More victims of child grooming in Telford have been coming forward within the wake of stories concerning the scandal, an MP has stated.

Conservative Lucy Allan stated she had been “inundated” with studies since talking concerning the challenge in Parliament.

Police stated they have been at present working with about 46 people who have been in danger.

One local venture working with younger abuse victims stated it had acquired 2,000 requires assistance prior to now two years.

The Sunday Mirror reported that up to 1,000 women in the Shropshire city might have been victims of child sexual exploitation (CSE) because the 1980s.

West Mercia’s Police and Crime Commissioner stated he had “sought clarification” on studies that a memo by the pressure in 2013 stated some youngster sexual abuse victims had “consented”.

The wording has been criticised in the Mirrorfor showing in charge victims, and PCC John Campion has stated he thinks it was a “poor selection of words”.

Since her speech in Parliament, Ms Allan advised the BBC she had been “inundated with e-mails saying, ‘This has occurred to me'”.

She stated: “I have additionally spoken to a marketing consultant psychiatrist who has had many patients who've skilled this concern and are coping with the psychological health penalties of this horrible crime.

“It's clear this has been happening for a few years and a big variety of women have been affected.”

The Cate Venture, which a council report said was overworked and under-resourced, stated that since April 2016, it had acquired 2,000 inquiries for help over CSE points. The challenge workforce works immediately with youngsters abused via exploitation in Telford.

Nationwide youngsters’s charity the NSPCC stated it had delivered three,122 counselling periods about CSE by way of its Childline service in 2016/17, compared with 2,340 in 2015/16 – a 33% improve.

Barnardo’s stated it had been working in Shropshire since last October to offer counselling periods to younger people who are “at excessive danger of sexual exploitation”.

Chief government Javed Khan stated: “The size of the abuse in Telford is deeply surprising and those responsible have to be held accountable for any failings uncovered.

“Our specialist providers see every single day the injury brought on by these horrific crimes.”

A spokesman for Telford and Wrekin Council stated it had not acquired any new reviews of CSE but added the council was not the one route for victims who may need to contact the authorities.

Ms Allan has raised an Early Day Movement in Parliament to call on the council to fee a Rotherham-style unbiased inquiry into the state of affairs.

The council says it needs the government to commission the report slightly than itself as a result of its “independence and scope might be referred to as into question”.

A few of the instances also pre-date the local authority, which was shaped in 1998.

The House Workplace has stated the Unbiased Inquiry into Youngster Sexual Abuse can be taking a look at Telford in its investigation into child sexual exploitation, but it's right down to local authorities to determine whether an extra evaluate is important.

West Mercia Police Supt Tom Harding, who's in general charge of policing in Telford, has stated police and authorities within the city have been working with “approximately 46 younger individuals” who have been victims of CSE or thought-about “in danger”.

He added: “Subsequently, I considerably dispute the 1,000-plus figure, and do really feel it's sensationalised.

“Read the headlines, learn the stories. What are they really discussing? They’re discussing instances from 20 or 30 years in the past, offending again in the 1990s.”

UKY247

Professor Ango Abdullahi, is a former spokesman of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) and recently elected the Leader of the forum. In this interview with PAUL ORUDE in Bauchi, the former Vice Chancellor, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, speaks on the focus of NEF under his leadership.

He has harsh words for Northern Governors, who he calls irresponsible leaders over their statement calling for the establishment of ranches as solution to the clashes between farmers and herdsmen in parts of the country. He also lists impossible conditions under which the North will support the restructuring of the country, while in another breath, he says the region will resist any attempt to restructure the country based on the current agitation. “We have all personalized restructuring with a view to targeting a section of the country and this is the area that we feel very sensitive about and we will resist it. Even if we don’t resist it objectively, we can resist it politically”, he warned.

Why did you decide to take the leadership of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) at this critical time? What is your focus, and what do you hope to achieve for the body?

Well, let me start by saying that I did not seek the leadership of the Northern Elders Forum. The leadership of NEF was foisted on me by members, so let me make this very clear. Ango Abdullahi has never been ambitious in terms of positioning wherever he finds himself. All my political life you will never see me frantically jostling for position. I have always believed in teamwork and the team players in the Northern Elders Forum decided that I should take on the leadership of the forum so that is why I think I should make very clear from the beginning. Number two relates to the issue of what is the focus; the focus remains what brought out the NEF in the first place. The focus of the forum has always been that as a civil society organisation it has responsibility in ensuring that there is a role in the socio economic and political development of the country and wherever it seems that things are not going according to the expectations of Nigerians, especially according to the constitution of the country which stipulates how Nigerians should live in the country and so on, of course the northern elders forum will come out and make its views known.

The Forum has been searching for a presidential candidate that will be acceptable to the northern region and Nigeria. Are you looking at the younger generation or the age you belong or even where the incumbent president belongs?

Well let’s go back to 2015. The north insisted then that the north should produce the next Nigerian president and this is what we worked on. Thank goodness some of the parties or some of the players responded and this was what brought about the dislodgement of the PDP as a government and the loss of the presidency by Jonathan and takeover of government by APC and the presidency by General Buhari. This is what we did and I like to correct that we have not started searching for a presidential candidate but our eyes and ears are wide opened. We are looking at all options on the table -old, middle age, young- all are options on the table and irrespective of which politics they profess, what we will be looking for is a good presidential material that is going to serve the needs of the county effectively and so on so all our options are on the table. It has no age limit and perhaps our age limit is the voting age. If there is a very competent 18 years old may be but this is not very likely but all options are on the table, we have not started searching yet but we will keep our eyes and ears opened to ensure that the principles upon which we argued and argued in the previous elections will still be the principles that will guide us in supporting a presidential material from amongst many that perhaps would like to offer themselves for the position.

Some are suggesting that NEF is almost pushing itself as an opposition to the Buhari administration. How true is this?

The man heading the Benue Livestock Guards, as recently revealed by Saturday Sun, was a wanted Boko Haram suspect. How do you react to this?

My first reaction is to congratulate The Sun newspaper for carrying out this investigation. This is what the media are supposed to do. They are supposed to be watchdog of things that are going right or wrong in the society. When it was brought out, appropriate reports were made to authorities that they should take action and this is part of the crisis we are going through in this country. People are not being honest. Now that you have mentioned this issue of Live Stock Guards in Benue, and so on, this now brings me, even though you haven’t asked the question, this brings me up to the media reports of Friday, March 2.

The Northern Governors Forum to me, irresponsibly, came out with a statement that the northern governors should adopt a policy of ranching as solution to whatever their own understanding of livestock development or peaceful co-existence between herders and farmers is. It is an irresponsible statement. Emphatically, because these governors have been sitting there for years, virtually with no policy on how to develop agriculture generally let alone how to develop livestock industry in this country and they have waited until some of these crises started manifesting and now we know we are in election year and a lot of the statements that seem to come out from the politicians including the governors are self-serving statements. I don’t know whom they are trying to please or where they are trying to escape to in terms of responsibility that they have to bear. You see, either they are speaking out of sheer ignorance, tactical ignorance of what agriculture is or what livestock development or industry is or they are speaking to the gallery, or speaking to both during elections.

I am a professional agricultural scientist. I was at one time Director Agriculture Research Institute of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) before I became its Vice Chancellor and we know what agricultural development is in its comprehensive forms in terms of crop development, in terms of livestock development, in terms of other branches that are relevant to agricultural development and we have been working on this for years and we have the relevant information available on our shelves, sometimes information that has been passed on to the Agriculture Extension Services of the states and this research information is supposed to be used in each state for the benefits of farmers, whether they are crop or livestock farmers. And these are things this government has consistently ignored and these are things that have taken us to the crisis stage that we are in now. And the fact that we have arrived at this crisis point will not allow anybody, governors inclusive to hoodwink Nigerians into projects that are unrealistic and cannot be achieved. I challenged any governor to go and show me his ranch so that livestock owners can go and learn from the ranch. I challenge any governor to go and show me how he has successfully or his state government has successfully created a pilot scheme to demonstrate how a ranch is established and operated. I challenge them.

And they have failed to read history. If they had read history of agricultural development correctly in terms of livestock development, they would have seen responsible governments in the past, particularly our regional government, here I want to make a distinction between a responsible regional government which we had, and I served under one of the them, the Northern Nigerian Government-they tried their hands, and honestly and genuinely tried their hands on grazing reserves which were established and gazetted. They also tried model ranching scheme. The most famous is Mokwa Cattle Ranch. If they had forgotten their history, they should go and read their history books particularly on ranching development that was. But all these failed, some for careless reasons, some for purely unavoidable ethical reasons, they failed. So for them to be talking to us about ranch now, I consider it irresponsible and deceptive but I challenge them, we want to see model ranching in each state that talked about ranch now within the next 12 months. I try to restrain my comments over this for some time now. I have seen this now more or less in the light of 2018 where we are, one year to the election and politicians including governors, politicians from all levels here, I don’t make any exception, are trying to play to the gallery, in playing to the gallery, they are looking for votes. Well, we are not going to allow them to deceive the people by way of these cheap, irresponsible statements, in trying to hoodwink us into believing that what they are saying is correct and the solution to the problem.

Certainly, they should know that this is not a solution to a problem that had been with us for hundreds ofyears. Even when the British came, they saw livestock as an important component of agricultural development policy and they did everything to make sure that it thrived and the way they did it was not necessarily to go for ranching even though they came from an environment where ranches were working or worked. They decided that they had to create something that fit the Nigerian environment. The circumstances of the Nigerian environment include lack of education on the part of the crop farmers, lack of education on the part of the livestock farmers and all manners of policies that had to be introduced that will enhance crop production and that would also enhance livestock production. First and foremost in the case of livestock, they decided that grazing reserves should be created as models for people with means, they could create their own pastures where their animals could feed throughout the year, and that is why they created  a number of grazing reserves across the country.

And if you look at this 35 percent I am talking to you, as an agronomist, we don’t require even the 35 per cent to do all that we require in terms of food production, including exports and raw materials; you only need a quarter of it. If you apply the technology that we researchers have developed over the last 40 or 50 years, I as a farmer knowing what to do,  I can produce seven tonnes of maize on one hectare today, given the knowledge that is available, not only in research institutes but should be available to our agriculture extension workers, they should be teaching farmers. As I speak to you now, our farmers are only able to produce 13 bags, 1.2 tonnes of maize per hectare because the extension services of the state governments are not working and the policy supports services, which include subsidy to agriculture and so on are not being applied. The livestock farmer does not even know that there is subsidy while the crop farmers are being given subsidies on fertilizer.

As a Director in the Research Institute 30 years ago, the minimum fertilizer requirement in this country is four million tonnes 40 years ago. So you can imagine what has happened to our soil 40 years ago, we probably require 10 million tonnes of fertilizer now. Go and check the total fertilizer that is available to famers in Nigeria today, it is less than one million tonnes. So where are these policies that talk about agriculture development. The livestock farming where we need our meat, where we need our milk and other things gets nothing except this vendetta, I call it political vendetta. The summary is this: what is driving all this noise about herdsmen-farmers clash is political, mixed with ethnic and unfortunately in some cases, religious bigotry. I want to emphasise that this is dangerous.  The time has come for us to stop it before it gets worse than what it is now.

Atiku has made restructuring of Nigeria a focal point of his subtle campaign and appeal to other parts of the country.  Does NEF support the idea of restructuring as being championed by the former VP?

Well, let me speak first on a personal note. When I started politics 1987, I started together with Atiku under the umbrella of Shehu Yar’Adua group so I know him very well. In fact, the first party we formed was People’s Front of Nigeria and Ango Abdullahi was its first National Chairman and Titi Ajanaku was its first Secretary, so we know ourselves well. Of course, he is a Nigerian politician and whatever may appear to be a soft spot for the Nigerian politician to press his finger on in order to gain support he will do. Restructuring if you look at it objectively and dispassionately, when Nigeria was put together in 1914, that was the beginning of restructuring of the country so that it can eventually come to be what Nigerians will wish it to be. When the amalgamation took place in 1914, that was the first restructuring that the colonial masters did bringing the Southern and Northern Protectorates together into one country, and eventually over time, began to introduce structures that will begin to bring the different structures together.

So many constitutions were enacted between the amalgamation and 1960 when Nigeria attained independence; so much has been going on in the country which is all restructuring of the Nigerian arrangement that will make the system work, not for anybody, but work for the people of Nigeria. In 1960, Nigeria was granted independence under a federal system of government, with a parliamentary system of government, with three regions, Northern, Western and Eastern regions. The first additional restructuring that followed 1960 was the adoption of the Republican system of government in 1960 and the same time brought about the fourth region, the Midwest Region. Of course, the military intervention in 1966 brought about certain changes, in that we moved from four regions to 12 states created by the Gowon administration. I think this is restructuring from what it used to be-one amalgamated country, to three federating regions, then later four federating regions, then 12 states and so on and these processes continued. My skepticism of the current call again takes me back to the issue of politicizing everything that we do.

So for me, if there is going to be restructuring in the country, first, we should change from the presidential system of government to parliamentary system, and in terms of institutions that are in charge of elections; we should abolish the State Independent Electoral Commissions and we should ban any party from contesting elections unless it has direct primary where all its members will come out and decide who is going to contest council chairmanship up to the presidency.

What does the nation expect towards 2019?

We are expecting a very peaceful transition of power from the present set of leaders at the national, state and local levels based on free will and free choice of Nigerians. That is our expectation.

Sun

The senator representing Kaduna Central in the National Assembly, Shehu Sani, has always been a radical. This nonconformist threw numerous federal lawmakers into uneasiness with his disclosure that senators collect N13.5 million monthly as running costs. Sani said it was necessary to stop the payment to make the National Assembly attractive to only people with ideas: “I decided to burst it open. It was a moral issue. The National Assembly is one of the most non-transparent organs of government. It pricked my conscience and I decided to burst the bubble and open the National Assembly to public scrutiny. If the payment system is ended, then parliament would only be attractive to people who contribute ideas.”

No doubt, our lawmakers need to cover running costs on things like travels, medicals, consultancy, maintenance of constituency offices, visits to constituency, office work and maintenance of facilities for operating offices in the National Assembly and constituencies. They also need good money to effectively carry out their oversight functions. However, this monthly N13.5 million figure can’t fly amid suffering in our land. At the current rate, the Senate and the House of Representatives will need about N50 billion annually to fund running costs. So, the National Assembly must cut down its expenditure in the interest of Nigerians. They must cut down their expenditure and free the funds for projects that will directly touch the lives of the masses of the people. Our dear legislators must subject themselves to greater austerity measures in an era of economic depression.

I still clearly recollect that in 2012, the United Kingdom-based Economist magazine concluded that Nigerian lawmakers were the highest paid in the world. This must not continue. For me, running cost for federal lawmakers should not exceed N3 million. These lawmakers must sacrifice their comfort in this era of despair. I believe that the bureaucracy of the National Assembly should be allowed to directly handle travels and medicals of these lawmakers to end insinuations of abuse and corruption in this process. Yes, the bureaucracy would try to drag them back with bottlenecks, but with good leadership from the National Assembly, these bureaucrats will fall in line.

Costs cutting must also apply to our legislators at the state level. They must cut down their spending in the interest of their people. For example, monthly, each lawmaker in Lagos takes home N5 million as cash advance for overhead costs. In all, a total of N550 million is allocated monthly to the Lagos State House of Assembly for overhead expenses. This amounts to N6.6 billion per annum. This is happening in a state where so many inner roads, schools and hospitals are in shreds. It is a slap in the face of the suffering masses of Lagos State. In Osun, Oyo and many other states where civil servants die daily due to huge salary backlog, lawmakers still draw huge running costs.

Insinuations abound on the abuse of running costs and constituency projects. I can clearly remember that Dr. Mohammed Tahir Bello, who worked as Senior Legislative Assistant to incumbent Senator Ibrahim Gobir representing Sokoto East sent a petition to Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, alleging abuse of the cash advance for overhead costs by his principal. He told me then that I could quote him that senators in the 7th Senate were advanced about N200 million each annually for this purpose.

Dr. Bello stated this with good authority because he handled some of the paper work for Senator Gobir. He alleged in the petition: “A cash advance of N51 million was quarterly released to every Senator which was retired fraudulently within three months to qualify for the next release.

The release was directly associated with an imaginary travel tour, constituency visits, office work and maintenance of facilities for operations of the senator in the National Assembly and the Constituency. The attached copies of the documents approved for retirements from the Sokoto-East Senatorial District speak volumes and exposed the fraudulent nature of the fund release. The expenditure was not desirable and therefore must be curtailed.”

Dr. Bello further claimed that there was consistent corruption in the Constituency projects executed for the federal lawmakers. He used his own Sokoto-East constituency as an example. Bello alleged: “A Constituency Project of N190 million was also approved for Sokoto-East Senatorial District and a sample presentation attached for 2012, shows a trend which was open for abuse. The first item on the submission list was a provision of two hundred (200) units of EasyBiz scheme facility at N550, 000 per entrepreneur to the tune of N110 million.

“An Award Contract document attached shows the initial release of about N67 million. However, throughout the project period, only twenty (20) and not the two hundred (200) units approved were delivered and even these were not distributed as scheduled but kept within the constituency office in Sokoto. These same twenty (20) units initially presented, were being cleaned and presented annually to the supervising Ministry (NDE) officials in Sokoto for fresh payments. These processes were maintained severally throughout the tenure.

“The Constituency Project was not delivered but payments were made annually. These projects and many others need to be examined critically to determine the best option to develop the constituencies. The project was for the provision of two town halls but that was converted to a construction and renovation of the residence of the traditional ruler which was uncompleted and abandoned, to date.

“The objective behind the MDG Project(s) was good but these were subjected to various abuses. Please find attached sampled copies of the cash retirement documents for your perusal and necessary action. As a strong member of the Buhari Support Organisation (BSO) during the campaigns, I look forward to providing the necessary assistance to reduce to the barest minimum the highlighted fraudulent activities in the operations of the National Assembly.”

Senator Gobir did not respond to these allegations. Gobir, who is also in this 8th Senate, evidently has a lot of explanation to do on this.
While tackling our lawmakers, we should also interrogate the Executive and Judicial arms of governments at all levels regarding running costs. All holders of elective and appointive offices still access huge running cost in an era of change. Many will be shocked if they know what ministers, heads of departments and agencies draw as running cost monthly. It was also alleged that Maikanti, who heads the NNPC, collects perplexing figure monthly as running outlays. The lady at the NPA, Hadiza Bala-Usman and my friend at NIMASA, Dakuku Peterside, are also said to be drawing frightening figures monthly as running costs. In the Presidency, aides of Mr. President pocket millions of Naira monthly as running expenses. These public servants should come out clean on what they collect as running costs. There should be transparency in an era of change.

Governor Ajimobi’s Absurd ‘Technical University’

All the higher institutions owned by Oyo State Government are in tatters. We are daily assaulted by tales of woes from Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso; The Polytechnic, Ibadan; Emmanuel Alayande College of Education, Oyo; The Ibarapa Polytechnic, Eruwa; The Oke-Ogun Polytechnic, Saki; Oyo State College of Agriculture and Technology, Igbo-Ora; The College of Education, Lanlate; School of Nursing and Midwifery Eleyele, Ibadan and the College of Hygiene and Health Technology, Eleyele Ibadan. Teachers in these institutions are permanently on strike due to unpaid salaries and decaying infrastructure.

I thought Governor Abiola Ajimobi would use the state’s resources to improve facilities and pay backlog of salaries in these institutions, but the reverse was the case. An apparently muddled Ajimobi recently inaugurated a new university called The Technical University (Tech-U), Ibadan, with fanfare. He said it was established to change the nation’s employment landscape through graduation of innovators and entrepreneurs. This is just a delusion.

Just like existing ones, Tech-U will evidently grapple with the same underfunding and infrastructural challenges. Ajimobi has not done any good to the people of Oyo State with Tech-U. This state under this governor has been struggling for survival in the last seven years. Health, education, road and other critical infrastructure in Oyo State are in a mess. Just visit any state-owned public school and hospital, and you will understand what I am talking about. Civil servants are also owed salary backlog. So, why waste resources on a new venture instead of tackling existing enormous challenges in the existing ones? This is food for thought for Ajimobi today.

Who Will Save Lagosians from Visionscape’s Shenanigans?

The main job given to Visionscape, the waste management firm engaged by Lagos State Government to keep Lagos spotless under its Cleaner Lagos initiative, is to collect waste from homes weekly and dispose. We were also told that waste bins would be provided for households. I doubt if a mere 1% of Lagosians are enjoying this service, several months after they assumed duties. This is why most homes in Lagos have been enveloped by waste. Some frustrated Lagosians simply heap their waste on the main roads. What Visionscape has been doing since assumption of duties is to place medium size waste bins on curbsides. Ordinarily, this should not be for households. In sane societies, bins on curbsides are for passersby. Some frustrated household heap their waste into these curbside containers and they spill over within minutes. This is why you hardly see a curbside bin in Lagos not begging for attention. When will Visionscape start collecting waste from homes? This is its main duty. Majority of Lagos households are still waiting for answer.

Again, street sweeping and cleaning by Visionscape is done manually and messily. Haba! How can this be happening in a modern era of motorised street sweeping? This is not the global standard. Lagos State deserves the best.

Visionscape’s trucks transporting waste to the landfill site in Epe often litter their routes because they are always poorly covered. I unsuccessfully tried to stop one of such notorious trucks with registration No EKY 33XV on Thursday March 15, while scattering its content on the road on the way to Epe. Visionscape is evidently unprepared for this task after collecting billions of Naira of Lagos tax payers’ money. There is more to this contract than what Lagosians are seeing. Watch out for a big expose soon.

A former Minister of Foreign Affairs and member of the defunct Presidential Committee on Boko Haram during the Jonathan administration, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, has said that external forces were undermining the country’s security and that the forces were stronger than the country.

Akinyemi, in an  exclusive interview with THISDAY in Lagos on Tuesday, added that Nigeria was experiencing the worst level of insecurity under the current government since the return to democratic rule in 1999.

The former minister said: “It’s always difficult to comment on matters dealing with security because there are always details that are only available to security operatives in the country and the President as the commander-in-chief. So in a way, one can only use common sense. And, when you feel that an issue that can be addressed by common sense wasn’t addressed then you wonder. There’re forces – very strong forces, external, and when I said ‘external’, I meant (forces) external to Nigeria – that the Nigerian government is incapable of controlling those who’re actually masterminding these operations.”

When asked if he agreed with the claim that security in the country is at its lowest ebb under the current regime, the elder statesman said: “Yes, I’ll agree with it and it is because there are forces at large internationally and those forces are looking for sanctuaries all over the world. Nigeria has been identified as one of such sanctuaries that they can operate in. Also, there’s competition for dominance in Nigeria by these forces.

“I’m worried. I am worried because it confirms my suspicion. My suspicion that there are forces – very strong forces, external to Nigeria – that the Nigerian government is incapable of controlling those who’re actually masterminding these operations. That’s what I’m worried about.”

When asked to expatiate on the external forces he was referring to, Akinyemi said: “ISIS is one of such forces. Number two, I think that we didn’t pay enough attention – of course, I mean when the people you put in charge of institution are actually not deep in the issue they confront, you’re going to have things like this. I served on the Boko Haram committee that was set up by the Goodluck Jonathan administration and we came across facts that I found frightening. Fortunately, this is a strange thing to say – the committee itself wasn’t unanimous on its interpretation of the realities that we came across.”

Citing an example of how precarious the state of insecurity of the country is, Akinyemi stated: “You’d recall that during the Jonathan administration, a ship laden with weapons was captured in Apapa and it turned out that an Iranian diplomat and other Iranian personnel were involved in this. It was of sufficient concerns to the Iranian government that they sent to Nigeria their foreign minister as the head of a delegation and they smuggled out of the country the diplomat who was involved in the arms issue. The other personnel were charged to court and sentenced to jail for their role in it –and then quietly released and expelled them from the country.

“But what’s happening in Syria if caution isn’t taken can be replicated in Nigeria. Let me give you another example: again, under Jonathan if you could recall, some weapons were found in a bunker in Kano. The DSS said they discovered those weapons. I got to know that it was the Israelis who tipped off the DSS as to the existence of those weapons. People were charged to court; what happened? I don’t know what happened to the people that were charged to court. But under the existing regulations, if weapons were found in a building, it is supposed to be demolished. And, I know that the DSS applied to Jonathan for permission to demolish that building. Permission wasn’t granted. 

“Definitely then, you know that Iran is involved in Nigerian spectacle. The Israelis are involved in Nigerian spectacle. The Palestinians are involved in Nigerian spectacle; and the Saudis. There has been penetration of our security forces –our security agencies –by some of these elements. So, we’re dealing with forces that are larger than Nigeria. The forces involved in the Nigerian debacle are by far stronger than the Nigerian government. Even if you changed your president, his successor would have a major battle on his hand if he decided to confront these elements.”

Alluding to some conspiratorial activities in the Nigerian government, Akinyemi expressed his angst over reported sabotage of military of a particular military operation in the North-East.

“On CNN, about three weeks ago, there was a news item interviewing some of the soldiers involved. These soldiers were supposed to have been five miles from the headquarters Boko Haram and they were stopped. They got orders from above to stop their operation; their movement and they stopped obeying the last order and then they were attacked massively. “CNN carried the story; showed the pictures. The army denied that any such order was given. Of course, they would deny, wouldn’t they? But the soldiers who were on the frontline – of course, anonymously you would expect – said they did get an order to stop advancing making their position available for a counterattack by Boko Haram. Tell me, what’s going on?”

Akinyemi also urged Nigerian politicians and the public to pay attention to what the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, said concerning the possibility of the military taking over the reins of power against the backdrop of the ongoing socio-political upheaval rather than see him as an alarmist.

“We don’t learn from history; not only politicians but even the public. That was really what Ekweremadu was saying: that the politicians –if the antelope decides to be so proud that it just marches with majesty and pomp and pride, it must remember that there are hungry lions around; that the field isn’t cleared. That’s all Ekweremadu was saying. Let those who have ears to hear, let them hear,” he said.

ThisDay

The Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), and human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), on Friday, said the National Assembly was wrong to question the authority of the judiciary to halt the plan by the lawmakers to proceed with the Electoral Act (Amendment) bill 2018.

The Senate had on Thursday resolved to petition the National Judicial Council over the decision of a Federal High Court to stop the lawmakers from taking any further action on the bill.

The lawmakers had said the judiciary had no power to stop them from carrying out their primary duty, which is to make laws.

However, Sagay told one of our correspondents during an interview that the court took the action in line with Quia timet, which is an injunction to restrain wrongful acts which are threatened or imminent but have not yet commenced.

The PACAC chairman said, “The law has a principle known as Quia timet. In other words, the court is given the power to stop or prevent injury before damage is done. A person who believes he will be a victim of an injury has the right to apply to a court to stop it beforehand and that is what the court has done.

“The court did not put a permanent stop to the process but merely a suspension. It is a brief restraint for a few days for a matter that is in court.”

The senior advocate urged the National Assembly not to be in a haste to question the powers of the judiciary as the judiciary was the only organ empowered by the constitution to resolve disputes between the executive and the legislature.

Sagay said the lawmakers should remember that if the executive refused to implement laws made by the National Assembly, the legislature could do nothing but run to the judiciary and so the lawmakers should be careful of their utterances.

He added, “It is very dangerous even against the interest of the National Assembly to begin to challenge the courts which are established to settle differences between the other two arms of government. And this is exactly what is happening.

“If the National Assembly is challenging the court for hearing this suit, what happens if after they have overridden the President’s veto, INEC decides to go on in accordance with its own timetable regardless? Where will the National Assembly run to?

Sagay maintained that the National Assembly’s plan to reorder the elections was at variance with the 1999 Constitution which empowers INEC to undertake, organise and supervise elections.

Also speaking, a human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), faulted the Senate for questioning the power of the judiciary.

He said, “Neither the judge who granted the order nor the lawyer who applied for the order committed any act of misconduct. The Senate ought to be reminded of the interlocutory order granted by the Supreme Court on May 7, 2015, which restrained the National Assembly from overriding the veto of former President Goodluck Jonathan on the 2015 amendment to the 1999 Constitution.”

On his part, a patron of  Buhari/Osinbajo 2019 re-election organisation in Kwara State, Alhaji Abdullahi Samari,  urged the National Assembly not to override President Muhammadu Buhari ’s veto of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.

He expressed the hope that Buhari would handle the matter wisely.

He spoke during the inauguration of the Kwara State Buhari/Osinbajo 2019 re-election organisation in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital on Friday.

Samari said, “Buhari is protecting the interest of the masses of Nigeria. It is unfortunate that some of our representatives may be trying to protect their selfish interest.

“I want to believe that at the end of the day, what Buhari is proposing will see the light of the day. I would not think the National Assembly should go to the extent of vetoing him. There must be an agreeable point. I think they should not do it (override Buhari’s veto.”

Samari, who is also the Chairman, Caucus for Progressives Change in the Kwara All Progressives Congress, said members of the group would work hard for the success of the APC in 2019, particularly the re-election of Buhari and Osinbajo.

Punch

A suicide attacker blew up a bomb-laden vehicle in Kabul on Saturday, killing at least two civilians and wounding several others, an Afghan official said.

“Around 9:10 am this morning a suicide car bomb exploded in Police District Nine of Kabul,” interior ministry spokesperson Najib Danish told AFP.

Two civilians were killed and three others were wounded in the attack, Danish said. The blast happened at a time when many people would have been driving to work.

Health ministry spokesperson Wahid Majrooh told AFP at least four people had been wounded.

Deputy interior ministry spokesperson Nasrat Rahimi said the bomber was heading towards global security company G4S but “detonated himself before reaching the target”.

The deadly attack – the latest in a series in the war-weary Afghan capital – comes days after the top US general in Afghanistan said protecting the city was a priority for foreign forces.

“Kabul is our main effort right now, to harden Kabul, to protect the people of Kabul and the international community that are here because of the strategic impact that has and the importance to the campaign,” General John Nicholson, told reporters on Wednesday.

The Taliban and its smaller rival Islamic State group have been dialing up the pressure on Kabul, launching a series of devastating attacks in recent months.

The most recent was on March 9 when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a Shia area of the city, killing at least nine people.

Saturday’s assault comes amid growing pressure on the Taliban to accept the Afghan government’s offer of peace talks to end the 16-year conflict.

So far the Taliban has given only a muted response to President Ashraf Ghani’s proposal last month, which also called for a ceasefire after which the group could become a political party.

Analysts said the Taliban leadership has been debating the merits of engaging with a government that the group has long viewed as illegitimate. But it appears to have few reasons to negotiate.

Nine martyred, over a dozen injured in Raiwind suicide attack

The Taliban has been resurgent since the withdrawal of US-led NATO combat troops at the end of 2014, taking back territory and devastating Afghanistan’s beleaguered security forces.

In October, insurgents controlled or influenced nearly half of Afghanistan’s districts – double the percentage in 2015, the US government’s office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction said in January.

Over the same period, the watchdog said, the number of districts under Afghan government control or influence fell to its lowest level since December 2015.

AFP

"Labelling the attackers as Fulani is wrong. Fulani people are peaceful and live in harmony with other ethnicities. To call the killer herdsmen Fulani is a misnomer. They are just criminals and not Fulani criminals"- Vice President Atiku Abubakar, 11 March 2018, Thisday Newspaper.



Is it so difficult for us to accept the ugly truth and to call a spade a spade? Must we continue to mock the memories of those that have been slaughtered by shielding those who butchered them? Have we no shame or remorse?  Are these childish semantics and infantile denials really necessary?

I have immense respect and affection for Vice President Atiku Abubakar and it stretches back for many years but this assertion shocks and surprises me. It is most unlike him to speak in this way. And I happen to know that he is far bigger and better than this.

There are however some ugly realities that we have to accept and live with in this country and this is one of them. Living in denial cannot solve the problem: it can only aggravate it and make it worse.

It is bad enough that hardly any Fulani leaders have come out to publicly condemn the activities of their herdsmen but to condemn the horrendous acts and then attempt to shield the racial identity of those behind it by saying that they are not Fulani is even worse.

Permit me to expand on this. Saying that the Fulani terrorists are not Fulani is rather like saying that Adolf Hitler's Nazis, who gassed 6 million Jews to death in concentration camps during Word War 1, were not German. It is like saying that Abubakar Shekau and his Boko Haram footsoldiers, who have slaughtered thousands of our people over the last few years, are not Muslims and are not Nigerians.

It is like saying that the white Boers who owned and ran apartheid-South Africa, who slaughtered the black African population and who regarded them as nothing more than animals that were only fit for breeding and slave labour, were not caucasians and did not originally come from Holland in western Europe.

Such assertions fly in the face of logic, have no basis in veracity, are manifestly irrational and are deeply insulting. Not only are they deeply flawed but, worst of all, they are designed to conceal the truth and obstruct any future attempt to bring the perpertrators to justice.

And if Atiku Abubakar or anyone else insists on saying that the killer herdsmen are not Fulani then perhaps they could tell us exactly what they are, who they are and where they come from?

Are they from Mars? Are they from Pluto? Are they from the moon? Or are they from the dark and sinister Vulture Mountain and the infamous "land of the bitter waters" in Futa Jalon, Guniea?

Last year Governor Nasir El Rufai told the world that they are non-Nigerian Fulanis and that they were from Niger, Mali, Chad and other such places.

Atiku has now gone a step further by saying that they are not Fulani at all, whether local or foreign! This consistent and constant denial from Fulani leaders has to stop. They must accept the fact that some of their people are naturally murderous and they must do something about it.

We must not shy away from challenging anyone who attempts to becloud this issue or mislead the Nigerian people.

It does not matter if we happen to be in the same political party or in different ones. If anyone, no matter how highly placed or respected, crosses the line or indulges in any shape or form of mendacity and deception in this matter, we must and will call that  person out.

That is what leadership is all about. And this is all the more important because the situation appears to be getting worse and, if we are not careful, it may escalate into a full scale religious and tribal war that would cause Nigeria to cease to exist.

Consider the words of Mr. Magnus Oraka who is from Jos and whose community was attacked just a few days ago.

He posted a moving and emotional video from his hometown on Facebook yesterday in which he spoke with courage and passion. He said,

"This Fulani attack and killing is war against Nigeria and war against Christians. It is not APC vs PDP, it is Muslim vs Christian. We don't have weapons to defend ourselves, all we have are sticks. God Punish Buhari, God punish those of you that voted for Buhari, God punish those that are still supporting Buhari. Look at my face! I am in Jos: come and meet me!"

To butress his point about the religious dimension of the conflict, according to the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) many Churches have been burnt down by Fulani herdsmen all over the country in the last three years. 60 of them were burnt down in Benue state in the last few weeks whilst over 1000 have been burnt down in Southern Kaduna alone in the last three years!

If this were simply a conflict over land rights and a struggle between tribes and ethnic nationalities why on earth are Churches being targetted by the Fulani as well?

Whichever way you look at it, clearly the victims and members of the indigenous communities that are under siege are getting fed up. Their backs are up against the wall and they are eager to defend themselves and hit back.

And given what they have been subjected to over the years and particulatly since Buhari came to power three years ago, who can blame them?

Most importantly they are under no illusion and have no doubt about who the aggressors, attackers and perpetrators are and where they come from.

The truth is that not only are these barbarians and genocidal maniacs that take delight in indulging in mass murders Fulani but they are also NIGERIAN Fulanis.

They are inspired, led, guided, funded, supported and protected by Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore and the Miyetti Allah Cattle Herders Association which are both organisations that are made up of Fulanis and that are headed by the Fulani Sultan of Sokoto and the Fulani Emir of Kano.

The Chairman of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, one Abdullahi Bello Bodejo, is Fulani as well just as are all the leaders of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association like one Garus Gololo. Finally their Life Patron is another Fulani by the name of President Muhammadu Buhari.

At one time or the other every single one of these individuals together with many other Fulani leaders such as the spokesman of the Arewa Consultative Forum, the notorious and rabidly pro-northern Fulani supremacist, Professor Ango Abdullahi, have tried to defend, justify and rationalise the outrageous and barbaric behaviour of their members and Fulani kinsmen.

They have said that the killings were inescapable, unpreventable and justified and that the Fulani herdsmen had every right to attack and slaughter innocent and defenceless people, including women and children, simply because those people were obstructing the free movement of Fulani cattle from one part of the country to another.

They also accused them of preventing the Fulani cows from eating their crops and of building houses on some fictitious and non-existent cattle routes which they claim that our erstwhile British colonial masters had allegedly granted them as far back as 1904!

Miyetti Allah itself went further by alluding to the fact that they were pleased with Buhari's luke-warm and indifferent attitude to the whole matter and indeed the way that he has run the country over the last three years and that if he was not re-elected as President in 2019 they would "burn Nigeria to the ground".

Knowing all this, for someone to now say that the killers are not Fulani is clearly an attempt to mislead the public and to befuddle the issues.

The Fulani leaders MUST accept that they own this problem and they must take full responsibility for the brutality, savagery and unacceptable behaviour of their people.

We must stop the deceit. There is no room for political correctness here or attempting to sweep the truth under the carpet. I say this because dozens of innocent people are being killed every day.

Furthermore it is disingenious and unfair to expect us not to call the terrorists who and what they really are: Fulani terrorists. We call them that because they are committing crimes against humanity and because they are members of the Fulani race.

If any Fulani leader is uncomfortable with that and do not want us to call them what they are then they are best advised to counsel and control their Fulani brothers and tell them to stop behaving like animals and killing our people.

Only a Fulani man will say that it is wrong or that it is a misnomer to call a killer Fulani herdsman and a Fulani terrorist what he is.

Such a man that is not ready to call a spade a spade cannot be taken seriously.

Let us make no mistake about it: todays struggle is not just about party politics or getting Buhari out of power in 2019.

The struggle is far bigger than that and it is essentially about securing our liberation. We are fighting to be free and to win our liberation from the hegemony, tyranny, cruelty and barbarity of the Fulani who have slaughtered our people like flies over the last three years and who insist on ruling our nation in perpetuity and turning us all into little more than paupers, beggars and slaves.

If that makes some uncomfortable it is simply too bad and it changes nothing. The truth is that it is time for us to call a spade a spade and to stop pampering the enemy or massaging his ego.

If the Fulani want to be treated with decorum, respect and affection and if any Fulani man ever wishes to have a hope in hell of being elected President of our country ever again, the genocide and ethnic cleansing that they unleash on our people on a daily basis must stop. Anything short of that is unacceptable.

Permit me to share the words of Mr. Samson Tannon Tongman who said the following:

"The agenda is bigger than Atiku. It is jihad, land grab and Islamization. All northerners must fall in line, including Atiku".

This is an insighful and deeply profound observation. It also provides a veritable explanation for the doublespeak that virtually every single northern Muslim leader, including a liberal and otherwise benign and reasonable one like Atiku, indulges in when it comes to the nefarious and unspeakable atrocities of the Fulani herdsmen and terrorists.

It appears that Mr. Opeyemi Oluyade was right when he said,

"this is the time for liberation politics, not party politics: liberation from the Fulani".

Permit me to conclude this contribution with the words of embattled Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue state whose people have been subjected to nothing less than genocide and have suffered immeasurably at the hands of the Fulani terrorists in the last three years.  A few days ago he hosted President Buhari in his state and said,

"On 30th May, 2017, the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore in a ‘World Press Conference’ held in Abuja, opposed the Ranching Law. They called on Fulani herders in all of West Africa to come into Benue to help them reclaim their land. In the same vein, Miyetti Allah Cattle Herders Association in their Press Conference declared that more blood will flow in Benue if the Ranching Law is not rescinded. Your Excellency, as a President that supports the Rule of Law, you will most certainly be offended by these hate speeches that may have crossed the red line. Your Excellency, how can a group claim responsibility for the killings that happened and are going about scot free? How can a group make public these inciting and criminal declarations in an organized society and are not arrested by the Police? Your Excellency, kindly order the immediate arrest and prosecution of the leadership of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore and Miyetti Cattle Breeders Association for carrying out their threats to attack Benue on account of the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law, 2017".

This is wise and courageous counsel from Ortom and it is long overdue. I agree with him that the leaders of Miyetti Allah should be arrested but I would go a step further by suggesting that the organisation should also be proscribed and declared as a terrorist organisation.

From the foregoing it appears that not everyone has been fooled or persuaded by the misleading assertion and perfidious narrative that those that are carrying out the killings are not Fulani.

Governor Ortom knows that they are Fulani just as does every other discerning and sensible Nigerian.

Furthermore by stating their intention to spill even more blood and kill every soul in Benue state and elsewhere simply because of the passing of the Anti-Grazing Bill, Miyetti Allah have not only confessed to their heinous crimes against humanity but they have also relished them, boasted about them and have made it abundantly clear that they intend to kill many more innocent people, including women and children.

What more evidence do we need to prove that these terrorists and mass murderers are indeed Fulani and that they have no intention of stopping the carnage until the people of southern and Middle Belt Nigeria are either completely wiped out and ethnically cleansed off the face of the earth or are ready to submit to them, give them all their land, give them all their farms and bow to their cows?

Those that are eager to mislead the world, becloud the issues, brush the filth under the carpet and cover the tracks of these bloodthirsty beasts should answer that question.

Permit me to conclude this contribution with the following.

Every day since the beginning of this year Fulani terrorists have killed people in one part of Nigeria or the other and the number of those murdered over the last three years has entered into the thousands.

On Thursday 15th March 2018, 35 innocent people, including women and children, were slaughtered in Kogi state as well.

The state has not passed an Anti-Grazing Law, its people have not blocked any cow-grazing routes and it's Governor, a young Igbira businessman by the name of Yahaya Bello, is a bumbling slave of the Fulani and a self-deprecating acolyte of Buhari who donated 15,000 hectares of state land to the herdsmen for the establishment of the infamous cattle ranches.

For those who say that the reason that the Fulani terrorists butcher innocent people is because of the Anti-Grazing Law, blocked grazing routes, hostility to them from the local indegenous population, hatred for Buhari or the refusal to establish cattle ranches, how do you explain this?

The truth is that there is no reason for their sociopathic and genocidal behaviour other than the fact that they are murderous by nature and they wish to wipe out entire indigenous populations all over Nigeria in order to take their land, steal their mineral resources,  rape their women, conquer their souls, enslave their people  and break their spirit.

It is their legendry brutality that qualified them to be the slave raiders for the Europeans and the Arabs during the days of the slave trade.

No-one, not even the cowards and quislings amongst us like Yahaya Bello that sell their souls and trade their birthright to them, that role out the red carpet to receive them and that bow and tremble before them are safe or exempt from their sociopathic barbarity and their psyhcopathic savagery.

That is a bitter lesson that many in our country still have to learn.

You cannot appease a ravenous and insatiable snake and you cannot befriend a wild and hungry beast.

The General Overseer of Redeemed Christian  Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, revealed his emotional side  yesterday during a condolence visit  to Benue State on the recent killing of innocent people by herdsmen.

Adeboye told Governor Samuel Ortom how he wept in January during the mass burial of 78 victims of the mayhem.

“No man of God will see a mass burial anywhere and not feel the pains of the people affected,”  he said.

He added: ”Benue State is very, very close to my heart; I had felt every pain you people felt and I wept when I saw you weeping.”

Pastor Adeboye, who was accompanied by his wife, Folu, said he was in Makurdi to console and pray for the government and people of the state over the killings by suspected herdsmen.

He  said he did not visit the state before the President to avoid unnecessary speculations about his intention.

He said:”We want these killings to stop. Happily, we know someone who can stop it. He is the Almighty God; He does not fail or compromise.He is the God of all.

“We will continue to call on Him to fight this battle and you can be assured that victory will be certain.”

Receiving Adeboye and his entourage, Ortom said the herdsmen’s rampage,apart from causing the deaths of many people, has created a huge humanitarian crisis in the state.

The Nation 

President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday named the governors of Kebbi, Taraba, Plateau,  Lagos,  Ebonyi and Delta States as members of the National Food Security Council.

The council’s broad objectives include developing sustainable solutions to the farmers-herdsmen clashes, climate change and desertification and their impact on farmland, grazing areas and lakes, rivers and other water bodies, oil spillage and its impact on Niger Delta fishing communities, piracy and banditry, agricultural research institutions and extension services and the problem of smuggling.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, who disclosed this in a statement, said the council, to be chaired by the president, would be inaugurated on Monday.

He said Buhari approved the constitution of the council’s membership days after he announced the intention of the federal government to establish the council. 

Other members are the Secretary to the Government of the Federation Boss Mustapha, the Chief of Staff to the President  Abba Kyari, the National Security Adviser  Babagana Monguno and seven  ministers.

The ministers are those of Agriculture and Rural Development, Finance, Interior, Industry, Trade and Investment, Water Resources, Environment, Budget and National Planning.

Other members include the Chief of Defence Staff, the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, the Directors-General of the Department of State Services and National Intelligence Agency as well as the Comptroller-General of Nigeria Immigration Service.

Shehu said the council would also take interest in regional and global policies and trends that bear implications for food security in Nigeria.

DailyTrust 

The new headquarters for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will be built by China, the group confirmed in a press statement on Wednesday March 14, 2018.

The political bloc and China have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the project that is expected to cost $31.6 million.

“The President of the ECOWAS Commission, Mr. Jean-Claude Brou and the Ambassador of China to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Mr. Zhou Pingjian signed for both parties in a bilateral meeting held at the ECOWAS Commission headquarters, Abuja,” the statement read.

The idea of a new headquarters was initiated in 2012 but action on the said project takes immediate effect from the date of the signing of the deal.

The project is expected to cater for a facility comprising offices and conference complex building, as well as road facilities, electrical equipment, parking lots and security posts within the proposed site of the project.

ECOWAS currently operates from three different building in Nigeria’s administrative capital, Abuja. According to the President of the ECOWAS Commission that situation was necessitated by the increasing numbers of staff.

“An ECOWAS designated authority and the China Development Bank Corporation will work together to verify records of account payments at regular intervals,” the statement further clarified.

The development emphasizes China’s political and diplomatic investment in Africa. They built the African Union (A.U.) headquarters in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. They are also building a new parliament for Congo Republic and rebuilding the burnt premises in Gabon.

China was accused in a French newspaper report of spying on the A.U. building. The report by Le Monde said China had installed hidden microphones in the building and were transferring sensitive information at odd times of the day.

The A.U. and China jointly rubbished the report with China describing it as preposterous and meant to damage relations between the two partners.

Africanews