Budget padding allegation: Jibrin writes IGP, DSS

By: Victor Oluwasegun and Dele Anofi

Dogara

The immediate past Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, Abdulmunin Jibrin, is accusing  Speaker Yakubu Dogara and three other principal officers of the  House of harassing, monitoring  and intimidating him following his allegation that they sought to pad this year’s budget to the tune of N40 billion.

His lawyers dispatched a petition to the Police  and the Department of State Security (DSS)  yesterday, protesting  “subterranean and clandestine efforts” by Dogara, Deputy Speaker Yusuf Lasun,  House Whip Hon. Alhassan  Ado Doguwa and House Minority Leader Hon. Leo Ogor to “obstruct justice.”

Ogor, responding to Jibrin’s claim about involvement in budget padding, dismissed it as cheap blackmail.

Members of the House were divided yesterday on what position to take on the issue.

Some asked the four principal officers to step aside while the matter is investigated while others called for proof from Jibrin, failing which he should be sanctioned.

Jibrin said he stood firmly by  his allegations and will prove same at the appropriate time.

Messrs Hammart & Co, Law Bond Solicitors and Doka Chambers, in a petition on behalf of Jibrin to the IGP, said Dogara,Lasun, Doguwa and Ogor “ have resorted to blackmail our client into silence and to further harass his person and family using the instrument of the obstructive coercion and perversion of due process by deploying, albeit illegally some elements of the Nigeria Police.

“We now have it on good authority that these quartet acting in concert are at the moment using some elements within the police to monitor, harass, intimidate and hound our client into an unwarranted detention with the purpose of inhibiting his right to move freely and to express himself as contained in Chapter 4 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).

“The purpose of their antics is to upturn the narrative and paint our client as the black sheep in the flock, and cleverly presenting themselves as transparent angels.”

They advised  the police and other security agencies “not to allow themselves (security agencies) to be used to execute the personal objectives of these quartet; more so appropriate legal action has been taken by our client, as a law abiding citizen, to protect his fundamental rights as guaranteed by our laws.”

They also warned the quartet  ”not to descend to the narrow aim of dragging the institution of the House of Representatives into their personal fight and to note that by virtue of  the institution he leads and as a lawyer, he should act within the confines of the Rule of Law and allow the House of Representatives to institute a special investigation into this matter where our client will have the opportunity earlier denied him by the quartet to testify and provide evidence against them because he who comes to equity must come with clean hands.”

Some Representatives who spoke on the condition that their names would not be mentioned  branded Jibrin an angry man who wants to pull the establishment down because he was removed as chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, while  others said  the allegation was too heavy to be left uninvestigated.

“There is a need to investigate the allegation because it is a very serious one. We are talking about fighting corruption in line with the policy of the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, and the House has always touted this,” one Representative said.

“This is the time to show the world that we are serious about it. If Jibrin has proof as he said, he should not hesitate to bring it forward.

“In the interim, I think the Speaker should also allow the issue be investigated. He should step aside and allow the Ethics and Privileges Committee, or an adhoc committee investigate.

“It will do him and the other accused principal officers a lot of good to be proven innocent. It should not be waved aside or swept under the carpet,” the member from the South- west said.

Another member  from the South- South likened Jibrin’s allegation to that made by  the former Ambassador of the United States, Mr.James Entwistle, about sexual misconduct against three members of the House.

He said: ”Because of the seriousness of the allegation and the manner it affects the reputation of the House and Nigeria as a whole, the Speaker constituted a joint committee to investigate. The same thing is expected here.

“The situation is already bad enough as Nigerians believe lawmakers are corrupt. This would make matters worse. It might come to a time when  our constituents begin to stone us believing the N40 billion was in cash and shared amongst members. This must be sorted out.

“But if the former Chairman of Appropriations Committee  is found to be lying, or does not have proof, then a commensurate punishment in the House Rules should be brought to bear on him accordingly.”

The Minority Leader, Leo Ogor, in his response to the allegation, called Jibrin’s allegation cheap blackmail.

He said: “Those are fabricated stories and the facts are in the budget.

“I think this is coming from somebody who is a little bit upset, who doesn’t know his left from his right. It is unfortunate, but I don’t want to go into altercation with him.

“At the appropriate time, when we resume on the floor, we will speak, but I can assure you that they are all a bunch of lies and there is nothing in it.

 “You can read the lines, he has actually lost his committee.

“Why didn’t he make available  this allegation all along? Those are the questions you need to answer.

“He was the one that addressed the issue of this budget on Channels and he accused the Presidency and the executive in respect of issues that bother on the budget.

“Today, he is singing a different tune, and I think he is good at singing different tunes anyway. So like I said I am not going to go into any altercation with somebody I consider not a serious person.

“I am not going to waste my time over that issue and what he has said are all lies and this kind of blackmail doesn’t work with the likes of Leo Ogor, so you see he is just wasting his time.”

 TheNation

Met President Obama At Last - TFaj

Be Inspired, Ganiyah Speaks, Ganiyah Writes

July 22, 2016

“The Champ taught us that the most important thing in life is to be ourselves.” —@POTUS on Muhammad Ali https://t.co/UvQhVfxD61

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) July 21, 2016
Yep! Thats me in the White House video (link above) in the second row cheering loudly for #MuhammedAli while trying  to control my excitement about meeting the President at last. For some people, it isn’t a big deal, but for me, it was and still is a huge deal that I met President Obama up close and personal, and he spoke with me. You see, this life is full of struggles and hustles, and a little high here and there is always helpful to help refuel our tank so we can keep going.
I was privileged to attend the President’s inaugural ball in January 2013, but there were almost 15,000 other guests at the convention center that day, so meeting him was not even a possibility. My next attempt was in 2014, when I was invited to be a part of the planning meeting for the US-Africa Leaders summit. I was excited about being in the White House for the first time, but a little heart broken that we could only enter the Eisenhower executive office building and their was no POTUS. So you can imagine my excitement when I got an invitation to the first ever White House Eid party (the White House always hosted an annual iftar dinner during Ramadan, but this year an Eid party was hosted for the first time.) Not only was this a dream come true because I had bought my dress with the intention of wearing it to a party at the White House since 2014 even though I didn’t know how I would get invited to one, it was huge because I knew the president would attend and the party was being held inside the East Wing of the White House. I mean, we were going inside the first family’s house!
It was an exciting time yesterday, proof that God listens to every prayer, and a chance to meet so many amazing Muslim-Americans doing wonderful work across the country. The gathering shattered the myth that Muslim Americans don’t contribute positively to the USA. I saw and spoke with people blazing trails, saw Thomas Jefferson’s Quran, and heard from the President how African slaves were mostly Muslims. Most importantly, it was what I needed to see so I can organize folks even harder so that the evil hater of all things that define me: a Black Immigrant Muslim American Woman doesn’t set foot in the beautiful White House ever! More photos on my Facebook Page.

Niger Delta: Northern group takes over battle against militants

By Emma Amaize,

                       TOMPOLO & BUHARI            

Tompolo and Buhari

Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/07/niger-delta-northern-group-takes-battle-militants/

South-South Nigerians heaved a sigh of relief when the Niger Delta Avengers, NDA and other militant groups suspended hostilities in the Niger Delta region following a two-week ceasefire announced by the Federal Government, June 6. Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu who also doubled as Group Managing Director, Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, who led a Federal Government Pro-Dialogue and Contact team with President Muhammadu Buhari’s imprimatur, disclosed that the two-week ceasefire was to create a window for dialouge with the militants. Kachikwu hinted then: “The President is interested in dialogue and has mandated the military to halt actions for about two weeks to ensure a team that will be led by the National Security Adviser, NSA, dialogues with the militants to ensure peace in the region.” The team adopted behind closed door and open door approaches and was able to interface with some notable stakeholders and notable militant leaders. Niger Delta Avengers, NDA, the main militant group bleeding the economy of the country tactically suspended destruction of oil installations to see if government was sincere with the peace process. Curiously, the NSA who was supposed to lead the team did not participate and though, government ordered the military to withdraw from the creeks within the period, it was observably a cat and mouse relationship with the militants. Tompolo and Buhari Tompolo and Buhari Demobilization of a winning team The President also went on a two-week holiday in London at the time but many expected him to put on the table government’s outline for the planned dialogue after his return, June 19. Indeed, the footwork by Dr Kachikwu and his team was already yielding result with oil production recording a slight increase. A source familiar with the happenings said that while in London, some chieftains of All Progressives Congress, APC, and sectional leaders visited the President and mounted pressure on him not to accept Kachikwu’s model for the resolution of the Niger Delta crisis. Saturday Vanguard learned that Kachikwu submitted a template to the President to stem the crisis. A Presidency source, who confirmed this development to our reporter, said the blueprint was a typical Kachikwu out-of-the box idea. However, we gathered that Kachikwu, who cried inside the helicopter while returning from the creeks over the misery he saw in the riverside communities he visited, gave the oil companies a hard knock and his outline rankled feathers that were not happy with his growing influence and acceptability by stakeholders in the region. Avengers Discoveries about Tompolo Unconfirmed reports said the Kachikwu team found that Tompolo was a key figure to the resolution of the impasse, though he continued to refute relationship and sponsorship of the Avengers. We also gathered that Tompolo, whose the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC froze his bank accounts and seized his on court’s order was willing to relinquish the money and properties, acquired by him for the sake of peace in the region. However, he was not ready to allow the Nigerian Maritime University, Okerenkoko, go extinct as planned by “detractors” of Gbaramatu Kingdom and Ijaw ethnic nationality. A source familiar with the unwritten pact with Tompolo, said he was ready to work with the federal government to end the bombing of oil pipelines and secure the region, a position he personally conveyed to President Buhari during his meeting with him before the present imbroglio, and in his several open letters published in the newspapers. However, the consensus was that he (Tompolo) could not play such role if government did not drop the allegedly politically motivated charges against him, but the question is how to get Buhari give in to the option, a sticky situation, which the northern group saw and took advantage of to work on the psyche of the president. Power play On the surface, things seemed to be well, but inside, there were dangerous power play and intrigues over how to handle the Niger Delta situation. The power play had been on, but just that it was undermined, but one of the militant leaders Kachikwu interfaced with raised the suspicion when he asked him pointedly why the NSA was not participating in the discussions with him. Our source did not immediately recall the retort Kachikwu gave him, but Niger Delta Avengers smelt a rat with President Buhari’s apparent failure to come out with a clear-cut pronouncement on the proposed dialogue and his body language more than a week after he returned from his London vacation. It returned to further blowing of pipelines and on Tuesday when the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, briefed the Senate, he said that the nation’s economy was in bad shape owing partly to the activities of Niger Delta Avengers among others. He was specific that the renewed bombings by the militant group have taken a very bad toll and at present, there was no hope of arresting the downward turn. The militant group in an exclusive Vanguard interview, published July 11, said: “In the first instance, we suspended hostilities in good faith to see if the government of the day was sincerely speaking when it announced its dialogue initiative. That was why, for strategic reasons, we did not make open declaration of our cessation of hostilities. We wanted to watch and to show Nigerians and the world the insincerity of the government’s dialogue plans.” It blamed Buhari for the resumption of hostilities, saying: “Until we resumed operations, nobody reached out to us and government did not establish any genuine platform to address our grievances.” Its words: “Until President Buhari takes our demands seriously and sets up a genuine framework to address the Niger Delta question, we will continue to obstruct all avenues to export our crude oil to develop his 97 per cent (95 per cent).” “In fact, whenever we have any contact to establish a genuine negotiation and dialogue, we will not hesitate to let the world know that we are in dialogue with the government and her representatives. “This is another phase of the Niger Delta struggle to reclaim our resources for prosperity. Some mischief-makers can tag it Ijaw struggle, but our short, medium and long-term plans are for us, the people of the Niger Delta, to control our resources and develop our land and pay tax to the central government,” it asserted. Buhari’s real dilemma Unknown to Nigerians, President Buhari actually found himself in a catch-22 between the forces that want him to go ahead with dialogue with militants to avoid winning the battle and losing the war and those that believe that he should not give any quota to the rampaging militants. Close watchers of the President said that as a retired military officer, he was more comfortable with handling the insurgents militarily, and much as he admired Kachikwu’s tenacity and sincerity of purpose, the advice of those who did not want him to dialogue with militants sank better with him. In fact, those against Kachikwu’s development model for Niger Delta region argued that following his “intellectual submission” would amount to succumbing to the blackmail and threat of Niger Delta Avengers, which they submitted no government worth its onion would accept. Spanner in the work A source told Saturday Vanguard: “This was how spanner was put in the work and all the efforts Kachikwu put in to sway the militants to ceasefire and wait for President Buhari to come out with government’s position on dialogue with militants and other stakeholders in the region were circumscribed.” The new group, comprising mainly of retired and serving Northern military officers had, in actuality, taken over the battle against the Avengers and other militants with an entirely different modus operandi and structure. The group maintains that the sponsor of Avengers is ex-militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo. They were said to have recruited some former ex-militant leaders and few leaders from the South-South zone to track Tompolo and his lieutenants down. It was in realization that government was more disposed to resolving the matter through methods other than dialogue that made the Avengers to resume fresh hostilities. Manhunt for Tompolo, associates “So far, the new undertakers have launched a manhunt for Tompolo, his associates and friends in Delta state and other parts of the region, the hunt is being carried out by the Navy, Army and Department of State Services, DSS. Angst with Kachikwu “The group believes that it can do better than whatever Kachikwu could do to resolve the Niger Delta quagmire. They think that the project is a source of income and will not allow a technocrat to spoil their business,” a source told Saturday Vanguard. His words: “Their opinion is that Kachikwu was becoming too powerful and with their influence around the president, they got him to remove him as the GMD of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC to clip his wings.” Buhari, who resisted the lobby over the months to remove Kachikwu as GMD, saying that he had brought good reforms to the organization suddenly caved in during the last Ramadan when the group was said to have mounted suffocating pressure on him. Group moves into action Investigations by Saturday Vanguard revealed that the group has recruited a coalition of ex-agitators in the Niger Delta region to fight the Niger Delta Avengers and other militant groups still blowing up pipelines in the region, but actual details of the deal have not been ascertained. However, a reliable source hinted that the group was determined to rout the Avengers not only to ensure smooth oil production for Nigeria but also to prove its point to Buhari that they could do without Kachikwu’s blueprint. “The group enjoys the support of some ex-agitators from Niger Delta that are opposed to Tompolo, and who also share the opinion that he is behind the Avengers,” the source added. In fact, many were unhappy that Tompolo reportedly ‘cornered’ all the goodies from NIMASA, saying since he shielded them away from the agency; they were not ready to act as shield for him in his hour of need. The group spanning the various security agencies in the country with a powerful federal government official as its coordinator has reportedly received dossiers on Tompolo , which it is understudying with a view to locating his hideout and going straight for him. Our source added: “That is the reason you see that strong efforts have been devoted in arresting people they believe are close to him.” “They convinced the President that they have a better option and they have to perform to prove it. They are poised to arrest the militants bombing pipelines. If they do not succeed in using Tompolo’s boys to get him, they will attack his suspected hideouts in the creeks,” the source said. No inroad yet In all, the group has not made appreciable headway in resolving the crisis. The problem is deepening by the day and it is not clear how it is going to play out at the end of the day. Observers also believe that if government did not abort Kachikwu’s trouble-shooting moves, it would have rolled out the outline for dialogue with militants by now and at least, have the militants in check while discussions are on. Buhari comes to judgment! Our findings indicate that the group, however, was not satisfied as rather than diminish his fame; Kachikwu’s removal increased his reputation in Niger Delta region. Therefore, it hatched a plot to discredit him. Nevertheless, an ingenious attempt to smear the Minister of State for Petroleum by purporting that he was under probe over his dealings, as NNPC GMD did not go down well with Buhari, who rebuffed the players by giving him a clean bill. A source said that despite the circumstance that made him remove Kachikwu as NNPC GMD, President Buhari strongly believes in his competence. He, therefore, would not close his eyes to any attempt to ridicule and bully him. MEND soft landing approach However, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, the militant group that once championed the blowing of crude oil pipelines in the region, but had retreated from violence, is spearheading a fresh move to get Niger Delta Avengers to the dialogue table with government. This is in spite of the statement from the Vice President; Prof Yemi Osinbajo that government would not dialogue with militants. With the gritty determination of MEND suspected to be working in collaboration with the group to continue with peace talks, it was ambiguous at the weekend if the group was employing a diversionary tactic or is now amenable to dialogue, the same “offence” they accused Kachikwu of committing. Nevertheless, MEND has proposed among other things that Niger Delta Avengers and indeed other militant groups should denounce violence, recognize President Buhari as Commander-in-Chief and vote that any agreement reached at the planned dialogue between the Aaron Team 2 established by government would be binding on it. So far, MEND had made audacious claims indicating its working agreement with government. The spokesperson, Jomo Gbomo, in a recent statement, said: Accordingly, after receiving firm assurances from the highest level of government about its readiness to dialogue with the Aaron Team, MEND has decided to expand the representational capacity of the Aaron Team to accommodate the Niger Delta Avenger (NDA) upon the following terms and conditions.” Tompolo crucial to N-Delta peace – MEND From the proclamation of MEND, it has also become obvious that for peace in the region, nobody can wish away the influence of Tompolo. MEND asserted in a memo to President Buhari: “High Chief Government Ekpemupolo’s inclusion in the final list was principally because of the key role he continues to play in the Niger Delta as a notable ex-militant leader; philanthropist; traditional title holder and mobilizer of amazing capacity.” “It will therefore be counter-productive if the Federal Government ignored such an individual who may be capable of talking to the militants in the creeks to ceasefire. “We are very much aware of the pending criminal charges filed against Government Ekpemupolo by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). However, we strongly advise the charges be suspended until after the conclusion of the Aaron Team assignment. “This is to ensure that Mr. Ekpemupolo devotes his time, energy and resources towards the resolution of the current Niger Delta crisis without any fear of arrest, intimidation or harassment,” MEND stated. Why Okah brothers should also be free It is unclear if the avowal of MEND has the blessing of the northern group, which is to a degree the same reason they condemned Kachikwu. But MEND in the letter to Buhari added: “Your Excellency, the MEND Aaron Team 2 dialogue and peace initiative would not have materialized if not for the tireless work and support of the Okah brothers – Henry and Charles, who are currently in prisons in South Africa and Nigeria, respectively.” “It is our humble submission that the release of the Okah brothers is a crucial factor in the peaceful resolution of the Niger Delta crisis. If Senator Ali Ndume, who is still facing a terror charge of sponsoring Boko Haram can be granted bail by the Judiciary and thereby permitted to participate in nation building at one of the highest levels as Majority Leader of the Senate then we see no reason the Okah brothers who have enormous capacity to help Government bring the Niger Delta crisis to an end are still held in prison. “Sir, cases abound in history where prisoners were released from prison to help save the nation in times of crises. Examples include the likes of the Hebrew slave, Joseph, who was released from prison to help save ancient Egypt from famine. “Nelson Mandela was also released from prison in 1990 to help restore multi- racial democracy in South Africa in 1994. We, therefore, urge the release of Messrs Henry and Charles Okah similarly as former President Olusegun Obasanjo was released from prison to become President and help to nurture the then nascent democracy in 1999,” MEND asserted.

Vanguard

We Are Boko Haram By Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde

An in house survey into the cultural origins of boko haram movement in Nigeria __________________________________________________________

So many readers have sent text messages asking me to write on boko haram. I was afraid that a Chaji would pick his pen and compel me to divulge my view on the crisis which started from Bauchi and which is the more reason why Chaji would grill me. Chaji and his likes have constituted a terror to regular writers. They deny us the privacy of opinion; everything we know or think of is a public property which we must render regularly. We have no right to silence. Chaji? May good fortunes save me from the wrath of his pen! Well, to escape that, today, I have decided to say something about the phenomenon. The reader must be ready to wear armour because the piece is written with a very sharp knife.

It is futile to speak on the halal or haram of boko. I rather intend to discuss the cultrual roots of the movement. But first let us settle the issue of nomenclature which some writers got wrong. On the authority of Professor Mahdi Adamu Ngaski, a celebrated historian, author of The Hausa Factor in the History of West Africa, and former Vice Chancellor, Usmanu Danfodio University, in Hausa, ‘boko’ simply means ‘fake’. Before it was largely consigned to western education, boko was often used to connote the “fake bride’, amaryar boko, who rode the horse in place of the real bride as the convoy of celebrants escorted her to her new home. The real bride would secretly be carried earlier by two or three women to her home. So when western education came to Hausaland, the learned rejected it and gave it a derogatory connotation, ilimin boko, ‘fake education.’ Sadly, this name has remained the standard translation of ‘western education’ among all Hausa speaking people of West Africa and I have never heard of any effort to change it, except the ilimin zamani that is sparsely applied. To date, there is no alternative nomenclature for makarantar boko, 'fake school' that connotes modern schools for western education. My discussion with the Professor on boko took place in December 1984 in Sokoto.

One would wonder how much has changed in our perception of western education during the last century. (By ‘our’, or the third person plural throughout this article means Muslims living in Northern Nigeria.) Though we have schools and universities, governments and companies, all founded on the western models, there are still problems in varying degrees among different groups with the assimilation of western education as an acceptable cultural medium or its recognition as body of knowledge which is indisputably necessary for our survival today.

To many, the perception is like that of our ancestors: boko is haram – forbidden – so it must be rejected or, if acquired, abandoned, as we have seen in the case of the present boko haram group. An extreme variety of this thought was represented by the maitatsine movement, which in the early 1980s rejected even the use of western technological products like watches, bicycles, radio and television, unlike the new boko haram who allow the use of even cameras, handsets and computers, as explained by its leader in his final moments.

Akin to this belief is the notion among some learned traditional Islamic scholars that ‘government’ is haram and public property and finances belong to nobody, so they can looted whenever possible. I came across this idea in Sokoto in the aftermath of 1983 coup. The mighty who lived fat on public funds were arrested. It was then I heard someone justifying stealing public funds in a private discussion: to, malammai sun ce halal ne cin dukiyar gwamnati tunda bat a kowa ba ce. My effort to present the contrary was futile.

Mainstream Muslims in this country view western education as useful, but they still hold the West with a lot of suspicion due to the existing hostile relations between the Muslim World and the West. Though this group recognizes western education as a body of knowledge to which Islamic culture has significantly contributed for centuries in the past, the lingering suspicion has continuously hampered the domestication of the knowledge and its internalization in the region. So we go to school only obtain a certificate that will earn us a job without imbibing the principles and fundamentals that enabled the West to excel in such knowledge and technology; those principles and fundamentals are seen as alien, never to be imbibed.

We deride whoever embodies western practices like keeping to time, pubic accountability, banking, gender equality, family planning, etc. Early scholars, like the late Egyptian, Muhammad Abduh, who visited Europe and returned to say “they have seen Islam where there are no Muslims” are castigated as ‘westernized,’ while those who called for wholesale adoption of western values and culture, like the late Taha Husein, are condemned as westerners; some even would not hesitate to call them infidels.

Here is Hausaland, a bature is not only a European, but anyone who adopts western practice like keeping to time, monogamy, family planning, games, leisure, tourism, reading, western dress, etc, though only few of such practices contravene Islamic injunctions. Though Islam is still revered as the reference point of culture and the ultimate arbiter of cultural conflicts, we readily mock anyone who attempts to practice it as the Arabs do. For example, we reject the honest public servant by suggesting that he relocates to Saudi Arabia where Islam is practiced: “Wai shi gaskiya. To in gaskiya yake so, ya koma Madina da zama”. Even the Qur’an is not spared. When one recites the Qur’an as it should be recited, following the rules of tajweed, we deride him as a balarabe – Arab: Mhm. kakale, wai shi balarabe. It took centuries and a national competition on Qur’anic recitation that started in the mid 1980s before northerners finally accepted the practice.

More dangerous, perhaps, is our reluctance to use our faculties to simplify our lives and improve our productivity. We have not invented anything in agriculture beyond the basic tools which our ancestors used for millions of years: the same hoe (fartanya), and plough (garma). Governments had a Herculean task selling the idea of fertilizers to farmers.. Now that they have accepted it, corruption, which some malams justify, has prevented them from accessing it. Also, the dress has been the same since we borrowed the babbar riga from Mali and kaftans from the Arabs. The bante (which the kanuri call afuno) was very much prevalent in the region as late as the early 20th Century. We wear them both the riga and the kaftan during the Harmattan cold and during the hot summer. Any attempt to borrow other wears to suit the weather as shown by the Qur’an is repulsed, unlike in the Arab world where they have different dresses for different situations. In fact, if you do not wear these ‘uniforms’, many of us do not consider you as fully Muslim.. Simple. The hijab, on the other hand, is now imposed even on babies!

Research and extension personnel in agriculture are daily frustrated with the strong repulsion to any new idea, variety or practice. Foreign breeds of cows were imported forty years ago by the Sardauna but we still look at Murtala Nyako with admiration because he alone was the first to defy the odds and maintain a modern dairy farm for many years. For over four decades, we condemn the high milk yielding Frisian or the high meat yielding varieties of cows as foreign, shanun turawa. This inertia also contributed to the ‘death’ of the tractor and other instruments of mechanization such that governments’ focus on boosting agricultural production is now limited to supply of inorganic fertilizer for the additional reasons of fat contracts and lucrative middlemanship. So glaring is our boko haram attitude that many state governments recently preferred to import farmers from Southern Africa and support them with free land, huge capital and heavy subsidies. They argue that if we are given agricultural loan, which hardly reach us anyway, we prefer to invest it in human, instead of crop, propagation. How true they are!

Our general contempt for knowledge is outstanding, making us to prefer ignorance as a companion. The more knowledgeable you are or try to use that knowledge, the lesser are your chances of survival. Our entire political ethos is built on ignorance such that hardly would anyone succeed except if he is ready to put aside the correct thing he knows and behave as, or obey, the ordinary or ignorant who has never been to the four walls of high school. In interviews, a good performing candidate is rejected for a mediocre that will play the game of his sponsors.

The overwhelming majority of our political representatives and appointees are not the best from their constituencies, some cannot even write their names properly; that is why they hardly contribute to debates in the National Assembly. In our conferment of traditional titles, there has never been an occasion where the educational contribution or the honesty of anyone was celebrated with a traditional title; it is simply sycophancy and money, no matter how dirty.

An illustration of our contempt for knowledge lies in the way we tackle problems when they arise. How else can we explain the cold blooded massacre of boko haram members in Bauchi and Maiduguri, much of which is now correctly loaded on President Yar’adua, the foremost proponent of the rule of law? Where is the rule of law when the President ordered the Police and the army to crush them or deal with them ‘siquayale’? In fact, so ruthless was this Malam B that just before embarking on his Brazil trip, he told the world that the group will be crushed by that evening. He succeeded in crushing them but at the expense of justice, earning the country another medal of shame as an uncivilized nation, and attracting sympathy for the sect. Well, we are hardly visited by justice anyway. In-group hostility has always been our identity. That is why the same President who ordered the immediate massacre of boko haram members readily offered amnesty and money to Niger Delta rebels who are a thousand times more armed, who have killed, maimed, kidnapped lives, destroyed property and crippled the economy.

From the foregoing, it appears that we are culturally repulsive to any thing modern, from whatever direction it comes. Simply put, we are boko haram. Otherwise, what could explain our backwardness in every national endeavour – economic, social and political? Why do we have, for example, the lowest per capita income in the country, the lowest life expectancy, the lowest academic achievements as exemplified in our having the least number of academic institutions, fewer numbers of graduates and higher education applicants despite our high population? Why do we have, on the other hand, highest poverty and highest maternal and infant mortality rates? Why do we fail to see the disjoint between our collective repulsive attitude to common sense and modernity, our boko haram attitude precisely, on the one hand, and modernity on the other? Why do we choose to be blind? Why can’t we come out of self-imposed boko haram prison that our ancestors built over a century before?

Unfortunately, we are today paying a very high price for this negative attitude. It has led to the shrinkage of our social sphere. We are increasingly isolating ourselves by our escalating intolerance for the attitude and cultures of other Nigerians. Honestly, that is why we lost the ground in the so called Middle Belt. Politically, our preference for mediocrity has heavily reduced our significance from where it was, say, during the Second Republic. Also as a result, those of us from northern north have even considerably lost the sympathy of Muslims from the Middle Belt because we have built notoriety for ethnic self-preference and unfounded superiority complex which is based on nothing but ignorance.

The future is even bleaker if we consider the attitude of our youths. On campuses today, for example, we allow our students to grow with this isolationist attitude: in almost every faculty or department they now form societies of Muslim students, something unheard of in the 1970s and early 1980s when we were undergraduates. Of course, Muslim Student’s Society, like Fellowship of Christian Students, was there as an umbrella for all Muslims on the school and campus, but never was such a religious grouping formed at the departmental level where we freely socialized and exchanged ideas with Christians and even pagans. It is in our interest to actively discourage this new segregationist trend.

Also, as we graduate, we sort of come across a barrier that socially separates us from other Nigerians. We have thousands of avenues to socialize in addition to our places of work. But we hardly do so. Christians will socially associate with Christians only, and Muslims with Muslims. How can we have peace then? Let me quickly affirm that the Qur’an has permitted such associations between us and the People of the Book (Christians and Jews) even to the extent marriage and nutrition. Oh. I have forgotten that the Qur’an is a body of knowledge, and knowledge is the last thing we will subscribe to.

The boko haram group of late Malam Muhammed Yusuf was therefore a natural offshoot of our culture. We must admit this much because we have actively done very little to prove otherwise. And to be candid, Muhammed Yusuf was never the first to propagate such ideas and be accepted by our elites. The anti-western books of Abdulkadir as-Sufi, an English convert to Islam, were popular among many Muslims on our campuses in the early 1980s. That too led to many dropping from universities and abandoning public appointments, though not on a large scale or in a confrontational way like boko haram. What is more interesting here is the concord against modernity between two opposing sects of Islam: Sufism, as represented by as-Sufi, and Salafiyya, as represented by Mohammed Yusuf. This is no coincidence, though, but a fact that shows there is something inherently and universally wrong in how many of us conceive the role of Islam in this modern age.

Boko haram ideas will remain with us for quite some time unless we consciously change our attitudes and actively campaign against them. What is sad is the danger of how the group will leave behind the technology of making bombs among a population that is characterized by conflict, poverty and ignorance. This will certainly affect the future of peace in the region. The people who those bombs will hit will not be the masses but the leaders who have financed and exploited such groups to achieve their political ends.

I wish we Muslims in this part of the country will adopt the attitudes of the first generation of Muslims, the sahabah and those that followed them in righteousness (may God be pleased with them all) who, in pursuit of the teachning of the Holy Prophet (SAW) opened their hearts to various forms of knowledge and technology and from all sources: Chinese, Indian, Persian, Roman, European, African, etc. They revived the writings of Aristotle and bequeathed them to medieval Europe. They partook in technological development just as any other society, leaving behind a legacy of discoveries that were ironically the foundations of the very boko we ignorantly reject. They freely associated with everyone and were so liberal that their domains served as sanctuaries even to Jews when they were twice expelled from Europe. Many of them and partnered with them in trade and war and married Christian wives. I wish we will liberate our minds and give scholarship its due regard because with ignorance as our anchor we will have little to achieve and everything to lose.

In conclusion I must say that Yar’adua would need more guns to silence the anti-modern boko haram attitude in us. If he cannot, the burden then rests with us. We must shoulder the task of giving our society a new inspiration that will integrate it into the world of knowledge, society and culture. We must come out of our boko haram enclave to embrace civilization in all its ramifications and make meaningful contributions to the future of this country and the world at large. This is my opinion on boko haram hoping that mighty Chaji will spare me an interrogation and that my reader has not sustained a deep cut from my bold assertions.

Dogara tried to pad N30 billion into budget – Sacked House Appropriation chair

July 21, 2016Premium Times

The former chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin, has spoken of what he claimed were the real reasons for his removal on Wednesday.
Mr. Jibrin, a former ally of the speaker, Yakubu Dogara, had said that he chose to step down for personal reasons.
In a statement he released late Thursday, Mr. Jibrin raised a humongous allegation of fraud against Mr. Dogara.
He accused the speaker of attempting to pad N30 billion into the controversial 2016 budget.

Read his full statement:

I am obliged to make further statement after listening to the full statement of Speaker Yakubu Dogara on why I had to leave as Chairman Appropriation. It is a fact I went up to the Speaker and told him clearly I wanted to leave. He confirmed this in his statement but it appeared he wished he had fired me instead of my personal decision to step down.
Thereafter I proceeded to my office. I was therefore not surprised when an aide of mine walked into my office to inform me that the Speaker had announced my departure. I was relieved and went straight to address the press and released a statement. It was only later in the evening while monitoring the news that I watched the full statement he made on the floor. Speaker Dogara’s statement was a complete misrepresentation of the facts, false, mischievous, unfair and a calculated attempt to bring my name to disrepute, blackmail, silence and use me as a scape goat.
The plan is to execute it just before the recess so that by the time we return I would have been buried and the issue forgotten. Mr Speaker, this issue will never be swept under the carpet. We are closing for recess with it and we shall commence the next session with this issue. This was the last option they had after every attempt to find something to nail me failed. It is a known fact that I am a very blunt person by nature. I don’t know how to pretend. I don’t do eye service neither will I ever be a sycophant. I don’t give returns. I just do my job faithfully and dedicatedly. My offence was asserting my independence and insisting that we do the right thing at all times and expose corrupt people in the House.
Lately I openly disagreed with some principal officers on the issue of immunity for Lawmakers and budget issues. I still maintained I will never support immunity. I strongly believe with every conviction that in cleaning up the budgeting system and considering what transpired during 2016 budget which I have all the facts documented, Speaker Dogara, Deputy Speaker Lasun, Whip Doguwa and minority Leader Leo Ogor should resign. These members of the body of principal officers were not comfortable with my independent disposition and my refusal to cover up their unilateral decision to allocate to themselves 40billion naira out of the 100billion allocated to the entire National Assembly.

The four of them met and took that decision. In addition to billions of wasteful projects running over 20 billion they allocated to their constituencies. They must come out clean. My inability to admit into the budget almost 30 billion personal requests from Mr. Speaker and the 3 other principal officers also became an issue. I have every documented evidence to this effect. After the submission of the first version of the budget which was returned by Mr. President, I briefed members in executive session and told them as agreed at our pre budget meeting with chairmen and deputy chairmen of standing committees, we simply adopted their reports with little amendments. No body faulted my submission.
Members insisted they must know how the N100 billion was allocated. I told them the truth. Since after that meeting, Mr Speaker with the suport of the three other principal officers effectively blocked me from briefing members, ensured I was not at the last executive session and refused to investigate issues I raised that I believe must be addressed if we intend to build a better budget system for the House. I gave Mr. Speaker statistics of 2000 new projects introduced into the budget by less than 10 committee chairmen without the knowledge of their committee members he did nothing about it because he was part of the mess yet he is talking about improving the budget system. I did nothing wrong. I worked within the rules of the House and instructions of Mr. Speaker. During the budget period, Mr. President graciously granted myself and Sen. Goje audience.
It was a very good meeting. Speaker Dogara took it extremely personal that we saw the president without his knowledge and went on to scuttle all our efforts to help the president during the budget process because he wanted to be seen by the president as the only good man. He forgot that he sees heads of MDA’s daily which he enjoys doing more than his job as Speaker for reasons best known to him anyway, without Mr. President’s knowledge. That is how petty and narrow minded Dogara can be. A coward, hypocrite and pretender of the highest order. Mr President must be very careful with him. He wines with Mr. President and dines with Mr. Presidents enemies. I am glad that I am finally free from his emotional blackmail of constantly trying to make me see my appointment as appropriation chairman as a favour.
He has failed to realise that I came a long way and even attained chairman finance when he was chairman House services before this appointment. Seeing as the Speaker claimed that they have taken the decision or were going to take decision to replace me, he now has a responsibility to tell the world why they took or were going to take such decision. I challenge them to tell the world why? I will be releasing a more detailed statement in due course.
Meanwhile, I intend to explore all internal avenues of the House to brief my colleagues in detail and testify against Speaker Dogara, Deputy Lasun, Whip Doguwa and Minority leader Leo Ogor on why they should resign. If I am not allowed to exercise my privilege, I shall consider legal options. I can no longer bear the brunt of abuses and baseless allegations keeping quiet all in the name of “confidentiality” expected of an appropriation chairman. I will not allow anybody no matter how highly placed to destroy my life as intended by the full statement of Speaker Yakubu Dogara. Now Nigerians will see clearly the ulterior motive behind the desperate moves for immunity for principal officers of the National Assembly.

Speaker denies

The speaker has denied the allegations.
A statement by the spokesperson for the house, Abdulrazak Namdas, dismissed Mr. Jibrin’s claims.
Full statement:
Our attention has been down to media statements made by the former Chairman of House Appropriation Committee, Hon Abdulmumuni Jibrin wherein he made wild allegations against the House of Representatives and its leaders.
We wish to say that it is the prerogative of the Selection Committee of the House to appoint and remove Committee Chairmen. That power has been so exercised in the case of Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin as chairman of Appropriation Committee.
Most of the allegations on the 2016 budget process and his opposition to immunity of Presiding officers are non-issues and mere afterthought manufactured simply because the House relieved him of his position.
If he had all these ‘facts’ before, why didn’t he make them public? Why is he doing that now?
Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin, like any other member of the House knows that there are conventions and precedents as it relates to budgets and projects for principal officers of the National Assembly. Why is he making it an issue now? In any case, he is entitled to his opinion as a Nigerian and as a legislator while acting within the laws of Nigeria and rules of the House.
We must make it abundantly clear that he was not removed because of his support or otherwise on immunity bill. After all he is not the only one who opposed the bill.

The bill is still pending before committee on review of constitution and it has to be voted upon by each and every member of the House, get Senate concurrence, endorsed by two-third of the 36 State Houses of Assembly and be assented to by the President. It is a cheap blackmail on the part of Hon. Jibrin to even insinuate that he was removed because he opposed immunity bill.
He should not distract the House from giving legislative support on important issues facing the government concerning the revival of the economy, insecurity in the country, pursuit of anti-corruption measures, poverty alleviation, infrastructural development etc. The Nigerian people are simply not ready to waste their time on personal issues and personal egos of our leaders. We should face the urgent tasks before us for which we were elected.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Unveiling The Killers Of Dele Giwa

THE LONG AWAITED CONFIRMATION OF THE SUSPICION ABOUT DELE GIWA'S DEATH (MUST READ)
Mohammed Buba Marwa delivered the letter bomb that killed Dele Giwa – Dr. Taiyemiwo Ogunade
On Sunday, Professor Taiyemiwo Ogunade gave a bombshell interview to The NATION newspaper in which he made startling revelations about those who killed Dele Giwa in 1986. In a subsequent chat with Saharareporters, he spoke specifically about the role of former military administrator of Lagos State Buba Marwa in the assassination of the colourful journalist.
Dr. Ogunade disclosed that soldiers loyal to the slain General Mamman Vatsa identified Marwa as the person who delivered the parcel bomb that killed Giwa, the Newswatchmagazine founder.
He said the revelation came from a confidential discussion he had with one of the military boys who came to the City University of New York (CUNY) to press the college to train Nigerian military officials in “Peace and Conflict Resolution”. He said that Vatsa gave a four-hour long testimony to the military tribunal that tried and later sentenced him to death for a phantom coup plot against former military dictator, Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida.
Saharareporters : Do you know who delivered the bomb that killed Dele Giwa?
Ogunade: I believe that Buba Marwa did it. Some Mamman Vatsa boys told the full story in New York during a visit to my college to lobby our college to accept to train Nigerian military officers. Ambassador Olusola was on that entourage. (My informant) told me Dele Giwa was killed because he was in possession of a tape containing Vatsa’s testimony before the military tribunal. For four hours, Vatsa requested to tell the full story about how the Babangida regime was operating and his knowledge of the workings of IBB’s mind. He pointed out that after Halilu Akilu and Col. A.K Togun of the military intelligence prepared the parcel it was handed over to Buba Marwa to deliver to Dele Giwa. Marwa is a well–known “IBB boy”. But I was the one who gave Dele Giwa the tape.
Saharareporters : How did you get the tape?
Ogunade: Vatsa had a copy made by his friends in the tribunal and smuggled out to me and I “loaned” it to Dele Giwa who got on the case immediately. I still don’t know how Dele Giwa found out that I had the tape till this day.
Saharareporters : Do you still have a copy?
Ogunade: Yes, but you know I left Nigeria hurriedly after the death of Dele Giwa. I left (the tape) with my aged mother, who did not know the value then. I won’t say more, let the military release that tape to the Nigerian public.
Saharareporters : Did Dele Giwa return the tape to you?
Ogunade: Yes, he returned it after 24 hours. Don’t forget that I loaned it to him; I think he went and played it to Babangida’s people and they eliminated him after they heard the tape.
Saharareporters : What about Gloria Okon? It’s been said that Dele Giwa’s discovery of her was the reason he was killed?
Ogunade: Gloria Okon is actually Chinyere, that’s her real name. She married Charles “Jeff” Chandler, the fellow who killed Nzeogwu and was killed a day later. Chinyere, Maryam and Princess Atta were young friends who hung out together. They all married into the military, because the military was a proud and respectable profession then. Charles Chandler, who was Tiv, married Chinyere who I think is from Imo State. IBB married Maryam from Asaba and Mamman Vatsa married the princess. So Chinyere became a widow and resorted to trading between UK and Nigeria. And then she was caught with drugs; Mamman Vatsa was the person who put Chinyere on the next available flight from Kano to London – and then claimed that she was dead by parading a dead woman picked out of the mortuary. Dele Giwa later found out that she was in London having delivered a baby by another man. He sent a French photographer to the place and they saw Maryam Babangida at the event. Kayode Soyinka brought back the photographs.
Dele was sitting across the table from Kayode examining the photos taken of “Gloria Okon” (Chinyere, Richard Chandler’s wife) at the naming ceremony in London. Maryam Babangida was there. And then a letter parcel was delivered to him and he said excitedly that it must be from “Mr. President” referring to the discussions he had with IBB days earlier. The bomb exploded and severed his lower abdomen; he died a few hours later.
Saharareporters: Did you ever meet Marwa again? And did you ask him about his involvement?
Ogunade: Yes, Marwa was very active in the Nigerian embassy in New York. For a long time he was the “military attaché” to the Nigerian mission in New York while I was a professor of Black Studies at the City University of New York. He came to my college to sign a $30 million contract with the college so that members of the Nigerian military could attend a “Peace and Conflict Resolution program” and then be awarded a masters degree upon completion of the program. I fought bitterly against it, but the chair of the department, John Muyibi Amoda, badly wanted the money. I kept fighting and one day the college authorities acceded to my request. When I got home the college had dismissed me, but also I got a fax message saying the $30 million had been returned to Marwa. But between Marwa and Abacha they never returned that money to the Nigerian treasury. They shared it. I heard between him and Abacha, over $250 million was laundered through an account used by the New York mission of the Nigerian embassy. Marwa later set up an airline with his share of the loot. When he showed up to run for president I was the one who petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate him. He confessed to money laundering in handwritten statements to the EFCC, but today he is the ambassador of Nigeria to South Africa. The police officer that investigated him, Ibrahim Magu, is permanently suspended from the police force after he was humiliated by the EFCC. It is a shameful country.
Saharareporters : What else did you do?
Ogunade: We helped start the Obama phenomenon in Chicago.
Saharareporters : How?
Ogunade: We fought and exposed Carol Mosley-Braun who was Abacha’s agent in the US Senate. She was removed from the US Senate because she took $5 million from Abacha to help cover his tracks in the US. We exposed her, which was how it became possible for the brilliant Obama to become the US president today. We set the stage for it.
“Any evil done by man to man will be redressed; if not now then later, if not by man then by GOD …” – Dele Giwa

We Were Forced To Create HIV Virus To Wipe Off African Race - Dr. Robert Gallo

A site run by a friendly and reasonably honest woman I know recently reposted a text titled “The Man Who Created AIDS: Robert Gallo.” The text went super-viral, over 80,000 shares on Facebook alone. Once I read it, I was aghast at how much misinformation and how many scientifically illiterate statements were in the text and attached video. I wrote her explaining my reasoning, and she immediately agreed to take down the text. It still exists on other, less responsible, sites. 

Unfortunately, a large part of the damage has already been done, and that among other articles has helped foster the continued existence of a completely unfounded theory based primarily on not understanding what a patent is in molecular biology. A patent on Ebola or HIV is not the same as a patent on an engine.

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Whereas the engine’s patent is reserving the production of that type of engine to the patent holder, a patent on HIV or Ebola is a patent meant to specify how the virus was isolated, how the genotype was determined, and what this consensus genotype is. 

In biology, you can patent things you found to concretely identify that component, potentially for use in a more complex system later. Keep in mind that you can even patent seeds obtained from cross-pollination: the patent does not mean the species was genetically modified in a laboratory. 

The same way a patent on cross-bred species does not mean it was created in a lab, a patent on a virus genome does NOT mean it was created in a lab. Robert Gallo first published his isolation and identification of HIV in 1984, and patented this in 1985. After older blood samples were then analysed in a search for this virus, it was then found in the past: it didn’t suddenly occur in the 1970s or 1980s. 

Despite the claims of the article whose damage I am working to undo, the earliest samples of HIV positive blood did not originate from New York homosexuals from the 1970s, but instead date back to 1920s Congo. 

The virus most certainly did not originate from biological weapons programs, which are only today becoming advanced enough that creating such a virus is even theoretically possible. They were most certainly not advanced enough in 1920, or even 1960, to create a synthetic retrovirus, which I might add, has still never actually been accomplished. One of the articles I saw blaming Gallo comically claims that chimps were supposedly deliberately infected and released in 1979, which somehow led to the virus occurring in New York in 1971. 

The viral “Gallo did it” article that I convinced my friend to take down had an embedded video, where a man “explains” over dramatic music that HIV was created through “combining lymphoma, leukemia, and carcinoma viruses.” I literally burst out laughing, because none of what he listed was a retrovirus or even a virus, and cancer has literally nothing to do with HIV. 

You could spend your entire life combining lymphomas, carcinomas, and leukemia, and you would still never end up with a retrovirus at the end. 

All of these theories make very specific claims, without any evidence. They encourage me to believe that a man (who thinks cancers are viruses) has special knowledge and access to untold classified documents. To prove his point, the video displays extremely blurry documents that are barely legible beyond seeing Gallo’s name. 

For all we know, these documents are completely fake, or actually completely harmless. We don’t know, because as is the norm in such articles or videos: no sources are supplied. Yes, the United States did and maybe still does have biological weapons programs. The Soviets did, and Russia still runs its “Vector” high-security lab, as well. 

This is absolutely no indication that HIV is a bioweapon, especially considering the actual time-line of infections. There are even more reasons why Ebola is certainly not a bioweapon, but that is beyond the scope of this text. 

Gallo was a scientist, and a researcher, and his position in the public eye is yet another reason to doubt him being an evil mastermind. There is no historical evidence actually implicating Gallo, or any others, in creating a HIV virus. 

All of the historical and scientific evidence, as well as a general understanding of patents in science, point to a legitimate researcher, along with his peers, simply trying to identify understand a human illness. There may very well be one or more synthetic doomsday viruses sitting snugly or being worked on in undisclosed locations (or in BSL-4 labs), but HIV and Ebola are not examples of this.