Leave Bishop Kukah, fight bandits – Shehu Sani to Northern youths

Shehu Sani, former Kaduna Central Senator, has called on youths in the North to fight bandits and leave Bishop of Sokoto Catholic Diocese, Mathew Kukah alone.

In his Christmas message, Kukah had accused President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration of nepotism.

He claimed that Buhari had sacrificed the dreams of Nigerians on the alter of nepotism and Northern hegemony.

But, the Coalition of Northern Groups, CNG, accused the clergyman of attempting to destroy the quest for national integration by instigating violence.

CNG said Kukah was using religion to cause disharmony and facilitate the further emasculation of Northern Nigerian Muslims.

However, Sani, in a tweet wrote: “My Dear Northern Youths; leave the Kukah in Sokoto and fight the Bandits in your shokoto.”

NDDC, IYC removes embattled chairman over call for the sack of Akwa, Akpabio

 

The Council of Ogbos, in charge of the organisational structures of the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC), Worldwide, has announced the removal of the acting Chairman of the council’s Eastern Zone, James Tobin, following his push for the immediate removal of the Sole Administrator, of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Effiong Akwa. NEWS LAND

The Ogbos, known as the Council of Organisational Leaders (COOL), averred that Tobin had no authority to issue statements using IYC since his leadership had been dissolved in a stakeholders’ meeting.

The Leader of COOL, John Amos Benjamin, described the publication that called for the removal of Akwa and Minister, Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, by the alleged Ex-chairman as embarrassing asking members of the public to ignore it.

He said: “On 11th December, 2020, IYC, Eastern Zonal stakeholders’ meeting was held at the Presidential Hotels. It was decided at the meeting that the tenure of Tobin James, who was till then the Ag. Chairman, had elapsed and the council was dissolved following a motion.

“20th December, 2020, was unanimously agreed for a zonal congress. We officially set up the Zonal Electoral Committee (ZECO) to facilitate a transition in line with the great Okochiri Peace Treaty (OPT).

“We want to put on record that the tenure of Tobin James expired a long time ago. The constitution binding Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide, states clearly that the tenure of office for national, zonal, chapter, clan, regions/diaspora executives and parliamentarians shall be three years of one term.

“The immediate past executive committee led by Comr. Samuel George, was inaugurated on 30th November, 2017. James the out gone Ag. Chairman deputized George and was given legitimacy to become the acting chairman after the historic OPT when his principal resigned to vie for a national position.

“But James no longer has the authority to write any official letter on behalf of the council. It is a gross misconduct and disciplinary actions will be meted on him appropriately”.

Benjamin said in line with the Okochiri Peace Treaty, COOL had named Ibim Ibiwari, as the acting Chairman of the eastern zone.

“There isn’t supposed to be a vacuum in leadership. It is the unanimous responsibility of COOL in line with the directives of the National Executive Council (NEC), ably led by the 8th President, Dcn. Comr. Peter Timothy Igbifa, to fill the vacuum.

“To this end, we implore the Presidency, and as well as the general public, to kindly disregard the purported document and their biased position. Their act is mischievous and attention-seeking. Some of the signatories have distanced themselves from such documents. COOL, sincerely apologizes to the relevant authorities and entities, for the embarrassment this may have caused them”.

NEWS : Presidency, ‘Tunde Bakare lied against Holy Spirit’ – Omokri reacts as pastor attacks Yoruba leaders over Tinubu

 

Reno Omokri, former aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, on Monday, said Tunde Bakare, the overseer of Citadel Global Community Church should not be taken seriously for lying against the Holy Spirit.

Omokri disclosed that Bakare lied against the Holy Spirit in a prophecy he issued on ex-President, Olusegun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, IBB, and Atiku Abubakar.

He made the remark in response to Bakare’s attack on Yoruba leaders not comfortable with Bola Tinubu, National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, running for president.

The clergyman had said God does not need anyone’s permission to put Tinubu in the hall of fame.

He stated that Southwest leaders who have issues with the former Lagos State governor’s rise should “carry their stone.”

Reacting, the former presidential aide described Bakare as an unstable individual who should be ignored.

The former presidential aide, in a lengthy article said the clergy man was part of those responsible for the stereotype that Yorubas are backstabbers.

He, however, noted that the stereotype against the Yoruba race was false, stressing that they are loyal people.

The article sent to NEWS LAND reads partly: “Tunde Bakare is one of those who feed the false stereotype that the Yoruba are unreliable backstabbers. That stereotype is not true because some of the most reliable Nigerians have been Yoruba, including Obasanjo himself (a man who, unlike what Bakare said, has achieved more in life than Tinubu can ever dream of achieving), who returned from Copenhagen to clear his name of coup plotting charges levelled against him by Abacha, Tunde Idiagbon, who returned from Mecca after he and Buhari were overthrown by Babangida, and Adekunle Fajuyi, who chose death, rather than abandon and betray Aguiyi-Ironsi.

“I ceased taking Pastor Tunde Bakare seriously ever since he lied against the Holy Ghost by prophesying (wrongly) that “Let me tell you the truth by the spirit of God, neither OBJ, Atiku, IBB and this tall one, Buhari are part of the new. They are part of the old that is decaying. That old one is passing away. The new is emerging and these ones are not part of that new.”

NEWS : Buhari’s minister, Sadiya Farouq reacts to killings in Adamawa, Borno

 

Sadiya Farouq, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, on Monday, condemned the killings and destruction of properties in Southern Borno and Adamawa States respectively. NEWS LAND

Farouq described the attacks as tragic and barbaric, NAN reports.

The Minister, in a statement by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Alhaji Bashir Alkali, said: “It is really unfortunate that these terrorist attacks happened when people are expected to be enjoying the Christmas holiday with their loved ones.

“I commiserate with the Government and people of Borno, especially the families of the victims of the sad incident,” Farouq said.

She said the Federal Government condemned the attacks and commended relevant authorities and the Borno Governor, Prof. Babagana Zulum, who immediately visited the communities and directed the strengthening of security measures in the area.

The Minister said arrangements were being made to send relief materials to the victims to cushion the effects of the attacks on them.

NEWS : Bishop Kukah should be arrested, prosecuted for treason – Arewa youths

 

The Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, AYCF, has called for the arrest and prosecution of the Bishop of Sokoto Catholic Diocese, Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah for treasonable fealony.

AYCF’s National President, Yerima Shettima said Kukah was inciting coup against a democratic government. NEWS LAND

Bishop Kukah, in his Christmas Day article, had accused Buhari of nepotism, adding that there would have been a coup if a non-Northern Muslim had become President.

Reacting to Kukah’s remark, Shettima urged the Federal Government to place Bishop Kukah on a special watch list.

Shettima said Kukah was openly attempting to “set the South against the North in order to destabilize our country and further complicate matters.”

The statement reads partly: “The AYCF demands the immediate arrest and prosecution of Bishop Kukah for what it described as treasonable felony against the Nigerian state

“Such a reckless statement by Kukah betrays something much more sinister against both the North and the nation as a whole.

“If Kukah wants to play politics, he should not do so in the pulpit and he should keep the Bishop’s office aside and choose any Nigerian political party platform to contest for President in 2023 and stop all the pretences”.

NEWS : Bishop Kukah clears air on running for political office

 

The Bishop of Sokoto Catholic Diocese, Matthew Hassan Kukah, has insisted that he has no interest in partisan politics.

He stated this during a media briefing with journalists at St Bakhita Secretariat in Sokoto State on Monday.

Kukah also denied calling for a coup in Nigeria and said different lies were being peddled about in his name.

The cleric has been in the news ever since he published a Christmas message last week, accusing President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration of nepotism.

Bishop Kukah used the opportunity to make it clear that he has no interest in politics.

“I have no plan and will never play partisan politics for any reason.

“Those who link my message to partisan politics are only playing to the gallery.

“Take, for instance, brilliant Nigerian youths making comments about Chelsea or Arsenal and have never been to England, does that make them players of such club sides?

“So, why will someone think because Bishop Kukah is speaking therefore he is a politician? People who make this argument are totally ignorant of elementary politics and ignorant of the role of a Priest.

“The truth is that a lot of us have not seen a priest saying what I am saying. The truth of the matter is, we are all in politics, but party politics for me, no. I am not a member of any political party and I cannot be. If it comes to voting, I do my right,” he said.

BIAFRA : Nnamdi Kanu's Security Outfit Laughable, It Should Be Ignored—South-East Governors

 The Chairman of the South-East Governors Forum and Governor of Ebonyi State, David Umahi, has called on the people of the region to ignore the so-called security outfit set up by the leader of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. 

Umahi, who described the outfit as laughable, stressed that the governors of the region had been doing their best to ensure the protection of lives and property of citizens within the South-East zone. 

The governor stated this while briefing reporters on the recent development across the country, Vanguard reports.

He warned youths to avoid being used as instruments of destruction even as he emphasized that the southeast governors would never allow the ugly incident that occurred during the #EndSARS protests to repeat itself. 

He said, “Our region remains the safest, and nobody can deny this. And so, our brother said he had formed a security outfit for the southeast. It is very laughable and should be ignored. I commend the southeast governors very highly.

 It is only the southeast that the leaders are being criticized openly. 

“The governors must protect the lives of the citizens and also the citizens of other regions living in their states that are not from the southeast. 

“I want them to ignore the side distractions. They are doing a lot in the education of our people, payment of salaries, infrastructure development, and most especially the security of our people. 

“No governor will come open to tell you A to Z of what he is doing about security. But I want it to be debated whether the southeast is not the safest in the country.

 We need to warn that our youths should desist from being engaged for the destruction of lives and property.”

He added, “Whether we like it or not, we are confronting global challenges, and Nigeria is not an exception.

 So, we thank God for the courage, ability and the health God gave our president to steer the ship of our nation in a very challenging time like this."