The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Kaduna

  • Tension in Kaduna over rumoured crisis

    There was confusion in Kaduna metropolis on Sunday following a rumoured crisis in Sabo Tasha area of the metropolis.
    Residents of the state capital  scampered for safety while heavily armed security men were immediately dispatched across the metropolis.
    The Government however warned that  those trying to cause problem within the state should  desist from doing so and appealed to residents of the state to go about their normal business.
    The rumour of the crisis spread round the city  at about 12.45 pm when church worshipers were returning from  sunday service.
    Heavily armed soldiers and police were immediately drafted to major roads, while most streets and highways were  deserted  as few vehicles were seen plying the roads, while residents remained  in-doors.

    In a statement signed by the Director General, Media and Publicity, Ahmed Maiyaki, the government said “the entire people of Kaduna State have been urged to remain calm and go about their normal businesses as government has taken steps to forestall any break of law and order in any part of the state.”

     “Governor Yero has however warned that government will deal decisively with any persons or group found disrupting peace and order in the state and therefore call on people to remain law abiding and peaceful”.
    Yero also directed security agencies to maintain law and order in the area and the state in general as well as protect lives and properties of the people”.
  • 2015: Jonathan agreed to serve only one term – Niger Gov

    2015: Jonathan agreed to serve only one term – Niger Gov

    Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State yesterday ruffled some feathers in the camp of President Goodluck Jonathan after going public in Kaduna that the President reached an agreement with PDP governors in 2011 to serve for one term only.

    But he was quick to add that talks about President Jonathan seeking renewal of his mandate in 2015 should be regarded as mere speculation for now.

    The President himself has not declared his interest in contesting although the Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark, who is widely acclaimed as his political godfather has said there is nothing wrong in him seeking a second term more so when the constitution allows it.

    Aliyu, featuring on Guest of the Week on Liberty Radio (91.7), Kaduna monitored in Abuja, said: “I recall that at the time he was going to declare for the 2011 election, all the PDP Governors were brought together to ensure that we were all in the same frame of mind.

    “And I recall that some of us said given the circumstances of the death of President Umaru Yar’Adua and given the PDP zoning arrangement, it was expected that the North was to produce the President for a given number of years.

    “I recall that at that discussion, it was agreed that Jonathan would serve only one term of four years and we all signed the agreement. Even when Jonathan went to Kampala, in Uganda, he also said he was going to serve a single term.”

    “For now, President Jonathan has not declared a second term ambition and we must not be speculating based on those who are benefiting from the campaign.

    “I think we are all gentlemen enough; so when the time comes, we will all come together and see what is the right thing to do.”

    On his own much speculated presidential ambition, he said if it is the will of God for him to contest, God himself will create the proper avenue for him to do so.

    “But I have not said to anybody that this or that is what I want to do in 2015. We will cross the bridge when we get to it,” he said.

    Aliyu reiterated his support for the merger of ACN,CPC,ANPP and APGA to form All Progress Congress (APC), saying it will engender healthy rivalry.

    “I pray for the success of the merger because I want a situation where we will have parties that will challenge one another properly so that we don’t take it for granted that because you have been winning elections you can do as you wish,” he said, adding:”There is a purpose for elections. There is a purpose for setting up government. You set up government for the competence and efficiency of running an administration.

    “You don’t set up government so that a group of people can enjoy to the detriment of the majority of the people. So for me, the success of the merger will look like what is happening in developed countries where one party does it for a period of time and another party does it for another period of time.

    “We should encourage a situation where our party becomes rational and very organised and where our party has democracy within because that is the foundation of a democracy of a nation.

    “A situation where a party is allowed to handpick candidates and put them up for elections should not be encouraged”.

    The governor described fears that Nigeria will break up in 2015 as a result of normal intellectual research after looking at the variables and concluding that if our situation continues to degenerate, there is the likelihood of a breakup.

    He told proponents of Nigeria’s break-up that : “ a break up is not going to be as neat as some people think because I recall that when we had the civil war, there were some people who said if you allow that group to go, we would also go.

    “Majority of Nigerians don’t want a break up. Only a few individuals are calling for a break up. And you don’t call for a break up simply because you have something today.

    “We have gone to Mali to help them fight off what is becoming a civil war. So if it starts in Nigeria, I don’t think the world will stand by and watch. We will ensure that we stay as one nation to enjoy the benefits of what we have been fighting for.”

    Last night, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, told The Nation on Sunday he had only become aware of Governor Aliyu’s remarks within the hour, and needed more time to consult before commenting.

  • Islamic leaders blamed for opposition to immunization

    Islamic leaders blamed for opposition to immunization

    The Northern Civil Society Coalition has attributed the recent rise in cases of wide polio virus in some states in the north to the opposition to the immunization programme by Islamic leaders in the north.

    Leader of the Northern Civil Society Coalition, Mallam Shehu Sani said in Kaduna that the opposition was largely responsible for the increase in the case of wide polio infection promising that the group will join the campaign to fight the menace.

    Mallam Sani said that embarking on polio immunization was in the best health interest of North, pointing out that “the criticisms and attack against immunization programmes is unfounded, unwarranted, ill-informed and uncivilized.

    “Those Islamic clerics that are opposed to the immunization exercise against polio are not doing so out of scientific reasons or religious reasons. They engaged in campaign against the eradication of the disease for political motives”.

    While saying that the immunization programes was a positive step by government to   checkmate and exterminate harmful diseases that have paralysed and ravaged the lives of young people in the northern Nigeria, he said “we cannot continue to live in the past at a very time when the world is moving ahead”.

    “Almost all diseases that have been wiped out in other parts of the world like leprosy, polio and chickenpox are still prevalent in northern parts of Nigeria as a result of the silent campaign against immunization, of mis-education and mis-information by archaic clerics that are out of touch and out of tune with the realities and changes in the modern world.

    “The resistance of the clerics to immunization, and other programmes of vaccination have contributed a lot in crowding our streets in the northern states with destitute and physically challenged people. Our religious clerics are standing against science; they are also standing

    against logic and reasons with their misinformed gospel”.

    Speaking on the killing of health workers in Kano, Mallam Sani said it “is a direct product of fanatical preaching and teachings by these clerics”, while calling on the people “to resist this campaign of mis-information and to avail themselves to projects and programmes aimed at improving their health and their children”.

    The National Civil Society Coalition on Immunisable Disease Awareness (NCSCIDA) however said that killings of Polio workers in Kano by unknown gunmen, should not be allowed to stand as a barrier to the determination to eradicate the disease in the country.

    Coordinator of NCSCIDA, Dr. Mohammed Mustapha,who said that all hands must be on deck to eradicate the disease said that “the civil society coalition on public awareness on national immunization have totally condemned the attack against polio vaccination workers in kano”, noting that “the attack is an attempt to undermine and subvert the current national immunization efforts against polio in northern Nigeria”.

    Mustapha said in a statement made available to The Nation that “it is a set back against the effort to checkmate the spread of polio that has devastated the lives of millions of vulnerable children in northern Nigeria”, while adding that “Polio pandemic is a serious health hazard that has wrecked havoc and has destroyed the future of many children.

    “The national immunization process is an effort to address the problem. The people of the north and the whole of the country should embrace it the exercise by supporting this programme. The polio immunization staffs that were killed were heroes in the nation’s effort to wipe out the disease.

    “This organization supports the pursuance of this programme, and we call on all religious leaders, traditional rulers, youth groups and well meaning Nigerians in the north to support this programme and only oppose any attempt at undermining it.

    “It is regrettable that the disease that has been wiped out in other parts of the world continues to thrive and flourish in northern parts of Nigeria. Those who are against the immunization programme are ill-informed, they are agents of retrogression. They are pushing our society back to the stone ages and are further sinking the north into an endless pit of stagnation.

    “The interruption about the polio immunization programme is unfortunate and should be discountenanced with. The immunization programme is in the interest of the north, in the interest of Nigeria and our collective health progress and development.

    “We are calling on all Nigerians, especially northerners to support this programme and protect all immunization staff against saboteurs and against agents of retrogression. And we also call on the Federal Government not to relent in its effort in combating polio in the north and Nigeria in general.

    “We also call on all polio workers to remain vigil and courageous and continue to do their work. And we call on all those who are opposed to this polio immunization to, in the name of progress and collective health of our society now allow this menace to be checked once and for all,” he said.

     

     

  • Yakowa’s surviving brother dies

    Less than one month after the death of  former Kaduna state governor, Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, tragedy again struck the family at the weekend with the death of his only surviving brother, Francis Adamu Yakowa.

    Francis Adamu who has been battling with an undisclosed illness before the death of the former governor will be buried on Monday at the family compound at Fadan Kagoma.

    Even details of the cause of death were available at the time of this report, the news of the death of Patrick Yakowa may have contributed to worsening his condition as he reportedly collapsed when the news of his brother’s death got to him on his sick bed.

    Born in 1964, the late Francis Yakowa worked with the Kaduna state ministry of Health and later the Ministry of Transport as a Vehicle Inspection Officer before voluntarily retiring in 1992.

    He is survived by a wife, sisters ans six children.

  • Kaduna governor appoints SSG, aides

    Kaduna governor appoints SSG, aides

    Kaduna State Governor, Mukhtar Yero, has appointed Alhaji Ishaq Dan’Mahawayi as the new Secretary to the State Government.

    A statement by the Commissioner for Information, Alhaji Saidu Adamu on Thursday in Kaduna also announced four new aides for the governor who was making his first appointment since assuming the position on December 16 last year.

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Dan’Mahawayi takes over from Alhaji Samaila Yakawada, who was appointed SSG by late Governor Patrick Yakowa.

    The new aides include Alhaji Yahaya Abdullahi, who replaces Mr. Aboki Galadima as Chief of Staff and Alhaji Aliyu Samaila, who takes over from Mr. Yohanna Alamagani as the governor’s Principal Private Secretary.

    The statement added that Mr. Abdullahi Maiyaki was appointed Director-General, Media and Publicity to the governor, while Malam Madami Garba replaces Alhaji Bala Garba as Special Adviser, Political Affairs.

    It also said that Mr. Nathaniel Hayab would remain as Head of the state Civil Service.

    All the appointments are with immediate effect.

     

  • OBJ’s Kaduna visit stirs Jonathan, Sambo tension

    OBJ’s Kaduna visit stirs Jonathan, Sambo tension

    In what could become a replay of what transpired between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and his then deputy, Atiku Abubakar, between 2003 and 2007, culminating in a sharp division within the Presidency, there are strong indications that the cordial relationship between President Goodluck Jonathan and Vice-President Namadi Sambo may have turned frosty.

    Sources revealed that this development is the alleged aftermath of the recent visit of Obasanjo to Kaduna some days ago to commiserate with the people and government of the state on the death of former governor, Patrick Yakowa, in the helicopter crash which occurred in Bayelsa State last month.

    But according to security reports made available to the president, Obasanjo’s sympathy visit was a decoy to achieve another objective: mobilise influential traditional rulers in the state against the alleged second term ambition of the president and canvass support for the return of power to the north.

    What particularly peeved the president, sources said, is the alleged role played by the Vice President in facilitating the meeting between Obasanjo and traditional rulers without taking his boss into confidence.

    At the said meeting, the former president was alleged to have impressed it on the traditional rulers led by the Emir of Zazzau, Alhaji Shehu Idris, on the imperative of ensuring that the presidency returns to the north in 2015, and the urgent need to start mobilising the people and major stakeholders to back the project.

    While he was alleged to have admitted to his audience that he supported the president to win the last general elections, sources privy to the outcome of the meeting said that Obasanjo told the traditional rulers that the ‘agreement’ he had with Jonathan was for the president to spend only one term in office.

    The former president reportedly told his hosts that his recent public criticism of the present administration was borne out of his findings that the president is allegedly bent on contesting for another term in office.

    Though The Nation could not confirm the response of the traditional rulers to Obasanjo’s speech it was, gathered that palpable unease currently reigns in the Presidency since the vice-president returned to the seat of power from Kaduna.

    All of these developments come as reports that the president may have decided to drop Sambo as his running mate for the 2015 presidential election in favour of an unnamed northern governor continue to gather steam within the political circles.

    This alleged plot, it was gathered, was a strategic move to polarise the rank of the northern governors, a few of whom are alleged to be interested in contesting the Presidency come 2015.

     

  • ‘We need elders’ support for Southern Kaduna to develop’

    Southern Kaduna youths, under the aegis of the Concern Southern Kaduna Professionals, yesterday said they needed the elders’ support to develop the area.

    They said the recent agitation for the deputy governorship position exposed them as a people with an undefined agenda.

    In a statement by their Convener, John Danfulani, the group expressed disappointment with a statement credited to the Elders’ Forum of the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU), the umbrella body of the southern Kaduna people.

    The union reportedly said the youth who opposed the appointment of Amb. Nuhu Bajoga as deputy governor were misguided.

    In the statement, entitled: Southern Kaduna needs elders of integrity and courage, the youths said they were speaking out because of posterity.

    The statement reads: “Ordinarily, we would not have commented on the predicament the people and land of Southern Kaduna is in today, but for the sake of posterity and to set the record straight.

    “The political and human survival of Southern Kaduna people and their land remains undefined and uncertain, going by the trends and issues unfolding in Kaduna State. The recent politicking in Southern Kaduna, following the death of Governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, proved the expediency and the need for our area to have real elders, people of integrity and courage to help in taking southern Kaduna to a greater height.

    “Moreso, there has to be a complete turnaround and disembarking from the slavery flight already being boarded via our sheer greed, ego, political and economic interests.

    “The recent deputy governorship saga further shows how some so-called elders are short-sighted as they were falling atop one another fighting, instead of challenging the calculated ploy and deliberate subjugation and political landmines planted in our path. They went berserk – very typical of slaves – throwing invectives and tagging their daring youths as misguided and charlatans.

    “The series of challenges, the people of Southern Kaduna are in presently include insecurity; a virtual and gradual annihilation and encroachment of our people and land as a result of our poor reasoning.

    “Under-representation in the delineation of both state and federal constituencies and polling units that stands in between as a barrier to our political reality. Deliberate scheming of political and economic marginalisation aimed at enslaving the people of Southern Kaduna

    “Agitation for the creation of a Southern Kaduna State. Lack of a cogent Political Agenda to knit Southern Kaduna in a single positive political direction. Lack of a robust economic hub to enhance business and to create a vibrant economic class

    “A lack of strict, principled and uncompromising elders, elected and appointed representatives that will stand to groom and mentor youths further agitate the interests and survival of our peoples as they are the backbone of every promising society.

    “All these pointers call for a concerned and wake up call to all Southern Kaduna people wherever they are, to team up with any emerging progressive forces in different spheres and kick against all retrogressive elements mortgaging and betraying the people and land of Southern Kaduna.

    “By this, we will embark on an in depth campaign and a thorough search for elders of integrity and courage towards crossing the perilous threshold we are in today.

    “As for Governor Yero, we have nothing against the government, and he is surely a product of God’s supremacy, and like we did to late Governor Yakowa, we will not relent speaking out and demonstrate our views against injustices meted on our people, within the constitutionally guaranteed parameters”.

  • Kaduna youths urge support for Yero

    Kaduna youths, under the aegis of the Nigerian Youth Council, have urged the residents to support the Mukhtar Yero administration to enable it deliver the dividends of democracy to the state.

    In a statement in Kaduna by its Secretary-General, Danjuma Bello Sarki, the youths noted that the governor and his deputy make a perfect combination to develop Kaduna State.

    The statement reads: “The leadership of the council has carefully been following the current political happenings in our state, following the death of our former Governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, the elevation of Dr. Mukhtar Ramalan Yero to the position of the governor and the appointment of Amb. Nuhu Bajoga as the deputy governor.

    “We use this medium to call on the youths to give the governor and his government the support to move the state forward.

    “It is pertinent to note that Governor Yero is a young man, within the age bracket of young men. Therefore, if he fails, it would be considered as a failure of young men in leadership positions in this country. Likewise, his success will further boost the confidence of the society in the leadership capabilities of the youths.

    “Also, we declare our support for his administration as he continue with the meaningful developmental projects of his predecessor and others he will initiate for the transformation of our state and the development of youths.

    “He, therefore, needs the support of the youth now more than ever before. Having known Dr. Yero as a humble, detribalised, patient and kind person, we have strong confidence in his leadership ability to provide the required dividends of democracy to the people of Kaduna Stste, irrespective of their tribes or religions.

    “On the appointment of Amb. Bajoga as the deputy governor, we urge the youths to respect and support the decision of the governor, which is believe was done in good faith and borne out of the desire to take the state to enviable heights on his administration’s principle of unity, peace and development.

    “Bajoga, being elderly, humble and well experienced in the private, public and political terrains, will bring the well needed cohesion to the administration.

    “We strongly believe that with this combination and the support of the youths in particular and the people in general the government shall succeed.”

     

  • Kaduna deputy governor sworn in

    Kaduna deputy governor sworn in

    Kaduna State Deputy Governor, Amb. Nuhu Audu Bajoga, was on Friday sworn in with a pledge from the state governor, Mukthar Ramalan Yero that nobody will be allowed to come between them.

    The deputy governor also promised to be loyal to his boss.

    The nomination of Bajoga, who was the state Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, was confirmed on Thursday at an emergency session of the state House of Assembly.

    Speaking at the occasion, Governor Yero said he selected Bajoga as his deputy because of his age and experience which will be for the overall benefit of the state.

    He expressed optimism that they will have a good working relationship.

    “I chose Ambassador Bajoga because of his age which will be for the benefit of the state. Because they said, age is experience and we are going to work together harmoniously for the betterment of the state.

    “I know the office of the Deputy Governor and I will do my best to improve on the way I left it”, he said.

    Governor Yero reiterated his determination to carry on with the three-point agenda of the late governor.

    These, according to him, are to ensure security, unity and development of the state.

    In his acceptance speech, Ambassador Bajoga, pledged his unalloyed loyalty to the governor and the people of Kaduna State, even as he appealed for patience over the circumstances the state found itself.

     

  • Kaduna deputy governor to be sworn in Friday

    The new Deputy Governor of Kaduna State, Nuhu Audu Bajoga, whose nomination has been confirmed by the state House of Assembly, will be sworn in at about 11.00am on Friday.

    The ceremony will take place at the council chamber of the government house, Kaduna.

    Bajoga was nominated as the new deputy governor following the elevation of the former occupant of the office to the position of governor amidst protest by youths from Southern Kaduna who felt that he should have remained as the state chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party.

    His confirmation followed a letter from the governor, Mukthat Ramalan Yero,which  requested the house to clear him.

    Bajoga, according to the governor, has been found suitable to occupy the position having undergone security screening.