A Senate Ad-hoc Committee says Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, is to blame for the loss of about N1.7 trillion to the treasury between 2012 and 2016.
The Committee on Alleged Misuse, Under-Remittance and Other Fraudulent Activities made this known in an interim report presented before the Senate plenary on Tuesday by Olamilekan Adeola, Chairman of the committee.
According to the report, the amount of money that was not remitted to the coffers of the Federal Government by several revenue-generating agencies in those years amounted to approximately N1.7 trillion.
The panel said the development was as a result of a memo allegedly written by Okonjo-Iweala, which permitted the agencies to spend 75 percent of the revenue on internal expenditures and remit only 25 percent to the government.
The committee stated that the directive by Okonjo-Iweala “is a clear violation of Section 120 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) and the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007 as well as the establishment acts of some of these institutions”.
A total amount of N21.5 trillion was supposed to have been remitted by 93 government agencies within the period in review, but 25 out of the 93 agencies defrauded the federal government of a total of N1,695,585,887,406, the report states.
According to the panel, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), which is Nigeria’s highest revenue earner, generated N15.541 trillion during the period in review, but it claimed that its expenditure was N18.657 trillion. This amounts to a total deficit of N3.1 trillion.
The Nigeria Customs Service generated N335.855 billion but withheld N83.963 billion; while the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) generated N455.5 billion but allegedly failed to remit N33.83 billion.
Similarly, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) reportedly remitted only N86.636 billion to the federal government out of the N789.104 billion it generated.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) allegedly generated N3.098 trillion but remitted only N13.716 billion; NIMASA generated N301.160 billion but remitted only N184.489 billion, and the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) remitted only N5.567 billion out of the N56.817 billion it generated.
The senate committee alleged that the affected agencies “deny the Auditor General of the Federation access to their financial books and records”, contrary to Section 125, subsections 3 and 4 of the Constitution.
The committee recommended that the Senate should “amend the laws where necessary to make it mandatory for all revenue generating agencies to accommodate resident auditors to be posted by the Auditor General of the Federation”.
These auditors will have access to all financial records and books to ensure compliance with relevant sections of the Constitution.
“The Senate should also amend the laws where necessary to make it mandatory for all revenue generating agencies to accommodate resident treasury officers to be posted by the Accountant General of the Federation that will have access to all financial records and books,” the report read further.
“The Fiscal Responsibility Act should be amended in a way to compel all agencies and institutions of government on compliance with financial regulations regarding income generation, accounting and remittances.”
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 finale of this series on the brutal killings in Plateau State, ‘FISAYO SOYOMBO highlights the high points of an 11-day expedition to many of the state’s most interiorly-located villages, headlined by a touch-and-go 134-minute motorcycle trip that nearly turned awry. He also shares an eyewitness’s approach to bailing the north-central state out of the pointless waste of lives.
Arriving Jos for the first time ever, I had certain stereotypes that were set in stone. I was expecting to be welcomed by ruin, by a precipiced city so risky to navigate, either during the day or at night. I was not to blame. I had naively become accustomed to several variants of the newspaper headline, “Jos Boils Again”. The Internet is replete with them.
Well, I was disappointed. Jos, it turned out, was as peaceful as any other Nigerian city. Many of the villages where these killings occur are actually several hundred kilometres from Jos city itself. And as I discovered in a matter of days, the ascription of the violence in the villages to “Jos” has been the greatest disservice of go-between media reportage of the killings to unsuspecting readers. Perhaps the confusion is explainable: the villages are dangerous; reporters are scared of death; so rather than reports from journalists who have physically accessed the danger zones, what we have are third-party-sourced news reports.
THE IRONY THAT IS PLATEAU
Jos… so peaceful cattle and vehicles have equal access to road!
Beginning from my first journey out of Jos on December 11, 2013, I was stunned by the kindness and friendliness of the average Plateau man. From Wase Junction where we disembarked from a car to mount a motorcycle for the 25-minute ride to Nyapkai Village in Langtang North Local Government, I counted nine villagers who raised their arm in a surprising show of camaraderie to two strangers speeding past. During the 59-minute motorcycle ride from Bokkos to Mile-Bakwai Village days later, I counted 16 villagers who did the same.
All over the towns and villages I either visited or navigated, this practice was commonplace. And residents willingly and cheerfully offered sincere directions to strangers. Any stranger who has been misled in a city like Lagos, for example, will appreciate the value of this virtue. A young man (whose family of eight was murdered) enthusiastically climbed an orange tree in the compound to pluck the fruits for my guide and me. The peasant that he is, he compulsorily wanted to entertain us with something — anything. So, I was grappling with a riddle all through: how is a state brimming with such endearing levels of friendliness simultaneously engulfed in decades of inter-ethnic resentment?
WASE IS GATEWAY TO HEAVEN — OR HELL!
Magnanimity: Danladi (L) conveys reporter and guide round Kukah Village pro bono
After Daniel Zitta rued his displacement (alongside hundreds of villagers) from Kadarko Village in Wase Local Government, I became curious about Wase. I was told that in Wasetofa Village, the Fulani killed many Taroh and razed their houses. All Taroh in the area had fled. Well, if all that happened, if hundreds were driven out of their natural abode, then I had to see Wase. I wanted evidence. I wanted to photograph rubbles of the destroyed houses; I wanted to talk with anyone left in the village.
“Who will take me to Wasetofa Village?” I asked curtly, glancing in the direction of Pa Geofrey, the Head of Nyapkai Village. He shook his head in discord. My glance shifted to the motorcycle rider who had doubled as interpreter of the village head’s response to my questions. “Not me,” he replied without awaiting my question. Then I turned to Samson Zwalnan, my guide, an exceptionally courteous young man who would later exhibit courage too impressive for a non-journalist by accompanying me on some other dangerous trips without uttering a word of complaint. He cowered.
Samson it was, who gave me an explanation. “You want to enter Hausa-Fulani territory?” he retorted rhetorically. “I am not the one to take you there. Those guys are not friendly one bit.”
Being one who rarely accepts the meaning — or even existence — of the word “no” when I am convinced about a cause, I pressed further. “If you won’t take me there, Samson, please give me the directions,” I said, grabbing him by the arm. “Give me the directions and wait for me here while I go.”
But Samson would not budge. “I won’t take you there. And if you insist you want directions to Wase, I am not the one who will give you,” he responded, his mind clearly made up. “You want to enter Fulani Territory wearing a shirt and pair of jeans? I can promise you that you won’t survive up to a minute in that village before you are gunned down.”
Silence reigned for the next minute or thereabouts. There had to be a way out, I soliloquised. “Okay, then; we go elsewhere,” I blurted with a cheer. “I can always get a Fulani in Jos to take me to Wasetofa tomorrow. With one of their own, I should be safe, you know.”
Samson handed me a chilling warning. “Don’t try it. Wase is shortcut to heaven!” It was the only time he raised his voice in the 11 days of our togetherness. Reluctantly, I let “no” have the victory. I didn’t “try it”.
A WEIGHTY REGRET
Samson (L) will not near Wase for anything
Every day for 11 days, I explored the possibility of speaking with a Hausa-Fulani. Now, that is because every single village I trod, families and neighbours of slain villagers accused the “Fulani” of masterminding the murders. On December 19, 2013, one day before my scheduled departure from Jos, I received the telephone number of a representative of the Fulani at one of the dialogue fora. By the schedule of the prospective interviewee, a physical appointment was impracticable. That was understandable. In the next few days, a makeshift telephone interview never quite materialised — despite a string of trials. On the deadline for going to press, the Hausa-Fulni man in question lost it. He made it clear he didn’t want to be “disturbed” — in a raised voice, directed at a stranger.
The regret is the failure, in a total of 21 days, to get a Fulani response to accusations that the ethnic group is to blame for the killings. It was some sort of lifeline, too, for a representative of the Fulani to contradict all the blame that had been piled on them; and it was fluffed. The blames aside, an important statistic indict the Fulanis: none of the villages where deaths were recorded is a Fulani zone. Certainly, the death of people from all ethnic groups save the Fulani is a big statement on the identities of the victims as well as the terrorists.
On the heartening side, it was maybe testament to Samson’s repeated claims on the “unfriendliness of the Hausa-Fulani”, on why I should avoid their territories altogether, on why treading Wase in the company of a Hausa-Fulani made no guarantee that my life was secure.
RAWURUM IS ON THE WAY TO HEAVEN
Bullet-riddled entrance of house where Tsok Gwom and family were murdered
Monday November 16, 2013, was the one day I wondered if I overstretched my luck by coming to Plateau. Since October when I read media reports of the murder of Pa “Tsok Gwom and eight members of his family in Kukek Community in Bakin Fogi District of Barkin Ladi local Government”, I swore I would not return to Lagos if I didn’t locate Gwom’s house and the solitary grave where all “nine” were interred. Two corrections. First, Gwom’s son, Solomon Pagyang, confirmed that eight — not nine as reported by the media — members of the family were murdered. Next, the residents said the name is actually Ket Village — not Kuke — as widely reported.
My guide, a motorcycle rider, and I arrived at Ket Village at about 1pm, first securing clearance from the village head, Mr. Luka Pam, before going on to seek out the victims. Solomon was summoned while we interviewed other victims. But it was only after the interview with him that it became clear that the house of the victims was sequestered on the outskirts of the village.
Time was nearing 3pm, and we still needed to see Rawurum Village. From the moment Rwang Dantong confirmed a five-month old baby was shot in the mouth in Rawurum, I knew I would sacrifice anything to get to Rawurum. It was time to go. But then, what evidence had I that Tsok Gwom and the seven others were truly murdered? I mounted Solomon’s bike, and my guide mounted the rider’s. We arrived at the house after about 15 minutes. I photographed the bullet-riddled house where they were murdered; I snapped the mass grave where all eight were hurriedly buried.
Grave where all eight were mass-buried
Proof complete, we zoomed to Rawurum, ignoring the protestations of our motorcycle rider and clinging to a neighbour’s assurance that Rawurum was “just 15 minutes” away. How wrong we were! That was exactly 3:12pm.
One hour later, we were still on that motorcycle — on the way to Rawurum. It was a particularly horrible journey to undergo. For most of it, the footpaths were bumpy, rocky and encroached by shrubs. On so many occasions, we had our hands over our faces to prevent the shrubs from slashing at us. And twice, we all disembarked from the cycle to push it through streams coursing through undulating, rocky land paths. Both were gruelling exercises.
One and a half hours into the journey, the bike rider — who had been busy raining cusswords on the fellow who inexplicably told us we would arrive at Rawurum in 15 minutes — slowed to a halt. He had had enough and would go no further. Of course, he had a valid argument. It was 4:47pm; we hadn’t arrived at Rawurum; we were unsure if we were close to it. The cloud was beginning to darken, which meant danger was lurking. In darkness, these villages are pretty unsafe.
But there was no way I would sit on a motorcycle for a draining one-and-a-half-hours only to return with naught. “We will not turn back unless we have found Rawurum,” I said sternly. “We are men. We have to be strong. We cannot give up.”
Speaking through Samson, my guide-cum-interpreter, the rider made it clear he would move no further. He switched off the engine and disembarked. And he wanted his money. That, to me, was blackmail. I responded, blackmail for blackmail: “You were contracted to convey us to Ket and Rawurum, before returning us to Bakin Foron Junction. No Rawurum, no money.” I added, though, that I was prepared to up his pay by 50 per cent.
Samson passed on my message. The raise, I suppose, worked like magic. In two minutes, we were back on the road, the rider cooperatively speeding faster to beat time. After travelling a total of 2hours and 14 minutes on motorcycle, we finally found Rawurum, and headed for the house of the seven-man Ladi Bula family (including five-month-old Julius) that was exterminated. That was 5:26pm.
The road to Mile-Bakwai Village
By the time we were exiting at exactly 5:55pm, the rasping December harmattan of Jos was out to haunt us. If I committed any pre-travel goof, it was to underestimate the weather gulf between Lagos and Plateau States. Samson, whom I thought would have been accustomed to such harsh conditions, was himself shivering profusely in front of me, despite wearing a sweater. The cold worsened some half-an-hour later, as darkness finally enveloped us. By the time we had travelled an hour, my body was stony and my fingers stiff.
Worried, like me, by the danger of a night travel, the rider hurtled anxiously once we hit the highway. At that point, a part of me wondered if I would survive the trip. With my head suddenly assuming a bloated weight, I feared I would fall off the bike any moment. To stay active, I reached for my phone and blared music into my ears through the headphones. It kept me pseudo-conscious. After travelling on motorcycle a total of 1 hour and 49 minutes, we arrived at Barkin Kogi, where Samson and I slipped into a waiting taxi. We uttered no word until we reached Jos, each one patently ruminating over what might have been.
A VALEDICTORY KILLING
The road to ket Village
Three days before I left Plateau, gunmen struck again, this time in Larwin Village, Heipang. Five people died instantly; one more person died at the hospital the following morning; three sustained injuries. In error, the media reported that all six were members of a family. They were not.
Of the six, only one, Pam David, was an adult — a 25-year-old. All others were kids: Jerry Dalyop, 5; Miracle Ishaya, 3; Deborah Ishaya, 5; Judith Emeka, 3; and Promise M. C., 3. This latest attack somewhat validated Daniel Choji’s allegation of a grand extermination plan against the Beroms. Why, I have continued to wonder, will anyone kill innocent children?
CHUNDUNG: VENGEANCE IS GOD’S
Chundung Dalyop, the mother of Miracle and Deborah, was so disconsolate her reaction was laconic. “I feel highly aggrieved with what happened,” she said through an interpreter. “Only God can comfort me; and God alone can avenge the killing of my children. I leave all that has happened into the hands of God. But truly, emotionally, I feel the pains so greatly.”
‘IF YOU DIE…’
The road to Dipbong Village
The following day, I showed up at the mass burial for the slain six! I arrived just as the curtain was brought down on the burial of the five who died instantly. All five went into a single grave. The corpse of Choji’s nephew, who died much later, arrived just as I was disembarking from the car. I saw him being lowered into an adjoining, small grave, as prayers were offered for the repose of his soul. It was a crushing sight that brought the reality of the killings down hard on me.
Attending that mass burial was one of the riskiest decisions of the trip. As Rwang Dantong said, if a senator and a state lawmaker could be killed (in July 2012) while attending a mass burial, the common man, such as me, has no hope. My heart raced as Dantong collected me at my lodge and we made off for Heipang. This was one of the perils that a number of friends had warned me to avoid. Joan Omionawele, a journalist with a national daily, was the one who had laced her message with the scariest choice of words.
“I don’t like that type of journalism o. Not in a country like this,” Joan had chided me on learning of my trip. “I won’t cry over you if you die. Instead, I will be very angry — not at the killers but at you.” Her argument was that she had seen journalists “go down the drain” without even been remembered. She was right.
Since Channels Television reporter, Eneche Akogwu, 32, was shot on January 20, 2011 while reporting the pandemonium at Farm Centre Police Station in Kano State following multiple bombings by Boko Haram, no one has done anything to immortalise him. Few even know that Zakariyya Isa, a reporter with the Maiduguri Network Centre of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), was murdered by the same sect for being “an informant to security agencies”. Isa, like Enenche, has been forgotten.
“I don’t like to live in fear,” she went on. “But if anything happens, just know that you were unfair to your family and friends, Fisayo Rolihlahla Soyombo Madiba. Mind you, I’m not trying to be funny.”
Although I felt pangs of fear on an occasion or two, the prospect of death never quite crossed my mind — for one important reason. The people (mostly children) dying in Plateau needed someone to unearth and tell their unknown stories; their endangered friends and families needed help. If I travelled that far and risked that much to get hold of their stories, then there was no chance I would die. I had to live, if only because I had to tell their story!
One day before my departure from Plateau, I implicitly responded to Joan’s words with a status update on social networking site, Facebook. “If you’ve found a cause for which you can die,” I wrote, “you have found a cause for which you should — and you will — live!”
ENDING THE KILLINGS: EVERYONE KNOWS!
Friends and families at the mass burial for the six killed at Larwin Village, Heipang
Truly, I did not witness the birth of the crisis that has, in recent years, metamorphosed into spasms of organised killings. But having traversed a number of villages that many of my Plateau-born friends and acquaintances have admitted never setting foot on, I can say with a measure of certainty that restoring peace to Plateau is not as difficult as the continuity of the killings suggests. And as a matter of fact, the ultimate solution was recommended a massive 20 years ago.
Aribiton Fiberesima’s commission of inquiry laid the foundation for the solution back in 1994: Government must apply sanctions to all individuals, groups of persons and organisations… culpable in the killings.
The ongoing dialogue initiatives are massive. They are commendable. Credit to the Plateau State Government, non-governmental organisations, and the various ethnic groups! But all the progress will be pointless if anyone can break into a compound unchallenged, and wipe out all its inhabitants. To prosecute the perpetrators, they must be apprehended. To apprehend them, security in the state must be watertight. Sadly, at the moment, security in the villages is as porous as a basket.
The Special Task Force (STF) soldiers deployed to Plateau, I could not find them. They were absent in the villages where they were most needed! Of the total 11 villages I visited, I found soldiers in only two: Mile-Bakwai and Kukah. The ones at Mile-Bakwai seemed domiciled there, ready to confront any impending threat. The ones at Kukah, all I saw them do was frog-march the driver of a private car for driving too close to their roadblock before slowing. In all the other nine villages — Nyapkai, Dipbong, Zamchang, Locost, Ket, Rawurum, Kungte, Tatu, Larwin — I did not run into a single soldier.
So those villagers are all vulnerable. To worsen this vulnerability, all these villages — save Larwin and Kukah — are inaccessible with a car. The villages in question can only be accessed via footpaths — after several minutes (or sometimes hours, as with Rawurum) of travel on motorcycle. Their location way off civilisation leaves little room for response policing or soldiery. At the moment, these villages lack security; and until it is put in place, the killings will continue, notwithstanding the intensity of dialoguing.
ACT, PRESIDENT JONATHAN; ACT!
On Sunday December 29, 2013 at a church in Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital territory, President Goodluck Jonathan delivered a charge reminiscent of his famous I-had-no-shoes-no-bags presidential election campaign speech of September 18, 2010.
“Any child of Nigeria can be where I am,” he said this time. “I come from the smallest state in this country — even within the state, one of the smallest communities in Bayelsa State; even within the community, one of the smallest families. But I am here today by the grace of God.”
The President must know — if he didn’t — that many children in Plateau who have no shoes like him are perpetually at risk of death; they stand no chance to, like the President, fulfill their dreams. On December 17, 2013, five children aged five, five, three, three, and two were callously murdered by attackers. A dozen others have died already in 2013. Will the President, as Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic, continue looking the other way? Mr. President, you have to “give a damn” this time!
President Muhammadu Buhari acted swiftly on Monday by ordering the immediate disengagement of Abdulrasheed Maina from the nation’s civil service.
Maina, former Chairman of the Pension Reforms Task Team, is wanted by the EFCC for allegedly spearheading a massive fraud in the pension sector that he was drafted in to sanitize.
He has been in the United Arab Emirates since 2013, refusing to come back to Nigeria to face his trial.
At the weekend, it became public knowledge that Maina had clandestinely returned to the country, having been appointed a Director at the Ministry of Interior.
However, Buhari, who was away in Turkey, issued a directive on Monday ordering Maina’s immediate disengagement, while also requesting an explanation from the Head of Service.
WONDERFUL, ISN’T IT?
Buhari’s swift action on the matter drew different reactions from many Nigerians. While many described it as a welcome development, others say the harm had already been done, as Maina ought not to have been reinstated in the first place.
Yet another group of Nigerians feels that Buhari may have breached the civil service rules by unilaterally ordering Maina’s sack.
WHAT DOES THE RULE SAY?
According to the Public Service Rules, “the power to dismiss and to exercise disciplinary control over officers in the Federal Public Service is vested in the Federal Civil Service Commission. This power may be delegated to any member of the Commission or any officer in the Federal Civil Service.”
The rule book explained that an officer’s appointment could be terminated on the basis of acts of “misconduct” which include among other things; “Failure to keep records; Unauthorized removal of public records; Dishonesty; Negligence; Refusal to take/carry out lawful instruction from superior officers; Malingering; Insubordination,” etc.
“Where a Tribunal of Inquiry set up by the Government makes recommendations of a disciplinary nature on an officer, the Federal Civil Service Commission shall not act on such recommendations until it has called upon the affected officer to reply to the allegations made against him/her by the Tribunal of Inquiry,” the rule book states.
“If the officer refuses or neglects to reply to the allegations within a reasonable time or at all, the Federal Civil Service Commission or its agent shall proceed to accept and enforce the recommendations of the Tribunal of Inquiry and take such disciplinary action against the officer as it shall deem appropriate.
“…If as a result the Commission decides that the allegation is proved, it may inflict any other punishment upon the officer such as reduction in rank, withholding or deferment of increment or otherwise.
“In serious cases which are likely to result in dismissal, the officer should be given access to any such document(s) or reports) used against him/her and he/she should be asked to state in his/her defence that he/she has been given access to documents.
“The officer shall be called upon to state in writing, within the period specified in the query any grounds upon which he/she relies to exculpate himself/herself;
“If the officer submits his/her representations and the Federal Civil Service Commission is not satisfied that he/she has exculpated himself/herself, and considers that the officer should be dismissed, it shall take such action accordingly. Should the officer however fail to furnish any representations within the time fixed, the Commission may take such action against the officer as it deems appropriate:
“If upon considering the report of the board the Commission is of the opinion that the officer does not deserve to be dismissed but that the proceedings disclosed grounds for requiring him/her to retire, the Commission shall, without further proceedings, direct accordingly.
“All disciplinary procedures must commence and be completed within a period of 60 days except where it involves criminal cases.”
HOWEVER…
What Buhari did in this case was more like ordering the maintenance of the status quo; and the status quo is that before now, several probe panels, including one inaugurated by the Civil Service Commission, had already indicted Maina of corruption and recommended his sack.
A senate joint committee investigated the case in early 2013, albeit with little cooperation from Maina, who missed many sittings of the probe panel.
The committee, at some point, had to order Mohammed Abubakar, then Inspector General of Police, to compel Maina to attend the sittings but he was nowhere to found.
The committee concluded its investigation and made recommendations to President Goodluck Jonathan to the effect that Maina should be sacked and prosecuted.
Before then, Jonathan had already instructed Isa Sali, then Head of Civil Service of the Federation, to commence disciplinary actions against Maina.
This culminated in Jonathan’s approval of Maina’s removal as Director of the Customs, Immigration and Prison Pension Office (CIPPO).
CONCLUSION
It is very difficult to say Buhari was wrong or right to have swiftly ordered Maina’s disengagement while still expecting an explanation from the Head of Service. On the surface, it looks easy to say he breached service rules.
But the other side of the coin is that Maina’s reinstatement itself was illegitimate. The last legally acceptable action on Maina was his dismissal during the Jonathan regime. On that basis, it could be said that Buhari only restored the status quo, in which case it would be hard to fault the President.
If anyone has a case to answer here, it has to be the offices of the Interior Ministry, Head of Service, the Department of States Service and the Civil Service Commission, for alleged complicity in Maina’s illegal reinstatement.
The Kogi State government says the salary of Edward Soje, the civil servant who committed suicide after his wife delivered triplets, was withheld after it was discovered that he falsified his age.
Deborah Ogunmola, Head of Service of the state, made this known in a statement on Sunday. She said that although Soje’s death was regrettable and unfortunate, the state should not be blamed for it.
Fifty-four-year old Soje was a director at Kogi State Teaching Service Commission before his demise.
Family sources said the deceased had been facing a series of financial challenges as a result of his unpaid salaries. His death came 10 days after his wife gave birth to a set of triplets. NAN said the couple had been childless since they got married 17 years ago.
But in the statement on Sunday, Ogunmola said the just concluded workers’ verification exercise in Kogi State revealed that Soje engaged in false age declaration.
“His pay was stopped after proof emerged that he falsified his age records. His confession to the offence is on video,” Ogunmola said.
“Following engagements with Labour, which spanned several months, the Kogi State Governor magnanimously commuted the disciplinary action due against certain categories of offenders by grant of pardon. Mr. Soje fell into one of the categories.
“Pardoned staff were processed for reinstatement and payment in batches. Mr. Soje was in the September 2017 batch and he was aware of this fact.
“The Kogi State Teaching Service Commission, where he works, has forwarded a template for payment to Government and Mr. Soje was aware that he was listed to receive six months back pay, leaving only two months (August and September) outstanding.”
The Kogi State government has been roundly criticised over its inability to pay its workers several months of Salary arrears.
Ayodele Fayose, Governor of Ekiti State, says the anti-corruption war of President Muhammadu Buhari is “like Satan calling Judas Iscariot a sinner”.
Fayose was reacting to the secret recall and reinstatement of Abdulrasheed Maina, former Chairman of the Pensions Reform Task Force, who had fled the country after he was declared wanted by the Police and the EFCC following allegations of fraud.
According to the Governor, events in the country have lent credence to his prediction that the level corruption under Buhari would be unprecedented.
The Ministry of Interior confirmed that Maina was recently posted to the ministry, as the new Director in charge of its human resources department.
Reacting to the development via his Twitter handle, Fayose said he was not surprised as he had consistently maintained that the so-called anti-corruption campaign of the Buhari administration is targeted at perceived political opponents.
“Fellow Nigerians, are you now convinced that Buhari’s anti-corruption fight is like Satan calling Judas Iscariot a sinner?” he wrote.
“Didn’t I tell Nigerians that Buhari was not fighting any corruption? Didn’t I say that Buhari was only after his political opponents?
“I said it then that the kind of corruption that will be witnessed in this government of Buhari will be unprecedented, am I not being vindicated?”
Maina’s recall is believed to have been orchestrated by Abdulrahman Dambazzau, Minister of Interior, and Abubakar Malami, Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.
He is also believed to be enjoying some sort of protection by the Department of State Services (DSS) who have provided a safe house for him in Abuja.
Meanwhile, the EFCC has expressed readiness to re-arrest Maina if he shows up to assume his new appointment at the Interior Ministry.
President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the immediate disengagement of Abdulrasheed Maina from the Federal Civil Service.
This was contained in a brief statement issued by Femi Adesina, Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity.
According to the statement, Buhari also directed Winifred Oyo-Eta, Head of Service of the Federation, to submit a full report of the circumstances that led to Maina’s recall and posting to the Ministry of Interior.
“The report is to be submitted to the office of the Chief of Staff to the President before the close of work today, Monday, Oct 23, 2017,” the statement added.
President @MBuhari has directed the immediate disengagement of Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina from the Federal Civil Service.
Akinwumi Adesina, former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, says he is determined to help young Africans farmers become billionaires unlike his father and grandfather who “became so poor farming”.
Adesina, currently President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), said this at a luncheon during the World Food Prize-Borlaug Dialogue Symposium on Friday.
According to a statement signed by Jennifer Patterson, Principal Communication Officer at AfDB, the luncheon follows the award of the 2017 World Food Prize to Adesina in Iowa, USA, where he announced his dedication of the $250,000 prize money to set up a fund fully dedicated to providing financing for African youth in agriculture to feed the continent.
“The World Food Prize-Africa Institute will support young agripreneurs, whom we will call Borlaug-Adesina Fellows,” Adesina announced while delivering his laureate address at the luncheon.
“This will allow us to strategically continue Dr. Norman Borlaug’s legacy of taking agricultural technologies to the farmers, and my philosophy of promoting and engaging agriculture as a business.
“The Youth of Africa are the future of the continent and to them I pledge my support.
“They will take agriculture as a business. They will make agriculture ‘cool’. I fully expect the future millionaires and billionaires of Africa to come from agriculture.”
Adesina narrated how his father and grandfather had to work as labourers on other people’s farm because they could not raise enough from their own farms to be able to cater to their families.
“This is my story. My father and grandfather were farmers, and became so poor farming they had to work as part-time labourers on other people’s farms,” Adesina said.
“My father told me that farming did not pay. It was through a benefactor that he made it out of the village to get the benefit of education.
“It was that golden opportunity, with a lot of sacrifices that gave me the benefit of an education and today, by God’s grace, has given me an incredible opportunity to stand on the global stage to receive the World Food Prize.
“I also hear the voices rising out of rural Africa, saying, ‘Come here and help us get out of poverty’.
“This ‘agriculture gospel’ was first preached by Dr. Norman Borlaug, the Nobel Peace Prize-winner, who created the World Food Prize, for he heard the voices of a billion people and, through his dedicated work, delivered a green revolution across Asia that fed a billion people.”
Motivated by Adesina’s gesture, other donors made additional contributions to the fund, raising the initial $250,000 to $600,000.
John M. Harrington III of Sheffield Corporation matched Adesina’s prize money with an additional $250,000, while John Ruan III, Chairman of the World Food Prize Foundation, pledged to contribute $100,000.
This brings to US $600,000 the amount now available for Adesina’s proposed fund to grow youth in agriculture and agricultural business.
Adesina praised John M. Harrington III and John Ruan III for their donations, and for supporting his desire for a new deal for young African farmers.
The African Development Bank, under Adesina’s leadershi,p is focused on accelerating investments to get younger commercial farmers and agribusiness entrepreneurs into agriculture through a youth in agriculture initiative termed ‘ENABLE Youth’ (Empowering Novel Agri-Business-Led Employment for Youth).
The bank will also empower women and push for greater access to finance for women.
Adesina is optimistic that these initiatives will help to lift millions out of poverty in Africa and into wealth.
“Psalm 121:3 says God will not suffer your foot to be moved. He that keepeth you will not slumber. Amen. You and the three boys, God Almighty will keep you prosperous. Amen. I love you.”
That was the suicide note Edward Soje, a senior civil servant in Kogi State, left for his wife who just put to bed a set of male triplets, before going to hang himself on Saturday.
The body of Soje, a 54-year-old, Level 16 Officer in the Kogi State Teaching Service Commission, was found dangling on a tree on Saturday, a week after he was declared missing.
According to Punch, Soje allegedly took his own life 10 days after his wife put to bed in a private hospital in Abuja after 17 years of childlessness.
The deceased hailed from the Ogori/Magongo Local Government Area of Kogi State and was owed 11 months’ salary arrears as of the time he took his life. His wife also works with one of the federal ministries in the state.
William Aya, spokesman of the Kogi State Police command, confirmed the incident, saying that Soje’s body was found dangling on a tree behind a military barracks at about 5.55 pm on October 16.
Aya said the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Area ‘D’ division received the information about the incident from the military intelligence office in the barracks.
“Policemen moved to the scene, removed the corpse and took it to the morgue of the Federal Medical Centre in Lokoja (and) investigation is ongoing,” Aya added.
It was not until October 20 that relations and friends of the deceased discovered his corpse at the mortuary where the police had deposited it.
Family sources told newsmen that Soje had been going through a series of financial challenges due to the non-payment of his salary by the Kogi State Government.
He was said to have sold his only car and a three-bedroom bungalow he was building at the Otokiti area of Lokoja in order to meet his financial obligations to his family. Sources said Soje sold the uncompleted building for N1.5 million in April.
After his wife was delivered of the set of triplets on October 7, Soje was said to have remained in the hospital looking after them until October 13 when he travelled to Lokoja.
In Lokoja, he went to his bank and requested to close his account after withdrawing the N30,000 remaining therein.
He returned to Abuja and handed the money to his wife, and joined by two clergymen and a few relatives, a little naming ceremony was performed for the triplets right there in the hospital.
Soje left the hospital saying he wanted to get some things from his wife’s apartment in Abuja, but that was the last that was heard of him.
Hours later, after many calls made to his phone were not answered, his wife sent emissaries to the house to find out what was wrong. After knocking for several minutes, the door was forced open and Soje’s phone was found on top of the table in the sitting room alongside a suicide note.
A search began immediately for him in Abuja and Lokoja, which culminated in the discovery of his body at the Mortuary of the Federal Medical Centre, Lokoja.
A family member described him as a “very quiet and lovable human being”.
Civil servants in Kogi State are currently being owed between two and 23 months salary arrears, but Yahaya Bello, the State Governor, claims he has cleared all the arrears and workers are being owed only August and September salaries.
Abdulrasheed Maina, the former chairman of the Pension Reform Task Force
Abdulrasheed Maina cannot hide forever. Neither he nor the people who helped him circumvent justice in 2013 gave this a thought when he escaped to Dubai. But as he must have found out already, retreating from justice is big damage to self rather than the law; and no matter the wealth of cash, power, connection and legal arsenal at anyone’s disposal, clean hands remain the only guarantee of freedom.
MAINA — ONCE THE MANNA FROM HEAVEN
Although he was already Director of the Customs, Immigration, Prisons Pension Office (CIPPO), Maina was in obscurity until he was plucked in 2010 by Steve Oronsaye, then Head of Service of the Federation, to chair the Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT) after a verification exercise in June of the same year revealed the biggest fraud, till date, in the federal civil service. In that position, he helped uncover the looting of more than N100billion pension funds at the pension offices of the Head of Service and the Police. From then on, Maina has gone against everything he seemed to have stood for.
Sani Teidi Shuaibu, former Director, Pension Unit, Head of Service of the Federation (HOSF); Phina Ukamaka Chidi, his deputy; Aliyu Bello, Personal Assistant to Shuaibu; Abdul Mohammed, Assistant Cash Pay Officer, HOSF Pension Unit; and some 30 other civil servants worked in cahoots to loot more than N100billion. To do this, they paid millions of naira to ghost pensioners by recalling the names of dead workers and opening fictitious accounts; recruited their friends, and friends of their friends as pensioners; conducted fictitious verification exercises for which N400m was spent monthly; awarded multibillion-naira fictitious contracts to companies and individuals who took a cut and returned the rest; and registered fake companies of their own to which they paid billions for doing nothing.
In that moment, Maina was just like the Biblical manna from heaven. His team found the looters and handed them over to anti-corruption agents and government prosecutors. The success of the team, many people agree, was due largely to Maina’s brilliance. But brilliance was soon tinged with greed, and Maina became obsessed with enriching himself. For starters, he duplicated the thieving model of the looters he helped government to apprehend. It is still hard to imagine how he exposed others yet thought he would never be.
GUILTY IN THE EYES OF THE PUBLIC
Till date, Maina is innocent in the eyes of the law. But that’s where it ends. In the court of the public, his guilt is a long-established fact — because of his public conduct in the aftermath of the allegations against him.
On numerous occasions at the peak of his probe by the legislature in 2012, Maina concocted all manners of excuses, including ill-health and tight schedule, to avoid appearing before the Senate Joint Committee on Establishment, Public Service and Local Government Administration, mandated by the upper chamber to investigate pension administration dating back to 1999. After reaching its wits end, the committee mandated Mohammed Abubakar, the then Inspector-General of Police (IGP), to compel him to attend its next sitting. Not even the IGP could bring Maina to the Senate, leaving the Senate with no other option but to issue a warrant of arrest against him. Rather than defend himself, Maina travelled to Dubai the following year, never to make a return (although he has sneaked in and out of the country a few times). Since becoming the fugitive that he now is, Maina has been declared wanted by the EFCC and INTERPOL.
A SHOCKING REHABILITATION
Despite spending almost all of the last four years in Dubai, Maina, formerly an Assistant Director in the civil service, has managed to earn himself a recall — and unbelievably — a promotion — to the post of Director at the Ministry of Interior. It was supposed to be a secret affair until Premium Times found out. There is a plan to rehabilitate Maina; and those who should know have named Abdulrahman Dambazau, Minister for Interior; Mamman Daura, President Muhammadu Buhari’s cousin and Abubakar Malami, Attorney-General of the Federation, as the protagonists. It is a shame that this is happening in an administration that sold the anti-corruption project to the electorate in 2015. How, then, is Buhari better than Goodluck Jonathan, who granted state pardon to convicted looter Diepreye Alamieyeseigha?
Buhari’s hard-line supporters have argued that the appointment must have happened without his knowledge, but even that is big indictment. If such controversial figure is made Director and the President is unaware, then he is a spectator in his own government! Dambazau, the HoS and the Federal Civil Service Commission could only have colluded to sneak Maina into the Interior Ministry because they knew they could get away with it. And, if, two days after Maina’s promotion became a media item, the President is still unaware, or is aware but hasn’t taken action, Nigerians can count themselves victims of political fraud by President Buhari and the APC.
FROM GRACE TO GRASS
Most corruption cases in public offices are black-and-white affairs. The culprits are usually people who deliberately set out to amass wealth for themselves at the expense of the people. If they enjoy some public goodwill, it is because of the extent to which they have used their ill-gotten wealth in ingratiating themselves with the people. It is usually the case of darkness embarking on an inordinate search for light. Rarely does it happen, as it has with Maina, that light drowns its own luminousness with darkness.
That Maina began so well as an anti-corruption crusader only to end up the way he has, should worry anyone genuinely interested in this country’s progress. If policemen are found engaging in armed robbery, it would be hard to sell the argument that we aren’t all thieves. The Maina example makes it more difficult for the few conscientious individuals in power to earn public trust. In fact, the incorruptible among us could start wondering if they would someday be consumed by the very ill they’re fighting. The peculiarity of this case to the mental setup of this government’s anti-corruption war is one reason the President must invalidate this promotion. Buhari cannot afford to handle Maina in the same manner he did Babachir Lawal. Nigerians are watching, and counting.
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 penultimate part of this series, ‘FISAYO SOYOMBO examines all possible alternatives for terminating years of gruesome killings in Nigeria’s volatile ‘Home of Peace and Tourism’, now wistfully dubbed by some as the ‘Home of Pieces and Terrorism’.
The first known government response to violence in Plateau State was taken on April 22,1994. Ten days earlier, a clash between indigenes and Hausa-Fulani had resulted in five deaths and destruction of property, prompting Mohammed Mana, a Lieutenant Colonel and Military Administrator of the state, to inaugurate a Commission of Inquiry chaired by Hon. Justice Aribiton Fiberesima (Rtd). In the weeks that followed, the committee physically assessed the affected places, interviewed victims and witnesses, examined memoranda, and submitted its recommendations.
The committee’s report was the best-kept secret of the next 15 years. Not until 2009, after two other high-casualty clashes, did the government publish the report and issue a white paper on it. This set the template for a lacklustre culture of inaugurating committees and panels of inquiry. In the last 12 years alone, there have been five committees: three by the Federal Government (Justice Suleiman Galadima Commission, 2001; Emmanuel Abisoye Presidential Panel, 2009; and Chief Solomon D. Lar and Amb Yahaya Kwande, 2010) and two by the state (Justice Niki Tobi Commission, 2001; and Justice Bola Ajibola Commission, 2009). So, as expected, there is an abundance of committee recommendations — all unimplemented.
“For some reason, which is not altogether clear to us or for no reason at all, the government neither issued a white paper on the Fiberesima report nor implemented any of the commission’s recommendations,” Justice Niki Tobi and co wrote after seeing through a committee of their own in 2001. “The crisis [of 2001] would have been averted if the recommendations of the Fiberesima Commission had been implemented.”
In all, the Fiberesima Commission made eight recommendations, one of which — being the only one underscored for emphasis — could be considered the most vital: Government must apply sanctions to all individuals, groups of persons and organisations indicted by the inquiry in order to avoid future occurrence of such incidence [sic]). Till date, no one has been prosecuted for involvement in that killing — or any other.
With the proliferation of committees and the accompanying avalanche of recommendations still unable to halt the killings, the victims and their families offered their voices to the crucial conversation on the most guaranteed way of returning peace to the plateau.
‘WE HAVE TO BEG GOD’
Uttawal: the only solution is Jesus
Partially-paralysed 105-year-old Uttawal Marene does not see the place of further committee recommendations (or anything else) in peace-building. Rather, she thinks the solution is spiritual.
“The only solution is Jesus,” Uttawal says from her sickbed. “We have to beg God to bring peace back to the land; because without God, there is nothing we can do. We have to beg God. If not, nothing can bring peace.”
It is an opinion shared by Jumai Adamu, still oblivious of any wrong by the villagers to the Fulani. “They just don’t want peace,” Jumai, whose husband and son were murdered in an attack, says. “The only solution is Jesus; the only way out is to pray.”
According to Yakubu Maki of the same Mile-Bakwai Village in Bokkos Local Government, whose son was murdered in an attack, prayer is the only solution. “We have to pray to God to bring peace to this community, to the plateau, and to all other parts of the country,” says the Mile-Bakwai-born 95-year-old who has lived nowhere else all his life.
GOVERNMENT AND SECURITY; NOT JESUS!
Yakubu Dung, Head of Kungte Village in Jos South LGA, does not consider “prayer” or “Jesus” priority in quelling “Fulani attacks fuelled only by wickedness”, though he concedes the killings are in line with the Bible’s prediction of violence in the end time.
“If it is not wickedness, how will anyone willingly kill an entire family?” Dung wonders, stupefaction etched on his face. “I know that the killers are Fulani because they seized the phone of a passer-by, called his brother, and threatened to return for more deaths. Both the person who received the call and security agents who apprehended the caller confirmed him to be Fulani.”
So, he reasons that the solution is for the government to empower security agents, who should in turn work hard to apprehend perpetrators of the killings. “They should just do a sincere work and this thing will be over,” the 55-year-old says. “The Bible predicted this; but with the help of the security agents and the government, the situation can be a lot better.”
NOT A CRISIS BUT A WAR — A JIHAD
At Tatu Village, Pam Adamu Jugu is candid enough to admit lacking knowledge of the magic wand for the Plateau debacle. However, he wants all misconceptions about inter-ethnic/inter-religious clashes and cattle rustling cleared. He insists that there is no crisis. And as far as Tatu is concerned, cattle rustling is an imaginary phenomenon.
“The question we have continued asking ourselves is why anyone would attack us. And we have no answer yet,” Adamu, 58, says. “We want to tell the world that we are not in crisis. When there is crisis, it means two or more people or groups have disagreed on something. In our case here, we have not disagreed with anybody or any tribe anywhere.”
Even though he cannot “precisely ascertain” who their attackers are, he knows “from all indications” that they are Muslim Fulani desperately looking to capture Berom land for themselves, their cattle, and their religion.
“This war is a religious war. I look at it as a Jihad,” he says assertively. “Some say the Fulani are nursing grudges against the Berom for stealing their cattle. But in Tatu Village here, no one has ever stolen cattle. Our people used to have cows, but they have all been stolen away by the Fulani. In fact, as we speak, there is no one in this village who has a single cow.”
Ponchang Miner and Nandir Vongchak, two relatives of victims of an attack in Wase Local Government, believe that killings in that region will end with the division of the local government into two, one for the Taroh and the other for the Hausa-Fulani.
“At the moment, the Hausa are the ones securing the few job openings in Wase LG,” alleges Ponchang. “The solution is for Wase to be divided into two. If it is done, the killings will stop, because each ethnic group will have had its interests served. And there will be more job opportunities for the Tarohs.”
GOVERNMENT’S BURDEN
Grace Nansoh of Locost Village believes the burden of ending the killings rests with the government. It is government, the 23-year-old declares, that must ensure sure-fire security in the state, and prosecute violators of the sanctity of human life.
“To stop the killings, government needs to take serious actions,” says Nansoh, whose father was shot, butchered and set ablaze in Wase. “They have to take a look. People are losing their loved ones; children are losing their parents. So, government must take serious measures. Government must identify the troublemakers and deal with them.”
DIALOGUE, GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION
Cross section of brunt houses in Kukah Village
Like Adamu, Obadiah Bolka of Kukah Village believes the whole talk of committing murder as reprisal for rustling of cattle is drivel. He knows that cattle sometimes trample on crops, and admits it is possible that a farmer or two will want to hold on to the animals. But to take human lives in vengeance for alleged cattle theft, he argues, is inexcusable.
“We have to be honest. In a village like this, we have several kinds of people: young and old,” he says. “It might be possible for the young ones to steal cows trespassing on crops, but I think the response should be how to resolve the issue — and that is not by killing. Taking revenge on human life is unacceptable.”
Obadiah admonishes government to implement the Land use Act in a way that will settle land disputes between indigenes and settlers.
“Based on the 1978 government policy on land, all land in Nigeria belongs to government. But if there is any way of lending land to people, it should be done in a way that is clear to everyone,” he says. “By the time someone is occupying a land and another person is saying it is his own, it would bring misunderstanding. So, we are crying that government should come into this situation and solve it once and for all — by making it clear that every individual has the right to live on land. And once you occupy a land, it doesn’t mean that you are above every other person.”
In respect to land not in urban areas, Section 6, Subsection 1, Paragraph 1 of the 1978 Land Use Act grants local governments the right to grant customary rights of occupancy to any person or organisation for the use of land in the local government area for agricultural, residential and other purposes; or — as Paragraph 2 states — grant customary rights of occupancy to any person or organisation for the use of land for grazing purposes and such other purposes ancillary to agricultural purposes as may be customary in the local government area concerned. Regrettably, efforts to speak with relevant local government and land officers on the applicability of this section of the Act to the killings did not materialise.
A SPURNED SACRIFICE; THE FLEEING SOLDIERS
For many reasons, Rwang Dalyop Dantong cannot believe or explain the volatility that has come to define his darling Plateau State. It is a puzzle this reporter shares. In all the correspondences that culminated in the half-an-hour interview at the Solomon Lar Amusement Park — from the civility with which he responded to a journalist’s interview request, to his timely early-morning appearance at the park — Rwang cuts the picture of a man too soft-hearted and affectionate to hurt a fly. This palpable good-naturedness, he maintains, is the hallmark of the average Plateau man.
“The Plateau man, especially the Berom man, is hospitable, accommodating; and almost every ethnic group in Nigeria lives peacefully with us,” he says, bolstering the declarations with his trademark soothing mien. “We give land very freely to people. We have never had any problem with anybody.”
From 1994 till date, the clashes-turned-attacks were ccompanied by some landmark tragedies that should ordinarily have restored peace to the troubled state. One of them is the killing of Rwang’s immediate elder brother and senator representing Plateau North at the National Assembly, Gyang Dalyop Dantong, while attending the mass burial for hundreds slain in Riyom and Barkin Ladi local governments in July 2012. Rwang is stunned that the senator’s death has had little influence on Plateau’s acute need for peace.
“You see, we should — out of that death alone — allow peace to return to the state. That was what I expected,” he says in his characteristic measured tone. “Peace should return to Berom land, because if a whole senator went to a place to settle issues, and he was attacked and killed, that is quite unfortunate. I felt that that tragedy alone would touch the hearts of people to resolve their differences, to turn from evil and return to reality.”
The nadir of the death itself is the failure of soldiers at the mass burial ground to mount any form of resistance against the attackers. More than a year on, his disappointment is still evident.
“I was disappointed in the military, highly disappointed that a whole senator and a majority leader of the House of Assembly were with the military, and all the soldiers could do was tell them to run for their dear lives,” he laments. “Then what is the hope of the common man — the common man who has no security around him? The soldiers told everybody to run; and they themselves ran rather than face the attackers.”
A FLICKER OF HOPE
His disappointments notwithstanding, Rwang knows a number of attitudinal and religious changes over the years offer a glimmer of hope for the eventual arrival at a solution. The Berom, he reveals, are no longer ritualistic.
“Most of us are born-again Christians. Therefore, our people have embraced God as the final solution to this thing,” he says. “We have groups in the Berom nation, such as the Berom Ministers Forum (BEMFO) and the Berom Outreach Ministries, which engage in fervent prayers for God’s intervention.”
In addition, various ethnic groups have welcomed peace-focused non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to the plateau, such as the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue that has engaged the Berom, Afizere, Anaguta, Fulani and Hausa in a six-month dialogue.
“We are highly committed to this dialogue, but the unfortunate thing is that each time we enter the dialogue, we come up with a roadmap towards actualising resolutions of the dialogue,” he says. “Each time we go into it, every ethnic group comes with its own problems, so that we can table and solve them. But unfortunately, for the Fulani man, it ends up at that forum. He doesn’t go down to the grassroots to explain to others what we are really doing at the dialogue.”
Leaders of all the ethnic groups, he continues, must be sincere; and if they can, there is nothing so difficult to handle. “If a Fulani man, for instance, is talking of cow rustling — and this is the major concern they always raise — then they should come up with names of the suspects, if they have.
“There are ways to deal with suspects — and those ways are always better than engaging in violence. Most times, the Fulanis confess that they launch reprisals for theft of their cows. But in the end, they will kill innocent children. For instance, during a recent attack … a father who saw the assailants was protecting his child of two years. They shot the man; they shot the child. The most worrisome is the case where a gun was put into the mouth of a five-month-old baby, and he was shot. For God’s sake, is that a reprisal? Is that how a solution can be worked out?”
DIALOGUES, DIALOGUE, AND MORE DIALOGUE
His appeal is that existing fora for dialogue should be fully explored by all the concerned groups. “We should come to a roundtable,” he insists. “Let the Fulani tell us what the problem is; after all, we have been living together and socially interacting with them for decades.”
He transfers the pain in his heart to his eyes when he recalls the good days prior to 1994, when there was no problem at all — when a Berom man could sleep in a Fulani man’s house and the Fulani man could do same in a Berom’s.
“We gave them all the lands free; and it is not as if we restricted them from grazing. There are the grazing routes; there are vast lands we made available for them to graze,” he says. “But now, the world has changed. There are many ways by which animals can be fed. It must not always be by going around in search of grass.”
As far as he knows, the Berom would remain relentless in their commitment to peace-building because, as he says, they are highly hospitable and reputable peacemakers. “On our own part, the Fulani have been allowing their cattle to destroy our farms,” he says. “But we have never at one point said because they destroy our farms, we will attack them. We have always taken the issues according to the laws of the land by reporting them to the police or other appropriate authorities. Compensation has always been paid, and it ends there. But in their case, they would just complain that cows are missing; and the next thing is that they would attack, sometimes wiping out an entire family.”
A TRIBE UNDER THREAT
Mourners at the burial of Jerry Dalyop
Daniel Choji has one conviction: there is a grand plan to drive the Berom into extinction. And at the heart of this devious plan are a complicit trio: the Federal Government, the Army, and the Fulanis. While the Federal Government, in his estimation, has been negligent about security in Plateau, the Fulani hinge their killings on false accusations of cattle rustling by the Berom, as proven by the killing of six people at a compound in Heipang on December 17, 2013, none of whom has ever owned or stolen a cow. Finally, he accuses soldiers of siding with the Fulani — for ethnic and pecuniary interests.
“People were just having their dinner, and unknown gunmen arrived to attack them,” he says of the assault that resulted in the death of his cousin, Jerry Dalyop, aged five, and five others. “Soldiers drove in shortly after the attack. They rushed into the bush in the direction of the attackers; and we believe that they went in there to drive away the attackers. One, they didn’t come to interact with the victims. Two, they were not after the aggressors.”
Considering that the soldiers moved towards the direction of the aggressors and subsequently drove out, Choji believes it is spot-on to assume that the soldiers re-emerged from the bush in company of the aggressors. And to have kept mum on their findings, to have ignored people whose families have just been murdered, to have uttered no word to anyone on the whereabouts of the assailants or on the plight of victims, according to Choji, is testament to the soldiers’ grave complicity — a line of action that has now become routine.
“This has always been the issue in most of the attacks. The situation is very pathetic,” he laments. “The soldiers did not even say anything to the victims, because they came on a mission. If they had come with the mission of safeguarding the community, they would have driven straight to the compound of the victims to ask for the direction that the aggressors followed. But that they didn’t do. They came in, passed by the compound, and drove inside. Only God knows what they went in there to do.”
Choji believes soldiers are siding with Fulanis
These soldiers are complicit in these attacks, he reiterates, “without mincing words”, which is why he will continue imploring the Federal Government to reconsider the composition of soldiers on the plateau, “because they have not come as neutral umpires, but are doing certain people’s bidding”. This, he insists, is the basic recipe for forestalling what could eventually degenerate to full-scale inter-ethnic clash reminiscent of the Rwandan genocide.
In Choji’s view, the ongoing attacks are devoid of religious colouration. There are Muslims among the Berom; the Christians among them have interacted with Muslims; all of them, their parents interacted and lived with Muslims. So, he is sure the killings are nothing religious. Simply put, they are ethnic.
“The killers are just a set of aggressors that does not want to see the Berom people on the face of the earth,” he says. “These people want to extinct the Berom people; and the Federal Government is aware, because the government normally has information of most of these attacks. The soldiers and mobile policemen who have come on the pretext of protecting us know who the aggressors are. Attackers come in the military uniforms; and by the time you mention it, the Army makes a defence. But in a short while, the world will know who these people are.”
He wants President Goodluck Jonathan, as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, to be more involved in the military affairs of Plateau or vest state governors with autonomy over the Police in their respective states. For all Choji cares, non-military alternatives to resolving the killings are on the table of the government and security chiefs.
“There are so many options, he says. “If the government really wants these attacks to end, I am assuring you that this terrible trend will end. The Military should work by the rules of engagement. They are here on an assignment to protect both the victims and the aggressors. A soldier — whether Fulani, Muslim or Christian — should be unbiased.”
Building on that, he begs the Army to shed itself of money-grubbing soldiers, as corruption has been the bane of these attacks. “You send a soldier on an assignment; and after six months, he wants to ride a flashy car, build a skyscraper or build a house that he hasn’t built in 20 to 30 years of his military career,” he fumes. “Soldiers who are ready to work are the ones who should be posted to Plateau, while those who want to enjoy these luxuries and make quick money should leave the Army and maybe join politics.”
He reckons the solution will be anything but easy to come by, considering that the attacks are only part of a complex web of sinister plots oiled by private individuals with vested interests.
“The aggressors have money. They hire the soldiers; they give them money,” he alleges. “Verify the [bank] account of most of these soldiers: both the officers and the men on ground. You will see the influx of cash into their accounts each time there is an attack.”
He emphasises for the umpteenth time that government and security agencies can ill-afford to dawdle on addressing the litany of unresolved killings in the villages of Plateau, especially as all concerned parties — even if the ringleaders cannot be personally identified — know exactly what they are up against.
“The soldiers know the aggressors. We know the aggressors, and they are the Fulani, because the soldiers have accompanied the Fulani, not once or twice, into our villages in search of cows,” he says emphatically. “That is only when the soldiers react. They react when cows are missing, but when people die, soldiers don’t react. They are the aggressors, the soldiers and the Fulani. The Berom, meanwhile, are the victims.”
