The Nation Newspaper

Tag: end killings

  • SGF seeks traditional rulers’ support to end killings, drug abuse

    SECRETARY to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Boss Mustapha has sought for the cooperation of traditional rulers to stop killings of innocent Nigerians.

    Mustapha noted that the traditional rulers and royal fathers have key roles to play for the success or failure of security administration.

    He spoke during his meeting with the traditional rulers at the SGF conference room, Abuja.

    He said: “I am highly delighted and honoured to have our royal fathers with us today. This meeting could not have come at a better time than now and I heartily welcome you.

    “As traditional rulers and royal fathers, it is generally believed that you hold the key to the success or failure of security administration in the country because you operate at the grassroots of the society and interact closely with people in their daily activities. You remain in the frontline of stakeholders in the business of peace-building in every community.

    “Peace-building promotes development, which in turn attracts investment to the country. As you are aware, the situation of peace and security in the country today deserves collective approach by the government, the traditional institutions, faith-based organisations and the communities.”

    According to him, the government would continue to support their efforts to deescalate communal conflicts that continue to inflict severe losses of lives and destruction of property.

    “It is critical that we continue to cultivate peaceful coexistence across the country for us to achieve our objectives of building a nation,” he said.

    Hailing them for the summit held last year in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, he said it would have addressed some of the issues facing the country.

    The SGF added: “We would be glad to see more of such noble initiatives at bonding the fragile unity caused by recent violent activities.”

    He drew the attention of the traditional rulers to the growing youth population in the country and the attendant rise in drug abuse/ criminal activities.

    Mustapha added: “I urge you as royal fathers to use your good offices to complement the efforts of government to stem the rising tide and save the future of our nation. There is no better place to begin than the grass roots.”

    The six-man delegation, representing the six geopolitical zones, was led by the Chairman Coordinating Committee and Etsu Nupe, His Royal Highness, Alhaji Dr. Yahaya Abubakar.

     

     

     

     

  • ‘Policy on safe cattle rearing practice will end killings by herdsmen’

    A former Managing Director of LASACO Insurance, Olusola Ladipo-Ajayi, has urged the Muhammadu Buhari administration to put in place a policy on safe and innovative ways of rearing cattle in the country.

    He said this will curb the incessant herdsmen-farmers clashes which result in deaths and threaten national stability and development.

    Ladipo-Ajayi noted that although open grazing is no longer fashionable in the present circumstance, but the herdsmen-farmers clashes across the country could have been avoided if the nation’s traditional grazing routes were not overrun by Nigerians who he said erect houses on them without regards to the consequences on other people and the environment.

    The retired insurance man spoke at the weekend while delivering the second public lecture at the D. S. Adegbenro ICT Polytechnic, Eruku, Ogun State.

    The lecture, titled: Inclusive growth, Entrepreneurship and Personal Development: A Triune tool for Sustainable Development, was organised by the School of Management Sciences of the stated-owned ICT polytechnic.

     

  • We’ve taken measures to end killings, say Northwest govs

    The Northwest Gover-nors Forum met in Kaduna yesterday saying that they have taken measures to stop the wanton killings and destructions in the zone.

    Speaking on behalf of the governors, Katsina State Governor, Aminu Bello Masari, stated that, the meeting was essentially to integrate the zone into one viable economic entity.

    He said after a marathon meeting, the governors resolved to look at three key areas, economic development, agriculture, and education.

    According to him, “We have taken into account that these three areas are very key to the integration of the zone. And each of the Northwest governor is very passionate about it.”

    Masari added that, “if you tackle education squarely, the spate of killings in the zone and other zones will end.”

    He observed that the governors have taken measures to end the incessant killings in the zone, saying, part of the measure is to strengthen their borders in order to checkmate the influx of criminals.

    Masari also said agriculture is another area that, the governors felt will lead to economic growth, noting, the zone has massive vast land that are still untapped.

    “We are looking at it to see how we will engage thousands of our youths that are rooming the stress without jobs.”

    Earlier, Masari had expressed disappointment with the absence some of his colleagues at the meeting on the security of the sub region.

    Masari, who is equally the chairman of the security committee inaugurated by the Northern Governors’ Forum, asked his colleagues to separate politics from the issue of security.

    “The issue of security is more important than politics as it affects life,” Masari said at the opening of the meeting which later went into a closed-door session.

    He said it was important to evolve ways of sustaining attendance not only by the governors, but also their deputies and SSGs.

    The meeting was attended by the deputy governors of Sokoto, Jigawa and Kaduna states and secretaries to the state government of two states, and that of Katsina.

    He said it was important to find ways of sustaining attendance not only by the governors, but also their deputies and SSGs.

    “It will not however hinder the discussions or delay the meeting; we must devise means of continuing with the meeting even when the governors are not in attendance.”

    He added: “Before we leave, we should have a programme that we can brief our governors, we should not allow this laudable initiative rely only on the availability of governors.”

  • How to end killings, by ex-IG Abbah, Senator Ibrahim, others

    Eminent Nigerians at the weekend suggested the way out of the killings in parts of the country.

    To a former Inspector-General of Police Suleiman Abba, the way to go is community policing.

    Senate Committee on Police Affairs Chairman Abu Ibrahim canvassed the introduction of Border Guards to check the influx of foreign fighters into the country, especially through the North.

    Former House of Representatives Speaker Ghali Umar Na’Abba said a collective approach in which the government will take input from knowledgeable Nigerians is the  way forward.

    The National Assembly is gearing up to debate the bill on State Police, according to Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, who plans to table the bill on resumption.

    Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha said there is no religious coloration in the killings, adding that some Nigerians have lost the humanity in them.

    Abba, the 17th IG, who was appointed in 2014, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that “the greatest collaboration that the Police should look for is collaboration with stakeholders in crime prevention and management, as well as fighting against terrorism and violence in our communities.

    “This is where community policing becomes very important. Let the society accept you and know that you can protect them, as you also get them involved.

    “There is nothing wrong in the society telling the police that we want you to patrol this area, guard and protect us this way,’’ he said, adding: “There should be trust between the police and the society. And once there is that trust, and we work together with the society, we can jointly achieve our common goals.

    “The issue of attitude is a common problem in the society generally.

    There is no doubt that we are losing our values, and the police are part of the society.

    “We cannot and should not run away from the society,’’ he said.

    Senator Ibrahim (Katsina South) said: “Security should be taken seriously. We have to reconsider the security architecture of the country. I am beginning to think that we need border guards in addition to other security agencies. The border control system should be enhanced. We should tighten our borders through the creation of border guards. It is of interest to me.”

    Ibrahim who said special funding systems should be created for the police insisted that security is never funded from only the budget.

    He said funding for internal security should be of utmost necessity to the government, adding: “I have finished my bill for special funding of the police. In my area, constant kidnapping is there. Local business men are being harassed and kidnapped. How much does South Africa spend on their police? People look at the police as corrupt; pay them well. You cannot just say they are corrupt without paying them well. Everything depends on peace. It is not what we cannot do. We must devise ways and means to invest in the police.”

    Ibrahim believes that President Muhammadu Buhari is doing every thing possible to address the killings

    The lawmaker added that he was sure that the President would get to the root of the matter.

    “What happened in Plateau is a sad development that should not be tolerated.

    “Nobody will not be sad about this; we are really concerned,” he said.

    Ekweremadu, who slammed the security system as “dysfunctional and unsuitable for a federal system”, in a statement by his media aide, Uche Anichukwu, said: “despite the failure of previous attempts to decentralise the police during constitution amendments, I will introduce a bill that will bring about state police or decentrliased policing.”

    On the chances of the bill, Ekweremadu said events in recent years had proved beyond reasonable doubt that the current centraliased security system would never help the government to live up to its primary responsibility. “I think people are now facing the stark reality. I have been getting calls from serving and former governors and key players and interests, who were opposed to the idea of state police. They want the bill introduced.

    “The Governors Forum is also favourably disposed to the idea now. In fact, their Chairman, the governor of Zamfara State, one of the epicentres of the incessant killings, recently ‘resigned’ his position as the chief security officer of his state as the current constitutional arrangement denies him the powers, manpower, and resources to stem the killings in his state.”

    “The bill will also address the fears of Nigerians opposed to state police. Just like the judiciary, the bill will provide for a central police service commission and also structure the state police services in ways that immune them from abuse by any governor or state. It is also a bill we can conclude in record time,” he added

    Ekweremadu spoke in the United States during an interactive session with Fulbright Scholars, Exchange Scholars, and Graduate Students at the International Centre for Information and Nelson Mandela Institute of Research in his maiden lectures as a Professor and Senior Mentoring Scholar, E-Governance and Strategic Government Studies, Nelson Mandela School of Public Policy and Social Sciences, Southern University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA.

    The senator said the killings had continued mainly because the federating states were not constitutionally allowed to recruit, train, and equip enough manpower for the security of lives and property of citizens in their states.

    “Unlike here in the United States where the component states, counties, big institutions set up police service to address their local needs, the Nigerian constitution vests the security of a very vast, multifarious, and highly populated country in hands of the Federal Government.

    “The internal security of Nigeria depends on one man or woman, who sits in Abuja as the Inspector-General of Police. The governor of a state, though designated as the chief security officer of the state by the constitution, cannot direct the Police Commissioner of his state on security matters. The Commissioner will have to clear with the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, who will clear with a Deputy Inspector-General of Police, who will also clear with the Inspector-General of Police, who may in turn need to clear with the President, who is the Commander-in Chief of the Armed Forces. By the time the clearance comes, if it ever does, it would have been late.”

    Okorocha, who spoke at the 10th Episcopal Anniversary of the Catholic Bishop of Orlu Diocese, Imo State, His Lordship, Most Rev. Augustine Ukwuoma at the Holy Trinity Cathedral Orlu, lamented that “some people have lost their sense of value for lives with the rate at which blood-letting is going on in this country”.

    He said: “Initially, I thought that what was going on in some parts of the country was a religious war; but the Plateau and Zamfara killings have shown that what we have in our hands is beyond religious killings.

    “In these killings Muslims were killing Muslims and Christians killing Christians. They kill innocent citizens, both young and old. And for us Christians, this is the time to pray for peace and love for one another.”

     

  • APC youth group to Buhari: three things do to end killings

    THE Progressive Youth Caucus (PYC), a coalition of youth groups in the All Progressives Congress (APC), yesterday asked President Muhammadu Buhari to act fast in ending killings.

    Prompt action aimed at halting the killings, the group said, would help to salvage the country’s image.

    Its Chairman, Comrade Bamidele Olagoke, in a statement, urged Buhari to conduct a review of the country’s security architecture to enable him do away with non-performing service chiefs and heads of security organisation.

    Olagoke said the measure would also help to shore up positive perception for the country in the international community.

    The PYC cited the recent report by Amnesty International and the letter by the United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, as clear indicators that the international community views the security situation in Nigeria as a threat to its sovereignty.

    The group insisted that the President should urgently heed the recommendation made by the National Assembly to modify the national security architecture.

    Olagoke said: “As young people in our party, the APC, we have observed with great worry the ongoing killings, robberies, abductions and other cases of insecurity that have transpired across the nation. We understand that there is a need to exercise extreme caution  when commenting on all matters of security’ However, the truth, as it stands, is that Nigerians no longer feel safe in their homes, on the streets and in their places of work.

    “President Buhari, as our President and the leader of our great party, must immediately heed the international community’s warnings and take drastic action to end the rampant bloodletting across our nation.

    “Amnesty International’s poser on the response time of our security forces should serve as a clear indictment on our police and other security forces that they are either incapable of dealing with the problems as it stands or just outrightly slow and insensitive to the carnage going on across the nation.

    “Right now, President Buhari should heed the earlier call of the National Assembly and now, the United Nations and Amnesty International.

    “Make our security forces more accountable and effective: If this means making drastic changes to the heads of the Police, the Army, the Navy and the Air Force, this must be done.

    “Reassure the nation: Nigerians are in mourning. Mr. President should re-echo his pre-election commitment to the sanctity of human lives. We cannot continue to live in a nation where people are being killed and kidnapped on a daily basis.”

     

  • Soyinka urges Fed Govt to seek foreign assistance to end killings

    •‘Killings are ethnic cleansing’
    •Ortom: it’s return of Jihad

    Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka has advised the Federal Government to solicit the support of the international community to combat insecurity in the country.

    Soyinka spoke yesterday in Makurdi. He was in the Benue State capital for the 35th anniversary of Senator Suemo Chia’s novel, Adan Wade Kohol Ga, written in Tiv.

    He said: “If the government cannot cope, it should not shy away from asking for international help”, adding: “people are dying, this government cannot cope, please just ask for international help and I know they’re ready and willing to come to our aid.”

    Soyinka said: “Instead of treating the country of its cancerous disease rather, it is ringworm that is being treated.

    “The killings that are taking place in Benue and other states are targeted at ethnic cleansing and there is no any other word to describe it than that,” he said.

    Soyinka said that instead of hunting animals for food, the killer herdsmen hunted for human beings, adding that the act was barbaric.

    He said some people wanted to change the narrative that the killer herdsmen were Libyans, querying “who brought them, who kept them and who funds them?’’

    The renowned writer noted that herdsmen “kill and occupy people’s communities which clearly reveal their actual motive’’.

    He urged the Federal Government to give marching orders to the herdsmen that were occupying communities that were not theirs to vacate them in 48 hours.

    “We have to come together to probe the ugly situation so that the impunity which is going on in the country for long will stop.

    “If the President had visited any community where lives were lost due to the killings perpetrated by the armed herdsmen and give warnings, the killings would have stopped since,” he said.

    According to Soyinka, the killings are sponsored by desperate politicians because of their selfish motives, and the killings are not sporadic but well-coordinated and the people behind the killings should be identified for prosecution.

    He said that the phenomenon was not new because it happened in Rwanda and other crisis-ridden countries, “so Nigerians ought to have learnt from Rwanda to avoid the situation turning to an epidemic’’.

    Ortom thanked the Nobel laureate for the solidarity visitadding that he had told the world what the state was going through, particularly its security challenges.

    “What is happening to us is not a hidden agenda because the herdsmen, through Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, had said at several fora that they want to take over the Benue valley.

    “The attacks are also the continuation of the jihad which was truncated by the Benue people in 1804,” Ortom said.

    He said he had all evidence to buttress what he was saying and that armed herdsmen were perpetrating the heinous acts with impunity.

    The governor deplored the latest case of the killing of people who attended the mass burial of the two priests and 17 other parishioners, by herdsmen on Tuesday while returning home.

    The burial took place at the Se Sugh Maria Pilgrimage Centre, Ayati, Gwer Local Government Area of the state.

    “We will continue to demand for justice and believe that security agencies will live up to their responsibility by nipping the killings in the bud,” Ortom said.

  • Group urged Fed Govt to end killings

    The Muslim Media Practitioners of Nigeria (MMPN) has condemned the renewed killings in some part of the country.

    The group urged the Federal Government to get to the root cause of the “ugly development.”

    In a communique at the end of the 2nd Convention held at the National Mosque Auditorium, Abuja, MMPN reminded “those who enjoyed killings others in the name of religion that there is no compulsion in religion,” saying “Islam was not spread with force, bombs or killings but with wisdom and good character.”

    The communique was signed by its President, AbdurRahman Balogun and Secretary to the Convention Hakeem Adebumiti.

    The group said: “As we approach 2019 general elections, the association calls on all lovers of peace, stakeholders in Nigeria project and media practitioners to ensure justice, fairness, and mutual understanding. There should be no bloodletting, killing and maiming because of power as power comes from Allah.

    “That as media practitioners, we equally have our watchdog role to play in the society, hence we must advice, guide and inform members of the public correctly, accurately and timely on issues of public interest.”

    The association congratulated Sultan of Sokoto and President General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar on his conferment with the title of Grand Patron of MMPN.

    The group urged Muslim bodies and more importantly the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) to always make use of Muslim Media Practitioners in its public relations department.

  • Kaduna rulers, Fulani leaders agree to end killings

    MONARCHS and heads of Fulani herdsmen in warring Southern Kaduna have agreed to end incessant attacks and killings.

    This is part of resolutions reached in a meeting at the Nigerian Army School of Artillery, Kachia.

    Convened by the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 1 Division Major General Adeniyi Oyebade, participants agreed to stop violence, illegal display of arms and hiring of mercenaries to carry out attacks.

    The meeting was attended by the GOC, Police chief, top military officers, about 10 monarchs, including chief of Godogodo, national president of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), heads of Fulani communities and others.

    The GOC said the meeting resolved to stop children from grazing, having identified it as one source of farmers/herdsmen clash.

    His words: “We agreed that there will be a stop to violence. We want to encourage the setting up of peace and reconciliation committees at ward, district and local government levels by Fulani herdsmen, locals and others.

    “Their focus will be to continue the effort which started here today to deal with local issues that may trigger violence.

    “It has also been agreed that children will stop grazing cattle in Kaduna and in the Northwest. The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association has promised to ensure that children are disallowed from shepherding their cattle because it has been identified as one of the areas of conflict since the children do not know their boundary.

    “In the case of destruction of farms or killing of cattle, the perpetrators will be brought before the committees with the aim of administering justice.

    “It was also agreed that in the next few days, efforts will be made to call all those carrying weapons to stop forthwith. The use of weapons by anybody other than security agents is illegal and security officers and agencies will take actions against any group that violates this decision, effective from November 1.

    “We will not tolerate any display of arms by any group and we implore all to send the message across to your people that the use of arms is prohibited and seen as a violation of the laws of the country.

    “Effective November 1, anyone found blocking the roads will be dealt with”, General Oyebade said.

    He urged stakeholders to be mindful of introducing ethnicity and religion into the crisis, saying “we must be wary of the fact that this is a course of action that will do no good to anybody, we must look at these issues and deal with them appropriately.

    The GOC went on: “These resolutions are by no means exhaustive, whatever efforts, individually or collectively, that could be brought to the table, please feel free to do that in the spirit of peace and unity.

    ‘’The security forces will remain deployed in the volatile areas to ensure that any violations of some of the decision we have reached are dealt with speedily.”