A cordon and search exercise carried out by the military following Boko Haram’s attack on Zabamari Muna, near Maiduguri, has led to the discovery of a jeep full of Improvised Explosive Devices, IEDs, defence spokesperson, Chris Olukolade, has said.
“The jeep along with 2 hilux vehicles being used by terrorists were destroyed in the course of pursuit and encounter with a group of terrorists trying to escape after simultaneous attacks on targets in the communities Thursday and Friday,” Olukolade said in a statement made available to the media on Saturday.
He added that a soldier was among the casualties that resulted from the attacks, where six female suicide bombers detonated themselves, as the insurgents tried unsuccessfully to force their way into the state capital.
“Military Explosives Ordinance experts backed by Police Bomb Disposal Units are continuing with vigorous search for any bombs that might have been hidden or left unexploded in the area,” Olukodae added.
The spokesperson said there is an on-going deployment of additional troops and equipment “to enhance the scope of the mission both within the country and at borders,” as the military launch simultaneous offensives against the insurgents in various fronts.
The federal government has indicated it willingness to dialogue with the Boko Haram extremists in order to bring the violence that has rocked the North east to an end as quickly as possible.
It said however that the insurgents must be willing to take part in such peace initiatives.
This position was made known by president Muhammadu Buhari’s special adviser, media and publicity, Femi Adesina, on Friday, in an interview with the BBC.
In the interview, Adesina expressed the government’s sadness at the needless loss of lives as a result of the insurgency and stated that the government was open to peaceful overtures to end the crisis.
He also said the government was doing all it could to deal with the insurgency..
“You will notice that his first two weeks of administration were dedicated to tackling the insurgency. He visited Chad and Niger Republics and the following week, the Presidents of those countries also visited him in Abuja.
The President of Benin Republic and the Defence Minister of Cameroon visited him; machinery is being put in place and once we’re through, we will see the end of the group. The target time for the deployment of the multinational force is July ending; that is in a couple of weeks,” Adesina stated
He said the issue of dialogue was being considered as a means of resolving the insurgency.
“If the insurgents are willing to dialogue, why not? You know attempts have been made for negotiations in the past and they didn’t work. Every reasonable person would want to see the end to this insurgency.
So if they are willing, why not? You can’t rule that out.”
Six female suicide bombers were part of a failed Boko Haram insurgents’ attempt to force their way into Borno towns Friday evening, as they killed scores of civilians and injured 21 others, the state police commissioner, Aderemi Opadokun, has confirmed.
Opadokun, who made this known to reporters through text, said the attack happened around 7.00pm.
“Six (6) female Suicide bombers detonated IEDs on their bodies while trying to infiltrate Maiduguri via Muna garage on Mafa/Dikwa road, killing themselves and many others.”
However, the attackers were unsuccessful, as a combined team of the military and youth vigilante group succeeded in pushing the insurgents back.
According to a security source, the insurgents advanced from Koshebe village in Mafa, about seven kilometres from Zabarmari in Jere local government area before the government forces took them on.
Friday’s attack came few days after the insurgents similarly invaded Kukawa, Monguno, Malari and Miringa and killed about 200 people.
The crisis that has engulfed the Osun State University, UNIOSUN, which culminated in the locking of horns between the management of the university and the chairman of the institution’s Governing Council, Prof. Gabriel Olawoyin reached its crescendo recently with the June 10, 2015 release of an abridged version of the White Paper on the report of Prof. Adebiyi Daramola-led Visitation Panel set up by Governor Rauf Aregbesola, the Visitor to the institution.
For the UNIOSUN community and stakeholders, the release of the White Paper was expected to douse tension and provide an opportunity for fairness, justice and strict adherence to extant laws and rules governing the institution with the promise of a new order in the university.
But such lofty dreams have disappeared into thin air as the report has further polarised the school and engendered mistrust and suspicion due to its politicization and the legitimization of the injustices it ought to tackle due to its alleged manipulation to suit the agenda of the Governing Council slated for dissolution.
Consequent upon the acceptance of the Visitation Panel report and the release of the White Paper report by Osun State government, the appointments of key players in the institution were ordered to be terminated. Prof. Bashiru Okesina – Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Julius Faniran – Registrar, Alhaji Fatai Lasisi and Prof. Siyan Oyeweso became casualties in the ensuing power game in the institution.
However, a closer look at the White Paper that emanated from the recommendations of the Visitation Panel raised a lot of questions begging for answers.
It has also raised doubts in certain quarters that the panel report might have been doctored and the White Paper scripted to suit the persecution mentality of the chairman of the Governing Council and powerful insiders within the state government desperate to cash in on the crisis to feather their own sectional agenda.
In the first instance, the panel sought to ensure fairness and justice between the two parties in the crisis through its Recommendation 1 where it says, “in view of this, and to avoid a one-party-win-the-other-lose- situation, the Panel recommends the following, bearing in mind the danger of dissolving both the Council and Management at the same time.’’.
Consequently, “the Prof. A.B. Okesina-led Management should be terminated by relieving the Vice-Chancellor, Registrar and Bursar of their positions in the Osun State University immediately.’’
This recommendation, aside from being at variance with Recommendation 2 which retains the Olawoyin-led Council for another six months to search for a new Vice-Chancellor and other principal officers for the university, [the Governing Council an indicted party in the crisis also recommended for dissolution] raises the fundamental questions of fairness, justice and crisis management ability on the part of the Visitor.
The university runs on the committee system. In all of these, there seems to be no recorded attempt of any committee set up to reconcile the management and council by the supervising authority from the state government before the relationship festered and broke down irretrievably.
The Panel hinged its Recommendation 5 for the dissolution of Council on its failure to meet geographical spread as per representation as clearly stipulated in Osun State University Laws 2006. The law provides for two representatives from each of the three major zones of the state, namely Osun Central, Osun East and Osun West, a representative each from the alumni association and the National Universities Commission, NUC, the Pro-Chancellor, VC, DVCs, representatives of Senate, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Osun State.
Even when the University might have met other requirements of the law as regards membership of Council, out of the three major zones in the state, Osun East has five members out of the six required namely: Governor Rauf Aregbesola – Visitor; Oba Okunade Sijuwade – Chancellor; Prof. Gabriel Olawoyin – Pro-Chancellor/Chairman of Council; Dr. Mrs Abeke Omotoso [sister of Visitor] – Member, Sir Ademola Aladekomo – Member
The only representative from Osun Central is Prof. Akinyinka Omigbodun while the demise of Chief Remi Olowude has left Osun West without any representative in the Council.
From the point of constitution of the Council, it has no representative of the NUC and the alumni association. Now, Prof. Ajibola Obafemi from Ogun state is the chairman of Council following the resignation of Prof. Gabriel Olawoyin. It is logical to argue that the inability of the university to meet the requirements of its laws as regards the composition of Council could render its decisions ultra vires and of no effect. A
nother dimension to the panel report is that those relieved of their jobs or indicted are mainly from a particular section of the state thereby fuelling speculations of a zonal cleaning agenda. The Registrar, Bursar, Prof. Siyan Oyeweso and Prof Wasiu Gbolagade are all from Osun West axis of the state.
It is probably a mere coincidence that two out of the three most qualified for the office of the Vice-Chancellor of the university in view of current developments are Prof. Oyeweso and Prof. Gbolagade. The former was relieved of his appointment while the latter was banned from holding any position in the university.
The third person is Prof. Bayonle Olorede from Osun Central. He never appeared before any panel for any wrong doing whatsoever but was axed by the panel report and banned from holding any office in the university for five years.
Tongues are wagging already of a clandestine plot to seize the jugular of the university in a high wired politics of succession in the race for the office of the Vice-Chancellor.
The script being allegedly put together by two key figures in the Aregbesola administration is to alter through a review of Osun State University Laws 2006 the 10-year post professorial experience required for the office of the Vice-Chancellor to favour a former Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the university, who is presently a teacher at Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ogun state.
This could be the reason behind the insertion of Recommendation 53 which sought to hijack the traditional role of Ministry of Justice to review laws for the Ministry of Regional Integration and Special Duties. The panel recommended that the Visitor should ensure the passage of the amended laws of the university before the Osun State House of Assembly.
The recommendations says that “the Governing Council be directed to revise the proposed reviews in view of current realities, and make appropriate amendments that will ensure ease of governance in the university at all time.’’
The government position on Recommendation 53 is that the review should be “forwarded to the Ministry of Regional Integration and Special Duties for processing. Council should note and comply.” While Professors Wasiu Gbolagade and Siyan Oyeweso were singled out for sanctioning by the panel for attending “rebellious meetings” against the Governing Council at the VC’s house where the decision to boycott the 12 January, 2015 Council meeting was reached, others at the meeting like Professors Oguntola Jelili Alamu, Dayo Idowu Akintayo, Fikayo Ezekiel Babatunde and Mr Maxwell Oyinloye, the university librarian were not mentioned for any penalty.
To pledge his loyalty, Oyinloye wrote a letter of apology to the Council chairman dated 13 April, 2015 for his absence at the 12 January Council meeting. Another seemingly contradictory position of the panel lies in Recommendations 8 and 9. At 8[d] that forms part of the reason adduced for recommending Prof. Siyan Oyeweso’s employment termination was “his insistence that the Council had been dissolved without enjoining the Management to seek official clarification on the matter; and basing his advice to Management on that erroneous belief.’’
Meanwhile, in Recommendation 9[d], Professor Wasiu Gbolagade was punished with a ban from holding any office in the University “for having the effrontery to forward the circulars on the purported dissolution of the Council to the Chairman of Council with ulterior motives, and circulating the circulars among some staff rather than advising the Management to seek proper clarification.’’
Ademola Akinyemi of the Bureau of Cabinet and Special Services, Office of the Governor, in a letter dated 3 December, 2014 titled “Dissolution of State Executive Council’’ had among others ordered the immediate dissolution of the State Executive Council and Boards of Parastatals and Commissions effective from 26 November, 2014 with the exception of {a} Civil Service Commission {b} Judicial Service Commission {c} State Independent Electoral Commission.
It was amidst the speculations on the status of the Governing Council as per the dissolution ordered by government that Prof. Gbolagade, a member of Council representing the Senate, wrote a letter to the Vice-Chancellor demanding clarification on the status of the Council. Another question mark on the report of the panel was the observation made by the former Bursar of the institution on Recommendation 13.
According to Alhaji Fatai Lasisi, in a letter addressed to Governor Aregbesola dated 22 June, 2015, he stated that he needed to correct “some inaccuracies, fallacies and misrepresentation in the White Paper released which I presumed arose out the of main report submitted by the Professor Gregory Adebiyi Daramola-led panel.’’
Lasisi noted that while Recommendation 13 stated that, “The Bursar, Prof. Folorunso Kizito, Prof. Wasiu Gbolagade and other person yet to refund the money paid to them as IGR proceeds should be able to make refunds with immediate effect” and was so accepted by the government, the true position of the situation was that “the money being referred to is not IGR proceeds in general terms but honoraria for participation in the Pre-Degree programmes and honoraria for Project Supervision as approved by Council at its meeting of Tuesday, May 13, 2008,” he insisted.
The former Bursar, whose share of the money in question has been refunded since December 3, 2013 and officially acknowledged, wondered why the identities of others like Mrs Abidemi Okunola, Mr Adenrele Akinwumi and Mr Isaiah Makinde Fayemi [non-academic staff members of the institution] who are also beneficiaries of the honorarium was shrouded in secrecy while he, Prof. Wasiu Gbolagade and Prof. Folorunso Kizito were singled out for publication in the gazette report.
He enjoined the governor to see to it that the error is corrected and published as an addendum to the gazette White Paper “to ensure fairness, equity and justice. There is no doubt that the current atmosphere of mistrust and uncertainty that pervades the university is not conducive to the serenity, tension-free environment and a sense of camaraderie needed to engage in unfettered exchange of ideas, research and knowledge reproduction.
It remains to be seen whether the contending forces struggling for control of the university will put the long term interest of the university first or let their selfish desires drown the future of this promising citadel of learning. Only time would tell.
Banji Adebayo, a management consultant and UNIOSUN stakeholder, writes from Lagos.
The Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, has promised that the current fuel crisis bedeviling the capital city, Abuja, would end in a couple of days.
According to reports monitored on the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, the DPR said about 3.2 million litres of petrol were released to the city from Suleja depot on Thursday.
Zonal spokesperson for DPR, Abuja, Mohammed Saidu, who gave the assurance on Friday, said that the volume supplied on Thursday would bring fuel supply to the city within two days to 9.3 million litres.
He said that 6.1 million litres of fuel were lifted by marketers from Suleja Depot on Wednesday to meet the demand of motorists in Abuja.
He, however, expressed optimism that the situation would improve before next week.
He warned marketers against hoarding or selling above the official pump price, adding that whoever was caught defrauding or cheating motorists would face the full wrath of the law.
He said that the DPR would take decisive action against such marketers or filling station owners.
Despite his assurance, long queues could still be seen in parts of the city and environs on Saturday as motorists struggled to get fuel for their cars.
A few filling stations that had the products could also be seen selling above the official pump price of N87 per liter.
Meanwhile, black marketers were seen on major streets of the city selling to motorists at prices between N200 to N250 per liter.
This is in spite of the purported setting up this week by the Federal Capital City, FCT, Police command, of a task force to combat illicit sale of petroleum products headed by the commissioner, Wilson Inalegwu.
Addressing the press during the week, the Abuja police chief warned that the task force would arrest and prosecute anyone caught selling petrol in jerry cans and other such containers.
In spite of this, black market sale of petrol continues even in the Abuja metropolis unchecked.
President Muhammadu Buhari has told the All Progressives Congress, APC, lawmakers to respect the party’s supremacy and put their personal interests in their “pocket”.
The President made the remark during his opening speech at the APC’s National Executive Committee meeting, the first since the 2015 general elections, at the party’s secretariat in Abuja.
“Let APC work. Let the system work. I appeal to you to accept the superiority of the party. I cannot confine myself in Sambisa forest and refuse to participate in the meeting because I respect the superiority of the party,” Buhari said.
However, national leader of the APC, Bola Tinubu, and former interim chairman of the party and former governor of Osun State, Bisi Akande, were conspicuously missing at the meeting.
Tinubu has not hidden his displeasure at the outcome of last month’s elections in the National Assembly that produced Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara as Senate President and Speaker, House of Representatives, respectively, the emergence of the two has plunged the party into deep crisis.
While Buhari had always maintained that he was ready to work with whoever emerged leaders in the National Assembly, he has been quick to urge members to respect party decisions.
Friday’s meeting, which brought the who-is-who in the party, save for the two prominent absentees, was expected to resolve the crisis affecting the party, and the President’s message to the lawmakers is expected help ease tensions.
Suspected members of Boko Haram group on Friday stormed Miringa, a village in southern Borno State, and killed 11 members who had defected from the sect, slitting their throats, residents said.
The victims were said to have deserted the sect few days earlier and relocated to the village, leaving residents suspicious and panicky.
Abba Modu, a member of Civilian-JTF, the youth vigilante group, said the attacks took place around 4.00 am As people were heard screaming but villagers were too scared to come out.
“Everyone knew in the village that the men who recently came back to settle among them were Boko Haram because they had left long ago and showing by their appearance and sudden return,” Modu said.
One of the villagers, who did not disclose his name said, “When we heard their cries, we knew they must have been attacked by their Boko Haram colleagues, and when we came out in the morning, we saw the 11 of them in the pool of blood with their throats cut.”
The Coalition of Progressive Political Parties, CPPP, an umbrella organization for about 13 registered political parties in Nigeria, has condemned the call by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for the acting chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Amina Zakari to be removed.
While affirming its support for the new INEC boss, The group called the PDP’s criticism as dangerous, irresponsible and inciting.
Zakari’s appointment by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday drew sharp criticism from the PDP’s national publicity secretary, Olisah Metuh.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday and signed by the chairman of the coalition and national chairman of Peoples Democratic Movement, Bashir Ibrahim, the group decried what it described as “the dangerous precedent, whereby a political party is trying to decide for the country who becomes the INEC chairman.”
The CPPP said the appointment was constitutionally the preserve of the President and the National Assembly.
“Any interference by political parties in the appointment of INEC officials is tantamount to politicising the process and the commission itself, which is capable of creating dangerous schism in the commission and generating unnecessary tension in the country,” the statement read.
It added that INEC was an independent election management body which must be insulated from politics and irresponsible politicking.
“The power of and procedure for the appointment of the chairman of INEC is a constitutional matter and not subject of bargaining by political parties, especially those who are yet to come to terms with the fact that Nigeria is on a very strong change trajectory. INEC is also a regulator of political parties,” CPPP stated.
The coalition noted that Zakari was fit for the position as she was the most senior national commissioner going by her time of service at the commission.
Boko Haram insurgents have killed 145 persons in two separate attacks on Musarram and Kukawa communities in Borno State.
The attacks which occurred on Tuesday and Wednesday also left many people injured.
According to fleeing residents, the insurgents killed 48 men in the attack on Musarram on Tuesday.
Musarram village is located 8km away from Monguno, a town that has also suffered similar attacks in the past.
In the second attack on Wednesday, the insurgents killed 97 persons in Kukawa, a border town with Niger Republic.
A resident, Haruna Ibrahim, said he escaped by the whiskers when the attack took place in Musarram.
According to him, the insurgents numbering about 40 carefully selected the males from the captives before opening fire on them.
A member of the House of Representatives who represents the area, Muhammed Tahir Monguno, confirmed the incident.
“I received the sad news yesterday that Boko Haram terrorists had attacked some communities near Monguno. Since their dislodgment from the Sambisa forest, many Boko Haram terrorists had relocated to areas around Monguno where they have been picking on hapless villages and killing residents there,” he said on phone.
He said the attack on Musarram was particularly alarming as the residents were just resting from the rigors of their fast when the insurgents struck.
A farmer resident in Kukawa, Mohammed said over 50 Boko Haram militants stormed Kukawa at about 6.30pm on Wednesday killing 97 persons in a matter of hours.
“The terrorists first descended on Muslim worshippers in various mosques who were observing the Magrib prayers shortly after breaking their fast,” Mohammed said.
He said after the attack, the militants went round four other communities where they opened fire on worshippers at different mosques.
“They spared nobody and they even took time out to set most of the corpses on fire. They equally proceeded to houses and shot indiscriminately at women who were preparing food,” Mohammed said.
One of the residents of Kukawa, Abba Isa said the terrorists killed his aunt.
“They also killed my uncle and his children. They killed his children, about five of them and set his entire house ablaze,” he lamented.
A member of the vigilante group in the area, Modu Kurawa, said the attacks went on for over four hours without the intervention of government security forces.
There was no immediate comment on the attack from both the military and the police in Maiduguri.
President Muhamadu Buhari has sacked the Director General, DG, of the Department of State Security Service, DSS, Ita Ekpeyong and appointed a director in the agency, Lawal Musa Daura, as his replacement.
The new appointment which was conveyed on Thursday via a letter by the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, takes immediate effect.
Ekpeyong was first appointed as DG of the security agency in September, 2010 by former President Goodluck Jonathan and was reappointed for another four year term in September, 1014. Ekpeyong had at least three more years to serve before he was suddenly replaced.
Daura, the new boss of the security agency was a director in the service and served as deputy director of the presidential communication, command and control centre at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, between 2003 and 2007.
He was born in Daura on the August 5, 1953 and attended the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria from 1977 – 1980.
He commenced his career in the DSS in 1982 and quickly rose through the ranks to become a director.
He also served at various times in Kano, Sokoto, Edo, Lagos, Osun and Imo States.
He has attended various professional courses both home and globally, including the leadership course at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, NIPSS, Kuru, near Jos.
There had been speculations about Ekpeyong’s fate with the new government since Buhari won the election, as the security chief and the DSS were adjudged in some quarters as having been partisan in the movement to the last general elections.
The then opposition party, All Progressive Congress, APC, accused the DSS and its officials of hounding its officials and working out an agenda to favour the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the election.
Early in the campaigns, operatives of the DSS had raided the APC office in Lagos, arresting its staff and confiscating its computers and electronic gadgets. The DSS also accused the APC leadership of planning to clone voters’ card, an accusation the APC had denied.
After Buhari won the polls and on assumption of office at the villa, about 263 DSS operatives deployed to the villa had been rejected ostensibly due to a crisis of confidence in the agency..
A native of Cross River State, Ekpeyong was the first director of the Institute of Security Studies in Abuja, a training school for Intelligence Officers.
Appointed in September 7, 2010 by Jonathan, he was initially the director of the Senior Staff Development Centre of the DSS, Bauchi.
Ekpenyong also held director positions at the DSS in the states of Bauchi, Kwara, Lagos,Anambra and the Federal Capital Territory before being appointed DG.
