Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has expressed his condolence to the Government and people of Ekiti State over the death of the State Deputy Governor, Mrs Olufunmilayo Olayinka.
In a condolence message signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Peter Okhiria, Comrade Oshiomhole said: “We learnt with deep shock and grief about the death of the Deputy Governor of Ekiti State.
“Mrs Olayinka gave her all to the recovery of the mandate freely given to the Governor and herself by the good people of Ekiti state and she was unwavering in her quest to deepen the nation’s democracy by going through the judicial process.
“I had met Her Excellency, the Deputy Governor, several times and she exhibited deep knowledge of the problems facing the people of Ekiti state and how she and the Governor were working hard to leave a lasting legacy in the state.
“I always saw her as a very dutiful functionary, who enjoyed the full confidence of the Governor and her humility and commitment to the reversal of the fortunes of the state through the Ekiti renewal project had been most endearing. She was a remarkable personality.
“I offer my personal commiseration as well as the condolence of the good people and Government of Edo State over the sad loss.
“It is our fervent prayer that the good Lord will grant her soul peaceful repose and give the people of Ekiti State the fortitude to bear the loss. We also pray God to comfort her family and give them courage and hope.”
Following the killing of 12 policemen by unknown gunmen at Azuzuama community in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State over the weekend, Governor Henry Seriake Dickson has vowed to collaborate with security agencies in the State to ensure the arrest and prosecution of the perpetrators of the dastardly act.
Governor Dickson, who made the pledge in a chat with Government House correspondent, stated that Government will do everything humanly possible to bring the culprits to book, emphasizing that steps are already being taken to comb the nooks and crannies of the State to apprehend them.
A visibly angry Hon. Dickson stated that, Government cannot fold its arms and watch people take the law in to their hands for whatever reason, stressing that Government will not relent until acts of criminality and lawlessness are completely eliminated in the State.
“We will not rest on our oars and we will make the environment very, very uncomfortable for criminals and perpetrators of other related offences to operate”
For the umpteenth time, Government is warning our Youths and their collaborators, who take delight in kidnapping, maiming and taking the lives of innocent and law abiding citizens to turn a new leaf or have themselves to blame, because nobody will be spared”.
The Bayelsa State chief Executive also renewed his call on parents and guardians to prevail on their children and wards to desist from acts that could jeopardize Government’s efforts at achieving enduring peace and accelerated development of every sector of the State’s economy.
He noted that, Government’s tough stance and zero tolerance for acts of criminality and lawlessness were still in force, stressing that every offender will be made to face the full wrath of the law.
According to Governor Dickson, the appointment of a Special Prosecutor for violent crimes and other related offences in the State is to further underline Government’s commitment to end all forms of crime as well as ensure that criminals are prosecuted and punished according to the laws of the land.
As part of efforts at ensuring the speedy dispensation of Justice in the State, Governor of Bayelsa State, His Excellency, Hon. Henry Seriake Dickson, has approved the appointment of a Special Prosecutor for violent crimes and other related offences in the State.
He is Barrister Author Andrew Seiweniowou. His appointment is informed by the need for Government to take firm action especially in the way and manner criminal cases are prosecuted as well as given the need to fast track and guide the process of investigation and prosecution of apprehended culprits.
The Special Prosecutor is to among other things review all such cases, direct investigations and prosecute them.
He is also to head a special team comprising an Assistant Commissioner of Police, State CID, OC Legal, the Director of Public Prosecution in the State Ministry of Justice, the Officer in charge of the investigation at the Special Police Unit (Operation Doo Akpo), the Special Adviser on Security and such other persons that may be appointed later.
Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan has called for synergy between states and security agencies in tackling security challenges in the country.
Governor Uduaghan who made the call Monday when participants of the Executive Intelligence Management Course 6 of the Institute For Security Studies, Abuja on a study tour of the state paid him a courtesy visit in Asaba, said the involvement of the states in tackling the security challenges of the country would make the nation safer and more secured.
He said: “the states are in a better position to understand the security challenges in their areas and the inner workings of security at the states and national levels,” adding, “when the states are deeply involved in whatever security programmes being carried out, the nation and the states will be properly secured and safe.”
Dr. Uduaghan urged the Institute to develop programmes for states’ officials handling security issues and challenges at the state level as this would enable them compare notes on the methods of tackling such challenges and get more insights into the handling of security issues.
“I appeal to the Institute to draw up a programme for state officials especially the Secretaries to State Government to look into the security challenges and issues at the state level. This programme will enable them synergise on various security issues affecting the states, methods of tackling them and serves as avenues for these officials to rub minds on how to make the states and the nation safer and more secured,” he said.
He lauded the theme of the programme; “Nigeria in the year 2020 and beyond: The challenges of security sector, synergy in the democratic culture,” and observed that it was important for synergy between security agencies to ensure proper and effective security for the country.
The Governor also disclosed that his administration has always ensured that there is synergy between the various security agencies in the state through regular expanded Security Council Meetings with most of the security agencies in the state in attendance.
While commending the management of Institute for Security Studies, Abuja for choosing Delta State for the study, he assured the Course participants of the cooperation of the state government to enable them carry out their studies effectively.
In a brief address, the leader of the team and Deputy Director of Studies of the Institute, Mr. Adebayo Babalola, stated that participants of the course were made up of representatives of various security agencies in the country and they were brought together to promote understanding and act as change agents to move the nation’s security forward.
“The composition is deliberate to bring in synergy among security agencies,” Mr. Babalola said, adding: “they are intelligently robust to partake in this course. They will act as change agents in their various outfits to meet security challenges in the country.”
He explained that “Delta State was chosen for the study because of the synergy between the various security outfits in the state, adding that “we are here to study and interact with these agencies and their officials to see the workings of the organisations.”
Nigeria has consistently witnessed inter-ethnic conflicts that have resulted in the wanton killings of innocent persons especially in Northern Nigeria.
But the recent episode in Ataka village, Kaura local government council in Southern Kaduna State in which not less than 20 persons were needlessly slaughtered will for a long time to come remain the most gruesome not necessarily because of the number of persons slaughtered by suspected armed Fulani herdsmen but precisely because of the remote reason for this obviously unjustifiable genocide.
In what will sound shocking to all persons with humane conscience, several eye witness accounts said the gruesome slaughter by well armed marauders suspected to be Fulani herdsmen, resulted from the alleged death by suspected substance poisoning of two cows belonging to a Fulani Cattle rearer who was accused of destroying food crops of a local farmer who incidentally was also killed for his alleged act of poisoning the cows.
In the imbroglio that trailed the said death by suspected poisoning of the two cows, the man suspected of poisoning the cows was abducted and killed even as angry indigenous villagers reportedly embarked on reprisal against some ethnic Fulani herdsmen who reportedly fled only for the armed attackers to stage a comeback mission that led to the brutal hacking to death of over twenty persons.
The Kaduna police Command’s Public Relations Officer, Aminu Lawan, A Deputy Superintendent of Police, DSP, confirmed the incident.
An eye witness told news reporters that but for the assistance from neighboring villages, Ataka village which shares border with Plateau State would have been wiped out completely by the gunmen who were in charge for several hours.
He said: “At least, not more than 19 people were killed in the crisis in the Ataka Community in Ataka Chiefdom… They just invaded the area and started shooting”.
Other competent sources say at least twenty persons were killed by the armed gunmen who have yet to be arrested by the Nigeria Police. Who says the Nigeria Police Force has not collapsed?
The above and several other unresolved killings in similar circumstances in the past two decades made Professor Chinua Achebe to conclude that the vicious circle of impunity is responsible for these dastardly criminal acts of killings of precious lives because the apparatus of law enforcement has consistently failed to bring perpetrators to trial.
We will return to the sound and intelligent conclusion drawn by Professor Achebe but first it is logical to note that professor Achebe had been in the forefront of the intellectuals that have defended the black man against the claim by some white supremacists that the black man has no human soul and therefore is a beast.
Throughout his illustrious writing career till he breathed his last in the last couple of days in the United States of America at the age of 82, Achebe was a global voice for what is inherently good about the black man.
Through his vast collection of intellectual works including ‘Things Fall apart’ a book read by over one hundred million people of different nationalities around the World, Achebe actively sought to defend the black race against a racist perception in the Western World popularized by Joseph Conrad Who believed that the black man has the ‘heart of darkness’, meaning that the black man does not respect the sacredness attached to the value of human life.
‘Heart of Darkness’ written in the 1899 by Joseph Conrad, in the considered assessment of Wikipedia, the online free encyclopedia, is a short novel, presented as a frame narrative about Charles Marlow’s Job as an Ivory transporter down the Congo River. In the course of his commercial –agent work in the Congo Free State (1885-1908), the seaman Marlow becomes very interested in and investigates Mr. Kutz, an Ivory-procurement agent, a man of established notoriety among the native Africans and the European Colonials.
The story, in the exact words of the reviewers aforementioned, is a thematic exploration of the savagery – versus –civilization relationship, and the colonialism and the racism that make imperialism possible.
Achebe at the cost of winning the Nobel Prize for Literature from Europe, contradicted these narratives by Joseph Conrad which painted the graphic picture of the black man as being irrational, savagery, brutal and with no respect for the sacredness of life.
Professor Achebe nevertheless, vociferously protested against the ineptitude, incompetence and savage violence manifested through series of inter-religious and inter-ethnic violence that have assumed disturbing dimension in the Nigerian contemporary history. His worries are contained in his last book “There was a country: A personal history of Biafra”.
Writing in one of the chapters of the book aforementioned in which Chinua Achebe addressed the sub-theme of state failure and rise of terrorism, he had stated that; “In many respects, Nigeria’s Federal government has always tolerated terrorism. For over half a century the federal government has turned a blind eye to waves of ferocious and savage massacres of its citizens – mainly Christian Southerners’, mostly Igbos or indigenes of the middle Belt; and others with impunity”.
In his beautifully written book “There was a country” Professor Achebe had rightly narrated also thus; “Even in cases where their hands were found dripping in blood, the perpetrators have many a time evaded capture and punishment. Nigeria has been doomed to witness endless cycles of inter-ethnic, inter-religious violence because the Nigerian government has failed woefully to enforce laws protecting its citizens from wanton violence, particularly attacks against non -indigenes living in disparate parts of the country”.
Achebe had rightly drawn conclusion that; “The notoriously (some say conveniently so) incompetent Nigerian federal government and some religious and political leaders, have been at least enablers of these evil acts I have stated elsewhere that this mindless carnage will end only with the dismantling of the present corrupt political system and banishment of the cult of mediocrity that runs it, hopefully through a peaceful, democratic process”.
Perhaps convinced beyond the shadow of doubt about the prophetic dimension that the alarm raised by Professor Achebe has taken, the current governor of central Bank of Nigeria who hails from North West, the epicenter of these intra-ethnic and inter-religious upheavals that have resulted in massive killing of human beings over flimsy excuse such as the poisoning to death of some cows, recently added his voice to the clarion call for the Nigerian government to institutionally tackle the overwhelming presence of impunity and lawlessness in the country.
The Central Bank governor Lamido Sanusi says culture of impunity, much more than corruption, has hampered Nigeria’s development and promoted poverty.
Sanusi, who spoke at the 5th Bola Tinubu Colloquium in Lagos recently.
The Central Bank governor who has consistently condemned the unnecessary slaughter of human beings by armed non-state actors, was right except that he forgot to add that corruption and impunity are Siamese twin evils.
For me, I see impunity as the corruption of the mechanism of law enforcement in Nigeria. A situation whereby armed non-state actors go about killing innocent persons and escape the long arm of the law, has made Nigeria a laughing stock and may confirm our worst fear that Joseph Conrad may be referring to Nigerians when he wrote his widely criticized treatise “Heart of darkness”.
What shocks me more is that successive Federal and state administrations have continued to wallow in self pity and have failed to bring perpetrators of these war crimes to trial in the competent courts of law and some of these masterminds of genocide have gone ahead to win juicy political appointment into Nigeria’s National Assembly and other executive slots serviced with tax payers fund. What an iron?
The political elites have indeed converted Nigeria to a banana republic.
Following reported siege by armed police operatives and the consequent invitation for interrogation of three reporters of Leadership Newspaper group by the Nigeria Police Force Headquarters over the story carried by the newspaper on a purported Presidential directive to the Independent National Electoral Commission not to register the Buhari/Bola Tinubu-led Action Congress Alliance [APC] and also for the nation’s security to keep close watch on some governors perceived as opponents of President Jonathan’s secret ambition to run for another term in 2015, the Federal Government has been advised to choose the path of constitutionalism by going to court if it has any case against the journalists rather than resort to crude tactics of self help effort.
Media reports quoting a purported police summon endorsed by the Deputy Commissioner of Police Mr. Danmallam Mohammed, [Administration] at the Force Headquarters on behalf of the Deputy Inspector General of Police who heads the Administration’s department of the Nigeria Police Force in Abuja sent to the Chairman of Leadership Newspapers- Mr. Sam Nda-Isaiah, said the police was investigating the circumstances that led to the publication of a front page story with the headline “outrage trails presidential directive on Tinubu, APC” and sub-titled “Bromide of the Presidential directive”.
The Police Force Headquarters said the two reporters that anchored the story and the Group News Editor of the Paper were required to appear before the Deputy Inspector General of Police for interrogation on Monday April 8th 2013.
But HURIWA asked the nation’s police to stop playing ‘political pranks’ and concentrate their energy towards restoring peace and security across the country at a time of serious attacks on civilian targets by armed terrorists in the North. HURIWA also tasked the Nigeria Police to focus more on how to regain respect of the Nigerian people rather than dwell in the crude tactics of being used as tools in the hands of politicians to oppress their perceived political opponents and dissenting voices.
HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA [HURIWA], a media focused Non-Governmental Organization reacting to the development in a statement to the media jointly endorsed by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director Miss. Zainab Yusuf condemned the reported police siege of the premises of the Leadership Newspapers in Abuja and urged President Good luck Jonathan to direct the hierarchy of the Nigeria police Force to stop harassing the reporters and other allied workers of the Leadership Newspapers but to go to court if they have evidence that the said report was false and malicious.
Besides, HURIWA said it was wrongheaded for the Federal Government to resort to the use of armed police operatives to intimidate and psychologically harass journalists any time the Government feels that an unfavorable story has enjoyed wider media sympathy just as the Rights group reminded the Government that section 22 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria obliges the Nigerian Media to hold the government officials to account to the people of Nigeria who are the owners of the sovereignty of Nigeria. HURIWA however cautioned the media to be objective, balance and non-partisan in their news reporting since they are the conscience of the nation.
The Rights group stated thus; “The reported siege laid on the premises of the Leadership newspapers in Abuja by armed police on the orders of the powers- that- be over a recent exclusive story is another dimension of the emerging scenarios of gestapo style operations of the security agents who may still believe that Nigeria is still under military dictatorship”.
“The media has the independent constitutional mandate to inform, educate, and entertain Nigerians and if in the event of carrying out these functions the practitioners are presumed to have erred, then the law enforcement officials must respect the due process of the law and use civilize approach to gather their body of evidence if they are convinced that what the media wrote was false and/or malicious. Nigeria Police Force must not be used as an attack dog of the government since they are set up in the first place to enforce the rule of law”.
Abia state governor, chief Theodore Orji has described the death of the Deputy governor of Ekiti state, Mrs. Fumilayo Olayinka as not only shocking but unbelievable .
In a statement by the Chief press secretary, Ugochukwu Emezue the governor said that he is yet to come to terms with the death of the Deputy Governor who was a former banker.
According to the governor, the late Deputy Governor who worked harmoniously with his boss, governor Fayemi was hardworking, dutiful and amiable in her lifetime.
Chief Orji stated that the exit of Mrs.Olayinka is a great loss to Ekiti people, Nigeria, and the governors’ forum.
Governor Orji who sent his condolences to his colleague, governor Fayemi, Ekiti people and the family of the deceased, urged them to bear the loss with fortitude.
He prayed God to grant the soul of the deceased eternal rest.
Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State says elected Local Government authorities will henceforth contribute their quota to complement the efforts of the state government in developing the state, saying the days when the local governments were seen as drain pipes were gone.
Speaking at campaign rallies of the Action Congress of Nigeria at Etsako East, West and Central Local Government Areas, the governor said: “the local government must be doing something. I want a local government that would use our resources and build schools. That is why the last transitional council, I told them that they must also build more schools. What the State and the State and Local Government are building schools, sooner than late, all the schools would be of the same standard”.
“It is important that we do not allow the People Democratic Party (PDP) to resurrect. The People Democratic Party has pauperized the people and reduced them to nothing. For all the sins of the PDP, Edo people have dismissed the PDP and buried it”.
He said “we have a lot of jobs we are going to do in the local governments. Do not say we have already won. No, we couldn’t have won when the elections have not taken place. You must vote and those votes must be counted. You know our policy is one man, one vote”.
Oshiomhole appealed to those who did not make the nominations to understand that in every contest, only one person would win. “The other who lost, it is not necessarily because he is bad, but two people cannot win one game. In this business, only one person wins an office, but the man who did not win today, if it is God’s will, next time he could win.
“You don’t say because you did not win, you are going to destroy the house. If you say you are going to destroy the house, it means, you did not deserve in the first instance to contest for the office”.
Stressing the need for the voters to be steadfast, Oshiomhole said “let the people understand that their vote matters and also thank them for their support in the last governorship election”.
The governor assured the people that the Chairmen would be accountable to the people for their actions.
Oshiomhole later presented Abdulmalik Afegbua as ACN Chairmanship candidate of Etsako East Local Government; Mr. Emmanuel Momoh as Chairmanship candidate of Etsako Central and Mr. Hassan Kadiri as Chairmanship candidate of Etsako West Local Government Area.
Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has decried the wanton loss of lives and property on the Benin-Ore road, calling on the Federal Government to speed up rehabilitation work on the expressway to stem the ugly tide.
While condoling with families of victims of the mishap on the road, last Saturday, the Governor also appealed to motorists and other road users to abide with traffic rules and regulations and exercise patience on the road.
In a message signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Peter Okhiria, Comrade Oshiomhole said with little caution, the unnecessary loss of lives on the road could be averted.
While pleading with the Federal Government to quicken the pace of work on the road, Comrade Oshiomhole said “I urge the Federal Government to quicken the pace of resurfacing and rehabilitating the road to stem the carnage and unnecessary loss of lives. It is sad that we lose people on the road daily.
“Motorists should also obey traffic laws and maintain the approved speed limits to get to their destinations alive.
“I commiserate with the families of those who lost their loved ones in the unfortunate accident and I pray God to grant them the fortitude to bear this sad and avoidable loss.”
Onitsha based preacher Evangelist Theo Rays has observed that Election irregularities such like imposition of candidates and rigging following the return of Democracy in Nigeria in 1999 is the main cause of Boko Haram insurgence in some Northern part of the country noting that there is an important lesson that people especially leaders have to learn from the sect .
Speaking in Onitsha on what he described as “Revelation about Nigeria and Christianity from the Holy Spirit” he said that there were other issues that worry the terrorists but what angers them mostly is rigging of election pointing out that they are unhappy with corruption in government circle, Nigeria’s education system and massive growth of Christianity as well progress of non Moslems.
The preacher who is the overseer of Gospel Mission Outreach Ministry explained that the insurgence has assumed more dangerous dimension as prominent people who have the grace to attack the problem but are in opposition to government prefer to use it to carpet the administration of President Jonathan as a failure instead of making efforts to curb the deadly activities of sect.
He dismissed Amnesty as the solution to the sect terror attack advising that government and northern leaders have to go into research with Religious leaders joining in the research work with a view to discover how to arrest the terrorism in the north as according to him the group is unlikely to accept the terms and conditions of the Amnesty .
“Like I said earlier on, there is something to learn from Boko Haram, and government and other section of leaders have to investigate on it. Ordinarily the Nigeria situation which is now looking like a “sinking sand” is calling for investigations and research for us to know why things are massively going wrong in our land” he added
On the state of Christianity he added that the quest for material things is hindering Christians from receiving what he called “the deluge of Holy Spirit” that God wishes to grant believers for greater evangelism in today‘s world, saying emphatically that most Christians just have to repent like every other unbelievers consequent upon errors and false hood they live on.
He continued: “preachers are more after members and money and thus they tell the people what they want to hear, put them in a condition to follow and not to learn and know with lies and heresy thereby blocking God’s original intentions”
