Olutayo Soyede, close associate and son in-law of late Obafemi Awolowo, who is also the father in-law of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, says it was a mistake for M.K.O Abiola to have declared himself President in 1994.
Soyede, who spoke in an interview with Punch, said Abiola ought to have accepted the bail conditions given to him by Sani Abacha, Nigeria’s Head of State at the time, and perhaps he would have found other means of actualising his mandate, but he was misled by persons who were not even part of his presidential campaign.
Abiola was the winner of the 1993 general election, later annulled by Ibrahim Babangida, who stepped aside as Head of State months after.
“Where trouble came in was when Abiola went to declare himself President. Those who told him to declare were not even part of us,” Soyede said.
“We were the ones who worked for Abiola to win the primary. We even voted against our former chairman, Baba Gana Kingibe.
“Mama HID Awolowo told us to work for Abiola, who was never one of us. He was in another party before but many of the people who took the credit were never there.
“We were surprised that the Abiola we supported started drifting towards other people.
“Initially, Abiola was not locked up in a cell but was given comfortable places to live outside the prison. Abacha left Abiola to enjoy himself, but something happened that changed all these.
“The so-called people who misled Abiola told him to continue to claim his mandate and reject the bail conditions.”
Soyede said they were already making arrangements on how to transport Abiola to Lagos as soon as he was released when they learnt that he had rejected the bail, insisting that he must be declared President.
“We were weeping when we got back. That was the first time Abiola was put in a proper prison,” he said.
“If you noticed, within three weeks, Abiola’s health had started deteriorating. That was the end of Abiola. We lost contact with him.”
When reminded that if Abiola accepted the bail he was offered by Abacha, it would mean forfeiting his mandate, Soyede replied, “Well, did he have the mandate now?”
“In such a thing, you accept anything. It is when you are free that you could claim a mandate.
“He was misled and it always annoys me. However, Abiola remains a hero.
“If he accepted the bail condition, he could have found his way out of Nigeria and maybe declare government in exile; that was our own thinking.”
Obafemi Awolowo, the late Premier of the defunct Western Region, was so idolised by his followers that phone calls from him were big deals and the gifts of even his used shoes were celebrated.
This was revealed by Olutayo Soyede, Awolowo’s close associate and son-in-law, who is also the father of Dolapo Osinbajo, wife of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
Soyede, who was speaking about the statue of Awolowo unveiled by Akinwumi Ambode, Lagos State Governor, recently, said if Awo gifted anyone his used shoes, it was considered a blessing.
The statue had generated lots of controversies as persons close to Awolowo said it is not a true reflection of the man idolised by many Nigerians.
For instance, the statue depicted Awolowo as wearing boots, something almost all his followers said he never wore.
Commenting on the statue, Soyede said he would not condemn the statue as it was a sign that Awolowo’s works were recognized and appreciated.
However, he said: “I know Papa didn’t wear boots. He was always wearing nice shoes.
“All of us would remember that because every two years, Papa would always distribute his shoes to all his sons-in-law.
“He used to buy shoes a lot. If he saw a pair of shoes that he loved, he would buy three pairs. It was a must. He would put one pair in Apapa, one pair in Ibadan and one pair in Ikenne.
“So, shoes were always many and wherever he went, we didn’t have to carry shoes around.
“After two years, the house would be full and he would have to distribute them to us. So, I got many, and thankfully, we were of the same size.
“But even if Papa gave you shoes and you were not of the same size, you would put paper inside. Papa’s shoes? That was like a blessing.”
Soyede, who will be 75 in January 2018, also shared how he met his wife, Awolowo’s daughter, in the UK and how he tricked her family into allowing him to marry her.
“I met her in London where we were both studying and we fell in love. It was basically about students meeting each other in the UK during studies,” he said.
“I felt that before Chief Awolowo would say his daughter must not marry me, I needed to adopt what we used to call two-in-one, meaning marriage and pregnancy, so that by the time he would know, his daughter would have been pregnant and stopping us from getting married would be difficult.
“You know in that atmosphere, people tend to be more reckless. So, I did the two-in-one and both of us had to tell our parents what happened.
“When I told my father, he screamed, saying I had put him in trouble. When she told her mother, I didn’t know how she too screamed, but I remember one afternoon, at about 2:30pm, a call came in from Lagos.
“When I picked it, the person said: ‘Is that Tayo Soyode?’ I said yes. The person said: ‘This is Obafemi Awolowo’. I started trembling and knelt down, till the phone almost fell in my hand.”
Abdulrasheed Maina, former Chairman of the Presidential Task Team on Pension Reforms, has been recalled by the federal government and made a director in the Ministry of Interior.
Maina was declared wanted by the EFCC following allegations of corruption and fraud of over N1billion.
According to Premium Times, Maina was secretly recalled and promoted to the position of Director in charge of Human Resources in the Ministry of Interior.
Maina was an Assistant Director in the ministry before he was appointed in 2010 by former President Goodluck Jonathan to head the pension reform task force.
But in 2012, he was accused of leading a massive pension fraud scheme amounting to more than N100 billion, and in 2013, he was dismissed by the Federal Civil Service Commission following a recommendation by the Office of the Head of Service.
Maina was invited by the Senate Joint Committee on Public Service and Establishment and State and Local Government Administration. Later, an arrest warrant was issued against him by the joint Senate panel.
He ignored the panel and went ahead to sue the Senate and Mohammed Abubakar, the then Inspector-General of Police, The police subsequently declared him wanted and he went into hiding.
In July 2015, Maina was charged by the EFCC alongside Stephen Oronsaye and two others before a Federal High Court on a 24-count charge of procurement fraud and obtaining by false pretence.
Oronsaye and the two other accused appeared in court and pleaded not guilty to the charge, but Maina remained at large.
Reports had it that Maina fled to the United Arab Emirates from where he kept lobbying to win pleasure of the Buhari administration.
After the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, members of the defunct Presidential Task Team on Pension Reforms offered to work with the administration, saying it would be easier to sanitise the sector as Buhari is known for his anti-corruption stand.
“Two years after, it appears the prayer of the team has been answered by the current administration,” Premium Times reports.
“Maina’s reinstatement was shrouded in secrecy and was handled “at the highest level” according to an informed source. The reinstatement was not announced by the presidency or any federal government agency.”
Sources in the know said the plot to recall and reinstate Maina was orchestrated by Abubakar Malami, Minister of Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, and Abdurahman Dambazzau, Minister of Interior.
Dambazau did not answer repeated calls to his phone seeking clarification on the issue, while Salihu Othman, spokesman of Malami, said he had no idea of his principal’s connection to the case.
A retired director in the Office of the Head of Service who is familiar with the matter said Maina’s recall was a slight on the rule of law.
“He should not have been reinstated. Doesn’t Mr. Maina have a case in court? The rules provide for action to be taken only after the courts have dispensed of the case fully,” the source said pleading anonymity.
Similarly, an official of the EFCC said Maina is still wanted by the commission in relation to the pension scam for which he was arraigned in absentia.
“We are still looking for him. He is a wanted man. He ought to be arraigned with Oronsaye and the rest but he disappeared,” said the official.
Femi Adesina, President Buhari’s Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, said he was unaware of the development.
Ibrahim Magu, Chairman of Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), says Nigeria’s war against corruption must continue with or without him.
President Muhammadu Buhari has insisted Magu is the only man for the job after the legislature rejected his nomination as substantive EFCC Chairman.
But on Friday, Magu said the anti-corruption project would go on without him. He also asked Nigerians not to expect commendation in joining the fight against corruption because “it is a thankless job”.
“I am determined in the fight against corruption,” he said. “I urge other Nigerians not to get exhausted. Don’t expect anyone to thank you for fighting corruption. It is a thankless job.”
NAN reports that Magu spoke in Lagos at the sensitisation forum on the plan to launch ‘EFCC-Creative Youth Initiative Against Corruption (CYIAC) Corruption Busters’.
Noting that the fight against corruption had become tougher, he urged all Nigerians to use whatever weapons they have to join the fight.
“The fight against corruption is becoming tougher. We cannot fight it alone. We want to mobilise everyone in the fight; the more people in the fight, the better.
“Whatever weapons you have, use it against corruption. Use your strategic thinking; the fight must go on with or without me, it is not a personal thing.
“The press have a lot to do in this fight. If they do more, the battle would be half-solved.”
Foluke Michael, Coordinator of CYIAC, said the corruption busters would be launched on December. 9 to mark the UN International Anti-Corruption Day.
Michael said that her platform is EFCC’s preventive project, stressing that the forum is a sensitisation programme for children, youth and women.
She said the CYIAC was launched in 2016 with the pilot scheme tagged ‘My New Nigeria: Free from Corruption’, and the 2017 edition would kick off with online campaign to sensitise children, youth and women.
“The online campaign will be followed by the launch of CYIAC APP and nationwide registration portal on Nov. 1 for participants between ages 9 and 14 for category 1, and 15-25 years for category 2,” she said.
“Participants will also be required to submit essays, short stories or creative ideas online based on the theme: `Imagine the World free from corruption’ between Nov 1 and Dec 15.”
Joe Okei-Odumakin, President of Women Arise and Chairman, steering committee for Movement Against Corruption, said both organisations had endorsed CYIAC as vehicle to reach out to children, youth and women.
“The idea to involve young people in advocacy and fight against corruption is a movement in the right direction,” Okei-Odumakin said.
“Corruption must be destroyed from the root in Nigeria if the sufferings of the masses will be alleviate.”
Umar Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man sentenced to life imprisonment in the United States of America, has sued the US government over alleged breach of his rights to speech and religious beliefs.
Abdulmutallab, better known as ‘the underwear bomber’, attempted to detonate a bomb hidden in his underpants while aboard an aircraft travelling from Amsterdam to Detroit, USA, on Christmas Day 2009.
Following the failed suicide attack, Abdulmutallab, then 22, was overpowered by passengers on the plane and handed to security officials.
He was convicted of terrorism and sent to the United States Penitentiary-Administrative Maximum Facility in Florence, Colorado, where he will serve out his life sentence.
However, in a suit filed at a Colorado federal court on Wednesday, Abdulmutallab, now 30, said authorities in the prison do not allow him to communicate with the outside world or practice his religion as a Muslim.
Gail Johnson, counsel to Abdulmutallab, stated in the charge sheet that immediately his client arrived at the prison, he was placed in long-term solitary confinement and placed under special administrative measures (SAMs).
He was prevented from communicating with any member of his family until last year when he was allowed to talk to his sister.
“Prisoners retain fundamental constitutional rights to communicate with others and have family relationships free from undue interference by the government,” Johnsons aid in a statement to the New York Times.
“The restrictions imposed on our client are excessive and unnecessary, and therefore we seek the intervention of the federal court.”
Before his failed suicide attempt, Abdulmutallab was said to have trained at an al Qaeda camp in Yemen under the direction of Anwar al-Awlaki, a US-born Muslim cleric.
Abdulmutallab’s father, Umaru Abdul Mutallab, is a former Chairman of First Bank and former Minister of Economic Development under the military government of Murtala Mohammed.
Akinwumi Adesina, former Minister of Agriculture and current President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), says his $250,000 World Food Award prize money will be used to support African youths in Agriculture.
Adesina said this while delivering his acceptance speech at the award ceremony, which took place in the United States of America on Thursday.
The event was attended by representatives from more than 50 countries including Mike Pence, US Vice President.was also represented.
“There wouldn’t be any rest for me until Africa feeds itself and for that we need the youth,” Adesina said.
“And so, even though I don’t have the cash in my hand, I hereby commit my $250,000 cash prize for the WFP award to set up a fund fully dedicated to providing financing for the youth of Africa in agriculture to feed Africa.
“A day is coming very soon when the barns of Africa will be filled and all her children will be well-fed, when millions of farmers will be able to send their kids to school. Then you will hear a new song across Africa; thank God our lives are better for us.”
Adesina thanked Olusegun Obasanjo, former President, for nominating him as a minister, and Goodluck Jonathan, former President, for giving him the opportunity to serve in his government.
Kim Reynolds, Governor of the host State of Iowa, described Adesina as a worthy winner of the prize, adding that he was a man who grew out of poverty to create wealth.
Reynolds said Adesina’s commitment and dedication in agriculture had positively influenced the lives of many, even beyond the African continent.
“Tonight, we are honouring one of the most dynamic leaders in promoting food security and inspiring young people not only in Africa but around the world,” Reynolds said.
The World Food Prize Foundation announced Adesina as the winner of the 2017 World Food Award also referred to as ‘Nobel Prize for Food and Agriculture’ in June.
The foundation gave several reasonswhy it chose Adesina for the world, including his achievements as Minister of Agriculture under Jonathan.
My guess was like yours when I read a recent report that the Senate was to probe the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). I can’t tell the outcome of the Senate probe this time but like many probes conducted by the National Assembly, I don’t have much anxiety at all.
Thirty-seven years ago, I was anxious about such a probe. On December 12, 1979, I covered the sitting of the House of Representatives and a motion was brought by Mr Dagogo Princewill (Degema) and Mr. Fola Omidiji (Egba Alake Constituency) to probe the NNPC, following a report that certain money was stolen in the Corporation.
The Speaker of the House then, Chief Edwin Ume-Ezeoke (1935-2011) from Nnewi in the present Anambra state ruled both of them out of order. He then asked the two members to bring a substantive motion for deliberations.
On January 15, 1980, Princewill brought a fresh motion to probe the NNPC. He said: “My enquiry has revealed, Sir, that in this Company there are no adequate personnel especially in the field of accounting and internal audit. I understand too, Sir, that people are being scared away for one reason or the other because they do not come from a particular part of this great country and too, Sir, because they do not belong, or because they were not ex-students of a particular institution. As a result of this, Sir, well qualified people left their jobs in this Corporation. I am told,Sir, that one Mallam M.Y. Wanka,from Bauchi State, a qualified Chartered Accountant, was the only one in the Audit Department. He was frustrated, and he had to leave, and today, he is in the Nigerian National Supply Company as a Representative/Agent in their London Office. Even as at today, Sir, there are only four qualified Chartered Accountants in that Company.
Mr Speaker, Sir, members of the profession of which I am one are very difficult to get — I mean the Chartered Accountants. A Corporation of the magnitude of the NNPC should have gone to the Nigerian labour market and tried its best to get these people. Instead of that, sir, there are only four accountants, two in the audit department and two in the main accounts department. For a Corporation of this magnitude, this is grossly inadequate. The four chartered accountants are not even sufficient in one department not to talk of the whole Corporation. A corporation of this standard should get at least twenty Chartered Accountants. I am also told that the service condition is very bad in this Corporation, and the service condition has made good people run away from this corporation.
Now, sir, the audit report as given by an internationally recognized and reputable firm of chartered accountants, disclosed that they were unable to confirm or find any justifiable reason for the misappropriation of N2.8billion. This is very serious. In this country, we are told that the press is the watchdog of the nation. During the Army regime it was very difficult, if not impossible, to investigate this matter. Now it is falling on our shoulders to do this onerous task. I would like to commend the Punch Group of newspapers who were able to tell us what was happening in this corporation, but they were unable to investigate further what had happened to N2.8billion. Either as a result of inefficiency or misappropriation, this amount is unaccounted for”.
Other members who contributed to the debate were Mr. O. Akinboro)Oke-Ona/Owu/Gbaguar), Mr. M.O. Ugwu(Udi), Dr. E.J. Sowho(Ethiope North), Mr Debo Akande(Ibadan North), Mr Gbadebo Adewumi(Osogbo South), Professor Opayemi Ola(Ekiti West), Mr Abubakar Audu(Anpa South), Prince Awa Ekpo(Eket II), Mr. Charles Adigwe(Awka), Mr E.D.N. Nwandu(Mbaitoli), Alhaji Sanda Kunduga(Kunduga), Dr Junaid Mohammed(Kano West Ward) and the leader of the House then, Alhaji Yinusa Kaltungo(Tangale-Waja South).
At the end of the day the House set up a Committee to probe the NNPC. Alhaji Yinusa Kaltungo declared: “the motion standing in my name read: That in accordance with House Resolution 48 of 15th 1980 the special committee on the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation should be made up of 15 members to be composed as follows: six members of the NPN, four members of the UPN, three members of the NPP, one member of the PRP and one member of the GNPP. The motion was seconded by Mr Jimoh Damisa (Adabbi/Okehi).
After the motion, two members spoke again. They are Mallam Sidi Ali(Dambata) and Dr Junaid Mohammed(Kano West Ward).
Dr Junaid declared,“Another thing is that we have to subpoena the Council Memo which was written and submitted to the Council asking for a transformation of the NNOC into the NNPC. These are very vital documents and vital personalities. Another person will be the former Chief Internal Auditor who has resigned and is now in Britain as the Representatives of the Nigeria National Supply Company. We have got to summon some of these people. It is absolutely important, Sir, that you co-opt more people as the Speaker of this House in order to make this Committee’s work succeed, otherwise, we are up against a very powerful clique. The Senate has been sitting on the Bill sent by the President to discuss and re-organise the NNPC. This gives us room for enormous suspicion and I think it is absolutely important we know the enormity of the task before us so that we do not deceive ourselves. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we may find that the Committee with all its intentions may be a worthless exercise. I want to add that we it with all seriousness”.
On February 4 1980 the committee was inaugurated by Chief Ezeoke and it was headed by my friend, Dr. James Taribo Sekibo (1939-2013) (Bonny II)) who later became the Odo-Abaji of Canoe House in Okrika, Rivers State.
On March 31 1980, Chief Ezeoke told the House that “I think I would seize this opportunity to congratulate ourselves for the progress we have made so far in respect of the investigation of the missing N2.8 billion in the NNPC. (Applause) Following the events of the last week and the newspaper publications, the stand of this House in respect of the misappropriation of N2.8 billion by whoever it might be in this country, has now been fully justified. (Applause) I will maintain that the investigation must continue. We must satisfy the aspirations of the people who elected us into this august Assembly. I must maintain that we must not be a successful victim of any blackmail, any subversion, and any attempt by inside and outside sources to impede sources to impede the continuation of this investigation. This money, in whatever account it may be anywhere in the world, must be recovered and brought back to this country.(Applause)
As soon as we conclude our investigations, the appropriate committee will introduce a legislation to enable the repatriation of this money, and to ensure that the people involved are adequately punished. Accordingly, the special Committee on NNPC will meet in my office immediately after today’s meeting”.
Sadly, that was the last we heard about Dr Sekibo’s Committee and the report of the Committee. On December 31, 1983, the Military headed by Major General Muhammadu Buhari took over power.
Here, we go again.
Eric Teniola, a former Director at the Presidency, stays in Lagos
EDITOR’S NOTE: This piece was first published in 2013 by Flair Nigeria. The ICIR is reproducing the five-part series in the light of the resurgence of killings in Plateau State, to help readers understand the genesis, depth, brutality and possible solutions to violence in the state.
In the third part of this series, ‘FISAYO SOYOMBO writes on the implications of the killings in Plateau for the state, adjoining states, and the rest of the country.
Daniel Choji is clearly angry. It is almost 24 hours since he has known no peace. From the previous day when he received an emergency call from his brother, Choji has been up and about, running helter-skelter from a place to another. In the end, his efforts came to naught.
At about 9pm on Wednesday, December 17, 2013, gunmen believed to be Fulani had broken into a compound in Larwin Village in Heipang District, firing bullets into the rooms. Five people — four of whom were under five years old — died instantly. Choji’s five-year-old nephew, Jerry Dalyop, tenaciously clung on to his life, but his survival turned out to be momentary. The following day, his bubbling light dimmed — eternally. However, his father, grandmother and step sister, who were also injured, made it.
“On arriving Plateau Hospital, the doctors gave their all. I must commend them,” begins Choji, 41, anger plastered all over his face. “They operated upon Jerry, his sister and his grandmother.”
He survived the operation but by the morning of the following day, his condition went downhill. The doctors responded by placing him on oxygen, which only extended his life by a little over two hours.
“At about 12pm when I returned to the hospital, I was told he had given up the ghost, because it was a very severe injury,” says Choji, eyes momentarily racing towards the gravedigger heaping sand on Jerry’s recently-lowered remains.
“He was shot across his stomach in a manner that exposed his internal organs. The bullet pierced his stomach from one side to the other, such that his large and small intestines were exposed. The doctors tried everything to fix the intestines back, but the boy couldn’t just survive it.”
Gravedigger heaping earth on the remains of Choji’s five-year-old nephew
MILITANCY IN THE OFFING
A gravedigger heaping earth on the remains of Choji’s five-year-old nephew
Jerry’s death that morning brought the casualty figure from the previous day’s raid to six. Counting from January, it was at least the 535th death. With claims of unreported or underestimated killings, it is highly likely that the real figure is higher. For Choji, these killings cannot continue forever. Soon, he fears, the Berom, who are worst hit by the attacks, will have to take up arms in self-defence.
“If the government would allow these killings to continue like this, it must be noted that the Niger Delta does not have monopoly of militancy, neither the Boko Haram,” he warns, because “the victims and their families are all human beings with blood flowing in their veins. What is building up in the minds of people here on the upper plateau is what will take the Federal Government a lot of time to contain if it explodes.”
For now, Choji and co. have been quietening aggrieved Berom youths only because the prospect of raising a generation of militants is not exactly fascinating. With children and youth observing the appalling daily butchery of their friends, families and classmates, a full-blown militant response will be inevitable, sooner or later.
“All the villages are surrounded by mass burial grounds,” he says, “and I am telling you that this is sending a serious dangerous signal to the Federal Government, because by the time you push these people to the wall, by the time the Berom people react, Boko Haram and Niger Delta militancy would be child’s play.”
‘THERE WILL BE CONSEQUENCES’
Choji warns: A full-scale crisis is brewing
Halting years of Niger Delta insurrection and guerrilla warfare that undermined the country’s oil production capacities and resulted in the approximately 2,500 deaths took the Federal Government almost two decades, with President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s introduction of the Presidential Amnesty Programme for militants in 2010. Meanwhile, Boko Haram, an Islamist sect, has been attacking state officers, security agents, Christians, students and other public-interest targets since 2009, killing more than 10,000 people.
How long it will take for the patience of the Berom to peter out, Choji cannot say, but he knows “it will be in a very short while”. And this full-scale conflict, when it erupts, is one he believes his people will win — resoundingly.
“I am telling you [that] the Berom people have never been conquered, right from time immemorial,” he boasts. “And even though the Federal Government is watching, we cannot be conquered, because we are true descendants of our progenitors. We inherited everything from them.”
A VILLAGE WITHOUT ITS PEOPLE
Danladi… biding time to run away from Kukah
“My name is Danladi Pasayashi,” he introduces himself slickly, evoking memories of Daniel Passarella, the legendary captain of the Argentine national team that won the 1978 FIFA World Cup.
At 63 and having lived in Kukah Village for nearly half of those years, he considers himself an authority on its matters. And he says never has Kukah been this desolate. In all, 21 villagers were murdered between April and November 2013. But since the latest assault three months ago, there have been mass exoduses by people who believe that since government gives no hoot about them, it is only a matter of time before they are slaughtered. Now, a village once inhabited by more than 5,000 people is left with less than a hundred.
This mad rush to leave, he explains, has been kindled by the reluctant acceptance of the military’s inability to match the attackers, either for number or for sophistication of weapons. For example, in the operation of November 27, 2013, which began at about 4am, nine soldiers had the unenviable task of curtailing an invasion by more than 300 attackers. So, rather than fight, they retreated, watching helplessly as buildings were razed, five people were killed, and many were injured.
“I was in the farm at the time when I started hearing gunshots,” Danladi recalls. “When I ran home, I saw that many houses as well as the yam market had been burnt. The attackers were firing gunshots with engine machine guns, Ak47, and G3. I saw them. There was nothing nine soldiers could have done.”
The attackers did not flee until soldiers from Serkin Kudun intervened to bolster the initial nine. Well, the villagers have since been proving they can also flee.
“People are just fleeing this town now, especially since there was no response from either the state or federal government on this issue,” says Dandladi, who is himself only biding his time in Kukah. “Even those of us left here are just waiting to leave. We are appealing to the Federal Government and the Plateau State government to look urgently into this matter, because Fulani people are still grouping with Muslims to launch another attack on the remaining Christians here.”
CHILDREN AND WOMEN EVACUATED
Obadiah and Rotji to abandon Kukah in January
In the compound of Obadiah Bolka — his nonagenarian grandfather, Abednego Nana and 22-year-old brother, Chorbis Nanan were killed — inhabited by more than 100 people at the turn of the year, only five remain. “Those of us living here in the village are feeling the killings very hard,” he says. “We had to evacuate all the children and women outside the village.”
Since the killing of his grandfather, the only great grandfather in the entire village, everyone in the compound suddenly developed the insecure feeling that they had been spotlighted by attackers. By the end of January 2014, he is sure, no one will be left behind in the compound.
“We are only here to harvest our leftover crops,” he reveals. “If government continues to ignore us, all of us will run away in January. And in our compound, we have already concluded that government will not come to our aid.”
The forced emigration of about 4,500 people from Kukah Village in less than a year can be a mini-model upon which to estimate the annual emigration and displacement of people from the villages of Plateau in 2013, and in preceding years. Luckily, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) already saved the public the mathematics. According to an April 2013 report signed by Abdulsalam Mohammed, its North-Central Coordinator, 11,434 people were displaced in Wase and Bokkos Local Governments by communal killings in the previous month.
In a second report the same month — compiled in cooperation with the Plateau State Emergency Management Agency (PSEMA), Nigerian Red Cross Society, Nigeria Police Force, and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) — NEMA said 12,051 people had been displaced in Barkin Ladi, Riyom, Bokkos and Wase Local Governments.
“Most of the displaced persons were found to be women and children while the men had either been killed or [had] run away for safety,” states a part of the report, which names churches, mosques, schools, health centres, market squares and palaces of traditional rulers as places where camps have been erected for the victims.
TERRIBLY BAD NEWS
With her decades of community engagement experience, Victoria Ohaeri, Executive Director of non-profit human rights organisation, Spaces for Change(S4C), understands that the trend of displacement and emigration from Plateau State portends serious consequences for the security and socioeconomic stability of the country.
“These displacements increase the ease with which youths can be recruited as insurgents,” she says. “And for an already-insecure northern region with a dense population of unemployed youths, these displacements are terribly bad news.”
It is equally terrible news for a country with a youth unemployment rate officially believed to be 54 per cent, but which, according to Ohaeri, grossly underestimates and contrasts the reality on ground. To add the displaced from Plateau to this rate is a regression the country can ill-afford.
PLATEAU KILLINGS STOKING RESTIVENESS IN THE NORTH
“These displaced persons have been stripped of their sources of livelihood, so they have so much time in their hands to engage in criminalities,” she says. “We all may ignore the tragedy going on in Plateau, but no one knows who the next victim of the resultant criminalities would be.”
For the governments of the adjoining states of Bauchi, Kaduna, Nasarawa and Taraba, where the hordes of Plateau emigrants are thronging, there is an impending resource stress, particularly housing.
As Ohaeri notes, Nigeria currently has a deficit of 17million housing units, meaning 17 million houses are still required to adequately accommodate all of the country’s population. “Now, when you have these hundreds of thousands migrating from Plateau elsewhere, there is clearly a housing stress for their host communities,” she says, “and there is little to suggest that these host states have the resources to accommodate the emigrants.”
These are fears that Daniel Zitta, a displaced person from Kadarko Village in Langtang Local Government, confirmed earlier, saying: “We are 10 in a single room.”
There is again the risk of sexual crimes against women fleeing from danger zones, as they are likely to be held back in unsafe locations. “Displaced women are usually at risk of rape and other forms of sexual assault,” Ohaeri adds. “A number of displaced women who slept in primary schools after the demolition of Makoko in Lagos were raped. It is too early to forget those girls who were raped in Markurdi, Benue State, at officially designated relief camps for displaced victims of flooding.”
By failing to curtail the killings, Plateau State is as well implicitly stripping itself of its resources, courtesy of a shrink in revenue-generating opportunities, from business to tourism. In his piece, The Cost of Jos Crisis, Olisemeka Obeche of The Economy notes the damage to “economic life and social activities”, with tens of industries shutting down and the leftovers operating at “less than 10 per cent of installed capacities.” He writes, too, that “an ominous, dark cloud hovers over the tourism industry” — a huge revenue earner for the state.
Although there is an overwhelming misconception about the parts of the state affected by the killings — attacks are mainly in the villages and not in Jos city as widely believed — the idea of Jos or Plateau State as a whole is generally repulsive to potential investors.
The importance of all these pecuniary factors pales in comparison to other factors that will certainly define the future of Plateau State, as underscored by Gad Peter, Director of Centre for the Advocacy of Justice and Rights (CAJR).
“…children are the future of the society”, Peter said in April 2012. “But we are gradually producing a generation of children that knows nothing about peaceful co-existence, value for human life, respect for law and order.”
That, in blunt terms — and as Daniel Choji frankly suggested — is why Plateau is sitting on a keg of gunpowder.
Blood on the Plateau is a five-part series. This is the third in the series. You may read the first here and the second here.
The Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC) is set to launch ‘Budeshi Waka’, a documentary on the numerous abandoned government projects across the country.
Budeshi Waka is a product of a series of investigative reporting and monitoring of projects awarded by the government, many of them merely ‘completed’ on paper, while residents in the host communities groan in pain and misery.
The PPDC is a civil society organisation whose major objective is to make public procurement as transparent and corruption-free as possible.
This it does through its website: www.budeshi.org, where it publishes details of all contracts awarded by the various ministries, departments and agencies of government, as many as were made available to it through the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.
Budeshi Waka documentarywill be launched soon but in the meantime, you can watch the trailer below:
Nigeria is seriously lagging behind in a number of important subjects that connect humanity with the basic necessity of life. One of such is the conservation of nature. Several African countries have now overtaken the ‘Giant of Africa’ and courted more partnership and support from foreign countries for the conservation of their resources.
In the nation’s history, the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) has made strides in its conservation mandates as set out by the founding members. In fact, the Cross-River Gorilla was first discovered by NCF through breath-taking adventure and value-adding research.
The organisation has also recorded success in the establishment of several protected areas (PAs) and it is also credited with putting together the first draft of the Endangered Species Act of 1985.
Much recently, however, I have observed with utter dismay the loosening tentacles and failing grasp of NCF on wildlife and wild places in Nigeria. It seems to have relinquished position to fledgling but vibrant non-governmental organization (NGOs).
Is the foremost NGO deliberately ceding grounds to other upcoming environment-based NGOs? Are other competing NGOs stifling vigour out of NCF? Or is there any method (strategy) in the madness of taking the back seat in ecological research, species conservation, tree planting etc. and occupying the pages of newsprints with events? Certainly, to be eventful is never to be equated with fruitfulness.
Perhaps the expiry implication on products holds true for ageing conservation outfits in Nigeria. This is as seen with the defunct Savannah Conservation Nigeria and other redundant NGOs. It now seems there is a shift in focus — loss of focus possibly — from the old practices of gaining new grounds (nature conservation) through meaningful community interventions, basically to media conservation or ‘yahoo yahoo conservation’, or conservation within the office environment.
I have struggled to reconcile the media hype that attends conservation news with the actual field practice. In this age of unrestricted access to online facilities, it is a known fact the ‘Yahoo Boys’ (internet fraudster) take advantage of the online media to hoodwink and to defraud by plying non-existing supplies for financial benefits. Non-performing political office holders could also be portrayed in exaggerated hue and colour in the media to score cheap political points.
The misleading claims by some state governments of planting several million trees when in actual fact only 2, 000 trees were planted is also worrisome. Regardless of who may be involved, the common denominator is that of scoring cheap points or benefits through media duplicity.
Expectedly, the society criminalises ‘Yahoo Boys’ who, by mere sitting in the comfort of their rooms, fleece unsuspecting members of the public of their hard earned money, while ‘Yahoo Yahoo Politics’ and ‘Yahoo Yahoo Conservation’ are pomped and celebrated. Which is the worst crime?
For the sake of convenience, I have chosen to define Yahoo politics or conservation as (1) the method that brings undue benefits to the actors by gorging potential victims into investing trust and substance into false positives; (2) opportunistic approach to prosperity with the intent to deceive; (3) media nuisance without verifiable substance.
A recent visit to NCF left me wondering wild if I was in a market place or an audition venue as visitors trooped in to see monkeys and catch some fun with music blaring to the fantasy of visitors (a serious violation of conservation ethics and animal rights). Possibly, this explains why NCF is winding up activities in other parts of Nigeria to focus on “crowd control conservation” in Lagos — a money-spinning “ecotourism” venture.
As a not-for-profit establishment, the success of the organisation is based on how well it accomplishes its philanthropic missions and not on the lucre of tourism. Otherwise, it would be necessary to take-off the nonprofit toga and chameleon into a full fledged commercial venture.
Visitors’ willingness to pay entry fees is no less encouraging, as others, including myself, had to pay between N1,500 and N1,000 as entry fees. I should not speak for other visitors, but I see the frequent payments, apart from being a member of the foundation, as my personal support to nature conservation in Nigeria.
Truth be told, the media movement makes the world go round and is fashionable, but there must be an intercourse between the level of work done and media publicity. For example, universities don’t feature regularly in the news but everyone knows they are working to impact the next generations of leaders with relevant knowledge and skills.
I am still very much convinced that real work done either by the politicians or nature advocates can speak for itself rather than banking on the parallax of media stunts. Conservation journalism owes the public the onus of honest reportage so that achievements in nature conservation can be assessed without the prejudice of Yahoo politics where lies or partial truth are manufactured under the guise of political correctness.
It is not too late to get back on-track and shake-off the lethargy of ‘YahooYahoo conservation. Yes, NCF’s back should not be allowed to rest permanently on the ground!
Let the stakeholders rejig the consciousness of the organization as the face of conservation in Nigeria so that the parable of the living dog and the dead lion will not be true of NCF.
