KWARA @ 50: THE SLOW WALK IN THE WILDERNESS #WhodestroyedKwara

Kwara state will be 50 years old in May this year ln Shaa Allah. Time indeed is cruel and miserly. It ticks and gives the impression that it is standing still. Those who understood the logic of time, its essence and its inordinately desirous movement take the opportunity offered by time to do great things not only for themselves but also for their society. Such people do not lay claim to saintly but perform supererogatory actions.

Chief Sunday Bolorunduro Awoniyi, Chief Aderibigbe, Chief Josiah Sunday Olawoyin, Chief S. B. Daniyan, Amuda Gobir, Ahman Patigi, Abubakar Attahiru Madaki Lafiagi and a host of others who fought for the creation of Kwara state are all great men full of energy and passion with special upbringing either by way of culture or religion and who demonstrated their commitment and desire to lead their society out of darkness to the frontiers of modernity and civilisation. They are great men, vibrant with fire in their eyes and iron in their belly. They never seek dominion over others neither was their demand for their own state driven by personal, selfish interest or greed. They desired a state of their own in that pre-modern times. A state which they and their children yet unborn can be proud to lay claim to. They maintained cohesion in their struggle and did not allow the issue of ethnic sentiments instead their commitment stirred the spirit in the people and this cemented the already existing internal cooperation which also served the founding fathers the required tonic. But there was more to their demand. There was something beyond life that was worth aiming at – and that was immortality. That was the heritage they envisioned for us because they were not the sort of human beings who go in search of miracles where hard work and intelligent strategising matters.

WASHINGTON POST: Nigeria committed to good governance and fighting terror - Buhari

I SEEK OBAMA’S ASSISTANCE IN LOCATING AND RETURNING $150 BILLION

This month, the world moved a step closer to the defeat of Boko Haram, the jihadist group that has terrorized hundreds of thousands in the northern states of Nigeria. In one of my first acts since taking office as president six weeks ago, I have replaced the heads of Nigeria’s army, navy and air force. Our new military leadership has not been chosen because of their familiarity with those in government, as was too often the case in the past, but on their track records and qualifications alone.

These new military leaders will be based in Borno State in northern Nigeria, where the headquarters of the armed services has been relocated. This shift of resources and command directly to the front line, in addition to the replacement of the head of the State Security Service, Nigeria’s intelligence organization, and a new emphasis on working in partnership with our neighbors, has equipped us to take the fight directly to Boko Haram.

Already we are beginning to see a degrading of Boko Haram’s capabilities as a fighting force. In recent weeks, it appears to have shifted away from confronting the military directly to an increase in attacks on civilian areas, as we saw only last week when an elderly woman and 10-year-old girl blew themselves up at a Muslim prayer gathering in northeastern Nigeria. We should not be confused by this change, hateful as it is: It does not mean that Boko Haram is succeeding in its aims — it shows that it is losing.

"Jonathan’s Unbridled Ambition Will Destroy Nigeria’s Democracy - Bola Tinubu

The Presidency and the ruling PDP forcefully had their way in Adamawa. 

Governor Nyako has been impeached. Nigeria’s constitution suffers violence. 

Democracy has been setback.

Under the constitution, a governor can only be impeached for “gross misconduct.” For the PDP, Nyako’s crime was not the false allegations contained in the articles of impeachment. To them, his gross misconduct was leaving the reactionary PDP to join the progressive APC. His misdeed was to exercise his constitutional right of freedom of association and political expression by leaving their corrupt assemblage and joining the party that just may represent the best hope of rescuing Nigeria from its present descent into authoritarian darkness.

Perhaps, Governor Nyako’s greatest sin is his temerity to speak truth to power albeit in a courageous way. On two different occasions, he gave an unvarnished insight into the Boko Haram menace and the insecurity engulfing Northern Nigeria. At the Institute of Peace in Washington DC this year when he visited with other Northern governors, he placed the blame for the Boko Haran insurgency on the Jonathan presidency. He then followed this up with a detailed letter to the forum of the Northern governors in which he accused the Jonathan led government of genocide against the North. This rattled and unsettled the government.Repeated attempts to have Gov. Nyako withdraw his letter and apologize to the President failed. From the moment he wrote that letter, he became a marked man. The government savaged the governor through the media. This kangaroo impeachment is government’s way of punishing Nyako.

Kano State Gov't Release: Continue Pursuing Your Legitimate Business, Kwankwaso Tells Released Abia Travelers

Kano state Governor, Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso has advised the 29 indigenes of the state, out of the 486 travelers from Northern Nigeria, who were arrested on transit in Abia state by security agents about two weeks ago, on the allegation of being insurgents, to continue pursuing legitimate businesses anywhere they found themselves in the country.

He made the call when the 29 freed indigenes visited him at the Government House in Kano following their release from detention in Abia state.

Governor Kwankwaso argued that there is no law in the country that restricts any citizen from traveling and doing business lawfully anywhere in the nation, lamenting that what the security agents did to the travelers was a clear violation of their fundamental human right.

Boko Haram: Why Nigeria withdraws peacekeeping troops from Mali

The President of the Senate, David Mark, on Monday said activities of Boko Haram insurgents had compelled the government to withdraw Nigeria’s peacekeeping troops from Mali. 

He made the remark at a two-day retreat on Nigeria’s Foreign Policy jointly organised by the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs in Lagos. 

The Senate President said Boko Haram insurgency had become a major challenge to Nigeria’s efforts at forging relationships with her French-speaking neighbours.

NEMA says at least 3 persons died in fresh Jos explosion

The National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA) says at least three people were killed and three others injured in the Saturday night explosion near a football viewing centre at Bauchi Road in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State.

NEMA Coordinator for the North Central  , Abdulsalam Abubakar, on Saturday night told the BBC Hausa service that the explosion killed three people and injured three others who were rushed to hospital, adding that the explosion damaged a residential home where the bomb-laden car was parked, but that fire service officials  put out the fire quickly to prevent further damage.

Police spokesperson in Plateau state, Felicia Anslem, said only one life was lost in the explosion while 2 others were injured. Mrs. Anslem called for calm, saying security officials have cordoned the area of the blast.

MICHELLE OBAMA, MALALA PLEA FOR THE RELEASE OF THE KIDNAPPED GIRLS

US First Lady, Michella Obama and Malala Yousafzai are among a growing chorus of voices who have joined the #BringBackOurGirls viral campaign to free the over  200 school girls kidnapped in Nigeria by an Islamic terror group last month.

As the Boko Haram Islamist Group remain the only night mare of the Nigerian state.  The public figures, along with celebrities such as Naomi Campbell and Bradley Cooper, have posted photos of themselves holding #BringBackOurGirls signs on Instagram and Twitter.

(+Video) Many of the Boko Haram Abducted Schoolgirls Have Been Likely Move out of the Country - US

The United States said Monday that it is concerned that many of the 276 Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped in northern Nigeria state of Borno three weeks ago have been moved out of the country.

State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf shared Washington's assessment after local officials in northeastern Nigerian told Agence France Presse the girls had likely been taken to nearby Chad or Cameroon.

TERRORISTS: THE PAMPERED CHILDREN OF THE NORTH NIGERIA

by Emmanuel Chigozie Osuchukwu

Nigeria is presently in a dangerous impasse and there are many who believe that the country is on the throes of disintegration. If the mindless insurgency and bloodletting ravaging particularly the Northern part of the country is not enough evidence, the ongoing national conference is a clear indication that all is not well. The primary question is how Nigeria got to this dreadful position – to a point where it is safer to live in Afghanistan, Iraq or Somalia. Thanks to a new phenomenon called Boko Haram. Then we ask again, who or what is Boko Haram? I can only at this point say that it is a faceless organisation that we are unsure who they really are except that they are predominantly people drawn from the Northern part of Nigeria, with a clear proclivity towards Islamic fundamentalism and a violent disapproval of mainstream Nigerian, albeit western values. We could also say a sort of rebels without cause.


There is nothing really surprising about the emergence of Boko Haram in Northern Nigeria. Many commentators saw it coming and many were condemned for ever predicting that Nigeria will come to such a state. Hence today the Nigerian press is full of comments such as: ‘serves the North right’; ‘they should have seen it coming’; ‘they brought it on themselves’ etc. It is not that such commentators are not appalled by the wanton killing of innocent women and children or grieve over the senseless killing of now mostly Northern Nigerian youths who could easily have become tomorrow’s doctors, lawyers, teachers and footballers. But many Nigerians have grown up to believe that the North somehow does not disapprove of senseless killing of innocent lives and we have strong reasons stretching over many decades to assume so. The only surprise is that those who should have anticipated it are the very ones expressing surprise and blaming others for the pitiable state of particularly Northern Nigeria and the country generally. Some supposedly knowledgeable Northern opinions have gone as far as accusing the federal government of President Jonathan of masterminding the ongoing killings in the north. But let us put Boko Haram and the problem of the North in its true perspective.