Welcome to John Kantiyok's Blog.: 1/8/17

Saturday, January 14, 2017

ON NATIONAL PEACE COMMITTEE'S INTENDED VISITS TO SOUTHEN KADUNA, BY DR JOHN DANFULANI

On 13 January 2017 Gen. Abdulsalami Alhaji Abubakar and members of his National Peace Committee were in Sir Kashim Ibrahim House Kaduna.His team comprised eminent Nigerians like;Cardinal John Onaiyekan, Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah, Commodore Ebitu Ikiwe, and the Sultan of Sokoto. The peacemakers had a three hours closed door interface with Governor Ahmed El-rufa’i,the Deputy Governor Barnabas Yusuf Bala and other top government functionaries.
The former Head of Nigeria junta stated their mission to Sir Kashim Ibrahim House thus: “We are here due to the recent happenings in Southern Kaduna. And from here within the week, we are going to meet with other stakeholders, religious leaders, the Chiefs in the area and also visit the site where these problems are and discuss with the people. After which we will now sit down and see what we think should be done”.
After their almost late visitation to Southern Kaduna, and after listening to tribulations of victims, and tour of the genocide spots the head of self appointed national peace committee informed the world of their next line of action in this fashion “…after which we will now sit down and see what we think should be done. Then we come back to the governor and if necessary to the Federal Government”.
From their mission statement, it’s clear that they are going to Southern Kaduna to see political, spiritual and feudal lords of victims. Except they are telling us that they are living in some far off planets, they know what has happened and still happening in Southern Kaduna .Sequel to that, why going to Southern Kaduna? The committee knows who has failed in protecting lives and property of indigenous people of Southern Kaduna via his/their actions, inactions, and pronouncements. Nasir Ahmed El-Rufa’i (the Governor)and President Mohammadu Buhari( the Commander in Chief) have woefully failed to secure the people of Southern Kaduna in what is obviously appearing to be a genocidail scheme locally hatched, and commissioned to foreign barbarians to execute it.
Wait a minute, are they going to Southern Kaduna to make peace or just see the scale of inhumanity and barbarism perpetrated by some hell-bound territorial expansionists? Let’s yield to the temptation that they are going to talk and promote peace. Now, let me ask; is Southern Kaduna at war within or other communities in Nigeria? No. If it’s incontrovertible and irrefutable that Southern Kaduna people are not at war with any local or external community, why waste time visiting them and seeing Nigeria version of Sabibo?
Gen.Abdulsalami’s team are mere attention seekers whose interest is not to see to the end of the genocide in Southern Kaduna but gained national prominence. Come on, are these mixed grill team ignorance of Governor El-rufa’i’s statement of 2nd December 2016 and his chat claims of 21st December 2016? Governor El-rufa’i claimed he knows the barbarians and vandals killing people, burning houses and running over farmlands in Southern Kaduna. He said, they are foreigners living in Niger, Cameroon, Mali, Chad and Senegal. The chief occupant of Sir Kashim Ibrahim House went further by telling us that he has paid some of them compensation to cease the killings in Southern Kaduna.
With Mr. El-rufa’i’s shameful and felonious revelation, are the National Peace Committee not to head to the countries Mr. El-rufa’i enumerated and sue for peace? Heading to the direction victims of the mindless killings and arsons amounts to wobbling effort and charting a wrong directions. Let them get the contact of the killers from Mr. El-Rufa’i and head to their foreign climes and import them from their countries for a peace conference. It will be easy for them to achieve that because the compensator of killers Mr. El-rufa’i knows their whereabout.
If the gerontocratic clustered in the national peace committee are serious, let them head to Aso Rock and report Mr. El-rufa’i’s foreign policy action of linking and negotiating with terrorists. If they want us to take them serious let them openly condemned Mr. El-rufa’i’s action of compensating foreign killers of Southern Kaduna people because there is no local and global tradition that purified compensation of terrorists. Terrorist are killed and in milder cases arrested and prosecuted. But Mr. El-rufa’i has introduced a boomeranging angle into the way terrorists are handled.
Do Gen.Abdulsalami and his team members desire we take them serious? Let them insist that victims of known foreign killers be compensated. Let them insist that Mr. El-Rufa’i should explain why the village of Goska in Kaninkon Chiefdom of Jema’a Local Government that was under 24hrs curfew was attacked on 24th December 2016 with impunity. Let them, if they are sincere, inquire reasons why Governor El-rufa’i and President Mohammadu Buhari have not created an Internally Displaced Persons(IDPs). Or direct them to set-go the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and State Emergency Management Agency(SEMA) moving with relief materials to Southern Kaduna.
Are members of National Peace Committee saying they are unaware of Governor El-rufa’i’s tweet in 2012 that told people that whosoever kill a Fulani man takes a repayable loan? On 2nd and 21st December 2016 he told us that he is Fulani. A Simple linking of the dots and reading the thin blue lines in between his 2012 tweet and what is happening today will revile that when he used the word ” We put it to whosever…” he told us the resolve of his genocidal and barbaric groups. This is logic. No special wisdom is needed to connect the dots.
Gen. Abdulsalami must have heard of the imperial decree of an aspiring maximum leader Governor El-rufai that any body that counsel victims of genocide in Southern Kaduna to defend themselves is hate speech. And , that, he will arrest and prosecute such people or person. His tantrum and megalamomic resolve contracted provisos of the country’s 1999 constitution and Geneva convention of peoples rights that clearly stated that, self defense is a human rights to a person or people under assaults, specially in a situation where government has vividly demonstrated its incapability in safeguarding them from reckless terminators. From this, it’s clear that Mr. El-rufa’i is telling the people of Southern Kaduna to hold their hands while janjaweeds he knows and have been communing with commits dastardly acts.
Some of us are outrageously elated that patriotic citizens like Governors Ishaku Darius of Taraba, Ayo Fayose of Ekiti, Nyeson Wike of Rivers, Bishop Oyedepo of Winners Chapel,Sen. Danjuma Tella Laah, Chief Femi Fani Kayode and Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) advanced the position of self defense. We live to see how Mr. El-rufa’i will walk his threats by arresting and prosecuting these people that directly challenged his wicked and satanic philosophy. Let him demonstrate to Nigerians his awesome power by arresting these men of timber and caliber and men he can’t even stand in their front and talk. Preying on people like Dr. John Danfulani of Centrum Initiative for Development and Fundamental Rights Advocacy(CEDRA) and Jacob Dickson of Authentic News Daily is not the best way of showcasing his executive recklessness and dictatorial disposition. History has it that Bullies are cowards.
I counsel that, Southern Kaduna groups these National Peace Committee intends to see should distance themselves from this time wasting and energy consuming scheme of elites that are malnourished of the capacity to call a spade by its name. People who hardly look the powers that be in the eye and tell them some quinine taste truth. Should the targeted groups ignore this divine advice of steering clear and rejecting the invitation, they will sooner or later be confronted with the repercussions of their intransigency because nothing good will come from their interface. Let them invest the time they will waste meeting these people who don’t share their aspirations or feel their pains in prayers and designing of strategy of how to defend their lands from unabashed land grabbers and 21st century inquisitors. Going will be like singing the lords song by the river of Babylon.

Nigeria's Deadly Monster (Part 2) - Fani Kayode

In his book titled “Concerning the Government of Our Country and Neighboring Countries in the Sudan”, Nigeria's first Mahdi, Sheik Usman Dan Fodio, who is the father of the Fulani Caliphate and leader of the 1804 jihad that overwhelmed and conquered what is now known as northern Nigeria wrote:

“The government of a country is the government of its king without question. If the king is a Muslim, his land is Muslim; if he is an unbeliever, his land is a land of unbelievers. In these circumstances it is obligatory for anyone to leave it for another country”.

Could this strange and primitive rationale be the reason for the creeping attempt to wipe out Christianity, destroy the Church, slaughter Christians, Islamise the faithful and enslave the people of the south and Middle Belt in our country today?

Could this be the ethos and philosophical bedrock and foundation of the imperative of Islamic domination and Fulani rule? Have we finally discovered the intellectual Holy Grail of Fulani raison d'etra?

This brings me to a number of other questions which many harbour but few dare to ask.

The southern region of Nigeria has not had a Chief Justice of the Federation in 30 years and now that one has been nominated by the National Judicial Council our core northern President Muhammadu Buhari has simply refused to confirm him. The question may be asked, what is the south's portion in Nigeria?

Such is the suspicion, bedlam and utter turmoil in our nation today that some are of the view that the solution to the problems of Nigeria is not just restructuring but a total break up of the country.

They believe that restructuring may be a good first step but the final destination has to be a total and complete break up and divorce.

They argue that this can he done peacefully and quietly or it will eventually be done violently and in a very messy way.

They say that the sooner we do it the easier it will be and that the longer we delay it the more messy it will be.

Whether one agrees or disagrees with them one thing is clear: we are sitting on a keg of gunpowder and we ALL know it.

It is just that we like to pretend. The bottom line is this: things cannot go on the way they are.

Some believe that we should let the four "liberal" zones (south-west, south-south, south- east and north-central) come together and form one nation and let the north-west and north- east zone either go and merge with Chad and Niger Republic or form their own country.

They argue that we should let the Christians, the Shiite Muslims and the core northern ethnic minority tribes that presently live in the north- east and north-west, if they wish, to relocate, move to the Middle Belt (north-central) and remain with us in Nigeria.

Interestingly this mass relocation and migration process was executed in India when she broke into two and Pakistan was formed just after she got her independence from the British.

Millions of Muslims who resided in India moved north to the other side of the country that was to be later called Pakistan whilst millions of Hindus who resided in the area that was to be later called Pakisan relocated from there and moved all the way south to the area that continued to be referred to as India.

Given the terrible carnage that took place between the Hindus and the Muslims in India before the break-up the whole thing worked rather well and saved millions of lives.

This was the case even though there were three border wars between the two countries not too long after the division and tensions exist between them until today.

Yet had it not been for the break-up the number of casualties would have been far higher and the victims of the fratricidal butchery which took place would have been primarily the civilian population, including women and children, rather than just the soldiers.

Some believe that we in Nigeria must take a cue from the Indian, and later Sudanese, examples. They believe that we must break Nigeria into two before we kill each other to the last man and woman.

They believe that it is either we negotiate this and let it be done in an equitable, reasonable, respectful and orderly manner or we will end up having a violent, brutal, bloody and long ethnic war in this country which will result in the final balkanisation and break up of Nigeria into no less than four or more pieces.

Whichever way we cannot be compelled to stay in a nation that is controlled by our collective oppressors and those that believe that killing others that do not share their faith or belong to their ethnic group or religious sect for much longer.

They have sucked the nations blood dry and killed the host body that they have fed fat on for the last 56 years.

They have killed the spirit of Nigeria and sacrificed her unity on the alter of greed, hate, religious intolerance, political domination and false notions of ethnic supremacy.

Their hegemony is an affront to the Living God and it stands against the natural order of things.

It is time for them to go or to be thrown out.

It is only after this happens that we can achieve our full potentials as a nation and that our people can be truly blessed.

Those that control the country and believe that they own it will NEVER allow restructuring because it defeats the object of their purpose.

Given that, it is very clear that we are heading for the rocks because the generation of southern and Middle Belt Nigerans that come after mine refuse to accept the notion that they are nothing but glorfied slaves and second class citizens.

My generation and those that came before it were far more ready to compromise with the evil, accept that bogus notion and just contiue to hope for the best.

The result is that we are still waiting and hoping whilst the grip of our internal colonial masters and their power is greater today than it has EVER been.

Meanwhile thousands of southerners, Shiite muslims, Middle Belters and northern Christians have been slaughtered at the altet and are being butchered by the sponsored ethnic militias that are known as the Fulani herdsmen. One must ask, how long are we going to continue watching this evil silently and just keep hoping for the best?

This sort of thing can only happen in Nigeria. If people had been subjected to such barbarity and wickedness in any other country in the world there would have been international outrage and violent reactions long ago. Yet in Nigeria we respond to it with nothing but indifference and silence in the name of political correctness. It is truly pathetic.

The truth is that this "political correctness" will kill us if we dont kill it first. We must be prepared to say the things that we say to one another behind closed doors publicly as well.

The country needs a dose of truth to heal its wounds and it also needs focused, strong, honest and decisive leadership. Those that believe that they were born to kill us at will and rule us in perpetuity must either accept that they are not our ethnic masters and stop all this barbarity or they must go.

The truth is that the whole country is ready to explode. We the older men are the ones that are just still talking. The younger ones stopped talking long ago and now they are preparing for war.

I have travelled to many parts of this country in the last few weeks and months and what I saw and heard scared me. And I dont scare easily. We must try to keep a lid on it and talk our way out of this mess before the bullets start flying and reason and rational thinking goes out of the window.

Those that believe that they own Nigeria are the greatest obstacle to national cohesion and no one else. The rest of us can work out our differences, keep our four zones, devolve power from the centre and establish a 21st century secular modern nation-state where we are all equal, where the rule of law prevails and where islamic fundamentalism and ethnic domination has no place.

We must also work out our differences in the south. It is the division amongst the southerners that feeds and fuels core northern hegemony. We must all make concessions and set our differences aside and come together as one againt our collective adversaries.

If we cannot do that and we allow historical differences and rivalries to abide and flourish then frankly we deserve to remain as the slaves that they have turned us into. Let us hope that good reason prevails and that we make the right choices.

Let us hope that we are guided by God and His Holy Spirit in all our endeavours. Let us hope that we can muster the courage to say "no more" to ethnic and religious cleansing, mass murder, bondage, servitude and tyranny.

Friday, January 13, 2017

Tonto Dike delete Husband's pics from her social media profile

It was the stuff fairy tales were made of, a union made in heaven. She was TV’s bad gal and he was royalty. Tonto Dikeh and her hubby, Oladunni Churchill were a hot item in town. Their marriage took the industry by surprise and in dozens of interviews Tonto Dikeh never failed to praise her husband testifying to his love and attention.
Bubles of love erupted the first time they met. They were the poster couple for the upwardly mobile and successful. Source say they first m‎et at a church in Lagos after which they became friends and in the course of time their friendship blossomed.
“Married life has been so sweet,” Tonto Dikeh confessed in interviews as he spoilt her silly with gifts including a 2016 SUV while she also shared a photo of her 2017 Lexus SUV from him, asking God to bless him and thanking him for making her a better woman.
It however seems trouble began following recent trends on social media.
The controversy began when Tonto Dikeh removed her marital name from her social profiles while also removing the tag “wife” from her profile.

A popular blogger stated that the marriage is in trouble, no thanks to another woman who has just stepped into the picture. Her name is Rosaline Meurer. Could there be a connection between this stunning beauty and Tontoh Dikeh’s decision to delete her husband’s name from her profile?
Sources say they have been spotted in South Africa together when Tonto Dikeh had her baby in the US. Meanwhile, according to an online platform, an aide to Oladunni Churchill had said “ there’s no issue at all, why do people like making issues out of nothing? The fact that she changed her name on social media does not imply crisis, what if it’s for a business purpose?”
However, a source close to Tonto Dikeh said: “they had a small issue but honestly it’s nothing, I’m sure they are fine.”
What comes around goes around. Remember that before now, Dunni Churchil dumped Bimbo Coker for Tonto Dikeh. Is she experiencing a sense of guilt, which has culminated in a melt down? Is her past haunting her? That is the question on every one’s lips.
According to information made available, Mr Churchill was once entangled in marriage with ‎Bimbo Coker, which lasted for about five months. It was disclosed that the brief union was bedeviled with challenges of infidelity
In an unexpected reaction, Tonto Dikeh apologised to fellow actress Mercy Johnson Okojie on Instagram for calling her daughter a witch back in 2013. The question on every one’s lips now is, was her ghost haunting her?
Tonto Dikeh wrote in her apoplogy: “Good morning world. Since I have your undivided attention I better make good use of it and not miss the blessing in this lesson!!! @mercyjohnsonokojie, ever since I had my baby I have been reminded constantly about an ill statement I made about one of your kids a very long time ago. I want to use this medium to say I am so sorry, I sincerely apologise from the bottom of my heart. I had no right to say what I did, I totally disgraced myself with that.
“As a mom I do realise a lot of things I take in because of the love of my son and I know you only took my insult because of that same love. I am sorry MJ, I am sorry to your lil’ girl or boy. We don’t have to love each other to realize when we are/went wrong. I have/had no excuse for my behaviour and I also apologise to the fans I hurt/let down with my words that day many years ago. To Err is human but to forgive is divine!!! I am not trying to be the better person, you deserve this apology for your Child for the Love I have for God. I found God and everything in my life changed, let me tell you about him sometime.. God bless you and yours.”
Mercy Johnson has accepted Tonto Dikeh’s apology. “@tontolet am shaking and in tears as I read your post. I have learnt the more this morning that the holy spirit is true, because by him you were in my prayers last night and this morning. I am in shock.

“I always heard of what an Angel you are. Please, I forgave you immediately King came because I knew that you would have understood how it hurt me.
“I Love you and I am short of words now but thank you and trust me I wish you so much happiness and peace. I am already hugging you so tightly. It is well and Purity is blowing you a kiss too.”

Religion will kill Nigeria if not tamed, says Soyinka

Wole Soyinka, a professor and playwright, has warned that religion may bring about the downfall of Nigeria if it is not tamed.
Reacting to the recent spate of religious killings in Southern Kaduna, Soyinka wondered if religion has been more beneficial than detrimental to Nigerians.
He made the comments on Thursday at the presentation of ‘Religion and the Making of Nigeria’, a book written by Olufemi Vaughan.
“If we do not tame religion in this nation, religion would kill us,” he said.
“I do not say kill religion, though, I wouldn’t mind a bit if that mission could be undertaken surgically, painlessly perhaps, under anaesthesia, effectively sprayed all over the nation or perhaps during an induced pouch of religious ecstasy.
“However, one has to be realistic. Only the religiously possessed or committed would deny the obvious. The price that many have paid, not just within this society but by humanity in general, makes one wonder if the benefits have really been more than the losses.
“Can one think of any landscape without religious architecture?” the Nobel laureate asked.
“For both the monk and the cleric or spiritual leaders, it is simply no longer sufficient to say this or that form of conduct is not permitted by this religion or the other. Or those who do this or that are not true believers of this prophet or that avatar or sage for the simple reason that others, who dissociate themselves from conduct, which universally is condemned, are themselves declaring themselves partisan of their own in contradistinctions to others.”
Soyinka further noted that the “innocent” are usually the victims of religious confrontations and strife, adding that religion has been a “disaster” for the African continent since time immemorial.
“What, however, concerns the rest of us – no matter the internal wrangling, rivalries or controversies within any religion – what concerns us is that the innocent are often those who pay the highest price.
“Religion in the history of this continent has been a disastrous venture, a disaster in many zones and continues to be even so today.
“In this very nation, in Southern Kaduna, over 800 souls were brutally extinguished suddenly while the issue of grazing land versus farming is unquestionably part of the conflict. It is equally undeniable that religious differences have played crucial role in the conflict.”

Religion will kill Nigeria if not tamed, says Soyinka

Antonio Conte, First Manager to win 'Premier League Manager of the Month in a row!

Nine dead, 14 injured in Adamawa bomb blasts

No fewer than nine persons were confirmed dead and 14 others hospitalised in an early morning bomb blast in Madagali town in Madagali Local Government Area of Adamawa State. An eye witness who simply identified himself as Baba, said the blast occurred at a temporary motor garage at the entrance of the town.
“We heard three blasts near the checkpoint where people gathered to be screened before entering the town as you know today is market day.
The suicide bombers blew themselves up alongside the two vigilante members that approached them,” Baba said.
Speaking on the development, the member representing Madagali/Michika Federal Constituency, Mr Adamu Kamale, said he got the report but that the information showed that there was no death. “Information available to me showed that there was no death in the blast, except that some people sustained injuries,” Kamale said.
He called for more deployment of troops to comb the Madagali axis of Sambisa, which he said was still habouring insurgents.
When contacted, the Chairman of Madagali Local Government, Alhaji Yusuf Mohammed, also confirmed the incident but said he could not give details because he was not in town.
“I was outside the town for an official engagement but I was called and informed about the incident. That is all I can tell you for now”, Mohammed said.
Recall that on January 4, three female suicide bombers who were on their way to Gulak market in Madagali LGA were intercepted by the vigilante.
The Adamawa State Police Public Relations Officer, Othman Abubakar said “the bombs were detonated by three suicide bombers who killed themselves in the process.” On the number of casualties, the PPRO said, “we cannot at this time confirm the number of casualties.”
Also confirming the incident, the state Coordinator of NEMA, Sa’ad Abubakar Bello, said nine persons died in the incident, while 14 others were receiving medical treatment.
The suicide bomb attack was obviously designed to record maximum casualty like that of 9th December, 2016, which happened on a Friday, Madagali main market day.

INSIDE THE RUINS OF SOUTHERN KADUNA

To go back home is to die of hunger, starvation, survivors declare
The area is very calm for now – Police

It is 21 days, since after Goska village, in Jema’a Council was attacked, by suspected Fulani herdsmen. But the survivors are still living in fear. In fact, they told Saturday Sun, in a recent encounter that they are afraid to return home.
Last Sunday, many of the victims, as well as their sympathisers stormed various churches in black attires to mourn all those who have so far been killed by the Fulani herdsmen, including those killed in Goska village, on the eve of Christmas.
Speaking with Saturday Sun, some of the survivors of the Goska killings said the town had been rendered a ghost settlement, with almost every house burnt to ashes, just as farm produce and land, have all been reduced to debris.
To this end, they expressed the hopelessness that if they should return home from their respective locations and refugee camps, they might not be able to withstand the rigour of life, owing to lack of food and shelter.
One of the survivors, a former council Chairman and two time member of Kaduna State House of Assembly, Honourable Gideon Yakubu Morik, who lost a 14-year old daughter, his house and two vehicles, told Saturday Sun in a chat that life cannot be the same again for the Goska people because they have lost their life savings to the attackers.
Morik, 48, further said, “I am a native of Goska village of Jema’a local government of Kaduna State. I am a former Local Government Chairman of Jema’a. Our village was attacked by Fulani herdsmen on December 24, 2016 at 6.pm when we were celebrating the Christmas eve. I was a two time member of Kaduna State House of Assembly; I was a local government chairman. But I am now into farming, I am now a ginger farmer. In fact, that was what kept me at home. I was harvesting my ginger before this ugly incident.
“I also buy ginger and export them. The harvest is good this year, but two of my ginger farms were set ablaze by these Fulani herdsmen. So I am short of supply of ginger this year, but I cannot return to the village now until there is peace and food to eat, because without food, we will die of hunger and starvation. As it is now, many of our people are afraid to go back, not to talk of back to the village, looking for food.
“The whole of my house was burnt, and apart from the shirt, trousers and a pair of shoes on me, everything inside the house was burnt to ashes. My mother was not at home at the time of the incident, but her 2-room apartment was burnt. Two of my vehicles were burnt to ashes. The worst of all is that my daughter who was an SS2 student was killed that evening. I have seven children. The one they killed was 14 years old, and she was schooling in Abuja,” he said, with an emotion laden voice.
Explaining the level of destructions, Morik, disclosed that 14 persons were killed, 12 wounded, and four others still missing till date, adding that about 80 houses were set ablaze by the herdsmen, as any good looking house, was reduced to debris.
On how he escaped, the former State lawmaker, said: “I was in the house when I heard the gunshot. I ran towards the gate, and my wife quickly started her own car, picked the other children and I also picked other people in my car, manoeuvered my way through the village, and escaped.
“As I was driving through the village, I also pointed at a particular place for people to go and hide, and after sometime the policemen came, and the whole thing subsided.”
However, his 14 year old daughter was not so lucky, as she was hit by the herdsmen.
Hear him: “My 14 year old daughter ran out earlier with two other persons when they heard the gun shot, and unfortunately, she ran towards the Fulani people, where they gunned her down with other persons. And that was how she couldn’t escape with me.”
Explaining further why the Fulani herdsmen, caught them napping, the former Council chairman said: “previously, we heard that these herdsmen have a roadmap of where to attack, so when they attacked Godogodo, and some of our people from Godogodo took refuge in our village, we started hearing rumour that these Fulani people were planning to attack Goska. So we were at alert, but being festive period, we were a bit relaxed, and if not that we were very careful too, we would have recorded not less than 100 corpses. If they had come in the night, nobody would have escaped, but they came when it was a little bit bright, and moreover, most houses in the village are mud houses which bullets cannot easily penetrate, so this was how many people escaped,” Morik, said.

He told Saturday Sun that he was in the Church last Sunday in Kaduna, for the mourning and prayers, for the dead, as directed by the national headquarters of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, adding that everybody that came to church was in the mourning mood.
“I felt bad that in a country that we call our own, some people will be traumatised.
I picked my daughter’s corpse on Christmas day and deposited it in a mortuary, and a week later, I buried her. Though it was not a befitting burial, it was better than to just throw away the corpse.
“My daughter was not a criminal; she died an innocent death in the hands of criminals. All of my children are schooling. Two of them are in the university.
We are appealing to the State and federal government to provide security for us so that we can go about our normal life. Government has to be sincere in tackling this crisis because instead of uniting us, it is dividing the people of the State,” he cautioned.
Another survivor, Ibrahim Bako, 54, an indigene of Gasko village, and a civil servant, also told Saturday Sun that all his houses, three blocks in the same compound, were all burnt to ashes.
Like Morik, Bako’s farm produce for 2016, were also burnt to ashes, adding that “we have nothing to eat now, so returning home to start life all over is very difficult. I don’t buy food stuff because I farm a lot. But all the food stuff was also carted away by the Fulani herdsmen.”
Again, like Morik, he said they got wind that the attackers were comeing but said “we did not know when the attack will take place. And before the day of the attack, these herdsmen had earlier destroyed our farm land just to provoke us.
It was unfortunate that our vigilante group was caught off guard. They were keeping vigil on the community, but they relaxed bit because of the preparation for Christmas.
“So as we were escaping from the killers, some villagers unknowingly ran towards our primary school where the gun-carrying Fulani men had taken position. Those that tried to escape through the primary school were gunned down. But I was able to escape with my five children, we ran through a route out of the village. Their mother was away in Kaduna at the time of the attack, so nothing happened to her,” Bako, said.
And like every average Southern Kaduna person, Bako believes that the government had abandoned them, saying “we are facing injustice in our land because government has abandoned us; we are not given our rights. We are left to secure ourselves each time these herdsmen attack Southern Kaduna community. Government should be able to live up to its responsibility, irrespective of wherever the attack takes place in the State”.
Support from churches
Following the directive given by CAN, most Churches in Kaduna metropolis last Sunday mobilised and appealed for donation of relief materials and cash to victims of the bloody crises in Southern Kaduna.
The worshippers, also appeared in black attires, as directed by CAN, to mourn and pray for the victims.
On his part, Pastor James Danladi of First Baptist Church, Kawo, Kaduna asked the State Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai to apologise to the people of Southern Kaduna over the alleged provocative statements, he made on the killings.
Speaking in the same vein, the Catholic Bishop of Kaduna Archdiocese, Bishop Matthew Mano’so Ndagoso passed an order to all the Deaneries under his diocese to donate money and relief materials to the victims.
Consequently, second offerings, running into thousands of naira, were collected to in all Catholic churches under the dioceses, Saturday Sun, learnt.

According to Bishop Ndagoso, officials of Justice for Peace and Development (JPD), a charity organisation arm of the Catholic Church, would convey the relief materials and cash to the victims within the week.
Also, Senior Pastor, ECWA Goodnews Church, Narayi, Kaduna, Reverend Ishaya Gajere, thanked officials of CAN for setting aside the day to mourn all those killed in the Southern Kaduna crises.
Pastor Gajere, who spoke with journalists shortly after last Sunday’s Sermon, said the church would continue to pray for peace to reign in the State and Nigeria in general.
Hear him: “We were able to raise some money and relief materials from members of this church for onward transfer to the victims of Southern Kaduna crises, and we will continue to pray to God so that we can do more”.
Police and peace keeping operations
At a press conference, state Commissioner of Police, Agyole Abeh, revealed that the Command needed about one million police men to effectively cover the nooks and crannies of Southern Kaduna.
The Police boss also emphasized the need for people of the area, to cooperate with the Police through dialogue, insisting that dialogue remains the surest way to resolving differences.
According to him, the Police was already using 40 patrol vehicles, and have since deployed more men to the area, just as it would soon come up with strategies that would reduce the spate of crime, not only in Southern Kaduna, but across the State, in general.
“As I speak to you, the area is very calm and there is no record of any incident after the unfortunate major incident in Goska. We have deployed enough of our men on ground to ensure that they curb any acts of lawlessness.
“Like I always say, if you bring the whole Police in Nigeria, to Southern Kaduna, we cannot achieve the desired result without the people. The people themselves must be prepared to embrace peace and must accommodate one another.”
On whether there have been any arrest and prosecution in connection with the Southern Kaduna crisis, he said, “we have a number of people that have been arrested and we are going to arrest more, because we have evidences. It is just that we are following them gradually. We have been charging a lot of suspected criminals to courts.
“We also intend to, within the next few weeks, come up with various strategies to curb some menace like drug addiction among youths which has become a source of concern. That is why we said community policing remains the only option while parents also need to bring up their children in a Godly way”.
He however disagreed with the number of death reported in some media, over the Southern Kaduna crisis, saying the figure was exaggerated. But he also could not give any figure.

Credit; The Sun Newspapers

Abdulsami Abubakar, Sultan of Sokoto, Bishop Kukah storms Kaduna in search of peace

•Abdulsalami

Former military head of state, General Abubakar Abdulsalami (rtd); the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III; the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Dr.Matthew Hassan Kukah; and other members of the National Peace Committee yesterday launched a fresh initiative to restore peace to Southern Kaduna.

Hundreds of lives have been lost in repeated attacks on villages in the area by people suspected to be Fulani herdsmen, heightening tension in the state.

The delegation met with Governor Nasir El-Rufai on the issue.

General Abdulsalami told reporters at the end of the meeting with the governor that peace could only return, if the people were ready to dialogue and forgive one another.

He said he and other delegates would go round the affected villages and towns for more consultations with the chiefs and community leaders.

“Within the week, we are going to meet with other stakeholders, religious leaders, chiefs in the area and also visit the sites where these problems are and discuss with the people,” he said.

“We will later sit down and see what we think should be done.

“Then, we come back to the governor and if necessary to the federal government.

“These clashes and killings are not limited to Kaduna State; it is something that is engulfing the country. So we want to make sure that peace reigns in Nigeria, to make sure that people know that we are together. We have to live in peace with each other and we have what it is to give and take.

“We are reaching a situation in the country where human life doesn’t mean anything to people and this is wrong.

“There is no religion on earth or anywhere that preaches violence. So this is why we are here today. We thank the governor and his team for receiving us. One of the points that the governor drew our attention to is the way people take the law into their hands and they go scot-free. And this impunity must be checked. These are some of the issues we discussed.

“Everybody is aggrieved in one way or the other, so what we beg of people is to be patient; try as much as possible to forgive and to be each other’s keeper. We must live together; we must find solutions to the problems; we must sit down and talk to ourselves because there is no problem that cannot be solved when you are talking to each other.”

Bishop Kukah also said: “I think the visit is more of a solidarity with the people of Kaduna State. We are here to hear for ourselves what exactly is happening and what we can do in the hope that we can find a way forward based on the situation.

“We are part of the delegation. I convened the peace committee and what we are doing now is trying to bring about peace. We are looking at how we can achieve peace and stability.

“I think what the people of Kaduna State, including the government, should be doing now is to look into how we can achieve peace and development and I think that is the reason we have democracy.

“So whatever contributions anybody can make, we need to make them. People have expressed their minds.

“What is going on now is a very sad phase in our history, but I believe that we can get over it and we will get over it and come out stronger and committed to peace”, he said.

Credit; The nation News.

Nigeria's deadly Monster (Part 1) - By Fani Kayode

When you take everything away from a man or a people, including their humanity, their loved ones, their land, their posessions, their faith, their God, their self-respect, their identity and their dignity and you put them and theirs under the fire and sword morning, day and night you cannot expect them not to voice their pain and not to scream and a shout.

And when the screaming and shouting goes unheeded you cannot expect them not to hit back and attempt to break the yoke of torment, subjugation, tyranny and slavery.

No matter how powerful you are and how long you have been killing them and all that are theirs, one day they will rise up, pull you down from your giddy heights and cut open your throats.

If history teaches us nothing else, it teaches us this. The morale of the tale is as follows: mind how you insult and mock your victims and those that you treat with contempt, kill at will and hold in bondage because one day their time will come.

It is in this context that I view the shameful call by the Council of Imams for the arrest of the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Christian leaders in Southern Kaduna for asking the people to defend themselves from genocide.

The call is not only reckless and provocative but it is also self-seeking and dangerous. They must stop this nonsense.

The facts are as follows. 808 Christians were butchered on Christmas eve and Christmas day by the Muslim Janjaweed Fulani militia in Southern Kaduna. Not one of the butchers and bloodthirsty murderers have been identified, apprehended, killed or arrested since then by our security forces.

The Christians of Nigeria are still in mourning and the people of Southern Kaduna are still in trauma.

Yet there have been no soothing words or expressions of regret, consolation or solidarity from any Sunni Muslim group in the country since the pogrom took place.

Only threats and insults from the Council of Imams. The only exceptions are the Shiite Muslims who have consistently expressed outrage about what is going on in Southern Kaduna and who have themselves also been subjected to mass murder and genocide in Kaduna state simply because they are not Sunnis.

You first butcher the flock and then you say that the shepherd dare not complain or attempt to protect those that are still left behind and alive. What type of monsters are these?

The Supreme Council Of Islamic Affairs made matters worse by saying that those that killed 808 Christians in Southern Kaduna on Christmas eve and Christmas day were "unkown elements".

Really? This, perhaps, is the biggest insult of all. It is rather like saying that those that perpetuated the holocaust against the Jews which resulted on the cold-blooded murder of 6 million Jews were "unkown elements". It is insensitive and it is callous.

It represents the greatest perversion of truth and most bestial denial of decency and justice that Nigeria has witnessed in many years.

It is falsehood and pefidy, cooked up and served by a group of unconscioble and uncontrollable dark and evil men who believe that they can get away with anything and that they are a law into themselves.

Meanwhile, Miyetti Allah, an umbrella organisation that speaks for the Fulani herdsmen and the Janjaweed militia, have said that the mass murder of Christians that took place in Southern Kaduna on Christmas eve and Christmas day were "reprisal" and "revenge" killings for the murder of their kith and kin by the Christians of Southern Kaduna in 201. Need we look any further for who the culprits are?

In his own contribution the Minister of Internal Affairs, General Dambazzau, who is himself a Fulani Muslim, has roundly condemned CAN's call on the Federal Government to do its job and protect the people of Southern Kaduna and their counsel to the Christians to defend themselves where and when the government fails to do so. I ask again, what type of monsters are these?

And why has our President refused to call them to order? Is it because he shares the same faith and comes from the same region as them? Is it because the President himself is not only a Muslim and a Fulani man but also the Life Patron of Miyetti Allah?

Professor Wole Soyinka provides profound insight into the matter. He said,

“Religion in the history of this continent has been a disastrous venture, a disaster in many zones and continues to be even so today. In this very nation in Southern Kaduna, over 800 souls were brutally extinguished suddenly. While the issue of grazing lands versus farming is unquestionably part of the conflict, it is equally undeniable that religious differences have played crucial role in the conflict. And yet some weeks before the latest outrage, the governor of that state was quoted to have claimed that peace was nigh since he had sent funds to the earlier wave of killers and they had agreed to end their killing spree. What astonished me was not the admission by the governor but the astonishment of others at such governmental response to atrocity. There was nothing new about it. Has appeasement to religious forces not become a Nigerian face of justice and equity? First lethargy and then appeasement. Wasn’t Boko Haram’s Muhammed Yusuf not a beneficiary of appeasement in a similar fashion? Southern Kaduna has reminded us once again that the monster always lying waiting to pounce under the guise of religion. If you ask why General Buhari did not act fast enough when these events take place, which degrade us as human beings, well it is perhaps he has been waiting for the governor of that state to send money to the killers first for them to stop the killing.”

Whatever the reasons are for the indifference of our President and the callousness and insensitivity of the Council of Imams, the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs, Miyetti Allah, Governor Nasir El Rufai, General Dambazzau and all those that support them, it would be wise for them to appreciate the fact that the patience of the rest of the country is fast running out and that they are set to provoke a chain of ugly events the end of which will not augur well for them or their cause.

Nothing reflects this better than the words of Bishop David Oyedepo of Winners Chapel, who is one of the most influential and powerful clerics in the country, when he said,

"Since when has it become a crime for Christians to say they can defend themselves ?
Must the north always rule? If Nigeria will break let it break. No marriage is by force. I curse every Islamic northern forces sponsoring this uprising of Fulani herdsmen and Boko Haram in Jesus name. You catch anyone that looks like them, kill him! There is no reporting to anybody. Kill him! Pull off his neck! And we spill his blood on the ground. What nonsense. They said why should Christians say they could defend themselves, hold it! What stupid statement, why should Christians say they could defend themselves? So, they should watch for you to put a knife to their necks? You think we are dummies? What! What? All those zeros census they are fake. Where are the human beings?Where are they? We go around the place. Where are they? We’ve never had a successful census in this country. Where are they? Don’t mistake only those in politics as in power. The anointed in the Lord are the ones in power. By divine ordination, don’t mistake that. There was a king in the land but Elijah was determining the events of the nation. If I say it will not rain here for three years, it will not drop. What nonsense! Who born their mother, who born their father? They are too small. Come! Get excited and walk in confidence. Any devil that misbehaves around you will be slain by the fire!”

Again Darius Ishaku, the Governor of Taraba state, said,

''The people of Southern Kaduna must wake up from their slumber and defend themselves. You can’t just lie down and allow yourselves to be annihilated by other groups. You have a constitutional right to self-defense and now is the time to use it. The government alone cannot do it.”

Clearly the drums of war and conflict are already beating in our nation and no-one takes a greater share of the blame for this than those identifiable forces that are encouraging, sponsoring, protecting and covertly supporting these barbaric and murderous Fulani militias and herdsmen. They are all, to the last man, nothing but monsters and beasts. (TO BE CONCLUDED).

Nigeria's deadly Monster (Part 1) - By Fani Kayode

NIGERIA'S DEADLY MONSTERS (PART 1)