Displaying items by tag: Insecurity

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo says that President Muhammadu Buhari has done his best to provide solutions to the country's security concerns, but Nigerians should not expect anything more from the Katsina-born retired major general.

When leaders of socio-cultural organizations met in Abuja this week for a retreat on inclusive security organized by the Global Peace Foundation in cooperation with Vision Africa, Obasanjo made it clear.

Elder statesmen such as Obasanjo and the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa'ad Abubakar, among others, decried the country's relentless kidnappings and killings, calling for collaborative action to prevent the country's rising insecurity.

At the event, Obasanjo said Nigerians should focus on the post-Buhari period rather than waste time begging the 78-year-old President for more security solutions.

"The fact is this: President Buhari has done his best; that is all he can do; if you expect anything more than that, you are kicking a dead horse and there is no need," the 84-year-old ex-President remarked.

"We must not put our hands in our pockets... What should we do to prepare for the post-Buhari era? Buhari has given it his all. My prayer is that God will spare his life so that he may complete his time, but what happens after Buhari? What can we do to make the post-Buhari period better than the current one? That is our obligation. It's something that we're all concerned about."

Between February 1976 and September 1979, Obasanjo served as Nigeria's military head of state, then as the country's democratically elected President from May 1999 to May 2007, while Buhari served as Nigeria's head of state between December 1983 and August 1985 before returning as a civilian president in May 2015.

Obasanjo had been one of Buhari's harshest detractors until lately, when he appeared to soften his stance. The strongman of Hilltop urged Buhari in February 2021 that he needed to wake up and confront banditry in his own home — the North-West.

Many Nigerians are dissatisfied with Buhari's administration, which came to office promising to address the country's security concerns in 2015, but the situation appears to have worsened in the following six years.

Following the assassination of the village's traditional ruler, Eze Edwin Azike, by gunmen presumed to be assassins, the Atta community in Njaba Local Government Area of Imo state is gripped by panic.

The traditional monarch was kidnapped on Thursday, according to a community source, and his body was discovered on Friday morning in the hamlet's market square.
According to the report, four members of the village died as a result of the monarch's kidnapping.

"His lifeless body was thrown at the market square this morning, and the villagers discovered it," he claimed.

He added, "he was kidnapped on Thursday, and the neighborhood was then invaded, resulting in the deaths of four people."

Eze Emma Okeke, the chairman of the state's Traditional Rulers Council/Community Policing, also confirmed the claim, saying that the state's monarchs were devastated by the royal father's death.

He called Azike's death an abomination and said the traditional ruler's death was reported to the council on Friday morning.

"Traditional rulers are not politicians; we are just stewards of our people's tradition." We were notified on Thursday that he had been kidnapped, only to find him dead this morning.

"We have got the tragic news of Eze Edwin Azike's death. In Igbo culture, this is despicable. "I'm not sure why traditional rulers are being pursued in this manner."

When contacted, Micheal Abattam, the Imo State Police Public Relations Officer, said he had not yet been told on the incident.

On the same day, another traditional ruler, Damian Nwaigwe of Mbutu in the state's Aboh Mbaise council region, was kidnapped in his palace.

 

Dele Farotimi Lawyer and Human Rights Activist declared that protests are for reactionaries and it is a waste of time.

Farotimi made this know in as a guest on CityTalks with Reuben Abati on City 105.1.

It's been a year since Nigeria was rocked by the historic #ENDSARS protest, a youth-led anti-police brutality action.

The Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a now-disbanded police tactical unit infamous for cruelty against criminal suspects, sparked the protest, which developed from social media campaigns into street rallies in October 2020.

The protest became a platform for demanding government action against insecurity, corruption, economic woes, and general maladministration blamed for the suffering of the majority of Nigerians and lack of opportunities for the youth. Although SARS activities and general issues of police brutality, including unlawful arrests, torture, and extrajudicial killings, were at its core, the protest became a platform for demanding government action against insecurity, corruption, economic woes, and general maladministration blamed for the suffering of the majority of Nigerians.

The Lagos based lawyer stated that the Nigerian state is deaf to change.

He further stated that he cannot go out protesting to a deaf entity.

When fielded with questions why there was a stacked division in terms of the response to the #ENDSARS protest in the northern region except the Federal Capital Territory: because the protest was more significant in south, rather than a national affair; Mr Farotimi was of the opinion that the northern region will not come out because most of them don’t understand what is going on and moreso they the issue of banditry, kidnapping to deal with.

In retrospect: according to the human right activist, “nothing has changed, every Nigerian is a victim of Nigerian.

“Each of us has become victimized by the abominable insanities that we have normalized

“Nobody can discount the humanity of the policeman.

“I have friends, family members who are police men and I know the deplorable conditions they live.

“When you demand that the humanity of a man be recognized and the man denies the humanity of the person from whom is demanding recognition, it doesn’t work like that.

“Is not about people not remembering that policemen who died, but we should ask ourselves; in what circumstances?

“Were the policemen killed by peaceful protesters for whom the likes of me will speak for?

“Or by miscreants they brought to disrupt the peaceful protest?”

He said, “I believe we have learnt several lessons, when you speak in relation to the Nigerian State and the rulers of Nigeria, it is either we conclude that they either learnt nothing at all or they are very deliberate in responding to what they did learnt by merely reinforcing the extent of their readiness to cow the citizenry.

“In so far as it relates to learning lessons, the enthusiasm of the Nigerian youth that felt the #Endsars movement has not being dampened, but they have learnt that they are not protesting to a benign moral force to whom appeals would elicit anything other than bullets.

“The events that terminated the protest have sufficiently advertised the nature of the country in which we leave.

“The state has done a fantastic job of reinforcing just exactly how little it has either learnt or how little it is prepared to change

“Because the same brutality that led to the end of the protest was on open display.”

Minister Lai Mohammed, Information Minister and Culture has said that were false and misleading as most of those who made the claims of losing people were yet to show up and give evidence a year after such allegations.

In a rebuttal concerning Mr Mohammed’s comment, Farotimi said; “In the first place there was a live Instagram feed, nobody has argued about that.

“In the second place, before the panel in Lekki the Nigerian Army was busy a probating and reprobating but eventually a fact was established in that place, that bullets were fired; fact established forensically.

“Secondly, there were hospitals who have brought their testimony before the panel, establishing clearly that they received gunshot injuries victims from the tollgate, established beyond reasonable doubt.

“I witness what happened on 20 October, 2020 and I listened to the testimony of DJ Switch.”

He added, “What will make an intelligent person like Raji Fashola, Honourable Federal Minister of works and Housing going to the toll gate to discover a camcorder that was not missing, if it is not a furtherance of a fraud to cover up what they did in that place.

“What else explains that level of iodophilia stupidity.

“Where is that camcorder today?

“Enough lies have been told that day to stitch together a very picture of the truth.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kayode Ajulo, lawyer, politician and Civil rights activist is of the opinion that some states need that "declaration of emergency rule."

Ajulo made this know on Saturday as guest on CityTalks with Reuben Abati.

The Proposed state of emergency rule by the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami have being criticized by the Governor of Anambra State, Willie Obiano and the Ohaneze Ndigbo.

Their arguments were referenced to the killings in Borno, Yobe, Plateau, Benue, Katsina, Niger and even in Kaduna State and yet elections were held in all those states and nobody contemplated a state of emergency in those states.

According to Ajulo’s views, “I’m sure that the legality of it is not the issue, What I think that everybody is concerned is the policalization of the issue of the state of emergency.

“The truth must be told, whether we like it or not, Nigeria is at war particularly some part of the nation is at war and declaring a state of emergency is very parity.”

The civil activist added, “I sympathize with them and I appreciate their sentiments particularly in the sense that Anambra state is not the only state in the federation where we are having insecurity challenges, the question today is that why should it be Anambra?”

The outgoing Commissioner of Police in Kaduna, AIG Umar Muri, has said that the Police Command under his leadership arrested 492 suspects and recovered 676 rustled cattle between January 1st to 30th July 2021.

while parading some criminal suspects on friday, he said dangerous weapons such 19 AK47 rifles, nine english pistols, two pump action guns, 11, locally made revolver rifles, four locally made single barrel guns, nine locally made pistols, one type 06 rifle, 10 fabricated submachine guns and nine dane guns and among other items were recovered within the said period.

AIG Muri explained that the suspects were arrested for various offenses such as Theft, Criminal Breach of Trust, Criminal Misappropriation, Criminal Force, Assault, Voluntarily Causing Harm, Criminal Trespass, kidnapping, cattle rustling, rape, Traffic Offences, Unlawful Assembly and Mischief amongst others.

He noted that 315 suspects have been charged to court and 176 convicted, while others are pending trial before the various Courts.

Muri who has been redeployed to Zone 13 Awka, Anambra State as the AIG of the Zone comprising of Enugu and Anambra States said his policing in Kaduna for 19 months has been very herculean, particularly in tackling armed banditry within some quarters of the state.

“This disturbing and disheartening upsurge of armed banditry, we all agree, has caused great havoc to the economy and wellbeing of innocent citizens living and passing through the state in recent times.

“More disturbing is the fact that the rate of kidnappings in the state seems to be on the increase despite the tireless efforts and strategies embarked upon by security agencies, the state and federal governments in ensuring that kidnapping and other related crimes are nipped in the bud.

“It is a fact that where farming is disrupted in a given community, famine is beckoned at a speedy rate to befall that same community. This is one of the glaring challenges that stare us right into our eyes as a State and the Nation at large. Our farmers, as we speak, cannot go to their farms free-minded to boost food production in the country.

“The obvious implication of this is a sharp rise of food scarcity and the likelihood of increase in criminality and violence across the Country. It is on this note, gentlemen of the press, that the Command has done and still doing everything possible to get our farmers back to farm, without fear of molestation or harassment from any quarter, especially now that we are in the middle of the rainy season. This, if achieved, will no doubt magnify the security and economy of the State and the Country at large,” the AIG said.

 

Src|DailyTrusr

The Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom has said that the nation is sitting on a keg of gun powder.

Governor Ortom stated this on Tuesday after to journalist after meeting with the President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House in Abuja.

He noted that the nation has not made any significant progress on insecurity.

His Excellency added that if insecurity persists, "there will be no 2023 elections in Nigeria."

He called on the Federal Government to immediately prosecute anyone found culpable of breaching the law.

Governor Ortom responding to his alleged attack on his convoy by unknown gunmen, His Excellency forthwith urged everyone not to politicize the issue of his attempted assassination.

He  stated that about 15 unknown gunmen suspected to be herdsmen, attacked his convoy while on a visit to his farm was not stage-managed.

He prayed that what happened to him would not be experienced by anyone else.