Politics
Boko Haram And Jonathan’s Presidency
It was reported that just two days to the inauguration of President Goodluck Obele Jonathan as the President of Nigeria on May 29th 2011, the Witches and Wizards Association of Nigeria (WITZAN) claimed to have mobilised 500 witches to Abuja and other parts of Nigeria to prevent any tragic occurrence and ensure peaceful inauguration of the president.
According to reports, in a full page advert in some national newspapers, the witches and wizards said their decision was taken after an emergency meeting at Zuma rock, Niger State of Nigeria.
The Witches and Wizards Assocaition, according to the report also warned President Goodluck Jonathan to take adequate security as “bad people” and disgruntled politicians were planning to cause problem.
There is no gain saying the fact that Nigeria as a nation is at the cross roads of its political history.
Without giving recognition or impetus to the existence of witches and wizards or down-playing the powers and “prophesies of doom” by WITZAN, the prevailing activities and role of the radical and notorious Islamic Boko Haram appear to give credence to the witches and wizards association.
Coupled with the threats by some disgruntled politicians, particularly the Northern Elders or leaders Forum, to make Nigeria ungovernable, if a Northerner was not made (if not appointed) president-forgetting that Nigeria operates democratic system whereby the people elect their president and leaders.
The magnitude of corruption and the barbaric acts of the notorious Boko Haram Islamic sect believe to be sponsored by northern politicians to make good their threats geared against Christians from the South include the killing of Christians, youth corpers, the Suleja church bombing, and many other killings in Borno, Yobe, Gombe and Adamawa. All these are horrendous carnages inflicted not only on Christians but to make the nation ungovernable as President Goodluck Jonathan hails from the Niger Delta.
Intelligence reports had shown that there is coordination/cooperation between the Islamic sect, Boko Haram and al-Qaeda’s North African branch.
The bombing on Christmas Day (December 25, 2011) of the Catholic Church at Madalla gave proof to the link of the Boko Haram sect to the Al-Qaeda, a group believed to have sponsored the failed bombing of an American plane on Christmas Day in 2009 by a Northern Nigerian, Farouk Abdulmutalab.
It is against this back drop that the one week city-wide mega crusade organised by the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Diocese of the Niger Delta North held in Port Harcourt from Monday 23rd to Sunday 29th, January 2012, becomes very relevant.
The crusade, which featured international Ministers including Bishop Albert Vum, Malaysia, Rt. Rev. Anthony Paggo, Bishop Episcopal Church of South Sudan, 1 Diocese of Kajo-Keji, Rev. Uma Ukpai, Nigeria and the Most Rev’d Ignatius C. O. Kattey, Archbishop, Ecclesiatical Province of Niger Delta and Bishop, Diocese of Niger Delta North, who was the host, was an expedition undertaken to recover and reposition the country and its people from satanic elements.
The crudade, which had as its theme “Jesus, The Greatest And The Best” was not just an annual religious ritual of the Diocese of the Niger Delta North, but was a vigorious and concerted effort against public evil and satanic manipulations epitomized by corruption, bombing and killings.
The crusade could be said to be an expedition under the Papal – the Most Rev’d Ignatius Kattey’s sanction against the nation’s socio-political and religious heresies.
Is it not indeed a religious heresy, if not, political treason for a religious sect in a country that allows freedom of worship and association to bomb government and public places?
It was Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) who asked “where is the man who owes noting to the land in which he lives? Whatever the land may be he owes to it the most precious thing possessed by man, the morality of his actions and the love of virtue.
What will the righteous do in times like this when those who owe nothing to the land holds the rest to ransom.
Whatever the nation may be, the righteous owes the land the most precious thing possessed by man, the morality of his/her action and the love of virtue.
Speaking at the opening day of the crusade, the Most Rev’d Kattey reiterated the power in the name of Jesus which, he said, remits sin, secures salvation and a strong tower in which individuals and nations run unto for security and peace.
He said, Jesus, who, is the greatest and the best secures, heals and delivers people and nation from all and every problem, be it political, social, religious, economic, health, poverty etc.
Moreover, he said the name of Jesus instills fear in satan and terrorizes satan’s kingdom.
There is no other option available to Nigeria as a nation at this point of its political history where if appear that God has shut up heaven and there is no rain and the locust-hunger, corruption, economic sabotage, disease, pestilence witchcraft and occultist manipulations, oppression have divoured the land than to return to God through Jesus Christ.
A situation whereby witches and wizards, which sole business is to steal, kill and destroy have come out openly to exact authority and influence over governance what will the righteous do? Where are the Elijahs of our time?
“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).
Soye Young-Itiye
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it has not registered any new political parties.
The commission gave the clarification in a statement on its X (formerly Twitter) handle last Wednesday.
It described the purported report circulated by some online social media platforms on the registration of two new political parties by INEC as fake.
“The attention of INEC has been drawn to a fake report making the rounds about the registration of two new political parties, namely “Independent Democrats (ID)” and “Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM)”.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the commission has not yet registered any new party. The current number of registered political parties in Nigeria is 19 and nothing has been added,” it stated.
The commission recalled that both ID and PDM were registered as political parties in August 2013.
INEC further recalled that the two were deregistered in February 2020 in accordance with Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The commission, therefore, urged the public to disregard the said report.
President Bola Tinubu has asked Governor Hyacinth Alia to work more for peace and development of Benue State, saying he was elected to govern, not to bury people.
The President said this while addressing stakeholders at the Government House, Markudi, last Wednesday.
He also called on the governor to set up a peace committee to address some of the issues in the state.
The meeting included the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), George Akume, traditional rulers, and former governors of the state.
The governors of Kwara, Imo, Kogi, Plateau, Ondo, and Nasarawa states also attended the meeting.
“Let us meet again in Abuja. Let’s fashion out a framework for lasting peace. I am ready to invest in that peace. I assure you, we will find peace. We will convert this tragedy into prosperity,” he said.
President Tinubu urged Governor Alia to allocate land for ranching and directed the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security to follow up.
“I wanted to come here to commission projects, to reassure you of hope and prosperity, not to see gloomy faces. But peace is vital to development.
“The value of human life is greater than that of a cow. We were elected to govern, not to bury people”, he stressed.
He charged Governor Alia on working with the Federal Government to restore peace.
“Governor Alia, you were elected under the progressive banner to ensure peace, stability, and progress. You are not elected to bury people or comfort widows and orphans. We will work with you to achieve that peace. You must also work with us”, he said.
In his remarks, Governor Alia appealed to the Federal Government to establish a Special Intervention Fund for communities affected by repeated violent attacks across the state.
“Your Excellency, while we continue to mourn our losses and rebuild from the ashes of pain, we humbly urge the Federal Government to consider establishing a special intervention fund for communities affected by these incessant attacks in Benue State,” he said.
Governor Alia said the fund would support the rehabilitation of displaced persons, reconstruction of destroyed homes and infrastructure, and the restoration of livelihoods, especially for farmers.
He reiterated his support for establishing state police as a lasting solution to insecurity.
The governor pledged his administration’s full commitment to building a safe, stable, prosperous Benue State.
Also speaking at the meeting, the Chairman of the Benue State Traditional Rulers Council, Tor Tiv, Orchivirigh, Prof. James Ayatse, praised President Tinubu for being the first sitting President to personally visit victims in the hospital in the wake of such a tragedy.
He thanked the President for appointing notable Benue indigenes into key positions, including the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Professor Joseph Utsev, while expressing hope that more appointments would follow.
Former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon (ret’d), says the Aburi accord collapsed because Chukwuemeka Ojukwu wanted regional governors to control military zones.
Gen. Gowon was Nigeria’s military ruler from 1966 until 1975 when he was deposed in a bloodless coup while Ojukwu was military governor of the then Eastern Region in that span.
In a live television interview recently, Gen. Gowon narrated what transpired after the agreement was reached in Aburi, a town in Ghana.
The meeting that led to the accord took place from January 4 to 5, 1967, with delegates from both sides of the divide making inputs.
The goal was to resolve the political impasse threatening the country’s unity.
The point of the agreement was that each region should be responsible for its own affairs.
During the meeting, delegates arrived at certain resolutions on control and structure of the military. However, the exact agreement reached was the subject of controversy.
The failure of the Aburi accord culminated in Nigeria’s civil war, which lasted from July 6, 1967, to January 15, 1970.
Speaking on what transpired after the agreement, Gen. Gowon said the resolutions should have been discussed further and finalised.
The ex-military leader said he took ill after arriving in Nigeria from Aburi and that Ojukwu went on to make unauthorised statements about the accord.
Gen. Gowon said he did not know where Ojukwu got his version of the agreement from.
“We just went there (Aburi), as far as we were concerned, to meet as officers and then agree to get back home and resolve the problem at home. That was my understanding. But that was not his (Ojukwu) understanding,” he said.
Gen. Gowon said Ojukwu declined the invitation, citing safety concerns.
“I don’t know what accord he (Ojukwu) was reading because he came to the meeting with prepared papers of things he wanted. And, of course, we discussed them one by one, greed on some and disagreed on some.
“For example, to give one of the major issues, we said that the military would be zoned, but the control… He wanted those zones to be commanded by the governor.
“When you have a military zone in the north, it would be commanded by the governor of the military in the north, the military zone in the east would be commanded by him. Of course, we did not agree with that one”, Gen. Gowon added.
Ojukwu died on November 26, 2011 at the age of 78.
