Special Reports
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Written by Administrator
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Stefanos Foundation, in an effort to ascertain the cause(s) of the crisis, led a combined team of security and media men to Jos Jarawa, where the crisis purportedly started. The intension was to come up with an unbiased “on the sport” assessment of the situation that will help bring a clearer understanding for better judgment. The team met with eye witnesses and victims who recounted their ordeals.
Various accounts reveal that one Kabiru NEPA (as he is called in the area) a staff of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), brought in some over 200 Muslim men to rebuild his house on Sunday, 17th January, 2010. Kabiru’s house is one of those burnt during the 28th November 2008 crisis; it is situated on one of the streets at Gindin - Atili, behind Great Commission Movement Ministry compound in Jos Jarawa area. This was the street that was mostly affected during the November, 2008 crisis which left no building standing in the area, both of Non-Muslims and Muslims alike.
Kabiru’s house is next to the one burnt down with people who came from Lagos to attend a wedding on 29th November 2008. It has been over a year that these building have remained in ruins. Kabiru is the first to attempt rebuilding in this area and his would have been the only house rebuilt when many belonging to non - Muslims still remain in ruins.
Ruined buildings from 2008 crisis
This investigation later discovered that Mallam Kabiru did not bring this project to the notice of the village head. According to the village head, if he was informed, he could have made it known to all that Muslim men would be working in the area.
200 muslim men on Sunday morning is not a common sight in this area since the last crisis, this certainly raised the tension in the area, he said.
The builders working at the site did not help matters; report has it that they kept chanting intimidating noise, referring to Non-Muslims as “Arna” (meaning infidels)” knowing they may likely not support the reconstruction. The Non-Muslims in the area suffered so many losses in the last crisis and have not been able to rebuild their ruins. Tension mounted in the area and got out of control when the driver of the lorry hauling sand to the site got into a quarrel with one of the non – Muslims in the area. This attracted the Muslim workers and later resulted into attack on any non-Muslim sighted around and a woman, Anna Ayuba got badly injured.
Unknown to all, the laud chants of “Allah a’khabar” had attracted other Muslims to the area and worshippers in ECWA Church; about 500m away were attacked. The violence escalated in Yan-shanu and Congo Russia and got out of control with reports of fake soldiers appearing in these areas. This resulted into the blood shed experienced in Jos and later, its environs.
Stefanos Foundation gathered that when Law Enforcement arrived on the spot earlier at the heat of the incident, they could not do much to forestall the violence. An eye witness reported that when the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 3rd Armored Division of the Nigerian Army, Jos, came to investigate the matter while inspecting the burnt down church, gun shots came from the near by Muslim settlement, bringing down three Christian youths. The gunman was apprehended and handed over to the GOC but in the presence of the villagers, the man was set free. This made the villagers loose faith in the security operatives.
Rev. Samuel Daji Riga of ECWA church Jos Jarawa, whose members were attacked in church and the church building completely burnt and partly demolished; reliably informed Stefanos that………
‘I was still preaching in church that Sunday morning when one of the members of the church Boys Brigade rushed in to draw the attention of one of my elders outside, the elder quickly ran back to inform me of an impending attack by the Muslims. I immediately cut off my sermon and closed the service to enable our members return to their homes or any safe place. Unfortunately for us, before we could vacate the church premises, the attackers had arrived with their weapons. In a bid to escape, some of our members were injured by gun shots from the assailants. They later set the church ablaze and utterly destroyed everything in the church including the motor-bike of a member’……... At the time of this report, we found an inscription boldly written on the wall of the church building - ‘Islam is 4 peace and Islam is the best’.
With the influx of Muslims from the Northern states coming into Jos with supremacist ideologies looking down on non-Muslims as infidels, no wonder such things keep happening. This was revealed by the interview conducted by Stefanos foundation on one of the Muslim victims receiving treatment in one of the hospitals. The victim said he and twenty five others from Jigawa state were brought in and lodged in a house in Angwan Rogo and given motorcycles to operate around in Jos.
Mrs. Anna Yakubu, a victim of the unfortunate incident, told Stefanos that her son returned home after church service through the said construction site and reported that the workers at the site were busy chanting Allah Akbar and from their behavior, he suspects something may go wrong.
It was not so long then they heard the voice of the man who barely left their home calling on them to run. While attempting to do so, she was attacked with a stone at her forehead; she fell to the ground with blood all over her face. And her son, Ajik, could not escape the bullets of the assailants on his face. They are both receiving medical attention at the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH).
Stefanos also interviewed Danjuma Mohammed, a Muslim, who was among those who were working on the construction site that day.
He said ……. a tipper truck brought in sand to the site but in an attempt to go for more sand, the driver got into problems with Non-Muslims in the area. The issue was resolved. But another group playing football about 500 meters from the site on hearing the ‘Allah Akbar’ of the builders saw it as a call for war and attacked the church nearby, which is the ECWA Church.
The situation that happened in Jos Jarawa on Sunday was quelled down on Monday, 18th January, 2010 and it looked like that was the end of it.
But the news that spread, sparked up similar reactions at Bukuru where Muslims set ablaze Assemblies of God church and ECWA church around Gularandong and looted shops belonging to Christians. Non-Muslims also reported Muslims burning their houses at Bisichi and Fan in Barkin Ladi LGA. The conflict which has always been tolerated on religious grounds, soon turned chaotic, leaving the locals struggling to defend and protect their settlements. Similar attacks were later reported at Gyero Village, Kuru village near Hipang and Rahol-Kana (Ungwar Doki) near TCNN. Also reported were those of Pankshin and Mangu on Wednesday, 20th Jan. 2010 and Thursday, 21st Jan. 2010 respectively.
At the time of this report, mass burials had been carried out by government on Wednesday and Thursday, and as such, it is difficult to ascertain the number of casualties or deaths. However, many were seen receiving treatment at JUTH, Plateau Hospital and ECWA Evangel Hospital among others.
Stefanos Foundation Response Team.
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News Headlines
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Written by Ishola Michael, Bauchi
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On April 2008 in Bauchi State, The State Government in April 2008 set up an agency known as ‘Bauchi State Agency for the Control of AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria’, (BACTMA) under the Chairmanship of a Doctor of Virology, Rilwanu Mohammed who has created a niche for himself in the medical field over the years and is presently setting the pace in the fight against HIV\AIDS in the country.
Since its inception more than a year ago, BACATMA has identified some junction towns like Bulkachuwa and others as the most dreaded areas in terms of prevalence.
But now according to statistics made available by the BACATMA, the scourge has drastically reduced and people now troop to the HIV center at the Specialist Hospital for counselling and voluntary blood screening to enable them know their status after which they have access to all the required drugs including anti-retroviral drugs to keep them going.
Rilwanu Mohammed said that the Agency discovered that due to lack of voluntary blood
screening many people got infected and died. This he said increased the number of widows/widowers in the state, a development he said led to the increase in the scourge of the infection as these individuals who are positive but are unaware of their status, go into marriages thereby infecting their spouse and increasing the number of positive people and death due to HIV/AIDs related death.
It was in the move to check this according to the BACATMA Chairman that the Agency came up with the idea of match making all the positive people with support from donor agencies.
He said that the idea started with counselling at the clinic when the positive people were assured that they can marry each other, live happily and even have babies that will not be infected.
As at today, BACATMA has successfully match-made 110 couples. Another set of 8 are waiting to wed. The weddings will be done as soon as all the marriage formalities are completed with the parents of the intending couples. According to him, the wedding will be low-keyed because of the present economic meltdown which he said has affected the funding of the activities of the Agency in terms of support to the people.
The chairman and staff of BACATMA will not be attending the weddings. This is so that people will not suspect anything because the wedding will be conducted in the normal way in the open for people to see but only the couple and their parents/guardian as well as the Agency know their status.
He also said that BACATMA supports the couples with money monthly for their up-keep. The first set of couples were given the sum of N50,000 each but this was reviewed to N30,000 and now to N20,000 due to the economic crunch. They are now getting N15,000 monthly.
So far, twenty of the couples have given birth to children who are negative through the prevention of mother to child scheme. Twenty of the husbands have indicated their intentions to take second wives because they are enjoying their lives now.
He said the Agency is vigorously pursuing collaboration with the State Sharia Commission to sponsor a bill at the State House of Assembly to ensure that compulsory HIV testing be done before weddings by intending parties so that the spread will be minimized.
One beneficiaries of the scheme is known as Atomic. He is known as the ‘Father of HIV Positive people in Bauchi State’ was tested and found positive in 2005 and since then he has being living happily with his wife who was confirmed positive in 2006. They have access to the required drugs and have three healthy children who are doing well with the first one clocking eight years of age.
Atomic said he wants everybody to go to the hospital to know his or her status so that he or she will be able to live a normal life, saying that it will do a lot of good to the society and commended BACATMA for the match making programme which he said has actually helped them to be people with hope again.
Another beneficiary Auwalu, discovered he was infected with HIV positive in 2006 after many years of marriage. Since then he has remained committed to the campaign against the spread of the infection. He has two wives and children who are negative. He would like to marry another wife and is appealing to BACATMA to facilitate the wedding.
Danladi Adamu knew his positive status in 2002 and was placed on drugs in 2006. He married his wife who is also positive and they have been living their normal lives as husband and wife. His wife was diagnosed in 2006 and was placed on vitamins and other antibiotics until later in the year when she was started on the anti-retroviral drugs.
Rabi is a 32 year old married woman who is living positively with HIV. Though she was
confused and devastated at the initial stage after counselling she accepted her condition and started to take the necessary drugs, She later met her husband who is also positive through the activities of BACATMA and today she has a two year old baby girl who she said is healthy. She said she would not mind if her husband decides to marry another wife.
Hadiza Aliyu is a mother of three and the state secretary of NEPWH who is happy with what
BACATMA is doing in seeing that HIV positive people are given a reason to live a normal lives. She believes the Agency has actually set a standard that has made Bauchi State unique in the fight against HIV\AIDS pointing out that due to the serious sensitization exercise of the Network, people have come to understand the need to be counselled and tested.
She said that the stigma has reduced drastically all over the State giving an instance where a village head in demonstration that the infection is not contagious was seen eating with a positive person in public to the admiration of the villagers who had thought that there should be no association with the positive person. The organization has support from various donor agencies in the country as well as the State Government which has recognized their existence through BACATMA. She added that, “people who are HIV positive can still live a normal life, all they need to do is come out and know their status and use the drugs correctly. HIV does not kill if properly taken care of.”
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News Headlines
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Written by Ishola Michael, Gombe
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Ever since the encounter between Eve and the snake in the Bible snakes have not been friends to human beings. No mater its size and look it is one animal that no one wants to come in contact with anytime of the day. Encounters between it and human beings end mostly in bloodshed. Either the snake or man ends up in the grave. The Oxford University Dictionary defines the Snake as ‘a predatory reptile with a long slender limbless subtle body, many of which kinds have a venomous bite’.
 Precisely in the Christian holy Bible God decreed that “Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shall thou go, and dust shall thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shall bruise his heel”.
This is the story of the hilly Kaltungo area of Gombe State. Snakes have remained a nightmare to the inhabitants of the area as they die on regular basis from the bites of dangerous and venomous creatures that abound in their thousands in the area. The rainy season is the period of their rally and massive attacks.
In August this year alone, nine out of over 300 patients admitted for treatment of snake bite at the Kaltungo General Hospital Snake Bite Treatment Centre in Gombe state have lost their lives as a result of lack of drugs to treat them.
The Kaltungo Snake Bite Treatment Centre which was initially established by the Gombe state government was taken over by the Federal Government in 1999 and transformed into a centre for the treatment of snake bite victims from the 8 Northern states .
The Chief Medical officer Dr Abubakar Saidu Balla said that nine patients died out of about 300 patients admitted in the month of August. According to him from January toAugust the centre received over 1600 patients from Adamawa, Borno, Bauchi, Jigawa, Gombe, Taraba, Plateau, Nassarawa and Abuja out of which about 30 died.
Dr. Saidu Balla explained that the high rate of deaths recorded was as a result of non availability of the anti snake venom which was usually administered free because most of the victims were peasant farmers or cattle breeders who could not afford to pay the N30, 000.00 cost of treatment.
According to him, ‘for now we have no option than to ask patient to buy the four valves of fav afrique vaccine which is the only one available in the open market, we are using Echitab-G or Echitab plus vaccine for the treatment of patient”
In his words “ we use Echitab-G or Echitab plus, because it is a special anti snake venom, but four vales of Fav Afrique vaccine would use to treat the patient which cost about 7,000 naira per valve. Over 20 patients have absconded from their treatment bed as they cannot afford to buy the valves”.
Some patients at the centre Malam Sallau Abu from Karim Lamido in Taraba state, Usman from Bayo in Borno state, and Malam Isa and Haruna both from Adamawa state expressed concern that their daughters might die because they have no money to buy the drugs .
According to Mallam Isa the money he used for transportation to the hospital was raised by his neighbours and he cannot afford to pay for the treatment. He told journalists, “ I have no body to help me.The only option left for me is to go home and wait for God’s time’’
On the other hand Mallam Haruna said his family was able to get N13, 000 for only 2 vales. Now he has no money to complete the treatment, saying, “I have taken the two vales since two days ago and no money to complete the remaining two, I am waiting for God intervention’’.
The Gombe State Commissioner for Health, Dr.Muhammad Isa Umar said he was aware of the problem and that the state government had placed order for N4 million worth of anti snake venom which is expected to arrive the country in the next four weeks. He said that state government had informed the Federal Ministry of Health on the matter and appealed to the other eight northern state governments whose indigenes patronize the hospital to assist in its funding.
Similarly the Chairman of Kaltungo Local Government, Shehu Kanar said that he is disturbed by the increasing deaths at the Centre. The Local council had just secured approval for the purchase of 2 million naira anti snake venom in addition to the 1.7 million naira drugs earlier supplied. He announced plans by the council to construct a 24 bed ward at the centre to reduce the congestion usually experienced during heavy rainfall, harvest of crops and clearing of farmlands for planting.
The member of House of Representatives representing Kaltungo/Shongom Federal Constituency Adamu Gora Kalba, has alo donated the sum of N250, 000 to the Snake-Bite victims at the Snake Bite Treatment Center in Kaltungo General Hospital saying that the donation was aimed at assisting the victims get some of the drugs and anti snake venom needed for their treatment.
Gora Kalba then commended the Federal, State and Kaltungo Local Governments for the supply of the Anti-snake Venom free of charge to the Hospital and called on other well to do individuals and NGOs to complement government efforts in that direction.
While responding to the donation of the money by the Federal law maker, the Medical Director in Charge of Kaltungo General Hospital Dr. Joseph Mathew lamented the increased cases of snake –bite patients in the Hospital which has led to the congestion of the snake-bite ward therefore over stretching it’s facilities.
Joseph Mathew thanked the Federal Lawmaker for the kind gesture which he said will go a long way in assisting the patients as well as the Center get the required doses of the anti-snake venom calling on others to emulate the gesture since according to him the task is a joint responsibility.
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News Headlines
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Written by Rana Bayok
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Many rural communities in Nigeria are living in horrifying condition arising from lack of basic amenities like hospitals, schools, roads and portable drinking water. Gunji, a village in Amper District, Kanke Local Government Area of Plateau state, appears to be one of such communities that are worst off.
The people of the area live in ignorance and abject poverty. Like other communities, farming is the only preoccupation of the people. Their condition is even worsening by the fact that the area is located in a very rocky area that is not too conducive for serious agricultural activities.
The only thing they produce in their farms is Guinea Corn and “Khas”, a type of grain that is very common in the area. But this is only possible with fertilizer, a commodity that is well beyond the reach of the people.
 Their condition is further worsened by the fact that there is no any hospital or even a dispensary in the area. The people are therefore left with the option of taking their sick ones to places like Chika, Kabwir and Pankshin during serious emergencies but at a cost which they cannot afford.
Majority of the people are so poor that in times of emergencies, even the transport money to go to the hospital is a different ball game all together, talk more of the hospital charges. Because of this, many of them have resorted to patronizing native doctors who often associated common sicknesses like malaria or typhoid to witch craft. Quiet a number of people have died because they cannot afford even N500 to go to the hospital.
Like several Nigerian villages, Gunji does not have portable drinking water. The people shared the water from the stream with animals. This may be responsible for the various diseases afflicting the people. The only borehole in the area was constructed by Buba Marwa some years back when he was nursing an ambition for the presidency. But it is located far away from other members of the community who had no choice than to go to the stream because of the distance. They are worst hit by lack of water during the dry season when the streams dry off.
There are only two primary schools in the area. One was built with mud by the community while the other was built several years back by the government. Both schools are at the verge of collapse. Indeed they are inhabitable. The schools operate under trees and during raining seasons like this, the schools are hardly in session.
“Music is our heritage” – that is the slogan of Gunji Community. This is true of the community whose local musicians like Dantala and Richard Doyo ( now a councilor representing Gunji Ward) has made the village popular. There is no important occasion in Plateau and Kaduna states that Dantala and Group or Richard and group will not be invited to perform, but this has not contributed in improving the situation of things in the community.
Even the popular Gunji Day which is always celebrated 26th December of every year is one of the popular festivals that attract very important people including sons and daughters of Gunji in Diaspora to see the local musicians perform. But this has not positively affected the community.
It is only recently that a Motorable road was constructed through to Gunji by the administration of governor Jonah Jang.
The story of Gunji is better told by Mr. Timothy Gotan Gongung, a resident of the area who spoke an interview with our reporter.
Said he: “We are lacking so many things in this village, we don’t have drinking water, we don’t have hospital, and we are going through a lot of hardship. We are not making any progress here. We are mainly subsistence farmers and we depend solely on fertilizer to farm, but it is beyond our reach.
“Our land cannot produce anything without fertilizer because of its rocky nature. It will only take the grace of God for us to survive this year because, last year there was no sufficient rain and we had no fertilizer. We did not harvest anything reasonable. The reason why there is so much poverty and ignorance here is that our farms are in rocky places and cannot produce anything without fertilizer.
“Our major problem in this village is lack of hospital, the only primary school built by government is in a serious dilapidation. We have made several appeals to the local and state governments but because we don’t have any influential person that can lobby for us, we are left to our fate. We are helpless.
“The people in government only come here when it is time for elections. After elections, they don’t remember us again. They used us for their politics and abandoned us when they get what they are looking for.
This road they constructed for us, does courtesy of governor who is God fearing. During his campaign he promised to construct this road for us and he has fulfilled his promise. We are thankful to him. The governor said he will focus attention on rural development that is why he gave us this road.
“You have seen the condition of the only two primary schools here. One was built by the government many years back while the other one was built by the community. Both schools are almost collapsing. We have made several appeals to the local government but we are yet to see any action.
“As it is the school buildings are serious threats to the lives of our children so they don’t even seat inside. They seat under the tree to receive their lessons. Once it is raining, they will run home. Even the one that was built through communal effort is in a terrible condition because we cannot maintained it due to the harsh economic condition of our people.
“We had councilors who were elected from here, but we never felt their impact. They did nothing. We had three councilors from here. The first was Tuesday Tokyom. He did nothing for the community. After him, we had Lepji Gowap as councilor. He too, did nothing for the community. Elisha Gofwan was also our councilor but he did nothing for the community.
“Presently we have Richard Doyo as our councilor and we are beginning to see his efforts in addressing some of these problems. He has started tackling the problem of water by sinking wells spread across the community. He has dug wells in Buwan, Shakto and Kurum. He is planning to sink more wells in Yilbem and other places. So I think that is very commendable.
“Those who brought Christianity to this community did not open our eyes to things that will improve on our living condition. Things like trading, business and some vocational skills. They came with the gospel and preached that we should repent for the kingdom of God is near, man shall not live by bread alone…so nobody took interest in business or acquiring some vocational skills.
“When they came with the gospel, people thought that Jesus Christ was going to come immediately, so nobody bothered about earthly things. Now that the reality has dawn on us, it is becoming too late for us. We are beginning to get awareness, but our greatest problem is poverty.
“If you fall sick today, you cannot go to the hospital because nobody will attend to you if you go without money. As I am now, I don’t have even five naira; there are many people like that in this community. So if you fall sick, even the transport money to carry you to the hospital in Pankshin is something else since we don’t have a hospital here. Because of this many people patronise herbalists who give them roots to take for sicknesses they cannot diagnose. Many people have died as a result of this.
“We are appealing to the state and local governments to come to our aid by addressing these problems. I want to passionately call on the chairman of Kanke local government and governor Jonah Jang to help us. Hunger will kill us if we have no fertilizer to farm this year. We need a hospital; we want our schools to be rehabilitated so that our children can go to school.”
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News Headlines
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Written by RANA BAYOK
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Until the introduction in Zamfara state in 1999 by the administration of former governor Ahmed Sani (Yariman Bakura) in 1999, Mr. Ikechuwu operated a very popular drinking joint in Gusau, the state capital. It was his only means of livelihood, however everything crumbled at following the implementation of the Islamic legal code which prohibits drinking of beer, partying, lewd behaviour, prostitution, stealing and other forms of behaviour that is considered un- Islamic.
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