How 3 Kids Found Colonel Samaila Inusa’s Dead Body

Three children went to pluck cashew from a bush opposite Ajyaita Village in Kakau District of Chikun LGA of Kaduna State on Tuesday, but ran into a very unlikely sight-a corpse, which was later identified as that of the abducted military officer.

Ajyaita village is about 10 kilometres from Kaduna city centre, and lies along the Eastern By-pass which links the Abuja-Kaduna express way to the southern part of the state.

The children had set out for the forest opposite the village on Tuesday morning and met the decomposing body by a narrow footpath leading to the forest.

Some elders told Daily Trust that the children then ran back home to reveal the unpleasant information to a farmer who they earlier met on their way to the forest.

The man was planting yam seedlings at a farm. After hearing the children’s story, he rushed to the spot to confirm it, and he in turn, ran to inform the village head.

The village head informed the police authorities who deployed some policemen to accompany him to the spot.

The police then called the army authorities who came to inspect the corpse. Therein came the painful confirmation-it was the body of Colonel Samaila Inusa, who was kidnapped a few days earlier.

“The military came with photographs and confirmed that he was the one. There was no identity card found on him, but the military identified him as the missing colonel. The place he was found is a bush path that is accessible by a car. The bush is also close to a village called Kefinary,” an elder said.

Residents of Ajyaita refused to take our correspondents to the place, saying the place had been cordoned off by soldiers who asked people to stay away for now.
Daily Trust noticed some heavily armed policemen patrolling the area while villagers were busy with their work without any noticeable tension.

The colonel was buried yesterday at the Ribadu Cantonment, Old Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) site in Kaduna according to Islamic rites.

Draped in the national colours of green-white-green, the body arrived the old NDA cemetery around11.45am from the 44 Army Reference Hospital, Kaduna and was interred at noon after prayers at the NDA Juma’at mosque.

Relations, colleagues and friends couldn’t hold back tears, while some cried loudly.

The Chief Administrative Officer of the Nigerian Army, Major General Ado Abubakar, who represented the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, said it was a great loss to the Nigerian Army.

He described late colonel as a very committed officer who never joked with his responsibilities and announced that the army would do everything possible to get those behind the killing.

“Col. Inusa was a great soldier. We all feel the pains. Though death is inevitable and nobody can run away from it. I came in to represent my boss, the Chief of Army Staff because the Nigerian Army is mourning one of us that had really served this country greatly and we are not really happy the way he died, but whatever happened, we will see to the end of it all,” he said.

The Commander, Nigerian Army School of Infantry, Major General Kasim Abdulkarim, said the late Samaila who served under his command was a loyal, committed and hardworking officer who would be fondly missed by his colleagues.

Gen. Abdulkarim urged officers and men of the Nigerian military to take precautionary measures for their personal safety.

The colonel’s younger brother, Mustapha Inusa, described him as generous, saying, he was good to everyone, both within and outside his family.

“He was our family’s breadwinner and we will miss his dearly. Samaila is dead and he was buried in the presence of his parents, you know what it feels like for parents to bury their children, it is not a good feeling, his parents will really feel his absence because he was the one who used to cater for them,” he said.
Colonel Inusa, who was the Commander, 81 Battalion in Bulabulin, Damboa LGA of Borno State before he became Chief Instructor at the Nigerian Army
School of Infantry Jaji, Kaduna State, was honoured with a three- gun salute by officers.

A close friend of the deceased and former Minority Leader of the Kaduna State House of Assembly, Muhammad Ali, described him as a humble and calm person who was loved by all.

Another close family friend who simply gave her name as Mama Hauwa described the late Samaila as a perfect gentle man. She prayed that his soul rest in peace while calling on the military authorities not to relent in their resolve to get the killers.

Born in 1972 in Nasarawa LGA of Kano State, Col. Inusa attended Ramat Special Primary School from 1979 to1985 and proceeded to the Ahmadiyya Secondary School, Kano where he obtained his West African School Certificate in 1991.

He gained admission into the Nigerian Defence Academy in 1992 as a member of the 44th Regular Course and graduated in 1997 with a Bachelor’s degree in Biological Science.

He was the aide-de-camp to Sierra-Leonean Vice- President and was promoted to the rank of Colonel last year. His last appointment was as Chief Instructor at the Nigerian Army School of Infantry, Jaji.

Bang Radio UK becomes The Beat London 103.6FM

London’s First urban community radio station BANG Radio, has changed its name to The Beat London 103.6 FM on Easter Monday, 28th March 2016.

The Beat London will continue to fly the flag high for British youth culture and music as the award-winning BANG Radio has done for over 10 years.

Nurturing DJs and presenters with their ears close to the ground, and championing the best in UK music, The Beat London team will be led by Ivor Etienne, a broadcast executive and presenter with over 30 years experience, working in radio alongside the finest broadcasters and producers, who is recognized for having catapulted Britain’s first ‘Black music radio station,’ Choice FM into the mainstream arena.

Ivor Etienne confirms; “we are incredibly proud of what BANG Radio and Life FM (previously known as) has achieved, but we are excited to introduce a new era for the station; The Beat London 103.6FM – representing and providing a voice for young Black urban London to the world.
 

Music will remain at the core of our programming, and we look forward to becoming recognized as a space for the talents, opinions, views and ideas of the under-25s community. We are very proud to team up with The Beat 99.9FM in Nigeria as they play an important role in closing the gap between the media industries across Africa and the world. We look forward to future collaborations, adding a global element to our work and joining the dots between the UK and Africa!”

Chris Ubosi, CEO of THE BEAT 99.9FM Nigeria says,

“We are excited to expand THE BEAT FM’s passion to develop music talents and the energy of young people from Africa to the World, beginning with the UK. This is a great opportunity to further demonstrate the potential that music and media have to unite youths across the world”

The new station will continue to work synonymously with youth charity BANG Edutainment.

The Beat London 103.6FM will provide the freshest in urban sounds, broadcasting live from its North-West London home, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week via 103.6FM in the London area, across the globe on www.theBeat1036.com and via its app TheBeat1036 (available on iTunes and Android) and TuneIn App.

You can also interact with the station via Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat through its handle @thebeat1036

Amnesty International records no deaths in Qatar 2022 World Cup sites

 *Indicts some construction companies for abuse of labour

Before now there were serious reports, in certain quarters, of deaths of construction workers in Qatar World Cup sites as the country is preparing to host the 2022 World Cup.

Qatar battled to deny such reports and maintained that the reports on construction workers were exaggerated especially by organisations which were against their World Cup hosting rights.

Amnesty International has just released the report of their last investigations in the country.

Qatar may heave a sigh of relief that no deaths of construction workers were recorded, corroborating the position of 2022 World Cup Supreme Committee Secretary General Hassan Al-Thawadi who has consistently said that “no worker has died due to industrial accident in any World Cup construction site.”

But Qatar need to address issues raised by the report which indicted construction companies who usually engage the services of labour supply companies.

These labour supply companies, also known as manpower companies, bring migrant workers into Qatar solely for the purpose of sub-contracting out labour to other companies. There are hundreds of such companies in Qatar. These companies, according to Amnesty International, have dragged their feet in complying to acceptable standards. And the companies that use them have been indicted for their failure to enforce due diligence on them.

According to the report there were still abuses of migrant workers on construction sites by International construction companies although they reported an improved condition between 2015 and this year.

The human rights body said that they based their reports on 132 interviews of migrant construction workers rebuilding the Khalifa Stadium which will host World Cup matches including one of the semifinal matches in 2022. The report indicated that the number of construction workers could rise to 36,000 in the next two to three years as 2022 approaches.

Amnesty International Secretary General, Salil Shetty said this in the report:

“The abuse of migrant workers is a stain on the conscience of world football. For players and fans, a World Cup stadium is a place of dreams. For some of the workers who spoke to us, it can feel like a living nightmare.”

He said that construction workers who spoke with them complained of one abuse or another including poor camp conditions. There were cases of remuneration falling below what was promised, delayed payment of salaries and even confiscation of passports of workers which led to forced labour.

Amnesty International indicated that beaming searchlight on Qatar was yielding results as camp conditions this year were better than what they were in 2015 when they made their findings.

But they maintained that there were still areas that should be addressed. Said the report:

“The workers, mostly from Bangladesh, India and Nepal, spoke to Amnesty International in Qatar between February and May 2015. When Amnesty International researchers returned to Qatar in February 2016, some of the workers had been moved to better accommodation and their passports returned by companies responding to Amnesty International findings, but other abuses had not been addressed.”

Salil Shetty said that “the lot of migrant workers contrasts sharply to that of the top-flight footballers who will play in the stadium. All workers want are their rights: to be paid on time, leave the country if need be and be treated with dignity and respect,” said Salil Shetty.

While Qatar may may see no basis for  his seeming comparison between top-flight footballers and construction workers as no where in the world do construction workers earn anything close to the wages of top footballers or are exposed to the affluence of footballers, it will pay the country to address the said harsh work conditions raised by Amnesty International.

2022 World Cup organisers published a report in February 2016 that they have sanctioned some companies for non-compliance. The report highlighted a number of rectification actions taken over the past eight months, including the SC’s rigorous tendering enforcement mechanism having disqualified 18 firms for non-compliance with the Supreme Committee’s WW Standards. In addition Eversendai, a sub-contractor of Midmac / SixCo (MSJV) joint venture leading on the refurbishment of Khalifa International Stadium, relocated all of its employees in Qatar to WW Standards-compliant accommodation at Barwa Al Baraha. Nakheel Landscapes also relocated all of its employees in Qatar to WW Standards-compliant accommodation at Barwa Al Baraha. Nakheel Landscapes also relocated the vast majority of its workforce to Barwa Al Baraha, with over 1,100 workers transferred since October 2015.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL VISIT TO NEW WORLD CUP WORKER

ACCOMMODATION

Since Amnesty International’s visits to these camps in the first half of 2015, most, but not all, of the migrant workers who had been working on Khalifa Stadium and the Aspire Zone green spaces have been moved to new and better accommodation at two sites: Labour City and Barwa. Amnesty International visited both sites in February 2016. The visit was facilitated by the Supreme Committee.

LABOUR CITY

Labour City is a new complex, commissioned by the State of Qatar’s Private Engineering Office. The site is large, encompassing 55 residences, with a potential capacity to house up to 100,000 mostly male workers. The facilities at Labour City are significantly better than the camps at which Amnesty International first interviewed workers. Living spaces are larger and meet the space requirements set by law. The site has Internet access, green outdoor spaces, places for worship and exercise facilities. Each residence is divided into ‘blocks’, which are rented by companies to house their workers. A small hospital facility has been included within Labour City. According to managers on the site who spoke to Amnesty International the hospital is expected to open sometime in 2016.

Labour City is a significant improvement in terms of the conditions and facilities available for migrant workers. However, Amnesty International researchers observed a high degree of surveillance at the site. This included CCTV cameras operating in all of the external and internal public spaces that Amnesty International visited. The delegation was shown a surveillance room manned around the clock by a Qatar Security Services guard who could view the corridors in each block.

BARWA AL BARAHA

Barwa Al Baraha is a private enterprise managed by Waseef, a property management business that is a subsidiary of the partially-state owned company Barwa Real Estate.63 It has a total capacity of 53,000 but currently hosts 10,000 migrant workers. The conditions at Barwa Al Baraha observed by Amnesty International during a visit in February 2016 are a significant improvement on the camps at Al Wakrah, the Industrial Area and Al Khor at which Amnesty International met many of the men interviewed for this report. However, many workers’ bedroom windows were blacked out from the outside, so that natural light could not easily penetrate.64 When the Amnesty International delegation expressed concern regarding workers’ access to natural light in their rooms, Supreme Committee representatives said that the windows required protection from the sun during the hottest months. But they acknowledged the need to improve access to natural light and said that they had requested Barwa Al Baraha management to install retractable curtains in all workers’ bedrooms. ) Page 20

Amnesty International has recognized that there is commitment from the World cup organisers to improve working conditions of migrant workers as highlighted in the amnesty report ‘ The Supreme Committee has demonstrated a consistent commitment to ensuring the rights of workers on World Cup sites are respected and protected. In addition to developing the Workers’ Welfare Standards, the Supreme Committee has met with Amnesty International andother human rights groups and sought input on the Standards and their application, and has reviewed progress and published data regularly. The Committee has also consistently responded to reports of abuse.

However, there are some fundamental problems with the Supreme Committee’s approach to monitoring and enforcing the Workers’ Welfare Standards, as demonstrated by the abuses discovered on the Khalifa Stadium project. First, although the Standards are supposed to apply to all companiesand workers on World Cup projects, the Supreme Committee has focused on compliance by the main contractors. This approach ignores the evidence that migrant workers’ rights are generally at greater risk when they are working for small sub-contractors and labour supply companies. Some of the most egregious abuses that Amnesty International documented on Khalifa Stadium were perpetrated by labour supply companies that the Supreme Committee said they did not even know were involved with the project.”

NFF may drag CAF to CAS

THE Nigeria Foot-ball Federation officials are yet to come to terms with Nigeria’s ouster from the Gabon Nations Cup but are considering options of dragging African Football Confederation to the Court of Arbitration in Sports.

The sudden withdrawal of Chad made it impossible for Nigeria to nurse any hope of picking a ticket as one of the best losers.

‘’It is rather unfortunate that Chad, one of the teams in the qualification group, suddenly pulled out of the race, leaving only three teams left in the group, and only the winner of the the group guaranteed qualification.

This appeared to have taken away our worst–case scenario of qualification.

However, our legal unit is looking at the propriety of changing the rules midstream’’, Demola Olajire, who is the Assistant Director of Communications of the NFF, said.

APC crisis deepens, as party asks Minister to resign

The crisis of confidence in the All Progressives Congress, APC, is far from being over as the party has said it was no longer comfortable with the presence of the Minister of State for Agriculture, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, in the Federal Executive Council, FEC.

The party alleged that Mr. Lokpobiri bought the ministerial slot meant for Bayelsa State from the former governor of the state and APC chieftain, Chief Timipre Sylva.

Chairman of APC in Bayelsa State, Chief Timipa Orunimighe, who stated this at a parley with journalists in Abuja, yesterday, also alleged that Sylva had also compiled and submitted names of some other non-APC members and submitted same to Secretary to Government of Federation, SGF, without input from the state executive of the party.

Addressing newsmen in Abuja at the APC national Secretariat, yesterday, the state chairman, who led other state excos, called on the Minister of State for Agriculture to honourably resign from office.

He said:  “We also want to call on the Minister representing Bayelsa, Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, the junior minister to resign his appointment.

“Reason being that he also paid for the slot of his ministerial position and I also believe and those of us standing here know very well that he is not a member of the party.

“Why we are standing here before you today is because of the appointments that we feel were supposed to be given to those of us of the APC in Bayelsa. Its a pity to say that for somebody like Timipre Sylva who was supposed to be the leader of the party, today turned against the party and sold our party slots.

The Bayelsa APC leaders, therefore, called on President Muhammadu Buhari and national leaders of the party to intervene in the matter.

Meanwhile, in a swift reaction, Mr. Sylva dismissed allegations that he collected money from the minister to get nomination into the federal cabinet, saying he only did what he felt was right and equitable.

He said:  “They felt that they are the ones that started the party and, therefore, we should not deal with anybody, who is coming late into the party.

PDP’ll produce Saraki’s successor if he’s removed —Nwaoboshi

 CHAIRMAN, Senate Committee on Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, PDP, Delta North, said yesterday that if President of the Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki, was removed from his present position by the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, the opposition political party, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, would produce his successor.
 

Nwaoboshi, who noted that Saraki had been obeying the court, said until he was proven guilty, no amount of blackmail would make senators elected on the platform of PDP shift ground and support for him.

“In any case, my party, the PDP, has resolved in our meeting to support him. So, there is no basis for him to resign,” he said.

Nwaobashi, former Delta State chairman of PDP, who spoke with journalists in Abuja, yesterday, described the present trial of Saraki as purely political.

He said:  “We only need three and we have it. The calculation is very clear to me. The calculation is very clear for PDP. We know what it will take us. When I told them that Saraki was going to win, I did a lot of mathematical calculations based on the facts on the ground and it is even clearer to me now that the PDP will win it.

“We will win it. If anybody is thinking that a PDP man is going to vote against a PDP candidate, he is telling you a lie. We have people and we know how to get the people from APC.

“We will win and that will be very interesting. What is happening in America is going to happen in Nigeria. America has a Republican Senate but the executive is led by Democrats. So, it’s happening in different parts of the world. I can tell you with what’s on the ground that we will produce the next Senate President.”

No amount of blackmail’ll make us shift ground

On whether Saraki should resign as Senate President, Nwaoboshi said:   “I’m a lawyer, 27 years in the bar. He is not guilty. He has not been proven guilty. Let us first of all get to the point that he has been found guilty.

“The man has taken a plea of not guilty and the law is very clear. He’s deemed not to be guilty until it is proven. It’s a matter before the court. The prosecutor has the duty to prove his case before the onus will shift to him to defend.

“If the prosecutor doesn’t have a case, then what is he defending? Take the example of Ndudi Elumelu; that was how they removed him as Chairman of Power Committee because he was taken to court. In the end, he was cleared.

“Look at the former Senate President, Senator Adolphus Wabara, he went to court. People were saying he is in court, that he should be removed. He resigned as a result of pressure from the public. He went to court and won.

“The other woman in the House of Representatives, former speaker, Patricia Etteh; in fact, the House changed its own position. But they had achieved what they wanted to achieve. There are so many examples like that.

“The man (Saraki) is going to court and he is obeying the court order. Until it is proven that he is guilty, no amount of blackmail will make us shift our ground and our support for him. In any case, my party, the PDP, we’ve resolved in our meeting to support him. So, there is no basis for him to resign.”

Asked whether Saraki should look at the soft landing option which looks like an olive branch, he said:  “What is soft landing? There is no soft landing. The case is on. Are they going to withdraw the case? Let him go through the distance and let us see who is right.”

Saraki’s trial political

Senator Nwaoboshi, who noted that Senator Saraki’s trial was purely political, said:  “You have seen it now. What is the intendment of an Act? Before he became a governor, he was supposed to make a declaration.’’

I’m a British citizen, ask Buhari to release me; Nnamdi Kanu tells UK

The detained  leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, has urged the British Government  to intervene in his case by asking President Muhammadu Buhari to release him from prison.

Kanu who is facing treason charge alongside  two other pro-Biafra agitators, Benjamin Madubugwu and David Nwawuisi, approached the British government through his lawyer, Mr. Ifeanyi Ejiofor.

Kanu, in a letter dated March 24 and addressed to the British High Commissioner in Abuja, described himself as a victim of travesty of justice and gross human rights violation.

He insisted that the President Buhari-led administration  has violently abused his fundamental human rights through his prolonged detention in prison custody.

Even though Kanu said he was ready to answer to the charge  against him, he however expressed doubt  in the ability of the Nigerian government to accord him fair trial, saying he has so far been subjected to immense persecution.

British citizen

Stressing that he is a British citizen, Kanu told the UK government that he was wrongly arrested and put in detention.

“It is repeating the obvious to state that our client is a full British citizen, by virtue of which position he is entitled to all Rights, Privileges and Protection, guaranteed under the British Laws and conventions.

 

We are therefore constrained in the circumstance, to formally notify the British Government via this medium, of our well informed reservations, and apprehension, that our client is undergoing persecution in the charge above referred, and deliberate design by the persecutors to frustrate every effort of the Defense team aimed at giving our client a fair trial”.

Kanu, through his lawyer, contended that his detention from October 14, 2015 till January 20, 2016, without any lawful order of court, was not only unlawful, but was in flagrant disobedience of orders of courts of competent jurisdiction which he said directed his unconditional release and discharge.

Dual citizenship

“It is the position of our Law, that dual citizenship is a constitutional right of the citizens of Nigeria, clearly provided for under section 28 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended in 2011. Dual citizenship is not a crime under our Law.

Reservations on President’s comment

“Our reservations on the President’s comment was underpinned by the findings made in the ruling delivered on  February 29, 2016, by Hon. Justice John Tsoho, wherein our client and the two other defendants were denied bail.

“Recalled that on December   29, 2015, during the Presidential Media Chat, the President told the whole world that Nnamdi Kanu cannot be granted bail, alleging that he came into the country without a valid travelling passport.

“This pronouncement was roundly condemned by both local and international commentators. His pronouncement was viewed as a clear usurpation of the functions and powers of the judiciary.

“Though very regrettable and extremely unfortunate, Nnamdi Kanu was refused bail on January 29, 2016. In refusing him and other defendants bail, the court also cited the facts of his possession of dual passports as a flight risk, and as such held that he cannot be granted bail.”

Kanu maintained that Justice Tsoho denied him bail “in line with the pronouncement of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in his media chat telecasted live on December 29, 2015.”

Nigeria records 3,500 cyber attacks in last one year

ABUJA— Nigeria has experienced 3,500 cyber attacks within the last one year, with over 70 per cent success rate and a loss of $450 million, Acting Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, Dr. Vincent Olatunji, has said.
 

Olatunji said this during a capability and capacity building training workshop organized by NITDA in partnership with its Malaysian counterpart, Malaysia Cyber Security Agency, in Abuja, yesterday.

Similarly, an IT consultant, Abdul-Hakeem Ajibola, said 0.80 per cent of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product, GDP, equivalent to the cement sector, was lost to cybercrime.

According to th NITD boss, the country’s GDP lost $568.51 billion in 2014, which amounts to annual loss of $450 million, an equivalent of N89.55 billion annual direct loss to the Nigerian economy, at the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, exchange rate of N199 to $1.

With the increasing penetration of technology into the economy and continuous loss to cybercriminals, he advised that measures must be put in place to mitigate the capacity of cybercriminals from taking advantage of the environment.

The NITDA boss, who lamented the outrageous rate of attacks in Nigeria, said the Federal Government had a lot of work to do to checkmate further attacks of public and private facilities.

He said: “We are preparing people to prepare against cybercrime, private and public sectors, within the last one year. So, there is a lot of work to do.

“The high rate of attacks in Nigeria shows that we need to work harder to ward off these attackers to ensure that we prevent such attacks and even where they take place, we ensure they are countered.”

He stated that Nigeria, like any other country, was facing many challenges from network design, security prevention as well as cyber-attack to cybercrimes, saying the need for effective security measures to create trust and confidence in the various platforms could not be over-emphasised.

Olatunji further explained that the workshop was in fulfilment of NITDA’s mandate, particularly in the area of fostering the development and growth of information technology for sustainable socio-economic development in Nigeria.

He said the commitment of the Federal Government to effective ICT development in various sectors of the economy had led to the creation of requisite enabling environment for stakeholders to contribute to the level of ICT development in the country.

ICPC signs mou with NIDO on tracing, repatriation of stolen funds

ABUJA — The Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission, ICPC, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, with Nigerians in Diaspora Organization (NIDO), Germany branch on whistle-blowing on money laundering activities, recovery of proceeds of corruption, assets tracing and monitoring, technical assistance, anti-corruption ICT solutions, communication and research.

Chairman of the ICPC, Mr Ekpo Nta, who signed on behalf of the commission, called on members of the community to cooperate with the Federal Government in the fight against corruption.

A statement by the commission’s head of communications, Mrs. Rasheedat Okoduwa, quoted the chairman, who performed the ceremony in Germany, as saying the commission was committed to creating strong institutions that would deter corrupt practices.

He said ICPC would continue to treat all petitions from NIDO members expeditiously through continuous investigation, prosecution and conduct of corruption risk assessments in relation to any person or public institution that creates corruption bottlenecks for their investments, especially in the areas of property acquisition and business partnerships.

The commission chairman noted that given the government’s zero-tolerance for corruption, this was the best time for members of NIDO to complement the Federal Government’s job creation effort by investing in cottage industries in their home communities.

He reiterated the position by the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun that even  if we successfully prosecute and jail every looter, ghost worker and other economic saboteur, there is every risk that those caught will only be replaced by persons who are just as bad, or worse – unless we radically strengthen our systems and institutions.

The MoU was signed on behalf of NIDO Germany by her President, Kenneth Gbandi, who had also served as the African Representative on the Hamburg Senate Integration Advisory Council from 2011 to 2015.

The ICPC chairman later inducted all participants at the NIDO convention in Germany as members of the National Anti-corruption Volunteers Corps (NAVC) of ICPC and decorated them with special arm bands.

Obasanjo calls for good governance in Africa

Former  President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has appealed to African leaders to focus on good governance, equity and other variables that would bring about growth on the continent.

Obasanjo made this known at the recently concluded Commonwealth Day Service and The Commonwealth Africa Summit event in commemoration of the Commonwealth Week in London, organised by the Commonwealth Africa Initiative and GLEEHD Foundation.

The former President said: “If Globalisation means I open my door and you take things out but you close your own door to me, then to hell with globalisation.”

“Africa is not an unmitigated failure, there are good things in Africa. Africa remains the cradle of humanity. We need to put our pad on our head as Africans and stand by our load and be ready to carry, then they will help us”, he said.

He added that “our greatest asset is our people. Let us train and educate our people. People will say, too many people, the truth is that the so called youth budge can be an asset and a responsibility. Let us educate them and give them skills”.

“60% of arable land in the world is in Africa, what are we doing with it. Let us stop regarding agriculture as a development project; it’s a business, Agriculture business”, he said.

Obasanjo, who is also the Chairman of Commonwealth African Initiative said that Leadership can do and undo.

“What I have seen in Africa is that I think on incremental basis, our leadership qualities are improving, but our leaders need to be educated. They need to understand the world and know that by themselves alone we can’t go farther”.

Declare Fulani herdsmen invasion as insurgency, Benue elders tell Buhari

Elders from Benue state have urged President Muhammadu Buhari to declare Fulani herdsmen invasion of the state and gruesome massacre of the people by the armed herders as act of insurgency and the perpetrators labelled as terrorists to be routed out by the military.

“We observed that these invading Fulani Herdsmen have been allowed to bear sophisticated assault weapons unchallenged which is against all our extant laws. The perpetrators and sponsors of such heinous crimes against humanity must be brought to justice”. the elders said.
 

This was made known in a communiqué issued at the end of a unity meeting held in Makurdi and attended by the leaders of Tiv, Idoma and Igede. The elders noted that the meeting became necessary following ‘the armed invasion and occupation of their land by Fulani herdsmen and the wanton killing of their people, destruction of homes and farmlands, raping of their wives and daughters in 15 Local Government Areas out of 23 namely, Agatu, Gwer East, Gwer West, Makurdi, Guma, Tarka, Buruku, Katsina Ala, Logo, Ukum, Kwande, Oju, Obi and Konshisha’.

Leaders and elders of Mdzough U Tiv (MUT), Idoma National Forum (INF) and Omi Ny’Igede, also rejected the proposed Town Hall Meeting by the Federal Government, insisting that only an inclusive Judicial Commission of Enquiry can unravel the root cause(s) of the invasion of Benue by Fulani herdsmen and the gruesome massacre of the people by the armed herders.

“The delay in setting up the Presidential Investigation Panel promised by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is becoming worrisome”.

“The proposed Town Hall Meeting by the Federal Government is not only diversionary, but a deliberate ploy to downplay the degree of attention and seriousness that should be accorded the invasion of our land. We wonder why the same Government that promised to set up an investigation committee is now resorting to a mere ruse called ‘Town Hall Meeting’.

“We observed that the Town Hall meeting held on the 24th day of March, 2016 in Abuja by 1 Idoma Initiative with the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) during which some major decisions were taken as detailed in a communiqué did not have the mandate of major stakeholders in the crisis”.

The forum berated the inability of both the federal and state government in addressing the menaces of the herders. It noted that the Fulani Herdsmen and Farmers conflict in Benue State, which started over two decades ago, has escalated from mere conflict to an invasion and occupation agenda amounting to terrorism. They also complained that the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps are poorly managed, and the IDPs are living in very deplorable conditions, with inadequate security arrangement and acute shortage of relief materials, urging that a Victims Support Fund should be established for rebuilding destroyed communities with adequate compensations to families of victims.

“The inability of the President, the nation’s Army and Police Chiefs, and the Governor of Benue State to visit the worst affected communities of Agatu and the other aforementioned where recent mass murder attacks were carried out for on the spot assessment of the level of devastation indicates lack of seriousness deserving of the crisis. This assertion is supported by the careless utterances of Governor Tanko Al-Makura of Nassarawa State that the attacks were mere “skirmishes” that could not be tagged genocide. This is also demonstrated by the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase who, with neither evidence nor a visit to any affected area, claimed that the reported casualty figure of 300 dead people in the Agatu attack was exaggerated,”

The forum urged the FG to tighten security and put in place measures to protect the country porous borders to prevent further continuous and uncontrolled entrance of international criminal elements, herdsmen and arms.

They urged the National Assembly to commence a public hearing on the Fulani herdsmen threat to national security without delay while the state lawmakers should enact laws to criminalize open grazing as it directly conflicts with the livelihood of Benue people which is crop farming.

“Our people are predominantly farmers with fixed land and growing population, we therefore, reject the idea of having open grazing lands and cattle routes on our land to avoid any conflict as we do not have sufficient land for that purpose. Government should encourage those engaged in cattle rearing business to establish priv

Breaking : Gunmen kill one in Rivers

eatened by some persons within the week, an issue he and many others dismissed as vain threat.

A resident  of the commumity who spoke under condition of anonymity said nobody imagined that anybody could contemplate snuffing life out of the late Godknows,

The late Godknows was described as a business man with entrepreneurial spirit. He operated a thriving  store in the community where they sold drinks  and other consumables.

Vanguard gathered that they found his corpse yesterday morning riddled with bullet wounds.