Despite the order of arrest by Nasir el-Rufai, Governor of Kaduna State, leaders of the coalition of Northern groups that gave Igbo a three-month notice to quit northern Nigeria say their call was not an invitation to violence but one to allow Igbos achieve their ambition of having their country.

In a statement issued in Kaduna on Thursday, signed by Abdulazeez Suleiman, the coalition berated governors Nasir el-Rufai and Kashim Shettima of Kaduna and Borno states respectively, on their stand against them, saying that the governors were driven by their ambitions to be vice president.

It insisted that it never called “anybody to violence” but maintained that the “the North will never partake in any contrived arrangement that would still have the Biafran Igbo as a component”.

It called on Nigerian authorities and recognised international bodies, such as the ECOWAS, AU and UN, to hasten the initiation of the process for the final actualisation of the Biafran nation and with it the excision of the Igbos out of the present federation.

“In strict observance of that tradition we never employ violence as a means of pursuing our interest and at every opportunity, we opt for peaceful engagements and implore people to eschew violence in all its ramifications,” read the statement.

“This informs why, a majority of discerning Nigerians, not necessarily northerners alone, understood and identified with our express call for the Biafrans to be allowed to actualise their long-held secessionist aspiration.

“We restate that we have never called anybody to violence and that people should discountenance the elements of fear and threat introduced by the distortions of merchants of mischief.

“We wholeheartedly endorse the moves made variously by our leaders to allay those fears and urge people to be peaceful and law-abiding while at the same time resolutely insisting on having the right thing done by allowing the Igbo to have and move to their dream country in accordance with the universal fundamental right to self-determination.

“We restate our determination and commitment to ensuring that the north will never partake in any contrived arrangement that would still have the Biafran Igbo as a component.

“We reiterate our call on Nigerian authorities and recognised international bodies such as the ECOWAS, AU and UN to hasten the initiation of the process for the final actualisation of the Biafran nation and with it the excision of the Igbo out of the present federation.

“Despite the minor distortions that caused some measure of anxiety, we make bold to say that the cheerful responses to our position which flowed through the internet and by way of personal telephone conversations nationally and universally has resonated that peace-loving Nigerians who have been tormented and menaced by the irredentist proclivities of the Igbos are overwhelmingly desirous to put an end to it.

“As we acknowledge this outpouring of patriotic support across the nation, we implore people, particularly our cultured northerners to remain restraint in the face of any provocation from any quarter and to debate intelligently.

“We assure them that we shall be firm and resolute in honestly and painstakingly pursuing what we all know is a noble and just cause without hurting anyone.”

Yemi Osinbajo, Acting President, has arrived Maiduguri, Borno State, a day after Boko Haram killed at least 10 and injured more than 40 in Jiddari Polo area of the state capital.

The attack occurred while soldiers were battling to repel an initial onslaught by insurgents trying to invade the city via the southern flank.

Nevertheless, Osinbajo arrived the city on Thursday to flag off the federal government’s grain distribution programme in the north-east.

He visited the palace of Shehu of Borno, on arrival, where he said “it is in the heart of President Buhari that the federal government feeds the internally displaced persons (IDPs)”.

Laolu Akande, his spokesman, said he was in the company of Kashim Shettima, Borno State Governor; Bindo Jibrilla; Abubakar Alli, Deputy Governor of Yobe State; Babagana Monguno; senators and some ministers.

Speaking at the internally displaced persons (IDPs) camp, Kashim Shettima, Governor of Borno State said he had thought the Acting President would cancel the flag-off as a result of the attacks.

The Federal Government Grain Distribution Programme aims to distribute food to 1.8 million persons affected by insurgency in the north-east.

According to the presidency, the distribution is expected to be carried out by officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in partnership with State Emergency Management Agencies (SEMAs) and international humanitarian agencies.

The first phase of the programme being flagged off by the acting President involves 30,000 metric tonnes of grains, comprising maize, sorghum and soya beans grown locally by Nigerian farmers and purchased from Nigerian companies.

Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture, says the huge progress so far recorded in the agricultural sector, especially in the local production of rice, is collapsing the economies of six countries that hitherto relied heavily on the importation of rice to Nigeria.

The minister said this when he appeared as a guest on Focus Nigeria, a current affairs program on Africa Independent Television (AIT), on Wednesday.

Answering a question on why locally produced rice costs more than imported rice, he noted that countries like India and Thailand, that are renowned for the production of rice, provide subsidies for their farmers, consequently reducing the landing cost in Nigeria.

“Nigeria is a dumping ground for foreign rice, and these countries actually subsidize their farmers,” Mohammed said.

“So the landing cost of a bag of rice from India to Nigeria is cheaper than the locally-produced rice because the government there wants to dump it and they are subsidizing the farmers.

“And this is what we are working at also, to give subsidies to farmers, not in terms of money but in terms of probably subsidizing their transportation, which we are working on.

“But the truth of the matter is that the rice they are bringing, some of them are 10 years old. They are simply re-bagged.

“But the economies of six countries are collapsing, because of the measures we have put in place.Yes it is true that a lot of rice is still being smuggled, but officially, we’ve been able to cut importation from 580,000 (metric tonnes) to 58,000 in one year.”

He maintained that the Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government had recorded tremendous success in the three major items it campaigned on: economic revival, security/anti-terrorism campaign and war against corruption.

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The Senate on Thursday passed the Witness Protection Programme Bill, which was sponsored by Isiaka Adeleke, the Osun State lawmaker who passed on last month.

The bill is intended to protect whistle-blowers and witnesses who are directly involved in the prosecution of certain criminal cases.

This followed the adoption of a report presented by David Umaru, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Human Rights, Legal Matters and Judiciary.

After the bill scaled the second reading in October 2016, the senate had agreed to merge it with a similar bill seeking to protect persons making disclosures for public interest and other forms reappraisal, sponsored by Abiodun Olujimi, PDP-Ekiti.

Adeleke, while leading the debate when the bill was being considered for second reading last year, said there should be a legislation in place to protect witnesses in certain cases, such as terrorism.

The bill provides that in such cases, witnesses could be allowed to wear masks, bear pseudo names and receive protection from authorities.

In her argument, Olujimi said the bill would boost the anti-corruption and anti-terrorism campaign of the federal government, as citizens would be more willing to assist security agencies with vital information since they are certain of protection.

She pointed out three instances at the Ministry of Aviation, Women Development Centre and the Police Service Commission where whistle-blowers were fired.

After the bill was passed on Thursday, Ike Ekweremadu, Deputy Senate President, who presided over the day’s plenary, dedicated it to the memory of the late Adeleke who sponsored the bill but did not live to see its passage.

The bill, however, cannot become law until it is also passed by the House of Representatives and assented to by the president.

Kingsley Obiejesi

The senate has confirmed the appointment of Sylvanus Nsofor, an 82-year-old retired justice who was appointed ambassador designate by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Nsofor’s appointment had earlier been rejected by the lawmakers during an earlier screening, but the president re-nominated him and this time around, his appointment was upheld.

During his first screening exercise, the retired justice, when asked why he wanted to be ambassador despite his age, reportedly asked the lawmakers to go and ask Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe what he was still doing as the country’s President.

And when he was asked to recite the national anthem, he reportedly asked the senators what it had got to do with the position of an ambassador.

But during Wednesday’s plenary, Monsurat Sunmonu, Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, said Nsofor performed better than he did during his first appearance.

“The nominee answered all questions appropriately and his appearance was better than the previous one,” Sunmonu said.

Also, a report by the Department of State Services (DSS), had recommended that Nsofor was unfit to hold the office owing to his age, but the Senate committee “believes that he should not be penalised based on age since he was able to demonstrate the necessary skills during the exercise”.

“The DSS report did not state any criminal report against this candidate,” Sunmonu added. “Hence the committee resolved to give him a chance. The committee is satisfied with his second appearance and performance.”

Two other non-career ambassadorial nominees, Joseph Iji from Ondo state and Yusuf Hinna from Gombe state, were also confirmed on Wednesday.

By Yekeen Nurudeen

Three siblings — Onukaogu Onyinyechi Esther, Onukaogu Joshua and Ebenuwa Chinazo Jennifer — have been arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court on a 13-count charge of conspiracy and obtaining by false pretence.

The three of them were said to have drawn salaries as ghost workers from the federal ministries of education and works, for three years, to the tune of N9million before the law caught up with them.

Esther allegedly abused her office while being staff of Soft Alliance, consultants to the office of the Auditor-General of the Federation, on IPPIS between 2012 and 2013, to input her name and two of her siblings (Jennifer and Joshua) into the IPPIS database as staff of Federal Ministry of Education and Federal Ministry of Works respectively, for the purpose of receiving salaries from the federal government.

The offence breaches Section 1 (1) (a) and is punishable under Section 1 (3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, No. 14, 2006.

“That you Onukaogu Onyinyechi Esther and Onukaogu Joshua between January 2014 and December 2014, at Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with the intention to defraud, obtained the sum of N1,860,865.72 (One Million, Eight Hundred and Sixty Thousand, Eight Hundred and Sixty Five naira, Seventy Two Kobo, only), from the Federal government of Nigeria, under the false pretence that Onukaogu Joshua is a civil servant working in the Federal Ministry of Education, which pretence you knew to be false,” reads Count 6 of the charge.

But the accused persons pleaded not guilty to the charge, just as Elizabeth Alabi, the counsel to EFCC, urged the court to fix a date for trial and to remand the suspects in prison custody.

M. Hirse, the defence counsel, informed the court that he had pending applications for the bail of the defendants.

Responding, Alabi urged the court to refuse the application, saying “they were once granted bail and they jumped it”.

However, Justice A. Adepoju ruled that “the purpose of bail is to secure the attendance of the defendants in court. It is their constitutional right to be granted bail”.

The judge granted each of the defendants bail in the sum of N5 million with one surety each in like sum. The sureties must be civil servants not below salary Grade Level 10, while the matter was adjourned to September 21, 2017, for hearing.

Meanwhile, the accused are to be remanded in EFCC custody pending the perfection of their bail conditions.

Nasir el-Rufai, Governor of Kaduna State, has ordered the arrest, investigation and prosecution of the northern youths who signed a statement compelling south-easterners to vacate the north.

On Tuesday, northern youths organisations — Arewa Citizens Action for Change, Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, Arewa Youth Development Foundation, Arewa Students Forum and Northern Emancipation Network on the Igbo Persistence for Recession — had given Igbo residing in the region up till October 1, 2017, to leave.

But responding on Wednesday through a statement by Samuel Aruwan, his spokesman, el-Rufai assured every resident of the state that nobody could tamper with their freedom to reside where they choose.

He said the constitutional right of every Nigerian to own property, move freely and to live in peace and harmony is sacrosanct.

He “strongly” condemned the “inciting, hate speech delivered by some self-appointed northern youths seeking to target and violate the rights of our citizens of Igbo extraction”, and urged security agents to arrest them and ensure their prompt prosecution.

THE FULL STATEMENT

The Kaduna State Government takes exception to the fact that the “northern youths” did their irresponsible press conference in Kaduna.

This government has been consistent in taking action to punish hate speech and incitement. People who may feel unhappy about irresponsible comments or actions that have taken place in other states must know that two wrongs cannot make a right, and they cannot use our state to do or say things that threaten the peace.

The Kaduna State Government condemns in the strongest terms the press statement by some self-appointed “northern youths” that threatened the safety and property of our citizens of Igbo extraction.

Government assures every resident of our state that their constitutional and human rights to live peacefully and own property wherever they choose is sacrosanct. Even people who may feel unhappy about irresponsible comments or actions that have taken place in other states must know that two wrongs cannot make a right.

The Kaduna State Government believes in and will uphold the right of every Nigerian to live safely and develop his/her full potentials within its territory.

Reckless disregard for the rights of other citizens drips through the press statement by these “northern youths” who have chosen to use the discourse around restructuring to promote their own agenda of hate, division and incitement. This sort of opportunists cannot be allowed to distort debate, or turn it into a pretext for a barely-disguised agenda of displacement and dispossession of some citizens.

We will not tolerate such irresponsible statements and conduct in our state. The statement issued by the “northern youths” violates the laws of Kaduna State. Therefore, the Kaduna State Government has directed that its Ministry of Justice should prepare charges and prosecute the signatories and anyone complicit in arranging this egregious assault on the rights of fellow citizens.

Preparatory to prosecution, the police have been directed to immediately arrest, interrogate the signatories to the statement and investigate all the circumstances and persons that may be implicated in the matter.

The Kaduna State Government urges all residents to ignore the threats from the “northern youths”. We are in contact with the leadership of the Igbo community in Kaduna, and we delighted to say that this community, like all our other communities, believes in the strength of the constitutional order to protect all citizens.

KDSG wishes to encourage all our people to celebrate the diversity with which the Almighty has blessed us, to continue to shun agents of division, and to stand firm in upholding a common humanity. Everyone has a right to live in peace and harmony.