14042021 -6 Northern govs link up to fight banditry, terrorism

8 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14, 2021
:Vanguard
News
Insecurity: 6 northern govs unite to fight
banditry, terrorism
By Wole Mosadomi
MINNA—Six governors
in the North
have joined hands to wage total
war against banditry in
their territories.
Niger State governor, Abubakar
Sani Bello, stated this
yesterday while presenting
letter of appointment to the
new Emir of Kagara, Ahmed
Garba Gunna as the 2nd Emir
of Kagara at Government
House Minna.
Although he did not name
the five other governors, Governor
Bello said they had "all
unanimously agreed to fight
the bandits terrorising their
states. Bello, therefore, advised
bandits and their collaborators
to change for the better
in their own interest or face
the wrath of the people and
government."
On the emergence of Garba
Gunna as the new Emir of
Kagara, the governor described
his final selection as
an act of God, adding that he
did not in any way interfere in
the election process of the new
Emir. He reminded the emir
of the security challenges facing
the state, particularly in
his domain and urged him to
unite with the people of his
emirate to jointly fight criminals
within and outside and
bring lasting peace to the area.
It would be recalled that
Niger State had been a victim
of serial attacks by bandits
who invade villages in their
hundreds, killing, maiming,
setting houses ablaze and kidnapping
their victims.
A case in point was the attack
on Government Science
Secondary School, Kagara,
where a student was killed,
while over 40 others were kidnapped
and held in captivity
for over a week until they were
released, after ransom was
reportedly paid.
The joint effort by the governors
to fight banditry is
coming on the heels of the
emergence of a regional security
outfit, code-named
Amotekun, by South West
governors to address the spate
of killings and kidnappings by
criminal herders in the region.
A similar effort by South
East governors has also culminated
in the formation of a
security outfit, code-named
EbubeAgu, to checkmate the
activities of criminal herdsmen
who have in recent times
attacked many communities
in the South East, the most
recent being the killing of
eight and 25 persons in Enugu
and Ebonyi states respectively
in the past two weeks.
Meanwhile, Niger State
Police Command has arrested
a 35-year-old man, Umar
Jibrin, for allegedly killing the
Chief Imam of Enagi in Edati
Local Government Area of
Niger State.
The Imam, identified as Attaihiru
Alhassan, 48, was reportedly
killed with an iron
rod by the suspect who
claimed the cleric was caught
red handed having sex with his
30-year-old wife, Aisha Umar.
The incident occurred last
Monday. Steps were earlier
:@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058
VISIT: From left, Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara State; Alhaji Raheem Adedoyin; Eesa of
Oro High Chief, Taye Otunola; Iyaloja of Oro market, Mulikat Jimoh, and Awodiji Felix, during the governor's
visit to commiserate with marketers who lost their property in yesterday's fire outbreak at Oro Central
Market in Irepodun LGA of the state, yesterday.
taken to settle the incident
amicably by the two parties
due to the Islamic cleric’s involvement
but the peace meeting
eventually turned bloody.
Jibrin was said to have allegedly
snatched the iron rod
which the deceased was holding
and used it to hit him in
the neck, resulting in the death
of the Chief Imam.
According to reports from
the area, the youths of the
town rose in support of the late
Chief Imam demanding for
the head of the assailant who
had fled the town to Batati in
Lavun Local Government
Area. Police Public Relations
Officer Niger State Police
Command, DSP Wasiu Abiodun,
who paraded the suspect
before journalists at the Police
headquarters yesterday in
Minna, said but for the intervention
of some elders of the
town, the incident would have
led to assault on the police station
at Enagi and the lynching
of Jibrin because the youths felt
the Divisional Police Officer,
DPO, was keeping the suspect
in the cell there.
The PPRO said some elders
in the area were, however,
able to convince the youths
that Jibrin was not in the station.
“After the incident, the suspect
took to his heels but was
later arrested at Batati village
in Lavun Local government
area,”the PPRO stated.
No to Hijab in Christian schools – CAN
...Sponsor of bill in House of Reps seeks association’s input to
religious discrimination
By Levinus
Nwabughiogu
ABUJA — Christian Association
of Nigeria,
CAN has said no to a bill seeking
to prohibit and prevent
religious discrimination
against adherents and practitioners
of different faiths and
beliefs in Nigeria. It also said
the bill, if eventually passed
into law, will cause chaos, confusion,
division and crises for
Nigeria. CAN made the declaration
when the sponsor of
the bill and a member of the
House of Representatives,
Said Musa Abdullahi, from
Niger State paid a courtesy
call on its leadership to solicit
support for the bill.
The bill, titled “Religious
Discrimination (Prohibition,
Prevention, ETC) Bill 2021)”,
essentially seeks to provide a
mechanism for enforcing certain
provisions of the Constitution
of the Federal Republic
of Nigeria 1999 as altered,
Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and other relevant
national and international
laws and conventions on religious
freedom and tolerance.
Section 4(1) of part B of the
bill sighted by Vanguard read
thus: “A person shall not, directly
or indirectly or by any
combination of the two, be
intimidated, harassed, victimized
or discriminated against
on the basis of religious belief
or activity or on the ground of
...Police arrest man, 35, for allegedly
killing Chief Imam in Niger
manifestation of religion or
religious belief or any other
ground of a characteristic that
people who have or engage in
the religious belief or activity
generally have; and on the
ground of a characteristic that
people who have or engage in
the religious belief or activity
are generally presumed to
have or manifest which may
include wearing religious
emblem, head cover, hijab,
scarf, habit, decent and modest
religious dress”.
Speaking at the meeting in
Abuja yesterday, the President
of CAN, Rev. Dr. Samson
Ayokunle, said the bill if
passed into law, will enforce
discrimination rather than
uniting the country.
He said: “We have laws already
that can take care of
discrimination. And if anyone
is discriminated against, the
court is open. The bill if
passed, will enforce discrimination
rather than war against
it. “The bill is causing wahala.
You don’t sit on my nose because
you have a right to sit
down. Beyond your good intent
to solve a problem, we may
be creating many other ones.
There is no mutual respect.
“Your name will go into history
as one who disregarded
the rights of Christians to promote
their own in their institutions.
Why do we have to
wage war against ourselves?
Why do we want to wake up a
problem which is sleeping.
“Wearing of hijab has not
made any student more intelligent.
Piety is in the heart. In
a multi ethnic nation like ours,
school uniform creates uniformity.
Once you pass that
bill, be prepared for a state of
confusion.’’
The CAN president recalled
the crisis in Kwara State, saying
that a legal backing to a
bill will escalate the situation.
“I met with the governor of
Kwara State here in Abuja, in
Aso Rock, and I told him, ‘do
you know that this problem
had been before you? But the
governors before you managed
it with wisdom and
through many other means...
persuasion, getting closer to
the people, etc.
“Now, the problem I see in
us, especially the radicalisation
of religion that is now
coming, which has been heating
up the polity, is that there
has been no Islamic school
established for Western education
where the Muslims
who established it have not
helped that community to develop.
’There is no Christian
institution established in any
place that has not opened up
that place for development. If
that is at the bottom of our
hearts, why do we now have to
wage war against ourselves on
what had been working?
“For Kwara State, many
people, great rulers in Kwara
now went to Christian institutions
in that place. I asked: ‘Is
this the way to pay back the
Christian institutions which
provided opportunity for you?
Nigeria’s oil exploration drops
by 55.34% in Q1 ‘21; Rig
count dips to 19
2023: APC reaches out, holds
first contact, strategy
meeting
By Omeiza Ajayi
ABUJA — As part of
measures to boost
membership and retain its
electoral viability in a post-
Muhammadu Buhari era, the
ruling All Progressives Congress,
APC, said yesterday it
will continue to reach out to
various political stakeholders
in the country to draw them to
its fold.
To this end, the Governor
Muhammadu Badaru-led
Contact and Strategy Committee
of the party has scheduled
a meeting for tomorrow
at the national secretariat in
Abuja, with a view to evolving
strategies towards initiating
contacts that would give it a
landslide win in the 2023 general
election.
The committee, which was
inaugurated last month, had
been empowered to ensure that
the party maintains its winning
streak and retain the
presidency beyond 10 terms
Digital platform set to take
local markets to global level,
promotes quality
By Elizabeth Osayande
LAGOS — Six indigenous
Nigerian popular local
markets are set to go international
with the launch of Shop
Afrika, a digital marketplace,
which seeks to provide seamless
engagement between sellers
and buyers desiring trade.
Speaking during the unveiling
of the platform in Lagos,
the founder and chairman,
Shop Afrika, Adeoye
Fadeyibi, explained that the
brand, which currently covers
Aba new market, Onitsha
main market, Alaba market,
Ladipo market, Ariaria market
and Nnewi market, would
not only enable customers to
buy items online as they
would offline, but also champion
the perception that madein-
Africa products are top
quality manufactured products
that could meet people’s
needs.
He said: “On Shop Afrika,
By Udeme Akpan
LAGOS — THERE are in
dications that oil exploration
dropped by 55.34 per
cent in the first quarter, January
– March, 2021 as Nigeria’s
rig count dips to 19, according
to data collated from
recent reports of the Organisation
of Petroleum Exporting
Countries, OPEC.
The rig count, a major index
of measuring activities in
the upstream sector had stood
at 65 in the corresponding
period of 2020, before dropping
to 19, mainly due to the
delay in the passage of the
nation’s Petroleum Industry
Bill, PIB, and prolonged
Coronavirus pandemic,
which slowed down activities
in the industry.
A breakdown showed that
the nation deployed six, seven
and six rigs in January, February
and March 2021,
against 21, 23 and 21 deployed
in the corresponding
period of 2020.
This showed that Nigeria
did not invest much resources
into exploration during the
period under review, meaning
that its reserves are being exploited
without much addition.
Consequently, in its report
obtained by Vanguard, the
Department of Petroleum Resources,
DPR, puts the nation’s
oil reserves at 37 billion barrels,
even though the government
had earlier planned to
hit 40 billion barrels by 2020.
However, the Minister of
State for Petroleum Resources,
Timipre Sylva, had
recently promised that the PIB
would be passed in April 2021.
The Speaker of the House
of Representatives, Femi
Gbajabiamila, had also announced
that the bill would be
passed in April, adding that
consultations on the bill will
transcend the public hearing.
of office. Secretary of the 61-
member committee, Ikechi
Emenike, said in a statement
yesterday that the meeting
would deliberate on the mandate
of the committee.
The committee, which is
chaired by Governor Mohammed
Badaru Abubakar of
Jigawa State, is made up of
several governors (past and
present), National Assembly
members (past and present),
several serving ministers and
other major stakeholders of the
party.
The nation-wide committee
is mandated to establish constructive
engagements among
critical stakeholders at various
levels of the party, with a view
to enhancing confidence in the
party and deepening trust
among party leaders; to conduct
a needs assessment survey
from party members and
the general public and to
recalibrate the statement of
vision, mission and core values
of the party to reflect current
realities.
customers can buy in bulk,
haggle, and pay on
installment. The platform
seeks to give customers the
real shop from home experience,
with emphasis on pushing
the Nigerian market to
Nigerians, other African countries
and the rest of the world.
“For example, large scale
commercial shopping in Africa
has had issues with distance,
logistics, communication,
trust, and security plaguing
it.
‘’However, Shop Afrika’s solution
is not only to solve convenience
and logistics issues,
but also the brand seeks to offer
unprecedented solution
such as financial support, verified
merchants, solving language
barrier by incorporating
indigenous languages,
wide reach through a market
agent system and technology
innovations such as virtual reality
to improve the customer
shopping experience.