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Tag: Kaduna state

Reps to meet Buhari over incessant Killings

Worried by the continuous killings across the country, the House of Representatives Thursday mandated the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara and other principal officers to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari and the security chiefs over the rising wave of insecurity

The proposed meeting with Buhari is for the purpose of getting him to act urgently on the trend of herdsmen attacks, armed robbery, kidnapping, and other security challenges.

The House also said a conference on security involving all security agencies should be convened to proffer solution to the problem and called for a Declaration of Emergency in Southern Kaduna senatorial district by the Federal and Kaduna State governments.

The lawmakers also urged the Director of the Department of State Service in charge of internal security to wake up to his responsibility in terms of securing the lives of Nigerians in the country.

The resolutions of the House was sequel to the adoption of the amended prayers of a motion of urgent public importance by a member, Hon. Simon Arabo (Kaduna APC) who decried the senseless killings in the region, especially the recent killing of 43 persons and destruction of houses in Kauru Local government, by unknown gunmen.

Recall that armed men attacked Kigam, Kitakum, Ungwan Magaji, Ungwan Rimi, Ungwan Makera and Kizipi villages in Kauru Local government area of Kaduna state, on November 13 to 14, 2016, killing 43 persons including women and children and injuring several others.

The lawmakers called for the establishment of a military strike force in the area in the meantime as a form of deterrent, saying the attacks are becoming too rampant.

The Green Chamber urged security agencies to intensify efforts to apprehend and prosecute perpetrators of the attacks, in accordance with its resolutions of October 19, 2016 which came on the heel of a previous attacks.

While supporting the motion, Hon. Jagaba Adams Jagaba (Kaduna APC) accused the military of apathy to the killings.

“You call them and they tell you that they do not have mandate to act. In some cases, they come and arrest the same people who have asked them for protection, after the attackers have gone,

“There is no concern by government. People do what they like and get away with it. The repercussion is great for the nation.

Majority Leader, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila warned that the attacks have a tendency to migrate to other parts of the country. Its coming to a time when a state of emergency will be declared in Southern Kaduna. It should therefore not be considered a southern Kaduna problem, This is the time to act,” he said.

Another member, Hon. Zakari Mohammed (Kwara APC) noted that such incidents speak to the need to revisit laws that regulate the rights of citizens to bear arms and the consideration of state police.

He said: “We have to look at these issues seriously else people would resort to self help. The problem with self help is that it could cause more harm than the initial harm.”

Other members who supported the motion include, Mohammed sanni Abdul, Garba Datti Mohammed, Babale Bachir, Shehu Garba, Kingsley Chinda and Sanni Zoro.

November 17, 2016
Buhari can’t afford to fail Nigerians – El-Rufai

As a group of Kaduna based Nigerians, commenced a national prayer for God’s intervention in the President Muhammadu Buhari led government, Governor Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai of Kaduna State has said that, the All Progressives Congress (APC) cannot afford to fail Nigerians.

Worried by the state of the nation, the group under the auspices of Abdullah Network Communication said the national prayer was aimed at seeking divine assistance for President Muhammadu Buhari led government in its quest to develop Nigeria.

The spiritual exercise which was kick-started in Kaduna with Muslims and Christians praying for the country in two respective sessions is expected to be taken round the six get-political zones of the country, with the next one taking place in Ibadan, South-west Nigeria.

Speaking at the event held at Arewa House, Kaduna, Governor El-Rufai who was represented by the Director-General Interfaith Bureau, Engr. Namadi Musa commended the group for its efforts, saying the President Muhammadu Buhari led government is a product of prayers by Nigerians.

He however said that, what the government at the Federal and states level requires is continuous prayers to successfully achieve its goal of delivering positive change desired by Nigerians.

El-Rufai said, the present government cannot afford to disappoint Nigerians, because prayers of Nigerians and their resolve to do away with bad governance of the previous administration brought the APC government on board. “Therefore, it will be more painful if this government fails Nigerians”.

“So, we are aware of the enormous tasks and responsibilities on our shoulders as a government. With your prayers and support, the President Muhammadu Buhari led government will not fail Nigerians,” he said.

Speaking after the prayer, the leader of group, Comrade Abdulhakeem Adegoke Alawuje said, the resolved to embark on the prayer was informed by the ‘negative’ state of the nation.

He said, his group had observed that, it has almost become a national chorus on the lips of Nigerians that the country needs prayer, but nobody seems to be ready to take the lead and embark on the prayer. “That is why we decided to take the lead and pray for our dear country and its leadership.”

According to Alawuje, many of us in the group belief in the commitment, passion and resolve of President Muhammadu Buhari to move this country to a greater height, and we voted for him, but unfortunately, we have not seen the change we vote for.

“We are very much aware that, it is not as if our President is not doing anything to fix this country, but the results of his efforts are not visible. That is why we are praying against any form of sabotage that is denying Nigerians the dividends of President Muhammadu Buhari’s efforts to make life better for the people.

“We are also praying for the movement that brought President Muhammadu Buhari to power. Though unconfirmed, we are hearing that, there is feud between the President and the National Leader of APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. We pray that God intervenes and make them settle their differences, because that alone can have negative impact on the APC and the nation at large.

“We are not stopping here, we are taking the prayer to every of the six geo-political zones of the country and after Kaduna which we just finished now, our next point of call is Ibadan, Oyo State capital, for South-west Zone,” he explained.

November 14, 2016
Impersonation: Police arraign fake female lawyer in Zaria

The police on Tuesday arraigned a female accused, Fatima Ibrahim, at a Chediya Magistrates’ Court in Zaria, Kaduna State, for impersonation.

The Prosecutor, Sgt. Abubakar Ibrahim, said the police had on Oct. 17 received a petition bordering on impersonation from Augustine Agum, Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Zaria branch on behalf of the association.

Ibrahim said that the accused had been parading herself as a lawyer having not been trained and qualified as one.

He told the court that in the course of police investigation, the accused neither affirmed nor denied the allegation against her.

The prosecutor said the offence contravened Section 179 Penal Code.

Fatima confessed committing the offence and said that circumstance made her do so.

The accused immediately retracted her guilty plea shortly after the prosecutor applied for her summary trial under Section 157 of Criminal Procedure Code (CPC).

The accused counsel, Abdurrasaq Ahmed, thereafter applied for her bail, arguing that the alleged offence was bailable.

The Chief Magistrate, Auwal Musa, granted bail to the accused in the sum of N500,000 with two sureties in the like sum.

Musa said that the sureties must present bank account statements, letter from a traditional ruler, authentic residential address and telephone number.

“It is not an easy case because it tempers with the reputation and credibility of members of the bar profession, therefore, we are all affected,” he said, and adjoined the case till Nov. 15 for hearing.

November 1, 2016
Gunmen kill 2 policemen in Kaduna

Unknown gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen, Thursday attacked policemen at a checkpoint along the Kagoro-Gidan Waya Road in Kaura local government area of Kaduna state, killing two of them while two others were said to be critically wounded.

The Nation gathered that, two of the six policemen who were manning the checkpoint however escaped unhurt.

The bandits were also said to have made away with two AK47 rifles belonging to the deceased policemen.

The deceased policemen were of the rank of sergeant, deployed to the area to check the activities of bandits who have been raiding communities and killing people.

However, eye witness said the injured policemen were rushed to the General Hospital Kafanchan.

He said the incident occurred at about 9:30am when the gunmen swooped on the policemen and opened fire.

“This morning, around 9:30am, two police men were killed by gun men along Kagoro-Gidan Waya Road, we strongly believe they are fulani herdsmen that have been killing people in our communities.

“There were six policemen at the checkpoint, two of them were killed and their AK47 rifles ‎were taken away by the herdsmen. Two others sustained serious injuries from gun shots while the remaining two managed to escaped unhurt.

‎We took those that were wounded to the General Hospital Kafanchan “I understand that one of the dead policemen just resumed duty ‎here today, this is very sad and unfortunate! ” Andong said.

However, the spokesman of the Kaduna state police command, DSP Aliyu Usman, confirmed the incident saying, “it true, unknown gunmen attacked our men and killed two of them at checkpoint. Every other detail is skeletal, but will get across to the press at appropriate time,” he said.

October 13, 2016
Kaduna Businessman in police net for stealing two kids

A Kaduna based businessman, Mallam Abubakar Adamu and his wife Fatima Abubakar have been arrested by the operatives of Kaduna State Police Command for stealing two kids Nasirudeen Mahmoud (5 years) and Zainab Sultana Umar (5 years)

The Police Public Relation Officer, Kaduna State Police Command, ASP Aliyu Usman disclosed this while parading the suspects in Kaduna Monday.

The Police Spokeperson further said Mallam Abubakar a resident of Ungwuwan Shekara, Malali District of Kaduna North Local Government Area, during investigation informed the police that the first kid Nasirudeen Mahmoud (m) whom he rechristened ‘Ibrahim’ was taken by him along Liberia road, Malali, while Zainab Sultana Umar (f) was taken on her way back from Islamic school a month ago along Jajere road, Badikko, Kaduna South Local Government Area.

The suspect was also said to have obtained International Passports and Birth Certificates for the two kids because he intended to travel with them to Saudi Arabia before he was nabbed by the police

He added that contrary to speculations he did not have the intention to sell them off to the highest bidder.

“My wife, Fatima Abubakar who is an Igbo woman has been childless since our marriage; and whenever I see children, I get attracted to them especially when they’re beautiful and intelligent. I have already spent more than $1,000 on them to buy toys for them and they’re all registered at a private school in Malali.

“So, if I have intention of selling them I shouldn’t have bothered myself enrolling them into school. I want the best for them because I see them as my own children.”

When asked why he didn’t go to the Orphanage Homes to adopt a child, Mallam Abubakar said the pressure from family and friends was too much on him, so he cannot think in the right direction.

The wife of the suspect, Hajiya Fatima claimed she is not aware that her husband stole the kids because he told them he adopted them from an orphanage.

October 10, 2016
Ambode to FG: Unbundle potentials of states for economic growth

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode on Thursday said the Federal Government has a critical role to play in addressing the fundamental structural challenges undermining sustainable and inclusive economic growth in the states of the federation, among which is unbundling the potentials of each of the federating units.

Speaking in Kaduna at the 4th Progressive Governance Lecture Series organized by Governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) with the theme: “Building The Economy of States: Challenge of Developing Inclusively Sustainable Growth,” Governor Ambode said the Federal Government must allow the states to develop the natural resources within their domain and create the necessary infrastructure that would attract investors.

Governor Ambode, who spoke on the Lagos experience of de-emphasizing reliance on oil, said Governors must also be encouraged to tap into multiple streams of income within their domain, especially with the Federal Government allowing the states to develop their potentials.

The Governor lamented the situation whereby Governors have power over the land in their domain but cannot tap into the resources under the land and even the water, saying that such must stop so that Governors can have power over both the land and resources underneath, thereby unbundling the potentials of the states.

“We need to start looking at some changes that we need to make within and among ourselves as a government irrespective of whether it is federal, state or local government – that will now unbundle the potentials of each state which is the cornerstone of the whole message we are talking about.

“There is a great need for all of us to decide once and for all to unbundle the potentials of each state; take the comparative advantages of each state and fuse them together for the needs of our people.

“Governors are the owners of the land in their states but underneath the land and even inside the water, the Federal Government is structured in a way that it controls those potentials. In a situation where the states are being spoon-fed, because I call the federation account more or less like spoon-feeding. The federal government collects total revenue on Value Added Tax (VAT) and various revenues on behalf of all of us and make us to come to Abuja and more or less share it to us as peanuts thereby not allowing us to reach our potentials as competitive states individually,” the Governor said.

While alluding to the fact that insignia of progressivism in Nigeria should be first seen in the APC states, Governor Ambode said all critical actors must work together in the common interest of the people.

He said: “There is just one economy in this country and so we need to first of all accept the fact that there is nothing like private sector as against public sector; there is nothing like Federal Government as against State Government. We are collaborating together to drive the economy of this country. So if that describes what Nigeria is and what it ought to be, we also want to say that government should be seen as an enabler; a platform that more or less creates the enabling environment for the public sector to thrive.

“If we see ourselves as messengers to allow enabling environment to thrive, that means that whatever it is that we are doing, we must do it in such a way that will allow that enabling environment so that commerce, industry and our people can feel that sense of inclusion and that is why all of us are here. We are making progress because we are there because of our people and if we are there because of our people, it is just those basic little things that our people need that we should go ahead and address.

“We all must be in one set and whatever that we are doing in terms of policy; what it is that we are doing in terms of what I now refer to as re-arrangement, we should now focus on people and then we should be people-friendly. And that is the only was we can create that inclusive growth,” he said.

August 25, 2016
2,000 Children die daily of preventable diseases – DevCom

No fewer than 2,000 children under five years of age die daily from preventable diseases in Nigeria, a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO); Development Communications (DevCom) Network, has said.

This observation is contained in a press release signed by Mr Abiodun Owo, the NGO’s Training, Research and Communications Officer and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Zaria, Kaduna State, on Tuesday.

It said the deaths were due to a declining quality of health care services rendered to communities, especially the hard-to-reach communities, that were already disadvantaged with respect to public services.

“The National Demographic and Health Survey of 2013, reveals that coverage and quality of health care services in Nigeria is poor.

“Less than 20 per cent of health facilities offer emergency obstetric care and only 35 per cent of deliveries are attended to by skilled attendants,” it stated.

The release, however, said that many of the deaths were preventable, adding that the quality of health care services continued to fall short of standard.

According to it, the Nigerian government has made political commitments and pronouncements towards the achievement of universal health coverage and access to reproductive health care.

It recalled some of the pronouncements as; “the Abuja declaration of 2001 of allocating at least 15% of national budget to health, Maputo Plan of Action (2006) to promote reproductive health services including family planning.

“Others are Every Woman, Every Child (EWEC) promise of 2010 to strengthen the health system and the July 2012 commitment of US$45.4 million to provide reproductive health facilities,” added the release.

August 23, 2016
El-Rufai to upgrade Kaduna NYSC permanent camp

As 2,500 corps members deployed to Kaduna State by National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) resume proper primary service, Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, has promised to facelift the camp facilities before the next orientation exercise.

El-Rufai said doing so will give incoming corps members deployed to the state conducive environment to begin the service year on motivating ground which will eventually lead to maximum productivity.

The governor said he has directed the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture to ensure that contractors commence work on the comprehensive renovation of the facilities immediately after the corps members may have vacated the camp.

El-Rufai, who was represented by Commissioner for Youth, Sports and Culture, Daniel Dan-Auta, while declaring the camp closed on Wednesday, reiterated the commitment of his administration to providing youths with needed support to make them triumph in their endeavours because of their pivotal role in developmental projects of his administration.

The governor also assured corps members of their safety in any part of the state they are posted to serve as adequate security measures in collaboration with security apparatus in the State, adding that he will reward those that distinguished themselves at the end of the service year.

El-Rufai further directed that all ministries, department and agencies of the state government must not reject corps members posted to them.

“Let me remind you once more that the major objective of the NYSC is to foster unity and integration among the diverse ethnic nationalities of our great country through the youths. I therefore urge you to pursue the realization of this goal in practical terms by taking your host community as your home and joining in contributing to its socio-economic development, ” said the governor.

Earlier, NYSC Coordinator in the State, Prince Mohammed Momoh, thanked the State government for moral and financial supports to the scheme, quickly appealed to the governor to fulfill his promise as regarding commencement of the rehabilitation before the next orientation camp few months away from now.

“The completion of the rehabilitation before the next orientation as promised by the state government will make the camp more conducive for informing corps members,” he said.

He urged corps members to identify areas of needs of their host communities and mobilize members of the communities to over-come such challenges.

He however implored them to respect the custom, culture and traditions of the people and do their best to identify with their problems and aspiration particularly those in the grassroots.

June 29, 2016
Fire guts Kaduna Ministry of Justice

Kaduna Ministry of Justice was on Monday gutted by early morning inferno which started at about 2:00am and destroyed a lot of important documents.

The fire affected no fewer than 12 offices at the top floor of the building that housed the ministry including that of the Kaduna State Attorney General.

A source in the Ministry, said the Fire Service brigade arrived the scene on time to put the fire under control and eventually prevented it from spreading to other buildings that housed other ministries in the area.

According to him, “It took timely intervention of the fire service people to out the fire. The fire, owing to the closeness of the building would have engulfed other building where we have several other ministries,” the source stated.

As the press time, the cause of the inferno remains sketchy as nobody in the ministry was ready to talk to the press because the state government had not permitted them to do so.

It was however learnt that investigation to unravel the cause of the fire has been launched officially and an official statement on the incident may remain pending until investigations are concluded.

June 20, 2016
NAFDAC seals bakeries, sachet water factories in Kaduna

National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control, (NAFDAC) on Tuesday raided and sealed several factories including bakeries and sachet water factories that did not meet up the requirements for production of goods in Kaduna.

Among the manufacturing outlets sealed are; A1 Bakery in Kakuri which also has a water company producing Alvine and faking other companies products, Ubas sachet Water Company in Rigassa, Simfort water in Kakuri among others.

While some of the companies fall short of the basic registration requirements, others operate below minimum hygienic standard.

Addressing journalists during the raid, accompanied by police and other staff of the Agency, Dadi Mullah, Head of Kaduna NAFDAC office explained that many of the companies were closed down because it did not meet the minimum requirements for a place where people should be offered water to drink or bread to eat.

He therefore said, the places would be Condone off and sealed because it is unhygienic.

He contended that people should now know that these products are not good for consumption.

Some of the products includes the A1 bread and Alvine sachet water and Nena water which is been produced next to a public toilet, Simfort and Ubas water adding that “It there were seriously non compliant.”

Mullah said a decent company should be compliant with adequate materials, not zinc and the production process is suppose to be certified, the personnel should be certified medically and these basic materials are not on ground in many of the places visited.

Many of the sachet water were in an unregistered environment, producing, two or more different types of water as it tickles their fancy.

In one of the sachet company in Kaduna, Achine Simon, the Manager said, he did run away from the factory, but that he was not producing because of lack of water from water board, saying that is why he was not in the office.

He however said he was preparing to start cleaning the environment before NAFDAC officials stormed the place.

May 24, 2016