Tue, 28/02/2012
According to Leadership Newspaper, some delegates of the last governorship primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in Edo State have gone into hiding following mounting pressure on them from failed aspirants to return all cash gifts and vehicles allegedly given to them as inducements for their support. The primaries were overwhelmingly won by retired Major General Charles Airhiahvbere who scored a total of 403 votes.
Aspirants who lost out in the primary election include Barrister Kenneth Imansuagbon, who polled (178 votes), Professor Julius Ihonvbere,( 24 votes), Former Governor of Edo State, Professor Oseriemen Osunbor, (22 votes) and Hon Matthew Iduoriyekemwn(94 votes).
LEADERSHIP gathered that some of the delegates were said to have received between $ 5, 000 and $10, 000 including car gifts from some of the failed aspirants .
An agent to one of the aggrieved aspirants, who was responsible for the disbursement of the monies is threatening fire and brimstones if the delegates fail to return all monies collected.
A close source to one of the aspirants who crave anonymity said some of the statutory delegates who had promised to deliver their wards and local government area had permanently switched –off their cell phones while others were said to have travelled out of the state.
It would be recalled that aggrieved aspirants after the electoral panel chairman, Nyesom Wike declared Gen Charles Airhiahvbere as the party’s flag bearer, stormed out of the venue of the congress in protest.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Google takes over Motorola Mobility
From all indication Google/Motorola Mobility deal is imminent.
Subject to ‘decisions from a few other jurisdictions’, Google may have eventually signed the deal to acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5billion.
But not without a shrug from European and American authorities who concede that the deal is legal so far but anything might happen along the line.
They do not trust that Google will not default ‘on antitrust’ down the road. They all promised the Giant Web Search that they would be vigilant, just in case.
We keep our fingers cross to see where the roads eventually leads.
Subject to ‘decisions from a few other jurisdictions’, Google may have eventually signed the deal to acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5billion.
But not without a shrug from European and American authorities who concede that the deal is legal so far but anything might happen along the line.
They do not trust that Google will not default ‘on antitrust’ down the road. They all promised the Giant Web Search that they would be vigilant, just in case.
We keep our fingers cross to see where the roads eventually leads.
“Syrian rebels will get arms” Clinton suggests
LONDON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suggested on Thursday ,Feb.23 that Syria's opposition will ultimately arm itself and said she would bet against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's staying in power.
Speaking directly to Russia and China, which have blocked U.N. Security Council resolutions designed to end the violence in Syria, Clinton said the government's "brutality" against its own people was unsustainable in the internet age.
"The strategy followed by the Syrians and their allies is one that can't stand the test of legitimacy or even brutality for any length of time," Clinton told reporters in London.
"There will be increasingly capable opposition forces. They will from somewhere, somehow, find the means to defend themselves as well as begin offensive measures," she added.
"It is clear to me there will be a breaking point," Clinton said. "I wish it would be sooner, so that more lives would be saved, than later, but I have absolutely no doubt there will be such a breaking point."
Speaking ahead of a gathering of Western and Arab powers on Friday, U.S. officials separately said the group planned to challenge Assad to provide humanitarian access within days to civilians under assault by his forces.
The officials, speaking before a "Friends of Syria" meeting expected to gather more than 70 nations and international groups in Tunis, did not say what specific consequences would follow if Syrian authorities failed to provide access.
If Assad fails to comply within 72 hours, a senior administration official in Washington said repercussions from the Tunis group might include new steps to plug the gap in sanctions Syria has tried to evade, including efforts to move money through Asia, Russia and Eastern Europe.
Another possibility, the official said, would be broadening an arms embargo already enforced by the United States, the European Union and Turkey, and being more rigorous in forcing the revocation of insurance for any ships that might carry weapons to Syria.
ARMING THE REBELS?
The official said members of the "Friends of Syria" group were likely to pledge specific amounts of aid but did not expect them to consider arming the opposition. Arab diplomats have suggested, however, that formal or informal moves to arm the rebels may be discussed.
The Syrian military pounded rebel-held Sunni Muslim districts of Homs city for the 20th day on Thursday, despite international protest over the previous day's death toll of more than 80, including two Western journalists, activists said.
"One of the things you are going to see coming out of the meeting tomorrow are concrete proposals on how we, the international community, plan to support humanitarian organizations ... within days, meaning that the challenge is on the Syrian regime to respond to this," said a U.S. official.
For more than a year the Syrian opposition has called for Assad, whose family has ruled Syria for four decades, to step down in the latest of the "Arab Spring" uprisings against authoritarian rulers in the Middle East.
The continued strife reflects both Assad's determination to remain in office as well as the major powers' inability to agree on a strategy on whether to try to ease, or force, him out.
Russia has said it will not attend the gathering in Tunis.
Russia has repeatedly said it does not want a resolution to become a pretext for regime change, something it believes took place when the Security Council authorized the use of force to protect civilians in Libya and that ultimately helped drive former dictator Muammar Gaddafi from power.
Clinton, however, suggested Russia and China may not be able to sustain their opposition for ever.
"The pressure will build on countries like Russia and China because world opinion is not going to stand idly by. Arab opinion is not going to be satisfied watching two nations, one for commercial reasons one for commercial and ideological reasons, bolstering a regime that is defying every rule of modern international norms," she added.
BETTING AGAINST ASSAD
Residents of Homs fear Assad will subject the city to the same treatment his late father Hafez inflicted on the rebellious town of Hama 30 years ago, when 10,000 were killed.
"When Assad's father conducted his horrific attacks back in the early '80s, there was no Internet, there was no Twitter, there were no social communication sites. There was no satellite television," Clinton said.
"It's much harder, and thankfully so, to have that level of brutality - shelling with artillery your own people - not be known by everyone, most particularly your own people, not after the fact but in real time," she added.
Clinton did not offer details about what the United States and its Arab and European allies might do if Assad refused to let humanitarian aid in, though she spoke of tightening existing sanctions and possibly considering new ones.
"In the event that he continues to refuse, we think that the pressure will continue to build," she said. "So it's a fluid situation. But if I were a betting person for the medium term and certainly the long term, I would be betting against Assad."
Some U.S. officials have avoided answering questions on whether the "Friends of Syria" group may discuss arming the opposition. The United States, in a change in emphasis, on Tuesday suggested it could become an alternative.
The official in Washington said formally cutting diplomatic ties with Damascus was not imminent but the United States wanted to help put the Syrian opposition on the path to legitimacy and recognition.
(Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick; editing by Sophie Hares and Todd Eastham)
Speaking directly to Russia and China, which have blocked U.N. Security Council resolutions designed to end the violence in Syria, Clinton said the government's "brutality" against its own people was unsustainable in the internet age.
"The strategy followed by the Syrians and their allies is one that can't stand the test of legitimacy or even brutality for any length of time," Clinton told reporters in London.
"There will be increasingly capable opposition forces. They will from somewhere, somehow, find the means to defend themselves as well as begin offensive measures," she added.
"It is clear to me there will be a breaking point," Clinton said. "I wish it would be sooner, so that more lives would be saved, than later, but I have absolutely no doubt there will be such a breaking point."
Speaking ahead of a gathering of Western and Arab powers on Friday, U.S. officials separately said the group planned to challenge Assad to provide humanitarian access within days to civilians under assault by his forces.
The officials, speaking before a "Friends of Syria" meeting expected to gather more than 70 nations and international groups in Tunis, did not say what specific consequences would follow if Syrian authorities failed to provide access.
If Assad fails to comply within 72 hours, a senior administration official in Washington said repercussions from the Tunis group might include new steps to plug the gap in sanctions Syria has tried to evade, including efforts to move money through Asia, Russia and Eastern Europe.
Another possibility, the official said, would be broadening an arms embargo already enforced by the United States, the European Union and Turkey, and being more rigorous in forcing the revocation of insurance for any ships that might carry weapons to Syria.
ARMING THE REBELS?
The official said members of the "Friends of Syria" group were likely to pledge specific amounts of aid but did not expect them to consider arming the opposition. Arab diplomats have suggested, however, that formal or informal moves to arm the rebels may be discussed.
The Syrian military pounded rebel-held Sunni Muslim districts of Homs city for the 20th day on Thursday, despite international protest over the previous day's death toll of more than 80, including two Western journalists, activists said.
"One of the things you are going to see coming out of the meeting tomorrow are concrete proposals on how we, the international community, plan to support humanitarian organizations ... within days, meaning that the challenge is on the Syrian regime to respond to this," said a U.S. official.
For more than a year the Syrian opposition has called for Assad, whose family has ruled Syria for four decades, to step down in the latest of the "Arab Spring" uprisings against authoritarian rulers in the Middle East.
The continued strife reflects both Assad's determination to remain in office as well as the major powers' inability to agree on a strategy on whether to try to ease, or force, him out.
Russia has said it will not attend the gathering in Tunis.
Russia has repeatedly said it does not want a resolution to become a pretext for regime change, something it believes took place when the Security Council authorized the use of force to protect civilians in Libya and that ultimately helped drive former dictator Muammar Gaddafi from power.
Clinton, however, suggested Russia and China may not be able to sustain their opposition for ever.
"The pressure will build on countries like Russia and China because world opinion is not going to stand idly by. Arab opinion is not going to be satisfied watching two nations, one for commercial reasons one for commercial and ideological reasons, bolstering a regime that is defying every rule of modern international norms," she added.
BETTING AGAINST ASSAD
Residents of Homs fear Assad will subject the city to the same treatment his late father Hafez inflicted on the rebellious town of Hama 30 years ago, when 10,000 were killed.
"When Assad's father conducted his horrific attacks back in the early '80s, there was no Internet, there was no Twitter, there were no social communication sites. There was no satellite television," Clinton said.
"It's much harder, and thankfully so, to have that level of brutality - shelling with artillery your own people - not be known by everyone, most particularly your own people, not after the fact but in real time," she added.
Clinton did not offer details about what the United States and its Arab and European allies might do if Assad refused to let humanitarian aid in, though she spoke of tightening existing sanctions and possibly considering new ones.
"In the event that he continues to refuse, we think that the pressure will continue to build," she said. "So it's a fluid situation. But if I were a betting person for the medium term and certainly the long term, I would be betting against Assad."
Some U.S. officials have avoided answering questions on whether the "Friends of Syria" group may discuss arming the opposition. The United States, in a change in emphasis, on Tuesday suggested it could become an alternative.
The official in Washington said formally cutting diplomatic ties with Damascus was not imminent but the United States wanted to help put the Syrian opposition on the path to legitimacy and recognition.
(Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick; editing by Sophie Hares and Todd Eastham)
Thursday, February 16, 2012
THE BEGINNING AND END OF HOKO HARAM
By Mark Amaza
For a long time, I have desired to write this article, but I have lacked the courage to do so, especially as it touches on religious issues, particularly one which I am not an adherent of. However, I overcame my inertia when I heard that the Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi had attributed the cause of Boko Haram in the North, specifically the North-East and North-West, to improper wealth distribution or income inequality between the North and the South.
I later saw someone on Twitter trying to justify that claim by comparing per capita income in Rivers State and Jigawa State, with that of Jigawa way less than that of Rivers, despite having a much smaller population. This inspired me to do a Twitter ranting, which for the benefit for those not on Twitter, I will write down in this article.
In a way, I agree with the fact that income inequality has something to do with the emergence of Boko Haram, especially in creating the conditions for them to thrive. However, it is an incomplete picture. It is more important for us to discover the cause of that inequality. Is it that the governments in the South have been more responsive to their people over time, or less corrupt? This, we all know, is not so. Misgovernance and corruption cuts across Nigeria irrespective of region.
National Assembly,Abuja.
The setting of the stage for the emergence of an extremist religious sect like Boko Haram didn’t commence in recent past, but rather decades ago. Since the demise of true leadership in the North in the person of Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Premier and Sardauna of Sokoto, all we have had are opportunists and power-mongers. These unscrupulous fellows formed the class of elites in the North, and comprise of politicians and a lot of clerics. They realized that the best way to continually hang on to power and wealth was to keep the people suppressed, illiterate and uninformed; and what better way to do it rather than use religion. Let me state here that the two regions mainly under focus is predominantly Muslim, except in states such as Adamawa and Taraba, and large parts of Gombe and Kaduna South. Thus began the twisting and politicizing of Islam for their own aims.
occupyNigeria,2012.
It started with the misinformation that family planning was against the tenets of Islam. The argument went that if God in His infinite wisdom gave the woman the privilege to have children till menopause in her 50s, then who was man to limit the number of children she could have. Also, that there should be no worries about how the children and family will get by as God wouldn’t allow them to go hungry. Hence, the poor butcher ends up marrying 3 wives and siring 22 children, way above what his finances can support. In stark contrast, the elite give birth to just about the number of children that his finances can support, and gives them the best he can.
Boko Haram
Also, as children, these poor children are denied polio immunization as a result of another misinformation that polio vaccines are targeted at making the Northern Muslim child infertile in future. While the lower class swallowed this hook, line and sinker, the child of the elite receives vaccination and goes on to live healthy live. His poor counterpart stays with the risk of the crippling disease, and when Lady Luck doesn’t smile on him and he gets polio, he ends up on the streets a beggar.
Kano attack..a police woman inspecting a bombed scene.
Beyond that, the political class, through successive governments in the North, has totally abandoned education. This means that the only means of getting quality education was to enrol one’s kids in private schools, which are out of the reach of the poor butcher and members of his class. The alternative becomes to take his male kids to mallams, who then turn them into almajiris. These mallams sometimes take these kids, as young as 6 in some cases, to as far as Maiduguri from Kebbi, in the name of giving them Koranic education. However, most times, these kids spend their entire time roaming the streets, begging for change and scavenging for left-overs to feed themselves. In the process, they are exposed to innumerable hazards and risks, not to mention being deprived of parental love and care at such young ages. The female children are turned to hawkers with all its attendant risks, and eventually married off in their early to mid-teens. This situation practically forecloses the chance of the poor butcher’s child going to school and using that education to escape the throes of poverty.
The children of the elite, however, enjoy the benefits of modern education, parental care and love and still receive Koranic learning, sometimes at home or at the neighbourhood Islammiya (Islamic school). The girls enjoy the benefit of full secondary education and even tertiary schooling before they get married, mostly to the child of other elite.
While all these ills would have been solved with the ratification of the Child Rights Act as passed by the National Assembly for the protection of the Nigerian child, no legislative assembly in the North-East and North-West has done so. Their excuse? Your guess is as good as mine – it is against the tenets of our religion, not minding the fact that the same tenets they claim to be preserving does not apply to their children.
Kabiru Sokoto,a kingpin of Boko Haram in police custody.
This is the main reason we have been unable to deal with the problem of almajiranci in Nigeria. We are the only Muslim country with this problem as no other country, not even in Africa, not even poor Niger Republic has this problem. In the end, we have an estimated 15 million children roaming our streets under this system that is long overdue for reform. Let me put this in perspective for you: the number of almajirai on our streets equals the entire population of Niger Republic. Mainly, there has been no political will to put an end to this, as those with the authority to do it are the direct beneficiaries of this system.
The worst part of all this is that the elite have successfully brainwashed the people into always accepting whatever that is done in the name of Islam, whether rightly or wrongly. They have put into them the fear of not being able to speak out against this misinformation, for those who are able to discern it as such. This is the main reason that despite the fact majority of Northern Muslims are not in support of Boko Haram, they have been slow to condemn it and also weak in their condemnations.
How do the elite benefit from all these? The end result is not just a fast-growing population in these places, but also that the bulk of that population would be poor, diseased, illiterate and uninformed – the definition of poverty. They then become willing tools in the hands of the elite, either it be from influencing them to vote or support a candidate or policy based on religious sentiments via demagoguery, or using them to rig elections or carry out violence, political or religious.
This isn’t just a conspiracy theory. There abound many stories of the collusion by the elites to create this situation. For example, during the Second Republic tenure of the Kano State Governor, Late Alhaji Abubakar Rimi had a mass literacy programme so successful that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) gave him an award. However, Kano elites were said to be displeased with this program. They were said to have asked him to discontinue it, as they preferred their masses illiterate and uninformed, obviously for easy manipulation. Also, it is said that in the early 1970s, Western education was not encouraged in the Borno Emirate, because as they said, that if everyone was educated, then who will cut grass to feed the horses of the Shehu of Borno?
However, what they did not factor into that calculation was the fact that as these poor kids grew up illiterate and as almajirai, they gradually became frustrated at their poverty and lack of opportunities. This frustration gradually grew into resentment, especially as the children of the elite flaunted wealth before them. They saw themselves being used and dumped by the elite, and then in years to come, by the children of the elite too. They turned more and more into religion, being the opium of the masses, as Karl Marx put it. It then became easy for any firebrand preacher who made the government and the rich the constant target of his rebukes and sermons to amass huge popularity and a large following.
The soil had overtime become much fertilized for religious extremism to be planted and produce fruits. As Barack Obama wrote in his book The Audacity of Hope, religious extremism thrives most in societies where there is economic and politic oppression. What is supposed to be a class war or fight against dictatorship is then redirected to become religious warfare and the anger channelled in this direction. This also shows that military force alone is not enough to quash this terrorist activity. It will only work in the short-term. This is because when Boko Haram is exterminated and these conditions not changed, it would only be a matter of time before another extremist sect starts and rapidly recruits frustrated, disgruntled and brainwashed young men into their ranks.
The solution to this terrorism in the long-term is for the Northern elite class to do a lot of soul-searching and commence the de-politicisation of religion. Clerics must prevail on their adherents to take modern education extremely serious, while governments make sure schools are available to every child. Every house of assembly must ratify the Child Rights Act and make sure it is being followed to the letter. And the biggest of all, we must reform the almajiri system. It is time to dust up the bill introduced by Senator Tafidan Argungu of Kebbi State in 2009, during the last legislative session of the Senate and re-introduce it. Not only that, religious leaders, from imams to sheikhs and emirs must be in the front of championing this reform, else it will die a natural death.
This is the only way that we can guarantee ourselves long0-term security in Nigeria as a whole, and in the North in particular. It is through the power of education that the South and the Middle Belt has been able to pull itself ahead of the North, where dependence on government is way less than up here. That is also the reason that religious extremism is unable to find roots in the South, unlike here. Let us look way beyond guns and tanks and even intelligence to dealing with this situation. They are merely curative.
Prevention, as they say, is the best antidote. Economic and political prosperity and freedom is that prevention.
For a long time, I have desired to write this article, but I have lacked the courage to do so, especially as it touches on religious issues, particularly one which I am not an adherent of. However, I overcame my inertia when I heard that the Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi had attributed the cause of Boko Haram in the North, specifically the North-East and North-West, to improper wealth distribution or income inequality between the North and the South.
I later saw someone on Twitter trying to justify that claim by comparing per capita income in Rivers State and Jigawa State, with that of Jigawa way less than that of Rivers, despite having a much smaller population. This inspired me to do a Twitter ranting, which for the benefit for those not on Twitter, I will write down in this article.
In a way, I agree with the fact that income inequality has something to do with the emergence of Boko Haram, especially in creating the conditions for them to thrive. However, it is an incomplete picture. It is more important for us to discover the cause of that inequality. Is it that the governments in the South have been more responsive to their people over time, or less corrupt? This, we all know, is not so. Misgovernance and corruption cuts across Nigeria irrespective of region.
The setting of the stage for the emergence of an extremist religious sect like Boko Haram didn’t commence in recent past, but rather decades ago. Since the demise of true leadership in the North in the person of Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Premier and Sardauna of Sokoto, all we have had are opportunists and power-mongers. These unscrupulous fellows formed the class of elites in the North, and comprise of politicians and a lot of clerics. They realized that the best way to continually hang on to power and wealth was to keep the people suppressed, illiterate and uninformed; and what better way to do it rather than use religion. Let me state here that the two regions mainly under focus is predominantly Muslim, except in states such as Adamawa and Taraba, and large parts of Gombe and Kaduna South. Thus began the twisting and politicizing of Islam for their own aims.
It started with the misinformation that family planning was against the tenets of Islam. The argument went that if God in His infinite wisdom gave the woman the privilege to have children till menopause in her 50s, then who was man to limit the number of children she could have. Also, that there should be no worries about how the children and family will get by as God wouldn’t allow them to go hungry. Hence, the poor butcher ends up marrying 3 wives and siring 22 children, way above what his finances can support. In stark contrast, the elite give birth to just about the number of children that his finances can support, and gives them the best he can.
Also, as children, these poor children are denied polio immunization as a result of another misinformation that polio vaccines are targeted at making the Northern Muslim child infertile in future. While the lower class swallowed this hook, line and sinker, the child of the elite receives vaccination and goes on to live healthy live. His poor counterpart stays with the risk of the crippling disease, and when Lady Luck doesn’t smile on him and he gets polio, he ends up on the streets a beggar.
Beyond that, the political class, through successive governments in the North, has totally abandoned education. This means that the only means of getting quality education was to enrol one’s kids in private schools, which are out of the reach of the poor butcher and members of his class. The alternative becomes to take his male kids to mallams, who then turn them into almajiris. These mallams sometimes take these kids, as young as 6 in some cases, to as far as Maiduguri from Kebbi, in the name of giving them Koranic education. However, most times, these kids spend their entire time roaming the streets, begging for change and scavenging for left-overs to feed themselves. In the process, they are exposed to innumerable hazards and risks, not to mention being deprived of parental love and care at such young ages. The female children are turned to hawkers with all its attendant risks, and eventually married off in their early to mid-teens. This situation practically forecloses the chance of the poor butcher’s child going to school and using that education to escape the throes of poverty.
The children of the elite, however, enjoy the benefits of modern education, parental care and love and still receive Koranic learning, sometimes at home or at the neighbourhood Islammiya (Islamic school). The girls enjoy the benefit of full secondary education and even tertiary schooling before they get married, mostly to the child of other elite.
While all these ills would have been solved with the ratification of the Child Rights Act as passed by the National Assembly for the protection of the Nigerian child, no legislative assembly in the North-East and North-West has done so. Their excuse? Your guess is as good as mine – it is against the tenets of our religion, not minding the fact that the same tenets they claim to be preserving does not apply to their children.
This is the main reason we have been unable to deal with the problem of almajiranci in Nigeria. We are the only Muslim country with this problem as no other country, not even in Africa, not even poor Niger Republic has this problem. In the end, we have an estimated 15 million children roaming our streets under this system that is long overdue for reform. Let me put this in perspective for you: the number of almajirai on our streets equals the entire population of Niger Republic. Mainly, there has been no political will to put an end to this, as those with the authority to do it are the direct beneficiaries of this system.
The worst part of all this is that the elite have successfully brainwashed the people into always accepting whatever that is done in the name of Islam, whether rightly or wrongly. They have put into them the fear of not being able to speak out against this misinformation, for those who are able to discern it as such. This is the main reason that despite the fact majority of Northern Muslims are not in support of Boko Haram, they have been slow to condemn it and also weak in their condemnations.
How do the elite benefit from all these? The end result is not just a fast-growing population in these places, but also that the bulk of that population would be poor, diseased, illiterate and uninformed – the definition of poverty. They then become willing tools in the hands of the elite, either it be from influencing them to vote or support a candidate or policy based on religious sentiments via demagoguery, or using them to rig elections or carry out violence, political or religious.
This isn’t just a conspiracy theory. There abound many stories of the collusion by the elites to create this situation. For example, during the Second Republic tenure of the Kano State Governor, Late Alhaji Abubakar Rimi had a mass literacy programme so successful that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) gave him an award. However, Kano elites were said to be displeased with this program. They were said to have asked him to discontinue it, as they preferred their masses illiterate and uninformed, obviously for easy manipulation. Also, it is said that in the early 1970s, Western education was not encouraged in the Borno Emirate, because as they said, that if everyone was educated, then who will cut grass to feed the horses of the Shehu of Borno?
However, what they did not factor into that calculation was the fact that as these poor kids grew up illiterate and as almajirai, they gradually became frustrated at their poverty and lack of opportunities. This frustration gradually grew into resentment, especially as the children of the elite flaunted wealth before them. They saw themselves being used and dumped by the elite, and then in years to come, by the children of the elite too. They turned more and more into religion, being the opium of the masses, as Karl Marx put it. It then became easy for any firebrand preacher who made the government and the rich the constant target of his rebukes and sermons to amass huge popularity and a large following.
The soil had overtime become much fertilized for religious extremism to be planted and produce fruits. As Barack Obama wrote in his book The Audacity of Hope, religious extremism thrives most in societies where there is economic and politic oppression. What is supposed to be a class war or fight against dictatorship is then redirected to become religious warfare and the anger channelled in this direction. This also shows that military force alone is not enough to quash this terrorist activity. It will only work in the short-term. This is because when Boko Haram is exterminated and these conditions not changed, it would only be a matter of time before another extremist sect starts and rapidly recruits frustrated, disgruntled and brainwashed young men into their ranks.
The solution to this terrorism in the long-term is for the Northern elite class to do a lot of soul-searching and commence the de-politicisation of religion. Clerics must prevail on their adherents to take modern education extremely serious, while governments make sure schools are available to every child. Every house of assembly must ratify the Child Rights Act and make sure it is being followed to the letter. And the biggest of all, we must reform the almajiri system. It is time to dust up the bill introduced by Senator Tafidan Argungu of Kebbi State in 2009, during the last legislative session of the Senate and re-introduce it. Not only that, religious leaders, from imams to sheikhs and emirs must be in the front of championing this reform, else it will die a natural death.
This is the only way that we can guarantee ourselves long0-term security in Nigeria as a whole, and in the North in particular. It is through the power of education that the South and the Middle Belt has been able to pull itself ahead of the North, where dependence on government is way less than up here. That is also the reason that religious extremism is unable to find roots in the South, unlike here. Let us look way beyond guns and tanks and even intelligence to dealing with this situation. They are merely curative.
Prevention, as they say, is the best antidote. Economic and political prosperity and freedom is that prevention.
BOKO HARAM KINGPIN WITH A WESTERN TASTE: ANOTHER JANUS COMES TO LIGHT
On February 11, 2012, the alleged mastermind of the Christmas Day bombing, 25th December, 2011,(in which several worshippers at a Catholic Church in Madalla were brutally bombed to death with many wounded cases ), Kabiru Abubakar Dikko (a.k.a Kabiru Sokoto), was rearrested by a combined team of the State Security Service and the military, alongside some accomplices, in Muntum Biu village in Taraba State. And from there was moved out of the headquarters of the SSS and handed over to the military.
According to several news portals, after Sokoto was paraded before journalists on Friday afternoon, he was kept in one of the detention cells at the SSS headquarters.
As dusk came however, he was reportedly put into an unmarked security van and driven away under the cover of darkness. Those arrested with him, were also taken away in similar fashion. Several sources had it that the Boko Haram kingpin is being detained in one of the numerous military barracks in Abuja where interrogators will grill him for days to come.
It was further gathered that security had been heightened around locations in the capital and elsewhere where Boko Haram suspects are kept. Investigators are trying to get as much information as possible from Sokoto that would help in tracing the leader and other kingpins of the sect.
He is considered a key member of the Boko Haram sect.
However, one interesting thing about Sokoto, to me has to do with his preference for Western high taste he deployed as of the time of his arrest. To me, for a man that professes deep hatred for anything Western and had for the past years engaged in a bitter struggle to destroy, to be wearing designer tops and pants leaves so much gapping hysteria to contend with.
For instance as of the time of his arrest, he was wearing a Puma polo with Levi Strauss jean pant. I have never been told that such clothing belong to Boko Haram or the Islamic culture which extremism as practice by Sokoto and his ilks have been trying to force on others at what I call ‘Bomb point’ .
It should be noted that his initial arrest turned into a national drama, when his escape triggered a lot of reverberation through the length and breadth of the nation, prompting several action against the Inspector General of police, Ringim and the Police Commissioner, Biu, both of whom have been relieved of their job.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
"I Regret Supporting Subsidy Removal"-Professor Jeffrey Sachs
A can of what seemingly looked like worms was opened sometimes in January around the 15th ,when Professor Jeffrey Sachs , UN Adviser,hined that his initial support for the subsidy removal by the Nigeria government in January 1st,2012 was an hasty decision by him.
Jeffrey Sachs ,is Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and has held several other high-level advisory positions in the international sphere.He has advised governments in Latin America, Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, Asia and Africa, as well as a host of international development agencies.
Recently severalmedia had gone awashed with screaming headlines of how details are emerging about how the Goodluck Jonathan Presidency misled international figures and experts into endorsing its now controversial removal of subsidy on petrol which initially saw the price per liter rising to N141 with the resulting labour strike and street protests.
National Assembly,Abuja.
According to the Special Adviser to UN secretary General on MDG, Professor Jeffery Sachs, an American professor of economics, who visited President Jonathan after the removal of fuel subsidy,the decision was as a good move.
Sachs then commended the subsidy removal policy as “a bold and correct policy”. He described the government intervention programmes in rural development in the past 24 months as innovative.
A mass protest against subsidy removal,Jan..2012.
But Sachs’ position has since shifted following the outrage expressed about his comments on micro blogging site Twitter.
In reaction to continuing criticisms on Sunday, he wrote on @ JeffDSachs that “I do my homework very carefully in general, for 30 years, but not on this one. A mistake I regret…I see better that I don’t know the specific details on the subsidy to be accurate. I’m listening and learning. Most important thing I could say is government must build trust with civil society based on anti-corruption, fairness, accountability.”
On whether he was not told about the level of corruption in Nigeria before endorsing removal of subsidy, Sachs said “They didn’t have to tell me. I’m very heartened to see civil society rising against corruption. Yes, I walked out of a meeting and into a sound bite! Not good. The situation is complex and deep reforms are needed…I’m sorry that I’ve been misinterpreted. It’s hard to be heard accurately in this noisy world!”
He assured those bombarding him with questions that he understood what they are going through in Nigeria. “I’ve noticed how the politicians barely care about the universities. Sad and costly for Nigeria!” He said.
The Professor of Economics said he had no idea about the subsidy removal until it happened, as he was “not in regular contact on macro policy.”
Jeffrey Sachs ,is Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and has held several other high-level advisory positions in the international sphere.He has advised governments in Latin America, Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, Asia and Africa, as well as a host of international development agencies.
Recently severalmedia had gone awashed with screaming headlines of how details are emerging about how the Goodluck Jonathan Presidency misled international figures and experts into endorsing its now controversial removal of subsidy on petrol which initially saw the price per liter rising to N141 with the resulting labour strike and street protests.
According to the Special Adviser to UN secretary General on MDG, Professor Jeffery Sachs, an American professor of economics, who visited President Jonathan after the removal of fuel subsidy,the decision was as a good move.
Sachs then commended the subsidy removal policy as “a bold and correct policy”. He described the government intervention programmes in rural development in the past 24 months as innovative.
But Sachs’ position has since shifted following the outrage expressed about his comments on micro blogging site Twitter.
In reaction to continuing criticisms on Sunday, he wrote on @ JeffDSachs that “I do my homework very carefully in general, for 30 years, but not on this one. A mistake I regret…I see better that I don’t know the specific details on the subsidy to be accurate. I’m listening and learning. Most important thing I could say is government must build trust with civil society based on anti-corruption, fairness, accountability.”
On whether he was not told about the level of corruption in Nigeria before endorsing removal of subsidy, Sachs said “They didn’t have to tell me. I’m very heartened to see civil society rising against corruption. Yes, I walked out of a meeting and into a sound bite! Not good. The situation is complex and deep reforms are needed…I’m sorry that I’ve been misinterpreted. It’s hard to be heard accurately in this noisy world!”
He assured those bombarding him with questions that he understood what they are going through in Nigeria. “I’ve noticed how the politicians barely care about the universities. Sad and costly for Nigeria!” He said.
The Professor of Economics said he had no idea about the subsidy removal until it happened, as he was “not in regular contact on macro policy.”
Monday, February 6, 2012
SHOCKING CONFESSIONS FROM EX-BOKO HARAM WHO CONVERTED TO CHRISTIAN. ALLEGED IBB IS THE MAJOR SPONSOR OF BOKO HARAM.
As posted by Mike Tunde Hubscrown Adewumi on Friday, February 3, 2012 at 9:06am
Question: Who are you and where are you from?
Answer: My name is Sheik Sani Haliru. I am from Niger Republic, but my mother is from Bornu State of Nigeria and I grew up in Wulari, Maiduguri, (Northern Nigeria) where I was trained.
Q: Trained as what and under whose tutelage?
A: I was trained as an Almajiri, after four years, at the age of 14, I was sent to Kano City, Kano State where I was trained in the Sheik Abubakar Gummi School of Arabic studies.
Q: So you know Sheik Abubakar Gummi?
A: Yes, and I also know his children and obeyed all the teachings he laid down before he died.
Q: So who tutored you and who is your mentor?
A: Sheik Abubakar Gummi tutored me. My mentor was Osama bin Laden, and until my conversion from Islam to the Christian faith, my dreams and aspirations in life was to do more than Osama bin Laden did before he died on Sunday, May 1, 2011.
Q: You said that your mentor was Osama bin Laden. Is he still your mentor?
A: I am now a changed person. The Sheik Sani Haliru is now a new creature, old things have passed away because I now have Jesus Christ that I hated and persecuted for 44 years.
Burnt out motor taxi Jan 24 ,police hq in Kano..dressed in cloths resembling in military and police uniform ,when they attacked on Friday 20th , 2012.
Q: Tell me about your past and how many countries of the World you have been to?
A: I cannot tell all about my past because it will take several days to tell my story and about my conversion experience to Christianity. I have been to eight countries.
Q: Can you please name them?
A: I have been to Sudan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Libya, Somalia, Egypt and of course to my own country Niger Republic.
Kano attack..a police woman inspecting a bombed scene.
Q: Where did you receive your training and as what?
A: I received my training in Libya and Pakistan as an Attack Strategist. I was trained along side with some highly placed Nigerians and other foreign Nationals who were marked (he showed me the proof of his mark with a sign) in the form of a sword in the hand to fight and kill for Allah.
Q: Can you give me some of the names of your colleagues with whom you received training in Libya and Pakistan?
A: They are scattered all over the country and we were not too many then.
Q: Just mention but a few names.
A: Ali Baba Nur, Asari Dokubo, Jasper Akinbo, Mohammed Yusuf, Salisu Maigari, Danlami Abubakar, Cletus Okar, Ali Qaqa, Maigari Haliru and Asabe Dantala to mention but a few.
Q: Which of the Asari’s do you mean?
A: The Niger Delta war king. He was a year ahead of me in Benghazi training camp in Libya.
Q: Who financed your training in Libya and Pakistan?
A: You will not believe me and only God will judge the Chief sponsor of terrorism in Nigeria whose name I will not mention because he is so powerful and even the president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, is so much afraid of the man.
Q: If you really know the Christ in you, why are you afraid to tell me the name of the man who sponsored you and the date or approximate period he sponsored you.
A: I am not afraid because he knows me and he cannot deny it if he sees me face to face.
Q: Then tell me, who is this powerful man?
A: The man is no other person than the man they call IBB now as I am talking to you, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida has more than 600 men and women Jihadists who are under his pay role. They are scattered all over the Country and he (IBB) can use them to destroy Nigeria.
Q: Did you say six hundred?
A: Yes 600 + IBB’s agents of destruction are in the Nigeria Army (NA), Nigeria Police Force (NPF), Navy, Air Force, Oil and Gas sectors, even in the finance home such as in top level positions of CBN (Central Bank of Nigeria) and other banks. You find them in politics, in the Senate, National Assembly, in the media both print and electronic and even in Aso Rock, Abuja (Nigeria’s capital).
Q: How do you mean by this statement “and even in the finance…”?
A: Yes, I mean every word I say; even the Islamic bank champion was planted by IBB to help in Islamizing Nigeria.
Q: So how can you describe IBB?
A: IBB is a “green snake” in green grass. He is the main problem of Nigeria along with members of the Cabal.
Q: Have you forwarded any of these evidence(s) to Aso Rock or to SSS (State Security Services)?
A: I attempted to do so a few weeks ago and I was arrested and detained for two days because IBB’S men are so many in SSS (State Security Services) as well. After I was released by the grace of God, they (the Police) warned me never to blow up the polity or provoke violence and I should keep my so-called-born-again with me or else I will go to jail.
Q: So you were a key member and a registered jihadist hardliner.
A: Yes, I was.
Q: Under what group?
A: I was a Boko Haramist. But Boko Haram is just a cover name to give it a name. I have my identity as a founding member of the dreaded jama’aful Ahlul sunna wal Liddawati wal Jihad, aka Boko Haram.
Q: Apart from IBB, who are the other top sponsors of terrorism in this country?
A: They are many, but IBB is the major financier. He introduced the suicide bombing that started when he killed Dele Giwa. I have the names of six traditional rulers and seven present & ex-Governors as well as several top military and security officers who are co-sponsoring the so called Boko Haram. That apart, I have documented evidences to prove that General Mohammadu Buhari, Alhaji Abubaka Atiku and other top politicians and traditional rulers are some of the people behind Boko Haram. Very soon, nemesis will catch up with them.
Q: What if I use my influence to guarantee you safety, can you brief the press to expose IBB (General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida) with all these documents that I am seeing with you right now.
A: Only God can guarantee my safety. He did so on that fateful day when the SSS and police wanted to secretly kill me because of what I unveiled. I would have been a dead man by now if not for a man of God who came as an “Angel” to quietly free me. Right now, I am wanted dead or alive by IBB and his agents of destruction in high places. The SSS are busy hunting for me up & down and arresting and torturing innocent people because of me.
Q: What if I connect you to a man of God by the name of Brother Mike Ejiofor, who is a lawyer, a professional negotiator and a mediator who was the Director of SSS until October 2010?
A: I only wish to be connected to God.
Q: So how can you describe this country?
A: Nigeria is sifting under an Islamic barbaric bomb (IBB). Only God can rescue this nation because 75% of Christians are prayer less. Why? Because they are in their own comfort zone. They do not know what the Christians in Northern Nigeria are passing through and they ignorantly are thinking that the Allah of the Muslims is the same as the God of Christians in the Holy Bible who says: “Thou shalt not kill”.
Q: What does the Qur’an say about Islam being referred to as a religion of peace by numerous Muslim scholars?
A: Let me tell you in a very clear language that Islam is not a religion of peace, but it is of violence, of killers and fighters as already stated in their so called “Holy” Qur’an which I ignorantly followed all these years when I was spiritually blinded as a Muslim.
Q: Can you prove these statements from the Qur’an?
A: [Sani Haliru, who is now known as Solomon Haliru (Paul Haliru’s brother)] brought out two copies of the original Qur’an in the Arabic & English translation. He gave me one, and told me to open the book to Surah Al- baqarah chapter 2 vs 216. It says, “Holy fighting is ordained (prescribed) for all muslims, whether they like it or not, as far as it is good and approved by Allah through his prophet Mohammed.”
Q: Where is it in the Qur’an that killing is also permitted by Allah?
A: Look at Surah Al-baqarah chapter 2 vs 191 “And kill them wherever you find them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out. An Al-Fitnah is worse than killing. And fight not with them at Al-Masjid-Al-Haram (the sanctuary at Makkah), unless they (first) fight you there. But if they attack you, then kill them. Such is the recompense of the disbelievers.” Muslims are told to kill and fight in the cause of Allah.
Q: Does it mean that IBB and all these Muslim traditional rulers and Governors that are sponsoring Boko Haram to kill Christians and burn our churches in the North are not aware of the passage in the Qur’an that says there must not be compulsion in Islam as Mohammadu Buhari asserted in a widely publicized interview on Saturday, the 21st of April, 2011?
A: I have worked so closely with Mohammadu Buahri for five years, and I can prove it that General Buhari is the most notable outspoken jihadist hardliner in Nigeria who is also strategically sponsoring Boko Haram.
Q: General Buhari told a group of pressmen in April 2011 that there is no compulsion in Islam and it is a religion of peace. He quoted Surah Al-Baqarah Chapter 2:225. What can you say to that?
A: What I can say to that is General Buhari, like all other true Muslims, is a hypocrite who is shying away from the fact.
Q: How do you mean by saying that most Muslim millionaires and highly placed Muslims are “pretenders and shying away from the fact”?
A: What I mean is that they (Muslims-both rich and poor) are told to use their position of wealth (or otherwise) to promote Islam or else they will face destruction from Allah.
Q: Where can you find this in the Qu’ran?
A: Open Surah Al-Baqarah Chapter 2:195, it is written here that you must use your wealth to champion Jihad of all kinds or else destruction is waiting for such a person on the last day.
“And spend in the Cause of Allah (i.e. Jihad of all kinds) and do not throw yourselves into destruction (by not spending your wealth in the Cause of Allah), and do good. Truly, Allah loves Al-Muhsinun (the good-doers).”
Q: Have you ever been detained or arrested?
A: Nobody could arrest me until the year 2009 soon after my immediate boss Mohammed Yusuf was killed. About 23 of us were arrested in one of our hideouts in Bauchi. But when Governor Isa Yagiuda heard about it, he immediately arranged for me to be free. Even before his official broadcast in 2010 that he was using his position as the executive Governor of Bauchi State (Northern Nigeria) to free 28 prisoners from Bauchi Central Prison, I was already a free man along with several of my colleagues.
Q: Now can you tell me some of the horrible crimes that you committed and how you got born again and became converted.
A: Old things have passed away and I don’t want to talk about the past, because like Apostle Paul said, we need to press forward in Christ Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
Q: Just mention a few to assist some of us who are making efforts to unravel the mystery of the menace called Boko Haram which you have renounced.
A: I took part in the Kaduna riot of 1992 and in several northern states of Nigeria, but the state I operated more from was Bornu (northern Nigeria) where I was the State Commander/Chief Strategist.
Q: So as Chief Attack Strategist, what crimes have or did you commit before you renounced the deadly sect?
A: In the early months of May 1986, I was among the 36 Jihadist hardliners, who went on a rampage to attack Christian students of the University of Sokoto (Sokoto State in northern Nigeria). In that same week, the Federal Government of Nigeria under the brutal leadership of IBB mobilized us and provided some military vans and Army uniforms which our men used and started killing innocent and defenseless Christians all over the Northern states. I and the son of the Emir of Kano, who is now a Christian by name Rev. Paul Ado Bayero, were among the Muslim fanatics who razed down the sculpture of Jesus at the University of Ibadan (Oyo State in western Nigeria).
The following year, March 5, 1987 to be very precise, the “Evil Genius” General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida secretly armed us through one of his close aids by the name of Captain Hassan Abubakar (now a Pastor with a fast growing church in Lagos). We went to go and kill some targeted Christians including Rev. Nuhu Kure (Throne room founder) after the destruction we committed at the College of Education in Kafanchan, Kaduna State (North Central Nigeria). And of recent, I was the leader of the team of soldiers of Allah that destroyed Church buildings and properties in Bornu State (northern Nigeria).
Q: Can you name some of the buildings and Churches you and your Boko Haramists destroyed?
A: There are many, but our main targets which we succeeded in destroying included: Goodnews & ECWA Church, Damboa Road, Maiduguri E.Y.N.L.C.C. Wulari, National Evangelical Mission Inc. Divisional Headquarters Wulari, Elijah Apostolic Christ Church, Oke Ayo Celestial Church of Christ, Deeper Life Bible Church, the Lord’s Chosen and six others in Railway Area and all over Wulari in Maiduguri, Borno State. Other church buildings we destroyed and looted include the Aposotic Church, COCIN Church, Evangelical Church/Mission Headquarters, Anglican Church, Baptist Church/Mission, Redeemed Christian Church of God, El-Shaddai Parish, Watchman Charismatic and several others.
Q: Where were the security officers when you were destroying all these church buildings and killing Christians?
A: Since 1985 when General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB) started using us to persecute Christians, the Nigerian Army has been an extension or shall I say an arm of the Muslims agenda to Islamize Nigeria. Wherever they go to attack Christians, the Muslims in the top military positions give the cover by providing the logistics. Since the day of Babangida (1985) Christians suffer violence. This is the time that we must attack them and take what belongs to us by force.
Q: You don’t seem to like IBB and you talk so much of his evil deeds. Are you the only one he used or is there more revelation we can investigate or ascertain further?
A: Babangida is the most wicked and heartless man I have ever seen or worked with. He used many Muslim fanatics (Most of who are now Christians) to commit a lot of atrocities. For example, he used Alhaji Sannusi Dasuki (now Solomon Dasuki), Alhaji Ahmed Ado Bayero (now Rev. Paul Ado Bayero), Alhaji Mohammed Usman (now Evangelist Blessed Usman), Alhaji Sani Jegga (now Isaac Jegga) to attack the following men of God: Late Papa Idahosa, Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke, Rev. Uma Ukpai, Rev. O. Ezekiel and other men of God. He used some of the people whose names mentioned above to burn down several million copies of the Holy Bible. Along with the late MKO Abiola, they both sponsored the sinking of three million copies of the Holy Bible into the high sea.
Q: With all these revelations, can’t IBB be arrested and charged to court?
A: Who will arrest him? Is it Goodluck or who? Even when we provided the proofs to them that IBB killed Dele Giwa and that he sponsored the burning and looting of the Jos main market (Terminus) and also planted the seed of the present crises in Plateau State in 1991, they refused to arrest him because he is very cunning in his evil ways. He leaves no trace of his evil deeds, but nemesis will soon catch up with him because the sardonic spirit in him will soon expire.
Q: In a simple language, how can you describe IBB?
A: Ibrahim Babangida is a wicked and heartless man. As a military officer he was very brutal and as a politician he is very selfish and tricky. He better repent and confess his numerous sins and wickedness before it will be too late.
Q: Can you prove to the readers that fighting and killing in the name of Allah is justified in the Holy Qur’an?
A: I can site more than 28 passages from the Holy Qur’an where fighting and killing is justified as approved in the cause and for the sake of Allah. Please turn to the Qur’an (it goes from the back to the front) and see the book Surah At-Taubah Chapter 9:29 “Fight against those who believe not in Allah, nor in the Last Day, nor forbid that which has been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger (Muhammad), and those who acknowledge not the religion of truth (i.e Islam) among the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians), until they pay the Jizyah with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.” In this passage, every true Muslim(s) is specifically instructed to fight against four (4) groups of people especially the Jews and Christians.
Q: So what is the meaning of Jizyah and how was the name coined?
A: From the footnote as you can see in the Qur’an, Jizyah is a tax levied against the people of the scriptures (i.e. the Christians) who are under the Islamic government. Jizyah was coined out after the Jaiz bank that the Muslims are wanting to use to take over the financial world via Islamic Banking.
Q: Are you saying indirectly that Islam is not a religion of peace as most Muslims will want us to believe?
A: I am saying it directly not indirectly that Islam is a religion of violence It is a religion of force. More than 95% of Nigerian journalists and people of the world are ignorant of what the Qur’an teaches and/or says about Islam and violence.
Q: How do you mean?
A: Open the Qur’an to Surah Muhammad Chapter 47:4. In this very passage, Muslims are commanded by Allah to kill and smite the neck of anyone who does not accept the teaching of Islam, and according to the satanic verses they (Muslims) would be helping Allah by so doing.
I quote exactly as it is written in the Muslims Holy Qur’an: “So, when you meet (in fight-Jihad in Allah’s Cause) those who disbelieve, smite (their) necks till when you have killed and wounded many of them, then bind a bond firmly (on them, i.e. take them as captives). Thereafter (is the time) either for generosity (i.e. free from them without ransom), or ransom (according to what benefits Islam), until the war lays down its burden. Thus [you are ordered by Allah to continue in carrying out Jihad against the disbelievers till they embrace Islam and are saved from the punishment in the Hell-fire or at least come under your protection], but if it had been Allah’s Will, He Himself could certainly have punished them (without you). But (He lets you fight) in order to test some of you with others. But those who are killed in the Way of Allah, He will never let their deeds be lost.”
Q: So is that why all Muslims are indirectly supporting Boko Haram?
A: Yes, Boko Haram is just a name coined by satan to Islamize the world. That is why every true Muslim is directly and indirectly supporting Boko Haram.
Q: Can you explain further?
A: In Surah Al-Baqarah 2:195, the wealthy Muslims and all those in high position of authority such as IBB, Buhari, Atiku, Isa Yaguda, etc. are told to use their wealth and any position they find themselves in to promote Islam and the cause of jihad of all kinds or else they will face destruction from Allah.
Q: Is that how the suicide bombers come into the picture?
A: Yes,
Q: My readers will like to know from the Qur’an if Islam is the zenith of wickedness as you earlier said.
A: In the Qur’an Allah commanded thus “(Remember) when your Lord revealed to the angels, Verily, I am with you, so keep firm those who have believed. I will cast terror into the hearts of those who have disbelieved, so strike them over the necks, and smite over all their fingers and toes.” (See the Qur’an of Surah Al-Anfal 8:12)
Q: So you did accordingly?
A: Yes! Satan used Buhari and Tunde Bakare, the false prophet, to smite the necks and chop off the fingers and toes of several Christians in Zaira, Maiduguri, Bauchi and several other places.
Q: Which passages say that the Christians are enemies of the Muslims? Some ignorant Christian leaders and pressmen are of the opinion that both Christians and Muslims worship the same God.
A: Christians and journalists (about 95%) are very ignorant. Let them search the original Qur’an (The Noble Qur’an). The more the Muslim leaders try to block the original Qur’an from circulation, the more the lie spreads that we’re serving the same God. That is why the Lord says “I will build my church; and the gates of (hades) hell shall not prevail against it.” Matthew 16:18
Q: Mention another satanic verse that makes every true Muslim(s) to hate Christians.
A: In addition to the several passages and mentioned earlier, please take a look at Surah An-Nisa 4:101 and I quote “For the Unbelievers are unto you open enemies.”
Q: What is the solution to this problem of the Boko Haram menace?
A: The problem is not Boko Haram. The problem is the Spirit of Islam which must be crushed by the prayer of the Saints. Was it not through prayer that people like Rev. Paul Ado Bayero, Bishop K. K. Degaya, Apostle Johnson Suleman and hundreds of others got saved? Was it not through prayer that I got saved on my way to assassinate both Rev. Samuel Dasuki and Evangelist Blessed Usman when they were in their training camp in a crusade/ministration to their converts? I tell you from my experience this past few months as a Christian, many Christians are not united. In the north Christians are more united and sincere, but in the south & west, Christians are in comfort zones and if they don’t wake up, they will be surprised of what Muslims will do to them.
Q: What can Muslims do in Warri, Port Harcourt and other southern and western zones?
A: Look let me tell you one top secret. Before I repented, an average of 2,500 Muslim fanatics came to Delta State every month, 2,000 to the Eastern states and 2,000 to Cross River State and 2,500 to other zones. All of these Muslim fanatics were sent in preparation of the holy war (Jihad).
Q: Where are they camped?
A: In various Mosques and Islamic training schools which they use as training camps at odd hours (---for security reasons, the author/interviewer have decided not to publish the other details of this answer in print).
Q: What advice do you have for Christians in the comfort zones?
A: Pray for our Christian brethren in the north. Secondly, stop giving your ladies to Muslims. Thirdly, do no sell your land to a Muslim any longer. Fourth, do not employ them as security men. Fifth, beware of what they do with your finger nails and hair. Finally, watch them carefully and be very prayerful because Nigeria is sitting on an Islamic barbaric bomb (IBB) and the Muslims are prepared to fight you in your backyard.
Q: Any advice for the president?
A: They are desperate to get him/his family by kidnap/killing them, not only by Spiritual means, but through some well trained security men who he think can never disappoint him. About six suicide bombers are in the presidency and one of them is a student from NDA-Nigerian Defence Academy (other details I am keeping for security reasons).
Q: Do you know anything about bombing?
A: In answer to this question, I shall give you a top secret document which is supposed to be for only committed Muslims which I smuggled out and gave to some Christian leaders in the south.
Q: But tell me a little of how they got the knowledge to manufacture a bomb? Who sponsored your people to do these wicked acts?
A: We were sponsored by the man they call IBB and some top Muslims within and outside the country. We also worked hand in hand with Al Qaeda. As far back as 12th of June, 2011 when I got converted to Christianity, I gave several documents to Police and SSS. They arrested and detained me. But the Holy Spirit released me the same day that they wanted to kill me secretly by poisoning.
Q: What secrets did you give them?
A: I told them that the Muslims are using trailer and vehicles in military colour and are escorted by northern soldiers to smuggle weapons to various mosques and Islamic training schools in Aba, Onitsha, Port Harcourt, Owerri, Calabar, Sapele, Warri, Ebonyi and Enugu States, etc.
Q: What about the bomb manufacturers?
A: I told them that the Traditional Rulers in the northern part of Nigeria and many state governors in the far north are sponsoring Boko Haram. I told them that I was paid a deposit of 5 million Naira to go and bomb NDA in the month of August 2011 when they will be planning the graduation that just took place where I would have driven straight to the Commander’s Office with a covering letter from a Garrison Officer commander whose name I gave to the police and who is a close relative to IBB.
Q: Did you give the name of the bomb location where the training is going on?
A: Yes, I gave them and told them where they were training 65 new Islamic Youths in two bomb factories in Bauchi, Bornu and Niger states and also the bomb factory at Hanyan Nassarawa Iku, Niger State.
Q: Any more revelation?
A: Yes, I gave them many bomb factories even in the southern and eastern states and seven in Kaduna State, Plateau State and Abuja. It was in the Niger State bomb factory that we manufactured the improvised explosive devices that was used to operate in Abuja on October 1, 2010.
Q: Did the police take immediate action?
A: The news leaked to IBB immediately and he immediately instructed his ground soldiers to relocate the bombs. The Police and SSS were afraid to search some of the mosques because the presidency must be aware that by so doing, the country Will explode into a religious war between Christians and Muslims. That is why I said Nigeria is sitting on Islamic time bomb or shall I say Islamic Barbaric Bomb.
***This interview comes from the book Unveiling Islam/Boko Haram by Blessed Usman, JP.http://naijajive.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=cprqi8d7kk9rug5hqtc8pdqoj3&topic=1681.0#.TytcPPql8f8.facebook
Question: Who are you and where are you from?
Answer: My name is Sheik Sani Haliru. I am from Niger Republic, but my mother is from Bornu State of Nigeria and I grew up in Wulari, Maiduguri, (Northern Nigeria) where I was trained.
Q: Trained as what and under whose tutelage?
A: I was trained as an Almajiri, after four years, at the age of 14, I was sent to Kano City, Kano State where I was trained in the Sheik Abubakar Gummi School of Arabic studies.
Q: So you know Sheik Abubakar Gummi?
A: Yes, and I also know his children and obeyed all the teachings he laid down before he died.
Q: So who tutored you and who is your mentor?
A: Sheik Abubakar Gummi tutored me. My mentor was Osama bin Laden, and until my conversion from Islam to the Christian faith, my dreams and aspirations in life was to do more than Osama bin Laden did before he died on Sunday, May 1, 2011.
Q: You said that your mentor was Osama bin Laden. Is he still your mentor?
A: I am now a changed person. The Sheik Sani Haliru is now a new creature, old things have passed away because I now have Jesus Christ that I hated and persecuted for 44 years.
Q: Tell me about your past and how many countries of the World you have been to?
A: I cannot tell all about my past because it will take several days to tell my story and about my conversion experience to Christianity. I have been to eight countries.
Q: Can you please name them?
A: I have been to Sudan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Libya, Somalia, Egypt and of course to my own country Niger Republic.
Q: Where did you receive your training and as what?
A: I received my training in Libya and Pakistan as an Attack Strategist. I was trained along side with some highly placed Nigerians and other foreign Nationals who were marked (he showed me the proof of his mark with a sign) in the form of a sword in the hand to fight and kill for Allah.
Q: Can you give me some of the names of your colleagues with whom you received training in Libya and Pakistan?
A: They are scattered all over the country and we were not too many then.
Q: Just mention but a few names.
A: Ali Baba Nur, Asari Dokubo, Jasper Akinbo, Mohammed Yusuf, Salisu Maigari, Danlami Abubakar, Cletus Okar, Ali Qaqa, Maigari Haliru and Asabe Dantala to mention but a few.
Q: Which of the Asari’s do you mean?
A: The Niger Delta war king. He was a year ahead of me in Benghazi training camp in Libya.
Q: Who financed your training in Libya and Pakistan?
A: You will not believe me and only God will judge the Chief sponsor of terrorism in Nigeria whose name I will not mention because he is so powerful and even the president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, is so much afraid of the man.
Q: If you really know the Christ in you, why are you afraid to tell me the name of the man who sponsored you and the date or approximate period he sponsored you.
A: I am not afraid because he knows me and he cannot deny it if he sees me face to face.
Q: Then tell me, who is this powerful man?
A: The man is no other person than the man they call IBB now as I am talking to you, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida has more than 600 men and women Jihadists who are under his pay role. They are scattered all over the Country and he (IBB) can use them to destroy Nigeria.
Q: Did you say six hundred?
A: Yes 600 + IBB’s agents of destruction are in the Nigeria Army (NA), Nigeria Police Force (NPF), Navy, Air Force, Oil and Gas sectors, even in the finance home such as in top level positions of CBN (Central Bank of Nigeria) and other banks. You find them in politics, in the Senate, National Assembly, in the media both print and electronic and even in Aso Rock, Abuja (Nigeria’s capital).
Q: How do you mean by this statement “and even in the finance…”?
A: Yes, I mean every word I say; even the Islamic bank champion was planted by IBB to help in Islamizing Nigeria.
Q: So how can you describe IBB?
A: IBB is a “green snake” in green grass. He is the main problem of Nigeria along with members of the Cabal.
Q: Have you forwarded any of these evidence(s) to Aso Rock or to SSS (State Security Services)?
A: I attempted to do so a few weeks ago and I was arrested and detained for two days because IBB’S men are so many in SSS (State Security Services) as well. After I was released by the grace of God, they (the Police) warned me never to blow up the polity or provoke violence and I should keep my so-called-born-again with me or else I will go to jail.
Q: So you were a key member and a registered jihadist hardliner.
A: Yes, I was.
Q: Under what group?
A: I was a Boko Haramist. But Boko Haram is just a cover name to give it a name. I have my identity as a founding member of the dreaded jama’aful Ahlul sunna wal Liddawati wal Jihad, aka Boko Haram.
Q: Apart from IBB, who are the other top sponsors of terrorism in this country?
A: They are many, but IBB is the major financier. He introduced the suicide bombing that started when he killed Dele Giwa. I have the names of six traditional rulers and seven present & ex-Governors as well as several top military and security officers who are co-sponsoring the so called Boko Haram. That apart, I have documented evidences to prove that General Mohammadu Buhari, Alhaji Abubaka Atiku and other top politicians and traditional rulers are some of the people behind Boko Haram. Very soon, nemesis will catch up with them.
Q: What if I use my influence to guarantee you safety, can you brief the press to expose IBB (General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida) with all these documents that I am seeing with you right now.
A: Only God can guarantee my safety. He did so on that fateful day when the SSS and police wanted to secretly kill me because of what I unveiled. I would have been a dead man by now if not for a man of God who came as an “Angel” to quietly free me. Right now, I am wanted dead or alive by IBB and his agents of destruction in high places. The SSS are busy hunting for me up & down and arresting and torturing innocent people because of me.
Q: What if I connect you to a man of God by the name of Brother Mike Ejiofor, who is a lawyer, a professional negotiator and a mediator who was the Director of SSS until October 2010?
A: I only wish to be connected to God.
Q: So how can you describe this country?
A: Nigeria is sifting under an Islamic barbaric bomb (IBB). Only God can rescue this nation because 75% of Christians are prayer less. Why? Because they are in their own comfort zone. They do not know what the Christians in Northern Nigeria are passing through and they ignorantly are thinking that the Allah of the Muslims is the same as the God of Christians in the Holy Bible who says: “Thou shalt not kill”.
Q: What does the Qur’an say about Islam being referred to as a religion of peace by numerous Muslim scholars?
A: Let me tell you in a very clear language that Islam is not a religion of peace, but it is of violence, of killers and fighters as already stated in their so called “Holy” Qur’an which I ignorantly followed all these years when I was spiritually blinded as a Muslim.
Q: Can you prove these statements from the Qur’an?
A: [Sani Haliru, who is now known as Solomon Haliru (Paul Haliru’s brother)] brought out two copies of the original Qur’an in the Arabic & English translation. He gave me one, and told me to open the book to Surah Al- baqarah chapter 2 vs 216. It says, “Holy fighting is ordained (prescribed) for all muslims, whether they like it or not, as far as it is good and approved by Allah through his prophet Mohammed.”
Q: Where is it in the Qur’an that killing is also permitted by Allah?
A: Look at Surah Al-baqarah chapter 2 vs 191 “And kill them wherever you find them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out. An Al-Fitnah is worse than killing. And fight not with them at Al-Masjid-Al-Haram (the sanctuary at Makkah), unless they (first) fight you there. But if they attack you, then kill them. Such is the recompense of the disbelievers.” Muslims are told to kill and fight in the cause of Allah.
Q: Does it mean that IBB and all these Muslim traditional rulers and Governors that are sponsoring Boko Haram to kill Christians and burn our churches in the North are not aware of the passage in the Qur’an that says there must not be compulsion in Islam as Mohammadu Buhari asserted in a widely publicized interview on Saturday, the 21st of April, 2011?
A: I have worked so closely with Mohammadu Buahri for five years, and I can prove it that General Buhari is the most notable outspoken jihadist hardliner in Nigeria who is also strategically sponsoring Boko Haram.
Q: General Buhari told a group of pressmen in April 2011 that there is no compulsion in Islam and it is a religion of peace. He quoted Surah Al-Baqarah Chapter 2:225. What can you say to that?
A: What I can say to that is General Buhari, like all other true Muslims, is a hypocrite who is shying away from the fact.
Q: How do you mean by saying that most Muslim millionaires and highly placed Muslims are “pretenders and shying away from the fact”?
A: What I mean is that they (Muslims-both rich and poor) are told to use their position of wealth (or otherwise) to promote Islam or else they will face destruction from Allah.
Q: Where can you find this in the Qu’ran?
A: Open Surah Al-Baqarah Chapter 2:195, it is written here that you must use your wealth to champion Jihad of all kinds or else destruction is waiting for such a person on the last day.
“And spend in the Cause of Allah (i.e. Jihad of all kinds) and do not throw yourselves into destruction (by not spending your wealth in the Cause of Allah), and do good. Truly, Allah loves Al-Muhsinun (the good-doers).”
Q: Have you ever been detained or arrested?
A: Nobody could arrest me until the year 2009 soon after my immediate boss Mohammed Yusuf was killed. About 23 of us were arrested in one of our hideouts in Bauchi. But when Governor Isa Yagiuda heard about it, he immediately arranged for me to be free. Even before his official broadcast in 2010 that he was using his position as the executive Governor of Bauchi State (Northern Nigeria) to free 28 prisoners from Bauchi Central Prison, I was already a free man along with several of my colleagues.
Q: Now can you tell me some of the horrible crimes that you committed and how you got born again and became converted.
A: Old things have passed away and I don’t want to talk about the past, because like Apostle Paul said, we need to press forward in Christ Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
Q: Just mention a few to assist some of us who are making efforts to unravel the mystery of the menace called Boko Haram which you have renounced.
A: I took part in the Kaduna riot of 1992 and in several northern states of Nigeria, but the state I operated more from was Bornu (northern Nigeria) where I was the State Commander/Chief Strategist.
Q: So as Chief Attack Strategist, what crimes have or did you commit before you renounced the deadly sect?
A: In the early months of May 1986, I was among the 36 Jihadist hardliners, who went on a rampage to attack Christian students of the University of Sokoto (Sokoto State in northern Nigeria). In that same week, the Federal Government of Nigeria under the brutal leadership of IBB mobilized us and provided some military vans and Army uniforms which our men used and started killing innocent and defenseless Christians all over the Northern states. I and the son of the Emir of Kano, who is now a Christian by name Rev. Paul Ado Bayero, were among the Muslim fanatics who razed down the sculpture of Jesus at the University of Ibadan (Oyo State in western Nigeria).
The following year, March 5, 1987 to be very precise, the “Evil Genius” General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida secretly armed us through one of his close aids by the name of Captain Hassan Abubakar (now a Pastor with a fast growing church in Lagos). We went to go and kill some targeted Christians including Rev. Nuhu Kure (Throne room founder) after the destruction we committed at the College of Education in Kafanchan, Kaduna State (North Central Nigeria). And of recent, I was the leader of the team of soldiers of Allah that destroyed Church buildings and properties in Bornu State (northern Nigeria).
Q: Can you name some of the buildings and Churches you and your Boko Haramists destroyed?
A: There are many, but our main targets which we succeeded in destroying included: Goodnews & ECWA Church, Damboa Road, Maiduguri E.Y.N.L.C.C. Wulari, National Evangelical Mission Inc. Divisional Headquarters Wulari, Elijah Apostolic Christ Church, Oke Ayo Celestial Church of Christ, Deeper Life Bible Church, the Lord’s Chosen and six others in Railway Area and all over Wulari in Maiduguri, Borno State. Other church buildings we destroyed and looted include the Aposotic Church, COCIN Church, Evangelical Church/Mission Headquarters, Anglican Church, Baptist Church/Mission, Redeemed Christian Church of God, El-Shaddai Parish, Watchman Charismatic and several others.
Q: Where were the security officers when you were destroying all these church buildings and killing Christians?
A: Since 1985 when General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB) started using us to persecute Christians, the Nigerian Army has been an extension or shall I say an arm of the Muslims agenda to Islamize Nigeria. Wherever they go to attack Christians, the Muslims in the top military positions give the cover by providing the logistics. Since the day of Babangida (1985) Christians suffer violence. This is the time that we must attack them and take what belongs to us by force.
Q: You don’t seem to like IBB and you talk so much of his evil deeds. Are you the only one he used or is there more revelation we can investigate or ascertain further?
A: Babangida is the most wicked and heartless man I have ever seen or worked with. He used many Muslim fanatics (Most of who are now Christians) to commit a lot of atrocities. For example, he used Alhaji Sannusi Dasuki (now Solomon Dasuki), Alhaji Ahmed Ado Bayero (now Rev. Paul Ado Bayero), Alhaji Mohammed Usman (now Evangelist Blessed Usman), Alhaji Sani Jegga (now Isaac Jegga) to attack the following men of God: Late Papa Idahosa, Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke, Rev. Uma Ukpai, Rev. O. Ezekiel and other men of God. He used some of the people whose names mentioned above to burn down several million copies of the Holy Bible. Along with the late MKO Abiola, they both sponsored the sinking of three million copies of the Holy Bible into the high sea.
Q: With all these revelations, can’t IBB be arrested and charged to court?
A: Who will arrest him? Is it Goodluck or who? Even when we provided the proofs to them that IBB killed Dele Giwa and that he sponsored the burning and looting of the Jos main market (Terminus) and also planted the seed of the present crises in Plateau State in 1991, they refused to arrest him because he is very cunning in his evil ways. He leaves no trace of his evil deeds, but nemesis will soon catch up with him because the sardonic spirit in him will soon expire.
Q: In a simple language, how can you describe IBB?
A: Ibrahim Babangida is a wicked and heartless man. As a military officer he was very brutal and as a politician he is very selfish and tricky. He better repent and confess his numerous sins and wickedness before it will be too late.
Q: Can you prove to the readers that fighting and killing in the name of Allah is justified in the Holy Qur’an?
A: I can site more than 28 passages from the Holy Qur’an where fighting and killing is justified as approved in the cause and for the sake of Allah. Please turn to the Qur’an (it goes from the back to the front) and see the book Surah At-Taubah Chapter 9:29 “Fight against those who believe not in Allah, nor in the Last Day, nor forbid that which has been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger (Muhammad), and those who acknowledge not the religion of truth (i.e Islam) among the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians), until they pay the Jizyah with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.” In this passage, every true Muslim(s) is specifically instructed to fight against four (4) groups of people especially the Jews and Christians.
Q: So what is the meaning of Jizyah and how was the name coined?
A: From the footnote as you can see in the Qur’an, Jizyah is a tax levied against the people of the scriptures (i.e. the Christians) who are under the Islamic government. Jizyah was coined out after the Jaiz bank that the Muslims are wanting to use to take over the financial world via Islamic Banking.
Q: Are you saying indirectly that Islam is not a religion of peace as most Muslims will want us to believe?
A: I am saying it directly not indirectly that Islam is a religion of violence It is a religion of force. More than 95% of Nigerian journalists and people of the world are ignorant of what the Qur’an teaches and/or says about Islam and violence.
Q: How do you mean?
A: Open the Qur’an to Surah Muhammad Chapter 47:4. In this very passage, Muslims are commanded by Allah to kill and smite the neck of anyone who does not accept the teaching of Islam, and according to the satanic verses they (Muslims) would be helping Allah by so doing.
I quote exactly as it is written in the Muslims Holy Qur’an: “So, when you meet (in fight-Jihad in Allah’s Cause) those who disbelieve, smite (their) necks till when you have killed and wounded many of them, then bind a bond firmly (on them, i.e. take them as captives). Thereafter (is the time) either for generosity (i.e. free from them without ransom), or ransom (according to what benefits Islam), until the war lays down its burden. Thus [you are ordered by Allah to continue in carrying out Jihad against the disbelievers till they embrace Islam and are saved from the punishment in the Hell-fire or at least come under your protection], but if it had been Allah’s Will, He Himself could certainly have punished them (without you). But (He lets you fight) in order to test some of you with others. But those who are killed in the Way of Allah, He will never let their deeds be lost.”
Q: So is that why all Muslims are indirectly supporting Boko Haram?
A: Yes, Boko Haram is just a name coined by satan to Islamize the world. That is why every true Muslim is directly and indirectly supporting Boko Haram.
Q: Can you explain further?
A: In Surah Al-Baqarah 2:195, the wealthy Muslims and all those in high position of authority such as IBB, Buhari, Atiku, Isa Yaguda, etc. are told to use their wealth and any position they find themselves in to promote Islam and the cause of jihad of all kinds or else they will face destruction from Allah.
Q: Is that how the suicide bombers come into the picture?
A: Yes,
Q: My readers will like to know from the Qur’an if Islam is the zenith of wickedness as you earlier said.
A: In the Qur’an Allah commanded thus “(Remember) when your Lord revealed to the angels, Verily, I am with you, so keep firm those who have believed. I will cast terror into the hearts of those who have disbelieved, so strike them over the necks, and smite over all their fingers and toes.” (See the Qur’an of Surah Al-Anfal 8:12)
Q: So you did accordingly?
A: Yes! Satan used Buhari and Tunde Bakare, the false prophet, to smite the necks and chop off the fingers and toes of several Christians in Zaira, Maiduguri, Bauchi and several other places.
Q: Which passages say that the Christians are enemies of the Muslims? Some ignorant Christian leaders and pressmen are of the opinion that both Christians and Muslims worship the same God.
A: Christians and journalists (about 95%) are very ignorant. Let them search the original Qur’an (The Noble Qur’an). The more the Muslim leaders try to block the original Qur’an from circulation, the more the lie spreads that we’re serving the same God. That is why the Lord says “I will build my church; and the gates of (hades) hell shall not prevail against it.” Matthew 16:18
Q: Mention another satanic verse that makes every true Muslim(s) to hate Christians.
A: In addition to the several passages and mentioned earlier, please take a look at Surah An-Nisa 4:101 and I quote “For the Unbelievers are unto you open enemies.”
Q: What is the solution to this problem of the Boko Haram menace?
A: The problem is not Boko Haram. The problem is the Spirit of Islam which must be crushed by the prayer of the Saints. Was it not through prayer that people like Rev. Paul Ado Bayero, Bishop K. K. Degaya, Apostle Johnson Suleman and hundreds of others got saved? Was it not through prayer that I got saved on my way to assassinate both Rev. Samuel Dasuki and Evangelist Blessed Usman when they were in their training camp in a crusade/ministration to their converts? I tell you from my experience this past few months as a Christian, many Christians are not united. In the north Christians are more united and sincere, but in the south & west, Christians are in comfort zones and if they don’t wake up, they will be surprised of what Muslims will do to them.
Q: What can Muslims do in Warri, Port Harcourt and other southern and western zones?
A: Look let me tell you one top secret. Before I repented, an average of 2,500 Muslim fanatics came to Delta State every month, 2,000 to the Eastern states and 2,000 to Cross River State and 2,500 to other zones. All of these Muslim fanatics were sent in preparation of the holy war (Jihad).
Q: Where are they camped?
A: In various Mosques and Islamic training schools which they use as training camps at odd hours (---for security reasons, the author/interviewer have decided not to publish the other details of this answer in print).
Q: What advice do you have for Christians in the comfort zones?
A: Pray for our Christian brethren in the north. Secondly, stop giving your ladies to Muslims. Thirdly, do no sell your land to a Muslim any longer. Fourth, do not employ them as security men. Fifth, beware of what they do with your finger nails and hair. Finally, watch them carefully and be very prayerful because Nigeria is sitting on an Islamic barbaric bomb (IBB) and the Muslims are prepared to fight you in your backyard.
Q: Any advice for the president?
A: They are desperate to get him/his family by kidnap/killing them, not only by Spiritual means, but through some well trained security men who he think can never disappoint him. About six suicide bombers are in the presidency and one of them is a student from NDA-Nigerian Defence Academy (other details I am keeping for security reasons).
Q: Do you know anything about bombing?
A: In answer to this question, I shall give you a top secret document which is supposed to be for only committed Muslims which I smuggled out and gave to some Christian leaders in the south.
Q: But tell me a little of how they got the knowledge to manufacture a bomb? Who sponsored your people to do these wicked acts?
A: We were sponsored by the man they call IBB and some top Muslims within and outside the country. We also worked hand in hand with Al Qaeda. As far back as 12th of June, 2011 when I got converted to Christianity, I gave several documents to Police and SSS. They arrested and detained me. But the Holy Spirit released me the same day that they wanted to kill me secretly by poisoning.
Q: What secrets did you give them?
A: I told them that the Muslims are using trailer and vehicles in military colour and are escorted by northern soldiers to smuggle weapons to various mosques and Islamic training schools in Aba, Onitsha, Port Harcourt, Owerri, Calabar, Sapele, Warri, Ebonyi and Enugu States, etc.
Q: What about the bomb manufacturers?
A: I told them that the Traditional Rulers in the northern part of Nigeria and many state governors in the far north are sponsoring Boko Haram. I told them that I was paid a deposit of 5 million Naira to go and bomb NDA in the month of August 2011 when they will be planning the graduation that just took place where I would have driven straight to the Commander’s Office with a covering letter from a Garrison Officer commander whose name I gave to the police and who is a close relative to IBB.
Q: Did you give the name of the bomb location where the training is going on?
A: Yes, I gave them and told them where they were training 65 new Islamic Youths in two bomb factories in Bauchi, Bornu and Niger states and also the bomb factory at Hanyan Nassarawa Iku, Niger State.
Q: Any more revelation?
A: Yes, I gave them many bomb factories even in the southern and eastern states and seven in Kaduna State, Plateau State and Abuja. It was in the Niger State bomb factory that we manufactured the improvised explosive devices that was used to operate in Abuja on October 1, 2010.
Q: Did the police take immediate action?
A: The news leaked to IBB immediately and he immediately instructed his ground soldiers to relocate the bombs. The Police and SSS were afraid to search some of the mosques because the presidency must be aware that by so doing, the country Will explode into a religious war between Christians and Muslims. That is why I said Nigeria is sitting on Islamic time bomb or shall I say Islamic Barbaric Bomb.
***This interview comes from the book Unveiling Islam/Boko Haram by Blessed Usman, JP.http://naijajive.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=cprqi8d7kk9rug5hqtc8pdqoj3&topic=1681.0#.TytcPPql8f8.facebook
PARADISE REGAINED: PUMALIN PARK AND THE STORY OF DOUGLAS TOMPKINS
Pumalin Park is like the Biblical Garden of Eden, a natural wonderland and one of the most remote places on Earth .A wonderful 800,000 acres, most of it virgin wilderness ,sitting on the northern edge of Patagonia in Southern Chile. This is where the snowcapped Andes Mountains tumble spectacularly into the sea.
The face of the earth ,as it was predestined to be.Here is the ambience of fjords and temperate rainforest of Pumalín Park.
Where rivers roar with glacial waters: Where 3,000-year-old Alerce trees strain for the sky: Where sea lions rule from their perch on the rocky coast. Here you see a very large tract of virgin land containing incredible nature geography of lakes, rivers, hot springs, mountains, volcanoes and coastal fjords.
Ascetic beauties of a paradise discovered.
You could only imagine this is purely, a script from Gulliver’s Travels.A fantasy island and you like Alice in the 'Wonderland'.You can harldy believe that this is the mother earth known by you and known to you.Here ,man is at peace with his world.
Lake Renihue:The lake is fed by glaciers, the river carries the water into the fjord.
The story begins ,when in the late 1990s, American millionaire Douglas Tompkins, a worldwide American astute businessman-turned-environmentalist , the founder of The North Face and co-founder of Espirit de Corp clothing, decided to donate $14 million to help preserve a wilderness area in Chile, he found it harder than he could ever expected.
A beautiful scenery of a river valley at the south end of the park.
The self-described ecology zealot, who now lives on a remote, solar-powered organic farm in southern Chile, finally succeeded in donating the pristine land after years of negotiations with the Chilean government. It was said that the land in question, Parque Pumalin covers an expansive landmass that made so many Chileans to suspect Tompkins’ intention.
The Fjord: In the area around Pumalin the mountains of the Andes tumble into the sea creating long narrow bays, or fjords, much like in Norway. This is Renihue Fjord, in the heart of the park. The water is 1200 feet deep.
Tompkins was said to have visited Chile in the 1960s, for the very first time but was enchanted by its wealth of natural beauty and outstanding conviviality, natural geography of lakes, rivers, hot springs, mountains, volcanoes and coastal fjords.
This is one of the most remote and most spectacular places on Earth. Those are the Andes Mountains cascading into the sea. This is Pumalin, the enormous park the Tompkins bought, preserved in southern Chile. This is a photo of the Renihue Fjord (pronounced "Rainy Way," which Tompkins’ wife jokes is a perfect translation because it rains 300 days a year in this temperate rain forest).
After his visit, he went on to co-found the Esprit de Corp. clothing company, a business that made him a millionaire.
Nature and Wildlife Areas, where is found -Kingdom of the Sea Lions: The fjords around Pumalin are home to thousands of sea lions, which can be found basking and grunting on the rocks or swimming in search of fish.
In 1990 he sold his share of the business for an estimated $125 million and in 1991 began buying land in southern Chile, Most of which around a 400,000-acre parcel, was purchased from 150 heirs of a Spanish conquistador who was deeded the land almost 500 years ago.
Nature and Wildlife Areas where is found Kingdom of the Sea Lions: The fjords around Pumalin are home to thousands of sea lions, which can be found basking and grunting on the rocks or swimming in search of fish.
Tompkins estimated that he spent more than $15 million to acquire the property in southern Chile, which is approximately the size of Yosemite National Park in the United States,and its southern hemisphere version.
This sea kayaking adventure takes place in the heart of Pumalin Park, traveling along the beautiful Quintupeo and Cahuelmó fjords. Travelers will paddle between huge granite walls and waterfalls that plunge into the ocean and see plenty of austral dolphins, sea lions and endemic bird species. Visitors will also enjoy hot spring baths and walks to hidden lakes that very few have visited.
Although Tompkins insisted he intended to return the land to Chile in the form of a national park, his purchases worried Chile's business and military leaders, and these set of folks worked covertly and overtly to sabotage Tompkins’ intention.
This sea kayaking adventure takes place in the heart of Pumalin Park, traveling along the beautiful Quintupeo and Cahuelmó fjords. Travelers will paddle between huge granite walls and waterfalls that plunge into the ocean and see plenty of austral dolphins, sea lions and endemic bird species. Visitors will also enjoy hot spring baths and walks to hidden lakes that very few have visited.
Mining, logging, and fishing companies as well, believed erroneously, so to say that Tompkins was trying to halt development of Chile's more remote regions: And thus, cutting the country off from a potential source of revenue.
This sea kayaking adventure takes place in the heart of Pumalin Park, traveling along the beautiful Quintupeo and Cahuelmó fjords. Travelers will paddle between huge granite walls and waterfalls that plunge into the ocean and see plenty of austral dolphins, sea lions and endemic bird species. Visitors will also enjoy hot spring baths and walks to hidden lakes that very few have visited.
His plan was to protect the 16,996.6 ha (42,000 acres) tract, most of which was primeval Valdivian temperate rainforest, from future exploitation. After moving to Reñihué to live full-time, Tompkins began developing plans for a larger park, gradually acquiring additional adjacent properties from willing sellers.
This sea kayaking adventure takes place in the heart of Pumalin Park, traveling along the beautiful Quintupeo and Cahuelmó fjords. Travelers will paddle between huge granite walls and waterfalls that plunge into the ocean and see plenty of austral dolphins, sea lions and endemic bird species. Visitors will also enjoy hot spring baths and walks to hidden lakes that very few have visited.
Ultimately, roughly 98 percent of the park acreage was bought from absentee landowners. Most of whom had inherited such in the first place and seemed to be less concerned in developing it.
The Boat To Pumalin ; A twice daily ferry service connects Caleta Gonzalo, the small park center, with the town of Hornopiren. It is a five-hour ferry ride, often in rough waters. There is pressure to extend the highway through Pumalin to create a road connection to Southern Chile.
Since, it was an era of military dictatorship in Chile, hence, military leaders, noting that Tompkins's territory stretched from the Pacific Ocean all the way to the border with Argentina, accused him of endangering national security.
It may not be in your diary or plan,but when you stay in such
hotpsrings like this ,you soon forget so soon that there is time and itis 24hours when it spins
For years these suspicions stood in the way of the plan to create a park, but Tompkins eventually convinced the government of his sincerity.
Outstanding trails within a luxurious forest of alerce trees. The alerce has been dubbed the "redwood of the Andes".
This was achieved when Douglas Tompkins was able to reach an agreement with the Chilean government on July 7, 1997, to create a national park out of his private land holdings in Chile, which totaled approximately 3000 sq km (about 1000 sq mi). Intended to preserve a huge swath of Chilean wilderness, bringing to an end years of endured oppositions.
Alerce Forest: The alerce, or Patagonian cypress, is considered the South American cousin of the giant sequoias found in North America. Some of which has been dated to be approximately 2,500 years old. These are some of the oldest and largest trees on the planet. It is estimated that 25 percent of the world's alerces are within the boundaries of Pumalin, which is one of the reasons the Tompkins have established the park.
Under the July 7 plan, Tompkins will turn over control of his land to a foundation, and the park will be designated a nature sanctuary. The foundation will be governed by a board, four of whose members will be named by Tompkins.
There are just nine cabins for visitors in all of Pumalin. These hobbit-like cottages are all in Caleta Gonzalo on the edge of the fjord in the heart of the park. The cabins are rustically luxurious with hot showers, electric lights and accommodations for two to four people. They should be booked through the park
Chilean academic and religious institutions will name the remaining three members. A key element of the deal, an outrageous aberration on its own, was Tompkins's promise to abstain from additional purchases for one year while the government draws up laws to govern land purchases in strategic areas.
A natural eatery…to wet your appetites at Café Caleta Gonzalo.
The preserve will be known as Pumalin Park and will be open to the general public. Situated in south central Chile, near the city of Puerto Montt, the park encompasses a variety of wilderness areas, including rugged coastlines, virgin forests, and snow-capped mountains.
A greenhouse, with impeccable landscaping and stone walkways
Pumalin Park is an unrivaled way to experience the best this natural wonderland has to offer, balancing off–the–beaten path adventure with upscale comfort. It is the biggest ecotourist attractions of south Chile, accessible by car or boat.
An elegant lodging cabin.. with wonderful views of the water and mountains.
Caleta Gonzalo, at the center of the Park, in the Reñihue Fjord, houses the park's main tourist infrastructure, including a restaurant, visitor center, cabañas, and a campground. Ferries run from the village of Hornopiren to Caleta Gonzalo during the summer months.
The paths are made of stone, the fences woven from twigs, the shelter from cut timbers with copper eaves. The sumptuous infrastructure of Pumalin rivals the best parks in the U.S. and Canada and is almost certainly the best to be found in all of Latin America.
Today, Pumalin is considered to be the largest privately owned nature preserve in the world. If you are down to earth and you are inspired and thrilled by nature at is most pure, most awesome rawness, this is one of those special places in the world that is worth a pilgrimage.
A perfectly manicured drive lined with cypress trees, note the spectacular snowcapped Andes in the background.
While at Caleta Gonzalo, there is a hike to a secluded waterfall on a huge rock face called "Cascada Escondida;" a horseback ride to a glacier on Michimauda Volcano and a trek through lush temperate rainforests. Along with the natural beauty that is synonymous with the park.
Doug Tompkins, at the fore ground of his Wonderland…
It is not for mere fun that the park was designated a Nature Sanctuary in 2005, remaining unchallenged as Chile's largest private nature reserve ,one of the best of such in the world .Though,operated as a public-access park,NO FEE IS CHARGED, with an extensive infrastructure of trails, campgrounds, and visitor centers.
Inset is the logo of Pumalin Park
This is PARADISE DISCOVERED !
Where rivers roar with glacial waters: Where 3,000-year-old Alerce trees strain for the sky: Where sea lions rule from their perch on the rocky coast. Here you see a very large tract of virgin land containing incredible nature geography of lakes, rivers, hot springs, mountains, volcanoes and coastal fjords.
You could only imagine this is purely, a script from Gulliver’s Travels.A fantasy island and you like Alice in the 'Wonderland'.You can harldy believe that this is the mother earth known by you and known to you.Here ,man is at peace with his world.
The story begins ,when in the late 1990s, American millionaire Douglas Tompkins, a worldwide American astute businessman-turned-environmentalist , the founder of The North Face and co-founder of Espirit de Corp clothing, decided to donate $14 million to help preserve a wilderness area in Chile, he found it harder than he could ever expected.
The self-described ecology zealot, who now lives on a remote, solar-powered organic farm in southern Chile, finally succeeded in donating the pristine land after years of negotiations with the Chilean government. It was said that the land in question, Parque Pumalin covers an expansive landmass that made so many Chileans to suspect Tompkins’ intention.
Tompkins was said to have visited Chile in the 1960s, for the very first time but was enchanted by its wealth of natural beauty and outstanding conviviality, natural geography of lakes, rivers, hot springs, mountains, volcanoes and coastal fjords.
After his visit, he went on to co-found the Esprit de Corp. clothing company, a business that made him a millionaire.
In 1990 he sold his share of the business for an estimated $125 million and in 1991 began buying land in southern Chile, Most of which around a 400,000-acre parcel, was purchased from 150 heirs of a Spanish conquistador who was deeded the land almost 500 years ago.
Tompkins estimated that he spent more than $15 million to acquire the property in southern Chile, which is approximately the size of Yosemite National Park in the United States,and its southern hemisphere version.
Although Tompkins insisted he intended to return the land to Chile in the form of a national park, his purchases worried Chile's business and military leaders, and these set of folks worked covertly and overtly to sabotage Tompkins’ intention.
Mining, logging, and fishing companies as well, believed erroneously, so to say that Tompkins was trying to halt development of Chile's more remote regions: And thus, cutting the country off from a potential source of revenue.
His plan was to protect the 16,996.6 ha (42,000 acres) tract, most of which was primeval Valdivian temperate rainforest, from future exploitation. After moving to Reñihué to live full-time, Tompkins began developing plans for a larger park, gradually acquiring additional adjacent properties from willing sellers.
Ultimately, roughly 98 percent of the park acreage was bought from absentee landowners. Most of whom had inherited such in the first place and seemed to be less concerned in developing it.
Since, it was an era of military dictatorship in Chile, hence, military leaders, noting that Tompkins's territory stretched from the Pacific Ocean all the way to the border with Argentina, accused him of endangering national security.
hotpsrings like this ,you soon forget so soon that there is time and itis 24hours when it spins
For years these suspicions stood in the way of the plan to create a park, but Tompkins eventually convinced the government of his sincerity.
This was achieved when Douglas Tompkins was able to reach an agreement with the Chilean government on July 7, 1997, to create a national park out of his private land holdings in Chile, which totaled approximately 3000 sq km (about 1000 sq mi). Intended to preserve a huge swath of Chilean wilderness, bringing to an end years of endured oppositions.
Under the July 7 plan, Tompkins will turn over control of his land to a foundation, and the park will be designated a nature sanctuary. The foundation will be governed by a board, four of whose members will be named by Tompkins.
Chilean academic and religious institutions will name the remaining three members. A key element of the deal, an outrageous aberration on its own, was Tompkins's promise to abstain from additional purchases for one year while the government draws up laws to govern land purchases in strategic areas.
The preserve will be known as Pumalin Park and will be open to the general public. Situated in south central Chile, near the city of Puerto Montt, the park encompasses a variety of wilderness areas, including rugged coastlines, virgin forests, and snow-capped mountains.
Pumalin Park is an unrivaled way to experience the best this natural wonderland has to offer, balancing off–the–beaten path adventure with upscale comfort. It is the biggest ecotourist attractions of south Chile, accessible by car or boat.
Caleta Gonzalo, at the center of the Park, in the Reñihue Fjord, houses the park's main tourist infrastructure, including a restaurant, visitor center, cabañas, and a campground. Ferries run from the village of Hornopiren to Caleta Gonzalo during the summer months.
Today, Pumalin is considered to be the largest privately owned nature preserve in the world. If you are down to earth and you are inspired and thrilled by nature at is most pure, most awesome rawness, this is one of those special places in the world that is worth a pilgrimage.
While at Caleta Gonzalo, there is a hike to a secluded waterfall on a huge rock face called "Cascada Escondida;" a horseback ride to a glacier on Michimauda Volcano and a trek through lush temperate rainforests. Along with the natural beauty that is synonymous with the park.
It is not for mere fun that the park was designated a Nature Sanctuary in 2005, remaining unchallenged as Chile's largest private nature reserve ,one of the best of such in the world .Though,operated as a public-access park,NO FEE IS CHARGED, with an extensive infrastructure of trails, campgrounds, and visitor centers.
This is PARADISE DISCOVERED !
THE AMALGAMATION OF NIGERIA WAS A FRAUD'
Being excerpts from the speech of Chief Richard Akinjide (SAN), first and second Republic Minister, at the public presentation of the book “Fellow Country Men- the story of Coup D’etats in Nigeria by Richard Akinnola, June 2000)
I was in the first cabinet that was overthrown by the military in this country. I entered parliament in December 12, 1959. And I remained in parliament until January 15, 1966 when the government was overthrown. I was the Federal Minister of Education in that cabinet. I woke up one morning in my official house in Ikoyi to discover that my telephone was not working. I had never experienced coup before nor did I know that it was a coup, thinking it was just a telephone fault; until a colleague of mine in the cabinet Chief Abiodun Akerele, came in and told me there had been a military coup. So I had the fortune or the misfortune of being a victim of the first coup in this country.
Chief Richard Akinjide (SAN)
Many people may not know that I spent 18 months in detention in prisons across the country. I’ve spent time in KiriKiri prison, Ilesha prison, Ibadan prison and the Abeokuta prison.
Two of us who were in Balewa’s government emerged when the military handed over to the civilians in 1979 as part of the civilian government. In Balewa’s government, Alhaji Shehu Shagari was the Minister of Works while I was the Minister of Education. When the military handed over to us after about 14 years, Shagari emerged as the President while I became the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice.
Again, Shagari’s government was overthrown just a few months after I left the cabinet. Of course, we suspected it was coming. A lot of things that happened between that period and now would never see the light of the day. When you are in government, you know a lot of things, you see a lot of things. A lot of things you know or did or saw will die with you.
This is the practice of the whole world. People have asked me to write my memoirs, I just laugh because there are certain things I can never reveal.
When I was in Tafawa Balewa’s Cabinet, all Cabinet Ministers had access to written intelligence report every month. That was the practice at that time. But when Shagari came in, for reasons which I cannot explain, that practice was no longer followed. But by virtue of my duties as the Attorney-General and as a member of the National Security Council, I continued to have access to some sensitive matters.
Nigeria is a very complex country. Our problems did not start yesterday. It started about 1894. Lord Lugard came here about 1894 and many people did not know that Major Lugard was not originally employed by the British government. He was employed by companies. He was first employed by East Indian Company, by the Royal East African Company and then by the Royal Niger Company. It was from the Royal Niger Company that he transferred to the British government.
Unless you know this background, you will not know the root causes of our problems. The interest of the Europeans in Africa and indeed in Nigeria was economic and it’s still economic. They have no permanent friends and no permanent interest. Neither their interest nor their friends are permanent. Nigeria was created as British sphere of interests for business.
In 1898, Lugard formed the West African Frontier Force initially with 2,000 soldiers and that was the beginning of our problems. Anybody that wants to know the root cause of all the coups in this book and our present problems and who does not know the evolution of Nigeria would just be looking at the matter superficially. Our problems started from that time.
And Lugard was what they called at that time imperialist. A number of British soldiers, businessmen, politicians were very patriotic. But I must warn you, they were operating in the interest of their country. Lugard became a Lord. Nigerians, too, should operate in the interest of their country.
When Lugard formed the West African Frontier Force with 2,000 troops, about 90 percent of them were from the North mainly from the middle belt. And his dispatches to London between that time and January 1914 was extremely interesting. Lugard came here for a purpose and that purpose was British interest.
Between 1898 and 1914, he sent a number of dispatches to London which led to the Amalgamation of 1914. The Order-in-Council was drawn up in November 1913, signed and came into force in January 1914. In those dispatches, Lugard said a number of things which are the root causes of yesterday and today’s problems. The British needed the Railway from the North to the Coast in the interest of British business. Amalgamation of the South (not of the people) became of crucial importance to British business interest.
He said the North and South should be amalgamated. Southern Nigeria came into existence on January 1900…….At the centenary of the fall of Benin, I wrote a piece in a number of papers but before I published the piece, I sent a copy to the Oba of Benin.
So when Benin was conquered in 1896, it made the creation of the Southern Nigerian protectorate possible on January 1, 1900. If you remember, Sokoto was not conquered until 1903. So, there was no question of Nigeria at that time. After the conquest of Sokoto, they were able to create the Northern Nigeria protectorate. Lugard went full blast and created what was to be known as the protectorate of Northern Nigeria.
What is critical and important are the reasons Lugard gave in his dispatches. They are as follows:
He said the North is poor and they have no resources to run the protectorate of the North. That they have no access to the sea; that the South has resources and that they have educated people. The first Yoruba Lawyer was called to the Bar in 1861. Therefore, because it was not the policy of the British Government to bring the tax-payers money to run the protectorate, it was in the interest of the British tax payer that there should be Amalgamation. But what the British Amalgamated was the Administration of the North and South. That is one of the root causes of the problems of Nigeria and the Nigerians.
When the amalgamation took effect, the British government sealed off the South from the North. And between 1914 and 1960, that’s a period of 46 years, the British allowed minimum contact between the North and South because it was not in the British interest that the North be allowed to be polluted by the educated South. That was the basis on which we got our independence in 1960 when I was in the parliament. I entered parliament on December 12, 1959.
When the North formed a political party, the Northern leaders called it Northern People’s Congress (NPC). They didn’t call it Nigeria’s people Congress. That was in accordance with the dictum and policies of Lugard. When Aminu Kano formed his own party, it was called Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU) not Nigerian Elements Progressive Union.
It was only Awolowo and Zik who were mistaken that there was anything called Nigeria. In fact, the so-called Nigeria created in 1914 was a complete fraud. It was created not in the interest of Nigeria or Nigerians but in the interest of the British. And what were the structures created? The structures created were as follows: Northern Nigeria was to represent England; Western Nigeria like Wales; Eastern Nigeria was to be like Scotland.
In the British structure, England has permanent majority in the House of Commons. There was no way Wales can ever dominate England, neither can Scotland dominate Britain. But they are very shrewd. They would allow a Scottish man to become Prime Minister. They would allow a welsh man to become Prime Minister in London but the fact remains that the actual power is rested in England.
That was what Lugard created In Nigeria, a permanent majority for the North. The population figure is also a fraud. In fact, a British Colonial Civil Servant who was involved in the fraud was trying to expose it but he was never allowed to publish it.
The analysis is as follows: If you look at the map of West Africa, starting from Mauritania to Cameroun and take a population of each country as you move from the Coast to Savannah, the population decreases. Or conversely, as you come from the Desert to the Coast, right from Mauritania to Cameroun, the population increases.
The only exception throughout the zone is Nigeria. Nigeria is the only Zone whereby you go from the Coast to the North, the population increases and you come from the North to the Coast, the population decreases. Well, geographers, anthropologists and population experts, draw your conclusions. Someone has told me that the last population census was done by computer. What nonsense. A computer is as good as its programmer. A computer will produce what you ask it to produce.
I have read this book from cover to cover. This is a fantastic book. I want us to find a way to ensure that many Nigerians read this book. It is a raw material for future authors. There is one thing which is missing in this book and that is the first broadcast of General Ibrahim Babaginda when he assumed power in 1985. The broadcast is very crucial to the economic problems we have today.
Talking on the first coup, when Balewa got missing, we knew Okotie-Eboh had been killed, we knew Akintola had been killed. We the members of the Balewa cabinet started meeting. But how can we have a cabinet meeting without the Prime Minister acting or the Prime Minister presiding. So, unanimously, we nominated acting Prime Minister amongst us. Then we continued holding our meetings. Then we got a message that we should all assemble at the Cabinet office.
All the Ministers were requested by the G.O.C. of the Nigerian Army, General Ironsi to assemble. What was amazing at that time was that Ironsi was going all over Lagos unarmed. We assembled there, having nominating Zana Diphcharima as our acting prime minister in the absence of the Prime Minister, whose where about we didn’t know. We approached the acting President, Nwafor Orizu to swear him in because he could not legitimately act as the Prime Minister except he was sworn in. Nwafor Orizu refused. He said he needed to contact Zik who was then in West Indies.
Under the Law, that is, the interpretation Act, as acting President, Nwafor Orizu had all the powers of the President.
The G.O.C said he wanted to see all the cabinet ministers. And so we assembled at the cabinet office. Well, I have read in many books saying that we handed over to the military. We did not hand-over. Ironsi told us that “you either hand over as gentlemen or you hand-over by force”. These were his words. Is that voluntary hand-over? So we did not hand-over. We wanted the Acting Prime Minister to be in place but Ironsi forced us, and I use the word force advisedly, to handover to him. He was controlling the soldiers.
The acting President, Nwafor Orizu, who did not cooperate with us, cooperated with the GOC. Dr. Orizu and the GOC prepared speeches which Nwafor Orizu broadcast handing over to the government of the country to the army. I here state again categorically as a member of that cabinet that we did not hand-over voluntarily. It was a coup.
There is a very good book, which everybody must read. It is raw material for future authors. Anybody, who wants to know some of the causes of our problems, military instability should read this book. I recommend this book to all universities and secondary schools, so that they can know how we got to where we are now. What this book shows is that if anybody stages a coup and if people don’t accept it, it would not succeed. What puzzles me is how the author got all these materials. He must have connections in high places to be able to get a lot of these materials. These materials should not be in archives, they should be in public domain so that we know the causes of our problems.
I pray that all Nigerians should rise up and say no if anybody seizes a radio station and says “fellow countrymen”. I hope that this book will find a way into all university libraries throughout this country, to all secondary school libraries and abroad. I appeal to the media to give this book a comprehensive and desired review. The more I open the book, the more I see something to talk about. This book is going to represent one of the chapters in the tragedy of Nigeria. This book is just like horror film because the instability which was started in 1966…….. because many of the coups are what I’ll call commercial coups.
If anything at all, we have to learn a great lesson from this book and also learn a lesson on what happened, who failed or succeeded in their coups. When it succeeds, they call it glorious revolution, but when it fails, it is called treason. It is my honor and privilege to present this great and historic book. One of the things I like about the book is the language of the author. He’s someone who speaks Englishman’s English. He writes Queens English. Very lucid, very flowing.
Courtesy :The above is via the Facebook thread of Chief Femi Fani-Kayode(http://www.facebook.com/notes/femi-fani-kayode/the-amalgamation-of-nigeria-was-a-fraud-by-chief-richard-akinjide-san/10150574227187557) on Friday, February 3, 2012 at 7:54pm.So I will be including one of his comments below and mine.
Femi Fani-Kayode:
Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeating its mistakes. If u want to know where u are going to first learn where you are coming from. That is why this brilliant contribution from Chief Richard Akinjide is so important and is what I would describe as essential reading.Friday at 9:04pm
Shola Adebowale:
This is a great piece,worthy of every bit of its letters.
I really enjoy every bit of it,like a fresh coffee 4 a fresh day at dawn.
Though coming across it 4 d 2nd time.
I'll however,emphasize dt our greatest problem as a nation and as a people is d British:and we hav found it xtremely impossible to exorcise ourselves frm d British evil spell.
When d foundation is evil,what can d righteous do?
The British has set us up.Friday at 9:46pm
I was in the first cabinet that was overthrown by the military in this country. I entered parliament in December 12, 1959. And I remained in parliament until January 15, 1966 when the government was overthrown. I was the Federal Minister of Education in that cabinet. I woke up one morning in my official house in Ikoyi to discover that my telephone was not working. I had never experienced coup before nor did I know that it was a coup, thinking it was just a telephone fault; until a colleague of mine in the cabinet Chief Abiodun Akerele, came in and told me there had been a military coup. So I had the fortune or the misfortune of being a victim of the first coup in this country.
Many people may not know that I spent 18 months in detention in prisons across the country. I’ve spent time in KiriKiri prison, Ilesha prison, Ibadan prison and the Abeokuta prison.
Two of us who were in Balewa’s government emerged when the military handed over to the civilians in 1979 as part of the civilian government. In Balewa’s government, Alhaji Shehu Shagari was the Minister of Works while I was the Minister of Education. When the military handed over to us after about 14 years, Shagari emerged as the President while I became the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice.
Again, Shagari’s government was overthrown just a few months after I left the cabinet. Of course, we suspected it was coming. A lot of things that happened between that period and now would never see the light of the day. When you are in government, you know a lot of things, you see a lot of things. A lot of things you know or did or saw will die with you.
This is the practice of the whole world. People have asked me to write my memoirs, I just laugh because there are certain things I can never reveal.
When I was in Tafawa Balewa’s Cabinet, all Cabinet Ministers had access to written intelligence report every month. That was the practice at that time. But when Shagari came in, for reasons which I cannot explain, that practice was no longer followed. But by virtue of my duties as the Attorney-General and as a member of the National Security Council, I continued to have access to some sensitive matters.
Nigeria is a very complex country. Our problems did not start yesterday. It started about 1894. Lord Lugard came here about 1894 and many people did not know that Major Lugard was not originally employed by the British government. He was employed by companies. He was first employed by East Indian Company, by the Royal East African Company and then by the Royal Niger Company. It was from the Royal Niger Company that he transferred to the British government.
Unless you know this background, you will not know the root causes of our problems. The interest of the Europeans in Africa and indeed in Nigeria was economic and it’s still economic. They have no permanent friends and no permanent interest. Neither their interest nor their friends are permanent. Nigeria was created as British sphere of interests for business.
In 1898, Lugard formed the West African Frontier Force initially with 2,000 soldiers and that was the beginning of our problems. Anybody that wants to know the root cause of all the coups in this book and our present problems and who does not know the evolution of Nigeria would just be looking at the matter superficially. Our problems started from that time.
And Lugard was what they called at that time imperialist. A number of British soldiers, businessmen, politicians were very patriotic. But I must warn you, they were operating in the interest of their country. Lugard became a Lord. Nigerians, too, should operate in the interest of their country.
When Lugard formed the West African Frontier Force with 2,000 troops, about 90 percent of them were from the North mainly from the middle belt. And his dispatches to London between that time and January 1914 was extremely interesting. Lugard came here for a purpose and that purpose was British interest.
Between 1898 and 1914, he sent a number of dispatches to London which led to the Amalgamation of 1914. The Order-in-Council was drawn up in November 1913, signed and came into force in January 1914. In those dispatches, Lugard said a number of things which are the root causes of yesterday and today’s problems. The British needed the Railway from the North to the Coast in the interest of British business. Amalgamation of the South (not of the people) became of crucial importance to British business interest.
He said the North and South should be amalgamated. Southern Nigeria came into existence on January 1900…….At the centenary of the fall of Benin, I wrote a piece in a number of papers but before I published the piece, I sent a copy to the Oba of Benin.
So when Benin was conquered in 1896, it made the creation of the Southern Nigerian protectorate possible on January 1, 1900. If you remember, Sokoto was not conquered until 1903. So, there was no question of Nigeria at that time. After the conquest of Sokoto, they were able to create the Northern Nigeria protectorate. Lugard went full blast and created what was to be known as the protectorate of Northern Nigeria.
What is critical and important are the reasons Lugard gave in his dispatches. They are as follows:
He said the North is poor and they have no resources to run the protectorate of the North. That they have no access to the sea; that the South has resources and that they have educated people. The first Yoruba Lawyer was called to the Bar in 1861. Therefore, because it was not the policy of the British Government to bring the tax-payers money to run the protectorate, it was in the interest of the British tax payer that there should be Amalgamation. But what the British Amalgamated was the Administration of the North and South. That is one of the root causes of the problems of Nigeria and the Nigerians.
When the amalgamation took effect, the British government sealed off the South from the North. And between 1914 and 1960, that’s a period of 46 years, the British allowed minimum contact between the North and South because it was not in the British interest that the North be allowed to be polluted by the educated South. That was the basis on which we got our independence in 1960 when I was in the parliament. I entered parliament on December 12, 1959.
When the North formed a political party, the Northern leaders called it Northern People’s Congress (NPC). They didn’t call it Nigeria’s people Congress. That was in accordance with the dictum and policies of Lugard. When Aminu Kano formed his own party, it was called Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU) not Nigerian Elements Progressive Union.
It was only Awolowo and Zik who were mistaken that there was anything called Nigeria. In fact, the so-called Nigeria created in 1914 was a complete fraud. It was created not in the interest of Nigeria or Nigerians but in the interest of the British. And what were the structures created? The structures created were as follows: Northern Nigeria was to represent England; Western Nigeria like Wales; Eastern Nigeria was to be like Scotland.
In the British structure, England has permanent majority in the House of Commons. There was no way Wales can ever dominate England, neither can Scotland dominate Britain. But they are very shrewd. They would allow a Scottish man to become Prime Minister. They would allow a welsh man to become Prime Minister in London but the fact remains that the actual power is rested in England.
That was what Lugard created In Nigeria, a permanent majority for the North. The population figure is also a fraud. In fact, a British Colonial Civil Servant who was involved in the fraud was trying to expose it but he was never allowed to publish it.
The analysis is as follows: If you look at the map of West Africa, starting from Mauritania to Cameroun and take a population of each country as you move from the Coast to Savannah, the population decreases. Or conversely, as you come from the Desert to the Coast, right from Mauritania to Cameroun, the population increases.
The only exception throughout the zone is Nigeria. Nigeria is the only Zone whereby you go from the Coast to the North, the population increases and you come from the North to the Coast, the population decreases. Well, geographers, anthropologists and population experts, draw your conclusions. Someone has told me that the last population census was done by computer. What nonsense. A computer is as good as its programmer. A computer will produce what you ask it to produce.
I have read this book from cover to cover. This is a fantastic book. I want us to find a way to ensure that many Nigerians read this book. It is a raw material for future authors. There is one thing which is missing in this book and that is the first broadcast of General Ibrahim Babaginda when he assumed power in 1985. The broadcast is very crucial to the economic problems we have today.
Talking on the first coup, when Balewa got missing, we knew Okotie-Eboh had been killed, we knew Akintola had been killed. We the members of the Balewa cabinet started meeting. But how can we have a cabinet meeting without the Prime Minister acting or the Prime Minister presiding. So, unanimously, we nominated acting Prime Minister amongst us. Then we continued holding our meetings. Then we got a message that we should all assemble at the Cabinet office.
All the Ministers were requested by the G.O.C. of the Nigerian Army, General Ironsi to assemble. What was amazing at that time was that Ironsi was going all over Lagos unarmed. We assembled there, having nominating Zana Diphcharima as our acting prime minister in the absence of the Prime Minister, whose where about we didn’t know. We approached the acting President, Nwafor Orizu to swear him in because he could not legitimately act as the Prime Minister except he was sworn in. Nwafor Orizu refused. He said he needed to contact Zik who was then in West Indies.
Under the Law, that is, the interpretation Act, as acting President, Nwafor Orizu had all the powers of the President.
The G.O.C said he wanted to see all the cabinet ministers. And so we assembled at the cabinet office. Well, I have read in many books saying that we handed over to the military. We did not hand-over. Ironsi told us that “you either hand over as gentlemen or you hand-over by force”. These were his words. Is that voluntary hand-over? So we did not hand-over. We wanted the Acting Prime Minister to be in place but Ironsi forced us, and I use the word force advisedly, to handover to him. He was controlling the soldiers.
The acting President, Nwafor Orizu, who did not cooperate with us, cooperated with the GOC. Dr. Orizu and the GOC prepared speeches which Nwafor Orizu broadcast handing over to the government of the country to the army. I here state again categorically as a member of that cabinet that we did not hand-over voluntarily. It was a coup.
There is a very good book, which everybody must read. It is raw material for future authors. Anybody, who wants to know some of the causes of our problems, military instability should read this book. I recommend this book to all universities and secondary schools, so that they can know how we got to where we are now. What this book shows is that if anybody stages a coup and if people don’t accept it, it would not succeed. What puzzles me is how the author got all these materials. He must have connections in high places to be able to get a lot of these materials. These materials should not be in archives, they should be in public domain so that we know the causes of our problems.
I pray that all Nigerians should rise up and say no if anybody seizes a radio station and says “fellow countrymen”. I hope that this book will find a way into all university libraries throughout this country, to all secondary school libraries and abroad. I appeal to the media to give this book a comprehensive and desired review. The more I open the book, the more I see something to talk about. This book is going to represent one of the chapters in the tragedy of Nigeria. This book is just like horror film because the instability which was started in 1966…….. because many of the coups are what I’ll call commercial coups.
If anything at all, we have to learn a great lesson from this book and also learn a lesson on what happened, who failed or succeeded in their coups. When it succeeds, they call it glorious revolution, but when it fails, it is called treason. It is my honor and privilege to present this great and historic book. One of the things I like about the book is the language of the author. He’s someone who speaks Englishman’s English. He writes Queens English. Very lucid, very flowing.
Courtesy :The above is via the Facebook thread of Chief Femi Fani-Kayode(http://www.facebook.com/notes/femi-fani-kayode/the-amalgamation-of-nigeria-was-a-fraud-by-chief-richard-akinjide-san/10150574227187557) on Friday, February 3, 2012 at 7:54pm.So I will be including one of his comments below and mine.
Femi Fani-Kayode:
Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeating its mistakes. If u want to know where u are going to first learn where you are coming from. That is why this brilliant contribution from Chief Richard Akinjide is so important and is what I would describe as essential reading.Friday at 9:04pm
Shola Adebowale:
This is a great piece,worthy of every bit of its letters.
I really enjoy every bit of it,like a fresh coffee 4 a fresh day at dawn.
Though coming across it 4 d 2nd time.
I'll however,emphasize dt our greatest problem as a nation and as a people is d British:and we hav found it xtremely impossible to exorcise ourselves frm d British evil spell.
When d foundation is evil,what can d righteous do?
The British has set us up.Friday at 9:46pm
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