Category Archives: Uncategorized

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By Terngu Buter

A combined team of the Federal Ministry of Education, Abuja, National Board for Technical Education and the Benue State Ministry of Education, Makurdi on Friday, visited the proposed site for the establishment of a skills acquisition centre. The centre which will be established under the auspices of a World Bank project known as Innovation Development and Effectiveness in the Acquisition of Skills, IDEAS, is to take over the already existing buildings of the abandoned Federal Polytechnic, Adikpo.

The inspection team which was led by Mrs Elizabeth Adedigba, the Director, Technical and Science Education, Federal Ministry of Education had Mrs Ogwu Blessing, the National Coordinator of IDEAS. Also on the inspection team was Arc. Ngbede Ogoh, acting Director, Polytechnic, Science and Technology Programmes of the National Board for Technical Education, NBTE, Engr. Samuel Kwende, Benue State Coordinator of IDEAS while Ochee Emmanuel, Director, Science and Technical Education, Ministry of Education, Benue State led others directors of the ministry on the team.

The team which was conducted around the premises by Professor D.V. Uza, former Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi expressed satisfaction with the level of preparedness.

Bob Tyough, a member of the House of Representatives for Kwande/Ushongo who facilitated the inspection assured the team of his maximum cooperation for the smooth takeoff of the project. The lawmaker also commended the host community for safeguarding the buildings and the science, engineering and technological equipment in the building and charged them to continue in the same light.

IDEAS, Innovation Development and Effectiveness in the Acquisition of Skills Project for Nigeria is a World Bank Project designed to cover five years and its main objective is to enhance the capacity of the Nigerian skills development system to produce relevant skills for the formal and informal sectors with the Federal Ministry of Education as the implementing agency.

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By Bishop Matthew Hassan KUKAH, Catholic Diocese of Sokoto

1: From its inception as an independent nation, Nigeria has remained a volatile country. Home to almost two hundred million people communicating in over five hundred tongues, Nigeria remains one of the most enigmatic pieces of God’s real estate on earth. Running, stumbling but never fatally falling except for a brief civil war, she is home to one out of five black people on earth. Highly resourced, but endemically corrupt, a combination of serious governance missteps, series of military coups, years of maladministration, a culture of violence have seriously slowed down what should have been one of the greatest nations on earth. It has left its people vulnerable to poverty, disease, violence and death.
2: Today, for the purpose of my testimony, the focus is on the Christian faith and even within Christianity, I speak for the Catholic Church in Nigeria. I believe there will be many voices and perspectives on the issues, but very little disagreement on the debris of human suffering and pain inflicted on the citizens of our country through the abuse of God’s name. We are all too familiar with the stories of the tragedies across the world by misguided and evil men and women who are determined to destroy the foundations of our common existence using religion. I will briefly sketch the experiences of the Christian community in the Nigeria with this tragic culture of death.
3: This audience already has deep knowledge of the key issues, the politics, the drivers and the financiers of terrorism on a global scale. Nigeria’s experience derives from the experience of the larger global community.
Persecution of Christians in Nigeria has occurred at different levels with almost the same pattern, sometime
subtle, often out rightly violent and destructive. A few examples. There have been dastardly actions directed at Christians because of their faith. We have cases of Pastoral agents such as Priests and Nuns who have been kidnapped, released after the payment of ransom or brutally murdered. Churches, medical facilities, presbyteries have been razed to the ground with no provocations from the communities. I will cite only three examples even though there are many more cases across denominations.
4: In 2018, two Priests, Frs. Joseph Gor and Felix Tyolaha were murdered along with 17 of their Parishioners
while celebrating Mass at their local Church when gunmen stormed the Church in the Diocese of Makurdi, Benue State. In January 2018, four Seminarians were kidnapped inside the Good Shepherd Major Seminary Kaduna.
After prolonged negotiations and the payment of ransom, three of them were released while one, Michael Nnadi from the Diocese of Sokoto was brutally murdered.
5: In March 2020, a detachment of Policemen came into the Seminary to report that they had captured Michael’s murderers. They confessed their crime and also gave insight into why they killed Michael. They said that in the course of their captivity, Michael kept preaching and asking them to repent of their evil acts and turn towards God. We were, said one of his captors, angered by the fact that he was persistent in his appeal to us to repent despite knowing that we were Muslims! Along with Michael in the same camp had been one Mrs. Bolanle Ataga, a married woman and mother of two daughters who had been captured also with her children. After payment of ransom, only her two daughters were released. Two weeks later, her husband concluded negotiations for her return. However, on the day of her release, one of her captors said that the only condition for her release would be for her to sleep with the leader of the murderous gang. According to her Fulani captor, she told their leader that he could only sleep with her dead body! He immediately ordered her murder.
6: In October 2019, two Pastors with the Church of Christ in Nigeria, COCIN, Rev. Joseph Duna Dacighir and Godfrey Ali Shikagham were murdered by their captors for their Christian faith. In January 2020, the Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Michika Local Government of Adamawa State was murdered by ISIS.
The list is very long but these incidents are indicative of the faith of hundreds of believers.
7: Beyond the physical elimination of Chrsitian missionary Pastoral agents, other strategies adopted in the persecution of Christians are, the total or partial destruction of Church related infrastructure such as Churches, Schools, Convents, Health facilities, and Presbyteries across the country. In some Dioceses in the North East such as Maiduguri and Yola, priests have had to leave their Parishes after they had been destroyed and the community sacked. The scenario has moved to the north Central and North West zones.
8: There are also cases of abduction of Christian girls, turning them into sex slaves, forcing them into marriages and forced conversions to Islam. In some cases, these girls and boys have been forced to become spies, cooks, messengers, foot soldiers for their captors. The scope of persecution is wide and cross cutting including men and women. Again, as I have said earlier, these stories are known to most of the audience. Perhaps what is most important is for me to speak to what kind of short, medium and long term solutions should we be contemplating. No one has the answers, but we must continue to prepare for a life after this tragedy.
9: For us at the Catholic Bishops Conference, we have remained relentless and consistent in speaking prophetic truth to power. We have done this through many Communiques and Statements calling attention of government to the tragedies afflicting our people and the nation’s slide to chaos. We have called on the President to resign if he could not guarantee the safety of lives of our people. Second, notwithstanding these attacks on our people and facilities, we continue to support our fellow citizens with food and clothing in the best traditions of our faith using such time tested institutions of the Church as; Justice Peace and Development Commissions, JDPC, and Caritas. Both work closely and have offices across all the 56 Dioceses of Nigeria. We also offer pastoral support for our people in the camps of the Internally Displaced Persons, IDP through skills and financial support.
10: We continue to engage the federal and state governments, seeking collaboration on all fronts. Education is on the concurrent list of items on our Constitution and this means that each state acts independently. In cases where we have Christian minorities, Christian children in public schools have no access to the teachings of the faiths. We have just discovered that even within the Deradicalisation and Rehabilitation Programme for so called repentant terrorists, the teaching of Christian Religious Knowledge is not included. Each child should be entitled to access teachings in their faiths, but this is not often so.
11: Amidst the pandemic, the Catholic Bishops offered the federal government a total of 456 Health facilities across the country in case the Covid-19 pandemic proved overwhelming and overstretches the lean resources of both federal and state governments. Frustrated by the endless bloodletting, the Catholic Bishops in March, 2020 took to the streets to call the attention of the federal government to end the killings across the country. Our actions have been motivated by the best traditions of our faith in times of crises and not politics.
12: By way of conclusion, let me make a few appeals. First, to the international community. The persecution of Christians based solely on their faith and not on any crimes they have committed poses one of the greatest threats to our existence and common humanity. Christians make up over one third of the world’s population and have laid the foundation for human civilisation. It is in the interest of our collective survival that we must rise in defense of the freedom of Christians everywhere in the world to live and practice their faiths. Where it occurs, I believe Muslims of believers of other faiths will air their concerns.
13: We commend those who continue to work in the area of protecting religious freedom even in the face of personal danger and risk to their own lives across the world. This is a battle that we must win because without faith, we will return to the Hobbsean state of nature with its nastiness, brutishness and death. Thus, the organisers of this Testimony deserve our commendation for putting this issue under the spot light. We appreciate the great work of organisations like Aid to the Church in Need whose work has helped to rebuild our Churches and supported the formation of new pastoral agents. The Hungarian government’s assistance to communities in conflict through the Hungary Helps programme is helping us build new classrooms and health facilities.
14: International Aid Organisations must reset the donor templates of their engagement with countries that are in conflict. There needs to be a change in how these Agencies see Religious groups and communities in crisis. It is important that a threshold of expertise, competence and proficiency be set for accessing Aid. The faith communities are closest to the people and, in our case, everyone knows what the Catholic Church has done over time. The most critical needs of our people now are Education of orphans, support for widows and victims of violence. This requires huge financing but often, the needs of our people are modest. My appeal therefore is that Aid Agencies consider more practical ways of engaging Church structures to alleviate the sufferings of the victims of persecution by way of granting scholarships to vulnerable children. Only sound education, taking millions of children from the streets can guarantee victory over these agents of darkness.
15: It is important to restate that even though the purveyors of terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and murders of our people continue to appeal to Islam as their source of inspiration, what we are dealing with is the
Jihadist/Salafist supremacist strain of the faith that is at best a cancer that threatens the Muslims who do not believe what they themselves believe. We must name the devil so as to cast it out. This means that first, a majority of those who are good Muslims must rise in defense of their religion by reversing this inhuman view of religion which pretends to be working in the name of the religion. Muslims in northern states have suffered disproportionately in our conflicts in Nigeria. Sadly, this is occurring after the President has continued to privilege Muslims in appointments in the country.
16: In Nigeria, the Muslim elite have been at their hypocritical best, using religion as a tool for political
mobilisation. No one expected that the Buhari administration will end up exploiting the support he received from across the country only to turn around and run such a nepotistic administration. The challenge of rebuilding our country, moving it away from the brink requires collective efforts on our part. However, the policy choices of this government have reversed the gains we made in the area of peaceful co-existence and dialogue. We cannot give up. We must renew our commitment to creating a just society.
I end with an appeal in the words of our holy father, Pope Francis who, in his recent encyclical said: “Let us dream, then, as a single human family, as fellow travelers sharing the same flesh, as children of the same earth which is our common home, each of us bringing the richness of his or her beliefs and convictions, each of us with his or her own voice brothers and sisters all”

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By Jimin Geoffrey

Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom and the State Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP today met with 21 gubernatorial aspirants of the party at the New Banquet Hall of Benue Peoples House Makurdi.

Governor Ortom who briefed journalists at the end of the meeting, said they had agreed to work together for a common purpose, stressing that they would consolidate on the gains already made by PDP in the past to record success in the 2023 elections.

He stated that based on his interaction with the aspirants, all of them are competent and qualified to serve the State as Governor, pointing out however that only one person would be nominated to fly the party’s flag in the election.

According to the Governor, stakeholders and the party would work towards a consensus candidate but where it fails, free and fair primaries would be conducted to nominate a candidate for the guber election.

He stated that he and the State Working Committee of the PDP would remain neutral in the process leading to nomination of a guber candidate.

The aspirants include Engineer Benson Abounu, Hon Titus Uba, Hon Terwase Orbunde, Hon Terkaa Ucha, Professor Dennis Ityavyar, Dr Paul Ubwa, Engineer Ben Akaaka, Engineer Tertsea Gbishe, Engineer Dondu Ahire and Mr Terver Akase.

Others are Mr Julius Atorugh, Hon Dominic Akaahan, Hon Adikpo Agbatse, Isaiah Ipevnor, Dr Paul Angya, Engineer Terver Atsar, Pharmacist Peter Chieshe, Hon Patrick Ogbu, Hon Christopher Afaor, Mr Boniface Jibo and Barrister Chille Igbawua while Dr Robert Orya and Dominic Akaahan were absent but sent apologies.

The aspirants later held a closed door meeting where they chose Barrister Chile Igbawua as Chairman of the PDP Governorship Aspirants Forum, Patrick Ogbu as Secretary while Mr Julius Atorugh is treasurer.

Photo Credit: Shimataver Akile.

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United Kingdom investigators have bursted another corruption scandal in the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration involving the Managing Director, Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Bashir Jamoh, where various sums including N1.5 Trillion and another $9,557,312.50 have been traced to his personal accounts.
Pointblanknews.com investigation revealed that N1.5 Trillion was found in a Fidelity Account 4020949836 linked to Bashir Jamoh, who is also the father-in-law of Sabiu Yusuf aka Tunde, President Muhammadu Buhari’s Personal Assistant.

Curiously, the Fidelity account with N1, 505,890,450,000.67 has Hamza Ibrahim Jamoh with BVN 22151837650 and Cell phone number 08034517410. While the BVN number revealed a different identity, the cell phone linked to the account is linked to the DG of NIMASA, Jamoh, according to Pointblanknews.com investigations.

Pointblanknews.com investigations revealed that the N1.5trillion was after few months cleared from the account to avoid investigations on the lodgment of such huge amount.

In a four page document titled due diligent report on Bashiru Yusuf Jamoh, the Director-General NIMASA, which pointblanknews.com has copies, the report exposed another lodgment of $9,557,312.50 into Access Bank account 0710814478 also belonging to him.

The investigation also exposed other infractions by the agency’s boss which also include award of contracts to companies which he has interest in.

The investigation, according to the report focused on fraud, money laundering and breach of the Nigeria code of conduct act. This same investigation, it stated spans across all the Agencies under the Ministry of Transport having started with the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA.

GLOBAL INVESTIGATORS UNITED KINGDOM, the investigation agency that signed the report investigated the bank transactions of Alhaji Jamoh focusing on inflows/Credit and Debits on his bank statements.

It found the transaction’s records of BASHIR YUSUF JAMOH showing the payment of $9,557,312.50 (Nine million, five hundred and fifty-seven thousand, three hundred and twelve dollars and fifty cents) into his personal accounts from Central Bank of Nigeria in violation of the Treasury Single Account, TSA.

“Most baffling is that CBN transferred millions of dollars into the personal account of BASHIR YUSUF JAMOH.

“Records shows the withdrawal of $5,425,200.00 (Five million, Four hundred and twenty-five thousand and two hundred dollars only) by CASH WITHDRAWAL from ACCESS Bank, Burma Road, Apapa, Lagos.

“BASHIR YUSUF JAMOH set up a company TALENT EXPERTISE INTL. LIMITED with RN: 1488830 to solicit for jobs from NIMASA. Being the director of a company and awarding contract to own company in violation of the code of conduct act section 3 part of the Third Schedule of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and code of conduct for public officers involved in procurement, Part X1, section 57, Sub-section (2) of the Procurement Act, 2007.”

According to the report, BIXBY OIL LIMITED has also paid money into his account, and the following payment into the account of the company was captured.

BANK: GUARANTEE TRUST BANK PLC

ACCOUNT NO: 0423084514

ACCOUNT NAME: TALENT EXPERTISE INTL. LIMITED CUSTOMER ADDRESS: 6, EKET CLOSE, AREA 8 GARKI, FCT ABUJA CURRENCY: NAIRA

TRANSACTION DATE: 06/06/2019

TRANSACTION AMOUNT: N37,516,363.63 MILLION TRANSACTION DESCRIPTION: CREDIT/INFLOW

FROM: R 304741016 DEPARTMENT NIMASA

PURPOSE: COURSE FEE FOR CAPACITY BUILDING TRAINING TRANSACTION REF: 930474101602050146461375163636

SERIOUS SUSPICIOUS TRANSACTIONS

ACCESS BANK PLC

ACCOUNT NO: 0710814478

CURRENCY: UNITED STATES DOLLARS

TRANSACTION DATE: 05/02/2019

TRANSACTION AMOUNT: $9,557,312.50 MILLION TRANSACTION DESCRIPTION: CREDIT/INFLOW

FROM: B/O CBN NIMASA CURRENT COLLATION US TRANSACTION REF: S069035198A701 INFLW/GT19/07972

ACCESS BANK PLC

ACCOUNT NO: 0710814478

CURRENCY: UNITED STATES DOLLARS

TRANSACTION DATE: 20/02/2019

TRANSACTION AMOUNT: $5,425,200.00 MILLION TRANSACTION DESCRIPTION: DEBIT/WITHDRAWAL WITHDRAWN BY: BASHIR YUSUF JAMOH BY CASH PMNT @ BURMA ROAD APAPA BRANCH

TRANSACTION REF: 6464979

BANK: ACCESS BANK PLC

ACCOUNT NO: 0710814478

CURRENCY: UNITED STATES DOLLARS

TRANSACTION DATE: 12/03/2018

TRANSACTION AMOUNT: $8,856,317.28 MILLION TRANSACTION DESCRIPTION: CREDIT/INFLOW

FROM: B/O CBN SUNDRY USD SUB BULK ACCOUNT TRANSACTION REF: NIMASA CBN 21703 INLW/GT18/13676

The UK group said with reference to the allegations against Bashir Yusuf Jamoh, it is important that he be suspended from office immediately, and forensic audit carried out on the financial activities of NIMASA.

“We recommend that a panel be set up to look into the accounts of NIMASA CABOTAGE 2% SURCHAGE account Number 56595 with ACCESS bank. Also, to ascertain reasons why NIMASA is still using Commercial] Banks to receive funds instead of the TSA with Central Bank of Nigeria.

“The Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele should be invited by Security Agencies to give reasons why payment of such huge amount was paid into Bashir Yusuf Jamoh’s account.

“We also recommend that Bashir Yusuf be prosecuted for financial crimes and money laundering as established by our investigations.”

Pointblanknews.com investigation revealed that Jamoh is Buhari’s direct in-law. His wife, Hajiya Zulai, is the daughter of the President’s sister and it was while living at Buhari’s Kaduna home that Zulai and Jamoh met.

Jamoh who untill recently was the Executive Director, Administration and Finance in the agency took over office from Dakuku Peterside.

It is not known yet the purpose for the huge sum in a personal account and why the security agency is yet to investigate the fund, but information available to pointblanknews.com has it that the money was meant to be laundered.

Relatives to President Buhari has been in the spotlight over corruption in this present administration.

Recently, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) declared Gimba Yau Kumo, a former son-in-law of President Muhammadu Buhari, wanted over an alleged $65 million fraud.

Kumo, a former managing director of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, married Fatima, the president’s daughter, in 2016 at Daura, Katsina state.
http://pointblanknews.com/pbn/exclusive/fraud-in-buhari-govt-as-n1-5-trillion-9-billion-traced-to-nimasa-boss-bashir-jamohs-personal-accounts

Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom describes the decision of Southern Governors Forum to enact laws to ban open grazing of livestock in the region as a bold and patriotic move that will bring to an end the lingering crisis caused by armed herdsmen.

The Governor also lauds his counterparts in Southern Nigeria for backing their May 11 Asaba declaration against open grazing with the resolve to legally prohibit nomadic cattle rearing; a resolution which conforms with the global best practice of animal husbandry.

He also commends the Southern Governors Forum for their position on rotation of the Presidency between the north and south, beginning from 2023.

Governor Ortom believes that only equity, fairness and justice can strengthen the unity of Nigeria, give all citizens a sense of belonging and reduce tensions across the country.

The Governor re-echoes his call on the Federal Government to respect the 1999 Constitution (as amended) regarding fundamental human rights, the rule of law and federal character.

He restates his commitment to speaking out against injustice and quotes Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr who stated that
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

Governor Ortom reaffirms his belief in Nigeria’s unity and expresses optimism that the country will overcome its current challenges and emerge stronger as a great nation.

Terver Akase
Chief Press Secretary
July 06, 2021.

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For the Nnamdi Kanu theatre, two eyes saw it in Nigeria. For one, it was a gangster act. For another, it was a sleek score for Nigerian Intelligence.

For the Igboho saga, no one saw the attack as act of heroism. It was a forest cat nibbling a rat.

But the matter for this essayist started before the two onslaughts.

The intelligence forces invited the acerbic cleric Gumi over. It was not to probe or poke him. His hoary beard and whirlwind tongue remained intact. It was the show before the show-off.

They gave Gumi a slap on the wrist, Kanu cuffs on the wrist, and Igboho blood on his street.

I wonder how a southern priest chummy with bandits would have swayed under this state? Would he have the fortitude to walk the forest aisles? Would he not be tagged a rebel leader or collaborator? Will they say he gave a baptismal fire to bandits? Or will they call him an anointer of the men of blood? Won’t they coerce him to bare the geographical details of their hideouts. Won’t they go to their bush havens, bomb and flush them out, and put paid to the narrative of mayhem and slaughter? Why the lopsided magistracy? Why is it rage here, and softness there, when all over we need the equality of official justice?

Yet, I have no tears to shed for Kanu, or a case to make for an ethnic entrepreneur who slayed peace in his homeland he sought to save, called Yoruba clerics to be stoned to death, carried the passport of a zoo country and, by implication, making himself a zoo ambassador or a monkey or hyena in the babel of caged squealers. He consecrated cutting the ears or lopping off heads, paralysed a region for his ego for a few days. The people feared his security forces more than the official ones. He virtually committed a coup in the east, atrophied official Nigeria in the region, and installed a de facto Biafra. In spite of Operation Python Dance, the Igbo dreaded the ESN more. The snake crawled as though coy when Kanu squalled.

The centre watched like a spectator. It recalls the rebellion under the geriatric King David in the Bible when one of his sons ogled the throne. “And now, behold, Adonijah reigneth; and now, my lord the king, thou knowest not.”

For me, it makes little sense to speculate whether it was right to pick him up or not. How naïve Kanu was to allow kudi to lure him out of his lair. It shows how half-cooked a rebel or hero he is, and how he pined for the lush life of the flesh, as Lai Mohammed said. Lai Mohammed may be right, but he was wrong-headed. Is it not in the same government that we have seen men, like the attorney general, mint parties? He made financial excess into moral excrescence in the extravagance of Naira rain?

We must not forget that it was Buhari, who made Kanu into a monster. Just as Mazisi Kunene in his epic poem turned Shaka the Zulu into a monster by killing his love Noliwe, Buhari made Kanu into a gradual descent into a hate machine. In the Jonathan years, he was an outlier, an irritant and, at best, an entertainer. The Jonathan administration made the Igbo the centre. His middle name was Azikiwe. He gave appointments and contracts to their elites. When oil was over $100 dollars per barrel, he did not see the bad roads in the region, or do any consequential project for the folks. But they were happy with him. Sentiment upended welfare.

Enter Buhari. The opposite is the story. Buhari has done more work in infrastructure for the east with his trojan of works, Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) than any leader since Gowon. But Buhari stirred the eastern fury. He alienated them in appointments, and tars them as pariah in his rhetoric. He has up till today not learned how to speak with them. He speaks at them.

Even if he paves the eastern infrastructure in gold, they will not hug him. It is a lesson in leadership sanctified in the words of Oscar Wilde: sentiment is more important than reason. We may recall that Soyinka hails Amaechi for the western train and would not acknowledge Buhari. History will however restore that credit. Not now.

History is repeating itself in the north. Buhari is doing to the north what Jonathan did to the east. He is plying the elite with appointments while neglecting the streets. Especially in security. His northern elite may like him, but their people are suffering. They are dying on the streets, their blood mixing with their farm millets and corns. Their daughters are losing their virginal flow to goons. Their wives are widowed in their teens. The talakawa politician has suddenly lost the ability to look down over his high shoulders.

There was an obsession with Kanu, and it might have accounted for why he put off his trip for medical check-up. That can wake up his biological clock. Finding Kanu might have refuelled his haemoglobin and reengineered his heartbeat. What a health boost.

The obsession was funny when a northern group gave a 100 million Naira bounty on Kanu’s head, not Dogo Gide or any of the forest tormentors. They were more interested in body count in the east where less than hundreds have fallen than under their very nose where thousands are falling like precious sparrows.

The Kaduna State governor was at it again with false equivalences, saying that Kanu was worse than bandits. Was that equivalence necessary? He has withdrawn his kids from public school, but others’ kids can remain there. He just doesn’t know how to talk. He was right though about carpet bombing the bandits.

If the security forces put as much diligence to go after the forest renegades as they did to Kanu, maybe things will be different. EL Rufai says they don’t have centralised authority as though that minimises their carnage.

It is fear that made them lionise Kanu and Igboho. It is fear that keeps making them enlarge the duo in the people’s minds.

Kanu has grown so big that he has bifurcated the Igbo mind. They don’t like him but they accept him. That is the dilemma. They don’t want to leave Nigeria but they are not happy inside it. It is like an estranged lover who loves the partner but is waiting and praying for the halcyon day while another rascal hovers around the window with the seduction of libido and lies. That is more exciting than the gilded oppressor at home. Kanu is not Ojukwu, who responded to pogrom and the spontaneous bonfire of nationalist separatism. Ojukwu knew that even if he relented, the market women could burn him in the street. Biafra was in the mind before the war. Kanu is mining it from the recesses of the Igbo soul and memory. He laid the firewood. Buhari is helping him light it.

As for Igboho, he is being lionised, too. Why attack his residence? Why not charge him to court? The man has said and done enough for a clever court case? Why resort to attack. Why remove the CCTV when you want to accuse him of gathering weapons? Who will believe their story that they met charms and guns there? So, do they think those arms paraded are enough to raise an army? Can they defeat the Nigerian army from an apartment? The herdsmen have more than that. Why not go after them with the same zeal. We don’t have an equity of official indignation, and that makes the case of this government all the more baffling. Who is advising these guys? Do they really think that an enlightened race like the Yoruba can line up behind a country bumpkin who cannot weave a holy sentence and throw up a nuanced idea?

The Yoruba are too clever for an insular mind, and Buhari and his men should know better than to make a bad case worse by doing bad things.

When the Americans were in a ferment for revolution, Benjamin Franklin said, “the revolution was in the hearts and minds of the American people.”

What the people want is justice, not revolution. A gangster act has a danger of turning a home cat into a bobcat. Hence we should follow the pace of peace. “The more you sweat in peace,” said Norman Schwarzkopf, “the less you bleed in war.”

But let us sweat wisely.

The Interim Council of the ISWAP-Boko Haram terrorists’ group, headed by one Abu Mus’ab Al-Barnawiy, has reshuffled the leadership and structures of the extremist sect, after the death of some of their leaders, PRNigeria has gathered from reliable sources.

The leadership ‘restructuring’ in line with a directive from ISIS Headquarters in Iraq, is necessitated by the recent losses of some of ISWAP-Boko Haram commanders to military offensives, and the realignment of forces by the hitherto separate insurgents’ groups.

After the killing of some prominent terrorists’ commanders, PRNigeria gathered that the Interim Council held an emergency meeting which was attended by Wali (Leaders), Qa’ids (Chiefs), Commanders and all other structures of both ISWAP and Boko Haram.

Abbah Gana aka Ba-Lawan is reappointed as the new Leader of ISWAP, six months after his removal by the ISWAP Shura Council for losing the confidence of most of his loyalists and top commanders.

With the death of Abubakar Shekau and the realignment of various factions, the Al-Barnawiy-led Committee reinstated Ba-Lawan to lead what they termed as ISIS Islamic Caliphate of Africa (Wilaya of Africa), covering parts of Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon.

Malam Bako was appointed Deputy (Na’ib) to Command the ISIS Caliphate Command of Nigeria, (Wilaya of Nigeria), recently established at Tumbuktu Triangle in Southern Borno. Other new appointments include Abba-Kaka as Governor of Tumbumma, Commanding Marte, Abadam, Kukawa, Magumeri and other parts of the Lake Chad; and Abubakar Dan-Buduma as the Operation Commander, Timbuktu Triangle.

Baba Isa who was in charge of Taxation and Revenue on Fishing activities was posted to Kangar in Abadam to relieve Abu Abdallah.

Ibn Umar is now Chief Prosecutor, Abu Umama becomes Amir of Tudun Wulgo, while Muhammed Maina is the Commander of Sabon Tumbu, among others.

PRNigeria further gathered that the Interim Council also introduced Mobile Courts and some policies to harmonise all insurgents activities and groups under the leadership of the ISIS, as well as to establish two Wilaya’s (Caliphates) at Lake Chad and Sambisa forest to to sustain its war against countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

It has also lifted the ban imposed on fishing and farming activities in the Lake Chad area, three years after chasing people out of Marte, Abadam, Kukawa and Guzamala, over alleged spying for Nigerian troops. It nevertheless, imposed new taxes and levies in the areas controlled by ISWAP-Boko Haram, to regulate trades and agricultural activities.

Henceforth, members of the terrorist sect will be collecting N5,000 monthly from traders and farmers, while the fishermen will pay N2,000 per bag of fish among other levies.

Several fishermen, farmers and merchants have returned to the Lake-Chad area to engage in socio-economic activities, under the arrangement of the new ISWAP-Boko Haram Leadership, PRNigeria also gathered.

When contacted on this development, an intelligence officer with Operation Hadin Kai told PRNigeria that the appointment of new leadership and structures by the terrorists could not change the ongoing military operation.

He said: “As you are aware, despite the alleged reunion of Boko Haram and ISWAP factions, coordinated multiple airstrikes by NAF aircraft have been sustained in the destruction of their strongholds. The intelligence inspired operations were targeted at various terrorists’ camps in Sabon Tumbu, Jibularam, Kwalaram, Timbuktu Triangle and Parisu and other targets in the Lake Chad.

“Similarly, the ground troops also engaged terrorists after air bombardments at Lamboa forest, Bula Yobe, Jabullam, Yauma Wango, Mainok and Dikwa axes where ISWAP fighters and commanders were eliminated including Umar Tela, Modu Sulum and One-Eye ISWAP Commander, Modu Kennami among others

“Don’t also forget several escapees from terrorists’ camps have surrendered to own troops just as we have captured some notorious Informants who leaked information on security movements and formations.”

By PRNigeria

Matthew 6:9-10

“For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened”. – Deuteronomy 28:10

Don’t you consider it amazing how some believers can recite the Lord’s prayer daily and still tolerate situations and circumstances that are not in alignment with the will of God in heaven? Don’t claim to be holy when your experiences are incongruent with the will of God for His children.

Prayer is a primary means by which we change whatsoever is not the will of God on the earth right now to reflect and realign with the will of God in heaven. There is a heavenly standard in the presence of God concerning every area of our lives as we are living on the earth. In heaven, there’s a blueprint and prayer is a means of making every area of your life agree with the blueprint in heaven.

For example, God’s will for students is to succeed very well and be above (Deut. 28:10). Therefore, if your experiences is contrary, employ the principles of prayer in your studies and examination preparations until it is like God’s will in heaven. You don’t have to go to heaven to know God’s will because His will is given to us in the Bible. Whatever you see in the Bible is the will of God and that is exactly what God wants in heaven. Study the Bible and in the place of prayer, reverse anything in your life life that does not line up with the Bible picture. That is what it means to pray “Your will be done.” It is a prayer of power, authority and warfare.

LET US PRAY:

Lord, let your will be done in every area of my life: my family, my career, my studies, my finances and everything I put my hands to in Jesus mighty name. Amen.

Delivered by Vershima Orkuma Hemen,

The Family Altar Prayer Ministry.

By Farooq Kperogi

The Hisbah in Kano appears to be angling for a global prize in theocratic idiocy and thuggery. They’ve destroyed beer bottles belonging to non-Muslims, arrested a non-Muslim for wearing a “satanic” hairstyle, apprehended Kano Muslims for not fasting or praying, and such other insane Talibanic excesses.

Now, they’ve run out of humans to oppress and are fixing their crazed, lecherous gazes on mannequins (eww!), which they say are “un-Islamic” even though every Muslim country on earth countenances mannequins in shops!

Well, let’s put the theocratic overzealousness of the Hisbah moral police to a more productive use: There’s a dangerous, breathing mannequin in Aso Rock pretending to be Nigeria’s president. Let them go and arrest him!

• 

By Jimin Geoffrey

Benue State Government has slashed the price of Urea fertiliser by 50 percent, Governor Samuel Ortom has revealed.

Governor Ortom who disclosed this today at the 2021 flagoff of cropping season, fertiliser sales and distribution to Benue farmers said a 50kg bag of Urea which was procured for N12,000 would be sold to farmers at N6,000.

The Governor stated that 50kg bag of NPK which was procured for N9,000 would be sold to farmers at N5,000, representing 40 percent subsidy.

Governor Ortom explained that government had engaged vendors to supply 141 trucks of fertiliser, an equivalent of 4,230 metric tons of granulated inorganic fertilizer, 5 trucks of granulated organic fertiliser, an equivalent of 150 metric tons for the 2021 cropping season.

The Governor stated that the efforts were deliberate move by his administration to add value to the development of agriculture, pointing out that 50 tractors were procured and distributed to farmers at highly subsidized rate to encourage mechanised farming.

Governor Ortom commended the Federal Government for steps taken to cushion the effect of the 2017 and 2018 flood disaster on Benue farmers by the provision of fertiliser to farmers through the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA.

He directed security agents to arrest and prosecute anyone caught sabotaging efforts of his administration towards ensuring that the fertiliser gets to the real farmers.

Speaker of the Benue State House of Assembly, Rt Hon Titus Uba, commended the Governor for the supply of fertiliser to farmers, saying it would boost agricultural productivity and further portray the state as Food Basket of the Nation.

Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Dr Timothy Ijir said the Governor had not failed the people by providing fertiliser and farm inputs to Benue farmers at subsidised rates since the inception of his administration.

On his part, Chairman House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources, Hon Terwase Aondoakaa said the distribution of seedlings to farmers and fertilisers would go a long way in enhancing agricultural productivity and urged those involved to ensure that the commodity gets to the desired users.

Photo Credit: Shimataver Akile.