BIAFRA : Femi Fani-Kayode: The American watch list and Buhari’s men

A few days ago the United States of America placed Nigeria on a Special Watch List (SWL) of countries that have engaged in or tolerated “severe violations of religious freedom”.

In his official reaction the Honorable Minister of Information of Nigeria, Mr. Lai Mohammed said, inter alia, that “The United States have been misled by propaganda” and that the Americans were “sowing seeds of religious mistrust in Nigeria”.

If there was ever a misplaced, misguided, inelegant, impolite, inappropriate, unacceptable and wholly irresponsible response to a very serious issue from a senior Government official this is it. And in his characteristic manner Lai Mohammed has once again outdone himself with his dirty and habitual lies.

This is the same repugnant and ugly little creature that told us in 2014 that banning Boko Haram and labelling them terrorists was “unfair and unjust”. It is the same goat that once bleated to the nation that he had “never told a lie before” in his entire life.

Yet the truth is that Lai Mohammed is a pathological liar and a very sick man. Like the Biblical satan, he was “a liar, the father of lies and a murderer from the start”. Lying comes naturally to him because that is his nature, that is his name and that is what he came to the world to do.

He and his master Buhari compliment each other very well. Both are heartless, deceptive, deceitful, callous, dangerous, mendacious, insensitive, self-serving and, worse of all, they have no fear of God.

It is trite to say that not only are the Americans right about the vicious and murderous persecution that Christians are faced with in parts of Nigeria but they are also right about their fears for Christians and religious persecution in our country. We as Nigerian Christians welcome their concern and I am glad to see that CAN has said so publicly.

Yet it doesn’t stop there and Lai is not alone in his brazen display of falsehood and perfidy. Others in the Federal Government have made as much of a fool of themselves on this matter as he has done.

For example on his own part, the village idiot of Aso Rock, Mr. Femi Adesina, the Special Advisor to President Buhari on Media and Publicity said,

“The United States itself has enough to chew solving its own problems not to talk of poke-nosing into that of another country. No man, no country, nobody has appointed them the Policeman of the world, let them face their own issues”.

Strong and predictable words yet why would anyone be surprised about such an obnoxious, shallow, specious and pernicious contribution from this certified dullard. After all this is the same man that said that we should either give up our land to the Fulani herdsmen or give up our lives.

He also said that Nigeria would have been a better place by now if Buhari’s military regime had remained in power in 1985. This was a regime that abducted, injected and crated its critics and opponents, like Umaru Dikko, on the streets of London, locked up many people indefinately in detention, passed legislation to jail people for criticising the Head of State and the Government even where the allegations were true, clamped down on the media by jailing journalists and executed people by applying the death penalty retroactively.

It matters not to him that thousands of Christians have been targeted and butchered all over the north over the last four years even though he claims to be a Christian himself.

On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in 2016 alone no less than 800 defenceless Christian’s, including women and children, were slaughtered in their homes by Fulani herdsmen yet the Federal Government which Femi serves did not arrest or prosecute any of the perpetrators and terrorists but instead turned a blind eye to their inhuman and barbaric behaviour. And this has been the pattern since 2015!

One year ago, before the entire world, when Femi’s boss crawled and lobbied his way to the White House and President Donald Trump gave him a public warning before the entire world at a press conference at the White House to “stop the killing of Christians”, Femi Adesina and Buhari did not say that America is not the world’s policeman but instead smiled sheepishly, stood at attention, saluted with gusto and offered a very timid “yes sir, thank you sir!”.

Today it is a different story simply because they believe that they have sufficiently cowed the Nigerian people into accepting anything including the most barbarous atrocities.

What an unfolding tragedy this is and whether Femi and his boss like it or not the truth is slowly coming out. Only God knows where it will all end.

This brings me to a wider issue. As an Anago and a proud son of Oduduwa I am disgusted and disturbed that most of those that attempt to defend the indefensible actions and policies of Buhari are fellow Oduduwans and Anagos like Lai Mohammed, Femi Adesina and Yemi Osinbajo.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s inglorious reaction to the suffering, mass murder, ethnic cleansing and genocide of Christian’s in northern Nigeria earlier this year was to run with his tail between his legs to Vice President Mike Pence of the United States and attempt to sell the lie that reports of such atrocities in Nigeria were “wildly exagerrated”.

This is tragic coming from a man that claims to be a Pastor, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and a Professor of law and unfortunately for him his deceitful attempt to spin the lie and pervert the course of justice did not work. Pence, Trump and the United States of America were not fooled.

I am constrained to ask, whatever happened to the Anagos and sons and daughters of Oduduwa as a person that such certified dimwits, filthy garbage, servile quislings and gutless and incredulous characters are amongst those that are representing us at the Federal level. Surely we can do better than that!

Permit me to end this contribution with the words of my friend and brother and one of the most profound and respected men of God of our time, Prophet T.B. Joshua.

He said, “Evil is rampant everywhere in our society today. Unfortunately evil seems to prevail more than good. When you put love in your life, in your home, in your relationship, in the place of work and all around you, you drive out evil. Evil cannot stand love”.

How I wish that Buhari and his men could learn from this. How I wish they could see the light. How I wish they were believers. How I wish they knew the virtues and awesome power of love and recognised the futility of hate. How I wish they knew the Living God.

May the Lord deliver our nation from the hands of deceitful liars and evil and bloodthirsty men!

BIAFRA : IPOB, Sowore and a primitive dictator

Once a dictator, as a military Head of State, Muhammadu Buhari sought democratic power, preaching change; and we embraced him, believing that nothing could be worse than the regime of Goodluck Jonathan. But we are finding out the hard way: the obvious change the Nigerian people have seen since Buhari came back to power is a change to a “next level” of dictatorship that is wildly uncouth and acutely primitive to relate to the genius of changing times and its digital age.

Buhari’s freefall, or rather his renewed dictatorship, is traced squarely to the time he disavowed his oath of office by deploying the worst form of political vendetta against the Eastern Nigeria for the simple reason that the people voted en masse for their native son in 2015 elections, similar to the electoral gesture accorded to Buhari himself by his native North in 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, and 2019 electoral cycles. This apparent warpath heightened a call for secession and the tacit support given by the East to the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) led by Nnamdi Kanu. After all, different forms of Biafran movement had existed in every administration in the current Fourth Republic, from Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, to Jonathan.

Instead of dialogue, as accorded other dissident groups, including even the Boko Haram, Buhari isolated the crisis as an Igbo palaver and thence pounced on the IPOB with brute force. I quickly admonished the President that his move was “nothing but a scheme to rekindle the zeitgeist of the Biafran war—hoping to regain his waning popularity within our party and the nation at large.” There I reminded him that the Nigeria of 1967 is not the Nigeria of today.

Yet, General Buhari did not listen. Rather, he declared the Biafran activists as terrorists. It is worth saying, however, that while the president was busy “crushing” the Biafran activists with land army, he gleefully condoned the deadly Fulani Herdsmen, an organization recognized worldwide as a terrorist group since 2014.

It didn’t take long before a legion of Nigerians in the Diaspora, some of who may not necessarily subscribe to the style or visions of IPOB but are conscious of the scale of injustice in the homeland, were provoked to unleash a worldwide campaign that sufficiently painted Buhari as a dictator and bigot. And the world took note! The toll of the IPOB crisis on national economy, particularly with foreign investment, is well chronicled.

Upon his being sworn in for the second term, I followed with an innocent piece: “Second Term: A Leadership Lesson Buhari Must Learn”. Here is an excerpt:

“The days are gone when the Nigerian government can preach justice abroad, while promoting injustice at home. The inconvenient truth is that the country now boasts of millions of independent ambassadors, strategically entrenched in all the nooks and crannies of the world, who tell it as it is. Some of these Diaspora Nigerians have also become Biblical Josephs of sort and thus play influential roles in the nation’s foreign exchange, foreign trade, foreign investment, the media, as well as other socio-economic relationships. Needless to remind us that the same Josephs are the leading block contributors to the yearly amount of foreign money remitted to Nigeria, which is ironically more than the national budget. As they go, so goes the national image and much more.”

But an Igbo adage goes that the sickness that typically kills a dog hardly allows it to perceive the odour of faeces. Thus, the biggest news out of Nigeria since Buhari assumed second term has been the morbid audacity to frame and detain Omoyele Sowore, a renowned anti-corruption and human rights activist, journalist, and his opponent in the 2019 presidential election. Sowore’s sin remains the term #RevolutionNow”, a mere plan to protest against bad governance in his homeland. But the Buhari regime would charge him for treasonable felony.

I warned of the consequences, noting that “Only a poon ignores the potential of the heavily funded but regional IPOB, with a worldwide membership, fusing with a broad-based national outfit like #RevolutionNow” The president countered with a mundane temerity of deploying the trio of Ministry of Information, Ministry of External Affairs, and the Nigerian Diaspora Commission to peddle false information on Sowore to the international community. Not surprisingly, Buhari could not recognize that, besides the Nigerians in the Diaspora and social media; the ever-vibrant Nigerian press and the core of the Nigerian Civil Society now have global reach.

Today, Nnamdi Kanu, the “terrorist”, is celebrated in the international community as a paragon of justice. Today, Omoyele Sowore, the “coupist”, is seen worldwide as a mystical mixture of conviction, courage, and stoicism in the course of the Nigerian liberation. Today, the General and his brigade are on the run, with Buhari once again widely viewed as a maximum dictator and the most lawless leader Nigeria has ever known. The stubborn tsetse fly, we say, follows the corpse to the grave.

*SKC Ogbonnia, is the author of the Effective Leadership Formula.

Biafra : War period was better than security situation now – Father of man killed by bandits

Chief Samuel Ewoh Nnaji is the father of the late Nnameka Nnaji, who was shot dead by suspected kidnappers in military uniform at Gwagwalada along Lokoja-Abuja Road. He tells RAPHAEL EDE how the death of his son has devastated the family

How did you hear about the death of your son, Nnameka Nnaji? 

My son was killed on December 8, 2019, very close to Gwagwalada, along with many others.

I received the sad news on the morning of Monday, December 9, 2019. My son was returning to Abuja from the burial of a friend he attended in Imo State. He was also in Anambra State. On his way to Abuja, some guys wearing army uniforms opened fire on commuters along Lokoja–Abuja Road near Gwagwalada. Unfortunately, he was one of those killed.

I didn’t hear the news of the incident on radio or read about it in the newspapers. There have been cases of such horrific and gruesome murder of Nigerians by bandits said to be herdsmen at the nation’s capital. The type of government we have now does not investigate when such things happen. Some of our people were kidnapped in the same area before my son experienced it. Our people who were kidnapped were working at Aninri Local Government Area of Enugu State. They were going for a seminar when they were abducted. They spent many days in the bush before ransom was paid for their release. Had it been they kidnapped my son and demanded ransom instead of killing him, it would have been better. He was a promising businessman.

Has he been buried?

Yes. Our people in Abuja brought his corpse to Amechi here. We buried him on December 18, 2019.

How do you feel about the incident?

I feel so despondent about this country of ours. It is only in this country, under this government, that such a thing will happen and the federal, state and local governments will not ask questions let alone commiserate with the affected family. Apart from journalists, no one is asking questions about how Nigerians are being killed in their prime. Just like this happened, so many others have happened without our government questions. It is not asking why people are being killed on a daily basis on our highways. It is only killings of people we hear about every day in Nigeria; it is regrettable.

The President [Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.)] should consider the type of country he will leave behind. We are not safe in our homes and when we are on the road, or going from one state to another, we are also not safe. What caused it? Are we fighting another civil war? If there is no war, why are some people killing others daily and the various governments are not asking questions? They have kept quiet as if nothing is happening and it is painful. I beg the government to re-strategise on how to save the people from these tragic deaths ravaging the country. What is the need of calling Nigeria a country when nobody asks questions when people are killed? It simply means that we don’t have a government.

So, I am calling on the government to find the people who gruesomely murdered my son and others in cold blood for no reason.

How tough has it been for you to deal with this loss?

There is nothing I can do; who am 1? Many other people have been killed and nothing happened. I cannot fight somebody I don’t know. If the government of Nigeria cannot do anything to protect Nigerians, who am I and what can I do?

Since the incident occurred, I have not been sleeping. To have a son of that age taken away from me by fellow human beings is painful. Do you think I am in a good world? I am in bad world but I think it is something that doesn’t have a remedy in Nigeria because killings have become a norm under the All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government. I don’t sleep and to tell you the truth, there is nothing I know that I can do than to take it to God in prayer.

Life in Nigeria has no meaning. We are no longer alive in Nigeria.

What can we do? She is crying every day. We are praying, asking God to save us from this demonic and misrule in this country. We had not seen such a thing in Nigeria before; it is only recently that these things are manifesting. I am 74 years old and have lived in this country all my life. I never saw something like this even during the Nigerian Civil War. Our situation then was better than the situation we have now in Nigeria.

What plans are in place to take care of the family he left behind?

I will start work again. I trained my son, thinking that I would rest later in life. I will start from where I stopped. It is not the normal thing but I have no other choice.

What do you want the Muhammadu Buhari regime to do?

The Federal Government should save those of us that are still alive. Such a thing should never happen again; they should protect us. That is why we have government. That is why they are there to look after us. Should we stay in the water and still have soap lather getting into our eyes? The economy is bad, but life is still the most important thing to a human being. It is only when you are alive that you can talk about a bad economy.

BIAFRA : Sultan of Sokoto under fire over comment about Christians in Nigeria

The Nigerian Christian Graduate Fellowship (NCGF) has condemned the statement by the Sultan of Sokoto wherein he was quoted to have said that “It is a lie to say Christians are being persecuted in Nigeria.”

Recall that the Christian Association of Nigeria had recently backed the inclusion of Nigeria in United States’ list of nations where religious intolerance was going on.

A statement on Friday by Prof. Charles Adisa, National President and Mr Onyenachi Nwaegeruo, General Secretary, described the Sultan’s reaction as well as the attack on CAN as unfortunate.

The statement also noted that the Christian leadership simply expressed its support to the international community as they have realised what many Nigerians have often lamented about, especially concerning Islamic fundamentalism, government tacit support of it and its effect on Christian faith.

NCGF said: “The Sultan should have addressed the subject matter of the international opprobrium which Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen have brought to the nation. Or is his Eminence contesting that there is no religious intolerance in Nigeria? If that is the position we can say that the Sultan is being economical with the truth or is an accomplice.

“An interrogation of the subject matter shows that it is either the Sultan and the institution which he leads are in willful ignorance of the issues at stake or he has chosen to play to the gallery as government spokesman.

“The Sultan cannot fault CAN on the issue of research on effects of Islamic fundamentalism in Nigeria. We are aware that there exist quantum documentary evidence of the murderous against Nigerian Christians.

“Further, we are aware that the information at the disposal of the US which informed the decision to blacklist Nigeria is a combined effort of independent investigators and domestic observers of the nefarious activities of extremists and terrorists especially Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen.

“We are embarrassed on the double standard attitude of the sultanate, an institution that has kept mute to the serial decimation of christian communities in the North but suddenly found its voice because the government that has carried on as an appendage of the sultanate is under fire.

“May we remind his Eminence that it is ungodly that his office has never to the best of our knowledge condemned these murderous acts, even the most recent ones in Yobe state and Chibok in Borno state where Boko Haram attacked Christian communities on Christmas eve.

“Under the current government, several thousands of souls were wasted in Southern Kaduna, Benue, Plateau, Taraba and Adamawa. In 2019 alone over 1,000 people were killed in the Northcentral. Those who doubt this fact should go to Google, the records are there. There have been mass burials in those areas and no single culprit has been apprehended not to talk of prosecution.

“Instead, it is the Buhari administration that has been either justifying the killings or telling us that the criminals were coming from Libya. The President, through one of his spokesmen, Femi Adesina, once asked the people to give up their lands for their lives! This is reprehensible and unprecedented in the country.”

BIAFRA : Deji Adeyanju Apologizes to IPOB Leader 'Nnamdi Kanu'

The convener of Concerned Nigerians, and human rights activist, Prince Deji Adeyanju, has on Tuesday apologized to the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu over the statement he made against him.

Recall that Kanu's mission was to achieve a sovereign state for the Igbo. But his struggle, mission and vision was cut short by the current administration that later accused him of committing treasonable felony.

Kanu was lacerated in Prison and was later bailed, despite the stringent conditions of his bail. In 2017, the IPOB leader accused the Nigerian soldiers of invading his home town in Abia with the view of killing him.

Mazi Kanu made his way outside the country and since then has been filling reports and issuing statements against the Nigerian government.

He accused Buhari's administration of marginalizing the Igbo, violating human rights and disobeying court order.

However, having escaped to another country for refuge, Deji lampooned him and advised him to come back to Nigeria and stop instigating his group members to attack Nigerian leaders.

His words, "Some of the miscreants defending coward Nnamdi Kanu make me laugh. Small intimidation by Buhari, he compromised, collected money and ran away. If he's man enough, he should come back. I have been arrested 9 times under Buhari; imprisoned thrice but still here.

We beat Amaechi today, we're ready to humiliate others - IPOB threatens

"You can't be saying you want Biafra and you are running away from ordinary Buhari, come back. Come back and confront Buhari like many of us are doing here. Abi, you want to achieve Biafra on Facebook?

"Was the military not outside Keffi prison waiting to re-arrest me in December, 2018? Why didn't I run away from Nigeria like a coward? Why didn't I also compromise & collect dollars?"

Similarly, when Nnamdi Kanu had ordered his group to attack and ridicule Nigerian politicians found outside the country, Deji accused Kanu of being a business man with no basic ideology nor love for the Igbo.

He said "Permit me to start with the words of Martin Luther King: "In spite of temporary victories, violence never brings permanent peace. We adopt the means of nonviolence because our end is a community at peace with itself. We will try to persuade with our words, but if our words fail, we will try to persuade with our acts."

"You have heard me say before and I will say again, Nnamdi Kanu is only a businessman looking for where to collect money. He is not driven by ideology or love for the Igbos.

"After attacking his fellow Igbo brother, Senator Ike Ekweremadu who played a significant role in ensuring his release from Kuje Prison in Germany, Kanu the businessman has called on some of his miscreants/supporters to attack President Buhari as he visits Japan.

"Those who were doubting me when I said Kanu is being sponsored by some elements in the North can now see the clear handwriting on the wall. How can any reasonable person openly call for an attack on the president of a nation on foreign soil? Even if you don't like Buhari or what he represents, at least we must respect the fact that he is the president of our country.

"Do you think Kanu does not know the danger of attacking Buhari in Japan. He knows but those sponsoring him are doing everything humanly possible to ensure no Igbo man ever rule Nigeria and also put peace-loving Igbos in the North in danger by setting them up for reprisal attacks by Buhari's fanatical supporters."

Confirming his regret and apology today, former Aviation minister Chief Femi Fani-Kayode wrote via his facebook handle, "I can confirm that my courageous brother Prince Deji Adeyanju has expressed his deepest regrets about all he said about my equally courageous friend and brother Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and that Kanu has forgiven him.

The bridge has been built and the matter settled. Now is the time for the righteous to UNITE and OPPOSE the tyranny that has gripped our land and plagued our people."

Recall that Deji was beaten yesterday, while protesting for the release of the convener of #RevolutionNow protest, Mr Omoyele Sowore and others.

BIAFRA : Petrol tanker crashes at RCCG on Lagos-Ibadan expressway

The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Ogun Command, on Wednesday, confirmed the crash of a tanker laden with 33,000 litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) around RCCG Car Park C, near Mowe, on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

Mr Clement Oladele, Ogun Sector Commander of FRSC, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ota, Ogun, that the accident happened at about 4.48 am.

Oladele explained that the tanker, with registration number LFA 106 ZX, laden with petroleum product, lost control due to speeding around RCCG Car Park C, near Mowe and crashed into the road barriers on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.

He said that two males were involved in the accident, adding however that no life was lost and that nobody sustained injury.

The FRSC boss said explained that the development had created serious traffic gridlocks on both sections of the expressway.

“The FRSC is managing the situation and has contacted the fire service and Julius Berger Nigeria Plc’s emergency team to commence trans-loading and removal of the crashed tanker and eventual realignment of the displaced barriers, to restore traffic,” he said.

Oladele advised travellers going to distant places to seek alternative routes away from the Lagos-Ibadan expressway via the long bridge to Mowe.

This, he said, had become necessary considering the period it could take to trans load the PMS in the crashed vehicle to another empty tanker, remove the crashed vehicle from the ditch, replace the road barriers the crash displaced and eventually restore traffic.

Oladele listed the alternate corridors available to include Victoria Island-Ajah- Ijebu Ode and Lagos-Ota-Itori-Abeokuta expressway.

He appealed to all motorists to note the traffic occurrence and bear with the inconveniences.

The sector commander assured that the FRSC rescue team working with sister traffic and emergency agencies was working assiduously to clear the crash site and restore free flow of traffic.

BIAFRA : Shehu Sani reacts as Buhari govt orders release of Sowore, Dasuki

Shehu Sani, former Kaduna Central Senator, has described the immediate order by the Federal Government for the release of former National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki and convener of #RevolutionNow, Omoyele Sowore, as a “welcome development.’’

In a statement released on Tuesday, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, ordered the release of Dasuki and convener of #RevolutionNow, Omoyele Sowore.

This is coming few weeks after Malami took over the case of Sowore from DSS.

The decision to release Sowore and his co-accused was in compliance with the bail granted the two by the court.

Dasuki’s lawyer in a terse statement, also commended President Muhammadu Buhari and the AGF for the decision.

But, Sani in his reaction, called on Buhari government to extend its decision to other Nigerians in detention.

On his Twitter page, Sani wrote: “Freedom for Dasuki and Sowore in compliance with the Court orders is a welcome Development.

“And that should be extended to others in same condition.”

Recall that IMN leader, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky has been in detention since December 2015 after the Nigerian Army’s onslaught on his members that led to the Zaria massacre.

Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, had days ago said the IMN leader, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky, is being held in detention for crimes and not his Islamic belief.