THE NATION MONDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2011
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NEWS Lamido urges Speakers to restore North’s lost value JIGAWA State Governor Sule Lamido has urged Northern Speakers to restore the lost values and culture of the region. Lamido spoke at the weekend during the 21st meeting of the Northern Speakers’ Forum in Dutse, the state capital. The governor lamented that northerners, who were known to be united, have become disunited though tribal and religious bickerings. He said: “It is unfortunate that all these values have been lost because of political differences and other selfish interests that have bedevilled the region.” Lamido urged the forum to focus on bringing unity and mutual coexistence among the different ethnic groups in the North and the nation. He urged the speakers to discuss the crises in parts of the North, the problem of almajiri system of Qur’anic education - which breeds child begging on the streets - and unemployment. Chairman of Northern Speakers’ Forum, Alhaji Ali Modu said the Speakers were in Jigawa to deliberate on the development of the North and Nigeria.
Disquiet in Southern Kaduna over alleged military brutality S
OME Southern Kaduna communities have accused the soldiers, who were deployed in the areas for security after the April postelection violence, of brutalising the residents. The residents, who now live in fear, and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) complained that the soldiers have also imposed a false curfew on the communities. CAN Chairman in Jaba Local Government Area, Rev. Gambo Na’Allah, told reporters in Kwoi that soldiers drafted to secure the area are brutalising the residents and have imposed an 8pm till dawn curfew on Southern Kaduna. Speaking through CAN Secretary, Rev. Aminu Weyham, Na’Allah noted that the soldiers have become a law unto themselves, defying the plea of constituted authorities. Na’Allah said: “We wel-
From Tony Akowe, Kaduna
come the deployment of soldiers to Kwoi and other parts of Southern Kaduna. But these soldiers have become a big problem here. By 8pm, they don’t allow anyone outside. “They don’t show respect for anyone. They beat up and abuse elders and don’t have any regard for traditional authority and council officials. “We have written series of complaints to the military authority, but the soldiers seem to defy control. Many places here are suffering as a result. We have never been informed of any curfew here by the government, because we live in peace. “We cannot understand why soldiers, who are supposed to
protect us, are turning their guns at us. The other time that Bitaro (a village about seven kilometres away) was attacked for about two hours and four people killed, none of the soldiers came out. It was our youths that pursued the invaders and arrested them some weeks later.” Bishop Paul Zamani, the Anglican Bishop of Kwoi Diocese; Rev. Sunday Marion Rock; Rev. Simon Haruna, Chairman, Nasiha Baptist Association; and Pastor Jonathan Dasaro, Chairman, Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria in Jaba Local Government Area, also complained about the highhandedness of the soldiers. Two Kaduna-based reporters - Luka Binniyat of Vanguard and Jacob Zango of Kaduna
State Television - witnessed the soldiers’ brutality when they visited Kafanchan to investigate the report. They were arrested by nine soldiers, led by a lieutenant without a name tag, at 9.10pm and ordered to sit in muddy waters with about 50 others. The “offenders” were punished for what the soldiers called a violation of the curfew imposed on the area. Binniyat told The Nation that those arrested were stopped at gun point by the soldiers on the same day CAN addressed reporters on the soldiers’ activities. He said: “They (soldiers) were under the command of a lieutenant, whose identity could not be established that night, at the Timber Shade Motor Park, in Kafanchan, about 40kilometres from Kwoi. “Despite our identities, the
Plateau tertiary institutions resume strike From Marie-Therese Peter, Jos
THE Joint Unions of Plateau State-owned Tertiary Institutions has resumed its suspended strike following the deadlock in the negotiation between its members and elders of the state. The elders intervened in the strike, which has kept students at home for almost a year. Addressing reporters yesterday at the state Polytechnic, Jos campus, the Chairman of the Joint Unions, Comrade Yusuf Selchang noted that the elders’ intervention was a good sign but that the government reneged on its promises. He said: “Governor Jonah Jang, on August 25, convened a stakeholders’ meeting where he spoke on the impasse between the government and the striking workers. On hearing his version, Plateau elders set up a committee to intervene in the matter. “The elders were informed of the causes of the impasse and we welcomed the commitment of the elders to facilitate a common ground between government and the unions.”
•Chairman, Northern Speakers’ Forum and Speaker, Borno State House of Assembly, Alhaji Ali Modu (cutting the tape); Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido (second left); and Speaker, Jigawa State House of Assembly, Alhaji Adamu Ahmed (right) at the inauguration of Sarawa Gurgun Daho Road in Jigawa State.
Belgore seeks probe of attempted murder of Sharia Court chief
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WARA State governorship candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the April election, Dele Belgore (SAN) at the weekend urged security agencies to unmask those behind the failed attempt on the life of the state’s Sharia Court of Appeal Khadi, Justice Oluwatoyin Salihu Muhammed. Belgore said: “I call on our security agents to move swiftly to probe this murder attempt on the honourable justice and bring the culprits to book. “It is our opinion that an attack on a member of the society is an attack on all of us as members of the same society. We urge security agencies to
•Kwara: insinuation by ACN candidate misplaced From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin
take very seriously the threat posed by these elements who revel in killing fellow human beings.” Belgore spoke when he led a delegation of ACN chieftains to visit Justice Muhammed to the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH) where he is receiving treatment. Unknown gunmen broke into the home of the Khadi and shot him penultimate Saturday evening. “The attack on the honoura-
ble Justice is, to say the least, condemnable and barbaric. We thank Almighty Allah for saving the life of our father in the hands of the assassins, and seek His continuous protection over him and all of us in Kwara and across Nigeria,” Belgore said. The Kwara State Government yesterday criticised Belgore over his comment on the attack. A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr Abdulwahab Oba, said the ACN
Aliyu urges Nigerian elders to tackle ills among youths
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ORTHERN Governors’ Forum (NGF) Chairman Babangida Aliyu at the weekend urged the nation’s elders to tackle the socio-economic ills Nigerian youths are inflicting on the country. The Niger State Governor alleged that Nigerian elders have kept quiet for too long while the youths destroyed the nation’s integrity. Referring to the violence
From Jide Orintunsin, Minna
that followed the local government election in Kontagora, Niger State, on Saturday, which forced the state Independent Electoral Commission (NISIEC) to postpone indefinitely the election in the area, the governor lamented that most Nigerian youths equate democracy with intimidation and thuggery. He spoke when he hosted
some local government election monitors. He said: “Youths have taken over in the nation; they are daily perpetrating ills in the society and our elders are just keeping quiet. Our elders need to take a stand on how to tackle these youths rather than keeping quiet.” Aliyu noted that the development was becoming more worrisome as half of the country’s population is made up of
youths. He said if youths are not properly guided, they would derail what the nation’s founding fathers laboured for. Aliyu said: “We need to teach and tell the youths that intimidation and thuggery are not what democracy is all about. We need to pay attention to what the youths are doing; we have to insist that politics is not a do-or-die affair.”
soldiers insisted we must be punished for defying a ‘curfew’. “We were ordered to sit in muddy waters with about 50 others, some very respectable looking men and women...” The Senior Special Assistant to the governor on Media and Publicity, Reuben Buhari, denied the imposition of a curfew in any part of the state. He said: “There is nowhere in Kaduna State that a curfew has been imposed. We are already experiencing an improvement in peace and reconciliation.”
Plateau ACN accuses PDP of victimising members From Marie-Therese Peter, Jos
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HE Plateau State Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has raised the alarm over an alleged plot by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to coerce its members to defect from the party. ACN alleged that the plan is aimed at truncating its chances in the next local government election in December. In a statement by its Chairman, Chief Amos Gizo, and made available to The Nation at the weekend in Jos, ACN warned the PDP to desist from using the instrument of power to coerce its members. The statement reads: “We are alerting the public to the arm-twisting tactics of the Plateau State Government and the equally desperate antics of the state leadership of the PDP to dislodge the ACN from its strongholds in the state ahead of the local government polls. “The PDP, aided by the state government, has coerced the interim leadership of Langtang South Local Government Area, headed by the vicechairman to defect with the ACN mandate to the PDP.” The party urged Governor Jonah Jang to reverse “these undemocratic trends”, adding: “The PDP must be respectful of the will of the people and not use the instrument of power to coerce our members and followers.”
Police arrest 11 over ‘illegal’ demonstration •Belgore
governorship candidate missed the point by insinuating that the Sharia Court chief was attacked for criticising government’s programmes. The statement reads: “The attention of the Kwara State Government has been drawn to a statement by the governorship candidate of the ACN, Belgore (SAN), on the attempted murder of Justice Mohammed of the state’s Sharia Court of Appeal, penultimate Saturday. “The government is seriously concerned about the ugly incident and the spate of insecurity across the country, in which Kwara State is not an exception. “However, the government regards the insinuation by Belgore that the attack was as a result of Justice Muhammed’s position on government’s programmes as irritant and that of a political neophyte seeking undue attention. “
From Mohammed Bashir, Lokoja
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HE police in Kogi State have arrested 11 former workers of Federal Polytechnic, Idah, Kogi State, for allegedly attacking the school during an ‘illegal’ demonstration. The former workers were said to have organised a demonstration against the school authority, demanding the payment of their salaries from April to December 2007. The police at the weekend picked up the suspects from their hideouts. Police Public Relation Officer, Ajayi Okasanmi, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), told The Nation that the suspects were being investigated by the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) and that they would be charged to court today or tomorrow. The Chairman of the school’s management board, Air Commodore Peter Gana (rtd), condemned the demonstration.