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Tag: Muhammadu Buhari

  • We won’t rest until remaining Chibok girls are released — Buhari

    President Muhammadu Buhari pledged that his government will not rest until the remaining Chibok girls kidnapped by Boko Haram terrorists in April 2014 are safely released

    According to a statement issued by President Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, in Abuja  Buhari made the pledge on Monday in Katowice, Poland, during a bilateral meeting with Swiss President Alain Berset, on the margins of the UN Climate Change Conference, COP24.

    The Presidential aide said Buhari had spent the whole day at the International Conference Centre, Katowice, where he delivered his national address at the opening of the 12-day meeting of COP24.

    Shehu said the president had also met with several world leaders and visited the impressive Nigerian pavilion at the climate summit.

    During his meeting with the Swiss President, the Nigerian leader thanked the Swiss Confederation for its efforts and important role as intermediaries to secure the release of some Chibok girls.

    He assured him that the issue of the remaining kidnapped girls and other abducted persons would remain a ‘key priority’ for the Nigerian government.

    President Buhari and his Swiss counterpart, according to the statement, discussed joint strategies to ensure the safe return of the girls, building on the past successes of securing the release of some of the Chibok girls and other abducted persons in the North Eastern part of Nigeria.

    The President also welcomed the Swiss President’s commitment to continue providing humanitarian assistance to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Nigeria and to ensure the safe release of the abducted school girls.

    ”We will continue to make the safe release of the remaining Chibok girls a priority and will welcome any kind of support from any quarters to make this happen, ” the President said.

    In separate bilateral meetings with the President of Poland, Andrzej Duda and the Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, President Buhari commended the country for a successful outing at the opening of the COP24 meeting in Katowice.

    The President told his Polish counterpart that Nigeria was facing serious climate change challenges, particularly the receding Lake Chad, which had been a source of livelihood to some 40 million people living in the region.

    ”Nigeria is totally committed to global efforts to mitigate and adapt to effects of climate change,” President Buhari told the Polish leader, whose country is the president of COP24.

    In his meeting with Prime Minister Morawiecki, the President lauded the plan by the Polish Government to open a Trade Office in Lagos soon, promising that “investors who look to Nigeria can be ‘guaranteed’ of safe returns on their investments.’’

    He said: ”We have a vibrant and active young population and our government is doing so much on the Nigerian economy, including diversifying to non-oil sectors.

    Read Also: Buhari: I’ll not complain again about Nigeria’s problems

    ”We welcome increased cooperation with Poland and will encourage investments in other sectors of the economy like solid minerals and information technology.’’

    Morawiecki told President Buhari that traditionally 96 per cent of oil imports to Poland came from Saudi Arabia and Russia, adding ”but now we are looking at importing oil from Nigeria.”

    The Prime Minister noted as the fastest growing economy in the European Union, Poland had identified Nigeria, Egypt and South Africa, as three top investment destinations in Africa.

    ”We want the hub of our investment destination to be in Nigeria,” he added.

    The Polish Prime Minister welcomed the pledge by the Nigerian leader to immediately put in place a framework to encourage more Polish investments in Nigeria.

    Meanwhile, the President’s bilateral meeting with his Austrian counterpart, Alexander Van der Bellen, focused on the challenges of Lake Chad and what was required to recharge it.

    While noting that the Lake faced the two challenges of technology and financing, President Buhari told the Austrian leader that enormous financial resources and technology were required to transfer water to Lake Chad from the Congo Basin.

    Van der Bellen, who indicated his country’s interest to cooperate with Nigeria on recharging the Lake Chad, talked about climate change challenges in Austria including drought, glaciers melting, among others.

    President Buhari also met with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and both leaders followed up on their past discussions, during their last meeting in The Hague, Netherlands, in July, which centred on trade, investments and partnerships in agriculture.

    The President welcomed the proposal by the Dutch Prime Minister to visit Abuja soon and promised that the Nigerian government would continue to provide a conducive business environment for existing and prospective Dutch investors.

    On the sidelines of COP24, President Buhari also met with the Prime Minister of Estonia, Jüri Ratas.

    The Prime Minister of the Northern European country sought Nigeria’s support on its bid for a non-permanent seat at the UN Security Council for 2020 to 2021.

    “The two leaders also discussed bilateral cooperation and climate change mitigation,’’ the statement said.

     

    NAN

  • Delta community sacks monarch, installs a new one

    The traditional rulership tussle in Agbarho Kingdom, Ughelli North council area of Delta state escalated further on Monday as youths of the kingdom reportedly installed Chief Williams Onokpite as new Osuvie (monarch) of the kingdom.
    Before the reported installation of Chief Onokpite as new king, the youths had reportedly banished the embatled Osuvie, HRM, Chief Samson Oghughunwa, who had fled the kingdom for fears for his life.
    A source, who spoke under conditions of anonymity, told the Nation that the new king was the chief kingmaker and next in line to Chief Oghughunwa.
    Meanwhile, addressing journalists in his place of refuge in Uvwie council area, the embatled and deposed Osuvie of Agbarho Kingdom, Chief Oghughunwa, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari and the Delta state governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, to come to his aid.
    He also raised the alarm that Agbarho Kingdom is currently in the grip of criminals and ritualists, adding that his ordeal had been engineered by those who see him as opposed to illegalities being perpetrated in the kingdom.
    The embatled monarch said he managed to escape assassination when suspected hired killers invaded his palace on Sunday, adding that those who had been sponsoring his ordeal were both after his life and the destruction of the kingdom.

    “I learnt that some armed youths were coming to the palace, barely 30 minutes when I got the information, they were already at the palace, but I had to vanish. My two wives were held at gun point and traditional beads worth several millions of naira were stolen during the invasion.

    Read Also: Agip urges Niger Delta youths to embrace agriculture

    “My security details were beaten up, my children laptops were carted away. Properties worth over N30 million were collected from the palace during yesterday’s attack. The matter is now with UPU and the Delta State Governor, Dr. Okowa.

    “I’m calling on President Buhari, Governor Okowa and all the security chiefs to come save my life and the kingdom from the activities of criminals and ritualists who want to kill me. Soldiers and policemen came and they saw these youths were arms and ammunitions but did nothing. No arrest was made because they got a directive from a retired military general who is against me.

    “So, I am crying to the FG, heads of army, navy, police, DSS and the state government to come and save Agbarho from a hand of a retired General. Once the matter is settled, it is what the retired General says that this group of people who do not want peace will do”, he said.

  • Promises galore as PDP campaign berths in Sokoto

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential campaign Monday berthed in Sokoto with promises to rescue the country from the misrule of the All Progressives Congress.

    Addressing a large crowd of party faithful and supporters, party leaders took turns to harangue the audience with what they described as the many failures of the APC.

    The PDP national chairman, Prince Uche Secondus said that President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC have failed the people woefully.

    According to him, the PDP has chosen a credible and experienced presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abuabakar and his running mate, Peter Obi to lead the rescue mission.

    Secondus, who is also the chairman of the party’s Presidential Campaign Council, said the performance records of Atiku and his running mate, Mr. Peter Obi give the reassurance that Nigeria will be in good hands from 2019.

    “Atiku has what it takes to turn the economy around, create jobs for our teeming youths and unite the country”, Secondus said, adding that Nigerians have turned their back on President Buhari and the APC.

    The PDP chair cautioned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the security agencies not to undermine the country by attempting to rig the elections.

    Also speaking at the rally, former President Goodluck Jonathan said Atiku and Obi would show Nigeria the way forward and urged the people of the Northwest zone to join the PDP in showing the way forward.
    Jonathan said, “From 1999 till date, we have seen four Presidents, from Obasanjo, to Umaru Musa Yar ‘Adua, to myself and the current President (Buhari).
    “You have seen how the various Presidents and the various parties have worked, and one thing is very clear, PDP is still the number one party
    “There is something that all of us see as human beings, everybody, everyday must eat, and if you cannot eat well, then you are not happy. PDP is the only party that can make sure that all of us eat very well in the morning, in the afternoon and in the evening
    “Let us not make mistakes, those of us who are adults, old enough to vote, if we vote wrongly, our children and grand children will not forgive us.

    Read Also: 2019: Panic in PDP over Wike’s resignation

    “Today, our country has a lot of challenges and we have looked at all the presidential candidates, all of them are good people, we have known them, credible people, but among all, we have seen that it’s only Atiku that can deliver
    “If you have a football match, you go with your first eleven, you don’t manage. If you have a wrestling or boxing tournament, you go with your best. You don’t manage.
    “Atiku is experienced enough, he has demonstrated clearly in his personal life and his business life that he has the capacity to bring this country to one, and make sure that our economy grow so that all of us will have something to eat”.

    The President of the Senate, and Director General of the Campaign, Dr. Bukola Saraki urged the people of the Northwest to lead the way in the mission to rescue the country.

    Declaring the Northwest as a PDP zone, Saraki bemoaned the deteriorating socio economic situation in the country, saying, “There is no security, there is no food, there is hunger.
    “Atiku is the man that can fight insecurity, hunger and unite Nigerians. It is about food and security. We will vote Atiku. He understands it, he knows how to create jobs. He knows how to unite Nigerians. We have tried Buhari and he has failed”.

    Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara said Nigeria should be grateful for democracy that provides them the opportunity to make changes when things are not going well.

    Dogara said that he and some other Nigerians fought for change in 2015 but have since realised that the change was not forthcoming, hence the decision by himself and others to dump the APC for the PDP.

    “Democracy always offers us the opportunity to correct ourselves. We had speeches dealing with our convictions in 2015 when some of us left PDP to say we wanted to associate with change.
    “So we have a wonderful opportunity today to revisit those issues of 2015. We will be deceiving you to say that this election is between Atiku Abubakar and President Muhammadu Buhari.
    “The election is not between them. The election is about you, women, young people and every Nigerian citizen who is suffering untold hardship today on account of lack of good leadership.
    “So we want to review a lot of things. For instance, is your life better now than in 2015. Is security better now than it was in 2015. Are we more united as Nigerians than we were in 2015.
    These are the things that are on the ballot paper. It is not a contest between Atiku and Buhari rather it is between APC and all Nigerians”, Dogara said.

    The highpoints of the rally was the presentation of the party flags to the presidential candidate and his running mate. Flag was also presented to the Sokoto State governor, Aminu Tambuwal who is the PDP governorship candidate.

    Other party chieftains that addressed the rally were former Kano State Governor, Rabiu Kwakwaso; former Jigawa Governor, Sule Lamido; former Kaduna State Governor, Ahmed Makarfi; former Special Duties Minister, Taminu Turaki; and former Vice President, Namadi Sambo.

    Atiku, who also addressed the gathering, spoke in Hausa.

  • Don’t politicize NSIP scheme, beneficiaries warn Saraki, others

    Beneficiaries of the Nigerian Social Investment Programme (NSIP) on Monday cautioned Senate President Bukola Saraki and other politicians in the country against politicization of the programme.

    The beneficiaries said that NSIP has been a life saver for many of them.

    Senator Saraki had reportedly described scheme as an attempt by President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to curry voters to his side in 2019.

    Addressing reporters Monday in Ilorin, the Kwara state capital, spokesperson of the beneficiaries Danwahab Ambali said no fewer than 5000 people had benefitted from the first phase of N-Power in the state.

    Said he: “With me here are beneficiaries of the Conditional Cash Transfer and Tradermoni, all part of the NSIP.  It is important to state here that NSIP scheme to us has been nothing but a life saver.

    I graduated from the University of Ilorin with a Bachelor of Science degree in Anatomy in 2009. For six years, I was without any gainful employment until 2016 when I became an Npower volunteer.

    “My participation in the program has really impacted my life, because it was through N-power that I got the money to do my M.sc program and also enhance my personal skills in other areas.

    “Like me, N-power and other SIP programs have improved the lives of many that I know in Kwara here.

    “Here with me is Mrs Memunat Ismaila who was widowed since 1996 with no help from anywhere. To feed her children, she became a petty trader, selling pepper. She kept struggling for her small business to survive, until respite came when she got the first tranche of Conditional Cash Transfer which she put into her business. She now lives a more dignified life with her children.

    Read Also: Saraki seeks inquiry into key suspect’s death

    “Ibrahim Moshood here is a fashion designer who was in need of shop. It was the tradermoni he got that he used to get a shop and standardized his business. So the Social Investment Programs is working for us.

    “It is therefore to defend the integrity of the NSIP program so that others can benefit that we have found it necessary to come out openly to say that we do not believe that the Nigerian social investment program is tailored towards any political gain. We say this because we heard Dr Saraki say that the NSIP is nothing but a ‘systematic vote buying for the 2019 election.’

    “This cannot be true, since many of us do not start benefiting from this program because the 2019 elections is approaching.

    Like I said before, I became a beneficiary in 2016; while some of my colleagues got in in 2017. In fact, Senator Saraki himself had praised the program in the past, and some of his aides indeed tried unsuccessfully to nominate people into the programme claiming they were APC before they defected.

    “The system has been foolproof and neutral. For the first time, we Kwarans are getting things from the Federal Government not through the Saraki ladder. Common people are directly being impacted by FG. It has never happened in my adult life. So, Saraki should be happy for us and not try to spoil this.

    “Based on verifiable record of beneficiaries in this state and judging by the time we got into the program; we do not agree with Senator Saraki that the social investment program is tailored towards vote buying in the 2019 election.

    “We therefore appeal to Senator Saraki and other privileged individuals who may want to play politics with a program that has put food on the table of many of us to please take pity on our poor.”

    Mr. Ambali urged the Federal Government to convert the appointment of the beneficiaries to a permanent one.

     

  • 2019: Buhari remains unbeatable candidate – Bindow

    Gov. Mohammed Bindow of Adamawa on Monday said that President Muhammadu Buhari remained an unbeatable candidate for the 2019 presidential election.

    Bindow made the declaration at the inauguration of the 2019 APC campaign team for Yola North Local Government Area.

    He said that the provision of infrastructure nationwide by the Buhari-led Government from which the state had benefited, had given the president more popularity to get re-elected in the coming elections.

    He mentioned five Federal roads projects ongoing in the state, which he described as unprecedented. The governor urged the people of the state to vote APC candidates from the President down to the least office in the contest.

    Read Also: I became governor by destiny – Bindow

    He said that the election of APC across board would give the party the impetus to actualise the party ‘s agenda of re-writing the Nigerian history.

    He commended the APC leadership and supporters in Yola North local government area, stating that the area produced the largest votes for the party in 2015. Bindow urged them to repeat the same feat in the coming elections.

    He assured them that he would double his performance to ensure that Yola was developed to compete with other state capitals in the world.

    Hajia Aisha Dahiru, APC Senatorial Candidate for Adamawa Central, commended the governor for supporting the party at all levels.

    Dahiru also thanked the Yola North chapter of the party for setting the pace for the formation of a broad-based campaign team.

    She assured the team of her immense support to enable it to succeed.

    Gov. Bindow had inaugurated a 55-member campaign coordinating team with the membership drawn from the 11 council wards in Yola North local government area.

    (NAN)

  • Photo: Buhari attends climate change opening ceremony

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday attended the opening ceremony of the United Nations Climate Change Conference holding in Katowice, Poland.

    Photographs shared by his new media aide, Bashir Ahmad shows the president in company with the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres and the Polish President, Andrzej Duda, as he arrived at the conference.

  • ‘Buhari deserves second term’

    A group ‘Buhari/Osinbajo Re-Election Group(BOREG) has said that various achievements recorded by the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari would be a catalyst to guarantee its re-election in 2019.

    The group disclosed that it had concluded plans to penetrate every part of the state for extensive mobilisation towards the victory of  Buhari and his deputy,Prof Yemi Osinbajo.

    The group comprises of various campaign platforms with leaders of All Progressives Congress(APC)  and campaign groups from the 18 local governments as members.

    It noted the giant infrastructural development and commitment to good governance under President Buhari which have brought a new lease of life to the Nigerian Populace.

    BOREG therefore urged Nigerians to encourage President Buhari in his effort to consolidate on the gains of the last four years in the country.

    At a meeting held in Akure, the Nigerian Envoy to the Republic of Togo, Sola Iji eulogised the commitment of  Party leaders towards ensuring the re-election of President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

    Read Also: Buhari to critics: I’m the real Buhari

    He urged them to be acquainted with various projects and life changing initiatives of the Federal Government as they embark on the massive campaign across the state.

    In support of the group for Buhari,-Osinbajo victory, Iji donated 14 giant billboards, 12 cars and four buses for the use of the campaign group.

    The meeting also resolved to have various sub-committees for the smooth take-off of the campaign,while appealing to many members of the Party that were  aggrieved over issues  to forget the past and forge ahead as they move to the ‘next level’.

    Among APC stalwarts at the forum were  Dr Segun Ayodele, Wale Akintimehin, Dr Jide Owoka, Musa Kareem (MHA) Capt. Oyepata (rtd).  Rahman Rotimi (Board member, UNICAL Teaching Hospital).

    Others are Samson Ojetayo,Chief Idris Elemeje, Peter Omoogun, Chief Demi Osedimbola and Mrs Grace Animola.

    NAN

  • Buhari, Jonathan, Obaseki at Anenih’s Funeral in Uromi

    President Muhammadu Buhari, former President, Goodluck Jonathan, Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki and a long-list of the who-is-who in Nigeria’s political and business communities on Saturday graced the funeral mass in honour of late elder statesman, Chief Anthony Anenih.

    The dignitaries, including Governor of Delta State, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa and his Bayelsa State counterpart,  Seriake Dickson, Minister of State for Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, who represented President Buhari, converged at the St. Anthony Catholic Cathedral, Uromi, Esan North East Local Government Area to pay their last respect to late Chief Anenih.

    The mass was part of the state burial organised for Chief Anenih, the Iyasele of Esan land, in recognition of his contributions to the development of Edo State and Nigeria.

    In his homily, the Bishop of the Diocese of Uromi, Most Rev. Dr Donatus Ogun, said human life was a journey and should be lived in service to humanity and with consciousness of the existence of the supreme being.

    The Bishop said late Anenih was an exceptionally generous person, who believed in giving opportunities to others to achieve their dreams and was a man of integrity, who stood and lived by his words, a virtue which made him to excel in his political career.

    “He believed that every situation could be solved and he helped to give solution to every problem brought to him,” the Bishop said.

    In his votes of thanks, the first son of the deceased, Anthony Anenih Jnr., described his late father as a national leader, a statesman and a caring father to many.

    “He was a beloved pillar in our community; from Uromi to Benin and through out Edo. He was our protector, umbrella and educator.

    He said his father believed in caring for the elderly, which made him set up a Geriatric Centre at the University College Hospital, Ibadan.

    Other dignitaries at the event include National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and Alhaji Aliko Dangote, among others.

  • Buhari mourns OPC founder, Fasehun

    President Muhammadu Buhari has commiserated with the Yoruba nation over the passing of the founder of Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), Dr Frederick Fasehun.

    The President, in a condolence message by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, in Abuja on Saturday, also condoled with the family of the medical practitioner and the government and people of Ondo State.

    President Buhari recalled the prominent role Fasehun played as a member of the defunct National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) which campaigned against military rule in the country.

    The President prayed that almighty God would comfort all those who mourned the octogenarian and grant peace to his soul.

    Fasehun, aged 83, died at about 1a.m, Saturday at the intensive care unit of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital Ikeja (LASUTH).

    Late Fasehun, who was born in Ondo on September 25, 1938 in Ondo, Ondo State, was an active member of NADECO.

    Read Also: OPC founder Fasheun is dead

    He began his education late, entering primary school at the age of 13 at Saint Matthews Roman Catholic School, Ondo.

    He later moved to Saint Peter’s Teacher’s Training College, Akure, also in Ondo state. But he was expelled from school, because of his non-conformity with Catholicism.

    Fasehun was then admitted to Ondo Boys High School, where he completed his secondary education in less than three years, with a Grade One distinction.

    His brother offered him a scholarship to study science at Blackburn College in the UK.  He furthered his education at Aberdeen University College of Medicine.

    He also studied at the Liverpool Postgraduate School after which he had a Fellowship at the Royal College of Surgeons.

    In 1976, he studied acupuncture in China under a joint World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations Development Scholarship Programme.

    On his return in 1977, he set up an Acupuncture Unit at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH).

    He resigned in 1978 and immediately set up the Best Hope Hospital and Acupuncture Centre in Lagos.

    His Acupuncture Centre once earned a reputation as Africa’s first for the Chinese medical practice.

    NAN

  • Insecurity: Celebrities lead solidarity walk for end to banditry, kidnappings

    Veteran Nollywood actor, Larry Koldsweat, on Friday led other Nigerian celebrities in a solidarity walk to call  for an end to banditry and kidnappings in north western part of the country.
    The celebrities under the auspices of Human Rights Monitoring Group, called on the world to take notice that high ranking politicians such as Governors, Ex- Governors, Ministers, traditional rulers from Zamfara State are behind the resurgence of killings in the north-west.
    Addressing the well-attended rally, which held from the Unity Fountain to the presidential villa, Abuja, Koldsweat urged Nigerians to rise up against politicians that are sponsoring these killings all over Zamfara State with a firm demand that they stop it now.
    His speech below.
    Fellow compatriots,
    We are gathered here today as patriotic Nigerians who do not want to be complicit in an injustice being perpetrated against other Nigerian. Our march is about not being complicit by remaining silent in the face of grievous harm being done to our compatriots in several states of the country. What the perpetrators of this crime are banking on is that they have gotten away with their evil in some places and they can therefore spread their deadly merchandise to other parts of the country.
    We speak to the killings in Zamafara and its environs. Those facilitating these killings began by making us initially think it was a case of petty crime gone wrong. It later became cattle rustlers killing victims to steal cow. Then we began hearing of armed bandits. Even their harmed bandits have later been discovered to be militias that were unleashing violence as a smokescreen while the mineral resources, gold, in Zamfara state was being mined by the tonnes while the environment is degraded beyond comprehension and the citizens deprived of their livelihood.
    Our shock as a nation upon finding out about this pillaging of Zamfara and neighbouring communities should have been a red card for the people benefitting from this evil to call it quits and scamper away like the criminals that they are.
    But this is not the case. These people have resolved to dare our collective will as a people and to test the capacity of Nigeria to respond to their felonious activities with the powers of a sovereign state.
    Instead of being contrite and seeking out escape route from criminal trials that will naturally follow their evil deeds, they have decided to embark on further provocations. On top of the theft of natural resources of Zamfara, killing of its citizens under the pretext of being bandits and destroying the environment, they have resorted to kidnapping. They have shown by their modus operandi that they receive instructions from entities that are no different from those dishing orders to Boko Haram terrorists.
    The trend we have seen is that they are now exporting their security threat to other parts of the country in a desperate bid to prevent the full scale of their atrocity in Zamfara from coming under scrutiny. They have moved into Katsina state and we are aware that they have design on other states unless they are decisively stopped by security agencies.
    We have been able to ferret out information. The new spate of banditry and kidnappings are masterminded by high ranking political actors in that part of the country. The bandits pulling the trigger to kill innocent Nigerians are but mere puppets. The hand pulling the strings for these killers to commit evil are higher up and highly placed hence the efficiency with which they have evaded detection and being held to account for the mass murder that has been committed in Zamfara.
    The high-ups that have been identified include serving and former Governors of Zamfara state, serving and former high ranking cabinet officials of Zamfara state and federal appointees such as Ministers, Deputy Governors and their allies. The traditional rulers and a sprinkling of religious leaders are, tragically, also part of the axis of evil.
    Their grouse is nothing other than the wise decision by President Muhammadu Buhari to put a stop to the illegal activities of gold miners. These illegal miners have now been proven to be business associates of these politicians, who continue to benefit from the crimes being committed by the criminal activities of the miners.
    The recent kidnap of the traditional ruler of a neighbouring community is in reaction to the President’s ban on illegal mining. It is an attempt these criminals and their minions to bully Mr. President into submission, forcing him to restate illegal gold mining.
    But we assert that this criminal plot shall fail. Not only shall it fail but any attempt to try the will of the Nigerian people would be rejected and those making such attempts made to face the full weight of the law. We shall reject such evil plot with the benefit of the lessons learnt from the Niger-Delta where politicians manipulate militants just to have their way while holding the country to ransom.
    Dear Compatriots, in our solidarity with the innocent citizens of Zamfara State and the rest of the north-West people who are being tormented by these criminal elements and their political allies, we have clear cut outcomes that we envisage.
    Our first demand is to the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice to immediately review the development in Zamfara state and come up with a list of what those masterminding the crisis in Zamfara state can be charged with. The AGF must also create a list of the politicians and officials that can immediately go on trial since we recognize that a couple of those involved currently enjoy immunity.
    The head of the snake will be cut off when it has exited the hole of immunity it is hiding in but pending that time other parts of the body can be cut off. So the country should be able to do something about the other members of the syndicate that has satanically cheapened the value of human life in Zamfara state.
    Our second demand is to the security agencies. The era of playing nice guys with these bandits is past. They have shown disdain for Nigeria as a country and should be put in their place. We have seen videos that they posted to dare not just the security agencies but also the sanctity of Nigeria as a nation. Encounters with these so called bandits must therefore be made expensive for the criminals in human cost. Any surviving ones apprehended should have information extracted from them using internationally acceptable interrogation techniques with a view to tracing their links with their sponsors.
    Furthermore, we demand from the few remaining political, religious and traditional leaders in this area that have not joined the band of criminals to provide the leadership needed to defeat the evil that has been spawned in their midst. It they failed to take such steps, history will lumped them alongside the criminals that have made it possible for this evil to thrive.
    Perhaps the greatest demand yet is to the people of Zamfara state. They must shake off the label of being the victim. The law is on their side and we enjoin them to use the law. They know the people behind their travail.
     They have the facts what these people have done wrong. The people of Zamfara state must disavow these leaders that have failed them using all legally approved processes and actions. Leaders that slaughter their own citizens for food are not worthy of being referred to as leaders. They are evil, have no business being in charge of anywhere and should be disowned by the people.
    We urge other Nigerians to rally behind the people of Zamfara state. They should mobilize the rest of the world to wade into this matter before another section of the country is destroyed by the greed of a few people that destabilize their own state while building oasis of paradise in Abuja and other world capitals.