UNICEF condemns recent killing of students in Yobe

UNICEF says attacks on children and schools are unacceptable
The United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, on Thursday, condemned the killing of at least 45 children by unidentified gunmen at the Federal Government College, Buni Yadi, Yobe.
This was in a statement by the Head, Media and External Relations of UNICEF in Abuja, Geoffrey Njoku.
UNICEF said attacks on children and schools were unacceptable under any circumstances as such deprived them to their right to education and basic needs to life.

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Adamawa Attacks Update: 13 feared killed, 2 banks, police station, burnt.

Boko Haram Attack in the North

The Boko Haram sect has intensified attacks in the North-East region in the past few days

At least thirteen people were killed late Wednesday when gunmen, believed to be members of the extremist Boko Haram sect, launched surprise attacks on Michika town in Adamawa state, residents and security sources have said.

Two banks – First Bank and Union Bank – were torched and might have been burgled by the attackers, while the main police station in the town was also burnt.

Some of the residents said on phone on Thursday that the attackers arrived the town around 9 p.m to unleash the mayhem for about five hours.

“They burnt three banks, police station, shops and part of the Michika Local Government Council secretariat. They came in nine Toyota Hilux vans firing guns and throwing explosives,” a resident who simply identified himself as Fide said.

Fide said he saw corpses of two victims whose remains were recovered on Thursday.

“One of the dead bodies is that of a staff of Bank of Agriculture,” Fide said.

The attackers reportedly raided Kirchinga, Kubla and Shuwa villages on their way to Michika.

“They burnt places of worship and the house of a former commissioner, Idris Nuhu, in Shuwa village,” said a resident, Sule Idris.

Confirming the report, the spokesperson of the 23rd Armour Brigade, Yola, Ja’afaru Nuhu, said the insurgents attacked communities in Madagali and Michika Local Government Areas.

Mr. Nuhu also promised to give details of the attacks later.

The lawmaker representing Michika constituency in the state House of Assembly, Admu Kamale, also confirmed the attacks.

Both officials however declined to provide information on casualty.

The gunmen had on Wednesday night raided three villages in Madagali and Michika local governments in the North-east state.

The chairman of Madagali Local Government, Maina Ularamu, who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES over the telephone Wednesday night, said the attackers, suspected to be members of the extremist Boko Haram sect, first attacked Kirchiga Village before proceeding to Shuwa town both in Madagali Local Government Area.

“They came to Kirchiga at a little after 8p.m and opened fire sporadically at the people,” he said.

He however could not confirm any casualty‎ figure as at midnight on Thursday.

Mr. Ularamu added that the gunmen also‎ attacked neighbouring Shuwa town, adding that the sounds of gunfire could still be heard in the town as at the time we spoke to him.

Also, a resident of Michika town, who declined to be named for security reasons, told PREMIUM TIMES that he could hear gunshots in the town.

He reported intermittent sounds of gunshots and said most people in the town had run home for safety.

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Boko Haram attacks, an inept government and the survival of the Nigerian state

On Tuesday, in an act of breathtaking savagery, members of the extremist Boko Haram sect murdered more than 40 innocent children in their school in Yobe State. For sheer barbarism, there is nothing to compare it – except of course the killing last year of another set of students in Borno State by the same vicious group.
Over the last five years, Boko Haram has been responsible for the most violent death of Nigerians outside the civil war. It is the worst threat to national security and even national unity.
Yet we continue to prevaricate. We are still not sure whether to woo them with amnesty or mow them with bullets.
Even the presidency which is privy to more facts than the rest of us seemed to think that we exaggerate the menace of the deadly Boko Haram sect. Or perhaps it just likes to play down the threat, in the hope that we will be lulled into a false sense of security.
Last week when the harried governor of Borno State, Kashim Shetima came to meet with President Goodluck Jonathan after another horror attack on a sleepy community, he told the press that what we face was war and that our army was less equipped and less motivated than the enemy.
Anyone who has followed events in that unfortunate part of the country knows that the governor had merely stated the truth. Yet the president and his handlers decided to subject him to very brutal attacks. The Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Doyin Okupe, accused the governor of peddling hysteria while the president himself used his last presidential media chat to lambast Mr. Shettima .
After Tuesday’s savage attack however, we now know who suffer from hysterics and histrionics. The presidency has made the usual condemnation, issued renewed marching orders and offered condolences. There is even talk of the army chief temporarily relocating to Maiduguri.
The Chief of Army Staff, General, Kenneth Minimah who appeared before a Senate Committee to defend his budget said the army did indeed needed more money, and more arms. In essence, the governor was right: we are not winning this war. Not yet.
But there is no talk of a presidential visit. In not standing by the governor, in never visiting the schools and villages where all the mayhem took place, President Goodluck Jonathan has deepened the people’s sense of abandonment. He has given the impression, unwittingly perhaps, that the lives of those children mean less than they should.
The sorrow of their parents will find no relief in the visit of the nation’s leader. In any civilized democracy, such a massacre would have merited at least one condolence visit by the President to the school. Indeed, the president would have been judged by how well he responded to the crisis, including whether he had shown the right amount of emotion. The quality of his empathy would have been the subject of intense national discourse for a long while. And how his visit was judged would have reflected on the opinion polls, with serious bearing on his presidency.
If we have any sense at all, the next elections will be lost or won solely on this administration’s record on security or the quality of the opposition’s alternative strategy. We cannot continue to condone a situation where a group of terrorists kill at will, cheapening the very essence of our being.
The taking of any human life is a horrible thing. The brutal murder of over 40 students in a boarding school is the height of bestiality. It is also proof that the government has failed in its most important task of protecting the lives of the people. There is no way of sugarcoating this fact, and no public relations gimmick can put a fine face on this matter.
This country cannot long bear the kind of savagery that took place on Tuesday. No government, indeed no system, can survive this sort of impunity.

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Nigeria Governors attack Jonathan over Sanusi’s suspension, demand accountability on missing $20 billion

The Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF, on Tuesday lambasted President Goodluck Jonathan for suspending Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido, weeks after he blew the whistle on the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, for allegedly diverting not less than $20billion of the country’s oil revenues. The apparently angry governors said at the end of their meeting in Abuja, which ended in the early hours of Tuesday, that the president’s action was meant to divert attention from the ongoing national discourse on the missing millions. They faulted Mr. Jonathan for the action, saying he lacked the power to unilaterally send the CBN governor on suspension. The President had insisted during a televised media chat on Monday that he had oversight powers over the CBN and therefore had absolute power to suspend Mr. Sanusi. But the governors disagreed, saying the President’s action was a clear breach of the CBN Act 2007, which demands the president to consult the Nigerian senate before activating any process that might lead to the removal of the bank’s governor. “The suspension of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, by Mr. President is in clear breach of the Nigerian Constitution and the CBN Act, 2007,” the governors said in a communique read to journalists by their chairman, Rotimi Amaechi. “The suspension is aimed at diverting attention from the current national discourse on the missing $20billion from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Account, allegations of corruption and questionable accountability.” The governors demanded accountability on the missing billions, and backed “the call of the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and the Senate Committee on Finance for a forensic audit of the NNPC Account”. The governors also condemned the Federal Government for failing to convene the meeting of the National Economic Council, NEC, in the last seven months, an action they believe was hindering the constitutional opportunity to discuss the state of the nation’s economy. They appealed to the judiciary, particularly the Supreme Court, to accelerate hearing on constitutional cases such as those on the Excess Crude Account and illegal deduction of oil subsidy. The Forum also deliberated on the deadly insurgency in the North-East geopolitical zone and urged the Federal Government to be more responsive to its responsibility of protecting lives and tackle the spate of terrorism attacks in Borno State. “We expect that the Federal Government should wake up to its responsibility of protecting lives and property in the country, especially in the North-East,” they said. The Forum, however, commended the Federal Government’s efforts at curbing Boko Haram insurgents in the North and urged the government to up their strategies. While condemning the current spate of killings in the North- East, it applauded the effort of the Nigerian military and other security agencies, which were tackling the insurgents. The governors also accused the Federal Government of illegally plotting to impeach Governor Tanko Al- Makura of Nasarawa, describing the action as a renewed assault on constitutional democracy. The NGF is an umbrella association of the 36 elected state governors of the federation, irrespective of party affiliation. Tuesday’s meeting was attended by governors of Rivers, Nasarawa, Sokoto, Adamawa, Kano, Lagos and Imo, while Osun, Borno and Edo were represented by their deputies. A former Governor of Kwara, Bukola Saraki, now a senator, also made a brief appearance at the meeting. Mr. Saraki was Mr. Amaechi’s immediate predecessor as chairman of the Forum. Read full communique below. ISSUED AT THE END OF THE 3RD MEETING OF THE NIGERIA GOVERNORS’ FORUM HELD ON MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24 2014, AT THE RIVERS STATE GOVERNOR’S LODGE, ASOKORO, ABUJA We, members of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), at our meeting today, at the Rivers State Governor’s Lodge, Abuja deliberated on a number of issues and resolved as follows: 1. The suspension of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, by Mr. President is in clear breach of the Nigerian Constitution and the CBN Act, 2007. The suspension is aimed at diverting attention from the current national discourse on the missing $20billion from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Account, allegations of corruption and questionable accountability. We support the call of the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and the Senate Committee on Finance for a forensic audit of the NNPC Account. 2. Forum reiterates its concern about the deliberate refusal of the presidency to convene the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting for seven months. This has emasculated the constitutional opportunity to discuss the perilous state of the Nigerian economy thus plunging the nation into an economic and political crisis. In addition, members appeal to the Judiciary particularly the Supreme Court to accelerate the hearing on the constitutional cases especially the case of the Excess Crude Account (ECA) and illegal deductions on oil subsidy. 3. Members condemn in totality the current spate of killings in the North East. We commend the Nigerian military and other security agencies in their effort to quell this. However, we expect that the federal government should wake up to its responsibility of protecting lives and property in the country especially in the North East. 4. It has come to our notice that the presidency is plotting to illegally impeach the Governor of Nasarawa State, Mr. Umaru Tanko Al-Makura. We condemn this renewed assault on constitutional democracy. Rt. Hon. Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi Chairman, Nigeria Governors’ Forum

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Sunset At Noon – By Adekoya Boladale

An Elegy in memory of the young ones murdered in Yobe and Borno

Adekoya Boladale

Sorrow feels the heart when hopes are lost,
Bitterness consumes the soul when dreams die
In wake of the day they came
Before cock crows they were by their bedside
Waking the beautiful Angels with guns and Matchet
Oh how tender their skins were
Oh how soft were their cheeks

It was not a call to worship
No, it was not a call to pray
The monsters from the deepest pit of hell have come
The seeds of evil sowed by beast in high places are here for harvest
Oh poor little children
Oh little subtle ones

In the tenderness of their slumber
In the kindness of their sleep
They cast their spears beneath their hearts
Their arrows found succor within their belly
Hajia tried to run but her legs were heavy
Aminat screamed for life but her lungs were dry
Oh how low the tempo of their agonies were.

In the pool of their blood they gaps for breath
Wallowing with crawling fingers calling out to mum for help
Helpless and tried they scream in pains
Tears could not come visiting for the lake of flames sucked them up
Oh how tender skin turn to ashes
Oh how hope turn to winds

All is calm now
The princesses are gone
The beast have gotten their bounty
And all that is left are fading smokes of agony

But who will calm their nerves?
Who will suck up their grief?
Who will wipe off their tears?
Who will call them mama?
Who will call them papa?
The drivers on whose back they rode to our realm

Who dare whisper to these ones that the night guard went on recess?
Who is manly enough to tell them the King was cruising in the bosom of his beloved when evil came?
They said the guards fled
They said they fought but were too weak.

Oh little Princesses,
Be still and wipe off your tears
Mummy will be okay
Daddy will be fine
Rejoice for the troubles and agony of this world will no longer hunt thee
Pains, broken promises, deceit and lies you shall see no more.

Be wary not for the lost is theirs
Ponder not for a nation that went to merry at your grief
Wipe your tears for they feel not your pains
Their condolences have been written on facebook
Their Elegy scripted on the pages of twitter
The King has declared a feast to mark a Centenary.

To the bounty hunters who have killed the body
Hope it makes them live forever.
To them who have killed the dreams,
Hope the future of their generations become blissful
To them who have murdered hope
It is left to divine to give them peace.

I will miss your smile
I will miss your laugh
I will miss the mouth that speaks no evil
I will miss the lips that bares no curse
I will miss the hearts that feels no hatred
I will miss the souls that nurse no bias.
Adieu Angels, Adieu.

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See The Ridiculous Amount Ministerial Nominees Paid As Taxes

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