, illegal possession of firearms, disturbance of public peace, assault, among others before

    Justice Kudirat Akano.

    Prosecuting counsel, Mr. Simon Lough, told the court that the accused persons conspired to murder 46 people on March 6, 7 and 8 2017 at Sabo area in Ile-Ife, Osun state.

    According to the prosecution, the accused persons conspired to inflict injuries on 96 people with the use of knives, cutlasses and broken bottles.

    The accused persons were also accused of committing arson by setting shops belonging to 21 people and police vans on fire.

    Lough alleged that the suspects robbed 27 people and stole properties worth millions of naira during the three days of the clash.

    However, the accused persons pleaded not guilty to all the 14 charges leveled against them.

    The defence counsel, Mr. Muritala Agboola, applied for bail of the suspects, praying the court to be liberal on the bail conditions.

    Agboola told the court that the accused persons were ready to stand trial, maintaining that they were still presumed innocent until they are proved guilty by a court of la

    The presiding judge, Justice Akano, rejected an oral bail application, directing the defence counsel to provide formal bail application for all the accused persons.

    The judge, who ordered that the accused persons be remanded in prison custody, adjourned the case till June 14, 15 and 16, 2017 for hearing.

  • Grabbing current crisis to take right decision

    A whirlwind of mostly negative emotions is sweeping over Nigeria. While a dwindling few still see some hope in the Buhari war against corruption, most have given up on it. Daily garish stories of discovery of tomes of cash stolen from Nigeria’s treasury, and of huge super-expensive houses abandoned and denied by their owners, generate fleeting excitement and no more. Hardly anybody still believes that the recovered money and properties are being returned to Nigeria’s coffers and not to the pockets of some favoured individuals in today’s high echelons of power. Beyond the fanfare and the hoopla, no culprit gets penalized. In many cases, we are aware that looters of public wealth are successfully wielding their influences and connections to negotiate their crimes out of existence. In short, the war against corruption, once the flagship of the Buhari presidency, has lost almost all credibility among Nigerians.

    But that is only a symptom. The root and stem of the disaster exist in the fact that the Buhari government operates essentially in the dark. Even the most uninformed Nigerians know that the power of their federal executive government is being exercised from some dark room by a hidden unelected “cabal” of Buhari’s close clansmen, while the elected president himself, sick, is hidden away in some other dark room where, according to stories in the media, even his own wife is not regularly allowed access to him. Even though we pray, and should pray, for the Buhari whom most of us once admired, the truth of the condition of our country is not lost on us. In terms of governance with integrity and dignity, Nigeria has been slipping steadily downwards since 1960; today, Nigeria has reached the absolute bottom. Nigeria’s brand of governance is now no more than a comic opera – a comic opera that makes people across the world laugh.

    Chaos, poverty and conflicts are the inevitable outcomes of poor governance. The first thing that Buhari and his clansmen did in government was to disband the political party that brought Buhari to the presidency and that won the majority of the National Assembly. It has been escalating chaos since then. The National Assembly has disintegrated into a medley, engaged in an almost childlike game of ego shows, without any desire to understand and grapple with the real needs of the country. And between the executive and the legislature, an inexplicable and shameful war rages perpetually. In the midst of it all, we seem to be breeding the barons that will lead as war-lords in our country’s near future.

    The poverty has been growing in our lives relentlessly – even though our country is one of the most endowed countries on earth. Nigerians rank among the poorest in the world in access to electricity, water, transportation, dependable public administration, entrepreneurial incentive, and business support services. Nigeria’s GDP is contracting. Nigeria’s foreign reserves are being wiped out. Direct foreign investment is declining. Businesses are closing up or relocating to other countries. Nigeria’s oil production declines off and on, and it is very difficult, off and on, to get buyers for Nigeria’s oil. Jobs are being lost day by day. The inflation rate is rising relentlessly. The Naira is in shambles. The prices of food and other essentials are daily rising beyond the capability of masses of Nigerians. More than 70% of Nigerians are said officially to be living in “absolute poverty”. Destitution and street begging are skyrocketing.

    Much of these economic disasters are sustained by the loss of economic development initiatives in the regions, states, and localities of Nigeria. Because of decades of relentlessly concentrating all of Nigeria’s power and resource control in the hands of the Federal Government, regional, state and local initiatives have more or less perished, and deep-seated feelings of helplessness reign, in all parts of Nigeria.

    The conflicts are growing everywhere. In the South-east, we have the protest demonstrations by youths of the Igbo nation – in the name of “Biafra”, demonstrations pitching masses of resolute youths against law enforcement operatives, and leading to many deaths. In various influential quarters all over the world, the Biafra cause is attracting attention and gathering sympathy.

    We have the stubborn youth revolt in the North-east, which has chosen Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism as its banner. In spite of frequent optimistic reports from the Nigerian military since Buhari’s presidency began, Boko Haram remains a big problem. Its support base in parts of the North-east does not appear to be seriously eroding – and that is because youth unemployment, hopeless poverty, and Kanuri nationalism are motivating and strengthening it.

    We have the old revolt in the South-south, with its many terrorist organizations. Since the advent of the Buhari presidency, the terrorist groups in the South-south have returned powerfully to business – because Buhari continues the regime of total federal power and resource control, ignores all advice and demands for the restructuring of our federation, and believes that the use of federal power and federal bribes will crush the South-south insurgency. After some weeks of respite, those boys are now threatening to return to the war.

    We may forget (but we must not forget) recent agitations from the Arewa North. In 2014, large numbers of mostly educated youths belonging to the Arewa Youth Development Forum held demonstrations during which they decried the poverty in the North and the “discrimination” by the Federal Government against the North. Speaking through their Chairman, Aliyu Usman, they issued a call “on all Northerners to rise and support agitations for a peaceful dissolution of this union called Nigeria”. They then warned all southerners resident in the North “to relocate to their respective states to make room for Northerners who would be returning home”. Nor have those voices been isolated voices. This past week, those youths were heard again.  And even eminent citizens (such as Prof. Ango Abdullahi, spokeseman for the Arewa Elders Council) have said almost exactly what these youths have said. Recently, the august statesman, Maitama Sule, called for a revolution. And the Emir of Kano, one of the most informed Nigerians about the Nigerian economy, has been warning seriously concerning the horrific poverty in the North.

    And we must not forget the several “self-determination” groups among the Yoruba nation of the South-west. Heavily educated, heavily equipped with advanced ideas, these youths are potentially the most potent weapon of change in Nigeria. If, or when, they launch out, Nigeria cannot easily contain them. They are suffering in desperate poverty right now, or fleeing abroad in droves, but they are likely to stop and fight back at home someday – and that may be soon.

    Most immediately devastating right now, we have the Fulani terrorism, which we choose to call Fulani herdsmen’s attacks on farmers across most of Nigeria. Countless Nigerians are daily dying violently from this terror. The federal government and federal security agencies are putting up no credible defence of Nigerians, and the government of most states, intimidated by the federal establishment, are reeling in doubt and impotence while their people are being killed. In self-defence, most non-Fulani Nigerian communities are becoming dangerously radicalized and militarized.

    In totality, we are heading towards something big – something big and terrible. If we let it come, it is likely to wreck a lot of what we all hold dear, take the lives of a lot of our dear ones, and shake Africa to its foundations.

    Should we wait for it to come? My answer is No – and I am sure that most Nigerians would agree with that answer. There is news that the federal government intends to call some kind of national conference specifically on the issue of Fulani terrorism. I hope they do that. And I hope that when the conference convenes, it will seize the freedom to consider all aspects of the Nigerian crisis that has now reached dangerous heights – all aspects including whether we really want to continue to live together as one country, and if the answer happens to be Yes, then a thorough establishment of the conditions and rules for our remaining as one country. God knows we have reached such a point. Better to part peacefully than to implode in rivers of blood.

  • Leadership crisis rocks Yobe network of civil society organizations

    A leadership crisis has erupted in Yobe Network of Civil Society Organizations over purported dissolution of the executive council in the state.

    Some civil society organizations converged on Damaturu Friday to dissolve the Executive Council, led by Mr Zabu Buba. The aggrieved organizations claimed that the tenure of the council had elapsed seven years ago in 2012.

    Dr Mohammed Machina, pioneer chairman of the network and chief convener of the meeting said “the present executive council was elected in 2010 for two-year tenure as provided by the constitution of the network.

    “The tenure was supposed to have elapsed seven years ago but they have remained in office till today, 21 April, 2017, which negates the provisions of the constitution,” he said. The congress then passed a resolution dissolving the executive council and constituting a five- man committee to oversee the affairs of the network, pending the election of a new executive council within two months However, Mr Zabu Buba, Chairman of the Network, who spoke to newsmen, described the dissolution as null and void because there was no quorum representing the various organizations to take such a decision.

    “It was an exercise in futility because the same people, who kicked against an earlier proposed election, hurriedly met to execute the hatchet job without due process. “Conveners of the meeting deliberately refused to invite me as chairman and other executive council members, as well as other civil society organizations outside Damaturu, who constitute a good percentage of our membership,” he said.

    He urged the public to disregard the said dissolution of the executive council adding that “those parading themselves as members of caretaker committee are simply impersonating the Network.

  • Court summons Oyegun, Buni over Ebonyi APC crisis

    Court summons Oyegun, Buni over Ebonyi APC crisis

    There was a new twist to the crisis rocking the Ebonyi State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the National Chairman of the party and National Secretary, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun and Hon. Mai Mala Buni, have been summoned before Justice A.

    A Nwaigwe’ s High Court sitting in Abakaliki. The two leaders of the party are to appear in person to answer questions why they should not be committed to prison for disobeying an order of interlocutory injunction restraining them, their agents and privies from conducting any new congress aimed at electing new executives of the party in the state.

    The Nation gathered that the crisis escalated when the national chairman was said to have transmitted a letter to the state deputy Chairman, Eze Nwachukwu to act as the state chairman of the party. While Nwachukwu claimed that Nwobasi was suspended, the state chairman of the party on his part insisted that he still remained the authentic chairman of the party, describing his deputy as an “impostor”.

    Justice Nwaigwe had on November 6, 2014 restrained the respondent from appointing caretaker committee in place of the executives elected during the ward, Local government and state congresses conducted in the state on November 11, 16 and 29 respectively pending the determination of the substantive suit.

    The counsel to the applicants, Godwin Onwusi noted that the APC National chairman and National Secretary had earlier been served Form 48, which is the notice of consequence of disobedience to court order that may commit the duo to prison if found guilty.

    Onwusi, while briefing journalists in Abakaliki noted that he applied to the Court for Order of committal to prison (Form 49) for the respondents to appear before the court and explain why they should not be sentence to prison for contempt. In the Form 49, he said: “Take notice that pursuant to section 72; order 1X, Rule 13(1) and (2) of the Sheriffs and Civil Processes ACT, CAP S6 LFN updated to 2010 and Order 42 Rule 9 (3)(C) of the rules of this honourable court, the counsel, on behalf of the applicants, will on the 4th day of May 2017 at the hour of 9 o’clock in the forenoon or soon thereafter, as the business of the court will permit, apply to this court for an order of committal to prison of the 1st respondent/ contemnor and the party sought to be committed as agent/privy of the 2nd respondent/ contemnor for having disobeyed the order of this court made on the 6th day of November, 2014”. “That while the substantive suit was and is still pending in court, the party sought to be committed as agents/privy signed and issued a letter dated 23rd February, 2017 to one Pastor Nwachukwu Eze appointing him the Acting Chairman of the APC, Ebonyi State, notwithstanding that the order restrained both the respondents and their agents/privies from doing so”, Onwusi added.