REMARKS BY GENERAL MUHAMMADU BUHARI TO NEWLY ELECTED PARTY OFFICIALS, LADI KWALI CENTRE, ABUJA, 18 JUNE 2014

 Mr. Chairman, Your Excellency Chief John Odigie Oyegun,
Former Chairman, Your Excellency Chief Bisi Akande,
Your Excellencies former and present Governors,
Distinguished Senators,
Honourable Members of House of Reps. and State Assemblies,
Party Executives,
Invited Guests,
Members of press

With your permission Mr. Chairman, may we observe a minute’s silence and prayers for the safe release of the abducted Chibok girls and for return of peace to our dear country.
Ladies and gentlemen, I congratulate you for the honour and privilege bestowed on you by the party to run our affairs. It is an onerous task. We have internal and external enemies ready to sabotage and frustrate our efforts. You are our spear heads and our leaders.
I would like, with your permission Mr. Chairman, to thank, on behalf of our party the Interim Management Committee under the leadership of Chief Bisi Akande. His personal integrity, experience and competence marked his tenure as party Chairman.
In addition, his capacity to hold Legacy Parties together and ability to manage the structures of the Merged party up to and including the conducted convention were exemplary. No praise is too high for Chief Akande. Thank you sir.
I would also like this gathering to join me in thanking the Convention Committee led by His Excellency, Alhaji Aliyu, Magatakarda Wamako, Governor of Sokoto State for the conduct of our just conducted convention. Thank you, sir.
May I address a few words to our newly elected members? Our supporters and party have high expectations of you. We in the APC expect nothing less from you than to steer this party through successful primaries and successful General elections in 2015.
· We expect quality directives to state chapters of the APC;
· We expect justice from the centre in all adjudications;
· We expect timely communication between the centre and the states;
· We expect effective supervision in administrative conduct of state leaderships.
That way we shall be on our way to success, by the grace of God.
Again I wish to congratulate you on your choice and wish you successful tenure and our party success.
General Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR

 

The Ekiti Saga: The Road To Tyranny And Anarchy By Senator George Akume

 

Thursday the 10th of June 2014 will remain a very frightening and disturbing day in the history of democracy in this country since 1999. The nation woke up to the incredible news that the military “had barred all APC Governors from entering and attending the APC Governorship grand rally for their Ekiti State colleague, Dr. John Kayode Fayemi. There was also an alleged threat by soldiers to shoot one of the APC Governors-Rotimi Amaechi in the process. It was like a coup d’état rehearsal by soldiers in a Banana Republic. Whichever way one looks at this saga, it represents a major threat to democracy and dangerous drift towards total anarchy in Nigeria.
It will be recalled that only a week ago, the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan led all PDP Governors and other stakeholders to the same Ekiti State for a similar rally for the PDP Candidate, Ayo Fayose. No PDP Governor was stopped or harassed and the incumbent APC Governor provided all the needed security for the rally to hold successfully in the true spirit of democracy and fair play. The PDP rally was successfully held with fanfare.
It is shocking and embarrassing that soldiers (not even the Police) will invade the state to not only frustrate a reciprocal rally by the APC but to also assault some of the APC Governors in the process. The questions to pose are:– could the soldiers have acted without the knowledge of their Commander-in-Chief? Where did they take their orders from? Is their action in tandem with their avowed loyalty to defend democracy in the country or an attempt to introduce a new system of government? To sum it all, is their action in conformity with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which the Armed Forces have sworn to uphold? Or is it a wake up call of what to expect in 2015?
BREACH OF FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS
Sections 40, 41 and 42 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) guarantees freedom of movement and freedom from discrimination respectively for all citizens of this country. For the avoidance of doubt;
S.40 provides “Every person shall be entitled to assemble freely and associate with other persons, and in particular he may form or belong to any political party, trade union or any other association for the protection of his interests.”
This right is only subject to the powers of the INEC and not any other authority. The restriction of APC Governors in this case was not at the instance of INEC.
S.41 specifically guarantees that “Every citizen of Nigeria is entitled to move freely throughout Nigeria and to reside in any part thereof ….” without molestation.
This right is only subject to a law that is reasonably justifiable in a democratic society for restricting the movement of a criminal suspect to prevent him from leaving Nigeria.
S.42 provides that a citizen of Nigeria of particular community, ethnic group, place of origin, sex, religion or political opinion shall not, by reason only that he is such a person, be subjected to any restrictions to which citizens of other political opinions are not subjected to in the application of any law. Conversely, no citizen of a particular opinion shall be accorded privilege or advantage above others of a different political opinion in the application of any law. This is aimed at providing level playing field for the opposition in a democracy.
What has happened in Ekiti State has brought to the fore a major challenge to democracy and has raised the fundamental question as to whether we are prepared to be ruled by law or by anarchy. If this can happen to Governors who enjoy some level of immunity, what is the fate of the common man? Where is the assurance that we may not wake up one day only to lose our democracy and country?
I wish to appeal to Mr. President to respond to this situation promptly, appropriately and decisively before it gets out of control. It is a grave security situation that is capable of throwing the whole democratic process upside down sooner than can be imagined. It is a warning to all, not just APC. Nigerians must learn from the Arab spring, the experiences of Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Sudan, Somalia etc.
We must appreciate that the beauty of any democracy is opposition. The road to tyranny must be very stiffly resisted. Our leaders of today must avoid threading the ways of the likes of Charles Taylor and Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia to the International Criminal Court of Justice after they have left office.
INEC should equally wake-up and respond to this call appropriately and decisively to ensure that they are no intimidated by soldiers or any authority in the conduct of all elections. They must ensure that elections are not only free and fair but seen to be conducted in a free and fair atmosphere.
God help us to remain a free, democratic and indivisible country.

Senator George Akume
Senate Minority Leader.     
 

Presidency and Military's Impunity: APC Addresses World Press Conference In Lagos

Democracy In Danger As Nigeria Comes Under Creeping Fascism

 Being the text of a World Press Conference addressed by the National Chairman of the
All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Oyegun, in Lagos on Friday, June 20th 2014

Gentlemen of the press,
I have called this World Press Conference today to alert Nigerians and our international friends of the grave threat posed to our democracy and indeed the very survival of our nation by an increasingly-tyrannical federal government.
Less than 48 hours after I released an open letter to President Goodluck Jonathan, warning him to halt the impunity in Ekiti and not to plunge Nigeria into a political crisis, the federal government has now overreached itself and turned Ekiti into a war zone, where constitutional guaranteed rights have been suspended.
|| "If an army captain and his troops can enforce unlawful orders, as was done when Governor Amaechi and other key leaders of our party were denied their constitutionally-guaranteed rights of free movement, free assembly and free speech, just to mention a few, can't the same troops be given orders to hijack ballot boxes or tamper with the electoral process in Ekiti on Saturday?"
|| "We state clearly that our party will not accept the outcome of any election in Ekiti State that does not comply with the best practices. The people of Ekiti must be allowed to vote freely and without molestation for the candidates of their choice on Saturday, and the votes must not only be counted, but they must count."
The final electioneering campaign of our candidate in the Ekiti election, Gov. Kayode Fayemi, on Thursday 19th of June, 2014, provided the perfect setting for the Jonathan-led administration to bare its fangs with a series of arbitrariness and unconstitutional acts that threaten the very fabric of our democracy...
First, several APC Governors were prevented from attending the rally. The helicopter that was to ferry Gov. Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State from Benin to Akure was denied permission to take off by the aviation authorities apparently acting on "orders from above".
Then while the plane bearing Gov. Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, who is also the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors' Forum, was allowed to land at the Akure Airport, his convoy was stopped by soldiers at the border of Ondo and Ekiti state, and ordered to return to Akure by the leader of the troops, an army captain who said he was under orders not to allow him into Ado Ekiti and threatened to shoot him if he defied his orders.
Gov. Amaechi was detained along the road in the bush for as long as it suited the soldiers before he was forced to return to Akure. While the Governor was being detained on the road, the convoys of the Minister of Police Affairs and the Minister of State for Defence sped past and were not stopped by the troops.
But the worst was yet to come. On arrival in Akure Airport, he found out that the airport has been shut, leaving him stranded. By the time other Governors, including Rochas Okorocha of Imo State and Ibikunle Amosun of Rivers, and party leaders including myself, Chief Bisi Akande and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu arrived at the Akure Airport for their onward journey to their various destinations, they discovered that the airport has been shut, apparently on the same nebulous ''orders from above''.
Thus, all the party leaders and supporters who came to the rally from across the country, including Sokoto, Abuja, Kano, Owerri, Port Harcourt and Lagos, were forced to travel by road back to their destinations, with the dangers inherent in such night journey.
Against the background of my narration, and the over-militarization of Ekiti State ahead of Saturday's election, many questions come to mind
1. If one of the candidates in the election could be prevented from holding his final rally with the full compliment of his party leaders and supporters, a treatment that was not meted out to other candidates, can we honestly say that a level playing field has been provided for all the candidates in the election?
2. If a state Governor, despite the high office he occupies and the constitutional immunity from arrest which he enjoys, could be detained and ordered around by security agents, what fate will befall ordinary Nigerians under this administration that is increasingly sliding into fascism?
3. If key institutions of state can be abused so brazenly just to stop the opposition from moving freely because of a state governorship election, what will happen during next year's general elections?
4. Where in the world are airports shut at the whims and caprice of the ruling party just to punish the opposition? Is it not true that in recent times, the airports in Kano and Gombe, among others, have been shut just to prevent the opposition from using them?
5. If an army captain and his troops can enforce unlawful orders, as was done when Gov. Amaechi and other key leaders of our party were denied their constitutionally-guaranteed rights of free movement, free assembly and free speech, just to mention a few, can't the same troops be given orders to hijack ballot boxes or tamper with the electoral process in Ekiti on Saturday?
Doesn't this give a cause for concern in view of the over-militarization of Ekiti State ostensibly to provide security for the election but now obviously to stifle the process and rig the election?
6. Is President Jonathan aware of the treatment being meted out to elected Governors under his watch. If so, what is he doing to stop this madness before it gets out of hand?
These are some of the questions agitating our minds and, indeed, the minds of all Nigerians.
Now, let us place the events of the past 24 hours side by side with the events of the past few days leading to the elections in Ekiti viz:
1. On June 8th 2014: Our supporters, armed with nothing but brooms, were engaged in a peaceful procession on the streets of Ado Ekiti when they were attacked by gun-totting policemen acting on ''orders'' from above. One of them was killed and when Gov. Kayode Fayemi attempted to intervene, he was teargassed and threatened with arrest by the Mopol Commander
2. Within the past three days, two aircraft, one a Beechcraft 1900 and another a Hawker 900, made a total of three trips to the Akure airport ferrying cargoes of money for the Ekiti election. When one of these cargoes burst open, naira notes with wrappers bearing the name of a popular bank spilled out. The offloading of these cargoes, which were then loaded into bullion vans heading for Ado-Ekiti, was supervised by Minister of State for Defence, Mr. Musiliu Obanikoro, as widely reported in the media and yet unrefuted. Placed against the background of a statement credited to a PDP leader that huge amounts of money have been made available by the FG for the Ekiti election, this raises huge concerns.
3. Last week,over 200 boxes of electoral materials were intercepted by security agents in Ekiti. INEC quickly claimed that the boxes contained wasted materials, contradicting the story by the driver of the vehicle carrying the materials. To date, Nigerians have yet to be provided with full and credible information on these suspicious materials.
4. On June 18th, a pro-Fayose and PDP gang was busted in a resort owned by Fayose's Campaign Manager thump printing ballot papers ahead of Saturday's election. The 22 young men, who were arrested, were also caught preparing INEC form EC8.
5. Under the guise of providing security for the election, Ekiti State has been turned to a war zone, with thousands of armed policemen and troops as well as fearsome armoured personnel carriers dotting the entire Ekiti landscape. Never before has an election been held under such armed invasion! The truth is that security for any election does not have to be so invasive, except it is programmed to achieve one thing and one thing only: to intimidate voters!
Against this background, my party, the APC, doubts very seriously whether a free, fair, credible and transparent elections can be held in Ekiti on Saturday .
Beyond the elections, we are concerned that the PDP-led federal government has grown so desperate to capture Ekiti State at all cost that it is willing to do anything, and I mean anything, to scuttle the electoral process and even threaten the very survival of our country.
In view of this, we have resolved to:
1. Alert all Nigerians to the antics of the federal government in witch-hunting the opposition through an egregious abuse of power as well as abuse of national institutions. We urge all the good people of our dear nation to speak out against this unprecedented acts of desperation and impunity. Never in the history of our democracy has a sitting Governor been so shabbily treated as was meted out to Gov. Amaechi on Thursday. Not even in the days of the abhorrent military rule were such brazen abuse of national institutions committed by the federal government.
2. We call on our international partners to condemn this growing impunity by the ruling party and the government it controls at the centre. Actions have consequences, and whoever fails to condemn the acts of impunity being perpetrated by the central government will not have the moral right to condemn the reactions that such actions may elicit.
3. We state clearly that our party will not accept the outcome of any election in Ekiti State that does not comply with the best practices. The people of Ekiti must be allowed to vote freely and without molestation for the candidates of their choice on Saturday, and the votes must not only be counted, but they must count.
Also, we want to call the attention of Nigerians to the fact that under the Electoral Act, troops are not supposed to be deployed to polling stations. Also, police personnel deployed to polling booths are not expected to carry arms. All these stipulations of the Electoral Act must be strictly adhered to on Saturday.
We also have it on good authority that a detachment of troops will be sent to the Ekiti State House on Saturday to escort Gov. Fayemi to vote and then put him under virtual house arrest thereafter. This is totally unacceptable.
Finally we need to ask: What is the role of the Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, in the Ekiti election? Is he now the chief enforcer for the PDP? It is important to clarify this issue.
4. We urge President Goodluck Jonathan to live up to his pledge, made several times over, that he would always ensure that elections held under his watch are free and fair, and that his ambition is not worth the life of any Nigerian. The President should call his dogs of war to order before their precipitate a serious crisis in Ekiti.
5. We remind the President not to allow Nigeria to unravel under his watch, through acts of omission or commission. We urge him to take a lesson from history, and to realize that the crisis of 1965, 1983 and 1993 all started from the South-west over elections that were either manipulated or annulled. Our country is still reeling from the effects of those crises and we cannot afford to plunge the nation into another crisis.
6 Finally, we urge the good people of Ekiti to go out and vote massively for the candidates of their choice on Saturday. They should not allow the overwhelming presence of security agents to intimidate them, if that is what their deployment was programmed meant to achieve. They must defend their votes to the hilt and reject any attempt by a band of desperadoes to choose their leaders for them. After all, ultimate power flows from the people.
Chief John Oyegun
National Chairman, All Progressives Congress (APC)
Lagos, June 20th 2014

 

 

TEXT OF THE ADDRESS BY BRIGADIER-GENERAL IBRAHIM A. SABO (rtd), CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENTIAL FACT-FINDING COMMITTEE ON THE ABDUCTION OF CHIBOK SCHOOLGIRLS, AT THE PRESENTATION OF THE COMMITTEE’S REPORT, AT STATE HOUSE, ASO VILLA, ABUJA; ON FRIDAY, JUNE 20, 2014.

JONATHANIANS SHOULD NOW ACCEPT THAT THE CHIBOK GIRLS WERE INDEED ABDUCTED: Their fact-finding committee chairman speaks:

Protocol
On the 6th of May, this year, Your Excellency, Mr President, inaugurated a Fact-finding Committee on the mass abduction that took place in the small hours of the 14th of April, 2014, at Government Secondary School, Chibok, in Borno State. In defining the mandate of the Committee, Your Excellency’s directive was as clear as crystal. On that occasion, you stated unequivocally that the Committee was neither a judicial, nor an administrative panel of inquiry.
2. Your Excellency also stated that the Committee’s work was not a substitute for on-going efforts by the security and intelligence agencies to secure freedom for the schoolgirls, who were forcibly snatched from their hostels where they resided while writing their West African Senior School Certificate examinations.
3. After five weeks of work, the Fact-finding Committee is now ready to submit its report. The report, which the Committee is presenting today, covers the six terms of reference that guided the Committee’s work. These were to liaise with the Borno State Government and establish the circumstances leading to the school remaining open for boarding students when other schools were closed; to liaise with relevant authorities and parents of the missing girls to establish the actual number and identities of the girls abducted; and to ascertain how many of the abducted students have returned. The Committee was also mandated to mobilize the surrounding communities and general public on citizen support for a rescue strategy and support, as well as articulate a framework for a multi-stakeholder action for the rescue effort. The final term of reference allowed the Committee the latitude to advise Government on any matter incidental to the assignment.
4. Let me use this opportunity to express the Committee’s gratitude to the numerous sources and stakeholders with whom the Committee interfaced in the course of its fact-finding mission. The Committee’s interactions took place in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja; Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, as well as Chibok.
5. I wish to put on record that the Presidential Fact-finding Committee received the full co-operation of all the stakeholders. In addition to nominating three representatives who participated actively in the proceedings of the Committee, the state government also facilitated access to a number of stakeholders. Indeed, the Committee interacted with persons and groups considered relevant to the realisation of our fact-finding mandate. The singular exception was a Senator from Borno who, after agreeing to an appointment with the Committee, turned around to avoid the meeting, on the excuse that he had another appointment, and would thereafter be unavailable for another one month, or so. Not that his non-appearance has materially, or in any way, affected the outcome of the Committee’s findings. But the Senator’s avoidance of an interface with the Committee may well speak to a motive not too difficult to discern.
6. Your Excellency, in carrying out its assignment, the Committee was not unmindful of the circumstances that led to the Committee’s composition and inauguration. After Boko Haram struck at Chibok on the 14th of April, this year, there were varying and conflicting accounts of what happened, and even more so of the number of persons affected by the unspeakable atrocities on that night of April the 14th.
7. As most Nigerians already know, there were some persons who doubted whether, in fact, any student was abducted from Government Secondary School, Chibok. On the other hand, for those who believed that there was abduction, there were lingering doubts as to how such a number of kidnap victims were conveyed, considering also that information was sparse as to how the raiding insurgents evacuated the victims.
8. Mr President, the Committee here wishes to lay to rest any residual doubt whether or not any student was abducted at Chibok. There was mass abduction on the night of 14th April, 2014. During the siege on the school, 119 students escaped from the school premises, before the insurgents took away their classmates. A total number of 276 students were, thus, abducted. As of today, 57 of the abducted students have been reunited with their families after escaping along the zig-zag transport route taken by the insurgents, or by bolting to safety when the insurgents laid-by for a rest. Sadly, 219 students remain unaccounted for.
9. Details of the circumstances of Government Secondary School, Chibok, remaining open, in spite of the ravages of Boko Haram in the state, are contained in the report of the Committee. Also contained in the report is the detailed explanation of the pain-staking measures taken by the Committee in arriving at the number of students still to be accounted for.
10. Permit me, Mr President, to convey the burning hope, wishes, and fervent prayers of the parents and relatives of the abducted schoolgirls, who desire that their daughters and wards be rescued alive and reunited with their families.
11. But there is no mistaking the trauma and deep-seated fear of some of the schoolgirls, who escaped from the Boko Haram abductors. The parents and guardians of the schoolgirls are no less gripped by nagging worries over the incident. On May 29th, the Committee visited Chibok, where we interacted with community members and leaders, as well as parents and four of the girls who regained their freedom from the abductors. Tried as we could, the four girls were hesitant to discuss the full details of their experience, citing the fear of possible reprisals from Boko Haram elements. In fact, parents of other girls who escaped were hidden from the public glare, also because of the fear of reprisals.
12. Nevertheless, in the course of the Committee seeking to mobilize the surrounding communities and general citizenry, to support a rescue strategy and operation, the point was also made about the dicey nature of the kidnap situation. The schoolgirls are in the hands of insurgents whose record of wanton destruction of life and property in the North-East of the country is well known. The Committee has articulated options in the rescue strategy, and these are contained in our report.
13. The Committee’s report has also raised and addressed a number of issues that are incidental to the Committee’s terms of reference. These incidental matters deal with insurgency in general, as well as the military-political responses that are vital to overcoming the current security challenges.
14. However, although the Committee has already begun the process of mobilizing the communities, in tandem with term of reference number four, it is as yet unfinished business. Achieving more worthwhile outcomes in this regard will require more time and a more compact team than the current time-frame and composition of the Committee permit. Recommendations on the way forward are detailed in our report.
15. In conclusion, the Committee members and I would like to express our gratitude for the opportunity to have undertaken this assignment in a very trying moment in our country’s history. We are, nevertheless, pained that the schoolgirls remain in captivity. The hostage situation that this represents is obviously delicate.
16. Much as Nigerians and the rest of the world have been galvanized to drum up support for freedom for the Chibok schoolgirls, little will be achieved through finger-pointing. Getting the girls out, and safely, too, is by far more important than the publicity generated by the blame game that has tended to becloud the issue.
17. In view of the detailed security findings and recommendations contained in the report, we advise that in order not to jeopardise on-going rescue efforts and also the possibility of compromising National Security matters, we recommend that the report be treated with utmost confidentiality. This, however, does not preclude Government from releasing information that may be useful for better public understanding of issues surrounding the abduction saga.
18. On behalf of myself and members of the Committee, it is now my honour and privilege to present to you, Mr President, the Report of the Presidential Fact-finding Committee on the Abduction of the Chibok Schoolgirls.
Brigadier-Gen. Ibrahim A. Sabo (rtd)
20th June, 2014

 

Stop Refrigerating These Foods!

Ever notice how many of the fruits and vegetables you buy aren’t in the coolers or refrigerated section of the store, but somehow they end up in the fridge when you get home? Maybe many of us are just creatures of habit (bad habit), but if no one ever told you, let me be the first to say that there are some foods that SHOULD NOT  be refrigerated. Here’s a list of 10 you don’t need to refrigerate and how you should store them instead.

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1. Onions

Scallions and chives are safe in the fridge (whew!), but moisture will cause onions to soften and become moldy. This is why you should store onions in a cool, dry place and AWAY from potatoes. Potatoes give off moisture and gases that cause onions to rot faster.

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Stolen Funds: FG Withdraws Charges Against Mohammed Abacha

Kunle Olasanmi

The federal government yesterday withdrew the criminal charge it filed against Mohammed, son of late head of state, General Sani Abacha.

At yesterday’s proceedings before Justice Mamman Kolo of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Wuse Zone 2, Abuja, the government announced its decision to withdraw the charge.

The government, through a private counsel, Daniel Enwelum, filed the charge of nine counts against Mohammed, accusing him of “dishonestly receiving stolen property” and saying he “voluntarily assisted in concealing money,” belonging to the state and estimated at N446.3billion.

Efforts by the government to arraign Abacha on the charge was unsuccessful as he failed to appear in court on two occasions, when the case was earlier mentioned.

However, Abacha showed up in court yesterday. He mounted the dock when the case was called, shortly after which Enwelum informed the court about the directive he got from the attorney general of the federation (AGF), to the effect that he should discontinue the case because there are fresh facts and documents available to him.

Boko Haram: US To Seek Extradition Of Detained Members

The United States attorney representing the 25th District (Maryland Region), Ms Aisha Braveboy, yesterday said that the American government would soon be asking its Nigerian counterpart on the possible extradition and serious prosecution of the detained terror suspects who had been arrested on account of Boko Haram in Nigeria.

This is just as Nigeria’s ambassador to Nigeria, Professor Adebowale Ibidapo Adefuye, has said that the terrorist group had no reason to justify their deadly acts of killing and destroying innocent citizens of Nigeria.

Speaking during a public debate organized by the Africa-American Investment Partners on the menace of Boko Haram in Washington, DC, Ms Braveboy noted that efforts were underway to ensure that everybody who had been indicted for having anything to do with Boko Haram as well as the terrorist attacks in Nigeria was duly prosecuted by the United States, United Nations and the international community.

Wants politicians linked to terrorism released for prosecution

Lauding the efforts of the Nigerian government to curb terrorists and acts of terrorism in the country, the US official said that a letter would soon be sent to the government to request a proper prosecution of the detained terrorists in Nigeria. She added that those politicians that are being linked with sponsoring the terrorist group should be released to the international community by the federal government for arrest and prosecution.

Ambassador Adefuye, who was the keynote speaker at the event, said that there was no justification for any act of terrorism in Nigeria, faulting the claims from some quarters that Boko Haram members were perpetrating evil in Nigeria as a result of underdevelopment in the three affected states. “Does anybody have a reason to kill because he feels his region has not been developed? It is totally unacceptable to say that terrorism came to existence in Nigeria as a result of underdevelopment in any part of the country,” he noted.

Condemning media reports that the federal government was violating human rights, the Nigerian envoy who has been meeting to inform US lawmakers on the efforts that the Nigerian government is making to fight terrorism in Nigeria continued that the diplomatic way with which Nigeria had been handling the trials of those indicted for terrorism should show that the country is a respecter of human rights. He added that Boko Haram did not just start during President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.

Adefuye however thanked the United States government including senators and Congressmen for now realizing that all the media reports which earlier said that the Nigerian government was slow in its intervention in the Chibok kidnapping were all fabrications just to discredit President Jonathan’s administration. He continued that the Western media were just blowing the security situation in Nigeria out of proportions.

He said: “How can you say that the entire Nigeria is unsafe because Boko Haram members are striking in just three states out of the 36 states in the federation? I think the international media should also think and report about the positive things happening in Nigeria just like the just-concluded World Economic Forum which was held successfully. All that international investors need to do now is to ignore all the overblown media reports and take a trip to Nigeria; it is when they get there that they will know that the situation is not as bad as it is being reported in the media.”

Also speaking, the coordinator and partner of the Africa-American Investment Partners, Mr Franklin Ekechukwu, charged the international community to urgently do everything to support Nigeria in order for the kidnapped female students to be found and returned back to their families alive.

Mr Ekechukwu added that the efforts being put in place by the federal government should be appreciated.

Chibok Girls: Jonathan okays N1.6bn for safe schools initiative

•As Gordon Brown, Gov Shettima visit Aso Rock

President Goodluck Jonathan has directed finance minister Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to open a trust fund account of N1.6billion for the Safe Schools Initiative, in response to the growing number of attacks on the right to education including the kidnap of over 200 schoolgirls from Chibok.

This is coming just as former British prime minister Gordon Brown, Borno State governor Kashim Shettima and his Yobe counterpart Ibrahim Gaidam met with the president at the presidential villa, Abuja, to perfect and seal the Safe Schools Initiative which was launched by Jonathan at the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa last month in Abuja.

Brown, who is currently the UN special envoy for education, had teamed up with a coalition of Nigerian business leaders to formally launch the “Safe Schools Initiative” as part of the opening activities of the WEF.

The UN envoy alongside governors Shettima and Gaidam as well as Okonjo-Iweala and presidential spokesman Reuben Abati briefed State House correspondents on the outcome of the meeting with the president.

“And Mr President has kicked off this initiative by opening and instructing that I open a trust fund in which we have already put N1.6billion. The private sector is also putting N1.6 billion; his excellency Gordon Brown is going to be raising some resources and the governors are also putting in commitment,” Okonjo-Iweala said.

The UN envoy told journalists that he also came with a message from Ban Ki-moon, UN secretary-general, giving his support for Nigeria on the Safe Schools Initiative.

He said, “I just came from a meeting with the president. Every child is special, precious and unique. I have come here with the UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon giving me his support to do so — to send our sympathies and our solidarity and our support to the children of Chibok who have been cruelly kidnapped and to give our support to the families of these girls and to the whole community in Borno State.

“And I am here to say that we wish as an international community to do everything we can to back up the efforts of President Goodluck Jonathan and the governors of the states to make sure these girls are returned to their families and at the same time to make sure that every parent feels that they can send their children to school knowing they wil be safe in future.

“And that is why we are launching the Safe Schools Intiative and that is why the president has decided to set up this fund that will allow the international community as well as local donors to contribute to making our schools in this country safer.

“We also want to help the rebuilding of Chibok schools because we want parents of that area to be sure that when thier girls are released they can come home to a school that is rebuilt and safe.

And we want to help in rebuilding the schools in other areas where schools have either been demolished or burnt down or vandalized.”

Borno governor Shettima warned against politicising the process, saying while the situation is such that calls for sobriety and maturity, politics would be played at the appropriate time.

He said, “We have given our commitment to partner with the federal government and the international community to ensure that we promptly address this problem confronting us. It is an issue that basically boils down to education, poverty, empowerment. By the grace of God, we want to give you our commitment: that we are going to pursue this thing vigorously with all the resources, human and material, in our disposal, and, please, it will be completely devoid of politics.

“Times like this call for sobriety, maturity, for unity of purpose. At the appropriate time, we are going to play politics but this is not time for playing politics with the lives of people.”

On his part, Yobe governor Gaidam said, “The initiated is going to be started in our three states because we are the most affected areas in terms of the insurgencies. We promise to give him all the necessary cooperation to ensure that the programme succeeds.

“We are also going to partner both with him and the federal government under the leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan to ensure that this programme becomes successful at the end of the day.”

30,000 flee villages to Maiduguri

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has said that over 30,000 villagers have fled their areas to Maiduguri, Borno State capital, for safety.

The north-east zonal coordinator, Alhaji Muhammad Kanar, told the Hausa service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) that frequent attacks of the villages by the Boko Haram have forced the residents to abandon their homes to Maiduguri, the state capital.

According to the coordinator, “villagers seeking safety in Maiduguri were from Alau, Gwoza and other surrounding communities worst hit by the militants”.

NEMA has vowed to create camps in Maiduguri to cater for the affected persons, Kanar said.

Meanwhile, the Economic Communities of West African States (ECOWAS) Council of Ministers has revealed that security, economic development and regional integration will top the agenda of its 72nd Ordinary Session in Accra, Ghana.

This was contained in a statement signed by the ECOWAS Commission’s acting director of communication, Sunny Ugoh, yesterday in Abuja.

According to the statement, the meeting will hold from June 19 to June 20. ECOWAS would also consider the memorandum on the “ECOWAS declaration on events in northern Nigeria” due to insecurity in that part of the country.

Thousands of people have been killed in northern Nigeria due to the activities of the Boko Haram terrorist group.

Use of force cannot end Boko Haram – CAN

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has said that the use of force alone cannot solve the menace of Boko Haram, because its activities were ideologically construed and can only be solved by a superior ideology.

Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, president of CAN, who spoke yesterday on the sidelines of a one-day Christian/Muslim interactive meeting in Abuja, said as necessary as military operation in quenching the raging fire ignited by the insurgents could be, the only potent means of solving the menace is by engaging them with counter-narrative.

According to Oritsejafor, Muslim clerics should begin to engage the insurgent members with a view to re-orientating them against their pervert ideology, adding that military operation is very important but the problem will not be solved completely just by bullets.

“We will have to create an avenue for a superior argument in the area of ideologies. In other words, we must bring up another ideology that is higher and better, that would counter and contradict the ideology that has created this monster,” he said.

Oritsejafor said he disagreed with a section of the people who believed that poverty was at the centre of the issues that bred insurgency in the north, stressing that if government decided to give car to each Nigerian, it would still not address the scourge because the dreaded Islamic group was being driven by wrong ideology.

“It is a fact that Boko Haram is not as a result of poverty, but as a result of an ideology. If you buy a car and build a house for everybody in Nigeria, it does not stop an ideology. The only thing that stops an ideology is another ideology, a better and a superior one.

“What we now have to do is to look for the people who have this type of ideology, that have contact with these people who have the wrong ideology, so that they can take the right ideology, go to them and explain it to them. They may not listen to me, but there are people they will listen to.

“The people who can engage Boko Haram basically are Muslim clerics. I do not want to be hypocritical. There is no Christian ideology that can match that ideology, because they are totally different. But it is purely a Muslim ideology that can counter this ideology,” he stated.

Speaking a similar vein, the Chairman Islamic Resource Centre, Nigeria, Prof. Mohammed Al-Amin also agreed that the issue of Boko Haram was an ideological issue, that if the perpetrators are converted ideologically, then it would have done what weapons and violent actions could not do.

“I perfectly agree that Boko Haram is an ideological problem and the best way to tackle it is through intellectual engagement. Among Muslims scholars, there were some that started this engagement some years back. I think it is very important we encourage this to continue. Secondly, the opinion of this conference is that Boko Haram has proven that their agenda is not Muslim interest to attack Christians in this country.

“It is also not an agenda of the federal government to unleash mayhem on the northerners, but a disease by a section of Nigerians that have unleashed terrible abuses on both Muslims and Christians,” he said.

Leadership