Sahara Reporters Latest News Today Tuesday 16th June 2020
Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 16/06/20
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E2%80%98black-lives-matter%E2%80%99-nigerian-activist-oluwatoyin-salau Americans Mourn Death Of 19-year-old ‘Black Lives Matter’ Nigerian Activist, Oluwatoyin Salau
Oluwatoyin “Toyin” Salau, a 19-year-old activist, who was a speaker at the Black Lives Matter protests in her native Tallahassee, Florida, has reportedly died.
On June 6, she posted a series of tweets saying that she had been molested by a man, who offered her a ride. She shared his address and detailed him and his car.
She vowed, “I will not be silent.”
Following her post, she stopped responding to replies and was reported missing.
On June 12, USA Today reported that according to the Tallahassee Police Department, she was still missing and last seen on the day of her tweet.
On June 14, a friend of Salau tweeted that she was “no longer with us.”
Salau was a vocal Black Lives Matter activist and had been very involved in the protests this past month.
“At the end of the day, I can’t take my skin colour off,” she said in a video taken at a protest earlier this month.
“I’m profiled whether I like it or not,” Salau continued before a crowd.
Video of #JusticeForToyin: Black Lives Matter Activist Killed In Florida After Detailing Her Sexual Assault
#JusticeForToyin: Black Lives Matter Activist Killed In Florida After Detailing Her Sexual Assault
WATCH: #JusticeForToyin: Black Lives Matter Activist Killed In Florida After Detailing Her Sexual Assault
“You cannot take my blackness away from me. My blackness is not for your consumption.”
Twitter is flooded with posts by Americans demanding justice for Salau and black women in general.
InStyle’s own Senior Beauty Editor, Kayla Greaves, wrote a powerful viral tweet that said, “Black women show up for everyone. But who is out here protecting black women?”
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Not Yet Safe To Reopen Schools In Nigeria, Says Boss Mustapha
Boss Mustapha
The Nigerian Government has said that it is still unsafe to reopen schools because of uncertainties around the COVID-19 pandemic.Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, made this known during the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 daily briefing on Monday.He said, “The PTF appeals to state governments to embark on wider community testing, enforce rules on social distancing and step up community engagement, risk communication and pay attention to places of large gatherings.
Boss Mustapha
“We have received reports that some states are contemplating the opening of schools, television viewing centres and other places where large gatherings could take place.“The Presidential Task Force re-emphasises that it is not yet safe to do so and that utmost caution should be exercised in this regard. The PTF guidelines should be complied with while considering decisions on this in the future.”
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BREAKING: Nigerian Government Suspends Aviation Company Which Flew Naira Marley To Abuja Indefinitely
Hadi Sirika, Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation, has said that, Executive Jet Services, the airline company that flew musician, Afeez Fashola better known as Naira Marley, to Abuja for a concert despite COVID-19 restrictions in place has now been suspended indefinitely.Sirika made the revelation during the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 daily briefing in Abuja on Monday.
He said the flight was indeed approved but for a different reason, adding that the pilot provided false information and decieved the Nigerian Government.
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Nigerians Call For Arrest Of Naira Marley For Holding Night Party Despite Ban On Large Gathering
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BREAKING: FCT Authorities Seal Jabi Lake Mall Over Naira Marley’s Concert Breach
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REVEALED: Lagos Senator, ‘Pepperito’, Died At First Cardiology Hospital, Ex-Oyo Governor, Ajimobi, Reportedly In Critical Condition At Same Facility
Adebayo Osinowo
Fresh facts have indicated that lawmaker representing Lagos East Senatorial district at the National Assembly, Adebayo Osinowo popularly known as ‘Pepperito’ died of Coronavirus on Monday.
The 64-year-old died at First Cardiology Hospital also known as First Cardiology Consultants in Ikoyi, Lagos, after battling with the disease for a while.
Osinowo’s death has sent panic across the All Progressives Congress fold in Lagos where he is a strong voice and one of the top lieutenants of the party’s National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
Adebayo Osinowo
Apart from the lawmaker’s demise, SaharaReporters also on Monday gathered that a former governor of Oyo State, Abiola Ajimobi, is said to be in a critical condition at the same hospital as a result of Coronavirus complications.
Ajimobi was a few weeks ago rushed to the facility after his health condition deteriorated and has since remained at the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital with doctors said to be making frantic efforts to save his life.
Recall that late Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Abba Kyari, was treated for Coronavirus at the same hospital in Lagos until he died in April.
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REVEALED: Abba Kyari Died At Lagos Hospital, First Cardiology Consultants
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The hospital is a top choice among wealthy Nigerians seeking cardiovascular treatment and has been in operation since 2008.
It had handled a handful of Coronavirus patients among Nigeria’s rich in recent times.
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BREAKING: Lagos Senator ‘Pepperito’ Is Dead
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Department Of State Services Arrests Three Yobe Government Officials Attempting To Sell Donated Educational Materials
The Department of State Services has foiled an attempt by some top Yobe State Government officials to sell large consignment of educational materials donated to Yobe State Universal Basic Education Board.
It was learnt that the educational materials were donated by Victim Support Fund for distribution to schools in the state to enhance pupils’ learning.
But the officials made arrangements to sell them at the point of delivery.
Luck ran out on the culprits while a trailer was transferring the materials to another truck arranged by the buyers at the outskirts of the state capital, Damaturu, when personnel of the DSS impounded the two trucks.
During investigations, it was discovered that the three officials of SUBEB deliberately sold the educational materials to make money.
The materials include textbooks and teaching aid meant for primary schools in Yobe State.
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E2%80%99s-attorney-general-malami-requests-arrest-prosecution-10-soldiers Falana Writes Nigeria’s Attorney-General, Malami, Requests Arrest, Prosecution Of 10 Soldiers Involved In Killing Of Three Policemen And Two Civilians In Taraba State
Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has demanded the immediate arrest and prosecution of 10 army personnel involved in the killing of three policemen and two civilians in Taraba State in August 2019.
The incident took place after policemen attached to the Inspector-General of Police Intelligence Response Team were taking a notorious kidnapper, Hamisu Wadume to the police headquarters in Jalingo, the state capital, after his arrest.
In a letter on Monday to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, Falana said that without the arrest and prosecution of the soldiers responsible for the deaths of the policemen and civilians, justice cannot be served on the matter.
The latter reads partly, “We are solicitors to the bereaved family of the late ASP Felix Adolije, who was a dutiful member of the Inspector-General of Police Intelligence Response Team.
“Our clients’ instructions are briefly stated as follows: On Tuesday, August 6, 2019, ASP Felix Adolije led the team of policemen that arrested an alleged kidnap suspect, Hamisu Bala (alia Wadume) who had been terrorising the people of Taraba State for over two years.
“While ASP Felix Adolije and the team were transporting the kidnap suspect to the police headquarters in Jalingo, Taraba State, they were pursued and accosted by a gang of soldiers led by one Captain Ahmed Tijjani Balarabe. The soldiers forcefully freed the suspect and embarked on the gruesome murder of three policemen and two civilians in cold blood. Five other policemen sustained life-threatening injuries during the attack.
“Notwithstanding the abortive attempt to cover up the dastardly act of the alleged killer-soldiers by the authorities of the Nigerian Army, the Nigeria Police Force investigated the case. However, the alleged kidnap kingpin was rearrested by the police. In the course of his investigation, the suspect gave details of the criminal activities perpetrated by him with the connivance of a number of soldiers and policemen.
“The request of the police investigation team to interrogate the 10 soldiers, who were indicted in the killing of the three policemen and two civilians as well as the kidnap of members of the public in Taraba State was turned down by the army authorities.
“When the case was mentioned in court on March 16, 2020, the police prosecutor rightly applied for an order for the production of the soldiers indicted in the investigation conducted into the gruesome murder of the policemen in Taraba State. In granting the application, the presiding judge, the Honourable Justice Binta Nyako, ordered the Chief of Army Staff or any person, who has the custody of the indicted soldiers to produce them in court to face trial.
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Taraba Killings: Confessions Of Killer Soldiers Shielded From Trial By Nigeria’s Attorney-General, Malami
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“Instead of using your position as the chief law officer of the federation to ensure compliance with the court order in line with the provisions of section 287 of the constitution of Nigeria, your office took over the case from the police prosecutor, amended the charge and withdrew the case against the suspects.
“In view of the gravity of the 16-count charge of terrorism, murder and kidnapping pending in court against the 20 suspects, you will agree with us that the withdrawal of the case against the alleged 10 killer-soldiers is not in consonance with section 174 of the constitution, which provides for the take over and withdrawal of pending criminal case “in the public interest, the interest of justice and the need to prevent abuse of legal process”.
“Stemming from the foregoing, we hereby request immediate compliance with the valid and subsisting order of the Federal High Court, Abuja Judicial Division, by ensuring that the suspects, who are at large are produced by the Chief of Army Staff or whoever has their custody so that they can be arraigned and tried in accordance with the law.
“Take notice that if you fail to accede to our request within seven days of the receipt of this letter, we shall not hesitate to take appropriate action under the law in order to ensure the slain police officers and civilians do not die in vain.”
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E2%80%99s-aide-lagos-abuja-flout Aso Villa Crisis: How Tinubu Provided Jet That Flew President Buhari’s Aide From Lagos To Abuja To Flout COVID-19 Lockdown Order
Mamman Daura
Tinubu’s jet
Tinubu’s jet
Sabiu ‘Tunde’ Yusuf in an aircraft
Sabiu ‘Tunde’ Yusuf
Aisha Buhari
Wale Tinubu, Group Chief Executive of Oando PLC.
SaharaReporters has uncovered new facts about how the jet of Wale Tinubu, Chief Executive Officer of Oando PLC, played a major role in the beginning of events that led to the fracas within the Aso Villa, which has since pitched Aisha Buhari, wife of Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, against some power brokers also known as the “cabal”.
SaharaReporters had exclusively reported how Sabiu ‘Tunde’ Yusuf, Personal Assistant and Private Secretary of President Buhari, was forced out of the Villa by Aisha’s aides to observe a 14-day self-isolation having exposed himself to the risk of contracting Coronavirus when he travelled to Lagos on a visit to his wife, who recently delivered a baby.
However, new facts have revealed that the real cause of Tunde’s ordeal was that he illegally procured Wale Tinubu’s private jet with registration Number T7f-JAT.
The jet, A Falcon X 900, which is registered to an undisclosed company, is operated by Empire Aviation in Lagos.
Wale Tinubu, Group Chief Executive of Oando PLC.
Yusuf upon arriving Lagos had reportedly asked Tinubu for his jet for a quick trip to London’s Stansted Airport.
SaharaReporters’ findings show that a second jet belonging to Tinubu, a Bombardier Express 7000 with registration number VP-CBT, travelled to London on June 7, 2020 but the British authorities told our correspondent that a manifest submitted to them did not include Yusuf’s name, also the TJ-JAT Falcon X jet took a dash to London’s Stansted on June 6, 2020 and did not have him onboard.
Tinubu’s jet
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Tinubu’s jet
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SaharaReporters could not confirm if the two jets conveyed passengers for an international flight from Nigeria to London, United Kingdom, during the lockdown period on the instructions of Yusuf.
The journeys are a disturbing disregard for internationally recognised protocols on Coronavirus and violates the movement restriction order of the Nigerian Government.
Even though the ADC to President Buhari and his Chief Security Officer couldn’t verify Yusuf’s trip to London, the suspicion that he was part of passengers, who boarded Tinubu’s private jet to and fro London set the alarm in the Villa and a plot was hatched to force him into isolation upon return to Abuja.
Moreso, after Tinubu’s jet arrived Lagos from the UK, it conveyed Yusuf back to Abuja.
Sabiu ‘Tunde’ Yusuf in an aircraft
Sabiu ‘Tunde’ Yusuf
Insiders within Aso Rock informed SaharaReporters that Yusuf did not initially receive the permission of the Federal Ministry of Aviation to embark on the illegal journey and that it was close to flight departure that calls were made to Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, to pressurise him into granting the flight permission.
It was during the process that Aisha’s camp got wind of the illicit use of Tinubu’s jet for the unauthorised journeys.
Aisha Buhari
When Yusuf returned to the Villa, even his elderly confidant, Mamman Daura, declined to have contact with him due to the fear of Coronavirus.
SaharaReporters gathered that two of President Buhari’s daughters, Halima and Zahra both approached Yusuf and passionately asked him to leave the residence of the President in Aso Villa to self-isolate as there were strong suspicions that he travelled to the UK and could have contracted Coronavirus.
Sources said Buhari’s daughters were jittery that their father could contract the virus from Yusuf due to his old age and that lately the President has developed a cold twice.
While engaging Yusuf, Halima and Zahra pushed him and this led to a breakdown of law and order as he fought back by pushing Halima to the ground.
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War In Aso Rock Villa: President Buhari’s Personal Assistant, Yusuf, Mamman Daura And Aso Rock Cabal Gang Up Against Aisha, Move To Strip Her of Security Details
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The ADC to their mother and her escort commander seized the opportunity to thoroughly beat Yusuf, who had to run for his life.
Eyewitnesses informed SaharaReporters that security aides chased after Yusuf to continue the beating but he was lucky to scale the fence and escape into Daura’s compound.
Mamman Daura
Seeing him climb the fence, DSS operatives in the vicinity shot into the air.
Mrs Buhari’s team claimed her police aides did not carry any arms at the time of the confrontation.
Peace brokers in the Villa have insisted that Yusuf should apologise to Aisha and that the First Lady and all parties in the crisis should seek the forgiveness of President Buhari to end the clash, which had now turned into an international embarrassment for the Presidency.
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E2%80%98pepperito%E2%80%99-dead BREAKING: Lagos Senator ‘Pepperito’ Is Dead
Adebayo ‘Pepperito’ Osinowo
Lawmaker representing Lagos East Senatorial district at the National Assembly, Adebayo Osinowo popularly known as ‘Pepperito’ is dead.
He was said to have died on Monday after a brief illness at the age of 64.
Before moving to the National Assembly, Osinowo was a four-time member of the Lagos State House of Assembly.
Adebayo ‘Pepperito’ Osinowo
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E2%80%99s-presidential-fertilizer-initiative-farmers-contend Over N300bn Fraud Uncovered In Nigeria’s Presidential Fertilizer Initiative As Farmers Contend With Substandard Supplies
Not less than N300bn has been siphoned from the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration between 2017 to date, according to a petition seen by SaharaReporters.
The PFI was established by the government to provide quality fertilizers to farmers across Nigeria at low rates.
To aid agricultural production, harvest and provision of food security for the country, the PFI proposed that fertilizers would be locally blended at N5,000 per bag and sold out to farmers at N5,500 per bag.
Local blenders are provided funds from the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority without any interest or collateral and they were to import raw materials from Morocco under NAIC.
However, Tak Agro blenders and some others like the MD of NAIC, Mr Uche, and his Deputy, Executive Director NSIA, CBN ABP Department, Faruq Gumel, and Aisha, a daughter of the late Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, who is a senior staff at the NSIA, and many others, have siphoned funds from the Federal Government, agro dealers as well as farmers, who are the end-users between N200bn to N300bn since 2017 till date.
In the petition it was alleged that Tak Agro headed by Thomas Etuh and his cohorts connived with NAIC and loaded raw materials of 27 to 28 tons instead of 30 tons and diverted the difference for their private use and sold them to other blending plants.
Tak Agro has also been handling logistics, thereby making it easy to perfect robbery in collaboration with others in government agencies.
The shortage is calculated into billions of naira and memo then raised to the Federal Government, which pays for it.
Furthermore, the quality of fertilizers being blended is low. It contains high Kaolin, sand, and low percentage of Nitrogen, MOP and DAP and are being packaged into bags without proper scaling, making the content below the recommended and inscribed 50kg.
Most of the fertilizer bags are between 40kg-45kg, which is unacceptable.
Bajita Blending Plant in Plateau State, F and C blending plant in Kaduna owned by Tak Agro, Fertilizer and Chemical owned by Tak Agro and Ibrahim Birma as the MD and Funtua Fertilizer Blending Plant also owned by Tak Agro amongst others are part of the plants with which they diverted over 250 trucks sold under the Anchor Borrowers Programme, knowing that these fertilizers are of low quality.
These fertilisers belong to the Federal Government and to cover their tracks, the Bajita Plant is currently shut down.
Additionally, the culprits supply fertilisers at N7,500/bag under the Anchor Borrowers Programme instead of the agreed N5,500.
This is possible with the connivance of Central Bank’s Anchor Borrowers Programme department.
This collaboration made it possible for the corrupt elements to divert funds into their personal pockets.
This anomaly extends into many states majorly in the North where these PFI fertilizers are sold to the governments at N8,000/bag and the huge difference is shared between Tak Agro and allies including some state officials.
When they sell 1,000,000 bags, they have N25bn to share among themselves.
This is done knowing fully well that the ABP is a loan to farmers, who pay back after harvest are being given.
Another corruption is ongoing in NACOTAN headed by Mr Anibe Achimugu and on its Board of Trustees is Ibrahim Birma and Thomas Eteh.
In 2019, NACOTAN collected about N17bn from the CBN and did not produce even five tons of raw cotton to show for it.
Also this year 2020, another N20bn has been given for the same purpose.
SaharaReporters has exclusively reported immense corruption in NIRSAL where under the leadership of Aliyu Abdulhameed, billions of naira have been stolen by him as he awards input supply contracts to himself and this has been going on for years.
The insecurity growing every day in the North-West and other parts of the country are the spillover effects of corrupt individuals robbing farmers by supplying substandard fertilizers and ripping the government of huge amounts.
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E2%80%99s-indebtedness-igala-kingdom-theophilus-abbah Nigeria’s Indebtedness To Igala Kingdom By Theophilus Abbah
The Federal High Court in Lokoja set tongues wagging, dogs barking and goat bleating when on June 2, 2020, after examining incontrovertible evidence, the court recited the contents of Nigeria’s history to declare that the country was indebted to ancient Igala Kingdom. That debt in cowries, now to be paid in naira, is approximately N10bn.
As it is the tradition of those who talk, scream and abuse others before they think, many commentators who are either ignorant or have forgotten how Igala provided the heath of fire for them to warm their bodies when heavily beaten in the rain, have poured invectives on Attah Igala and Igala people in general. Leading the gang is Governor Yahaya Bello, who, strangely, came out of his shell to label the court judgment and demand for compensation as “imperialism.” Imperialism, according to the Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, is “a system in which one country controls other countries, often after defeating them in a war.” This term wears a dirty garb, because of its inherent negative connotation. Such a strong language against a traditional institution under his control is a loud testament to the measure of love Governor Yahaya Bello has in his belly for Igalaland.
Having cast the first stone, Governor Bello opened the floodgate for other murderers to shoot and hack down the Igala race, especially on the social media. One Maigari of Lokoja described Attah Igala as “ignorant, overambitious, barbaric.” Unfortunately, the Maigari only displayed his own attributes when he used those unnecessary adjectives to paint Attah Igala in the context of the court judgment. Then, the man who should know better, Ohinoyi of Ebiraland, invoked the imagery of warfare when he said they would “defeat Igala in battle for Ajaokuta without sword, guns.” Other characters on the social media over-stretched their imagination by advising Governor Bello to depose Attah Igala Michael Ameh Oboni to install an Attah that will be compliant and complacent, arguing that the formula had worked in previous dribbling of Igala people on the pitch of politics. While all these vile are being poured on his kingdom, His Royal Majesty has maintained his silence, refusing to jump into the mud to struggle with them. However, as Igala would put it, the nodding of a lizard does not mean everything is fine.
The main issue
For those who clearly understand pre-colonial Nigeria’s political, social and economic setting, the Federal High Court judgment was not a snake bite or the stinging of bees – they are not in any way shocked. For instance, the Ibo nation is not in denial of their ancient, precolonial relationship with the Igala kingdom, and the imprint is not denied in Anambra State where, up till today, there is a sizeable portion of communities with Igala ancestry. Igbo trader knew that their routes to access the old Kwararafa kingdom ran through the confluence of Rivers Niger and Benue at Lokoja. The river flows through that space into the Atlantic Ocean. Historical evidence bears the fact that Igala kingdom was founded by two brothers, Igala and Bunda (Kakanda). While Igala was based at Idah, Kakanda had his base at Okuta Ihabe, which was to later become a stone market (Ajaokuta). Today, there is a sizeable population of aboriginal Igala, who are led by Onu Igala at Ajaokuta. His reign is older than that of Ebira traditional head in the area.
Several sources state that the Chronicles of Abuja spoke of the extensive influence of Idah over the Abuja territories – Umaisha, Toto, Koton Karfi, and even Abaji. In their work, Narrative of the Expedition to the River Niger, William Allen and T.R.H. Thompson explained that as at 1841, “The Ata was King of the Igala state, with its capital at Idah, at this time an important commercial center on the Niger, with historic connections Southwards with Benin and northwards with Nupe.” The authors showed how powerful Attah was in 1841, when His Royal Majesty rejected a gift brought to him by explorers from the Queen of England, and refused an offer to travel by boat to England to meet the Queen to discuss trade relations, saying those were activities that ‘servants’ carried out.
Because the sea was the means of transportation and the link between them and Niger Area, European traders had to establish trade and diplomatic ties with the king in control of the great rivers, and, in that era, the king was Attah Igala. To express the depth of the relationship, the colonialists built a seaport and an airstrip at Idah, the headquarters of the Igala State. Before the Nigerian civil war began in 1967, Idah had a thriving seaport, preferred by European traders to the port at Lokoja. The port had to be closed as a result of bomb attacks from Biafra army. The aerodrome constructed at Idah was put out of use because of the war. For traders from Europe, Idah port was strategic for transporting palm oil and palm kernel from Igbo and Igalaland, on the one hand, and for moving cotton from Hausa land to their continent. Even in the 1960s, Idah was a thriving port city. The government of the late President Umar Musa Yar’adua/Goodluck Jonathan awarded a contract to revive the port, but the project was not completed. In the book, Nigerian Perspectives: An Historical Anthology, by Thomas Hodghin, the author alluded to the fact that Igala kingdom stood erect in comparison with the ancient Benin Kingdom, Oduduwa Kingdom, Hausa Kingdom, and the Bonny’s King Opubu.
In the precolonial era, the political arrangement was more like a confederacy. Confederacy is a political system in which different ethnic communities or peoples come under one authority in order to pursue a common aim. The Kwararafa Kingdom was very large, but it was because other ethnic communities, accepted to come under the reign of the Aku Uka, in order to be protected from enemies who might wage war against them. In this way, the ethnic communities around the confluence came under the umbrella of the Attah whose army was powerful enough to protect them from invaders, including Fulani Jihadists, who had swept through Hausa land to install Fulani emirs in place of traditional chiefs. The evidence of this military might command by the army of Attah Igala is there for anyone to see – in all the territories around the confluence river, there is no emir or emirate. If the Fulani possesses any political power in this area today, it is simply as a result of modern political arrangements.
The indebtedness. An Igala proverb says “a barren woman does not suffer child bereavement.” If the British had paid up the full sum of 700,000 cowries, nobody would have been nagging about ‘Igala imperialism’ in 2020. No matter how rich a man is, he hardly forgets those who are indebted to him. That is what is playing out in the courts today. Historically, the Quaker Society of London, a missionary organization, which had campaigned against slavery sought to use the land from Ajaokuta to Lokoja as a model farm to halt slave trade. Slaves were taken to Europe to work on plantations. The Quakers argued that it would be better for Africans to, in their own country, plant those crops for which they were enslaved in Europe, and export the produce by sea to Europe, instead of being dehumanized as slaves in foreign lands. Those who want to know more about the Quakers can read up the roles these missionaries played in the fight to halt slave trade. The Queen of Great Britain and Ireland signed the Deed, while a representative of Attah also signed. Though the model farm project thrived for some years, it was thwarted by the activities of Fulani Jihadists who raided the farms. But the colonial government used Lokoja as Nigeria’s first administrative headquarters – without paying up the balance for the land. Incidentally, people from all walks of life came to settle in Lokoja under the new political arrangement, which has subsisted up till the present day.
Unless they have decided to play the ostrich, all traditional institutions in Kogi State are not ignorant of this historical fact. In Igala, there is a proverb which says, “If you own a property but are afraid to claim it, then it is not yours.” Like every government, the institution of Attah is a continuum. The indebtedness to Attah Igala in 1841 is an indebtedness to Attah Igala in 2020. In the same manner, the debt owed by colonial government that gave birth to the current system of government is a debt that hangs on the neck of the Buhari administration. What the court has asked the federal government to pay Attah Igala is a domestic debt. Though the transaction is over 200 years old, a debt is a debt, unless it is negotiated and written off. It is in this sense that Africans are seeking reparation from today’s Europe and America over slave trade that ended almost 200 years ago. In 2020, Namibians are seeking reparation from German government, for material damages and loss of lives that occurred during Germany’s colonial rule from 1884 to 1915. In America, there are deliberate policies to provide reliefs of all kinds to aboriginal Red Indians, who were displaced for modern America to be established.
In contemporary Nigeria, the Land Use Act gives governors control over land, but if such land is being used for projects in the interest of the public, compensation must be paid to the ‘traditional owners’ of such land. So, why must Attah Igala be shot down for seeking the repayment of an old debt? Some traditional institutions want to appeal the Federal High Court judgment. Not exactly because they have a stake; not because Attah is asking them to be evacuated from Lokoja and Ajaokuta. No. Their intention is to do the impossible – alter history, fight the past. May God grant us wisdom to pick the battles we fight.
Dr Abbah wrote this piece from Abuja
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