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  • Nigeria is Ours to Make – Group

    Nigeria is Ours to Make – Group

    Statement on the Nigerian Crisis

     

    Well before the Federal Government announced the ban on the microblogging platform, Twitter, on Friday June 4, 2021, its preference for heavy-handed and bellicose approach to public issues had become a matter of serious concern to citizens at home and abroad. Strikingly, this attitude is proceeding in the face of widespread insecurity, lack of economic opportunity, especially for young people, widening state-society disconnect, leading to deepening disaffection, growing immiseration, and socio-political ills too numerous to count.

     

    We, the undersigned, have collectively reflected on the current state of affairs in the country and consider it an act of public service to take a stand by speaking directly to the government.

    The immediate trigger for the Twitter ban was the platform’s deletion of a tweet posted on President Muhammadu Buhari’s handle, it having judged the tweet as not abiding by its policy.

     

    However, long before this incident, on which the dust is yet to settle, the government has exhibited a willingness to censor public debate, especially on social media. The proposed but defeated Social Media Bill of 2019 was an early signal of this position. In the aftermath of the #EndSARS protests of October 2020, the Minister for Information, Mr. Lai Mohammed, publicly declared that social media must be “regulated” in order to prevent the spread of “fake news.”

    Several media outlets and public commentators have identified a pattern between this official position and repeated and coordinated attempts at guiding personal access to telecommunications data through registration of NIN and other directives to telecommunications companies.

     

    There is a sense in which Nigeria as a country is going through a long, transitional period of democratic awakening, considering that the Fourth Republic marks the first sustained span (of twenty-two years) of civilian rule since independence. From this perspective, it is understandable that different aspects of society–political, economic, religious, and the like–come to belated awareness of its intrinsic value and significance. What appears like disorder from a purely statistical or empirical point of view could then be perceived as a civilian body politic, a system of rule of law, slowly renewing itself away from the predatory, psychological violence of military rule.

     

    However, as the government under President Buhari has shown, a civilian government does not automatically make for a rule of law regime, or a democracy underpinned by the separation of powers marked by a just, humane, and transparent conduct of government. If the actions of the current government are anything to go by, a civilian government is clearly and unceasingly reversing the gains of nearly three decades of public-spirited citizens holding the government of the day to standards of democracy, whether such a government is led by a soldier or by a civilian.

     

    While campaigning for office, President Buhari presented himself as a “born-again democrat” and, once elected, swore to abide by the Nigerian Constitution. On the contrary, most of his actions and public positions as regards individual freedoms are unmistakably those of a dictator. He seems to act speedily only when there is a political enemy to be punished, retreating into a habitual lethargy as soon as the threat is eliminated. To many people within and without Nigeria, the Buhari of 2021 is different from the Buhari of 1984 only to the extent that the latter is older and not wearing khaki!

     

    This state of affairs is unacceptable, but it is not inevitable. Clearly, on the evidence of the global response to the Twitter ban, the government cannot hope to get away with this willful traducement of individual rights that are enshrined in the constitution.

     

    The first step toward checking this situation is to insist on the primacy of the separation of powers between the three arms of the government, and the practical checks and balances it affords. The current national assembly is alarmingly in lockstep with the executive, merely rubberstamping the latter’s propositions, and for all practical purposes sitting idly by at a time of serious national emergency. The judiciary seems astonishingly rudderless, proof of which is to be found in a variety of anomalous developments, the most recent being a strike by federal judicial workers, which went on for weeks.

     

    Secondly, in bourgeois-liberal terms, the media are recognized as the “fourth estate,” with the intellectual and professional wherewithal to forestall acts of executive lawlessness, and failing that, sensitize the public to embracing means of redressing such acts. Although the press in Nigeria has an impressive history of standing as a vanguard of public interest, of recent it has lost its old luster. Of note is the general decline in the quality of public discourse and the susceptibility of media to misinformation, driven no doubt by the nature of new technologies of dissemination. Rather than bemoan this state of things or roll out censorious requirements, a truly democratic system should see in it an opportunity for a vibrant public sphere where, as the saying goes, the cream will rise to the top.

     

    Thirdly, we have those who see the current Constitution as flawed, and have called for its overhaul. Such calls have even assumed the approach of insisting on “restructuring.” Although the exact parameters of such restructuring would need to be worked out, we support the broad principle of restructuring in so far as it is meant as a holistic national conversation and makeover to address, and where possible repair, undeniable historical injustices, unhealed historical injuries of war and colonial and postcolonial political configurations, socioeconomic inequities, and sundry structural imbalances. While no constitution is perfect, there is a sense in which the current geopolitical structure of the country, founded on the juridical principles of the 1999 constitution, and polices arising therefrom, unduly concentrates power at the center, to the detriment of the states and other constituent units. Restructuring, properly defined and stripped of political posturing, needs to be taken seriously, but restructuring is only one of several necessary interventions needed to rescue and reinvigorate the union.

     

    We are of the view that a transparent and consistent pursuit of the principles in the first two items serves as a starting point in addressing these ills, i.e., lack of separation of

     

    powers; the degraded- and degrading- quality of public discourse in the media; and the persistent, if sometimes confusing, agitation for “restructuring.” This is because, in the final analysis, among the most important duties of a government is the guarantee of the safety of its citizens and their individual freedoms. On this count, the Buhari government has failed woefully, and the responses of its officials have been divisive, high-handed, and insensitive. A more equitable Constitution stands to improve the discharge of these duties, but the task of stemming the tide of widespread insecurity, political disorder, and lack of economic opportunity cannot wait.

     

    President Buhari and his officials swore to uphold the Constitution as it is. Their first task is to keep their oath of office, and this should not be done at the expense of the interests and rights of the citizens. So far, they have done little to dismiss fears in certain circles that fidelity to the oath of office is secondary in their calculations.

     

    To the proliferating calls in certain quarters for the dissolution of the union, we have two responses. First, centrifugal, separatist, and other varieties of self-determination agitation are not in and of themselves dangerous and should not be criminalized as seditious, traitorous sentiments to be violently crushed. Such agitations, which are legitimate expressions of the internationally recognized right to self-determination and are understandable products of justifiable disillusionment with the deepening dysfunction, should be handled delicately, so as not to inflame a volatile polity and so that we can separate legitimate and thoughtful struggles for regional autonomy, local developmental freedoms, and alternative national aspirations from bellicose nationalist posturing.

     

    Second, we are blessed with an incredibly rich, vibrant, complex and productive country that is worth preserving and reforming in the direction of justice, inclusion, and equity. It is true that these potentials have been routinely wasted, undeveloped, when not made to serve narrow sectional or parochial interests. The more creative option to salvage our broken nation, we are convinced, is to work for a positive change for the benefit of all, now and for the future. It is such resolve that has seen the country weather previous periodic storms, and there is nothing unusual or insurmountable about our problems. It is in this spirit that we issue this statement. Nigeria is ours to make.

     

    Abimbola Adelakun, The University of Texas at Austin

    Akin Adesokan, Indiana University

    Kunle Ajibade, The News, Lagos

    Ebenezer Obadare, University of Kansas

    Moses Ochonu, Vanderbilt University

    Olufemi Taiwo, Cornell University

    Olufemi Vaughan, Amherst College

    Jacob Olupona, Harvard University

    Simeon Ilesanmi, Wake Forest University

    James Yeku, University of Kansas

    Oka Obono, University of Ibadan

    Farooq Kperogi, Kennesaw State University

    Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin

    Akanmu Adebayo, Kennesaw State University 4

    Adedoyin Ogunfeyimi, Dartmouth College at Hanover

    Peyibomi Soyinka-Airewele, Ithaca College

    Samuel Zalanga, Bethel University, Saint Paul, Minnesota

    Ainehi Edoro-Glines, University of Wisconsin-Madison

    Mojúbàolú Olufúnké Okome, Brooklyn College, CUNY

    Rotimi Suberu, Bennington College, Vermont

    Oyeronke Oyewumi, Stony Brook University, New York

    Tade Ipadeola, The Khalam Collective, Ibadan

    Saheed Aderinto, Western Carolina University

    Ibrahim Abdullah, Fourah Bay College, Freetown

    Asonzeh Ukah, University of Cape Town

    Iruka Okeke, University of Ibadan

    Jibrin Ibrahim, Centre for Democracy and Development, Abuja

    Niyi Afolabi, University of Texas at Austin

    Chiedo Nwankwor, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies

    Cajetan Iheka, Yale University

    Nimi Wariboko, Boston University

    Nwando Achebe, Michigan State University

    Akin Ogundiran, University of North Carolina, Charlotte

    Omolade Adunbi, University of Michigan

    Rita Kiki Edozie, University of Massachusetts-Boston

    Sa’eed Husaini, Centre for Democracy and Development, Abuja

    Biko Agozino, Virginia Techs

    Folu Ogundimu, Michigan State University

    Funso Afolayan, University of New Hampshire

    Tola Olu Pearce, University of Missouri, Columbia

  • Leah Sharibu has delivered second child in Boko Haram captivity — Group

    Leah Sharibu has delivered second child in Boko Haram captivity — Group

    A United States-based group US-Nigeria Law Group has alleged that the Dapchi Christian” schoolgirl, Leah Sharibu has given birth to a second child in captivity.

    TheNewsGuru recalls that Sharibu who was abducted from her school in Dapchi, Yobe State, in February 2018 was reported to have given birth to her first child, a boy, in January 2020. She was allegedly given in marriage to a top Boko Haram commander who lives outside Nigeria.

    Sharibu was part of 110 schoolgirls of Government Girls’ Science and Technical College (GGSTC) who were kidnapped by Boko Haram insurgents at the time.

    While majority of the girls have regained their freedom, Sharibu was held back for refusing to denounce her Christian faith.

    Convener of the US-Nigeria Law Group Emmanuel Ogebe said in a statement that “despite an offer by an American pastor last month to surrender himself in exchange for Leah’s freedom, there has been no tangible response from her captors.

    “That notwithstanding, intelligence received on the status of Leah indicates that she has delivered a second child in captivity. While we have not corroborated this by multiple sources, a usually knowledgeable source indicated that she delivered a second child late last year. This means both children were born in 2020 as the terrorists announced her childbirth earlier in 2020. We are still investigating this.”

    To memorialize the March 21 third anniversary of the release of the Dapchi girls returned by their captors and “abandonment of Leah Sharibu”, the US group in its commemorative statement, said “until she is released, Leah remains a poster child and symbol of a failed state that can’t protect its children”.

    The group also bemoaned the “full-scale onslaught on education in Nigeria by Islamist extremists: Boko Haram wars against education; bandits mass kidnap of children in school; and religious violence against Christian mission school owners in Ilorin over hijab controversy.”

     

  • As another group holds Nigeria hostage (3), By Ehichioya Ezomon

    As another group holds Nigeria hostage (3), By Ehichioya Ezomon

    By Ehichioya Ezomon
    Members of the Amalgamated Union of Foodstuffs and Cattle Dealers of Nigeria miscalculated the other day, in their belief that the South would capitulate under the supplies blockade to the zones.
    But media reports, on which this piece rests, spoke of Southern ethnic nationalities laughing-off the stage the union members, who clamped a not-well-thought-out embargo on innocent citizens.
    Unknown to the dealers, the strike, to quote a local parlance, has thrust on Southern people what they’ve been “looking for in Sokoto,” whereas “it’s in their sokoto (Yoruba native trousers).”
    And that’s control of resources, alias “resource control” – a system in which owners, for instance, states, control and exploit their resources, and pay taxes and royalties to the central government.
    The people of Niger Delta, “true owners” of oil and gas for quick-access revenue that runs the Nigerian State, have led agitation by the South for fiscal federalism, true federalism or the catchphrase, “restructuring,” driven mainly by the control of resources.
    With the North boasting that it feeds Nigeria, and its dealers blackmailing others with agro-products, the South could as well deploy its most vital asset – oil and gas – for immediate leverage.
    The Pan-Niger Delta Elders Forum (PANDEF), the umbrella body for the peoples of the South-South, hinted at this possibility, while reacting to the dealers’ products blockade to the South.
    PANDEF’s national publicity secretary, Ken Robinson, relayed the body’s message thus: “What this (embargo) means is that those foodstuffs the South gets from the North will be scarce. Good enough, no section of the country has monopoly of everything.
    “Perhaps, this is their (North’s) own way of clamouring for restructuring and telling others ‘to your tent, oh Israel!’ The ramification of what they are doing, if they continue, is to tell us to also stop the flow of oil and gas from the South to the North.
    “If the government does not act promptly, and continue to handle this issue with kid gloves, as it is handling the issue of killer herdsmen, it will spell doom for the country. We have always said if Nigeria fails to restructure, the country will restructure itself. Perhaps, this is the beginning of that narrative.”
    Other Southern nationalities are in accord with PANDEF’s position, including the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, which faulted the blockade as the handiwork of people “who cannot understand what will happen to them if the South decides to shut them off of essentials from this area.”
    National Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, said northerners can’t threaten the South with withdrawal of supplies that can be sourced elsewhere, such as Togo and Benin Republics, noting that the dealers’ action would benefit the South.
    Highlighting other sources of protein besides cow, Odumakin said: “If they withdraw their cows from the South, no problem about that. It will encourage our people to do more in the area of agriculture.
    “They (dealers) should also not forget that petroleum goes from South to the North. So, when you are throwing stones at your neighbour, you should be careful what he throws back at you.”
    The Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE) said the blockade was a wake-up call to the South, and “we congratulate the northerners for taking that action because they will wake us up from our slumber.”
    The council’s former national chairman, Dansaaki Samuel Agbede, said: “Let them (North) take back their foodstuffs and eat them… But the herders should stop grazing their cattle on our farmlands because it’s their cattle that eat our fresh maize and cassava.”
    To the spokesman of the Agbekoya Farmers’ Society, Olatunji Bandele: “This is practically a cold war against the South-West. When you block the transportation of food items to a particular set of people, you have declared war on such people.
    “We don’t have to deceive ourselves again. Nigeria is in crisis and on the brink of collapse. The northerners are ready to overrun the South because they believe they are the owners of Nigeria.”
    The Ohanaeze Ndigbo’s publicity secretary, Chief Alex Ogbonnia, simply said: “This is strange. Instead of addressing the complaints from across the country about herders’ destruction of farmlands, they are threatening to block food supply.
    “In any case, these goods are perishables. They (North) will suffer more, not the South. There is no food item in the North that cannot grow in the South. Efi Igbo (Igbo cows) and other cattle can be reared here… We will look inwards, and be more creative.”
    Perhaps, gauging the loaded reactions from Southern Nigeria, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) struck a conciliatory, rather than a bellicose tone, like that of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF).
    Chief Audu Ogbeh, the chair of the ACF, called on the leadership of the foodstuffs and cattle dealers to halt the embargo, as “Nigeria is not at war with itself, and such a drastic action is not necessary.”
    Ogbeh said the “ACF is willing to talk to security agencies and the government” to help resolve the union members’ reported severe losses during #EndSARS riots and the violence in Oyo State.
    “There is no need mounting a blockade by one section of the country against the other,” Ogbeh said, adding that, “whatever may be our differences, the ACF, as an ardent believer in free trade, believes that goods should be allowed to move freely.”
    “This extreme measure is not progressive and even counterproductive. This is not the way to go… The blockade will only further complicate the socio-economic and political problems facing our country today,” Ogbeh said.
    Similarly, ACF’s national publicity secretary, Emmanuel Yawe, affirming the grievances of the dealers, said “they’re going about it the wrong way,” by imposing an embargo of the South.
    “Their (dealers’) grouse is that neither the states nor federal government compensated them,” Yawe said, adding: “We believe they have a point but are going about it the wrong way… There should be free flow of trade; otherwise, the problems we are going through now in the country will be compounded.”
    But NEF’s director of publicity and advocacy, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, came out swinging, stating that the forum “will not abandon northerners to the lawlessness of fellow citizens,” even as he considered vital the ferrying of agro-products to the South.
    “The whole nation knows that northerners and northern interests have been attacked, harassed and intimidated in the last few weeks without any provocations. Drivers and others conveying goods… have been attacked, looted or destroyed,” Baba-Ahmed said.
    “The Forum is keeping a close eye on developments. We will advise the union as appropriate, but our involvement will be contingent on evidence that northerners will be safe as they travel the length and breadth of Nigeria… in lawful economic activities.”
    Equally bombastic was the leader of Northern Consensus Movement, and publicity secretary of the dealers’ union, Awwal Aliyu. Likening the South-East, South-West and South-South to sovereign states, he boasted that the dealers had resorted to channeling their products to West African markets.
    Aliyu said: “It is more profitable for us to export to other countries than taking them to Southern Nigeria. Our people make more money from other West African countries than taking their goods to the South-East, South-West or South-South.”
    What manner of approach to resolving a contentious problem! Had the ACF and other bodies in the North acted as NEF and the movement did, the dispute could’ve lingered, and dragged Southern Nigeria into the fray, as some entities had wished for.
    But despite the fiery rhetoric by the likes of Baba-Ahmed and Aliyu, wise counsel prevailed, and doused the unnecessary and avoidable power-show by the agro-products dealers.
    * Mr. Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.
  • As another group holds Nigeria hostage (2), By Ehichioya Ezomon

    As another group holds Nigeria hostage (2), By Ehichioya Ezomon

    By Ehichioya Ezomon
    New revelations are coming from Northern Nigeria, on the heels of the disclosure by Kaduna-based Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, that the government and security agencies “know the bandits’ hideouts” in the forests across Nigeria.
    In January and February 2021, Sheikh Gumi’s in the news, acting as “unofficial go-between” for bandits that had kidnapped hundreds of people, and the governments of mostly North-West states.
    Relating the negotiations, Sheikh Gumi threw several bombshells, including that, the Fulani herdsmen are fighting for existence, hence their kinsmen cross borders (into Nigeria) to defend them.
    That Muslim soldiers, deployed to combat bandits, don’t shoot at the criminals; and that in revenge, the bandits should target non-Muslims (read Christians) among the security operatives.
    And that the herdsmen are “militants” comparable with the Niger Delta militants, and the bandits should be treated as such and granted amnesty, for peace to return to North-West and elsewhere.
    This time, it’s Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State that’s confirmed what polity watchers had hazarded prior to and during the one-week supply embargo on Southern Nigeria by the Amalgamated Union of Foodstuffs and Cattle Dealers of Nigeria.
    Mr Bello disclosed a trio of “secrets” that underpinned the so-called strike by the dealers: One: That “one governor and someone close to the seat of power in Abuja” were opposed to his intervention in the agro-products blockade to Southern Nigeria.
    Two: That following the stoppage of supplies to the South, Northern youths had mobilized to launch reprisal attacks should the South retaliate the embargo. And three: That the youths “were sponsored” by persons or groups the governor didn’t reveal their identities.
    Bello, with the backing of the Presidency, had negotiated with the foodstuffs and cattle union, to call off the strike that induced shortages and price hikes in the South, especially in Lagos, which consumes about 50 per cent of products in the South-West.
    The latest leak by Bello has affirmed the view that the strike by the dealers wasn’t to challenge alleged maltreatment of their members, but to express sympathy with bandits parading as herdsmen.
    In the first of this serial on Monday, March 8, 2021, I surmised that the dealers’ blockade of foodstuffs and cattle was in solidarity with herdsmen rather than to protest reported intimidation, humiliation, carnage and destruction of their goods in Southern Nigeria.
    Though Bello didn’t disclose the “governor and someone close to the seat of power in Abuja” that queried his intervention in the standoff over foodstuffs and cattle supplies, it’s obvious that the dealers had supports within and outside the government.
    And that’s why the Northern youths, as the governor revealed, were prepared to launch reprisal attacks if the South challenged the dealers’ blockade of the supply chain.
    Bello said he stepped in to end the North-South trade blockade “because of a looming catastrophe in the country,” as the National Assembly, the Governors’ Forum and other stakeholders failed to address the complaints of traders from the North and South.
    At best, Nigerians may guess “the governor and someone close to the seat of power in Abuja,” who opposed Bello’s peace initiative, but as he said, the individuals “were uninformed.”
    Indeed, they’re uniformed! Blinded by their parochial interest, and assumed monopoly of power, they didn’t contemplate the “unintended consequences” of the embargo on Southern Nigeria.
    The immediate consequence is losing the Southern market, and incurring of huge losses in perishable goods, and overall revenue in billions, as the strike lasted. But the dealers’ bombastic spokesman, Awwal Aliyu, dismissed any losses attributable to the blockade.
    In the heat of the crisis, Mr Aliyu, who leads the Northern Consensus Movement, boasted in well-publicized interviews that the dealers no longer reckoned with the market in the South.
    Aliyu said: “Our people have started exploiting new business opportunities. Because they do not want to lose their perishable products, they have discovered a route that goes through Sokoto to Burkina Faso, to Chad, to Niger Republic and other parts of West Africa. A lot of lorries are exporting goods to those places.
    “So, we are losing nothing. In fact, it is more profitable for us to export to other countries than taking them to Southern Nigeria. Our people make more money from other West African countries than taking their goods to the South-East, South-West or South-South.” (So, the dealers regard these geopolitical zones as countries?)
    When one door closes, another one opens. But have the dealers just discovered the existence of these foreign markets when they’ve long pushed their foodstuffs and cattle into Southern Nigeria?
    The issue of the blockade is a two-way traffic. Had the dealers sustained their strike, another door would’ve opened for the South to import foodstuffs and cattle, even as the region strove to bridge the supply gap with local production.
    The strike has renewed Southern interest in agriculture, especially for foodstuffs and cattle production, that’s been at a subsistence level, as the South depended on the North for the supplies.
    Now that that chain of supply has been shaken or broken by the dealers, the South has seen an opening for serious business rather than the lip service its leaders have paid to agriculture.
    For instance, the South-West, which views the zone as specifically targeted by the blockade, has kickstarted moves towards ensuring improved food production in the six states of the zone.
    Responding to the foodstuffs and cattle embargo, the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) commission, on March 2, 2021, facilitated an interactive session for commissioners and special advisers on agriculture in the zone.
    A communiqué of the parley, issued by the director general of the DAWN commission, Seye Oyeleye, was first reported by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR).
    The bulletin stated that the South-West states “are fully aware of their responsibilities in ensuring that their people have access to food in abundance, and will continue to provide the enabling environment for such to be available in abundance.”
    The report stressed the need for the states to work together, to simplify access to land for investors in agriculture; put critical dams into active use, to move farming from rain-dependent to water-dependent; ensure increased production of goods in which the region has comparative advantage; share ideas on how to attract more youths into agriculture; and appreciate the commitments by some states to take action on the resolution within three weeks.
    Indications are that the South-East and South-South are also to ramp-up production in foodstuffs and cattle, to cut the dependence on Northern Nigeria that may regard the last impasse as a victory.
    So, it’s about time Southern Nigeria stopped the shenanigans of the Northern-controlled agro-traders, to prevent their random use of the blockade trump-card against the South in future.
    * Mr. Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.
  • Declare Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders a terrorist organization – Group tells FG

    Declare Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders a terrorist organization – Group tells FG

    The Federal Government has been urged to declare the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria a terrorist group.

    A group, the Igbo National Council (INC), made the demand during a summit held in Owerri, the Imo State capital.

    INC President, Chilos Godsent also asked Nigerians to stop buying and eating cow meats grown by the Fulani herdsmen.

    The activist said the call for Nigerians to stop buying and eating cow meats is a ” minimum measure of economic sanctions against the killer Herdsmen.’

    He scowled at the present Nigeria political system which, according to him, has failed to favour the Igbo race.

    “The Igbo Nation is in a pathetic situation in a country she has contributed to more than others.

    “We say NO to the wanton and reckless destruction of properties and killing of Igbos and Nigerians by the rampaging Fulani Jihadists Herdsmen and Bandits.

    “We demand the immediate review and overhaul of the Nigeria Security Architecture for efficient service delivery.

    “We charge all Nigerians to boycott the buying and eating of cow meat as a minimum measure of economic sanctions against the killer Jihadist Herdsmen.

    “Finally, we strongly demand that the Federal Government of Nigeria declare the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), a terrorist group for their open and brazen support and participation in terrorism in Nigeria through the Jihadist Killer Herdsmen.”

     

  • Insecurity: As another group holds Nigeria hostage (1), By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Insecurity: As another group holds Nigeria hostage (1), By Ehichioya Ezomon

    By Ehichioya Ezomon
    Can things get worse than they’re in Nigeria today? It’s doubtful! That’s why rational minds can’t blame critics for labelling Nigeria a “failing state,” a “failed state” or a “banana Republic.”
    Where else will non-state actors dictate the pace and tenor of things, and the government appears nonchalant, helpless or abetting activities that are purely private and of self-interest?
    In the past few years, herdsmen have graduated from cattle-rearing to banditry and to kidnapping, terrorising Nigeria, and leaving a trail of death and destruction from the North to South.
    The bandits’ activities got to a crescendo lately, that talks about a second “civil war” are no longer a hush-hush, but have generated a debate as to how to avoid a bloodbath of the past, as the various ethnic groups go their separate ways.
    While concerned Nigerians chew the implications of the bandits’ terrorism on the nation, another group of non-state actors has emerged, assuming a monopoly of power, to flex its muscles.
    But unlike the bandits that have spread their tentacles to all parts of the country, and strike at random at soft targets with a limited number of casualties; the latest irritants, without firing a shot, aim at mass murder through deprivation and starvation.
    Members of the Amalgamated Union of Foodstuffs and Cattle Dealers of Nigeria, in the past week, blockaded the supply chain, specifically from the North to Southern Nigeria.
    What’s the South’s offence? The foodstuffs and cattle dealers, dominated by Northern members, wanted the public to believe that they’re striking to protest intimidation, humiliation, carnage and destruction of their goods in the South of the country.
    But their action, carefully planned and executed, coincided with the South’s repudiation and challenge of herdsmen, who’ve sacked and occupied communities and forest reserves in the South.
    What better way to show their solidarity with the herdsmen than for the dealers to cut the foodstuffs and cattle supply chain that’d affect mainly the South that depends on supplies from the North!
    And what did our government do? As usual, the authorities were caught flat-footed, and struggled to react after the dealers’ action have’d maximum effect in shortages and skyrocket-prices of foodstuffs and cattle in the South.
    It isn’t that the government wasn’t aware of the dealers’ intended protest, as the authorities were given a long notice, first a three-week ultimatum issued by the dealers on November 7, 2020. That’s a heads-on of three months and three weeks before the “strike.”
    The dealers also claimed they’d written “to all the security agencies, including the Army, as well as the Presidency” before the strike commenced, the General Secretary of the dealers, Ahmed Alaramma, told newsmen at the Labour House in Abuja.
    As the New Telegraph editorial of Thursday, March 4, 2021, on “Banditry and Buhari’s pledge of containment” noted, the bane of our governments is that, “they hardly take proactive actions to prevent untoward happenings. They are also cynically lethargic to nip in the bud such occurrences. And they only react when it is too little too late, as things have gotten out of hand.”
    Had the authorities swung into action, and halted the dealers’ threat to embark on strike, to protest alleged maltreatment of their members; the scarcity of foodstuffs and cattle, and the price hikes thereof in the South, particularly in Lagos State, would’ve been avoided, or nipped quickly as the protest began.
    Absent meaningful negotiations, the authorities assumed a “wait-and-see,” only for the Department of State Services (DSS) to quiz the dealers’ president, Comrade Muhamad Tahir, days into the strike.
    Polity watchers wonder if government’s late intervention wasn’t a ploy to gauge the impact of and reaction to the dealers’ action against Southern Nigeria! No other explanation suffices, considering that the authorities were given sufficient notice about the strike.
    Let’s look at some of the dealers’ alleged grouses and their demands on government:
    * Multiple taxation of members * Illegal road blocks on federal highways, and demand of illegitimate tax * Extortion by security agencies, and hoodlums on major roads in the South.
    * Payment of about N250,000 on extortion before a truckload of cows from Adamawa gets to its destination in the South-West, South-East or South-South.
    * Death of 151 members in the Shasha crisis in Ibadan, Oyo State, and destruction of properties, including 100 trucks. * Members killed and their properties destroyed during the #EndSARS protests.
    * Demand of N4.75 billion, as compensation to members for the loss of lives and property destroyed during those crises.
    The dealers’ general secretary claimed that “despite our several complaints, and engagements with the Presidency, security agencies and other relevant ministries regulating our operation, as contained in our three weeks ultimatum issued on November 7, 2020, our members have continued to suffer intimidation, frustration, humiliation, destruction of their goods and carnage.”
    These are genuine grievances, and the demand flowing therefrom, which ought to be quickly investigated, and the findings and government’s decision communicated to the dealers before they blocked the supply routes to the western and eastern axes.
    But notwithstanding their notice to the government and security agencies, the dealers went too far by blocking the supply chain, to intimidate and blackmail the South, and the entire country.
    Surely, the dealers took undue advantage of the security situation in the country – the height of which’s the consecutive mass kidnapping of school children in Katsina, Niger and Zamfara states – to embark on a wartime strategy to squeeze the South to surrender.
    We’re not at war, though the situation in Nigeria merits that of a war zone, if not worse. So, to keen observers, the dealers’ strike was a decoy to pressurise the South to abandon its opposition to the killer herdsmen roaming Southern communities and forests, and using same as a haven for kidnapping, raping, maiming and killing.
    The dealers’ needn’t add inflammable substance to the raging fire of insecurity nationwide. But by going on strike, they’ve sent a clear message to the South: Being under our control, we can impose a foodstuffs and cattle embargo, to bring you to your knees.
    Yet, the dealers be reminded: No one has monopoly of everything. It’s the dealers’ prerogative today to attempt to strangulate the South with the foodstuffs and cattle blockade. Tomorrow could be for the South to retaliate, and the North won’t find it funny!
    Anyway, the dealers’ action is a blessing in disguise, and a wake-up call to the South to revitalise agriculture, especially as the foodstuffs blockade comes at the start of the planting season in the South.
    The scenario maybe different the next time if Southern leaders walk their talk, aftermath of the one-week blockade. By the end of 2021, the South could depend less on the North for supplies.
    And subsequently, the region could become self-sufficient in the production of foodstuffs and cattle for local consumption. So, the dealers should be careful what they wish for the South!

     

    * Mr. Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.
  • Appoint Igbo man as Inspector General of Police – Group tells Buhari

    Appoint Igbo man as Inspector General of Police – Group tells Buhari

    An Igbo socio-political group, World Igbo Peoples Assembly, (WIPAS), has urged the President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government to appoint an Igbo man as the next Inspector General of Police, IGP.

    This is as the tenure of the incumbent IGP, Mohammed Adamu gradually comes to an end.

    The Igbo group also praised the appointment of Major General Leo Irabor as Nigerian Chief of Defence Staff, and expressed deepest confidence that the new Defence helmsman would use his wealth of experience, coupled with the untiring efforts of government and security agencies, to end the myriads of security problems threatening the unity of Nigeria.

    WIPAS posited that notwithstanding General Irabor’s meritorious appointment, there is an orchestrated attempt to shortchange the Igbo of South East by the powers that be.

    The Igbo sociopolitical organization, made the call in a press release signed and issued to newsmen by the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, BoT, Mazi Chuks Ibegbu on Saturday.

    According to the World Igbo Peoples Assembly, “each time opportunities at the centre arises, effort is made to deny it the Igbos of South East. We don’t know why this is so, but it has got to stop.”

    On the conflict between the Eastern Security Network, ESN, and the Army, WIPAS lamented the death of innocent persons at Orlu and advised the army to obey the rules of engagement rather than looking for trouble with the ESN.

    The Igbo Assembly advised the Eastern Security Network, ESN, to be calm and avoid any action that will detract it from its set goal of ensuring sanity in the forests in the east.

    On 2023 Presidency, the Igbo group advised all the political parties to zone its presidential seat to Igbo land and south east in particular.

    WIPAS asked all persons aspiring for the position outside Igbo land to rescind the decision in the interest of the nation.

  • Group to honour reporter assaulted by Fani-Kayode with ‘Resilient Journalist’ award

    Group to honour reporter assaulted by Fani-Kayode with ‘Resilient Journalist’ award

    The Sha’aya’u S-Pawa Foundation, a political group in Zamfara state, says arrangements are in top gear to give an award of ‘Resilient Journalist’ to Mr Eyo Charles, the Media Trust representative , assaulted by a former Aviation minister in line of duty.
    News Agency of Nigetia (NAN) reports that Charles was the journalist that was verbally assaulted by a former Minister of Aviation, Mr Femi Fani -Kayode in Calabar, Cross River at a media conference.
    He had accused the journalist who sought to know in a question who was bankrolling his programme.
    He has however since tendered a public apology for the verbal attack.
    The group in a statement signed by the Chairman of the Foundation, Alhaji Sha’aya Sarkin Fawa in Gusau on Friday, said that the group saw the maturity with which Charles handled his attacker that attracted the foundation , “we feel he deserves strong respect and recognition”.
    The group also said that “Fani-Kayode had earlier visited the Zamfara and left on its tray some controversies that are still fresh in the memory of the people.
    “The good journalist posture displayed by Charles gives more hope and believe to Nigerians that we still have good media professionals in the country.
    “As Nigerians, we strongly believe that if the former minister is truly the activist he claims, he should come out in the public domain and answer the question asked by Charles,” the group said.
    According to the group, we will organise a befitting ceremony to give this award very soon after we reach out to Charles.
  • Groups alert FG on food security implications of COVID-19

    Groups alert FG on food security implications of COVID-19

    The National Association of Nigerian Traders (NANTS) and West African Institute for Trade and Agricultural Development (WAITAD) have called for urgent need to address food security implications of post COVID-19 on Nigeria.

    The two organisations made the call on Sunday in Abuja in a joint statement signed by the Presidentof NANTS, Dr Ken Ukaoha.

    Ukaoha appealed to the government to awaken Nigerian economic managers including the President’s Economic Advisory Council for immediate consideration towards addressing post COVID-19 economic environment, particularly the future of food security.

    He expressed dissatisfaction that while given attention and funding the health sector, food security and livelihoods of the population, which was another looming disease facing the entire population, were not being contemplated for strategic planning by governments.

    “The reason is that COVID-19 has resulted in the lockdown of the country in a bid to reduce or curtail the spread.

    “But the negative impact of such lockdown on the economy with regard to job livelihoods losses as well as the overall food security implications would be manifesting much sooner,’’ he said.

    He said that the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic had gradually enveloped the global economy and the populations in fear, resulting in automatic and unwitting declaration of ‘State of Emergency’ on Health sector by several Governments globally.

    Ukaoha noted that where many deadlier diseases which have taken more lives have failed to attract respect and attention, COVID-19 has gained more prominence with heavy budgetary allocations accorded to assuage its ravaging popularity.

    “NANTS and WAITAD further note that COVID-19 has caused a serious depletion in the revenue of many countries, especially countries like Nigeria that are largely dependent on oil revenue for sustenance.

    “The disease has literarily widely exposed the unsustainability of Nigeria’s unfortunate reliance on oil and the mirage of reclining on the vagaries and impulses of international oil market economy.

    “We are strongly concerned that at the moment, producers, transporters, traders and other production value chain actors are asked to stay at home, thereby implicating a stagnated economy courtesy of COVID-19 induced policies and regulations.

    “We note that the above situation has occasioned the recent hike in price of food commodities in the markets across the country where few goods are chased by several mouths, and sadly with limited cash at hand.

    “The situation leaves traders off the hook of culpability of accomplice in the conspiracy of high price of food commodities, especially considering the complexity, high transportation costs and risks associated with moving commodities from one state to another which are exacerbated by boundary closures for fear of ‘Corona’,’’ he said.

    Ukaoha, while notifying the government on an imminent gross food insecurity, said the awakening note had become imperative and
    given that the food sector in Nigeria has of late been undergoing a siege.

    He listed the three siege which had affected the food sector as the Boko Haram insurgency, herdsmen/farmers crises, and banditry and
    kidnapping.

    He said the Boko Haram insurgency had displaced over 80 per cent of farmers from the North East zone while the herdsmen/farmers crises had turned farmers from the North Central and once ‘food basket of the nation’ to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

    According to him, banditry and kidnapping made inhabitants of North West to abandon their farms in honour of the dreaded killers.

    “The gains made by the commendable policy approach by government in closing the land border against food commodities smuggled into the country, and which rightly culminated in reduction of rice and poultry import bills, among others, are speedily being eroded by the pandemic.

    “NANTS and WAITAD insist that the parliamentarians at all levels must devise ways of convening virtual meetings and deliberations via ICT tools.

    “By so doing, exhibit the character of true representation of their constituencies beyond the rhetoric of handouts and palliatives and move towards strategic thinking that leads to economic recovery and sustainability of food on the table of their electorate.

  • Group calls for more actions against ban of tricycles operations in Lagos

    A group, Save Climate and Democracy Naija (SCAN), has called for more united actions against the Lagos State Government’s ban on the operations of motorcycles and tricycles.

    Mr Ayo Ademiluyi, the group’s spokesperson made the call on Sunday in Lagos.

    Ademiluyi said: “We of the Save Climate and Democracy Naija Coalition salute the courage of ordinary Lagosians who took part in the #OccupyLagos protests held at Eko Atlantic City on Feb. 8.

    “The #OccupyLagos will go down, as the first demonstration by the citizens affected by the ban on operation of ‘Okada’ and ‘Maruwa’.

    “We call for more protests and united mass actions by the users of ‘Okada’ and ‘Maruwa’ and their riders.

    Ademiluyi said it was in light of this that Feb. 11 has been declared as #TAKEBACKLAGOS protest.

    He explained that the protest was due to the refusal of the state government to lift the ban on the motorcycles and tricycle operators to ameliorate the sufferings of working people in the state.

    Ademiluyi said that the group had notified all its allied forces to be on the alert for the comprehensive resistance against oppression in the state and other parts of the country. (NAN)