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Cage Miyetti Allah, Punish Killer Herdsmen, Soyinka Tells Buhari in New Statement

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Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, on Wednesday accused President Muhammadu Buhari of treating killer herdsmen with kid gloves.

Soyinka said this on the heels of the killing of about 200 persons by herdsmen in two local government areas of Plateau State.

In a statement titled: “On Demand: A language of non-capitulation, non-appeasement,” Soyinka urged President Buhari to make killer herdsmen pay for their crimes to send a strong warning that his administration would not tolerate forceful land seizure anywhere in Nigeria.

The statement reads in full:

Land grab will be reversed!” This is the first governance pronouncement, the first pertinent proclamation from the presidency since the herdsmen national affliction began. Catastrophically belated, it has finally emerged from the constricted throat of a government that seemed unaware that its very corporate existence was under strangulation.
Many, in this nation, have had bitter cause to conclude that governance had indeed expired, its elected head in a trance. It is not that long ago when I demanded that this declaration of intent – the reversal of land expropriation through mass murder – be made, and that the triumphalist beneficiaries of such obscene occupation agenda be openly given a deadline to self-evacuate, or be forcefully evicted.

However, a commitment is now firmly in hand, but enforcement is all, so is the tempo of enforcement. Statements of outrage, humane sentiment, empathy, even visitations to afflicted areas are natural expectations from government, and perfectly in order. They are essential indications of concern and solidarity, even of admissions of lapses. They offer glimmerings of eventual measures of equity and restitution – of which we must never lose sight – else, community sinks into despair, or enters the interminable spiral of reprisals.

Visible pragmatic measures additionally assist in bolstering the optimism of victims, enable them to feel that they have not been abandoned. Such are the relocation of security commands to vulnerable zones, deployment of Special Forces and attack helicopters etc. etc. – yes – all these are mandatory measures, it is their absence that constitute unpardonable negligence. Long term propositions, such as establishment of ranches, restriction of cattle movements, cultivation of fast growth grasses and so on – they all indicate far-sighted planning. They deserve approbation, but they are not exclusively remedial.

Certain unconscionable events have taken place, and cannot be ignored. Entire communities have been erased from the national landscape. Thousands of family units are in mourning, survivors scarred and traumatised beyond measure. Famine looms in many areas, even in those lodged in acknowledged bread baskets of the nation. Impunity, gleeful and prideful impunity substitutes for decent self-distancing from once unthinkable crimes – let us not even speak of expressions of remorse and human empathy. The instigators, increasingly fingered as directors of human carnage are strutting around, defiant, justifying the unspeakable, daring a nation – there is no other word for it – daring governments and nation to attempt to reverse their categorisation of communities as culpable, sentenced and deserving of some of the most revolting, onslaughts of ethnic cleansing that this nation has ever undergone.
Once, when we spoke of internal colonialism, we referred merely to the military seizure of a people’s political will.

Today, that phrase has taken on a bruising physicality – seizures of a people’s land patrimony and the abrogation of their centuries old resource of material survival.
What is the ultimate destination of these new imperators? The answer is unambiguous: Land. The seizure of land, either for seasonal grazing, for the lordly passage of cattle, or for permanent settlement. The rights of passage, no matter the cost. This is what makes noteworthy this new language of objective appraisal, one that is indicative of remedial action.

When President Buhari complains – see today’s (June 27) media report, that it is unjust for the public to accuse him of being silent on the killer herdsmen, that is exactly to what they referred – the erstwhile language of complacency and accommodativeness in the face of unmerited brutalisation. Buhari had yet to speak in the language that these murdering herdsmen understand – simply, that forceful seizure of land will not be tolerated in any part of a federation under his governance. That the temporary acquisition of weapons of mass elimination by any bunch of psychopaths and anachronistic feudal mentality will not translate into subjugation of a people and a savaging of their communities; that any such gains are illusory and temporary and will be reversed. The plaint of ‘injustice’ is a misjudgment of the injustice done directly to the victims, and vicariously to the rest of us who turn to the news with dread every day, wondering what new stomach-churning accounts of the gory agenda on their humanity will replace the normal concourse of humanity.

That language, A to Z – Adamawa to Zamfara – symbolises and encompasses the Nigerian alphabet of a new language, and it is anyone’s guess whose lettering will next scorch the minds even of far distanced strangers. And, if I may confess a personal note, we are not all outsiders to this geography of collective being, and its alphabet. B – for Barkin Ladi – for instance, a serene, hospitable town was one of the favourite way stops of my research days across the nation at the very time that the nation took her early faltering steps into independence – in the early sixties. Distanced by time, Barkin Ladi nevertheless remains part of a personal, fond, formative family. Is it that same Barkin Ladi that has been put to the torch after the slaughter of her people? My people? If I visit Barkin Ladi tomorrow, will I recognise any landmark of my knowledge seeking trajectory?

Quickly, let it be stressed, this sense of violation is anything but personal. Till now, the language of governance has been constructed from the mangled alphabetism of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) who earlier dismissed creeping genocide as neighbourhood clashes. It has been thrust into the curriculum by a Minister of Defence, Mansur Mohammed Dan-Ali – now minister of an undeclared adult educational re-orientation – who, again and again, savages already ravaged sensibilities with his distortion of a national catastrophe as a deserving consequence of a state’s legislative answer to an already manifested outrage. If ever an individual qualified to be the guinea-pig for testing the outrageous hate bill speech contemplated by our legislators, it is the unedifying pronoucements of that minister of Defence, who continues to defend the indefensible through his arrogant, provocative dismissals of an agenda of ethnic cleansing, dehumanising the victims anew, and camouflaging the failure of government by his gratuitous blame-passing.

The language of the Dan-Ali, a Brig.-Gen. of the Nigerian Armed Forces, is a language that is now being contradicted by the meaning of “Land grabbing shall be reversed”. So, which is the true heart speak of this government? That question is now catapulted to the fore even by this long avoided, and pro-active newspeak of government. The answer will be in the act, and its tempo. It will be judged also in the continued retention of such an unreformable enemy of democracy, sense and justice, one who gives joy to proven killers, who flaunts temerity to order state governments to abrogate their own rights to enact laws for the protection of their citizens!

The urgency is oppressive. It was revealed to me only last week that the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Olu Falae, whose ordeal of being kidnapped by these same marauders is still fresh in the nation’s mind, is still under siege by the same forces. Neither he, nor his workers can routinely attend to Falae’s farms, being under constant harassment by herdsmen. How could this happen, be happening, to us after the learning spell of the yet unfinished business of Boko Haram? In these matters, need I stress? – timing is all, and that timing translates in that ancient language of – ‘a stitch in time’! An aggressor who sniffs, however faintly, the permissive air of immunity, is near totally beyond recall. Only the stern language of reprimand, manifested in act, will deter him. The price of desultoriness is serial forfeiture of more than lives, hence the agony into which Nigerians have been repeatedly plunged. The leaders of Myetti Allah are self-vaunting instigators in the nation’s herder colonisation. Going by their utterances alone, their ultimatum to state governors to reverse their grazing laws or else – it is clearly not cows that need to be fenced, but Myetti to be caged. We are speaking of a recent human body count of close to two hundred, and the Myetti gang’s retort that three hundred of their cows have been rustled. Do I need to repeat here my earlier commentary on the Myetti and its allies, an assessment daily reinforced by that demonic breed. I think it is necessary, since the same language is being promoted by the minister of Defence on behalf of his government.

“Repeal this law, they demand, we shall settle for nothing less! They defy such laws, then proceed to demonise the affected state governments by twisting the order of events: the killing happens, they claim, because of what was put in place – in response to killing! Did you ever encounter a more cynical rendition of the sequence of cause-and-effect? A nation has been placed on the defensive…… I am not aware that that Myetti demagogue, the upside-down historian of first settlers and the antiquated logic of conquest, that illiterate mouther so filled with his sense of power and confidence of impunity – I am not aware that he has ever been called for questioning.”

Mr. President, do you know what I strongly believe? This recent planned massacre had a numerical target. The latest killing spree is the formal annunciation of a new law. From now on, for every missing, maimed, even legally seized cow – perhaps for trespassing and damage – one human being shall die, and commensurate land shall be forfeited. Make no mistake, that is the message!
Berom or Ondo, Tiv or Efik. Egba or Igalla – it makes no difference – this is the language, and if your government does not understand it yet, we, whose field is language, both spoken and symbolic, must decode it for you. Myetti Allah has spoken. It has inscribed this new law across the landscape in bloody lettering.

Add to this, a study in complementarity: the five young men recently sentenced to death by a High court of sorts in Zamfara – for allegedly killing a herdsman. We do not condone murder in any cause – let that be stated clearly – neither in any cause nor by anyone, and will always uphold the course of justice which, we equally insist, must remain transparent and impartial. The agitating question then is this: since this rampage began, has even one herdsman been brought up before those same courts on a charge of murder, much less sentenced to death at such lightning speed? Shall we wake up and find that they have been hanged? Yet, Zamfara has lost hundreds to the homicidal orgy of these same herdsmen. There is a skewed application of justiciable proceeding here that baffles many, this writer among them.
And now, we learn that the survivors of overwhelmed, fireballed communities, and their apprehensive neighbours, are being deprived of even their paltry defensive weapons by army units sent to zones of carnage. When I visited the governor of Benue State some weeks ago, he bitterly lamented that security agencies have even ordered his communities to surrender even the very machetes of routine use in farming. The logic of this eludes one. The JTF – the so-called Junior Task Force, made up of civilians – has been working hand in hand with the Nigerian army in the liberation of communities overrun by Boko Haram, complementing overstretched military capabilities. Their operations have gone beyond even self-defence and include aggressive pursuit of their aggressors. Like the army, they have bravely taken losses. So, why are these victims of cattle overlords not encouraged, even assisted to defend themselves? Community policing is a basic right of society and, where needed with whatever weaponry is available to them‘ The community knows itself, the members know one another, and all know their terrain. Could the military save Barkin Ladi? More pertinently, can the military protect every village in the fast-expanding territory of cattlemen terror? When can Olu Falae resume the simple, ruminant existence of a former civil servant who has opted for an imagined conflict-free existence?

The Danjuma thesis – defend yourselves! – is neither new nor strange, it is simply a restatement of the logicality of human response in the face of aggression, and one is grateful for the authoritativeness of military experience that is behind it, and a trained on-the-spot capability for assessment from within. Yes, the land-grab must be reversed, but the restored will still require to be defended, and aggressors also served a lasting lesson both from the manifested responsibility of governance, and the resistant will of the people.
Accounting for crimes is also part of that responsibility, and such criminality must not be seen to be rewarded through idealistic solutions that paper over crimes against humanity. For that is the present actuality. Crimes against our humanity have been committed, and restitution must be made. Nothing less will restore confidence in a government, and reassure the people of its integrity, its commitment to equity in internal relationships and the rightful custodianship of ancient resources.

 

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Ezekiel Bolarinwa Ajayi: Mentor, Philanthropist Revels at 80

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By Eric Elezuo

The ancient town of Ile-Ife was agog weekend, when Professor Ezekiel Bolarinwa Oladele Ajayi, a renowned educationist, accomplished mentor and elder brother of veteran journalist, Dele Momodu, pulled all the stops to mark a resounding entry into the octogenarian club, celebrating his 80th birthday with fanfare, pomp and class.

The event, which attracted family members, colleagues in the academic world, friends and well wishers, was another testament in the expression of influence, clout and connection.

Held at the Rock Rehoboth Cathedral in the centre of Ile-Ife, the event brought out the best in the Stanford trained PHD holder, as beamed with contagious smiles, absorbing accolades from a crowd of well wishers and dignitaries, most of whom traveled half  way across the world to felicitate with the newest octogenarian.

A lavished reception followed after heartfelt prayers were said for the celebrant flanked by his wife of many years, children and grandchildren. The reception witnessed guests savoring the best of continental and local delicacies as well as dancing happily to the old school tunes.

The highpoint of the event was the cutting of the gigantic cake by the birthday boy around whom were dotting family members.

As guests expressed their profound, hearty and sincere congratulations towards the octogenarian, whose event changed the landscape of Ife, many recalled how they have come a long way from their very humble beginning in Gbongan Olufi.

Fondly called Ladele, Prof Ajayi was born on March 23, 1944 in Gbongan, Osun State, where he had his earliest beginnings.

He statted his education at the Saint Paul’s School Gbongan, before moving on to Saint Judes School, Ebute Metta, and later to Saint Stephens School, Ile-Ife, where he completed his primary education.

After his elementary education, he was admitted into the Government College lbadan, where he was described as having  ‘passed out in exceedingly bright colours’. As many that knows him has confirmed that Prof Ajayi was a walking encyclopedia, and vibrated with intelligence while at school.

It was not therefore, surprising that he later proceeded to the United States of America, after his secondary education, where he attended various prestigious Universities including Stanford University. It is worthy of note that all his appearances for university education were on different scholarships. It was also at Stanford that he bagged his PhD honours.

On the completion of his PhD programme in Stanford, Prof Ajayi was recruited by the University of Ife, as it was then known, before its transmutation to Obafemi Awolowo University, where he later became a Professor of Physics, a position he jealousy guarded until retirement from active classroom duties.

According to a very close family member and confidant, Bola Adeyemo, who spoke glowingly about their fond relationship, Prof Ajayi “also became active in things of God. Like a proverbial gold fish, he has been recognized as a Pastor. Ladele played a mentoring role in the final years of school for my twin daughters who both graduated from the medicine program in the same University.

“The mutual fondness between Ladele and I remains very much intact. Ladele and l share common ancestry. His father who was the Otun Olufi of Gɓongan was a much older cousin to my mother and was fondly referred to as baba mi ile ASORO. They both had the same tribal marks. Ladele can be classified as belonging to the royal class as his father was the OTUN OLUFI while his mother was the daughter of the ÒOSA, first class chief in Gbongan.”

A life of Prof Ajayi without a mention of prolific publisher of the Ovation brands,  Chief Momodu, remains incomplete. It is worthy of note that apart from both sharing the same mum as siblings, the Prof was instrumental in shaping and mentally mentoring Momodu on the path of education. His 80th birthday was a reminder of how it used to be in times past as it marks a form of reunion for the Ajayi extended household.

Among those who attended were his daughter, Kemi Ajayi-Ingram, who flew in all the way from the United States of America, with her entire family; his niece, Yejide Ajayi among a host of others.

We wish the ebullient octogenarian a splendid birthday, and many ore years of splendid celebrations.

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Easter, Ramadan: Adeleke Releases March Salaries, Pension, Palliatives, Approves Promotion for Personnel

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Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has approved the release of salaries, pensions and palliatives for the month of March for all public servants in the state, as well as approved the promotion of service personnel due for promotion from 2023.

Adeleke’s show of love for the entire workforce, is in spite of the fact that the State allocation from the Federation account is yet to be released, according to a statement signed by the governor’s spokesperson, Mallam Olawale Rasheed.

The Head of Service, Mr Samuel Ayanleye Aina confirmed the approval of the March salaries, pension and palliatives, noting that the fast tracked approval covered all categories of state and local government employees including tertiary institutions in the State.

“I can confirm that Mr Governor has approved the March salaries, pension and palliative wage awards, including the usual payment of the outstanding half salary for retirees under the contributory pension scheme yet to obtain their bonds. Mr Governor requested for the file and granted immediate approval.

“Any moment from now, alerts will be landing in our peoples’ accounts. This is a preemptive step on the part of Mr Governor to meet the needs of our people”, the Head of Service explained.

Governor Adeleke who has been hosting inter faith leaders at the Government House said he approved the early payment to ease the burden of the workers ahead of the Easter period.

“As I wish muslim and christian faithfuls blessed fasting season, the early payment is a gesture of support for workers whose welfare remains the number one priority of our administration”, the Governor noted.

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FG Announces Nine Individuals, Six BDCs Financing Terrorism

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The Federal Government says it has uncovered the identity of 15 entities, including nine individuals and six Bureau De Change operators and firms, allegedly involved in terrorism financing.

Details of the development were revealed by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, in an email seen by The Punch on Tuesday night, entitled “Designation of Individuals and Entities for March 18, 2024.”

The document revealed that the Nigeria Sanctions Committee met on March 18, 2024, where specific individuals and entities were recommended for sanction following their involvement in terrorism financing.

“The Honourable Attorney General of the Federation, with the approval of the President, has thereupon designated the following individuals and entities to be listed on the Nigeria Sanctions List,” the document read in part.

Among the individuals named in the document was a Kaduna-based publisher, Tukur Mamu, who is currently being tried by the Federal Government for allegedly aiding the terrorists who attacked the Abuja-Kaduna train in March 2022.

According to the document, Mamu “participated in the financing of terrorism by receiving and delivering ransom payments over the sum of $200,000 US in support of ISWAP terrorists for the release of hostages of the Abuja-Kaduna train attack.”

The document said one of the individuals is “the suspected attacker of the St. Francis Catholic Church Owo, Ondo State on June 5, 2022 and the Kuje Correctional Center, Abuja on July 5, 2022.”

Another was described as “a member of the terrorist group Ansarul Muslimina Fi Biladissudam, the group is associated with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

 “The subject was trained and served under Muktar Belmokhtar, aka One Eyed Out, led Al-Murabtoun Katibat of AQIM in Algeria and Mali.”

The NFIU said the individual “specialises in designing terrorist clandestine communication code and he is also Improvised Explosive Device expert.

“The subject was also a gate keeper to ANSARU leader, Mohammed Usman aka Khalid Al-Bamawi. Equally, he was a courier and travel guide to AQIM Katibat in the desert of Algeria and Mali. He is into carpentry. Subject fled Kuje correctional centre on July 5, 2022. He is currently at large.”

Another was identified as “a senior commander of the Islamic State of West Africa Province Okene.”

The agency said, the individual “came into limelight in 2012 as North Central wing of Boko Haram.

“The group is suspected of the attacks carried out around Federal Capital Territory and the South West Geographical Zone, including the June 5, 2022 attack on St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State.”

Another was described as “a financial courier to ISWAP Okene. She is responsible for the disbursement of funds to the widows/wives of the terrorist fighters of the group.”

According to the document, another of the individuals “in 2015, transferred N60m to terrorism convicts.”

He was also said to have “received a sum of N189m  between 2016 and 2018.”

The same person is said to “own entities and business reported in the UAE court judgment as facilitating the transfer of terrorist funds from Dubai to Nigeria.”

Another individual was said to have “received a total of N57m from between 2014 and 2017.”

Another was said to have “had a total inflow of N61.4 bn and a total outflow of N51.7bn from his accounts.”

The document further revealed that, in accordance with Section 54 of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, institutions and individuals are required to:

“(a) immediately, identify and freeze, without prior notice, all funds, assets, and any other economic resources belonging to the designated persons and entities in your possession and report same to the Sanctions Committee;

“(b) report to the Sanctions Committee any assets frozen or actions taken in compliance with the prohibition requirements.

“(c) immediately file a Suspicious Transactions Report to the NFIU for further analysis on the financial activities of such an individual or entity; and

“(d) report as a Suspicious Transactions Report to the NFIU, all cases of name matching in financial transactions prior to or after receipt of this List. ”

It said the “The freezing obligation required above shall extend to

“(a) all funds or other assets that are owned or controlled by the designated persons and entities, and not only those that are tied to a particular act, plot, or threat of terrorism or terrorism financing;

“(b) those funds or other assets that are wholly or jointly owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by designated persons or entities;

“(c) the funds or other assets derived or generated from funds or other assets owned or controlled directly or indirectly by designated persons or entities; and

“(d) funds or other assets of persons and entities acting on behalf of, or at the direction of designated persons or entities.”

The Punch

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