Boko Haram: The Beasts of The Earth At Work.

Joe Igbokwe 

 

For more than a year a group of insurgents that call itself Boko Haram have killed more than 1500 Nigerians especially from the Northern part of the country. They have attacked police headquarters, police stations, schools, United Nations, and Churches. They have killed soldiers and some from other Security Agencies.
Till date nobody including Boko Haram can offer any genuine reason why they are shedding innocent blood in Nigeria , killing innocent children, fathers and mothers. Nobody including the Boko Haram murderers can tell the world to justify their attack on even world organizations. Nobody knows what they are bringing on the table to support this blood shed assuming there is a dialogue today.

In a recent attack to Deeper Life Church worshippers in Okene Kogi State , the gunmen told the bewildered worshippers: “WE ARE HERE TO FINISH ALL OF YOU” Survivors said: “they put off the light and started shooting. They were using touch lights to check those who were not dead and then shooting to make sure they were dead”

In Southern Nigeria , we have been burying dead bodies of Youth Corpers, Clergy men, traders, professionals, children, mothers, etc in their hundreds since the insurgent started and it seems the blood thirsty murderers are prepared to kill more in the days to come. Each time they make a successful kill they celebrate it all over the world through social media. The killers are getting bolder and there is this urge to go on. The leaders in the North have lost their followers and they cannot even speak now for fear of their lives. Even IBB who claimed to be a master in the art of violence and the dominator of his environment has developed cold feet and lost his manhood. The Generals in the North who tormented Nigeria for more than 30 years cannot talk now. Even the powerful Emirs in the North have lost their powerful voices. Those who managed to speak including the current Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria says it is poverty that brought about Boko Haram. We agree but can poor people buy bombs and cars? Is there food inside the Churches they are attacking? These guys think we are fools.

Maybe they have forgotten what Alhaji Adamu Ciroma, Kaita and others said when President Jonathan won the 2011 Presidential elections. For those that have forgotten, it was Ciroma and his gang that said that they will make Nigeria ungovernable if Jonathan becomes the president. Ciroma did not stop there. The moment it became obvious that Jonathan is unstoppable he began to arm the youths of the North and the rest now history.

Today, Ciroma’s war has gone full circle. His network of killers has grown beyond his imagination and as I write this he has lost control of his boys. Nobody can now stop the catastrophe and brigandage in the North. The barbarians have in less than one year brought a devastating and colossal damage to the economic and political entity built by the late Alhaji Ahmadu Bello of the blessed memory. They have in less than one year of madness made a mince meat of powerful legacy built by a man of vision, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello. They have systematically taken the North backward by 50 years. By the time this stupidity and madness end the damage will take serious leaders of the North 100years to repair.

The madness is raging on while the elders of the North have lost their voices. Now they are making incursions into South West via Kogi State . If Yoruba people constitute the highest population in Kogi State as it were I think an attack to Kogi State is an attack on the Yoruba nation, and this portends grave danger for Nigeria . Traditional rulers in the South West have risen up to warn that this incursion could be dangerous for the survival of this country. It is not only dangerous encroachment into South West, Nigeria , but an affront to the people of South Nigeria .

It is only a foolish constituency that will think that the South will fold its hand in the face of these provocations. These Boko Haram animals are dragging this country to a civil war but please let somebody tell them that war is no tea party. War does not recognize faces, it does not respect tribes, it does not know Emirs or Obas or Obis or Generals. The truth is that those who think that the South does not have the capacity to put a stop to this incursion are the biggest fools of the 21st century. Those who think they have monopoly of violence miss the point here. Those who ignore the strength of the South do so to their own peril.

When the late General Abacha picked up Chief MKO Abiola in 1994 some people thought he will not survive a day in detention because he loves good life and has good wealth. Chief Abiola survived their onslaught for nearly five years until the idiots decided to stop him with poison. The jokers were proved wrong. Abiola defeated them even in death. Please mess up with the South West and bite your fingers for ever. The history is there! Go back and learn!!

I am not raising alarm but I must warn the people of Southern to begin to put their house in order. I want the South to begin to put structures in place to take on these insurgents. I am warning the people of Southern Nigeria to brace up for these challenges. It will be disastrous to be caught unawares. Leaders of the Southern Nigeria must meet now address the arrogance of a section of the country. The security of the lives and property of our people is being threatened on a daily basis and we need to speak out now. Do not wait further for President Jonathan to act. It is a collective responsibility thing now. The beasts of the earth are seriously at work in Nigeria and they need to be tamed with advanced ideas, advanced method and advanced approach.


Joe Igbokwe
Lagos

Plateau Crisis: Implement Only Reports of FG Panels – Hausa/Fulani Community Appeals to Jonathan

Leaders of the Hausa/Fulani community in the troubled state of Plateau have called on President Goodluck Jonathan to implement only the reports of the various panels set up by the central government.
They particularly want the reports of the panels headed by both Gen. Emmanuel Abisoye and Chief Solomon Lar to be implemented, as they believe that the reports of other panels set up by the Plateau government have not only lost contemporary relevance but are sub-judice.
This is the kernel of the request made by Hausa/Fulani leaders when they visited President Jonathan at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Wednesday night.
The meeting, which took place at the First Lady's conference hall, started at about10pm and went on into the late hours of the night.  It came barely 72 hours after the president met with the Berom stock, the other major player in the crisis.
The Berom elders were led to the meeting with Jonathan on Monday by a former Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs and current Gbong Gwom Jos, Jacob Buba Gyang.
The representatives of the Hausa group, Alhaji Ibrahim Dasuki Nakande; a former Minister of State for Information and Communication and Rep of Fulani and Protem National Secretary, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders of Nigeria, Alhaji Sale Bayari spoke to State House Correspondents after their meeting with Jonathan.
Nakande said, "We are here on the invitation of Mr. President, the president has taken so many initiatives and again this is another initiative towards finding lasting solution to the protracted crisis in Plateau State but specifically within the Jos axis that is within Jos North, South local governments.”
He said the discussion concerned the way forward, and how best to tackle the crisis and enhance tolerance, accommodation and respect for one another so that the conflicts can come to an end.
“We also discussed mechanisms with which government will help to put in place so that each time there are conflicts, ways and means of resolving the conflicts amicably would have been used to resolve them,” he said.
The objective of the discussion with the President was to enable the government put together all the information available to it and evaluate it, as well as hold further meetings with other communities involved in the conflict on the journey to finding a lasting solution to the problem.
"We discuss that and agreed to a larger extent, most of the commission of Inquiry especially those set up by Plateau government, we said all those commissions of Inquiry have lost contemporary relevance but we are confident that the one set up by Federal Government especially the General Abisoye report as well as the advisory committee on Jos crisis headed by Solomon Lar, we are comfortable with that but the rest are in fact subjudice and therefore cannot be implemented."
The Fulani representative appealed to the federal government to settle the issue of indigenes and settlers.
Saharareporters.

Kaduna: Muslims-Christians Unite, As Church Visits Traditional Rulers/Imams, Donates Grains .

Photo credit: Daniel Ibrahim, ECWA Church Kaduna

Photo credit: Daniel Ibrahim, ECWA Church Kaduna

Photo credit: Daniel Ibrahim, ECWA Church Kaduna

By SaharaReporters, New York

It was a good omen yesterday in the troubled city of Kaduna State as Muslims and Christians embraced one another and reflected on the sour relationship and the need to forge ahead.
The occasion was a visit by the Christians who donated grains and other foodstuff to the Muslims for six mosques in Tudun Nufawa, near Kaduna Polytechnic.
Both sides accused politicians and selfish Nigerians of creating disharmony between them, and of being responsible for the spilling of blood being experienced in Northern Nigeria and other parts of the country.
According to Daniel Ibrahim, a member of ECWA Church on Lemu Road who was in the Christian delegation to their host community, Reverend Yunusa Sabo Nmadu Jnr. led the visiting delegation, which also included some elders such as Engr. James Bawa Kufana.
Ibrahim who sent pictures and a brief account of the event to SaharaReporters, “We were received by Malam Shuaibu Balarabe, the Sarkin Dutse of Tudun Nufawa. We were many from our Church. Rev Nmadu explained the importance of peace and that it is God in his magnanimity that created the world as it is today. And [that] nobody can change it except if mortals are [accusing] Him of imperfection. He told them that the foodstuff are nothing but a symbol of love and peace from Christians.”
The Sarkin Dutse, Malam Shuaibu Balarabe, welcomed the Christians and reiterated that Islam is a religion of peace contrary to the hate campaign, he said is being propagated without reason.
“We are not what is being said, and you know it,” he assured the Christians.  “Have we not lived together peacefully in the past? Why now? Were we not practicing our religions in the said glorious past?”
He further assured the Christians of their safety and described the day as one of the happiest in his life.
The donation from the Christians included bags of sugar, maize, millets and other grains.
It would be recalled that last month, over 50 young Christians visited the Sultan Bello Mosque in the city and broke the Ramadan fast with Muslim youths as part of ongoing efforts to strengthen unity, peace and coexistence between both faiths in the troubled State.
There was also a cooperation accord between both faiths in the city during last year’s election.
Photo credit: Daniel Ibrahim, ECWA Church Kaduna

Does The Killing Of Olaitan Still Matter?

  IYOBOSA UWUGIAREN.

Give it to Comrade Governor Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole: he won the recent political battle in Edo State from all fronts. His mastery of propaganda, political communication and coupled with the well-liked belief of some people that he worked in the state when compared with the thieving administration of former Governor Lucky Igbinedion did it for him. For him, every weapon was necessary for the battle, which swelled the suffocating political tension in the state a few days before the July 14 election.
The gruesome murder of Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde, the principal private secretary to Oshiomhole, was one of the “weapons of mass destruction” that was effectively employed by the governor in criminalising his major opponent, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and its leaders.  With a section of the media acting as willing tools, Oshiomhole succeeded in creating a huge perception among many naive people that leaders of the PDP were behind the killing of his “son” (that is how he calls Olaitan) in order to weaken his fighting spirit for the election. He led a violent protest on the streets of Benin City, to the Benin monarch’s palace and eventually gave the security agencies a two-week ultimatum to fish out the killers of Olaitan. He openly accused the leader of the PDP, Chief Tony Anenih, of spearheading the murder and went ahead to name Delta Street, where Anenih’s house is located, as Olaitan Oyerinde Street.
As if that was not enough, after that criminal incident, some of Oshiomhole’s aides sustained the propaganda and alleged that Anenih was also targeting them for assassination. While this dirty propaganda went on, the Iyasele of Esanland refused to be sidetracked and goaded. He maintained his cool. For those who know the governor very well, the rationale behind that seemingly half-truths and grubby propaganda that characterised his campaign for the July 14 governorship election was achieved on July 15 when the Independent National Electoral Commission returned him winner of the election.
Now, does Oshiomhole still care about how his son was killed? Does he still think Anenih was behind the killing? Why has he suddenly remained deaf and dumb in the face of conflicting reports by the State Security Service (SSS) and the Nigeria Police Force on how Olaitan was brutally killed?
From the SSS, we were told recently that “careless talk” from the security guard of the slain former principal secretary to Oshiomhole gave suspected armed robbers the clue that took them to Oyerinde’s house. Ms. Marilyn Ogar, the spokesperson of the security agency who briefed the press in Abuja while parading the suspects, said Oyerinde’s security guard, Ali Ihade, made known his master’s wealth and influence in the Oshiomhole government during a family meeting.
According to the SSS, the flippant utterance by the security guard was capitalised upon by a member of the family who is also a member of a suspected gang of armed robbers. Six principal suspects - Mohammed Ibrahim Abdullahi, Raymond Onajite Origbo, Chikezie Edeh, Saidu Yakubu a.k.a Iman, Sani Abdullahi Abubakar and Hassan Bashiru - have been paraded as killers of Olaitan. One of the robbers who fielded questions from journalists claimed he shot and killed Olaitan after he ran into his bedroom and attempted to go under his bed.
But from the police’s angle, we are being told that Olaitan was assassinated and the executive director, African Network for Economic and Environmental Justice (ANEEJ), Rev. David Ugolor, is being detained over the alleged murder of the former principal secretary to Oshiomhole. Rev. Ugolor was said to have been arrested and whisked away by police in plain clothes that swooped on ANEEJ corporate headquarters in Benin City recently. Irreconcilable contradictions from two government’s security agencies, you may say. Yes.
In the last few days, some critical segments of the civil society have expressed worry over the way and manner this heinous crime against humanity has been handled and the many unanswered questions these contradictions have generated. But more worrisome is the seemingly criminal silence of our comrade governor over the matter. The governor, who once gave the security agencies, ultimatum and threatened to employ every means to bring the killers of Olaitan to justice, has suddenly turned cool and refused to comment on the controversy. At a time many people are putting pressure on the security agencies to explain whether Olaitan was killed by armed robbers or assassinated for political reason, Oshiomhole’s silence is being given different meanings. Will he speak out now so as not to give the impression that he is no longer interested in the case since he has achieved his political objective - winning the July 14 governorship election? For sure, his silence could be misinterpreted by some members of the public that he knew how Olaitan was brutally murdered.
In the interim, I think the comrade and some members of his party need to publicly apologise to Chief Anenih over their wicked libelous statements against an innocent man who was widely criminalised for mere political reasons.
Some people may not want to hear it: I am one of the few people who do not get carried away by Oshiomhole’s rhetoric when it comes to serious matters that require deeper intellectual reflection. On many occasions, I have been proved right. I have said in this column, when Oshiomhole accused Anenih of having a hand in the killing of Olaitan, that he was just playing dirty and wicked politics. Yesterday I read Oshiomhole’s advertorial in some national dailies celebrating Anenih’s 79th birthday. This is what he said about the Iyasele of Esanland: I wish our respected elder statesman a happy 79th birthday.”
Imagine! Somebody he accused of killing his “son” a few weeks ago is today being celebrated as a “respected elder statesman”. Right-thinking people know that respected elder statesman do not do evil and Oshiomhole has just confirmed the innocence of Anenih over the killing of Olaitan. That is by the way. The comrade governor must take his usual combative posturing to the doorsteps of the SSS and the Nigeria Police Force and ensure that the contradictions being generated on how Olaitan was killed are urgently resolved. This is one case the security agencies must resolve in the interest of justice.

As killing of Christians continue

Sad news: at a time we thought we were overcoming it – the bombing of churches and killing of innocent souls in different churches in some parts of the country by some evil people - a gang of terrorists struck again on Monday night in Okene, Kogi State. They stormed the Deeper Life Bible Church, Otite, near Okene, killing about 20 worshippers and wounding many more.
The innocent souls were in the house of God when the blood-thirsty evil minds stormed the place and slaughtered them. This evil act came a few days after six soldiers and others were also killed in Yobe State while carrying out their legitimate duties. Just last night they also killed two soldiers.
It is a very sad development in our nation. But, for how long are we going to live with this fear and criminal act? Who is next? And why are these men and women targeting Christians?

Plateau crisis: Hausa, Fulani demand implementation of Lar, Abisoye reports.

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From JULIANA TAIWO-OBALONYE, Abuja
Berom elders led by the Gbong Gwom Jos, Gyang have requested that government implement all reports on the Plateau crisis. But for the Hausa/Fulani elders, they are requesting that only the reports of Federal Government panels be implemented, especially that of Gen. Abisoye and Chief Solomon Lar Commission of Inquiry.
They argued that those set up by Plateau State Government had lost contemporary relevance and were sub-judice. President Goodluck Jonathan, on Wednesday night met with the Hausa/Fulani ethnic group, in a bid to give both sides fair hearing and in a renewed effort to restore peace to the crisis-ravaged Plateau State,
The monarch had on Monday night met with the Berom natives led by the Gbong Gwom Jos, Jacob Buba Gyang. The meeting, which took place at the first lady’s conference room at the State House, started about 10pm and went on till 1:00a.m. Thursday morning. Both groups were expected to submit separate reports to the state government before a general meeting of the two communities with the President on a later date yet to be fixed. Representatives of Hausa/Fulani group, Alhaji Ibrahim Dasuki Nakande, former Minister of State for Information and Communication and representative of Fulani and Protem National Secretary,
Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders of Nigeria, Alhaji Sale Bayari spoke to State House Correspondents after the meeting with President Jonathan. Nakande said: “We are here on the invitation of Mr. President. The president has taken so many initiatives and again this is another initiative towards finding lasting solution to the protracted crisis in Plateau State but specifically within the Jos axis, that is within Jos North, South Local Governments.
“The discussion was on the way forward, how best to tackle the crisis in such a way to enhance tolerance, accommodation and respect for one another so that at the end of it,” all the conflicts would have been put behind us. We also discussed the mechanisms which government will help to put in place so that each time there are conflicts, ways and means of resolving the conflicts amicably would have been used to resolve them.”
On some of the recommendations made to President, Nakande said: “The issue is to discuss with the President and between the information available to government and what we have brought forward, government will look at it, decipher it. Further meetings will be held with other communities that are in conflict so that we can jointly find lasting solution to the problem.”
On implementation of various Judicial Commission of Inquiry recommendations he said, “We discuss that and agreed to a larger extent, most of the commission of Inquiries especially those set up by Plateau State Government. We said all those commissions of Inquiry have lost contemporary relevance but we are confident that the one set up by Federal Government, especially the General Abisoye report as well as the advisory committee on Jos crisis headed by Solomon Lar, we are comfortable with that but the rest are infact subjudice and therefore cannot be implemented” On his part the Fulani representative wants the issue of natives and settlers trashed once and for all.
The Fulanis also want the Federal Government help resolve conflict between Cattle Rearers and farmers, which has been at the centre of the crisis. “We have appealed to Mr. President to address this issue. The cattle Rearers in Plateau State especially problem areas like Jos South, Barikin Ladi and Bassa, the Federal Government should try and ensure that the conflicts are resolved, it is because we have the grazing reserves in those areas and with the grazing reserves, there is conflict between Cattle Rearers and farmers but with intervention of government, it will be reduced to a minimum level, and when that is done, we are sure that the issue of people alleging reprisal attack will be reduced also.
“Once those the flashpoints are addressed, the issue of saying that some people are regarded as not belonging as if they just sprang from another planet and landed where they are issues that should also be looked into, we have given the history of the Cattle Rearers, it is not as if they came from somewhere else, they are as indigenous as any other people, only because of their occupational hazards which is cattle rearing and they are nomadic and they have to move from one place to another.
“So you find a Fulani man who has been in Plateau State for 7 million years or 7,000 years, he is still within Plateau but every year on seasonal basis, let’s say the dry season or rainy season, he moves from one place to the other, he does not settle in one place because he does not have the luxury of staying in one place because he has cattles to look after and these cattles need pasture and when this pasture dries up somewhere, he moves to another place it is green. “That does not mean that because he cannot stay in one place based on his occupational hazard, you say that he is a settler or he does not belong there.”
On the way forward, he said dialogue with both parties would bring about the required peace and harmony citing the case of Benue where such has been done with result. He said, “We have tried to solve the problem like it was done in Benue State where there was similar crisis because the governor took personal interest in the matter, we are appealing to governor of Plateau State to copy from the governors of Benue, Nassarawa, Taraba, Bauchi and Kaduna.
“They succeeded by calling the leadership of the two groups and at the end of the day, the matter was settled. “In Plateau State, the problem has been that there is nobody forthcoming either from the traditional institution or the government say let’s sit and discuss.” He however said he was of the opinion that the Presidential intervention will bring an end to the incessant crisis.
“Yes, with this Presidential intervention, from the way the President has given us time and the way he listened to us like children listening to their father, u know that when you see your father in a pensive mood, you know that the matter must have touched him so much,” he said.

Boko Haram: Arrest Ciroma, Lawal Kaita – Clark.

BY HENRY UMORU
ABUJA—ELDER statesman and prominent Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, yesterday, stoked his campaign against Northern leaders over the activities of Boko Haram by asking security agencies to go after former Minister of Finance, Mallam Adamu Ciroma and former Governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Lawal Kaita.
The former Federal Information commissioner, who challenged former President Ibrahim Babamasi Babangida to a joint public debate on national issues to ascertain who is actually senseless or senile, insisted that northern leaders must speak out on the activities of Boko Haram if they were not backing the group.
Reading a prepared text on behalf of Chief Edwin Clark at a Press briefing inAbujayesterday, Legal Adviser to the Ijaw leader, Kayode Ajulo, said that Ciroma and Kaita’s comments before the massive killings could serve as substantial evidence against them.

The E.K Clark statement

The text read in part: “Chief Clark’s challenge to the leaders of the North is predicated on the misguided statements of some of the Northern opinion leaders since the inception of this administration. For example, in October, 2010 during a build up to the last presidential election, Alhaji Lawal Kaita, a prominent Northern leader promised to makeNigeriaungovernable if the President did not come from the North.

Chief Edwin Clark

“And as if on cue from Lawal Kaita, several other leaders of Northern Political Leaders Forum, headed by Alhaji Adamu Ciroma, of which Gen. Babangida is a prominent member, followed suit with similar reckless comments which might not only threaten peace in Nigeria but also Nigeria’s very existence.
“Recently in March this year, Lawal Kaita issued another threat to the effect that the only condition forNigeriato be one is for the presidency to come to the North in 2015.”
According to Clark, northern leaders must show genuine commitment, be proactive and speak out now towards addressing the challenges posed by the Boko Haram insurgency against the backdrop that precious lives of Nigerians were being wasted daily across the country in Borno, Yobe, Sokoto, Kano, Katsina, Kogi, Abuja and Bauchi among others.
On General Babangida’s reaction to his public lecture last Wednesday, particularly where it was alleged that senses had since departed him,Clarksaid that the public debate or discourse with Babangida must be free of interference and prompting from aides.
He added: “Let it also be noted, for the record, that Chief Clark delivered a one hour, 20 minutes lecture very coherently and articulately without having to refer to a written text. Nigerians stand a better position to judge as to who is senseless or senile as suggested by Gen. Babangida who can only make public utterances through texts prepared by aides and speech writers.”
Insisting that the former military president was side-stepping comments on Boko Haram,Clarkurged Nigerians to ask why he had been silent for so long on the issue.

How it all started

The exchange of brick-bats between Clark and Babangida started last week Wednesday when Clark at theSecondStateof the Federation Lecture organised by the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, NIALS inAbujaclaimed that some northern leaders were not speaking out against increasing spate of violence in the country.
He had specifically challenged Babangida and former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari to condemn the activities of the Boko Haram group that have claimed responsibility for the insurgency campaign in many parts of the country.
But replying the elder statesman on Sunday through his spokesman, Prince Kassim Afegbua, Babangida slammed Clark for not recognizing the historic role he played in unifying the country, just as he warned Clark not to crucify him, adding that with his age, what should be the cardinal posture of Chief Clark was to proffer solutions to the problem of insecurity in the country.
According to Babangida, “we view this misguided and senseless statement in very bad taste and we take very strong exceptions to his drooling and implied conclusion.”
Countering yesterday, the elder statesman, who described Babangida’s statement as total insult and total misconceptions, said, “the statements showed nothing but insulting miscomprehension and misconception of Chief E. K. Clark’s innocuous expressed opinions and the challenge thrown down to the leaders of the North on the need to resolve the Boko Haram menace.
“Ordinarily, Gen. Babangida should have joined many other Nigerians who applauded Chief E. K. Clark for crying out over the wanton loss of lives being experienced daily over the senseless killings ofNigeria’s women and children, Christians and Muslims alike.
“Chief E. K. Clark is committed to the unity ofNigeriaand peace within its borders. This was aptly demonstrated when some youths in the Niger Delta took arms against the Federal Government of Nigeria, resulting in the near total shut down of oil production; crude oil production which normally stood at 2.5 million barrels per day was reduced to 700, 000 barrels daily. Chief Clark led a delegation of Niger Delta leaders into the creeks to appeal to the youths to lay down arms and embrace peace.

How Clark ended militancy in Niger Delta

“Chief E. K. Clark also went to the creeks with the then Vice President, now President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, particularly to Okerenkoko and Camp 5 (which was the headquarters of the militants), thereby laying the foundation for late President Yar Adua’s amnesty programme.
“Therefore, amnesty did not come on a platter of gold, but through the genuine determination of the leaders of the Niger Delta, led by Chief E. K. Clark. Today, crude oil production inNigeriahas risen to about 2.7 million barrels per day.
“It is therefore imperative, irrespective of the name calling, to restate what was said at the NIALS lecture on the state of Nigerian Federation that ”Gen. Babangida and other Northern leaders must speak out, be proactive as well as demonstrate genuine commitment to address the challenges posed by the Boko Haram.” This is more so as precious lives of Nigerians are being wasted daily across the country in Borno, Yobe, Sokoto,Kano,Kaduna, Kogi,Abuja, Bauchi, etc.
“Chief (Clark) is surprised that Gen. Babangida would belatedly suggest that President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan should use Moslem clerics, when he, by his experience, and position is fully abreast of what to do in the circumstances of Nigeria bearing in mind his exalted membership of the Council of State and his former position as President and Commander-in-Chief of Armed Forces of Nigeria. After all, Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, a former President like Gen. Babangida not only spoke out strongly on this issue but went toMaiduguriin the aim of securing peace for the country.
“The attempt to label Chief Clark as an ethnic jingoist has no basis whatsoever as he has always believed and maintained that no ethnic group should be a second class citizen in Nigeria and that no Nigerian life whether from the North or South, East or West should be wasted.
“Taking regard of his age and stature, Chief Clark wants to state that he fully forgives Gen. Babangida whom he regards as a younger friend for the unfortunate statement attributed to him. If anything, Chief Clark holds the view that the thoughts and energy exerted by Gen. Babangida against him should urgently be redirected towards finding a lasting solution to the Boko Haram menace in the North.

A call for dialogue

“It should be restated that Chef Clark has severally emphasized the need for dialogue with Boko Haram and other aggrieved groups with a view to resolvingNigeria’s current security challenges.
“It is in this vein that Chief Clark speaks to his good friends in the North, including General Babangida once again, irrespective of Gen. Babangida’s threat of litigation, that they should openly condemn Boko Haram and join hands with the Government and good people ofNigeriatowards finding a lasting solution to the challenge posed by the Boko Haram menace. Any laxity on their part would, either wittingly and unwittingly, potentially put them out as accessories to the present security scourge in the Northern part ofNigeria.
‘’If this simple advice above is urgently heeded, it will save Gen. Babangida the need to wear uniform once again at the age of 71 to fight for the unity of Nigeria.”

Good intentions, but …

By The Nation.

Babatunde Fashola

•The principles behind the new Lagos traffic laws are laudable; some rough edges appear

No doubt: there is urgent need to sanitise situations on Lagos roads, which are, even at the best of times, a bedlam. So, drastic efforts must be made to root out ingrained willful traffic infractions, particularly among lawless commercial bus drivers and bike riders; not to talk of outlaw uniformed men and women, that make the Lagos traffic such nightmare.
Still, there is even a more compelling need to resist the attempt to slap a draconic law on the citizenry. In an atmosphere notorious for routine impunity, the possible abuses could well be the death of the law and its fine principles. 
That is the grand paradox facing the Lagos State Road Traffic Law 2012, which Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, just signed. Where does a good law end and where does the harsh anger of Draco begin? That is the challenge facing this new law, billed to take effect immediately it is gazetted. The state government might want to take a fresh look at some of the harsh provisions. 
But the apparently draconian aspects are vitiated by the futuristic vision of the law that envisages, implicitly, that the road networks will make adherence less cumbersome.
The new law seeks to punish any action that could lead to attention dip, which could be lethal or even fatal while driving. So, attaching punitive fines to phoning, eating, drinking while driving is quite welcome. The basics of driving forbid such, for the safety of the driver, his passengers and other road users. That many, if not most indulge in these dangerous practices just shows the fraudulent way most acquire drivers’ licences. The new law would help to underscore the importance of basic driving etiquettes. But the long-term solution would be to ensure whoever acquires a driver’s licence is tested and found worthy of the licence, a process already on in the state.
Though commercial bike riders have been protesting the provisions of the law that limits them to certain category of roads, no self-respecting government would allow itself to be blackmailed by a few against the majority. If the commercial bike riders had any case, it is punctured by their well known notoriety for reckless driving. Limiting commercial bikers to certain classes of roads is justified; for the present practice of access to all roads and patronage of all sorts of customers, from the minor to most elderly of citizens is tantamount to courting needless road crashes. It should be decried; and the law has done the needful by outlawing it.
Still, until a comprehensive transport system is evolved, the law can only be partially successful. The sorry fact is that in the face of acute shortage on the transport supply sides, the law of demand and supply will still ensure those who dare would still do illicit business with Okada riders. And that applies to those roads from which commercial riders are excluded.
Another key stakeholders upset with the law are the Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO), who have been hit by the law’s ban on trucks (aside from fuel tankers) from 6am to 9pm. That body has stacked its cards, claiming the Federal Government would lose revenue from port operations because of the new law. That might well be, but their self-interest is all the more evident in their arguments, which is hardly a crime. 
But again, the interest of a few cannot override that of the majority. However, Lagos State will do well to look into their complaints and see how they can be addressed without necessarily jeopardising the spirit and intention of the new law, which is fixing the traffic bedlam in Lagos.
The principles behind the new law are admirable. But some aspects of it have to be toned down, in view of reactions of the public. More importantly, if the law must be successful, the government must go on a pre-implementation drive, stressing the prevention-better-than-cure principle. Those who obey the law need not fear its harsh provisions.