Sahara Reporters Latest News Monday 22nd April 2019
Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 22/04/19
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target=_blank>Politicians Who Spend More Than !2 years In Public Office Are Social Parasites, Says Pat Utomi
Pat Utomi, a professor of political economy and management, has described politicians who spend more than 12 years in public offices as social parasites.
The creator of Patito’s Gang, a television talk show, made this comment on Saturday while being Intervied on ARISE TV.
“I despise people who live on politics. I think that people who make a career in life based on politics are doing society a disservice,” he said.
“I have said that nobody should hold public office for more than 12 consecutive years. You go from a commissioner to the governor, senator; you are a social parasite.
“You should come out of your hard work, make a difference for four to eight years and go back to what you do. If it’s not like that for you, you are a parasite to society. The characters making it
difficult to make progress are social parasites who call themselves politicians.”
Utomi, who contested who contested for the Delta State governorship ticket under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2019 and also had a shot at the presidency in 2011, said Nigeria needs a national redemption mission.
He said for the country to make political progress, the President must form a cabinet constituted by competent and patriotic citizens regardless of their political affiliations.
“You should create a cabinet of rivals; Yakubu Gowon did it,” he said.
“He built a cabinet of people who were more capable than himself: Awolowo, Enahoro, Shagari and co. We don’t need warlords trying to take advantage; our country is dying. We need people who have love in their hearts for the people of this country. Instead, we get these warlords who are trying to exclude.”
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target=_blank>Expatriate Killed, Three Abducted During After-Party At Kaduna Resort
Two people were reported killed and three kidnapped after a group of suspected kidnappers armed with dangerous weapons invaded Kajuru Castle, a resort and holiday centre in Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
The incident was said to have occured around midnight on Friday.
DSP Yakubu Sabo, the Public Relations Officer of the Police in Kaduna, confirmed the incident in a statement he issued in Kaduna, saying the bandits shot sporadically after they had stormed the castle.
He added that an expatriate was one of the the two persons killed.
“At about 0020hrs, we received an information through DPO Kajuru that at about 23:40hrs, that some suspected kidnappers armed with dangerous weapons gained entry into a recreational resort called Kajuru Castle in Kajuru Local Government Area, shooting sporadically and in the process shooting dead two persons, including an expatriate lady and taking away three others,” the statement read.
The victims were said to be among 12 others who came to the castle from Lagos.
Sabo said those who sustained injuries had been evacuated by the patrol team led by the DPO that rushed to the scene and taken to St. Gerald Hospital.
“Normally, whenever such social events would happen, the organisers used to inform the Police for security coverage; but the party was done without the knowledge of the Police in the area,” he said.
“However, intensive efforts are being made by the Command to rescue the kidnapped persons, apprehend the fleeing culprits and bring them to justice.”
He said the Commissioner of Police, CP Ahmad Abdur-Rahman, appealed to members of the public to assist the Police with relevant information that would help in the arrest of the perpetrators.
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E2%80%94-and-supply-could-even-become-surplus-soon target=_blank>Power Outages Are A Thing Of The Past In Zambia — And Supply Could Even Become Surplus Soon
The African Development Bank Group has celebrated the success of Zambia in eliminating frequent power outages, which used to be a regular feature of the southern African country.
?Using its verified Twitter account @AfDB_Group, the bank tweeted on Saturday: “Power cuts are now a thing of the past in #Zambia! A major boost in electricity production – thanks to a robust hydraulic and solar power generation industry – means the country is now self-sufficient in energy.”Power cuts are now a thing of the past in #Zambia🇿🇲! A major boost in electricity production – thanks to a robust hydraulic and solar power generation industry – means the country is now self-sufficient in energy. 💡 Read on for more 👉🿠pic.twitter.com/udCmVDM5eS— African Development Bank Group (@AfDB_Group) April 20, 2019
The bank shared a previous piece breaking down how Zambia overcame its constant power cuts, largely due to a robust hydraulic and solar power generation industry in recent years.
“And, there is even better news for citizens of the South African nation — electricity production could soon be in surplus,” the bank said.
Zambia generates practically all its energy production from its own primary resources: biomass, coal and hydroelectricity, with flagship plants such as the power station near the Itezhi-Tezhi Dam, in the south-east of the country, taking centre stage.
The $375 million Itezhi-Tezhi hydroelectric generating station became operational in 2016. The plant has a 120-megawatt capacity and is the fruit of the first public-private partnership project in the Zambian energy sector. Its primary objective has been to produce enough power to end the crippling daily blackouts and meet consumer needs of the country’s 17 million inhabitants.
Itezhi-Tezhi power plant has already increased the country’s power generation capacity by 7.5% and supplied an extra 50,000 people with electricity. In the first quarter of 2018, and for the first time in its history, Zambia stopped importing electricity from neighbouring countries such as Mozambique.
As far back as September 2017, national operator Zesco’s head of power transmission, Webster Musonda, told Ecofin agency: “Zambia’s power generation capacity has improved and will now be able to largely meet its energy needs. Overall, we will be able to meet demand and routine energy imports will cease … but we will continue to import energy to meet occasional peaks in demand.”
According to the piece, the next step for the Government of Zambia includes plans for an energy surplus over the next two years. To meet this goal, it is exploring renewable energy, such as solar power.
The country’s new hydropower stations at the Musonda, Lusawaki and Kafue Gorge dams are important developments and in September 2018 the government inaugurated a 50 MW power plant at a cost of $60 million. An even more ambitious programme is under way, involving the construction of mini solar plants with an eventual overall capacity of 600 MW at an estimated cost of $1.2 billion.
The AfDB, which is championing its High 5 development priorities, such as the ‘Light up and power Africa’ Initiative under which this project falls, contributed $55 million to the Itezhi-Tezhi plant. Additional funding has been provided by international donors including the Netherlands Development Finance Company, the Development Bank of South Africa and Proparco France.
The bank’s portfolio in Zambia currently includes 23 ongoing projects, amounting to an investment of one billion dollars, in three main sectors: transport, water and sanitation and agriculture.
A strong partnership with Zimbabwe has also been the key to Zambia’s success, the two southern African neighbours working on a major energy project on the Zambezi River, which marks their common border. The 2750 km long river is the fourth-largest on the continent.
The project, which has a projected output of at least 2400 MW, is to be built upstream of the Kariba dam, close to the famous Victoria Falls, at a cost of $3 billion.
Electricity output will be shared equally between Zambia and Zimbabwe, with excess production sold on to other member countries of the Southern African Development Community (SACD), according to the project’s initiators.
Zambia’s electricity progress will be a subject of jealousy back in Nigeria, the self-styled Giant of Africa, where decades of electricity outages has still not been resolved despite the supposed investment of billions of dollars.
Only in the buildup to the February 23 presidential election, President Muhammadu Buhari said the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has questions to answer on the “irresponsible expenditure” of $16billion on power when the party was in government for 16 years without a corresponding increase in power supply.
Buhari also reiterated his resolve to probe the $16billion spending, saying at a presidential campaign rally in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, in March: “The previous government mentioned on their own that they spent $16billion on power, but you are better witnesses than myself; where is the power? Where is the money? We will follow them; eventually, God willing, we will catch them and get our money back.”
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target=_blank>Ijaw Youth Council Vows To Take Control Of Oil ‘Even If It Means Being Killed By Trigger-Happy Soldiers’
The Ijaw Youth Council (IJY), the umbrella body of the Niger Delta youth, has demanded for amendment of the Constitution to allow each region harness its resources and contribute to the centre.
The group expressed it’s readiness to do this “even if it means to be killed by the trigger-happy and the Niger Deltaphobe military Joint Task Force in the region”.
According to IYC, the call has become imperative due to the aspiration of the Niger Delta people to control the resources in their lands since solid minerals in the North are now reduced to individual ownership in spite of the enabling laws in the country vesting ownership of natural resources in the Federal Government.Pereotubo Oweilaemi, IYC President, said they won’t lay low when aware of the illegal mining activities in the North where powerful individuals are allowed to tap the natural resources in their domain.”If the Nigerian laws did not mean anything to the illegal miners of solid minerals in the North, then Niger Delta people will also take control of all petroleum resources in the southern region notwithstanding, the constitutional provisions. Niger Delta oil cannot be subjected to family ownership to Nigeria, while solid minerals in the North are being extracted by those concerned as individual ownership,” he said on Saturday.
”It’s either the government restructures the country by allowing states to harness and control the resources in their domains or we will take every step necessary to exercise control of the resources in our fatherland.
”Despite the fact that illegal mining activities are causing a bloody crisis in the North, the Federal Government has not deemed it necessary to set up a military joint task force to checkmate the illegal mining activities because the solid minerals in the country are seen as private ownership to the feudal Lords. There cannot be one Nigeria if everybody in the country is not treated with the same measure.””Every day, people have being killed and property worth billions of naira destroyed in the name of illegal oil bunkering activities by the marauding Joint Task Force in the Niger Delta region. The FG chose to protect the oil facilities at the expense of the oil-bearing communities because crude oil is seen as a national property, while solid minerals in the North belongs to the individual persons. Is this the one Nigeria they are preaching?
”President Buhari and the National Assembly should, as a matter of national importance, initiate the amendment of the Constitution by allowing states to harness and control the resources in their domains. That is the only sour path to peace in Nigeria. Anything short of that will be disastrous to our economic survival as a nation. Niger Delta people will control her resources even if it means to be killed by the trigger-happy and the Niger Deltaphobe military Joint Task Force in the region.”
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target=_blank>PMB’s Second Term: Looking Back, And Looking Forward By Femi Adesina
To borrow the words of colourful First Republic politician, Chief Ozumba Mbadiwe, “come has finally come to become” for President Muhammadu Buhari, as he has won election to serve a second term in office, after a pulsating contest. The country, nay, Africa, and the world looks forward to the inauguration on May 29, 2019.
What will be the priorities of the Buhari administration in second term in office? Before we look forward, let’s first look back, as the future is often embedded in the past. The key to unlocking the future is usually in the palm of the past.
What did President Buhari do in the first four years? What did he promise, and what did he achieve?
In 2015, the President pledged to secure the country, revive the economy, and fight corruption. These were the three focal points, the fundamentals on which the administration was pedestaled. And what is the report card?
When the government took the reins of power in May 2015, the security of the country was in tatters. Insurgents ran riot, and bombs went off like firecrackers in many parts of the country. North-west, North-east, North-central, including the Federal Capital Territory, were beleaguered. The insurgents were on their way to the southern part, and the whole country would have become history.
But the tested retired Army General took the war to Boko Haram. Stressing that you can’t efficiently manage a country until you have secured it, he relocated the command centre of the war to Maiduguri, which is the epicenter of the insurgency. Steadily and progressively, the insurgents were beaten back, till they got circumscribed in Sambisa Forest. Even that was taken away from them, till they became like sheep without shepherd, mingling with the civilian population to attack soft targets. Today, the insurgency is terribly degraded. Though not totally conquered, it is only a matter of time. The situation today can in no way be compared to what we had in 2015. President Buhari is winning the security war.
Other theatres of insecurity like kidnapping, armed robbery, attacks by violent herdsmen on farmers, and other civil strifes, are also being addressed. Eventually, calm will suffuse the entire country.
The economy was comatose in 2015, and it was no surprise that it went into recession the following year. Throw up the hands in resignation and bemoan the tough luck that saw oil prices plunging from above 100 dollars per barrel to below 30 dollars? Not the Buhari administration. It rolled its sleeves, and set to work. Massive investments were made on agriculture and infrastructure, so as to jumpstart the economy. And truly, it roared to life, and recession lasted for only a year. The Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) was enunciated, launched and vigorously executed, and by the fourth quarter of 2018, things were looking positive. Inflation had dropped for more than eleven consecutive months, and the impact was beginning to be felt in the prices of commodities. Importation of rice and other grains had almost stopped completely, and millions of dollars were being saved daily.
On corruption, there was a new reality in the country. There was a time we’d been told that stealing was not corruption. But behold a new dawn. Every form of stealing was being punished, and all malefactors, both high and low, were being hurled before the courts, and thrown into jail.
What shall we say of massive infrastructure works round the country? Roads, bridges, rail, power, and many others. Nigeria had never seen it in that fashion.
Now, to look forward. What will the Buhari administration do in its second term? Many things, in fact, a basket of goodies. It is a term of consolidation, a term of legacy building, as encapsulated in the Next Level road map. Progress and prosperity for Nigerians at many levels.
The three fundamental areas will continue-security, economic revival, and fighting corruption-but there will be some other definite deliverables. What are they?
Education will be refocussed, with the curriculum tweaked to place more emphasis on Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths. These will surely launch Nigeria into a new realm, positioning her with the developed world in the not too distant future.
Health care will come under focus, with the intention of building a healthy populace, who can hold their own in different areas of endeavour.
Infrastructure development will continue. Roads, rail, bridges, housing, and many others. The country will become one giant construction site, and this will further unlock economic development, and improve the quality of life.
Government will be inclusive. The boundless talents of Nigerians will be harnessed for national development. More women and youths would be brought on board.
Poverty reduction will be a deliberate policy. The Social Investment Program, already described as the largest and most successful in Africa, will be strengthened with the introduction of Monibank for traders and artisans, while an Entrepreneurs Bank would also be established to take care of small and medium scale enterprises. Home Grown School Feeding Program, catering for the needs of about ten million pupils now, will be given a fillip, engagement of unemployed graduates, and conditional cash transfer to the poorest of the poor, would also continue. Millions of Nigerians would be taken out of grinding poverty in the next four years, no doubt.
Power. Billions of dollars had been expended on this in the past decades, but where is the power, as the President would ask. Emphasis would be on power generation and distribution as to make a difference in the next four years.
Agriculture would continue to have pride of place in terms of funding. Lip service had been paid to diversifying the Nigerian economy for decades, but now, it is reality. Food security will be achieved in the second term. About eight million jobs were generated from the sector in the first term, many more millions are sure to come.
Anti-corruption? No joke. People with itchy fingers, past and present, will continue to fall in trouble, and probity and accountability will remain the order of the day. Honesty remains the best policy.
All these, and more are what Nigerians can look forward to in the legacy epoch, which is the second term of the Buhari administration. And by the time the term ends, the country would never be the same again. The joy kiln will be kindled in the hearts of the people, and they will leap for joy. These are promises you can take to the bank.
.Adesina is Special Adviser to President Buhari on Media and Publicity
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target=_blank>Buhari Speaks On Tiv-Jukun Killings In Taraba, Fulani-Genjon-Bachama In Adamawa
The recent violent clashes between Jukuns and Tivs in Taraba State, and the Fulani, Genjon and Bachama in Adamawa State are needless and saddening, President Muhammadu Buhari has said.
The Jukun and Tiv communities Wukari Local Government Area in southern Taraba State have been at war in the last three weeks, resulting in the loss of lives and property. In the latest installation of the killings, at least 22 persons were feared killed on Friday, according to residents and local officials.
Similar occurrences in Adamawa have resulted in the killings of dozens of late.
Responding via a statement on his official Twitter handle on Saturday, Buhari said the military had restored calm to the troubled areas, and urgen emergency agencies to step up the delivery of aid to the victims.
“The recent violent clashes between Jukuns and Tivs in Taraba State, and the Fulani, Genjon and Bachama in Adamawa State are needless and saddening. Violence cannot be the solution to the resolution of misunderstandings among people,” he said.
“Once we abandon reason and good judgement, we‘re giving violence the chance to take over and make a bad situation more complicated,and difficult to resolve. The primary initiative for ending violence once and for all must originate from the local actors involved in these clashes.
“The military has restored calm to the affected areas, and will not relent. The National Emergency Management Agency and the National Commission for Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons will also scale up their efforts in bringing succour to all the displaced people.”The recent violent clashes between Jukuns and Tivs in Taraba State, and the Fulani, Genjon and Bachama in Adamawa State are needless and saddening. Violence cannot be the solution to the resolution of misunderstandings among people.— Muhammadu Buhari (@MBuhari) April 20, 2019
Once we abandon reason and good judgement, we‘re giving violence the chance to take over and make a bad situation more complicated,and difficult to resolve. The primary initiative for ending violence once and for all must originate from the local actors involved in these clashes.— Muhammadu Buhari (@MBuhari) April 20, 2019
The military has restored calm to the affected areas, and will not relent. The National Emergency Management Agency and the National Commission for Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons will also scale up their efforts in bringing succour to all the displaced people.— Muhammadu Buhari (@MBuhari) April 20, 2019
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target=_blank>Bayelsa APC Attacks Dickson For Describing It As ‘Not A Political Party But A Killer, Terrorist Organisation’
Seriake Dickson, Governor of Bayelsa State
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa State has described criticised Governor Seriake Dickson for his recent comments describing the opposition in the state as not a political party but a “killer, terrorist” organisation.According to Doifie Buokoribo, Publicity Secretary of the APC in the state, Dickson’s comments are crude, infantile and extreme vituperations that are completely unbefitting of a high-ranking officer of state.
In a statement released in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, on Saturday, Doifie noted that the party was not surprised by Dickson’s comments, but urged him to be decent and stop living in denial.
“But then, we are not surprised at all that Dickson could use such gutter words to describe a rival political party. We have always known him to be a colourless, uninspiring and cretinous politician,” read the statement.
“Dickson and his gang in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have always proved to be a club of visionless little minds with neither programme nor strategy, save crude mudslinging against APC and its leaders.
“If not, why would a responsible party on the eve of a crucial election make the campaign of falsehood and slander against a rival party the highpoint of a meeting of its most important members? As if that was not ridiculous enough, Dickson and gang went ahead to delude themselves with a lie that the party that was virtually the only newsworthy issue at the PDP meeting on Monday was of no consequence.”“Governor Dickson is free to continue to live in denial. But we know that his days and that of his party in our state are numbered. For almost eight years, Dickson subjected the people of Bayelsa State to a regime of fear, war and terror. He spread hunger, pain and poverty in the land. The Bayelsa State Government House is now a place where criminals, cultists and other lawless elements are harboured.”
APC also cricisised Dickson for “appointing known criminals, cultists and militants as council chairmen”, while “denying civil servants their legitimate wages and allowances.
“He even made the state incommodious for business by refusing to fix electricity, water and other basics. The once beautiful land of Yenagoa became known as the garbage capital of the world under his watch. Our people are waiting with their PVCs for Dickson and his anointed candidate on Election Day,” it added.
“In his anxiety to hide his insensitivity, Governor Dickson has now lifted the ban he placed on promotions and the payment of promotion benefits in the state civil service. But that would not save him. He has reached the end of the road, and no amount of petty mudslinging or denial of reality will change the people’s stand against him and his party.”.
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target=_blank>Pandemonium At Abuja Airport As Huge Smoke Emanates From Terminal
There was pandemonium at the departure wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, on Saturday following a huge smoke that emanated from the terminal.
Upon seeing the thick smoke and fire alarm system, passengers and other users of the airport scampered for safety in different directions, fearing that it may have been another fire disaster.
But a source close to the terminal told our correspondent on phone that it was the fire alarm system that triggered off, causing huge smoke to ooze out from the terminal.
According to the source, the fire alarm system, which was fixed with power substances, might have detected “something like fire,” which made it to trigger off immediately.
However, when the engineers of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) got to the scene of the incident, there was no fire in the terminal.
The source said: “I am still at the Abuja airport now and I want to tell you that there was no any fire incident at the terminal.
“What happened was that the fire alarm system triggered off, may be it detected smoke within the vicinity, but nothing untoward happened at Abuja Airport.”
As of the time of filing this report, sanity had returned to the airport, as airlines, passengers and other users of the terminal continued with their duties.
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E2%80%A6because-we-are-nigerians-sanni-oluwaseun target=_blank>…Because We Are Nigerians By Sanni Oluwaseun
“In a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of” – Confucius
Nigeria is the “giant of Africa”; a self-given title we take so much pride in and always in a hurry to rub on the faces of other African countries when necessary, and when not. We remind them of our population strength, huge land mass, natural resources and various past glories. But we know what it is; a PR strategy championed by our leaders to give a good impression of the country to the outside world. However, we come back home to face the reality; we are just another African country, though with large population and natural resources, yet struggling with providing the most basic things to the citizenry. In reality, we are not the giant of Africa and we know it. If anything, we are a major African dwarf.
Being born in a country in most parts of the world is a blessing. I’m sure an average Nigerian has a different opinion. I know because of the rate at which many expecting mothers rush to give birth in the US and UK just so their babies could be citizens of those countries. The risk, cost and stress notwithstanding. On the other hand, I don’t see or hear of people coming to give birth in Nigeria to claim Nigerian citizenship. Or do you know anyone? I see how many Nigerians on social media rush to indicate interest on any post that has something like “how to migrate to Canada/US” as its title.
I was born in Nigeria in the early 90’s to a typical Nigerian home. Growing up was tough but my parents were on top of their games to make sure we got all we needed. That’s why I had a little problem with that Ozzy’s tweet. From a young age, I understood that it’s the responsibility of the citizens to protect themselves. Yes, we all know God is the protector of everyone. But we as humans have to put in some efforts too. But as a tax-paying citizen, that effort becomes the responsibility of government in saner climes. Nigeria definitely doesn’t fall in that category. I know this because I grew up seeing my parents pay a stipulated amount every month to the Vigilante group responsible for securing our street. How this is not the responsibility of the government through the various security agencies didn’t occur to me then until later. With time, I came to realize that I’m a Nigerian and it’s my own responsibility to protect myself. The recent killings and kidnap in Zamfara and the resignation of the governor as Chief Security Officer of the state say it all. Does anyone know why he has not been impeached already? I guess it’s because we are Nigerians and we don’t exactly have the power to decide who rule us.
it’s also in Nigeria that we have trigger-happy, “blood-sucking” vampires as policemen. The recent killing of Kolade Johnson and several other similar cases in recent past attest to this. I’m probably the only Nigerian youth that has never been harassed or assaulted by men of the Nigerian Police. This is most likely because I don’t drive, don’t stay out late, I have no dreads, no tattoos, no earring and other Nigerian police red flags. Should we now tell every Nigerian to live the life I personally chose for myself just to avoid Police harassment? Certainly not, because the last time I checked, none of these contradict any part of our constitution.
Power is still a major challenge for the “giant of Africa”. Sometimes, I imagine how hard it would be for me to adjust to staying in a place where there is constant power supply. I’m sure an average Nigerian on the street would think that should only be possible in heaven. But no, you don’t need to embark on a journey to the world beyond to see uninterrupted power supply because that is the reality of most countries around the globe, including Ghana. Ghana here o. Whereas, here in Nigeria I constantly have to choose between enduring the noise from generator or sleeping in the heat. I have to choose to either spend my money to buy fuel to watch a football match or go out to watch it at my own risk.
It’s such a shameful thing that a country which prides itself as “African Giant” can’t provide these basic amenities to her citizens. Talking about shame, I wonder if Nigerian leaders understand that word. Sometimes I feel this second-hand embarrassment for our leaders when they are in one of those comity of nations’ meetings. How they don’t feel nothing themselves still beat me.
I reside in Lagos, the undisputed headquarter of traffic jam in Nigeria, or Africa, or the world. An average Lagosian spends 2-hours in traffic every weekday. Let’s do the maths. There are about 22 weekdays in a month. 2-hours multiplied by 22 days gives you 44 wasted hours on the road every month. The legendary Mike Okri’s song “Time Na Money”, a metaphorical expression of the significant role of time in making money comes to mind at this point. Going by that, only God knows how much money Lagosians lose everyday to traffic.
Lagos is broadly divided into two – Mainland and Island. Every morning, millions of Lagosians move from either of these “Lands” to the other using three major bridges – Third Mainland Bridge, Eko Bridge and Carter Bridge. These bridges are not enough, but manageable. But because we are Nigerians and we deserve hell as far as our leaders are concerned, they thought there is no better location to use as trailer parks except these bridges. I guess this is part of the plan as contained in the famous blueprint of Lagos by the “head nigga” in charge. So buses struggle for space with static trailers everyday, wasting time and energy on the road and causing extremely low productivity at work. Many have joked that most Lagosians work on the road and rest at work.
Talking about joke, we are Nigerians and we joke with everything. We were once named the happiest people in the world and there is no doubt about that. We find funny angles to everything and situation. Good as that is, it’s one of our problems. Most tweets on twitter are to ride on a trend, get likes, retweets and followers, and not a genuine attempt to address situations. Since that is the intention, our youths focus energy on sounding savage and creating memes to get the gratification they desire. The result of it is we have people talking about issues on social media but no corresponding action to back it up in real life.
As Nigerians, it is bad to be rich. Poverty is such a good thing for members of the public. We have leaders who constantly remind us of this with statements like “I’m poorer now than before I got into power”, “Nigeria should live within their means” and the likes. They constantly give the impression that anyone who is rich must have made the money through illegal means. Ironically though, they look away when there are clear indications that their allies are perpetrating the same corruption they claim to be combating.
The fight against corruption is arguably the biggest political scam in Nigeria since we spent billions generating darkness. No doubt, corruption is one of the major problems of Nigeria. But should we now focus on that one thing and forget about everything else (the economy especially)? Maybe the real question is are we even sincere in this “fight”?
It is clear at this point that it’s the fault of our leaders that we find ourselves where we are today. However, I think it’s high time we moved past expecting them to fix things for us; “that meins we will sleep dia”. The state of things now favours them so they are not going to try to fix it. The question is does it favour you, the ordinary citizen? I know your answer is no. I know because I feel exactly what you feel. Since we are all on the same page, then it’s about time we took the fight off social media and get serious. Unlike some guy in Zamfara who claimed to be “getting a little pissed”, me “I’m Seriously pissed” and I’m sure you are too. The time is now. No sidon look.
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After Dispossessing Him Of N400,000, Hoodlums Beat Jigawa Imam To Death With Sticks
Alsheik Idris Musa, the Chief Imam of Kwara Village, Kiyawa Local Government Area of Jigawa, has been killed by suspected hoodlums.
The tragic incident happened about 1:30am on Saturday.
The Islamic cleric was said to be 65-year-old as of the time of his gruesome death.
Confirming the incident to newsmen, SP Abdu Jinjiri, spokesman of the Jigawa State Police Command, said the deceased cleric, a resident of Kwara, was attacked by hoodlums at his residence after he sold his farmland for N400, 000 to one of the construction companies in the state.
Jinjiri explained further that the suspects allegedly hit the deceased several times with cudgels, which led to his death.
He added that the suspects took away a sum of N400,000, proceeds of the sold farmland.
“The suspects also beat up the wives and children of the deceased,” he said.
“The deceased was said to have sold his farmland to one of the construction companies in the state at the cost of N400,000, It is suspected that the transaction took place in the presence of the unidentified hoodlums who later trailed him to his residence.
“The village where the incident took place is a remote area. The distance to our station is two hours’ drive. So the DPO in charge of the area got the information at about 1:30 am. and proceeded to the scene immediately, but he got there after 3am.
“When he got there, the victim was already dead, but he was able to rescue the family members beaten by the hoodlums. They were taken to hospital for medical attention.”
He added that the remains of the deceased had been released to his family for burial, while the Police had commenced investigations into the matter with a view to arresting the fleeing suspects.
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SaharaReporters, New York
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