21022021 - S/N govs. monarchs join forces against killer herdsman,crinimals

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PAGE 8—SUNDAY VANGUARD, FEBRUARY 21, 2021 •Musa KAGARA: Killings for seven years preceded 41,257 killed in road accidents in 97 months Says nine Niger LGAs under siege 'How Katsina, Zamfara ara fores orest t aids banditry in Niger' school children abduction – Senator Musa •Says nine Niger LGAs under siege •'Ho •Speaks on why he sponsred motion on state of emergency on security in Senate By Charles Kumolu, Deputy Editor MID security forces’ manhunt for Athose behind the abduction of 42 people, including 27 children, from Government Science College, in Kagara, Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State, Senator Sani Musa, who represents Niger East where the LGA falls in the Senate, speaks on the siege his constituents had been enduring over the past seven years from banditry. According to him, it is not only Rafi LGA that is under siege in Niger East. The other eight LGAs in the senatorial district are under attack. Heavily armed men in military uniforms raided the Government Science College on Wednesday, killing one student and spiriting others into a nearby forest. The mass abduction came just two months after 300 students were kidnapped from a school in Kakara, Katsina, President Muhammadu Buhari’s home state, while the President was visiting home. The boys were later released by their captors after negotiations with government officials but the incident triggered outrage and memories of schoolgirls kidnapped by armed gangs in Dapchi, Yobe State and Chibok, Borno State that shocked the world. Out of at least 276 girls who were kidnapped by the Boko Haram group from Chibok, at least 100 are still unaccounted for. In this interview, Senator Musa reveals how bad banditry has become in Niger State. He also frowns on the act of negotiating with bandits who he describes as criminals and terrorists. Excerpts: How bad are things in Niger State? Kidnapping has become a recurring decimal in Niger State in the last seven years. Almost every time I stood at the hallowed chamber, I brought the issue of security in Niger, especially in my senatorial district, to the fore. The area consists of nine local government areas of the 24 local government areas in the state. In the last seven years, three of the local governments have had serious attacks which were unreported. Because of that, I feel it is necessary that government, going by the Constitution, which guarantees the protection of lives and property, acts on it. I just felt it was necessary to ask on the floor of the Senate that a state of emergency be declared on insecurity in Nigeria. Abduction of schoolchildren happened in Chibok. It happened in Dapchi. It has now happened in Kagara. We can’t guarantee where next. Necessary steps have to be taken. A few days ago, about 19 people lost their lives to bandits in Niger East. The Village Head of Daras in Kusherki District heard a bang on his door and bandits forcefully entered his room, took him out and shot him in the presence of his family. They took his brother, his son and wives away. Pandogeri Some people came for an examination in Kagara. On their way back to Pandogeri, they were attacked. Two people lost their lives while seven were abducted. The same thing happened in Sarkin Power in Munya Local Government Area. It is continuous. The Federal Government needs to take the security of this nation as its priority. No matter what development we are talking about, no matter what palliative we give to people, if there is no security, it is as good as not doing anything. I stand to be corrected, is there anybody in this country that is immune to insecurity? The Federal Government is overwhelmed. I can say it without fear or favour that other tiers of government, it seems they lack the knowledge of how to rise to the security challenge. Tell us the number of local governments seriously under the siege of bandits… There are nine local governments in my senatorial district. I can tell you that almost all the local governments in the senatorial district have been attacked. Worse of it is the Rafi Local Government Area where Government Science College, Kagara is situated. Shiroro Local Government Area, from Alawa axis to Erena, has been under constant attacks. There is no presence of anybody in that axis other than bandits. I don’t call them bandits, I call them terrorists. If you go to Munya Local Government Area, it is the same thing. The situation is underreported. If you go to Gurarara Local Government Area by Lambata, it happened. Between Minna and Suleja it happened. It happened in Tarfa Local Government Area where some people were kidnapped just at the boundary between Niger and Kaduna State. Could you explain what you mean by a state of emergency in this context? What I meant by a state of emergency is very clear. It is an automatic option of doing Kidnapping has become a recurring decimal in Niger State in the last seven years what is needful and what is necessary to be done. For instance, when you say that the local government chairman is the chief security officer of a local government, what are his functions? It is to maintain law and order in the local government. Is that what is happening today? I can tell you without fear of contradiction that the majority of the local governments in this country are not operational. When you talk about the states, I can’t be the chief security officer of a state who has been having intelligence reports on security matters and I will come to the media to make statements that will be instigating the populace. In that essence, is there a security approach to it? At the national level, we have all the service chiefs, we have the Department of State Security Service, DSS, Defence Intelligence Agency, and National Intelligence Agency, who daily provide intelligence reports to the President and other organs of the state. Are other organs of the state making good use of the reports? The answer is no. What I meant by state of emergency is for the federal government to ask all state governments to take security as a priority. Boko Haram/banditry Boko Haram has been there for over 10 years. This banditry in the North-West and North- Central has been there for over seven years. Do you want to tell me that it is just something we have to live with? We don’t have to live with it. If we have armed forces that are overwhelmed, what do we need to do? We have youths, a generation that is just being wasted. We have youths that have graduated without jobs, why can’t we make use of them? Why can’t we recruit them to address the security challenge in this country? Why can’t we get the funds, buy weapons and equip the armed forces to make sure they chase these people to their door steps? Why do we always wait until an attack happens before we take action? Why can’t we get our soldiers ready and go into the bush to face these people? Are you saying the President hasn’t done enough? The President has done what is needful to be done. The President has assented to the budget. The President has never deprived the armed forces of what they require. The President has done so much for the state governments. Some of the state governments cannot even pay salaries. The federal government is assisting them. A lot of the state governments are embezzling security funds. But the President controls the police and the military… I am one person who was very vocal about former service chiefs. I felt they had done their beats and there was the need for them to go so that new people can take over. And this has been done. Mr. President has done that. The new service chiefs have commenced work. What I am saying is that we should energise them and give them all the logistics they require to face these criminals. When you are talking about ransom, in a decent society, this cannot be allowed to continue. If you negotiate with one group today, another cell will come up tomorrow. It is not done. No country will tolerate that. Locating bandits Talking about the terrain, Kagara Forest in Katsina and Zamfara extends to Kamuku Forest through Kosheriki and Pandogeri. If you come through Shiroro, the Alawa Forest is there. Most of these bandits were coming through the Alawa axis. And I had said it in so many of my motions on the floor of the National Assembly, that the military should establish a base within Alawa axis. There is no way they can’t pass through Alawa when they are coming from Zamfara. After my governor had tried many things without success, he tried to see how the Alawa axis can be handled. Meanwhile, these bandits had already come in. Without the field presence of the armed forces, we can’t do anything in that area. That is why these guys have a field day in that axis. And it is a hilly area but not a dense forest with poor visibility. I have spoken severally with my governor on the matter and he told me that he shares intelligence with his Kaduna State counterpart. It is by so doing that we are able to know the locations these people use. The governor has no powers to deploy the army and the police. All he can do is to get the information which he gives to them. There is nothing he can do without federal might. That is the reason I am asking the federal government to declare a state of emergency. With the insecurity in this country, we cannot runway from the disintegration our elders are talking about.
North has already destroyed itself “The North has become a region of endless funerals and perpetual bereavement. Bandits in the North have become a state. They impose fines and taxes, send notices, control spaces, determine life and death and operate without challenge” – Senator Shehu Sani of Kaduna State, March 2020 I wish that historical Lord Lugard and the King or Queen of England who granted him the powers to rule and ruin our lives are alive today to behold the explosions being set off by the time bomb they planted in this part of Africa in 1914. History does not tell us its alternatives. In other words, we don’t know what would have happened if amalgamation had not occurred. But, we are now beginning to see the beginning of the end of the “geographical expression” (apologies to the late Chief Awolowo) they formed and named Nigeria by the satraps’ concubine. More than a century after, the feudal, mostly Islamic North, backward, slow to adapt to changes, mostly lacking in any interest in universal education and bereft of vision, remains relatively just that. Just about any major calamity impeding progress and tending towards the destruction of the disaster waiting to happen is now located squarely in the North whose elite have, for too long lived, under the illusion that the region could increasingly breed millions of almajiris side-by-side with the selfish tiny political and feudal minority without dire Email:biolasobowale@yahoo.com Phone Number: 07081372829 Twitter:@DrDeleSobowale Instagram:delesobowalefranklyspeaking Website: www.delesobowale.com consequences. Well, the “judgment days” are here. The almajiris, hitherto docile and gratefully accepting the crumbs from the elite’s tables, have literally turned the tables against their masters – including Sani – who, now dumped from the buffet table, discovered wisdom which previously escaped him and his friends and associates for years. This article could easily have been titled, LESSONS FROM A SUPER- TERRORIST, and it would still have been apt. In my library is a little known book titled, HITLER’S SECRET BOOK, and written by the late German monster himself. One thing I have learnt from my adventures into history is the fact that when the major topic on the national agenda is war, then go and read what war-mongers think about it. What is wrecking Nigeria, especially the North, and will continue for years to come, is TERRORISM. So, the first port of call is a super-terrorist – Adolf Hitler, 1889-1945. It will amaze our leaders and readers to know how much of what had developed in the North since the rise of Boko Haram in 2009 could have been predicted by reading Hitler’s book. The FG in particular might also pick up some ideas about what to expect next. Finally, they just might discover how to combat it – for the sake of our country Nigeria. I wish them luck; although it is doubtful that those in charge of our fate now can ever learn anything useful. People who have lost the appetite for reading have almost always lost the Leaving the country in the hands of the least competent people to manage its affairs after independence was a master-stroke of wickedness appetite for learning, for thinking deeply and for finding novel solutions to serious problems. The brain, like any organ, rots – if not actively used – as is the case within Abuja’s top government circles. Buhari, as the Commander-In- Condolence Delivery, C-I-CD, is contented to just send condolence messages to the bereaved without an accompanying message of hope that terror will abate. There is no discernible plan. He is an example of what David Halberstam, in his bestselling book, titled, THE BRIGHTEST AND THE BEST, called “the best general for another war.” General Buhari (retd), clearly tired, is leading this war effort so badly, it is pathetic. He is actually now part of the problem and it is increasingly difficult to see him as part of the solution. That is bad news for all of us. “An increase in the population which finally no longer stands any relation to the productive capacity of its own soil to support life” – Hitler p 22. That, according to Hitler, follows from prolonged periods when a people or nation or parts of it regard “large families as a blessing rather than a burden.” Only recently, the Federal House of Representatives was treated to a show put up by a buffoon. A member from one of the northern states brought his four wives for exhibition of his prowess. He announced that he already had 19 children and he was just starting because his father had several wives and over 80 children. He did not tell us how many of the 80 siblings are almajiris. That is the sort of lunacy to which the South is yoked – like indentured slaves. Eventually, as Hitler had warned us, territorial expansion becomes imperative for those who have exhausted the limits of their capacity to provide for themselves within their own domains. I will come to it later. But, the rapid and violent expansion of herdsmen communities, all over Nigeria, in the last four years and nine months, is more deliberate than most of us realise and it is being encouraged at the topmost level of government. The body language says it all but what is being said to southerners and Middle Belt people can only be understood by a few. The C-I-C is alive and well in Abuja. But, first let us trace the history of how we got here and how goddamned Lugard and the British got us here. POPULATION WAS THE CAUSE OF OUR DESTINY Preparatory to their departure, our evil-minded colonial masters had a strategy for making the contraption they glued together to form Nigeria eventually unworkable – an accident waiting to happen. First, they conducted a bogus census. Whereas everybody in the far better educated South, Christian or Muslim, had to be sighted to be counted, the same was not true of the North. Women and young girls in harems were counted sight unseen. My eldest brother, who was born in Zaria, was one of the enumerators. The Megida of each primitive shanty stood in front of the place and issued a figure – so many wives and kids. The figures were accepted as the truth. The problem was, the young people in the communities knew how many of their age groups were in each shanty. My brother, who spoke Hausa fluently, knew that the figures he was forced to record were grossly exaggerated because the District Heads and Serikis had conducted a campaign misleading the people that money would be distributed SUNDAY VANGUARD, FEBRUARY 21, 2021,PAGE 9 per head. So, the more people in the shanty the more money could be expected. The North was declared to have a larger population than the South. That made Nigeria unique in the history of the world – a country in which the arid zone had more people than the luxuriant and well-watered South. It was a deliberate ploy. England was just getting ready to play its biggest jokers. Armed with a bogus census, political constituencies were created and the North was given the majority. The country was handed to the region with less than five per cent literacy compared to already close to 50 per cent in the South. Leaving the country in the hands of the least competent people to manage its affairs after independence was a master-stroke of wickedness. But, they were not finished with us just yet. While southerners were encouraged to attend schools, northerners were urged to go into the Army with the ominous words “who controls the army controls the nation”. That was a campaign which the late Sardauna of Sokoto, Premier of Northern Region, carried to all the schools – primary and secondary – in the North. Meanwhile, Awolowo and Azikiwe enrolled us in schools. The Army was actually intended to safeguard northern elite interests and not to protect the nation against external aggression because none of our closest neighbours – Cameroun, Benin Republic, Chad, Niger, Sao Tome, etc – was strong enough to attack us. The first coup of 1966, which was quickly crushed, came as a surprise. It was a temporary setback for the British. Thereafter, political and religious leaders in the core North – North-East and North-West – went about encouraging their people to breed like bed bugs – the more the better. Incidentally, most of the Middle Belt was left out of the race to over-populate the earth – mainly because of the higher percentage of Christians in the old Benue/ Plateau zone. When the oil bonanza started in 1973 and federalism had given way to unitary government under General Gowon, population became the primary basis for sharing crude oil revenue. The lion’s share went North; the left-over came to the Niger Delta. It never ceases to amaze me when Niger Delta people welcome Gowon as they do. Making a hero out of somebody who enslaved the people is the clearest sign that the black man is indeed mentally retarded. The man took 50 per cent derivation from them and gave only one and a half per cent in the worst case of barefaced robbery in history and yet they still clap for him? Gowon established the template for the economic enslavement of the South – which exists till today. If I am an Ijaw or Ibibio, or Ilaje, Gowon would never be my hero. Never! He started the injustice which is still the basis for federally-allocated revenue till today. It might shock our readers to know that Gowon did not act alone. The Federal Commissioner (Minister) for Finance during the Gowon administration and the author of the atrocious edicts which resulted in the economic rape of the South was none other than our own dear late Chief Obafemi Awolowo. Papa helped to enslave us despite his known position on true federalism. We might never know why Awolowo did it. But, we cannot deny his complicity in the financial crimes against the South. He and Gowon took our 50% and gave back to us as derivation a mere 1.5% as federating units. Lagos now generates about 60 per cent of Value Added Tax, VAT, revenue. It gets back less than four per cent!! But, without realising it, Gowon also set the events which will destroy the North eventually. He encouraged population explosion and idleness. He probably never knew about Ghandhi’s warning regarding the things that would destroy a nation. •Article first published on March 15,2020 Joyfulhomes 2015@gmail.com Do you really believe His word? Brethren, we’ll start off by asking a question that many people will answer in the affirmative. Do you really believe the Word? You are likely to say, if I don’t believe, I won’t be a Christian. The answer is deeper than that. The true test of your belief is actually a test of your faith. It’s easy to say, “I am a Christian. I go to church, I serve God, I’m knowledgeable in the word of God’. These words are 50% of the answer to the question. The answer to the question lies in how you respond to a major challenge in your life. You may have been waiting to have a child for years, five years, seven years even 10 years. If your attitude is let the LORD do it when he wants, or you begin to say, I am tired of praying, or you say, my parents never waited, why should I be waiting? Once you allow these thoughts in your life, Brethren, you are not a believer. It doesn’t matter if your go to church 10 times a day. Let’s consider examples of one or two persons that believed the Word and others that had doubts. Daddy Abraham is the best example. Genesis 16 vs. 1: “ Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children……”. Abram was 99 years according to Genesis 17 vs. 1: “ And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect”. In verses 5&6 of the same chapter the LORD said, “ Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee”. If you and I were in Abraham’s shoes, we would have our doubts. It’s human to have doubts but those in whom the Spirit of the Lord is, have their belief strengthened by faith. A good example of a Is your faith strong enough for you to discard the medical report from your thoughts and hold on to the Word of God? believer that had doubts is found in Sarah, the wife of Abraham after they unknowingly entertained the Lord. Genesis 18 vs. 10-13 “ And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son, And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age, and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also? And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old?”. Note - she laughed within herself. In other words, though she was a believer, she doubted the Word. Doctors may have told you that the eggs you produce as a woman is weak, you may even have been told that you have reached menopause like Sarah, or were you told that your fallopian tubes are blocked, or that your husband’s semen is lifeless, it doesn’t matter the report that medical science has given you. What matters is what you believe? Do you believe the word of God in Genesis 1 vs. 28 “ And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth”. Is your faith strong enough for you to discard the medical report from your thoughts and hold on to the Word of God? If indeed you are a true Believer, that medical report should make you move close to God and remind him of his promise to your. Do you know that God gave Abraham conditions that he must fulfill? Genesis 17 vs. 1&2 attests to this: “ And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly”. Are you walking with the LORD? Are you striving to be perfect? Simply put, are you living your life in accordance with the Word of God? Are you not giving in to pressure from your friends and parents that you should go and impregnate another woman outside your marriage? If you walk with God, the LORD, He will give you the physical and spiritual strength to disregard such pressure. Brethren, bear in mind that all parts of your body are created by God and not medical science. Therefore, God can make possible what doctors have told you is impossible. I once met a lady that doctors said, the husband’s semen was weak and the woman’s chances of producing fertile eggs was about 40% given her age. Scientifically speaking, the doctors were correct. However, our God is beyond science. He is able to make the barren fruitful at anytime. Age is no barrier to a miracle in the presence of the Lord. The couple I referred to now have three children, including a set of twins. May the LORD strengthen your faith and reward your faith as you hold on to HIM in Jesus name. Last week, I stumbled on the story of a couple that had been waiting to have children for six years but according to them, God embarrassed them with five babies at once. The woman speaking on Punch online said, “ People used to call me barren before, they used to insult me but I thank God today, that God embarrassed with five babies at a go. Two boys, three girls. What else can I ask from God? I really, really, thank God for this great gift that he gave to me. Brethren, what if the man had fallen into the temptations of impatient inlaws and unfriendly friends? What if the woman too had cheated on her husband in a bid to have children? To do any of these may mean shutting your doors against the miracle of God. The testimony they now have may elude them. Even if you have doubts like Sarah, the merciful God can rise up for you and you will become a mother. Sister, Brother, hold on to God. I see the Lord embarrass you with your heart’s desires before this year ends in Jesus name.Ensure you have an improved relationship with the Lord that is never late. I see your rejoice soon. Be reminded that 40 days fasting period in the Christian calendar started on February17, Ash Wednesday. As you key into the fasting and prayer, make your demand specific before the Lord. God be with you.
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21022021 - S/N govs. monarchs join forces against killer herdsman,crinimals

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