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  • APC chieftain urges political solution to crisis

    APC chieftain urges political solution to crisis

    A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State, Mr. Collins Idahosa, has called on the leadership of the party to step into the crisis between Hon. Sunday Aghedo and Mr. Sunday Adanomo in Ovia Southwest Constituency.

    He said the opposition would take advantage of the division, if it was not properly managed, ahead of the 2019 general elections. He called on the National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, to intervene to prevent the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from making inroads to the area, which has been an APC stronghold over the years.

    Idahosa said the crisis in the constituency started when the party could not amicably resolve the political feud between Aghedo, a member of the Edo State House of Assembly and Adanomo, a member of the party.

    He said: “The crisis can be resolved.  It is not a crisis with the opposition, but that between members of the same party. It is the same party. I am using this medium to call on our national and state leaders to step into the matter.

    “We have great leaders in the party who can manage the crisis in order for us not compound the problem ahead of the 2019 elections. Though Adanomo is determined to allow the court to determine the case, which is currently at the Supreme Court level, he should tread with caution; the way he is going about it is not healthy.

    “His recent mobilisation of some youths to demonstrate ahead of the Supreme Court judgment will further create bad blood within the party. So, he should wait for the court to make its pronouncement.

    “If our leaders can still step in and bring the two gentlemen together, we can make progress. Doing this will salvage the dwindling image of the party leadership in crisis management. This can prevent a bad situation in the future; otherwise it might lead to what we don’t expect in the party.”

    Idahosa said the constituency and local governments within the zone were important to the APC, adding that the party could find political solution to the problem.

    He added: “I think a political solution is better than allowing the case to go on; we are members of the same party. The party has the right to withdraw the case from the court. For the fact that we are one, there is no need of washing our dirty clothes outside; the party can handle the matter internally.

    “Aghedo played a very important role in ensuring that the APC won the recent governorship election in Edo State. The party leaders should call them and compensate whoever felt aggrieved. I am calling on Odigie-Oyegun and the APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to step into the matter.”

  • ‘To end crisis, Tiv, Fulani should intermarry’

    ‘To end crisis, Tiv, Fulani should intermarry’

    Neither tough talk nor troops nor grazing reserves have quelled clashes between Tiv and Fulani. But do not lose hope, says a cleric, intermarriage will do the trick. FANEN IHYONGO reports

    The crisis is so protracted, bloody and bitter that a solution must be found. Since the clashes are usually about grazing places and crop-farms, the authorities have tried to resolve it through grazing routes, but that has not scaled back the bitterness or the bloodbath. How about deploying troops to trouble spots? Even that failed over time. Both sides have also threatened each other, but that did not end the Tiv/Fulani crisis.

    There is one more idea, and it is as sure as night follows day, said a cleric, Sam Zuga, founder of the House of Joy International. Tiv and Fulani should intermarry, he said. In fact, he called the idea the final solution.

    Bishop Zuga is quite popular, ministering in his church’s branches in the United Kingdom, United States, Uganda, Ivory Coast, Togo, Tanzania and South Africa. So when he scheduled what he termed a mega crusade near Gboko, in the Tiv heartland, in his native Benue State, the large crowd that turned up was looking forward to his sermons, miracles and perhaps some healings. But besides the spiritual food they got, the gathering went home with a thought-provoking message, in the form of a drama, on how the Fulani/Tiv crisis would be finally resolved.

    Zuga’s panacea, coming days after over 100 Tiv persons were hacked to death by Fulani marauders in separate attacks, is for Tiv to reconcile with Fulani and marry them. He added that when the two ethnic groups inter-marry, the affinity of one family would not allow them unsheathe swords against one another.

    The Fulanis are mostly Muslims just like 99 percent Tivs are Christians. The difference in religion often hinders serious relationships, particularly wedlock, between members of the two ethnic groups. Now, Fulani militants have reportedly laid siege on over 10 local government areas of Benue State, including Logo, Katsina-Ala, Kwande, Ukum, Buruku, Guma and Gwer. Many Tiv communities in Benue, Nasarawa and Taraba states have been sacked by Fulani militias, after killing a staggering number of Tiv farmers in several attacks. Some Fulanis have accused Tiv youths of rustling their cows while Tivs accused Fulani herdsmen of allowing their animals to feast on their crops. Fulanis value their cows much as Tivs value their farms as means of livelihood. Continuous bloody clashes between the two have become a source of worry to all Nigerians including the government. But whereas Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom has proffered “ranching” as the solution to end hostilities, Bishop Zuga has said “marrying Fulanis will be a final bus stop to the crisis.”

    “At the peak of the crisis between Tiv farmers and Fulani herdsmen, where all government and individual efforts have failed, God has instructed me to come to the rescue of my people with a final solution to the crisis,” he said.

    He said God, in the past, used him to put an end to many intra-communal and inter-ethnic crises, including the Tiv/Jukun crisis.

    “It will surprise many of you to hear that God used me to cause an end to the Ipav/Ukan crisis, Kusuv/Ikyurav-Tiev communal crisis and the Tiv/Jukun crisis, in which many lives and property were destroyed.

    “I had sent my team to offer free medical services in the Jukun area and the Aku Uka was impressed. He requested to see me. When I arrived at his palace in Wukari, the paramount ruler of the Jukun Kingdom stood up and gave me a rousing reception. He confirmed to me that no Tiv man on this earth, except the Tor Tiv III the late Akperan Orshi, has ever been honoured in his palace like me.

    “Aku Uka then promised me that his subjects (Jukun) will drop arms against my people (Tiv). Since then, Jukun and Tiv have not fought again.”

    Taking his sermon from John 19:21, the bishop said the Tiv land needs the kind of peace Christ gave to his disciples after his resurrection. He traced the major cause of the crisis to what he called “the dishonest lifestyle of some traditional chiefs” who he accused of collecting monies from Fulani and allowing their animals to graze freely in Tiv farms without the knowledge of their subjects.

    He said: “The criminal activities of our youths, caused by either poverty or their youthful exuberances, affect nomadic activities of the herders, which in turn negatively affect our farmlands.”

    Zuga, who holds the chieftaincy title of the ‘Mallam Salleh of northern Muslims,’ appealed to his Tiv people to continue to tolerate and accommodate the Fulani speaking people. He described Fulani as longtime brothers of the Tiv, who had lived in the past harmoniously with Tiv and shared things in common with them. He asked Tiv people to love, trust and have faith in Fulani that all shall be well.

    “A Fulani herder is like a shepherd in the Bible who would do anything, including sacrificing his dear life, to protect his cows from any attack.

    “Our people produce carbohydrate while Fulani produce protein. We get beef and mutton in exchange of yam tubers or grains. We all benefit from the barter trade.

    “It will profit us more if we seek peace; don’t attack Fulani; don’t rustle or attack their cows. To Fulani elites: “Stop arming your youths to attack and kill Tiv; herdsmen don’t destroy Tiv farms; all of you should forgive and forget the unhappy past; remember that you all share ancestral origin.”

    The drama showcased a wedding between a Tiv man and a Fulani woman to signify love, peace and unity and family tie. The actor and actress were seen clad in the Tiv and Fulani cultural regalia.

    During the event, Bishop Zuga grouped Fulani herdsmen into “armed and free herdsmen.” He revealed that God has asked him to peacefully drive away the armed and aggressive ones who have ravaged Tiv land.

    Recalling how God instructed David to use the stick and five stones in providing a solution, Zuga presented to the congregation, a T-shirt, card, tag, sticker and World Wanders Water (WWW), as products God has giving him the ability to produce as a final solution to the activities of the armed Fulani herdsmen including other criminal activities so that his people will be liberated.

    Preaching from Joshua 14:15, he said: “Tiv land shall be free from Fulani attacks for seven years.

  • 2019: Crisis hits Ogun APC

    2019: Crisis hits Ogun APC

    Crisis is brewing in the Ogun State All Progressives Congress (APC) the removal of some local government chairmen of the party from office.
    The chapter is being investigated by the national leadership over the alleged removal of the Chairman of Ijebu Ode council, Mr. Ladi Lekuti;  Alhaji Azeez Mohammed of Ado Odo Ota council and Sunday Akinyemi of Yewa North Local Government.
    The chairmen were removed, following clashes between the camps of Governor Ibikunle Amosun and Chief Olusegun Osoba and Senator Solomon Adeola.
    Sources said that the Reconciliation Committee set up by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC has listed Ogun as one of the troubled spots.
    A source also said that the committee is already treating a petition dated July 19, 2016 from a lawyer, acting on behalf of the three chairmen, Ajibola Kaka, which  also accused the Ogun State chapter of violating Article 17 of the party’s constitution.
    The letter quoted Article 17 as indicating that “No officer in any organ of the party shall hold Executive position/office in government concurrently.”
    It listed four officials of the party in Ogun, who the counsel said had violated the Article.
    The officials are allegedly holding cabinet positions in the state.
    But, the Publicity Secretary of APC in Ogun State, Mr. Sola Lawal, said he was not aware of the removal of some party chairmen in any local government Area.
    He said there is no section or any party of the constitution of the party that forbids anyone holding party position from occupying government position.
    Lawal cited an example of two council chairmen who held party and government positions simultaneously.
    He pointed out that he served as a Consultant to Governor Amosun on Communications during his first term in office and at the same time the Publicity Secretary.
    He said one of the council chairmen also served as deputy state chairman of the party in Osun State.

  • Delta APC crisis: Party may miss by-election

    The Delta State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) may lose the chance to field a candidate in the forthcoming by-election into the vacant Warri South 1 State Constituency seat if the party’s national secretariat does not speedily resolve the leadership crisis in the party.

    APC’s Delta State House of Assembly candidate for the Warri South 1 Constituency seat in 2015, Robinson Ariyo, sounded the warning at a media briefing yesterday in Warri, Delta State.

    The former aspirant regretted that the party lacked cohesion in the state, since it had six factions claiming to represent its leadership.

    He said the Prophet Jones Erue-led faction, with “authentic” leadership, violated the spirit of the party’s constitution by filing a suit against the party without exhausting internal provisions for redress.

    Ariyo said the action was punishable with automatic expulsion from the party.

    According to him, the APC in Delta State has no leadership because the Prophet Erue-led council had been terminated by a subsisting court action instituted in 2014 by an aggrieved group in the party, led by Chief Adolo Okotie-Eboh.

    The politician said Erue and those who joined him in 2015 to file the suit against the party had automatically been expelled by the party’s constitution.

    He said: “On April 30, 2015, the Adolo Okotie-Eboh-led State Executive Committee (SEC) successfully upturned the legal status of Jones Erue-led SEC in a suit. Let’s bear in mind that an appeal has been filed against the judgment by the Erue-led SEC. However, it is left for the APC to either act on the judgment or pretend that its hands are tied by the judgment.

  • ‘Why Gombe APC crisis persists’

    ‘Why Gombe APC crisis persists’

    Mohammed Yahaya was the governorship candidate of the Gombe State All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2015 election. In this interview with TONY AKOWE in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the former Commissioner for Finance speaks on the Gombe APC crisis and efforts by the national leadership to resolve the logjam.

    You contested the governorship election in Gombe State in 2015 and lost. What went wrong?

    A lot of water passed under the bridge. Elections have a lot of intricacies and that of Gombe is no exception. We went into the election knowing fully well that we had the capacity and all it takes to deliver. We went in with the full intent to win the election and we won, if you go by the records. During the presidential and National Assembly elections, we got 85 percent of  the votes for the president, two senatorial seats and four House of Representatives seats out the six available. When we went for the governorship election, I contested against an incumbent governor who had all the resources and machineries of government. He was able to with law enforcement agencies and some INEC officials who are still being investigated and will hopefully be indicted as well as the Commander of the Army battalion based in Gombe and the Police Commissioner who are also being investigated. At the unit, ward and local government levels, we did our own part, but they connived and changed the results in favour of the incumbent, who emerged winner. We challenged the results to the Supreme Court and that was the end of it because elections ends in court. The court had given him victory and we take it in good fate.

    But, how come you lost the election despite winning two senatorial seats and four house representatives seats?

    There was connivance between the electoral officers and some of our own who cooperated, dined with the PDP to scuttle our success.

    Two years down the line, will you say that Gombe is better?

    Not really. Go and ask the people of Gombe whether this government has been able to achieve what it promised the people in all areas of human endevour

    Since the election, the APC in Gombe seems to be disintegrating rather than uniting. What is the problem?

    In every political environment, there must be differences of opinion and there must also be a situation where people accept defeat because when elections are held, there must be losers and winners. The crisis in Gombe started after the primary. Some of those who contested against me refused to take the outcome of the primary in good faith and decided to work against the party and betrayed us so that we will lose the election and they succeeded. They connived with the PDP and since then, the party has not taken appropriate steps to sanction some of them. That is why we are still a divided house.

    The national secretariat has waded into the crisis and for the second time running set up a caretaker committee to over see the party in the state and try to resolve the crisis. Are you saying that effort is not yielding results?

    The efforts by the national secretariat to solve the crisis is not yielding result because you must go into the root of the matter to address it. When appropriate sanction is not meted out to wrong doers, you can never expect that those putting in their best and operating in good fate will just fold their hands and watch. Things has to be done appropriately.

    You said the present government in Gombe State has not met the aspirations of the people. Can you be more specific?

    If you take education, for example, Gombe came second to the last in terms of performance in the 2015/2016 WAEC examination. Even, a state like Borno that is bedeviled with security challenges did better than Gombe which has all it takes to be one of the key players in education, especially in the Northeast. If you go to the centre of Gombe, the Central Primary School, which is just about 100 meters from the Governors House, was demolished in 2012 and it has not been completed till this moment. That ward, is a ward that does not have a primary school at this point in time and that is the only ward in this country without a primary school. Go to the secondary schools. It is not only for you to put structures in place. You have to support the teachers, give them the best training and provide the infrastructure they need such as books and all the allowances they need to give their best. That does not happen in Gombe. The Gombe State university is not well maintained and it has the challenge of maintenance at the moment. It also has the challenge of funding because no money is coming from government. Rather, the little they are able to generate is taken away by government, leaving them without resources. Go to Kumo where you have the School of Administrative Studies, which they were planning to convert to a higher institution. Up to this moment, the contractor has not been paid and the project has been abandoned. The School of Nursing for which close to N3 billion was borrowed has not been completed about six years after work commenced and nothing is happening. The hospital where the nurses will be trained does not have a single qualified personnel not to talk if the number of professionals required to run such a school. There is nothing on ground at the so called college of education in Biliri of show that such a school exist. Go to where they claimed to be setting up a polytechnic in Bajoga. So, there is no sign educationally that Gombe State is moving forward. The regional water project, which was done by the previous government, has been abandoned and three quarters of the Gombe has no potable water. Go to the southern part of Gombe and you will discover that, despite the dam that was built in the eighties, there is no singe, drop of water in the four local government in the area. In all its ramifications, the people are pauperised and have no hope. That is why I said this government has not performed and is not performing.

    Don’t you think that the government can attribute it to lack of resources, in view of the dwindling resources from the Federations Account?

    Your coat according to your size. When it goes to. plundering government resources and engaging political thugs, and advisers, you could see that there is money. But, when it comes to service to the people, you will not see them there. Where do they get money to appoint people into offices when there is no money to pay salaries, pension and gratuity? When the Dankwabo administration came into office, the pension liability was about N1 billion. But now, it is close to N8 billion or more and they are not paying salaries regularly, despite the bailout given to them by the federal government. They take the resources and put it in things that are not really of service to humanity.

    What is your relationship with former Governor Danjuma Goje and former Deputy Speaker Usman Nafada, who seem to be fighting for the soul of the APC in Gombe State.

    They belong to the APC and I am also in the APC. That is our relationship. We are in the same party.

    With people like you, Goje and Nafada in the party, what do you need to for the party to take over the state in 2019?

    The needful has to be done. People has to understand and take position on where they belong. You don’t have to be fighting when you don’t have the weapon to fight. Those who deserve to lead should be allowed to lead. When you have the number, democratically, you should be allowed to lead and that is the position and it will not change.

    Don’t you think that it is an indictment in you leaders of the party in Gombe state for  national body to bring somebody from another state to head to the caretaker committee?

    That did not begin in Gombe. It has been happening in other places. When you have infighting, there has to be somebody neutral who will take the grains out of the chaff. So, if that is what it takes for the national leadership to put the APC back on track in Gombe, I support it

    Do you believe that the committee is doing the right thing to bring back peace to the chapter?

    If they take the correct steps, I believe they should be able to bring back peace to the party.

    Why do you think that outsiders has to be brought to run the party in the state?

    Internally, the affairs of the party has been mismanaged by the party administrators. That is why the national body felt that there has to be change and somebody else was brought in.

    The Gombe slot in the federal executive council is presently vacant and there is the belief that you are interested in filling that vacancy.

    Ministerial appointment is the prerogative of the President and whoever he deems fit, he will appoint and we will support that. So, I don’t have a say in that. But I know that I am a key player in the APC and I believe and cherish the principles and the doctrines of the APC and I believe that the President has the capacity and ability too deliver change which is what we preach and which is what we hope will be given to Nigerians.

    Will you be contesting the governorship of Gombe in 2019?

    Let the time come. When we get to the bridge, we will know how to cross it.

    Are you not worried that about two years into the life of the present administration, Nigerians are suffering and has nothing to show for voting the APC government into office.

    It depends on the angle from where you are looking at it. I come from the north east and I know that the greatest challenge is that part of the country is security challenge and without security, you cannot achieve anything in life and because of the challenge of security which was foisted on us by the immediate past administration,  there was virtually nothing we could do. Now, peace has been restored and at least, Boko Haram has been reduced to about 10 percent. Our people has started going back to their market, their churches and mosques to pray and to socialize. People are also going back to schools and to their farms. This government campaigned on three main issues. These are security, fight against corruption and the economy. He has done a lot in the area of security and I feel peace has been reasonably achieved. In terms of corruption, you are aware that this has been the bane of development in this country for a long time and got to its apex during the last administration. In the past, no Justice of the Suprume Court has ever been arraigned foe corruption or government who participated in government were brought to justice with such massive recovering of money. You can see the N-Power scheme which is ongoing and the fact that social security if bring giving to people despite the economic challenge. As far as I am concerned, this government is performing and all we need do is to pray and support the president so that he could do better.

    Two years into the life of the government, you still have appointees of the PDP heading government agencies and this is causing disaffection within the party. Don’t you think this is a disservice to those who made sacrifice for the party to come to power?

    Unfortunately, there are some key appointments that are tied to specific tenure and there is no way the President will easily remove them and replace them with his own appointees otherwise, he will be accused of wrong doing. However, I agree that there is need for all APC supporters, especially those who believe in the programmes of the Preside to be appointed into key positions so that they could help him deliver on all those areas Nigerians want improvement.

  • Crisis rocks Uhunmwode APC over appointments

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Uhunmwode Local Government Area of Edo State is enmeshed in a crisis over the list of political appointees to be submitted to Governor Godwin Obaseki.

    A faction of the party, led by Charles Idahosa and the party’s Chairman in the area, Harrison Oyegue, suspended 30 members of the party.

    The suspension was announced on Friday and ratified by the state’s Secretary of the party, Chief Osaro Idah.

    Those suspended included a former Minority Whip in the House of Representatives, Samson Osagie, popular columnist, Mr. Josef Omorotiomwan, as well as Mr. Roland Alari.

    They were suspended for alleged anti-party activities and working against the party during the governorship election.

    But the Omorotiomwan-led faction at a media briefing yesterday in Benin, the state capital, suspended Idahosa as the party’s leader in Uhunmwode.

    APC’s Acting Chairman in the area, Monday Okpeki, said a disciplinary committee, headed by Samuel Iroh, had been set up to try Idahosa and the other party members.

    He named Omorotiomwan as the new leader of APC in Uhunmwode and accused the state leadership of bias in handling the party crisis.

    He said: “In the process of their illegal suspension, they threw caution to the winds, ignoring due process, particularly the provisions of Article 21 of the APC Constitution, which clearly spells out the modalities for disciplining erring members.

    “In all seriousness, we do not intend to allow ourselves to be used as a football by political nitwits in their struggle for naked power. This underscores the need at this point to show you the type of political liabilities that are purporting to suspend serious-minded people in a serious political party.

    “We challenge Charles Idahosa to show evidence that he has ever won in his polling unit. The antics of this political mercenary are that he keeps extorting the party and its members without any regard for the party’s fortunes. He remains an electoral liability that must be ignored.

    “Incidentally, suspension has become a major scare-crow in Nigerian politics, but we insist that it must be appropriately directed. In the particular case of Uhunmwode Local Government Area, we have identified a number of people who don’t wish the APC well. They are against the wheel of the party’s progress. They are enemies of progress and they have compromised the interest and growth of the party on several occasions.”

  • Ile-Ife crisis: Falana, OPC flay Police over parade of suspects

    Ile-Ife crisis: Falana, OPC flay Police over parade of suspects

    Activist-lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) and Oodua Peoples’ Congress (OPC) (Reformed) have berated the Police over the recent parade of the detained members of the Peace Corps of Nigeria and the 20 persons arrested in connection with the crisis in Ile-Ife, Osun State.

    They described the parade of the suspects as illegal and a violation of their fundamental human rights.

    Falana asked the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN) to order the arrest and prosecution of law enforcement personnel who engaged in the media parade of the suspects.

    The OPC Reformed chided the governors in the Southwest for keeping silent over what it termed selective parade of the Yoruba.

    Falana said the detained members of the Peace Corps and the Ile Ife 20 who have been paraded by the Police Authorities are at liberty to sue the Federal Government for aggravated and exemplary damages.

    He recalled that when the police on February 26 conducted a media trial and parade of the detained 49 members of the Peace Corps of Nigeria, he condemned their action and pointed out the fact that “the parade of criminal suspects by the Police in the country is illegal and unconstitutional.”

    The lawyer also recalled that shortly after the incident, there was a violent clash between the Yoruba and Hausa communities in Ile Ife, Osun State during which 20 suspects arrested by the police were paraded before the media in Abuja last week, noting that since the suspects are of Yoruba extraction the Afenifere has condemned the selective arrest by the police.

    He noted that though the courts have repeatedly cautioned the law enforcement agencies to desist from parading criminal suspects before the media, the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris has justified the illegal practice.

    Falana, however, described the IGP’s defence as that “which smacks of official impunity and insensitivity. Notwithstanding that such media parade is prejudicial to the fundamental right of criminal suspects to fair hearing, the ruling class has not stopped it because it is part of the humiliation of lowly placed citizens. Hence, while it is not unusual to parade poor criminal suspects who are accused of stealing handsets whose value is less than N10,000 it is infra dignitate to parade rich and powerful criminal suspects who loot the treasury to the tune of several billions of Naira”.

    The OPC Reformed, in a statement  by its President, Dare Adesope said the group will stage a massive protest through out the entire Southwest states and it’s going to commence on same day, same time and for same hours, if the Southwest governors fail to do something about the incident urgently.

    “After waiting for this long without any governor in the Southwest saying anything, we found it very compelling to tell our governors in the western part of this country that we  are saying enough of this nefarious acts across the country by the Hausa/Fulanis.

    “We of OPC ( Reformed) voted for PMB inspite of threats, oppression and intimidation from some angles. We voted him so as to bring about a positive change to the whole country and not to run a government that will favour a particular tribe at the expense of other tribes in the country.

    “In as much as we appreciate what he is doing in the area of corruption, he should be fair to all other tribes as well.

    The group challenged President Muhammadu Buhari to make his stand known concerning Ile Ife crisis where Yoruba were arrested to favour the Hausa/Fulani and taken to Abuja.

    It raised four issues for which it requested the Federal Government to provide answer :

    “Since the Fulani Herdsmen have been encroaching people’s land killing, rapping and destroying their farms, how many have been arrested and taken to Abuja? Who identified the Yoruba people that were arrested as suspects during the crisis?

    “Is it fair to arrest only the Yorubas in a crisis that affected the Yoruba and the Hausa/Fulanis on our soil?. Is it constitutionally right to arrest them in Ife,Osun State and take them to Abuja?”

    They asked the Federal Government to instruct the Police to transfer the suspects back to Osun State.

  • Ife Crisis: Unity or justice?

    Ife Crisis: Unity or justice?

    It is therefore misleading for anybody, especially police investigators of crime, to resort to pontificating about unity, instead of addressing the matter of fairness of investigation.

    I apologise to my readers for choosing to delay the second part of the series on Politics of Secondary Education, in order to allow me join other commenters on the citizen-police controversy over police investigation of the crisis in Ile-Ife.

    I had lived in Ife before and even had friends in Sabo while I was teaching at the then University of Ife. I remember that despite the self-isolation of Hausa-Fulani people in Sabo, the degree of integration and harmony between Yoruba and Hausa-Fulani residents of the eastern part of the ancient town was not hidden from even casual observers of inter-group relations. The two communities: indigenes and settlers had over forty years ago many cases of inter-ethnic marriage. It should therefore be disconcerting that what used to be a peaceful community has suddenly become, in the vocabulary of the central police force, a threat to Nigeria’s unity.

    This column had written almost ad nauseam about the use of words that hide real problems in order to make those who use such words to be seen as occupying a higher moral or political ground than others. Unity and Security are two of such words. When motorists fail to park on the highway to allow politicians or their spouses in a convoy overtake them, they are warned by the police or SSS operatives to desist from acts capable of endangering the security of the country. Similarly, when two or more citizens of the country fight over whatever riles one or all of them, security personnel quickly warn them against acts capable of derailing the unity of the country.

    The response of the police to queries by Yoruba organisations about police investigation into the killing of Hausa-Fulani and Yoruba people in Ife brings to focus the danger inherent in misusing the word Unity. Hear the response of the police spokesperson on charges of lack of fairness in the investigation that found only one side of a violent conflict culpable: “They should be mindful of national security and they should be mindful that every Nigerian has the right to live in any part of the country. National unity is very important. So, any association that goes to fan the ember of disunity should know that they are not doing this nation any good. The era of impunity is over.”

    Anyone reading these words would think that Hausa-Fulani people have just arrived in Ife and are being prevented from settling down by Ife indigenes. The reality of Ife is that it has been home to thousands of Hausa-Fulani people for a very long time. Historians claim that these two distinct Nigerian communities had lived together or side by side in peace since the advent of the trade in kolanut in pre-colonial Nigeria. Over the years, the relationship grew beyond commerce into romance across ethnic and even religious lines. It is therefore misleading for anybody, especially police investigators of crime, to resort to pontificating about unity, instead of addressing the matter of fairness of investigation.

    All the organisations that had raised concerns about the result of police investigation of the Ife crisis have raised points pertaining to justice while police spokespersons have focused on issues of unity. As this column had observed many times in the past, Unity seems to be one word that has been over ‘Nigerianised,’ to the extent that it means different things to different sections of the polity. Is unity an end or a means to an end? If unity— a condition or situation of harmony or accord is a means, what is it supposed to produce in a diverse society? If it is an end, what is it expected to create for or in citizens of a plural polity?

    Furthermore, what is supposed to be the role of justice— impartial adjustment of conflicting claims or the assignment of merited rewards or punishments, or conformity to truth, fact, or reason—in a homogenous or heterogenous society? Many people who believe in the power of reason would readily think that justice is the foundation for unity or harmony. When citizens, regardless of their ethnic or religious affiliation, raise issues about absence of thoroughness or fairness in investigation of crimes, they should be seen as being concerned with justice rather than “whipping sentiment into the police investigation” and thus threatening the country’s unity.

    The questions that are still not answered by those who conducted investigation into the Ife violence are legion. Did the police discover that only Hausa-Fulani people were killed in Ife? If the answer is no, did the police try to find out who killed non-Yoruba people who died in the fracas? Did the police first focus its investigation on the indigenes with the hope of looking at the other side of the conflict later?  Is this why the police said “outside those paraded, investigation is ongoing and we are still going to arrest anybody found to be involved”?

    If investigation is still ongoing, why did the police then rush to parade suspects as criminals in Abuja, hundreds of kilometres from the scene of crime? Would it not have been enough to just keep those already identified as suspects in detention until completion of the investigation? How fair is the ‘media trial’ of suspects in a judicial system that affirms that suspects are innocent until proven guilty? If there is any behaviour that can threaten unity in a multiethnic society, it is for law-enforcement agents to look at two parties in a conflict and rush to parade suspects before international media in Abuja while investigation is still ongoing. Such action is worrisome in view of the statement by the police spokesman: “This is no ethnic or religious clash; these are people who have been living together for years. Issues came up and that is why the police are there to ensure that anybody that takes law into his hands will face the full wrath of the law.”  What does the police hope to achieve by taking suspects who have lived together for years in Ife with their victims to Abuja—to please the central government or embarrass the attorney-general of the state in which the crimes were committed?

    One lesson arising from the new mission of the police: “The Nigeria Police Force under Inspector-General of Police Ibrahim Idris is stamping out impunity in totality. Gone are the days when people will take up arms and kill other Nigerians and go free,” is that anybody in the country that kills other citizens—be it in Kaduna, Benue, Enugu, Mile 12 in Lagos, etc—will be identified for immediate punishment. But the police should ensure as they apply the Ile-Ife template to other parts of the country that nobody is paraded as criminal until such person has been found guilty of crime in the court of law and that suspects for all killings since the assumption of the new IGP should be identified without delay.

    Another lesson is that the state government in Osun needs to set up a commission of inquiry to look for remote and immediate causes of the crisis in Ife, given the fact that the two communities along Sabo in Ife had lived in peace and harmony for too long for the kind of violence between Hausa-Fulani and Yoruba residents of the ancient city to be left just in the hands of regular or special police investigators. Such inquiry will generate more lessons that need to be learned towards diversity management.

    What was designed to be a meeting to enrich the country’s unity in Abeokuta last week ended as another act of exclusion. The Senator Ken Nnamani Committee on Constitution and Electoral Reform organised a Southwest public hearing that was poorly publicised. The region had a better organised public hearing in 2014, preparatory to the National Conference sponsored by former President Jonathan. The preparation for the Abeokuta public hearing sells the commitment of the All Progressives Conference to “Initiate action to amend our Constitution with a view to devolving powers, duties and responsibilities to states and local governments in order to entrench true Federalism and the Federal spirit” short. Any serious effort to entrench the ‘Federal spirit’ in the constitution ought to be inclusive and be seen as inclusive. It was a similar decision to exclude critical sections of the polity in the era of Sani Abacha that led to the 1999 Constitution, which citizens and even the APC government want to change, for not being a people’s constitution.

  • Ekiti PDP crisis: Appeal Court orders stay of execution

    The Court of Appeal in Ado-Ekiti has ordered a stay of execution of the judgment of the Federal High Court, which granted official recognition to the Williams Ajayi led executive of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State.

    The order of the appellate court granted a temporary relief to the Gboyega Oguntuase-led executive, which is loyal to Governor Ayo Fayose.

    Justice Ahmad Belgore, who delivered the ruling yesterday, ordered parties to maintain status quo ante bellum, pending the determination of the substantive appeal before the court.

    Belgore held that the judgment of the lower court should have been suspended since there was an order of the Court of Appeal to that effect.

    He described the action of both the counsel to the respondent and the trial judge as incompetent which called for sanction.

    Belgore further held that the trial judge erred in law “by going ahead with the judgment without taking judicial notice of a higher court order which prevented him from doing so”.

    The Ado Ekiti Federal High Court had on January 24 affirmed the Ajayi-led executive as the authentic one and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to do business with it.

     

  • Fed Govt to punish perpetrators of Ife crisis

    •Blames crisis on thugs

    The Federal Government, at the weekend, said perpetrators of the crisis in Ile-Ife, Osun State, will be punished.

    The crisis, which ignited hostilities between Hausa and Yoruba communities, claimed many lives and destroyed property.

    Speaking with State House correspondents, Minister of Interior Abdulraman Danbazzau said the perpetrators would be prosecuted.

    He said: “I visited Ife upon my arrival from South Africa, where I went in company of  Minister of Foreign Affairs to discuss with the South African government on the xenophobic attacks on Nigerians.

    “The incident happened when we were away. The deputy governor received me and my entourage because the governor was away in Abuja.

    “We saw the extent of the damage and met the leadership of the community and we discussed with them.

    “We emphasised the need to remain in peace and that revenge and reprisal should not come to anybody’s mind because the government is handling the situation.

    “We made them understand that the government will ensure it protects lives and property,” he said.

    Stressing that the crisis was not caused by ethnicity,  the minister said the Hausa and Yoruba communities had lived peacefully in the last 200 years.

    According to him, some thugs took the law into their hands and killed innocent people and destroyed property.

    Danbazzau said: “It is very clear that this issue is not about crisis between Hausa and Yoruba.

    “The Hausa community has been living in Ife close to 200 years. I understand that the first settlers arrived in 1820 and this is about the fourth or fifth generation.

    “They have never experienced this kind of thing until now.

    “So it is not about ethnicity. It is about a bunch of people who decided to constitute themselves as nuisance to carry out this dastardly act. Quite a number of them escaped from the community.”

    The minister said he held another meeting in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, to advise the Hausa community to continue to live peacefully in the Southwest.