04042021 - Tension as gunmen kill Miyetti Allah leaders in Nassarawa

PAGE 36—SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 4, 2021
Igbo will not be president in 2023 — Bishop Onuagha
By Chimaobi Nwaiwu
The Bishop, Methodist
Church Nigeria, Diocese
of Onitsha (Eastern Gateway),
Rt Rev Livinus Onuagha,
yesterday, doubted the
possibility of Nigerian President
of Igbo extraction in
2023, saying it is not feasible
following alleged treachery
and hatred other parts of Nigeria
and the British have for
Ndigbo.
Onuagha, therefore,
urged the Igbo to remove their
minds from the pursuit of
Igbo President in 2023 because
the possibility is not
there.
Addressing newsmen shortly
after his Easter message,
he wondered why Ndi Igbo
could be sincerely allowed to
produce a President of Nigeria
when they were considered
not qualified to produce
the Chief of Army Staff, Chief
of Naval Staff, Chief of Air
Staff, Inspector General of
Police, Comptroller General
of the Customs and Immigration
or any of the sensitive
positions at the Federal level.
Describing the entire setting
as “hoping against hope”
Onuagha said that the present
Nigeria as constituted and
governed will never contemplate
allowing an Igbo man
to be a President of the country
because there is so much
hatred against the Igbo by
other sections of the country.
“My problem with you
journalists is that you people
don’t write or say what I say
because you are afraid. When
you go back, you doctor and
doctor everything i said because
you don’t want to lose
your jobs,” he said.
“Quote me. Nigeria is not
working and can never work.
The truth is that we are not
culturally, religiously and socially
the same as people who
insist on Nigeria and oneness
of this country. I doubt the
possibility of a Nigerian President
of Igbo extraction in
2023. Those who keep telling
us that an Igbo man will become
president of Nigeria in
2023 are not telling us the
truth.
“Nigeria is a failed state.
Nothing is working in Nigerian.
Let them go and allow
us to go. Why are they forcing
the nation on all of us when
they know we are not one and
can never be one.
“We have nothing in common
with those who think the
leadership of this country is
their birthright. Nigeria is already
a failed State, I repeat.
We are Isrealites. Let them
continue to persecute us, but
one day it will end and we will
go our separate ways.”
From right: Director Relief and Rehabilitation, National Emergency Management
Agency, Mr Kayode Fagbemi; Director General, AVM Muhammadu Muhammed
(retd); Deputy Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to Nigeria; Mr Ibraheem
Alghamedi; and Hajiya Fatima Kasim; Acting Director Planning Research and
Forecasting, NEMA; during the visit of the Saudi Arabian Deputy Ambassador to
NEMA headquarters in Abuja.
Do more to secure Nigerians, PFN tells Buhari
By Kennedy Mbele
Pentecostal Fellowship
of Nigeria (PFN) has
told President Muhammadu
Buhari to do more
to secure Nigerians, saying
the country has been polarised
along ethnic, religious
lines.
The PFN spoke in an Easter
message on the heels of
worsening insecurity in the
country that has, of recent,
seen several cases of kidnappings
and banditry, including
the abduction of eight members
of the Redeemed Christian
Church of God (RCCG),
a member of the Fellowship.
In the message signed by
the PFN President, Bishop
Wale Oke, National Deputy
President, Archbishop John
Praise Daniel, National Secretary,
Dr. Cosmas Ilechukwu,
and National Publicity Secretary,
Bishop Emma Gospel
Isong, the Fellowship urged
Buhari to live up to his promise
to guarantee the security
of all Nigerians irrespective
of ethnicity or faith.
It also called on the National
Assembly to address the issues
of insecurity, unemployment,
infrastructure deficit
and the rot in the education
and health sectors, while the
judiciary should live up to the
tenets of fairness, transparency,
equity and justice in all
that they do.
The PFN told state governors
to pay more attention to
the needs and welfare of their
citizens.
On violent non-state actors,
the PFN urged them to stop
wanton killing of Nigerians.
The PFN message reads in
part:
“To the President: We call
on the Federal Government
of Nigeria to do more to secure
the lives and properties
of all Nigerians. We appreciate
the sacrifices being made
by the Police, the Armed and
paramilitary forces to ensure
the safety and security of all
Nigerians.
We urge President Muhammadu
Buhari to live up to the
promise to guarantee the security
of all Nigerians, irrespective
of ethnicity or faith.
We appeal to him to do more,
as the Father of all, to rally
Nigerians and ensure that the
walls of divide that has polarized
Nigerians are brought
down.
“The National Assembly:
The Pentecostal Fellowship
of Nigeria (PFN) calls on the
National Assembly to do
more in addressing the issues
of insecurity, unemployment,
infrastructure deficit, the rot
in education and health sectors,
especially the issue of
out-of-school children. We
believe that the legislature
can do much more to deliver
better governance through
the use of its oversight powers,
rather than dissipating
energy on diversionary bills
that do not address the challenges
holding Nigerians
back.
“The Judiciary: The Pentecostal
Fellowship of Nigeria
(PFN) appeals to the Judiciary,
at all levels, to continue to
live up to the tenets of fairness,
transparency, equity and
justice in all that they do. We
restate our position for a balance
in terms of appointments
into the Judiciary at the
national level, so that there is
representation across the different
states, geo-political
zones and religions, to ensure
that justice is not only done,
but seen to be done by everyone.
“The State Governors: The
Pentecostal Fellowship of
Nigeria (PFN) urges all the
state governors to do more in
guaranteeing the security of
their people and pay more
attention to the needs and
welfare of their citizens. We
believe that there is a lot more
that can be done at the State
level, especially in areas such
as Education, Health, where
they have concurrent constitutional
responsibilities”.
Police arrest Aiye Confraternity leader for killing rival
By Bose Adelaja
A suspected leader of Aiye
Confraternity in Bariga area
of Lagos, Segun Ezekiel, has
been arrested following the
killing of his rival, Taye Gbalagbala,
also in Bariga on
March 28, 2021.
Segun was arrested by police
operatives attached to
Bariga Division of Lagos
State Police Command.
24-year-old Segun has reportedly
confessed to the
crime and that he carried out
the gruesome murder of the
deceased in company of three
other members of Aiye Confraternity
in his domain.
The Commissioner of Police,
Lagos State, CP Hakeem
Odumosu, has ordered that
the suspect be transferred to
the State Criminal Investigation
Department for proper
investigation and possible
arrest of fleeing suspects.
In a related development,
police operatives attached to
Ikorodu Division and local
security operatives, in a combined
operation, on March
29, 2021, at about 4.50am,
engaged some suspected
armed robbers operating in
military camouflage at No
41, Menulo Street, off Elepe
Ikorodu, in a gun battle and
neutralised them.
The suspected armed robbers
had laid a siege on the
block of flats at the address,
cut the American fence wire
and broke into the flats in the
compound.
Former Delta acting governor Sam Obi dies at 61
By Festus Ahon
ORMER Acting Gover
Fnor of Delta State,
Prince Sam Obi, is dead. He
passed on early yesterday at
the age of 61.
A close family source said
the deceased had been ill,
adding that he was struck by
stroke recently. The source,
who pleaded anonymity, disclosed
that the late Obi had
been suffering from some ailments
and added that he did
not fully recover from the
stroke until his death. The
source also told Sunday Vanguard
that his body had been
deposited in an Asaba mortuary.
Obi represented Ika North
East State Constituency in
Delta State House of Assembly
for three terms (2003-
2015) and became Acting
Governor in 2010 after the
Court of Appeal, Benin City,
Edo State nullified the 2007
election of former Governor
Emmanuel Uduaghan and
ordered a rerun.
Until his death, he was the
General Overseer of Oracle
of God Ministry, Asaba. He
was appointed by Governor
Ifeanyi Okowa as a Special
Adviser in 2015, but he was
not reappointed into any political
office until his death.
He hailed from Ute-Okpu in
Ika North-East Local Government
Area of the state.
Expressing shock and disbelief
over his death, Speaker
of the Delta State House of
Assembly, Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori,
in a statement by his
Chief Press Secretary, Mr.
Dennis Otu, lamented his sudden
death, stating that he died
at a time when his wise counsel
was most needed.
•Late Sam Obi
OWHEFERE’S DEATH: Isoko
group wants Majority Leader
position retained in zone
By Abel Owoyemi
Isoko United Parlia
ment, Asaba (IUPA),
has said that the vacancy
created by the death
of Majority Leader in the
Delta House of Assembly,
Honourable Tim Kome
Owherfere, has be filled by
an indegene of Isoko Federal
Constituency in line
with the zoning arrangement
earlier made.
The body stated this after
a meeting of its members
drawn from the two
local government areas of
the Isoko ethnic nationality,
including Isoko speaking
communities in Ndokwa
and Bayelsa State,
pointing out that the demise
of Owhefere, Isoko
had resulted in loss of
front line positions in the
legislative arm of the state
government.
The union explained that
neither the executive arm
nor the judiciary has an
Isoko son or daughter in its
front line position such as
Governor, Deputy Governor,
Speaker, Deputy
Speaker, Chief Judge, Accountant-General,
Senate,
Secretary to the Government
of the State, et c, It
described Isoko a an rich
oil producing area that
has sustained the state
from inception till date.
The group said that it
Group alleges marginalization of
Ndokwa/Ukwuani land
By Henry Ojelu
A
N10 billion fundamen
tal enforcement suit has
been filed against the Delta
State Government at a Federal
High, Lagos over alleged
the marginalization of Ndokwa/Ukwuani
land.
The applicants in the suit
are the President, League of
Ndokwa Professionals (LNP)
Chief Tony Amechi and Legal
Adviser, Evans Ufeli, on behalf
of the people of Ndokwa/
Ukwuani land of Delta State.
Delta State Governor, Delta
State Executive Council,
Delta State House of Assembly
and the Attorney General
of the state are respondents in
the suit.
The applicants are seeking
an order of the court for the
enforcement of the fundamental
rights of the people of
Ndokwa/Ukwuani nation of
Delta State as entrenched in
Chapter IV of the Constitution
of the Federal Republic
of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).
In the suit filed through an
originating motion, the plaintiff
are praying the court for a
declaration that the deliberate
exclusion of Ndokwa/Ukwuani
land from the developmental
projects of the 1st respondent
is discriminatory
and amount to a violation of
the fundamental rights of the
applicants and the entire people
of Ndokwa/Ukwuani in
Delta State as protected and
guaranteed by Section 42 of
the 1999 Constitution of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria
(as amended).
Popoola resumes as CBAN chairman
In line with the rules guid
ing the operations of
Credit Bureau Association of
Nigeria (CBAN), Dr. Tunde
Popoola, the Managing Director/Chief
Executive Officer
of CRC Credit Bureau
Limited, has resumed as the
chairman of the association.
His tenure will run for a
term of one year.
The leadership of the association
rotates among the
Managing Directors/Chief
Executive Officers of the three
licensed Credit Bureaus and
runs for a period of one year.
Before now, he was previously
the chairman of the association
in 2015 and 2018.
Popoola is a Nigerian banker,
accountant, economist,
entrepreneur and business
executive. He has over thirty
years of cumulative work experience
spanning the public
and the private sectors of
the Nigerian economy.
Chief Bassey Onwe dies at 112
Chief Bassey Uguru
Onwe has passed on,
aged 112. According to a
statement by his eldest son,
Paul Uguru Onwe on behalf
of the family, Bassey, an accomplished
builder, died on
December 10, 2020 following
a brief illnesses.
He will be buried on April
9, 2021 at his compound in
Elegu Umota, Eka-Awoke,
Ikwo LGA, Ebonyi State after
a funeral service.
was in view of the above
that the ruling party
agreed to concede the reverend
position of the Majority
Leader to Isoko Federal
Constituency, adding
that it was in respect of this
arrangement that Hon.
Johnson Premier Erijo another
Isoko son was elected
on the 12th of May,
2017 to replace Owhefere,
who was impeached
alongside the then Speaker,
Rt. Hon. Monday Igbuya,.
Citing Rt. Hon. Francis
Megbele to Rt. Hon. JFK
Omatsone (Itsekiri), Rt.
Hon. Victor Ochie to Rt.
Hon. Peter Onwusanya
(Aniocha/Oshimili) Rt.
Hon. Monday Igbuya to
Rt. Hon. Chief Sheriff
Oborevbori (Okpe/
Sapele), Rt. Hon. Friday
Osanebi to Rt. Hon. Ochor
Christopher Ochor (Ndokwa/Nkwuani)
as examples,
the body noted that
the practice in the Assembly
had always been that
Principal positions are
zoned to federal constituencies
and that when a
Principal officer is removed
or dies, another
member from the same
Federal Constituency is
elected or appointed into
the vacant position and
urged political leaders in
the area to apply the same
principle
•Late Chief Bassey Onwe