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Tag: Kaduna

  • Army planning to steal bodies from mass grave – Shi’ites

    Army planning to steal bodies from mass grave – Shi’ites

    • It’s concoction of lies – Army

    The Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) popularly known as Shi’ites has alleged that the Nigerian Army is planning to exhume bodies of their members allegedly buried in a mass grave in Kaduna in a bid to reduce the number of dead bodies.

    Meanwhile, the Army in a swift reaction rejected the allegation, saying: “it is a concoction of lies and deliberate effort by the IMN to portray the Nigerian Army’s image negatively‎.”

    The IMN in a statement signed by its spokesman, Ibrahim Musa ‎said since the disclosure of the existence of a mass grave at the Judicial Commission of Inquiry by officials of the Kaduna state government, the Nigerian Army, who initially tried to debunk the existence of a mass grave in their testimonies has been uncomfortable.

    The statement reads: “Reports reaching the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) have it that some unscrupulous people, who were behind the massacre of hundreds of unarmed citizens and their secret burial in a mass grave, are planning to secretly and unilaterally exhume the corpses in an effort to lower the figure of those buried therein in the event of a subsequent full blown international investigation of their crime.

    “When it became obvious through confessions of officers of the state government that mass grave exists, and that officers and men of the Nigerian Army were fully involved in the construction of the mass grave as well as the secret burial of hundreds of IMN members they killed, the Nigerian Army officials have been working out how they could at least significantly put down the number of corpses buried in the grave. As a follow-up testimony at the Judicial Commission, they bluntly refused to acknowledge the hundreds killed and buried in the mass grave, claiming that they handed over only “a few” to state officials for burial.

    “The Islamic Movement in Nigeria wishes to make it categorically clear that the site of the mass grave where the Kaduna state government admitted that it had buried 347 of those killed by the Nigerian military in Zaria last December is a crime scene, hence any attempt to tamper with it would not only be taken as a sacrilege and unacceptable, but also as an attempt to tamper with an important exhibit, which is a serious crime in itself.

    “We wish to also show our dissatisfaction with the reaction of the government at all levels to the disclosure of the existence of mass grave. The least we expected were steps to protect and safeguard the place by independent-minded bodies, to prevent any attempts at mischievous alteration or obliteration of crime facts by perpetrators. If this confession of mass grave were in other climes, it would have been accorded all the protection of a crime scene, so that eventually justice will be done to the victims. Surprisingly, however, the site is left very vulnerable to mischief-makers.

    “It remains on record that government officials testifying before the Justice Mohammed Lawal Garba-led commission had confessed to burying at least 347 corpses in a mass grave. If the military is claiming that only a “few” corpses were buried there, there should be no hasty unilateral action on any of the parties disputing the figures. Such must be done under the watchful eyes of independent observers and international ‎community.”

    However, the Nigerian Army in a statement by the Deputy Director, Army Public Relations‎, 1 Division Headquarters, Kaduna, Colonel Abdul Usman said the allegation is a figment of their jaundiced imagination and a campaign of calumny against the Army.

    He said, “The attention of the Nigerian Army has been drawn  to an online report by SAHARA REPORTERS ON 28 APRIL 2016 in which the Islamic Movement in Nigeria alleged that the Nigerian Army is planning to steal bodies from mass grave in Zaria. It further, stressed that a contingent of soldiers have been deployed to keep guard at the site of the mass grave in an effort to prevent the uncovering of the hundreds of bodies buried there. It is simply a figment of their jaundiced imagination and a campaign of calumny against the Army.

    “The Army strongly and categorically reject the IMN’s unfounded n spurious allegation. It is simply a concoction of lies and deliberate effort by the IMN to portray the Nigerian Army’s image negatively.

    “The Nigerian Army will like to make it abundantly clear that, it has never contemplated such act at anytime. It’s of no relevance whatsoever.  we are focused on discharging our constitutional duty as a professional military force. We expect any responsible media to double check such weighty allegations before going to press. Nigeria’s national security and interest must never be toyed with.

    “The Nigerian Army as a law abiding entity had already stated its facts regarding the December 12-14 incident in Zaria before the Justice Mohammed Lawal Garba led Judicial Commission of Inquiry. For the avoidance of doubt, the commission had on Wednesday 27th April, 2016 visited all the sites of the incident in Zaria including the grave site in Kaduna. It was widely aired. It is not the duty of the Army to guard any public grave site other than our own designated military cemeteries.

    “It appears that the IMN’s desire is to whip up public sympathy not minding their crimes over several years against the people of Zaria as testified by the parties at the just concluded sitting of the commission, the Islamic Movement in Nigeria failed to state her facts or opinion if any as regards the incident of December 12th and 14th 2015 before the judicial commission of inquiry.”

    He called on the general public to disregard this unfounded claim adding that the Nigerian Army will continue to safeguard the lives and property of all citizens in every part of the country.

  • Kaduna Refinery to distribute 2 million litres petrol today

    Kaduna Refinery to distribute 2 million litres petrol today

    The Managing Director, Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company (KRPC), Idi Muktar, has said that the company will distribute 2 million of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) in Kaduna State on Wednesday.

    The Managing Director disclosed this on Tuesday while receiving leadership of the State Union of Journalists in the state, stressing that efforts have been put in place to ensure constant supply of the product to help reduce the hardship Nigerians are facing due to fuel scarcity in the state.

    His words: “I want to announce that by Wednesday Kaduna Refinery will begin operation with the  release of 2 million litres of PMS in Kaduna. This will help reduce the hardship the citizens are facing due to fuel scarcity in the state.

    “Sustainability of the product is another issue Nigerians will want to hear. With available crude oil we will be producing 2 million PMS a day.  I can assure you that all hands are on deck to ensure supply. We also hope Nigerians will continue praying for it to be sustained.”

    According to the MD, once the supply of crude is sustained, there will be no scarcity of fuel in the country.

    He also blamed some bad elements in the society for the fuel scarcity, “from March to April we witnessed 13 infractions with the pipelines from Abuja to Kaduna. We are losing petrol due to activities of unpatriotic elements tempering with pipelines which is unfortunate,” he said.

    Muktar stressed that, it was high time these unpatriotic Nigerians realized the harm done to the country due to their unpatriotic behaviour.

    He assured the visiting journalists of his company’s readiness to partner with media in the development of the country.

     

  • Kidnapping worsens Kaduna violence

    Kidnapping worsens Kaduna violence

    Abduction for rituals has crept into Kaduna State, which was hitherto ravaged only by cattle rustlers, robbers, sectarian strife and Boko Haram insurgency. ABDULGAFAR ALABELEWE writes

    Once upon a time, Kaduna State made the wrong headlines but only for robbery attacks, cow theft, ethno-religious violence and lately Boko Haram attacks. Now, add kidnapping to the list. The toll on the capital of Northern Nigeria is heavy.

    Before mid 2015, the state was always in the news for several attacks on villages, leading to death of many, especially in the southern parts. In the central areas, armed robbery and cattle rustling, particularly in Birnin Gwari axis, were the order of the day.

    The Nasir el-Rufai administration swung into action. It halted organised crime in the south, kept cow rustlers quiet in the central areas, and celebrated its achievement. But just then, kidnappers sprang up, as if to get their share of crime proceeds before it was gone. And it seems they are hitting it big.

    Security experts have attributed the rising cases of kidnapping to the crackdown on killings, robbery and cattle rustling. Governor el-Rufai also said recently that criminals were resorting to kidnapping after insurgency, armed robbery and cattle rustling have been defeated.

    But unlike other parts of the country where kidnapping began, the crime has turned bloody in Kaduna, sending a chill in the spines of Kaduna residents, especially the rich.

    Although, a few kidnap cases were earlier reported, it climaxed with the abduction of three Kaduna pastors in early March, one of whom died in the kidnappers’ den, and the subsequent abduction and killing of an army colonel.

    However, unlike the Niger Delta experience, some of the Kaduna kidnap cases were not targeted at getting ransom, but done for ritual purposes. The case of four-year-old Sadiq Usman is an example.

    The little Usman’s eyes were plucked out by his abductors for suspected rituals in Zaria. The Nation gathered that the boy was wandering in the neighbourhood of Ban Zazzau when the ritualists abducted him.

    According to reports, the suspected ritual murderers soon after kidnapping the boy on his way to the evening Islamic school, took him to an uncompleted building and forcefully removed his eyes.

    It was gathered that some residents of the area heard the commotion, but before coming to the boy’s rescue, the hoodlums had fled. He was subsequently treated at Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital in Zaria, but the fact remains that his abductors have left the poor boy blind for the rest of his life.

    Unlike the little Usman’s ordeal, three grown-up HEKAN pastors were kidnapped in commando-style by masked gunmen along Kaduna-Abuja Expressway.

    The pastors were the President of the United Church of Christ in Nigeria, the Reverends Emmanuel Dziggau, Vice President, Iliya Anto and Yakubu Zarma, who were on the church permanent site about 17km away from Kaduna when they were whisked away.

    Another pastor, Jubrailu Ibrahim Wobiat, who  escaped the attack by the whiskers recounted the ordeal.

    He said, “We went to clear the land to start building our seminary school. We finished work of the day and were about leaving. The Vice President was to take off to Abuja, suddenly we saw men wearing masks armed with AK-47 rifles. They were about six. They blocked the small access road leading to the main road as our President, his Vice and the other clergyman were driving out of the place.

    “They ordered them out of their cars, but one of the drivers who was driving  the Vice President escaped and ran back to those of us who were still behind at the site to tell us about what had happened.

    “We quickly abandoned our cars and ran into the bush for our dear lives and got to the Express Way to the town. The police later escorted us to pick our cars.

    Their abductors later demanded for N100 million ransom. But unfortunately enough, the Vice President, Reverend Iliya Anto, who was just recuperating from a surgery died in the kidnappers’ custody.

    Pastor Wobiat told newsmen: “They demanded for N100 million, they also told us that the Vice President is sick and they described a location where we could pick him. But when we went there with the police, we couldn’t see him. Somehow, they were monitoring us.

    He said the HEKAN President Reverend Emmanuel Dziggau and Retired Reverend Yakubu Dzarma were freed by their abductors. Reverend Anto was later found dead.

    However, it was not clear as to whether a ransom was paid to secure the release of the reverend fathers or not.

    Another bloody abduction was that of Colonel Samaila Inusa of the Nigerian Army. The gunmen suspected to be kidnappers whisked away Colonel Inusa in his Mercedes-Benz car around Kamazo, along Kaduna Refinery Road, in Chikun local government area of Kaduna State.

     

     

     

     

  • Gunmen abduct NNPC chief in Kaduna

    Gunmen abduct NNPC chief in Kaduna

    An official of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr.Yusuf Abdulkadir, was at the weekend abducted by gunmen in Kaduna.

    It was learnt that he was kidnapped about 10 pm on Saturday from his home and taken to an unknown destination.

    According to a family source, the gunmen trailed him while he was returning home, “dragged him out of his car at gun point and whisked him away.”

    Information about the status of the man in the NNPC was sketchy last night, except that “he works at the NNPC Towers, Abuja, but on weekends, drives to Kaduna, where his family lives.”

    The source said the matter had been reported to the police.

    Spokesman Zubairu Abubakar could not be reached last night to comment on the incident.

  • NNPC staff abducted by gunmen

    NNPC staff abducted by gunmen

    A staff of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), identified as Yusuf Abdulkadir has been reportedly abducted by unknown gunmen in Kaduna.
    Abdulkadir, who is a staff in the NNPC Abuja office was said to have been abducted on Saturday at his residence in Rigachiku, Igabi local government area of Kaduna State.
    It was gathered that the incident occurred at about 10pm on Saturday when he was whisked away to an unknown destination.
    According to a family source, the gunmen trailed him while he was returning to his house and picked him up.
    ”They trailed him to the house yesterday dragged him out of his car at gun point and whisked him away.
    ”He works at NNPC Towers, Abuja, but on weekends, drives to Kaduna, where his family members reside,” the source added.
    The matter has been reported to police but efforts to reach the Kaduna Police Public Relations Officer, Zubairu Abubakar on the development proved abortive as his phone was switched off as at the time of filing this report.
    Three clergymen, Dr Emmanuel Dziggau, Yakubu Talba Dzarma and Iliya Anto who eventually died in his abductors’ custody, were kidnapped on March 21 while another Colonel Samaila Inusa was abducted and killed on 26th of March, 2016, in the state.

  • El-Rufai shuts Govt House Clinic, redeploys staff to General Hospitals

    El-Rufai shuts Govt House Clinic, redeploys staff to General Hospitals

    Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has closed the Government House Clinic and redeployed its medical personnel to public hospitals.
    The drugs and equipment in the clinic have also been moved to the Yusuf Dansotho Hospital, Tudun Wada, Kaduna, while Government House staff have been directed to henceforth use the Dansotho Hospital for their medical needs.
    Governor El-Rufai in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Samuel Aruwan said the decisions were taken to boost the healthcare system in the state by moving medical personnel, drugs and equipment to public hospitals.
    According to the statement, “There are not yet enough doctors in the public health system in Kaduna State, therefore it is not prudent to assign doctors, nurses and other medical staff to serve Government House alone. It is clearly more beneficial to the wider society if the services of these medical personnel were made available to the public in a general hospital.
    ” In addition, it is better that everyone working in the Government House uses the same health facilities as the general public.”
    Dr. Muhammad Bello Armaya’u, Medical Director of Yusuf Dansotho Hospital, confirmed that the hospital has received the drugs and equipment.
    He expressed gratitude to the Governor for the move, promising that the hospital will make good use of the extra capacity it has received.

  • Police parades eight kidnappers in Kaduna, 450 others

    Police parades eight kidnappers in Kaduna, 450 others

  • Fuel scarcity: Mega Marketers threaten to expose saboteurs

    Fuel scarcity: Mega Marketers threaten to expose saboteurs

    Association of Mega Filling Station Owners of Nigeria, AMFSON, has told the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu that if they are pushed to the wall they will mention the names of his subordinates sabotaging his efforts to end fuel crisis.
    This was as it said that heads will roll in the oil industry if they go ahead to mention names.
    Addressing a press conference yesterday over plight of members of the Association to access fuel after several months of depositing millions of Naira for supply, National Secretary of AMFSON, Kenneth Nwachukwu said his members had in recent past resisted the urge to mention the saboteurs even when the Minister insisted they mention names.
    Nwachukwu alleged that several trucks of fuel had been diverted into black markets by these perceived saboteurs at the detriment of mega stations owners and Nigerians in general.
    He pointed out that it was for incident of fuel scarcity that the immediate past government established mega affiliate stations in order to cushion its negative effect on Nigerians, and urged the Minister who is also the Group Managing Director to address plight of AMFSON members to help in ending the fuel crisis.
    He said, “The minister said we should mention names, but you know Nigerians, when you come out in public to mention names of the saboteurs, they can go after you, so it is something that if it is possible to do one on one with the Minister, we can tell him, there is nothing to be feared because we have evidence of how fuel is being diverted into the black markets, we have evidence of everything we are saying about this fuel crisis.
    “The Minister said we should mention names that if we mention names the persons will not last 24 hours. But it is not proper to mention names in public, we are giving information, it is left for the Minister to go underground and work on the information and get to the root of what we are saying. We cannot come out to the market place and say this person is a thief. We don’t do things like that, but if we are pushed to the wall and mention names, heads will roll at NNPC Retail.
    “One of the ways to end this fuel crisis is for the Minister to come down to our own level and discuss with us, get the whole truth of the people that are sabotaging his efforts. If they supply fuel to our affiliate stations, there will be no scarcity again. This is what the immediate past government was doing with us in time like this.
    “The NNPC Retail will take this fuel meant for us to the black market, and still end up spoiling our names as if we are the one diverting the fuel, the fuel that was not delivered to us, but distributed somewhere else in our names. This is corruption in the highest order.
    “We are now crying out, we met twice with the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, and we told him that NNPC Retail staffs have refused to bring us into the mainstream of fuel distribution. But they can’t be the accused and the Judges, and everything at the same time.
    “The petroleum product belongs to the government, it belongs to the people, so these staffs should not keep it to themselves, we should know how it is being distributed. We should know the quantity that is available, and we should know that this is the quantity you are giving to us being the marketers, you cannot wake up one morning and say you gave us five million trucks. Who did you give them to?. Nobody knows.
    “Sometimes it is our names they used in bringing out that product, but it never got to us.
    “When we met the Minister for the first time, around October last year, we discovered that the NNPC Retail staffs deceived him to embark on building new 800 filling stations, but it does not make sense to build 800 stations when the old ones on the ground have not been serviced.
    “So when we met him, we told him about our own plight, that these staffs believe that NNPC Retail belong to them, and not to Nigerian people, they believe that it is their birthright, staffs that are earning salaries.
    “We told the Minister of our problem that these staffs refused to work with us as an Association, they prefer to work with us on individual basis, so that if you are dying as an individual, you can’t talk, and if you talk, they drive you out of the business. Since there is strength in unity, they don’t want to deal with us as an association.
    “So the Minister told them in our presence he saw nothing wrong for them to work with us as an association than as an individual. He said that they should go and work with us. So we left.
    “May be they went back to poison the Minister’s mind because since that time our problem became worst, they just abandoned us completely. For more than six weeks now, some us deposited N10 million, we cannot access fuel. So how can we keep quite over these issues.
    “Again, we wrote to the Minister, and we met, and he was seriously disturbed by what is happening.  We reported back to him that NNPC Retail staffs have refused to with our association. And he was furious and asked them what is wrong with working with our association.
    “The Minister therefore told them to go and set up a committee that will comprise our own members so that we should be able to monitor the product, even if it means offloading the product at a particular depot from where we can load our own supply.
    “The minister handed our issue to a new Chief Operating Officer (COO) who now told us that he will call for dealers meeting and not association meeting. But we were surprised at this because we are registered association, so nobody can stop us from being an association. This matter had dragged us and the NNPC Retail to the National Assembly, where the Senators settled the matter that we have 600 mega stations and the Corporation has only 37 Mega Stations, and that we should be given a supply too even if it is 50 to us and 50 to them.
    “Sometimes you see 10 trucks of fuel packed at Mega 1, while none of our members has fuel. And by night the Mega 1 will sell off these 10 trucks to the black market.
    “You cannot solve fuel scarcity in this way unless you allow the supply to go round. But you pack 10 trucks in one place, whom are you deceiving, and by night you send the trucks to the black markets,” Nwanchukwu explained.
  • Zaria clash: Commission of Inquiry recalls GOC for further questioning

    Zaria clash: Commission of Inquiry recalls GOC for further questioning

    The Judicial Commission of Inquiry probing the clashes between the Nigerian Army and members of the Islamic Movement in Zaria has issued a recall to the General Officer Commanding  (GOC) 1 Division of the Nigeria Army, Major General Adeniyi Oyebade for further examination and questioning.

    This was the main high point of the Commission’s Public Hearing this Thursday.

    Since the 6th April when the Nigeria Army witnesses made their presentations before the commission, a lot has been uncovered with regards all that transpired in Zaria on December 12 to 14.

    This, apparently informed the decision by the Commission’s Chairman, Justice Mohammed Lawal Garba to facilitate the recall of the GOC, 1 Division for further examination at the commission’s public hearing.

    Following the information by the Counsel to Nigerian Army Biola Oyebanji that the GOC will not be available till on the 21st of April, the commission therefore fixed the 25th April as the date for the senior Army officer to appear before it.

    In the meantime, Thursday’s Public Hearing featured the testimony of the military officer who oversaw the cordon and search operation by the Nigeria Army at Dembo which is the site of the Shi’ite temple in Zaria.

    Col. Mohammed Babayo told the commission that he was assaulted by members of the Islamic Movement on Sunday the 13th December, 2015.

    Three other witnesses, residents of Gyellesu, whose properties were destroyed in the course of the Zaria clashes, also gave their testimonies at the commission’s sitting yesterday.

  • Revealed: Zakzaky has lost one eye – Counsel 

    Revealed: Zakzaky has lost one eye – Counsel 

    • How followers died for him 
    • Sheikh’s wife shot thrice
    • Bullets removed forcefully by soldiers

    The rumour making the round that leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky has lost his eye to the December clash between members of the movement and a detachment of the Nigerian Army was yesterday confirmed by his lawyers.

    Counsels to the movement, Barrister Festus Okoye and Maxwell Kyon on Wednesday addressed a world press conference in Kaduna to inform the public that Sheikh Zakzaky has dragged the Army and other security agencies involved in the clash to the Federal High Court.

    The lawyers who explained their ordeal before and during their meeting with Shi’ites leader said, Zakzaky and his wife were not in good condition.

    According to Barrister Kyon, Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky has completely lost his left eye, while his right eye is partially affected.

    Kyon who also disclosed that Zakzaky’s wife, was shot thrice in the abdomen said, the Shi’ite leader and his wife were subjected to all forms of inhuman treatment by men of the Nigerian Army.

    In his words, “We met with Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky at DSS custody. Initially, the SSS guys wanted to stay with us while we discuss with him, but we insisted that we must see him alone. Later they maintained a reasonable distance and we were able to speak with him.

    “He told us how the soldiers invaded his home and how they killed his followers. In fact, he told us that the soldiers after killing many outside, forced their way into his house, opened the door and meeting them inside, they closed the door again and started shooting sporadically at their direction.

    “He told us that, they would have killed him in the process, but his followers formed a shield around him and his wife, preventing many bullets from reaching him and the wife. At the end, all those that protected them died.

    “The Malam and his wife also sustained bullet injuries. The wife was shot thrice in the abdomen, while one of the bullets hit Zakzaky on his left eye,” he narrated.

    Talking about medical treatment given to Zakzaky, Barrister Kyon said: “against the speculation that the IMN leader was flown abroad for treatment, Malam told us that he was never taken out of the country.

    “He told us that they were only taken to 44 Nigerian Army Reference Hospital, Kaduna. And there, he said his wife was not given any form of anaesthesia, some soldiers just held her and forcefully removed the bullets from her abdomen.

    “The only place they were flown to for medical treatment apart from Abuja was Lagos, where they were trying to make sure his remaining eye sees clearly.” He explained.

    However, Kyon said that, as at the time of the Counsels’ visit to El-Zakzaky, he could not identify them clearly, except with the help of his wife who was helping him to identify the visitors one after the other.

    “In fact, we went with a member of the movement whom the Malam was very familiar with, but on getting there, he could not identify the person. That goes to show you how bad his vision has become.” He explained.