Headlines
|
|
News Headlines
|
|
Written by NATHANIEL JONAH
|
|
It was pandemonium and confusion for residents of Madalla in Niger state as residents of the surburb were treated to the gory tales of a lunatic who allegedly hides under the clout of insanity to kill unsuspecting residents and allegedly eat their flesh or use them for ritual purposes. When Sunday Trust visited Kwarkwashe area of Madalla, off Suleja road yesterday, a mammoth crowd was seen trying to take a glimpse at the lunatic’s hide out. An eye witness who gave his name as Musa Ibrahim told Sunday Trust that, “This man is notorious for kidnapping children from the army barracks in Suleja and bringing them here to kill and then use their body parts for ritual purposes.”
Another witness on the scene, Sule Baba, a vulcanizer along the Madalla-Suleja road, told Sunday Trust he learnt of the incident when he saw a crowd at the police station. Upon enquiries, he was told that the man parading himself as a mad man was, in fact, a ritualist who lured unsuspecting people to their deaths. On visiting the suspected ritualist’s hide out, he said, “Actually, I saw so many things here like something like a drip, I saw fresh milk, I saw bones, although I can’t tell whether it is human bones or animal bones, but I believe people should be able to judge for themselves.”
Haruna Atonko, a security man, who lives in Suleja also, explained that, “Actually, on our way to work, we heard that a mad man lives here and cuts off people’s head. The police came here to use Ghana-must-go bags to pack some of the mad man’s things here. We don’t know what they did with them.”
Bello Idrisu, a motor mechanic in Suleja, explained to our reporter that the genesis of the pandemonium began on Friday morning, when a passenger in an Abuja-bound bus was accompanied by the driver’s mate in order to deposit his bag in the boot but the man refused. This led to a brawl that attracted the attention of other passengers, who noticed that the bag was dripping blood.
“The man was asked to take his bag to the boot of the bus and when he refused, other passengers noticed that blood was dripping from the bag and he was taken to the police station where it was discovered that the bag contained two, freshly cut human heads,” he told our reporter.
It was this man, Idrisu said, who led the police to the mad man’s hide-out at a secluded location along the Suleja road.
Another resident of the area who gave his name as Ojo Agbekunle told Sunday Trust that when the said mad man was apprehended by policemen, two flashy handsets were found in his possession. According to him, “I was here yesterday when policemen came to arrest the man and they saw two powerful handsets with him. So, the thing is, if he is truly a mad man, what is he doing with two expensive handsets?” Agbekunle queried.
The district head of Madalla, Malam Musa Saidu, in an interaction with Sunday Trust, explained that he was on his way to Suleja when he noticed the large crowd. “When I asked what was happening, people said they suspected the mad man to be a ritualist and so, they searched everywhere around where he was staying and nothing was found. People also said he was the man kidnapping and doing all sorts of things. But I believe that you cannot just accuse people anyhow like that without any evidence to back up the claim. Although, I am not saying he’s a ritualist, neither am I saying he is not. All I am saying is that we did not find any human parts with him,” he said.
He further told Sunday Trust that there were no cases of missing persons in Madalla, except for one that was mentioned to him by the DPO. That case was eventually traced to Umuahia, adding that he was not even aware of that case at the time.
At the Madalla police station, the Divisional Police Officer, ASP Chimezie Alloy, told our reporter that they caught wind of a rumour that a mad man had been beheading people in the area. These rumours, he said, prompted him to lead a team into the bush to investigate the mad man’s hideout.
“We got to the bush and saw the man in the forest,” the DPO said, “we ransacked the bush and the surroundings to see whether we will get any trace of human flesh, human skull, or any trace that can corroborate the rumours we heard but at the end of the day, nothing was discovered or recovered relating to such nature.”
He further informed that they conducted a full body search on the mad man, combing through his rag cloths and possession and still discovered nothing. He explained that the rumours might have started as a result of a decomposing cow discovered in a nearby ditch.
“That decomposing cow oozes out a foul smell that gives people the impression that a dead body is being kept there in the bush. I drew the attention of the public to the cow and we took photographs of the cow. So it was obvious that it was not a dead human being but because of the curiosity of members of the public, a lot of crowd gathered around the place and there was confusion.”
He further called on the public to desist from spreading unfounded rumours that a mad man was beheading humans in Madalla area as there have been no reports of missing persons in the area. He went on to assure well meaning people of the safety of life and property in Madalla saying the police are on top of the security situation in the community.
He further called on residents of Madalla to co’operate with the police to ensure the safety of life and property. “Some people here claim to have seen all kinds of flashy cars parked by the side of the bush at nights, but none of them deem it fit to report to the police what they saw,” he said.
The mad man in question, who gave his name as ‘Criminal One,’ said he had been living in the bush where he was arrested for twelve years and that he is from Cross Rivers State. At the time of his arrest, he had put up a struggle against the policemen but was eventually overpowered. Presently, he remains in police custody.
On what the police intendsedto do to him, the DPO explained that, “We intend, with the help of the local community leaders, to see if we can get any relation of the so-called mad man to help out either to take him home or as the case may be. Alternatively, we will arrange here on how to take him to a psychiatric hospital so he could be taken care of, instead of constituting a menace here. “
But while the suspect’s in sanity continues to generate skepticism among the public, unfortunate incidences of ritual killings in Nigeria continues to grow at an alarming rate.
Copyright (c) 1998 - 2009. Daily Trus
|
|
|
News Headlines
|
|
Written by Ibrahim Egboli
|
|
Against the backdrop of plans by opposition parties to launch a mega party to challenge the ruling PDP in the 2011 general elections, the party at the centre has warned that it will not tolerate court actions and indiscipline among its members. Dr Bello Mohammed, the party's Deputy National Chairman, gave the caution in Abuja during the inauguration of an 18-member Caretaqker Committee for the Anambra State chapter. He said, PDP will not ``allow indiscipline to distract us from the task of fielding competent candidates for the 2011 general elections’’.
``We are behind President Umaru Yar'Adua in his efforts to ensure a successful electoral reform, and we expect all PDP members to imbibe the culture of discipline and the rule of law,'' he said.
In a message to the ongoing retreat of the Senate on the electoral reform holding in Enugu, President Yar’Adua urged the lawmakers to give the electoral bills accelerated attention to ensure free, fair and credible elections in the future.
He said the government was disturbed that more than two years after the last polls, many court cases were pending at the tribunals over complaints of irregularities by politicians.
PDP deputy national chairman who said the party was in support of the electoral reform, said the ruling party hoped to win all the states in the South-East during the next general elections, and condemned the attitude of some politicians ``who gang up to stir up the polity''.
Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, the PDP National Chairman, who presided over the inauguration of the Anambra PDP Caretaker Committee, said that the party would not reverse its decision to field Prof. Chukwuma Soludo as its candidate for the 2010 Anambra governorship election.
``The decision of the party is supreme and we will build on that decision to make sure that Soludo is given the necessary backing to win the 2010 governorship election,'' he said at the inauguration of the Anambra PDP
Caretaker Committee.
Ogbulafor, who frowned at the internal crisis rocking the PDP in Anambra in recent years, announced that the last court order restraining the party from nominating Soludo had been lifted.
He urged party members in the state to resolve their differences and cooperate with the caretaker committee until a substantive state executive committee was constituted.
``All the aspirants who lost in the contest should accept their situation gallantly and abide by the party's decision as allowed by our constitution.
``We do not see why anyone will want to take our party to court knowing full well that we have great men and women in charge of affairs who can resolve whatever differences that exist,'' he said.
Ogbulafor said the success recorded by President Umaru Yar?Adua in the amnesty programme for the Niger Delta militants showed that PDP was in a position to be proud of its performance instead of allowing distractions.
``We want Anambra to be in the basket as one of the states that contributed to the success of the administration because Anambra has produced great leaders for the country in the past,'' he said.
The 18-member committee is headed by Dr Osita Ogbu, while Mr Anthony Muobike is the Secretary.
Members include Vincent Atuigwe, Chisata Okoye, Emmanuel Nsoedo,Alphonsus Oguonu, K.G. Enemuoh, Mrs Oby Okeke-Okwubanego, as well as Chief Solomon Onyekwelu and Chief Sunny Odumegwu.
The rest are Chief Joe Oforkansi, Mbamalu Emmanuel, Ugochukwu Okafor, Okwudili Uzoka, Ike Onyeabor, Handel Okoli and Dr Harry Oranezi.
It could be recalled that 47 aspirants submitted the Anambra PDP governorship nomination forms upon payment of N5 million each.
Mr Emmanuel Nsoedo, who spoke on behalf of the caretaker committee said, however, that the event had put to an end the crisis in the Anambra chapter of PDP.
The decision of the National Working Committee of the party to support the candidature of Soludo following court processes that stalled its gubernatorial primaries angered some 23 aspirants who vowed to work against the party.
The aspirants operating under the aegis of Integrity Group, said at a news conference in Enugu, that despite the “frivolous allegation” that they masterminded the kidnap of Soludo’s father, Mr. Simeon, culminating in their invitation by the police, they would not be cowed to accept the “imposition of Soludo and Senator Emma Anosike” as the party’s flagbearers for the coming governorship poll.
The position of the aspirants came on the heels of a court order obtained by the self-styled godfather of Anambra politics, Chief Chris Uba from an Enugu High Court, granting him leave to enforce his fundamental rights.
Uba, who is a member of the PDP Board of Trustees, had approached the court through his lawyer, complaining that his rights to personal liberty under the constitution was in jeopardy of being infringed upon, following his purported invitation by the Anambra State police command over the kidnap.
In granting the application, the Chief Judge of Enugu State, Justice Innocent Umezulike, said “the leave so granted shall act as a stay of all actions or matters connected with or related to the complaint of the applicant”. The court adjourned further hearing in the matter to November 10.
However, the 23 aspirants said they felt highly embarrassed by the kidnap allegation, which they described as a dangerous dimension to the politics of Anambra State.
They insisted that the kidnap allegation was nothing but a distraction to the impending issue of Anambra PDP governorship primaries.
Speaking through Chief Chuma Nwofor and Princess Kate Egwu, the group said the rally held in Awka, upon which the police hinged their alleged culpability in the kidnap was basically to chart a new course for the party, which they noted has been in disarray since the “imposition of Soludo” on them.
|
|
News Headlines
|
|
Written by RANA BAYAOK
|
|
 Mallam Mohammed Samaila Garba was a lecturer at the Department of Mass Communication, Kaduna Polytechnic, until a couple of years ago when he has sacked, albeit illegally by the authorities of the Polytechnic. Since then, Garba who claimed that he was sacked for refusing to cover up for exam malpractice has been battling to get justice. According to him, he has done everything humanly possible, including petitioning the governing council of the Polytechnic, the EFCC, the ICPC and the Public Complaints Commission, but all these efforts have not yielded any positive result yet. In this interview with our Correspondent, RANA BAYOK in Kaduna, Garba tells of his travails in his quest for justice, fairness and equity, insisting that he will never give up until the right thing is done. Excerpts.
You were a lecturer at the Department of Mass Communication, Kaduna Polytechnic before you were suddenly relieve of your job. Why were you sacked?
As far as I am concerned, I am still a lecturer at Kaduna Polytechnic going by the facts on the ground and the practical nature of the civil service structure and by the rules that are enshrine by the statue books, especially the polytechnic act. Due process was not followed in my purported sack. It is only when due process is followed that one could be said to have been sacked. I was kicked out of the Polytechnic because I don’t have anybody to insist that the right thing be done. I have done everything possible to seek for redress, but each step I took is blocked by a brick wall. What is happening is that some people within the institution have constituted themselves into a group to kick out any body who doesn’t tow their line. They can circumvent all rules and regulations to suit their purpose.
I have done everything humanly possible to present my case to the current governorning council of the school. I have presented my petition and all other relevant documents regarding my case before the council but I am yet to hear anything from them. Interestingly, about 90 staff of the Polytechnic who were illegally sacked were reinstated. I find it so amazing that my understand why my own case is still pending up to now. I am praying that the council will see reason to consider my case.
What happened was an exam malpractice which I reported. I refused to tow the line of those who wanted to cover the exam practice. A disciplinary committee was later set up to look into the issue. But instead of the committee to consider the facts of the case, they accused me of refusing to do my work and recommended that I should be sacked. I never did anything wrong. I felt that the recommendation was aimed at covering up earlier malpractice which led to my first illegal sack. Of course I was later reinstated and my entitlements were paid to me. some high ranking officers of the Polytechnic were feeling threatened with my presence in the school and they were looking for any opportunity to deal with me. Unfortunately for them, I am not the kind of person that will never get myself involve in any illegality and they felt the only way to kick me out was to use certain people they appointed as exam officers to get at me. I am particularly referring to the man who was the exam officer in the Mass Communication Department, who in the first place was a junior officer. He went for a masters degree and couldn’t even complete it, this was even enough to disqualify him from being appointed exam officer. He was the one that was being used to kick out people and I was one of their victims.
When they sacked me, I took my case to the former governing council of the institution headed by Prof. Eze who is now the chairman of the governing council of University of Nsukka assured me that my case would be looked into. That was in 2007. They were however dissolved before he could do anything.
I have taken this matter to the EFCC and ICPC, but there was nothing that was done to address my case. When the press reported my illegal sack, the Polytechnic wrongly accused me and asked the police to arrest and detain me. This was in October 2007. Thereafter I was banned from entering the Polytechnic premises. This was deliberately aimed at ensuring that I don’t pursue my case with the Polytechnic authorities. The secretary to the Federal Government was instrumental to the reinstatement of the 90 people that were sacked and I also made several efforts to reach him to intervene in this illegality perpetrated against me.
When you were sacked, did you write any petition or letter of complain to the polytechnic authorities stating your case?
The first step I took was to go to the Public Complaints Commission but the commission refused to take up the matter claiming that a termination letter had been given to me. They then asked me to go and explore all administrative and legal channels. How can I follow any administrative channel when the top officials of the Polytechnic who are against me are the people in charge of the administration? How will they be fair to me in a case which involves them? I went to the Federal ministry of education where I submitted a letter of complaint to the Director of Higher education headed then by one Dr. Jamila Shuwara. She received and acknowledged my letter of complaint. Up till this moment the ministry is yet to do anything about my case. I don’t want to go to court yet, I want to explore all these avenues and see what will happen. The EFCC and the ICPC all acknowledged the receipt of my complaint and I was hopeful that they would do something about it, but at the moment I have not heard anything yet. When this exam malpractice took place I reported to the police, they asked me to write a statement which I did, but nothing came out of it. I don’t really know what is happening.
In spite of your feelings that the school authority is against you one would have still expected you to take your letter of complain to the rector for the records even if he refuse to take any action on it.
I did. The last one was the one I submitted to the new chairman of the governing council in March 2009 and he assured me that my case would be looked into. When they reinstated those 90 people that were sacked, I was hoping that they will look into my case. When the council did not reply me, I wrote another letter to the secretariat of the council and they acknowledged the receipt of my letter, but the registrar of the school who is the secretary of the council did not present the letter. They later told me that I did not write through the proper channel so I wrote the letter again. This was my third letter. The first one was directly to the chairman of the governing council; the second one was through the secretariat of the governing council and the third one was through the registrar who is the secretary to the council. I don’t know whether they presented the letter to the council chairman. Since old my efforts seem to be hitting a brick wall, I have decided to take my case to the press.
The first time you were sacked how were you reinstated?
It was the press that took up my case that time. It was an illegal sack but I was re-instated and my entitlements were paid to me. As I stated earlier, they sacked me illegally and all illegal acts must be reversed. I am seeking for justice, fairness and equity. I am appealing to the governing council of the Polytechnic to look into my case to ensure justice, fair play and equity.
You said there was a disciplinary committee that handled your case. How did the committee handle the case?
Before I was sacked, there was a disciplinary committee on my refusal to submit the students’ continuous assessment scores. My reason for refusing to submit the continuous assessment scores was to stop the exam malpractice. I also insisted that I was the subject lecturer and I should be given the scripts to mark. Why will they give the scripts of one class to mark well they refused to give me the other one? The subject was Research and Precision Journalism and it was for ND1 students. After the Disciplinary committee hearing, they said I should submit the continuous assessment scores to the chairman of the committee. I told them that I would not do that because the work of the committee is not to collect the continuous assessment scores. I told them it is only the management of the school that can ask me to submit the scores based on the facts on the ground.
The procedure for sacking people in the Polytechnic is very clear. First of all after the committee must have heard the reports, they will collect written statements. In my own case they refused to accept my written statement. I was supposed to question all those who testified against me, the committee never gave me that opportunity. They hurriedly sacked me between October and November 2006. The letter was issued to me in February 2007. The proper thing they would have done if they don’t like my face was to suspend me pending the outcome of the investigations. Everything is enshrined in the Polytechnic Act, but they refused to follow it because they were in a hurry to kick me out. The governorning council has not issue any sack letter to me and as far as I know, the governing council is the only authority at the Polytechnic level that can issue me with a sack letter.
ENDS
|
|
|
News Headlines
|
|
Written by RANA BAYOK
|
|
In this interview with Correspondent, RANA BAYOK in Kaduna, the Secretary of the Kaduna state Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Rev. Joseph Hayab speaks on the recent launching of the Sir Ahmadu Bello Foundation hoping that the foundation will truly be beneficial to Christians in the north. Excerpts.
The so much talk about Sardauna Memorial Foundation has come and gone, considering the sharp religious divide among Christians and Muslims in the North, do you think this foundation will cement the relationship between adherents of the two religions in the North?
I am a man of faith and faith is about believing what you have not seen. So I believe that God can work out so many things, even those who people think are bad, I believe God can change them to be good. Having said that, it is good for one to comment on certain things when you see things gong wrong. The essence of the Sardauna Foundation is for the reunification of the North because those who preach Sardauna gospel always tell us that he man during his life time united the north irrespective of tribe and religion. Good and fine, those who are raising the foundation for him, by my understanding want to remember his legacies and inculcate those legacies in the youths, so that in the future, leaders from the North, whether Christians or muslims will imbibe this spirit indivisible north and one Nigeria, people working together.
But I must comment that during the launching, I was a little bit scared because even the procedure at the launching negates that spirit. How can we come to a forum to celebrate a great man and the Master of Ceremony (MC) made nonsense of it. Why would the MC be mentioning Allahu Ahkbar during a gathering that was not exclusively for Muslims? Does he understand what Kabir Allahu Ahkbar means? It is a proclamation of faith in Islam. The muslim is free to say that. The Muslim is free to say that. it is just like me saying Jesus is Lord. A muslim will not respond to that. This is some of the things they do and at times it makes a mockery of us.
Any thing that Christians were angry about that day in a gathering like that is this divide and rule thing. They brought an Islamic cleric to say the opening prayers but they never find any Christian cleric worthy of saying prayers at the occasion. What is the rationale for bringing a muslim cleric to pray and you don’t find any Christian cleric to pray. When people act this way, it begins to put fear in the minds of those who trust them, some of preach the gospel that we can make it, but after seeing some of those things , one begins to wonder whether we can truly make with this type of people at the helms of affairs.. The fear is that after money has been gathered, and the foundation takes off, how many Christians are going to benefit from the foundation? The kind of spirit displayed that day, some of us are beginning to feel that at the end of the day, Christians are not going to benefit from it. So I challenge those who are the organizers of the foundation to prove us wrong. We know in the north, when it comes to benefiting, a Christian is not a northerner. If it is labouring and building together they accept that we are northerners. We are familiar with all this, but we as people of faith, we believe that things can change. So we will continue to get involve because we believe change can come. I noticed very serious things that day, one, asking all of us to say Allahu ahkbar and second, not finding any Christian cleric worthy to say prayers and playing it down. This is wrong because we know this would not have happened in Islamic faith. I know if a Christian was the MC of that programme and had said what that man said, those who organised the programme and the crowd would have cautioned him. You know sometimes they assumed that nobody is listening or watching what they are doing. You will be surprise to know that Christians from across the country called us to find out why they had to ask a traditional ruler to say the Christian prayer instead of a Christian cleric. They were watching everything live on TV and they were surprise that we were there and this type of thing was happening. That is the north for you, as much as we want change; some people are bent on resisting change. I went further to investigate and they said the MC came from Lagos. We were doing something in the North and they did not find somebody that can be MC in the whole of the North and had to go to Lagos to bring somebody to be the MC of the occasion. You can see the problem because someone is interested in the money…. This is the aftermath of some of us sacrificing our time and mobilized Christians to be part of it, but these are the complaints we have started receiving, this is the kind of fear people are beginning to envisage… Northerners, especially those in government must stand up and be sincere at least for once. Don’t assume that because people keep quiet, you think every body is a fool. You who who is doing those rubbish things are the foolish person. We will keep encouraging Northern Christians to remain committed to northern projects. We also want to tell northerners who are always playing the religious card to know that we are watching and there would be an end to all these rubbish.
Some critics say the northerner leaders have failed woefully and wonder whether it is a Sardauna Foundation that will bring about development in the north.
I don’t think it is a foundation that has re-enact the era of Awolowo in the West, neither is the foundation that display the spirit and leadership qualities of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe in the South East. My simple understanding is that we must begin to learn to celebrate our own. Since Sarduana comes from the north, Northerners feel that they should begin to remember great people like him. If you have been following events, you will know that some people have been using Sardauna’s name to enrich themselves. We have heard of Sarduuna award for good leadership, Sardauna this, Sardauna that, etc. All these are private individuals operating on their own. I don’t it is a crime for northern governors to establish a foundation to remember this great leader and promote the ideals he stood for when he was alive
Even in civilised societies, things like that are done to celebrate the people who made remarkable achievements in their chosen endeavours.
The Nobel Prize we hear today was initiated in memory of somebody. If the foundation can come out with an award for good leadership to encourage people to emulate the character of Sardauna, it would be good. The problem we have is not the name of the foundation, but the sincerity of implementing what wed say we are going to do. How many times have we come out and tell people we want to do this and at the end of the day we fail? Are we not sending wrong signals to people that we are incapable of doing anything right? Can we this time around prove that we are serious? It is not about gathering money and some people sitting on it, people are asking why all the governors the trustees, of course some how, you have to start from somewhere. Our prayer is that there should be sincerity in implementation. I believe in the north, there are Christians and Muslims who, when it comes to togetherness, they don’t believe in tribe and religion, they will go for the best. These are the kind of people we want them to bring on board to manage this foundation. But when they use people who are fanatics, people who are religious bigots, people who never see anything good in other people who are not of their faith, people who take advantage of others to champion their selfish interest, I can tell you it would not belong, these fears we are expressing would become true. It is left for them to assured us that we have gone beyond all these. If they confirm these fears, they are not tarnishing anybody’s image but their image ……a lot of leaders have come in the North, today they are nowhere because people have written them off because of their failures. If these groups of leaders want to be written off too, let them go ahead and fail the people, we will write them off.
Do you have faith in these leaders to improve the situation of things in the North, giving their track records in the last 10 years since the coming of democracy?
There are two things that I know about this Sardauna Foundation, the board of directors who will manage it and the trustees. I am not in a position to start calling anybody a thief, but I think Nigerians knows those who have been stealing their money. Northerners knows those who have been stealing money and taking it abroad. If these type of people are part of the trustees, then we are in problem, but I pray that they will us the challenge of this event to redeem their image. They must not steal this money because there are common market women out there who contributed their one naira. They money that came from the states belongs to the people…. What I am trying to say is that we must start somewhere, let us not be too skeptical, let’s give some people the benefit of doubt. I have told you earlier about our fear. The fear is that even at the launching we saw religious discrimination by those promoting the foundation. The question now is that is the foundation for Northerners or for northern Muslims? Sardauna who they claimed to be emulating did not discriminate against Christians. Those who are here today don’t see anything good in another north other than northern Muslim. They demonstrated that during that launching. We must learn to respect ourselves. When I enter a mosque, the respect I have for the Muslim is that they don’t enter the mosque with their shoes. So if I am entering a mosque, I must remove my shoes as a sign of respect. But when a Muslim comes to my church and refuse to remove his cap, then something is wrong with him. It means he has no respect for my religion. These are the areas we must learn to respect each other. Respect for each other is where we have problem and then this issue of who gets what? When something comes for all of us, you feel it is only your religious members are qualified to benefit. But when it is time for us to gather you think all of us are qualified to gather. That was what we did during the launching. We want to see that all of us are qualified for the sharing……..we must put an end to this stealing at the state and at the federal level.
Christians in the far northern states complain a lot about discrimination in the north, particularly in states like Zamfara, Sokoto, Kano, Katsina, Jigawa, Kebbi Bauchi where they alleged that they are being denied land for the building of churches, they are denied air time for Christian programmes on radio and TV, the teaching of Christian Religious Knowledge is prohibited in public schools and Christians are denied sponsorship to pilgrimage. Do you so much believe in this idea of one North?
The North is a region not a religion. Those who divide the north on the basis of religion are fooling themselves. They cannot force me out of this place. There is no way, geographically, I am a northerner. Whether they oppress me or manipulate me or discriminate against me, I will remain here. So they better learn to accept the fact that I belong to the North. This is where I come from.
But they said there is core north.
Forget about that rubbish, that is selfishness. You see when people play this tribal and religious game, just to achieve some political game we should be able to resist that. All this idea of core north is from some small cabal of selfish people who want to have dominion over everything and want to see that this one is more original than the other one. In this so called core north, I have seen people who are actually from Ibadan, Abeakuta, Osun, Niger Republic, Chad etc who are eating are more of the government of the so called core north. What qualifies them is not because they are core north, religion is what qualifies them. In so many of the so called core northern states go deeply into the history of those who take decisions there, you will discover that they are not even Nigerians, but because they toy the part of religion, they are accepted. I have said this several time. I repeat it, what in their thinking makes them better than me is their religion; unfortunately for them I am better than them because my religion makes me better than them. That is why I am contented despite the suppression. With God on my side, one day they have to come around and seek my help.
The issue of marginalization, I want to commend the speech of the governor of Akwa Ibom state during the launching of the Sardauna Foundation. I think the man was just sent a message to the north. He said the north must promote the teaching of religious education. If the north sincerely wants to promote the teaching of religious education that means it must be for both Muslims and Christians so that Christians and Muslims know their faith know their faith. This will go along way in getting rid of ignorance among the youth who are being manipulated to fight because of religion.
If a governor in the north refuses to employ Christian Religious Knowledge teachers, just because he feels that is to suppress Christianity then he is joking. What they must understand is that what is good for the goose is good for the gander. If you teach Islamic Religious Knowledge in your schools, what is the crime in employing CRK teachers to teach Christianity to our children? What is the crime in allowing for the airing of Christian programmes on the radio or TV station? Recently I attended a meeting of one committee and somebody was telling me rubbish. He said they are not allowing for the building of churches in higher institutions in the North because they don’t allow for the building of mosques in higher institutions in the south. I told him that he is lying. We brought the pictures of very big mosques in the universities of Ibadan, Calabar and other places to show him. The tolerance of people in the south exhibit to Muslims is far higher than the tolerance Muslims exhibited to Christians in the North. Let us learn to accept each other and live together in peace. Only a foolish leader discriminates against other people. Recently there was this cry among the Almajiri, Almajiris are not only among Muslims. Christians who are unable to attend school can become a nuisance tomorrow. So if you are supporting the Almajiri to have a better future tomorrow, support the less privilege Christian children too so that they can have a better future also. Almajiri is just a term for somebody who is learning, in Christianity, we have people who are also learning, so it is not really exclusive to Muslims. The only difference is that Christian children don’t go about begging. All this bullshit you hear is just the hand work of some selfish people who want to be dividing us for their selfish interest. I call on Christians and Muslims in the north to shine their eyes so that we don’t allow these people to continue to manipulate us. Let us tell ourselves the truth.
|
|
News Headlines
|
|
Written by RANA BAYAOK
|
|
 Arc. Mike Nwafor is the governorship candidate of the Republican Party of Nigeria (RPN) in February 2010 governorship election in Anambra state. In this interview with Correspondent, RANA BAYOK in Kaduna recently, Nwafor, a former managing Director of the Anambra state Housing Corporation, speaks on his chances and his vision for the state if elected governor. Excerpts.
You are one of the governorship candidates in the February 2010 governorship election in Anambra state; campaigns have kicked off in earnest, what are your chances of winning?
We are yet to officially kick off our campaign because we want to abide by the rules of the game. What we are doing right now is to let Anambra people know that there is change in the making and we are sensitizing people massively and they are receiving our message. I must confess to you that our message is new and fresh and holds the future for a new Anambra state.
Are you not intimidated by parties like the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), All progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) and the Action Congress (AC)?
Honestly, I am not. Mike Nwafor is a solid and quality person and has no reason to be intimidated by any body. What is important is what you think of yourself, what you know of yourself and knowing where you are coming from and of course an idea of where you are going to ensures the kind of confidence you are coming with. I am supremely confident that I will win the February 6, 2010 governorship election in Anambra state.
How long have you been in politics?
Everybody is a politician. I have been in partisan politics; I have been in the employ of the Anambra state government since August 2005 as the managing director of the Anambra State Housing Corporation. So I have been in politics sometimes quietly and sometimes loudly. We are prepared to give visionary leadership for Anambra state. I have been telling Anambra people how we will get things to work if they vote us. We will provide leadership founded on integrity and vision, leadership by example. We would be able to tell you where we are going to and we would be able to lead you to the place by example.
Anambra people represent some of the most intelligent people in the world; I am not talking about Nigeria and if we can point our ginger to where we are going to and we are confident, I am sure they will support us………
What is your comments on rigging and fraudulent elections which have become part of the Nigerian democracy.
My reaction to rigging and fraudulent tendencies is that there is always a day for the owner of the house to take over his house. The 6th of February 2010 represents that day when the owner of the house must take charge of the house and we are confident about this. You have not asked me why Anambar state dong her election in 2010 instead of 2011. if you believe in seasons, if you believe in timing, you should be able to know that there is time for everything …… It is a revolution that is going to take place in the state.
Can you briefly state your vision for Anambra state?
My vision is clean and clear; to give good leadership, to take Anambra state to another level, we will address the ignoble state of our capital; we will pay attention to agriculture, education, health care, security, provision of basic infrastructures.
How popular is your party in Anambra state?
As I am talking to you, our popularity in Anambra state is spreading like wild fire. Our popularity is on the raise everyday. We have hundreds of thousands of people identifying with our cause in Anambra state. We want to give the best for Anambra state. We understand the times, we understand what Anambra people have gone through and we know what they want. If we know and understand the times, that give us the opportunity to provide quality leadership. Leadership is about knowing where you are, and where you are going and develop means of going to where you want to go.
Some of the most prominent Nigerians we have are from Anambra state; people like the late nationalists, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, former vice president, Dr. Alex Ekweme, Prof. Chinwe Achebe and several others are from there. Indeed, Anambra state is supposed to the leading light to other states in the south east unfortunately, there seem to be so much confusion there, what do you think is responsible for this?
I have said this over and over, Anambra state, being one of the states with the most talented people in this country, they are the most progressive set of people not only in Nigeria, but all over the world. The question that we have repeatedly asked and has also led us doing quiet a lot of research is; why is it that we have succeeded outside Igbo land, if we have the types of cities we should have, why don’t we have the quality of infrastructure we should have?
Why are our values worst and disoriented? Our anchor is leadership why we are saying one of the things we would give to Anambra state is leadership, leadership that is sound and focused. Any leader that does not define the course of movement, any leader that does not know how the arrival point will look like, cannot be tagged a leader. That is what we want to offer Anambra state and I have repeatedly said that until you understand the times and the seasons, you can’t provide leadership. This is what we want to do in Anambra state
We want to put quality and sufficient infrastructure when we are voted to office. We would want to resolve the issue of low enrolment of males in the school. We want to resolve the issue of inadequate health care in the state. We want to address the issue of extremely poor agriculture in the state. These are just a few of the things we have packaged to give Anambra people if they vote us into office. We will get them to where they must be. Anambra state is one of the richest states in this country and we have no reason to be where we are. So I agree with you that there seem to be a lot of confusion, there seem to be a lot of chaos today, we seem to be orderless, but by the time we come on but, we will do what we plan to do. I am assuring you that the foundation for the renaissance of the Igbo nation would have been laid; a foundation for the establishment of the Igbo kingdom would have been laid.
|
|
|
|
|
<< Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next > End >>
|
|
Page 9 of 92 |
|
|
E- Books for Downloads
|
