B’Haram: The ‘Concerned Northern Muslim Professionals’ and their Letter to the Sultan

B’Haram: The ‘Concerned Northern Muslim Professionals’ and their Letter to the Sultan

26 Jul 2014

Font Size: a / A

SIR ABUBAKAR

WITH Collins Edomaruse

Acouple of weeks ago, a group of ‘Concerned Northern Muslim Professionals’ stirred the hornet’s nest with an open letter to His Eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar lll. The group, under the leadership of a certain Alhaji Mohammed Saidu, said in the letter that it drew its inspiration from a similar lamentation by Gen. Yakubu Gowon, on the deteriorating state of security in parts of the North.

Titled: ‘Echoing the Message of General Yakubu Gowon’, the group said, inter alia: The retired General and Elder statesman then called on the leadership of the Islamic faith in northern Nigeria to work towards stopping the Boko Haram carnage and also correct the negative ideology of the sect to the right Islamic teachings of tolerance, peace and love. He cited the Muslims in the south-west as a good example of peace and religious tolerance; to the extent of inter-marriages between Muslims and Christians in the south-west of Nigeria.”

Having been fired up by the challenge of the former Head of State, the Concerned Northern Muslim Professionals (CNMP) ran to the leader and custodian of their faith in the country, the Sultan. Theirs is akin to the story of a poor little school boy that was publicly chastised by his head teacher for his failure to cough up the term’s school fees. Battered and downcast, he packs his tattered bag and baggage and heads for home to meet his parents, sobbing and cursing the challenges that have come the way of his educational pursuit. However, unknown to him, his parents are equally dead helpless with the situation, but would nonetheless, call him, cuddle him and give him the assurances of returning him back to school after raising the fees from a planned sales of his farm produce at the next market day. The good news is that the poor boy completed his education, gainfully employed and now, he’s the bastion of the family!
Emboldened by the inspiring story of the poor school boy as enunciated above, the CNMP made for their father and rightly so for help. Read this: “This message of the former head of the Nigerian state was just a repetition of several similar calls by other prominent Nigerians across faith-divide. It is therefore becoming embarrassing to some of us that are Muslims and from the northern extract. We always ponder over what exactly do these respected Nigerians mean whenever they demand for the action of Muslim leadership to stop the carnage. As far as we know the Muslim and Islamic leadership in Nigeria comprised all the Ulamas and Emirs under the leadership of the Sultan of Sokoto; who doubles as the President-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, and also the leader of the Jama’atu Nasril Islam. And as far as we know the Sultan and his team do not have weapons or control over the security personnel in Nigeria. Then, what action is required of them?
“After deep thoughts and self-scrutiny we got some hints on what additional things, apart from the traditional condemnation, the Sultan and his team ought to do or to have done; in order to save our country from the  persistent shocker of the Boko Haram. We wish to respectfully state that some visible and invisible steps, actions and structures were supposed to have been entrenched by the leadership of the Nigerian Muslims, in order to achieve the following:
* A visible action towards stopping the spread of the radical ideologies of Boko Haram among Muslim youths that leads to acts of terrorism. This could be achieved through intellectual religious engagements/confrontation with the  radical Islamic groups that can easily be defeated using superior arguments from Muslim clergy. This is supposed to be the preoccupation of all Emirs and Imams; under the leadership of the Sultan. Such an effort is surely capable of yielding the required result.
* Several Boko Haram members would have laid their arms and many wouldn’t have joined the erroneous sect. Unfortunately, this was not to be. There have not been any visible or invisible effort by the Muslim leadership to convene such engagements at even a single location, let alone covering the whole troubled region. That could be why demand for action on the leadership is repeatedly made by well-meaning citizens.

* An invisible local intelligence structure to augment the government’s security and intelligence provisions was expected by Nigerians. People are aware of the Mai unguwa intelligence mechanism that existed in the Muslim communities. In those good olden days, timely and accurate local intelligence was always at the disposal of the authority. People now wonder why such networks couldn’t be resuscitated by the leadership and even reinvigorated by modern technologies? The call on the current leadership of the Muslim umma for action against Boko Haram could be on such need to re-invent this mechanism; so that the terrorists are trailed and apprehended at community level before causing havoc.
*Visibility of greater concern to other victims of the Boko Haram (especially the non-muslims) is also another step towards sharing a collective pain and encouraging a united front against the insurgent Boko Haram. For instance, if the Sultan would be seen mobilizing wealthy Nigerians (muslims and non-Muslims alike) to donate to the  victims of Boko Haram, or would be seen leading the Emirs and Ulamas on a solidarity visit to troubled communities in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states, or even to the smallest church in any remote village among the severally attacked ones; an overwhelming difference could have occurred in the troubled minds of the victims’ relations; thereby exonerating the larger part of the Muslim Ummah. Such were the actions demanded by the respected voices of senior Nigerians!”

As a journalist, the Sultan is one of the religious and traditional leaders I hold in a very high esteem. He has always come across me, not only as a ‘gentleman officer’, but as a leader that craves and works for a peaceful, economical strong and religiously-tolerant Nigeria. As co-chairman of Nigeria’s inter-faith committee, the Sultan has demonstrated at different forums that he is not just a leader that is seated in the Caliphate, but one that also tirelessly works for the good and peace of all Nigerians.
Sir, may I propose that you treat the letter by the CNMP as an endorsement for you by the group that sees you as a leader that can stand and be counted, particularly in these perilous times? Your Eminence, may Allah continue to keep, guide and guard you as you do this for us. It’s a huge task, no doubts; especially as the insurgents are not in any way physically, politically and economically connected with you, safe their claim to be Muslims! Ramadan Kareem to you, sir.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/b-haram-the-concerned-northern-muslim-professionals-and-their-letter-to-the-sultan/184543/

Soldiers, Islamic Sect Clash in Zaria

Soldiers, Islamic Sect Clash in Zaria

26 Jul 2014

Font Size: a / A

By John Shiklam 
       
Members of the of Islamic Movement of Nigeria otherwise known as Shiite, led by Sheikh Ibrahim El-zakzaky, yesterday clashed with soldiers in Zaria, Kaduna State.

About two people were said to have been shot by the soldiers during the incident which occurred at the PZ round about in Zaria.

A lecturer at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria who witnessed the incident but pleaded for anonymity, said the Islamic sect was having a procession to celebrate this year's "Quds"day when they clashed with the soldiers.

According to him, members of the Islamic sect whose procession caused serious traffic jam refused to give way to soldiers who were being conveyed in a military truck.

According to him, the soldiers who were probably coming back from a journey asked them to leave  the road to enable them pass, but the sect members allegedly refused to give way.

"These people blocked the main road along PZ causing serious traffic gridlock, there was a truck carrying soldiers and when the soldiers asked them to clear way for them to pass, they refused.

"They were circulating leaflets condemning Israel for killing Palestinians.
"The soldier fired gun shots in the air for them to give way but some of the youths among them blocked the truck and said they will rather be killed.

"The soldiers shot two of them on their legs and bundled them into the truck and drove off with them. That was how other motorists were able to drive past" he said.

The incident was said to have caused serious panic and pandemonium among residents of the city who ran helter skelter for their dear lives.
However, the leader of the sect, Sheikh Zakzaky could not be reached for his reaction. The situation was said to have been brought under control.

It could not be established whether anybody was killed at the time of this report.
All efforts to confirm the incident failed as several attempts to reach the Kaduna State police commissioner, Alhaji Umar Shehu and the spokesman of the police command Aminu Lawan on telephone were unsuccessful.

The police spokesman did not respond to the text message sent to him by our correspondent .

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/soldiers-islamic-sect-clash-in-zaria/184569/

.Nigeria: Ekweremadu - a Moral Leader

BY GEORGE NJOKU, 22 MARCH 2014.

.Nigeria: Ekweremadu - a Moral Leader

OPINION

Dallas, Texas — Generally, I rarely venture into Nigerian politics and its goings-on but three news stories in recent months that appeared on Thisday Newspaper, National Mirror, and The Sun, "Ike Ekweremadu I Know," caught my interest. The focus of the two stories was on the leadership and associated accomplishments of the Deputy President of Nigerian Senate Ike Ekweremadu. One of the news stories described the deputy senate president as "leadership personified". I was excited and encouraged by this description knowing that political leaders are more exposed to temptation and error than most professions.

There are series of reasons political leaders are exposed to temptation and errors, especially when they are in office. For example, in most societies, political leaders consider themselves as the elites, who have advantages over others and thus tend to lose their moral sense of responsibility. In addition, politics operates in arena of conflict and deals with wealth and power. Politicians seek to maximize the benefits to themselves or their group especially in a free society, which is conflict-ridden. Furthermore, there are no universal fail safe rules for leadership. In fact, Bass (2007) notes that there are as many definitions of leadership as there are those defining them. Despite this ambiguity, there are certain traits such as being ethical, honest, humble, transformational, visionary, and charismatic to name a few that are predominantly evident in most successful or great leaders. And those traits define Senator Ike Ekweremadu.

My approach to leadership is a combination of realism and idealism. Realism in the sense that leaders inevitably make mistakes, and idealism in the sense that politics should be subordinate to ethics, power to responsibility, and pragmatism to the demands of conscience. Most decisions made in all occupations involve value judgment, and value judgment may in some cases lead to ethical dilemmas. Politics is not exempt from this value or ethical dilemma. One of the basic dilemmas of political profession is deciding what level and type of resources that should be allocated to each problem affecting a given segment of society without engendering economic hardship of another. To this end, understanding both professional and personal values (i.e. good and bad or right and wrong) of the individual politician who is part of the decision-making is quite valuable.

In the case of Ike Ekweremadu, I assume him to be not only leadership personified as described above but ethical even though I have not met him in person. The basis of my assumption is predicated on the consequences of several actions and decisions he has made in Enugu State. For example, 700 youths in Enugu State are now acquiring basic skills in information technology as a result of Ike Ekweremadu efforts. In addition, through the efforts of Ike Ekweremadu more than 34 road and development projects have been completed or nearing completion in Enugu State including the construction of a national youth development center.

By directing resources to youth education, Ike Ekweremadu is ensuring the best-educated workforce possible in Enugu State. The economic implication of this act is enormous for the people of Enugu State in particular and Nigeria as a whole. For example, by providing a better- educated workforce, new companies are attracted to the area and more jobs are created which gives great economic boost to the State. Quality schools are the key to qualified students, which is necessary for stronger families, thriving communities and a brighter economic future. It appears that Ike Ekweremadu knows that education is the key to great opportunities and I hope he spreads this knowledge to other politicians in different parts of the country. Let me commend Ike Ekweremadu for focusing on what matters and that is that success starts with quality education.

It is refreshing and encouraging knowing that somebody like Ike Ekweremadu will fight for conservative values in a country where others will not stand up for the common good. I may not come from Enugu State but I am happy that there is a leader in Nigerian politics that is willing to use available common resources for the benefit of many.

In life, doing 'good' is better than feeling good. Those who subordinate their ego to their ideas will endure forever. Leadership demands two kinds of courage: the strength to take a risk, and the humility to admit when the risk fails. Ike Ekweremadu, I thank you for being a leader who has taken the risk of subordinating your politics to your ethics and pragmatism to the demands of your conscience for the sake of humanity.

Dr. George Njoku, a Ph.D. holder in geology and Environmental Health & Safety Specialist, writes from Dallas, Texas.

Soyinka Backs Achebe on Civil War Memoir

Soyinka Backs Achebe on Civil War Memoir

17 Oct 2012

Prof. Wole Spyinka

Ike Abonyi with agency report

Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has backed his literary colleague, Prof. Chinua Achebe, in the raging controversy over the roles of some prominent Nigerians during the Nigerian civil war.

Soyinka, in an interview published in The Telegraph of London, but obtained by THISDAY yesterday, said the Igbo were victims of genocide during the three-year civil war, which was fought to break up Nigeria.

Achebe had stirred the hornet’s nest in his civil war memoir, “There Was A Country”, when among others, he accused wartime Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon and the then Finance Minister, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, of carrying out a genocide against the Igbo.
The claim has generated considerable controversy, with many commentators accusing Achebe of re-writing history.

Soyinka, however, justified the secession bid and described Biafrans as “people who’d been abused, who’d undergone genocide, and who felt completely rejected by the rest of the community, and therefore decided to break away and form a nation of its own.”

He also condemned religious militancy, saying now is the time to tackle Boko Haram, the insurgent group that has visited terror on the North, killing over 1,500 since 2009.
According to him, what Boko Haram is doing is not religion, but criminality.

He said: “All religions accept that there is something called criminality. And criminality cannot be excused by religious fervour. Let me repeat something I first said at the meeting organised by UNESCO a few weeks ago, which was prompted by the recent film insulting the religion of Islam and depicting the Prophet Mohammed in a very crass way.
“The first thing to say is that we do not welcome any attempt to ravage religious sensibilities. That can be taken for granted. But you cannot hold the world to ransom simply because some idiots chose to insult a religion in some far-off place which most of the world has never even heard of. This for me is a kind of fundamentalist tyranny that should be totally unacceptable.

“So a group calls itself the Boko Haram, literally: ‘Book is taboo’, the book is anathema, the book is a product of Western civilisation, therefore it must be rejected.

“You go from the rejection of books to the rejection of institutions which utilise the book, and that means virtually all institutions. You attack universities, you kill professors, then you butcher students, you close down primary schools, you try and create a religious Maginot Line through which nothing should penetrate.

“That’s not religion; that’s lunacy. My Christian family lived just next door to Muslims. We celebrated Ramadan with Muslims; they celebrated Christmas with Christians. This is how I grew up.

“And now this virus is spreading all around the world, leading to the massacre of 50 students. This is not taking arms against the state, this is taking up arms against humanity.”
He said the unrest in Nigeria following the Boko Haram insurgency had attained a critical mass and criticised the way the Federal Government was handling the terror war.

“The president of Nigeria is making a mistake in not telling the nation that it should place itself on a war footing. There’s too much pussyfooting, there’s too much false intellectualisation of what is going on, such as this is the result of corruption, this is the result of poverty, this is the result of marginalisation.

“Yes, of course, all these negativities have to do with what is happening right now. But when the people themselves come out and say we will not even talk to the president unless he converts to Islam, they are already stating their terms of conflict,” he added.
Soyinka said if religion were to be taken away from the world, he would be one of the happiest people in the world.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/soyinka-backs-achebe-on-civil-war-memoir/127912/#.UH41NBGVanA.facebook

Ezillo Attack: Death Toll Rises to 66

Ezillo Attack: Death Toll Rises to 66

02 Jan 2012

Font Size: a / A

By  Christopher Isiguzo 

About 14 fresh bodies were recovered yesterday in Ezillo community in Ishielu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, raising the death toll from last Saturday’s invasion of the community by gunmen to 66.

Also, Governor Martin Elechi, has said the unfortunate development marked a bad omen for the state, given the number of lives lost in the attack.

Initially, the number of deaths was 52; it later rose to 60 before it rose to 66, according to the youths of the area who had been combing bushes in the area in search of bodies of slain relatives and friends.

The youths who spoke to journalists, who accompanied the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) in charge of Zone 6 Calabar, Mr. Saidu Daya, to assess the level of carnage in the area, stated that the dead bodies were recovered when a search team constituted by the villagers combed nearby bushes and environs.

The victims comprising children between the ages of three to 10 years, men, adults and the elderly had different parts of their bodies severed while others had mortal gunshot wounds.

The police AIG confirmed that a team of mobile policemen from neighbouring Cross River, Rivers and Akwa Ibom states have already arrived the State and deployed to the crisis area to beef-up security and restore normalcy.

He said detectives from force headquarters Abuja will equally be drafted to Ebonyi State to carry out investigation with a view to fishing out those behind the attack.
Daya appealed to the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Hafis Ringim, to authorise the establishment of mobile police unit at Ezillo.

The AIG who was accompanied by the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Adeola Adeniji, also used the opportunity to console the people of the area including the traditional ruler, Eze Chima Oyiba, who lost one of his sons, four vehicles and property worth millions of naira, after he narrowly escaped.

At the end of the visit, the AIG paid a condolence visit to Elechi at Government House Abakaliki, where he commiserated with him and assured that the police would do all that was necessary to bring solution and also bring the perpetrators of the dastardly act to book. He said he was sent on the visit by the IGP, Ringim, who he said expressed his sympathies over the tragic incident.

In a state-wide broadcast yesterday tagged: “That Evil May Not Endure”, Elechi expressed dismay over the resurgence of the communal crisis which was thought to have been resolved, said the latest development was a phase in the cycle of destruction and bloodletting which have been the lot of the people of the area since May 10, 2008 when the crisis initially broke out.

“The shock waves sent by the latest incident are not only because of the wantonness of the destruction, but also because it came at a time when Ebonyi people and other Nigerians thought that peace had returned to Ezillo.

“As Ezillo burns and Ebonyi people mourn, I want to assure our people and all Nigerians that the State government will stop at nothing to fish out the perpetrators of this dastardly act neither shall we shirk our responsibility to protect lives and property everywhere in the state. We all feel the pains of the bereaved families and we all share their grief,” the governor noted.

The governor further noted in his broadcast that “enemies of peace invaded Ezillo in the early hours of yesterday (December 31, 2011) and proceeded to murder men, women and children who had no inkling about the tragedy that befell them. That was not all. The Ezillo market was burnt down, shops were razed, vehicles burnt and other properties destroyed.”

He however assured people of the state that the security agencies have been given directives to clear the Abakaliki-Enugu Federal Highway which cuts across the warring community of any kind of blockade in order to ensure free-flow of traffic.
Already, the governor has asked the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) to undertake an urgent assessment of the conditions at the crisis area for immediate state intervention.

However, sources at the community told THISDAY that more corpses were recovered late Saturday from the bush within the village, while the number of those who sustained bullet injuries is also on the increase.

Unknown gunmen had last Saturday invaded the Ezillo community killing scores of indigenes of the community including the Divisional Crime Officer (DCO) in charge of the police station in the area. Those killed include; children between the ages of three to five, aged men and women and youths, as well as over 100 Donkey.

Ezillo people had been fighting a communal war with Ezza-Ezillo people, which claimed more than 150 lives before the intervention of law enforcement agents in 2010 that sacked everybody from the disputed land. Since then, relative peace had pervaded the community.

Meanwhile, the South-east zone of the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) has condemned the mass killing of the innocent indigenes of Ezillo by unknown gunmen describing the development as act of terrorism.

In a statement by the Zonal Director, Olu Omotayo, the organisation called on the federal government to immediately find ways of ending such acts of barbarism and terrorism, noting that if left unchecked, there are still strong indications that the situation could go out of hand.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/ezillo-attack-death-toll-rises-to-66/106267/

Nigeria’s N40bn Satellite Missing from Orbit

Nigeria's N40bn Satellite Missing from Orbit

By Efem Nkanga, 11.12.2008

The Nigerian Commun-ications Satellite (NigComSat), which was launched into orbit over 18 months ago, is said to be missing.
THISDAY gathered last night that with the satellite missing from orbit, the huge amount spent by the Nigerian government, about N40 billion may have gone down the drain.
The satellite was found to have run into a technical hitch for some weeks now, according to a source, when it was discovered that it was using a technological standard that was not meant for Africa but Asia.
The materials used in the building of the satellite by the Chinese that built it were said to have also been in question.
The solar panel was said to be faulty and not working. All this was being battled with while, the Managing Director of NigComSat, Ahmed Rufai, was said to be angling for the launch of the second satellite.
The contract for the NigComSat project which was signed on December 15, 2004 in Abuja between China Great Wall Industry Corporation and the National Space Research and Development Agency was said to have cost the Federal Government over N40 billion. China was awarded the deal after it outbid 21 international.
The cost of the satellite include items such as construction, insurance, value added tax as well as the price for building one ground control station in Abuja and a backup control station in Kashi, China.
The satellite has four gateways said to be located in South Africa, China, Italy and Northern Nigeria.
The satellite, which has a lifespan of 15 years, is being monitored and tracked by a ground station built in Abuja while the Chinese firm, Great Wall Industry Corporation, has a ground station in Kashgar, in northwest China 's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
It will be recalled that NigComSat which is 100 per cent owned by the Federal Government, was recently given a 15 per cent stake from the Federal Government's 49 per cent stake in NITEL.
Nigeria in May 2007 launched NigComSat into orbit with expectations of tremendous gains to the nation's telecoms sector.
The NigComSat is a super hybrid geo-stationary satellite designed to operate in Africa, parts of the Middle East and southern Europe and was expected to digitalise the Nigerian economy and promote technological advancement in Nigeria and Africa.
The expectation from many quarters was that NigComSat's carrier rocket, Long March 3-B, which blasted off from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province and entered the orbit accurately on May 14, would set the stage for Nigeria to consolidate on its growing profile as the technological hub of Africa and an emerging player in the global terrain.
The satellite project was supposed to enable Internet access to even the remotest rural villages, a major quest of stakeholders in recent times. It was also expected to enhance government's economic reforms, particularly in the areas of e-learning, e-commerce, tele-medicine, tele-education, and rural telephony.
The project, according to experts, was expected to help African users save more than $900 million spent for telephony trunking and data transport services, $660 million in phone call charges and broadband access which is more than $95 million spent each year, as well as create more than 150, 000 jobs for Nigerians.
Rufai had before the launch disclosed that Nigeria would earn about $1.05billion which is N128billion yearly from NigComSat. A major part of the earnings was expected to come in from the sale and leasing of transponders from NigComSat.
Rufai had stated that each transponder, forty in all will be sold for between $60-70 million. NigComSat currently has forty transponders, with 28 active and 12 inactive.
However despite the huge expectations of Nigerians, NigComSat has not performed to expectations. Rufai at a recent media interaction agreed that NigComSat had not been able to capture the market principally because of the challenges it faced from the regulatory authority.
Government sources confirmed to THISDAY the failure of the satellite in orbit. While admitting that the level the failure has gone is mindboggling, the source disclosed that the Federal Executive Council will meet today on the matter and issue a statement on how the failure will be addressed.

NEWS SOURCE

170 Granted Nigerian Citizenship

.

170 Granted Nigerian Citizenship

08.06.2008

No fewer than 170 people yesterday received certificates of Nigerian citizenship from the Minister of Interior, retired Maj.-Gen Godwin Abbe.
The naturalised Nigerians are 39 females and 131 males from different nationalities.
Speaking on the occasion, Abbe urged the beneficiaries to help create jobs for ``our teeming unemployed youths. ``You have the patriotic duty to ensure technology transfer to help make Nigeria one of the foremost countries in the world by 2020. ``Your new status as bona fide citizens of Nigeria confers on you, the fundamental rights, privileges and immunities applicable to any Nigerian by descent'' .
He further explained that, ``Nigerian Constitution allows dual citizenship. You are therefore, permitted to retain the citizenship of your respective countries of birth or descent''.
The minister said their status ``unofficially'' bestowed on them, the responsibility to ensure and sustain solid mutually beneficial responsibility between their countries of birth and Nigeria.
He asked beneficiaries with citizenships of other countries other than those acquired by birth or descent to renounce them within 12 months as required by the constitution.

http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=118917