Halt Igbo killings in the North, Kalu tells northerners

Former governor of Abia State, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, has decried recent killings of southerners and Christians in some parts of the North, declaring that such acts of violence are unacceptable.

Kalu, in a statement on Tuesday, said that he could no longer remain silent on such an issue, especially in the face of undue silence by some relevant segments of the society.

He said:  “It is unacceptable that whenever there is any disagreement or crisis of any sort in this country, the Igbos are targeted, whether the issue at stake concerns them or not. Whether the recent bombings and slaughters in churches are attributable to the hatred of western education or making the country ungovernable for the president, or even the alleged quest for revenge by the sect involved for the alleged extra-judicial killing of its leader, none of these issues has anything to do with the Igbos.

“It is beyond sheer coincidence that most of the killings are in churches attended predominantly by the Igbos. And the victims are innocent Ndigbo who know nothing of and are in no way connected with the issues for which they are being killed.”

He stated that he had watched “with extreme sadness” recent developments leading to the killing of some Nigerians of Igbo and Southern extraction in parts of the North.

He further stated: “The Igbos, as a group, have paid dearly for the unity of this country, and despite the pogrom that preceded the civil war, and the genocide against them during the civil war, they have continued to believe in and practically work for the unity of this country, settling in and developing the economies of all parts of this country despite the continued marginalisation and balkanisation of their region. Everywhere you go, you see the Igbos. We are the salt of the nation.

“Everyday, Igbo people in the North are now being slaughtered in huge numbers, and the Federal Government appears clueless, helpless and incapable of coming to the defence of these citizens. Unfortunately too, Northern political leaders have made statements and interventions — at levels that further question  the essence and founding vision of one Nigeria — notwithstanding the obnoxious dimension of carrying out such killings in holy places of worship.”

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Youth minister cautions security operatives

The Minister of Youth Development and Acting Minister of Sports, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, has urged security agents to exercise utmost restraint in the ongoing protests.

The minister observed that the excessive use of force by some security agents, which had led to the death of few young Nigerians and caused injuries to some others, was very unfortunate and regrettable.

He added that the right to protest was fundamental in a democracy, therefore, policemen and other security agents had a responsibility to protect this right.

Mallam Abdullahi, however, said that while democracy allowed such a right, it should be exercised with utmost responsibility.

He, therefore, called on the youth to be careful and not allow political opportunists to exploit their genuine grievances to destabilise the country.

He said that the government recognised that the youth would be affected by the removal of fuel subsidy and that was why a major component of the Subsidy Re-investments and Empowerment (SURE) programme was targeted at the youth, who would also be represented in the committee set up by the government to manage the programme that was estimated to deliver 370,000 jobs to the youths across the country.

He appeals to the youths to give the government a chance while urging them to take full advantage of the provision made for them under the SURE programme.

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Ministers stranded as protest shut down Abuja

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) yesterday shut down the nation’s capital in protest against the removal of fuel subsidy.

Ministers and top government officials were stranded as they had to attend to issues personally.

Workers stayed away from offices; all filling stations, markets, shops and other businesses were closed.

Despite the presence of about 15,000 policemen, workers, led by the National President of the NLC, Abdulwaheed Omar and the President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Peter Esele, converged on Julius Berger Roundabout in the Federal Capital Territory at about 8am for the mass protest.

In the presence of armed policemen and soldiers, the protesters sang solidarity songs and danced to the tunes of the late Afro-maestro music, Fela Anikulapo Kuti.

But the five-hour mass action was peaceful although workers were restricted to some routes.

Although some of the protesters had mounted an emergency settlement opposite the Eagle Square at about 6.30pm on Sunday with their tents and blankets, the police and other security agencies disallowed them from gaining access to the place.

It was gathered that at about 3am yesterday, security agencies came to evacuate the protesters.

The Square was cordoned off by armoured vehicles and security agencies to prevent workers from accessng it.

The siege, however, did not deter the protesters from marching on Zone 5, Zone 6, Wuse Market to the AP Plaza in Wuse II.

The highpoint of the rally was the involvement of some past and present members of the House of Representatives, women in purdah, and physically challenged persons on wheel chair and roller skates.

Others who participated were lecturers, the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP), civil society groups and power bike riders.

Some of those at the procession were the NLC General Secretary, Owei Lakemfa; ace activist Prof. Toye Olorode; a pop star, Charly Boy; a member of the Police Service Commission, Dr. Otive Igbuzor; the National Publicity Secretary of CNPP, Osita Okechukwu; Clement Nwankwo; Ezenwa Nwangwu; the President of Human Rights Writers Association, Emmanuel Onwubiko; the President of the National Youth Council, Comrade Ajani ; a human rights activist, Kayode Ajulo; Tunde Aremu and a former President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Lanre Ogundipe.

The lawmakers who took part in the protest were Dino Melaye; Abdulmumuni Jibrin; Bamidele Opeyemi; Patrick Obahiagbon; Aminu Suleiman; and Babale Musa.

One of them said the House members who took part in the strike action were up to 50.

The star of the procession was Obahiagbon, whose grammatical bombshell and coinage enlivened the protest amid shouts of “we want more, we want more.”

The protesters wielded many placards with the following inscriptions: “Nigeria is not Animal Farm, it is our right to protest”; “Jonathan: Fight insecurity and corruption, our refineries must work now”; President Goodluck, is this your type of fresh air”; “Subsidy removal, a crime on Nigerians” ; “One day, the poor will have nothing to eat but the rich” ; “Security, stable power supply, good roads, education, job creation, affordable housing, not fuel price increase”; “We reject IMF/World Bank neo-liberal policies”; “Socialist Workers League: No to fuel price hike, revolution now”; and “Everyday for government, one day for its people” among others.

But at a stop over rally in Wuse Market at about 10.27am, the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar, asked Nigerians to prepare for a long drawn strike.

He said: “Comrades, we are not going to talk too much. But the message is that Nigerians are saying no to fuel price increase. What organized labour and civil society coalition are saying is that we must revert back to N65.

“Mr. President addressed the nation and in his address which of course was an emergency, he announced a reduction of 25 per cent of the basic salary of political office holders. Comrades, the President is the highest political office holder in Nigeria. His basic salary per annum is N3.5million. Alright if you reduce 25 per cent from N3.5million that means you are reducing about N650, 000.

“Comrades, let us assume that there are 1000 or 10,000 other political office holders in Nigeria. N650, 000 times 10,000 is only a paltry N65million. Comrades, the President’s entertainment alone as provided in this year’s proposed budget is N1billion. “The provision for travels by Mr. President this year is N10billion. If you replicate all these in the same proportion in the states, what we are saying is that that is not what the government don’t want. And if that reduction is done will it have any effect on the price of commercial vehicles? Will it have any effect on the goods we buy?

“Therefore the only solution is that you revert back to N65. Comrades, another thing about the issue of the fuel subsidy, we have been saying it that what was appropriated was N260billion last year. How come government will continue to claim that they have spent over N1.3trillion?

“Now there are two things that come up here: it is either somebody is telling lies that such money was not spent at all or that they spent the money illegally because any monies that should be spent especially in that quantum must be appropriated by the National Assembly.

“The National Assembly members have said that they have not appropriated such money. That means even the expenditure on purported fuel subsidy is illegal.

“Comrades, what we are saying is that even if government claims that they have spent N1.3trillion and that they cannot do it, why must it be that it is only removal of subsidy that would be the solution? Why don’t they go after those who have collected the money illegally?

“Comrades, I must say that in the last two days we have seen men and women of integrity in this country in the name of members of the House of Representatives especially. They defied all instructions, all entreaties, all threats that they must not reconvene but because they are close to the people, they could feel the pinch of the people they decided they must convene and take decision.

“And yesterday afternoon, they took a resolution calling on the Executive to revert back to N65 per litre. Comrades, this is a very patriotic thing and we commend the members of the House of Representatives. We also call on the Senate to also do the same thing. “Comrades, you know that some of our colleagues, even some honourable members were arrested on ‘orders from above’ that they should be arrested simply because they are coming out on the streets to express their grievances. I mean Hon Dino Melaye and co. What people do not know is that this thing is only making them heroes.

“We will continue the struggle. Comrades, like my colleague has just mentioned, we have a track record of very peace protest rallies and we must maintain that. We must not give anybody any chance to have reason of security to disperse us. We are harmless. Nobody should attack us.






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Boko Haram: Group warns Northerners to leave N/Delta

Niger Delta Indigenous Movement For Radical Change, NDIMRC, yesterday issued a 21-day ultimatum to Northerners to quit the oil-rich region.

According to a statement by its President, Nelly Emma, Secretary, John Sailor and Public Relations Officer, Mukoro Stanley, the group described as senseless the killings of Christians in the North by Boko Haram and ordered all Northerners in the South, West and East of the country to return home within 21 days or face reprisal attacks.

The group said: ‘’We want to make it known to the Sultan of Sokoto and other Northern leaders that we are aware of their game plan to frustrate President Jonathan. The President is a nice man; if not a lot of people would have been killed by now as the late President Musa Yar’Adua did in the Niger Delta region by killing innocent people of Gbaramatu Kingdom of Delta State.”

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FG ignores labour over strike, protest •We have not been contacted -Omar, Esele, Lakemfa •INEC shifts Adamawa governorship election to Jan. 21

DESPITE the huge success of the on-going strike and mass protests against fuel subsidy removal and the killings that have attended the protests, the Federal Government has ignored labour and its civil society allies.

The Federal Government had set up a committee headed by Justice Alfa Belgore (retd)  to meet with labour on the crisis even before the strike and mass protests started on Monday, but till last night, neither the Federal Government nor the committee had contacted labour.

The NLC President, Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar, the TUC President, Comrade Peter Esele and the NLC Acting General Secretary, Comrade Owei Lakemfa, told Nigerian Tribune on Tuesday that the government had not contacted them since the protest started.

Besides the Senate president, Senator David Mark and the Senate leadership who met the labour leadership late Monday night at the Apo residence of the Senate president, no effort has been made by the presidency or his committee to contact labour.

However, labour has insisted that it would not meet for any form of dialogue with the Federal Government or its committee on the issue without returning to a status quo.

Comrade Omar said labour would not go into any negotiation without reversing the fuel price to N65 per litre first, adding that that is the only condition to meet with government, stop the mass protest and call off the strike.

He insisted that there is no going back except the government reversed the pump price to N65 per litre, declaring that there will be no retreat, no surrender.

Omar reiterated that the aim of the protests and the strike was to get oil price reversed to N65.

He said: “The aim of the protests is for government to reverse this very obnoxious policy of fuel subsidy removal and petroleum price increase that is imposed on Nigerians. We must get it reversed. Everybody is calling on us to call off the strike and we said no, the only condition is for government to first reverse to N65 per litre. If they reverse, we will also reverse and call off the strike and mass protests.

“No government can stay the way they are staying right now for a long time; it is only a matter of time.”

Comrade Esele said: “We came out in support of N65 per litre. It is our responsibility to make sure that this is achieve. Some people say we should go and see Jonathan but what differences can that make. Unless the price is reversed, we are not calling off the strike or stopping the mass protest. As I said earlier, there is no negotiation until the first demand, which is the reversal to N65 per litre by the government is met.”

Comrade Lakemfa said: “We see these stories of meetings with the Federal Government as mischievous and part of government’s strategy to break the fuel hike protest.

“We restate categorically that the Labour Movement has no intention to hold any discussion with the Federal Government or any of its officials on the issue of increases in petrol prices until the price is reverted to N65 per litre to allow for a level playing field.”

Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has postponed the Adamawa governorship election slated for January 14, to January 21.

The INEC chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, said in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday that the election was postponed because of the prevailing situation in Adamawa State.

Jega said that the decision was taken after due consultations with relevant stakeholders in the state.

He said: “The governorship election will now hold on Saturday, January 21,  instead of January 14, as earlier scheduled.

“INEC reassures all Nigerians, and Adamawa residents in particular, of its determination to conduct free, fair and credible election in the state.”

Jega said that INEC was working very closely with all stakeholders, including security agencies, to ensure a conducive environment for the conduct of the election.

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Cleric assures of Muslims’ support for anti-subsidy protest

Following calls on Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and the organised labour to shelve today’s strike, Conference of Islamic Organisations, CIO, has insisted that the strike should go ahead.

Mufti of the organisation, Sheikh Dhikrullahi Shafi’i also condemned the Nigerian Police over attacks on protesters in last week’s protests across the country.

Speaking, yesterday, during a special programme in Lagos, the cleric said the leadership of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has followed the line of honour by planning the strike action to protest the increase on fuel pump price.

Sheikh Shafi’i wondered why security agency would want to abort the protest considered worldwide as a civilised way of expressing views against government’s policy.

He said: “I think stopping protesters is an affront on Nigerians.”

He assured the Abdulwahed Omar-led NLC and members of civil societies coalition of the support of the thousands of Muslims who gathered for the lecture. The Islamic cleric urged Nigerians to ensure that the protests were peaceful and devoid of any activity that could turn it to violence.

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Nigeria sliding towards civil war: Soyinka

Nigerian Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka warned yesterday that his country was heading towards a civil war, blaming political leaders who spread religious intolerance.

His comments came as five people were killed when a mob attacked a mosque in the southwestern city of Benin, forcing about 3000 Muslims to flee the area.

An aid worker, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the subject, told Reuters the mosque was attacked yesterday during nationwide protests at a hike in fuel prices.

Asked whether he agreed with President Goodluck Jonathan that the current unrest was worse than the 1960s civil war, Soyinka told the BBC World Service yesterday: "It's not an unrealistic comparison - it's certainly based on many similarities. We see the nation heading towards a civil war."

Soyinka was also asked whether the unrest threatened the state of Nigeria itself, and replied: "It is going that way. We no longer can pretend it's not.

"When you've got a situation where a bunch of people can go into a place of worship and open fire through the windows, you've reached a certain dismal watershed in the life of that nation."

Soyinka said the issues raised by Islamist group Boko Haram, which was blamed for violence targeting Christians in the north of Nigeria and has sparked fears of a wider religious conflict, had been brewing for some time.

"There are people in power in certain parts of the country, leaders, who quite genuinely and authoritatively hate and cannot tolerate any religion outside their own," he said.

Soyinka, a dramatist and essayist, became Africa's first Nobel laureate in literature when he won the prize in 1986.

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AGF appeals to workers to embrace peace

The Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Mr Mohammed Adoke, has expressed dismay that the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress TUC have refused to join issues with the government in the judicial process and other peaceful initiatives.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the attorney-general reiterated that the order of the National Industrial Court (NIC) was a subsisting order and the continuing disregard of that order was inimical to the public interest, as it constituted an open invitation to anarchy.

He stated that the current strike by the organised labour, which had prevented the legitimate pursuit of economic activities across the country in defiance of a valid subsisting order of a superior court of record, transgressed the parameters set by the constitution and extant laws.

He called on the NLC/ TUC to respect the order of the National Industrial Court and engage the government in a constructive dialogue with a view to addressing hardship arising from the deregulation in the downstream sector of the petroleum industry.

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Nigeria unrest: Mosque attacked in Benin City

A mosque and Islamic school have been attacked and set alight in the southern Nigerian city of Benin, police say.

A Nigerian Red Cross spokesman told the BBC that five people had been killed and six injured.

It follows a separate attack on a different mosque in the city on Monday.

In recent weeks, southerners, who are mostly Christians or animists, have been the targets of deadly attacks by the Islamist Boko Haram group, which operates in the mainly Muslim north.

A leader of the Hausa community in Benin told the BBC's Hausa Service that 7,000 northerners were seeking refuge in police and army barracks in the city.

The Nigerian Red Cross confirmed to the BBC that they were registering northerners at police stations and army barracks.

Spiral of violence

Two cars at the centre housing the mosque and Islamic school were also torched, police said.

The attack is the latest in a spiral of sectarian violence that has seen many southerners living in the north flee their homes.

The BBC's Naziru Mikailu in Abuja, Nigeria's capital, said the latest violence started in Benin on Monday when a group attacked a mosque, leaving 10 people injured.

Then, in Gusau, capital of northern Zamfara state, youths attacked a church. Police made 19 arrests, our reporter says.

Back in Benin on Tuesday, a mosque and Islamic centre were attacked and set alight in a different area from Monday's attack. Police told the BBC that 10 people had been arrested.

A group of youths tried to attack a Hausa community leader's house but it was defended by Hausa youths and the police then intervened, our reporter says.

Nigerian writer and Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka blamed the violence of recent months on leaders who put their own religion above national unity. He said the situation was not dissimilar to the one that existed before the last civil war that erupted in Biafra in the 1960s.

"We see the nation heading towards civil war. We know that the civil war was preceded by problems - serious killings on both sides of the regional divide," he told the BBC.

"When you get a situation when a bunch of people can go into a place of worship and open fire through the windows you've reached a certain dismal watershed in the life of that nation.

"There's no question at all, whatsoever. Those who have created this faceless army have lost control of that army."

The latest unrest comes on the second day of a general strike over the removal of a fuel subsidy.

Thousands of people have taken to the streets in many cities in protest about the doubling of the price of petrol since the beginning of the year. Six people died in the unrest on Monday.

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