Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State has said he did not indict the National Assembly for not acting upon the report of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Committee on true federalism.
A statement issued by Mr Muyiwa Adekeye, Special Adviser on Media and Communication on Monday, clarified that the governor merely appealed for urgent action from the federal legislature.
The special adviser who was reacting to the comments of Senator Ajibola Bashiru, the spokesman of the senate, wondered “how can this public appeal for urgent action prompt the sort of diatribe attributed to the Senator in the newspaper report.”
The statement added: “The comments do not show that the person has read Malam el-Rufai’s speech.”
According to Adekeye, “the unnecessary defensiveness to an allegation that was never made against the National Assembly cannot be deemed as distinguished conduct.
“Neither can the attempt to portray the report of a party committee on which several governors sat as that of the individual who had the privilege of chairing it,” he added.
It will be recalled that Senator Bashiru said that that Governor el-Rufai does not know the workings of the National Assembly, by accusing the legislators for not acting on the report of the APC on true federalism.
The statement said that el-Rufai had “appealed to federal legislators to initiate the necessary constitutional amendments to secure restructuring using the draft bills that are contained in the report of the committee.
“Notwithstanding the comments attributed to the spokesman of the Senate, Malam el-Rufai believes that the entire National Assembly will play a positive role in helping our country meet the urgent demands of the moment,” he said.
Adekeye advised that “these times call for responsibility, not for a flourish of ego; for sobriety and utter focus on what is significant and consequential for the future of our country.”
Some angry Federal Government employees, on Monday, stormed the office of the Head of Service of the Federation (HoSF) over the delay in the payment of their salaries.
The workers drawn from different federal ministries and parastatals besieged the office at the Federal Secretariat Abuja, demanding to be paid what was due to them.
Consequent upon the action, the Federal Government has now given reasons for the delay in the payment of October 2020 salary to civil servants assuring that necessary steps have been taken to resolve the matter.
According to a statement issued by Olawunmi Ogunmosunle, Director Information, on behalf of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan, explained that the delay was due to the fact that the 2020 budget was passed before the conclusion of negotiation on the new Minimum Wage and its consequential adjustment.
She explained that a lump sum was however provided in the 2020 budget for minimum wage and its consequential adjustment.
According to the statement, Dr Yemi-Esan also disclosed that a committee made up of representatives of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, the Budget Office and the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation has been set up to determine the shortfalls of Ministries, Extra- Ministerial Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
The statement informed that the shortfalls are to be paid from the lump sum already set aside in the budget for the Minimum wage and its consequential adjustment.
It said the Committee is expected to conclude its work by the end of this week so that salaries can be paid.
While appreciating civil servants for their patience, the Head of Service also informed that she was in touch with the Director-General, Budget Office, who assured that salaries will be paid by the end of this week.
Democratic candidate, Joe Biden, has warned electorates against voting for his opponent, Donald Trump in today’s presidential election in the United States.He said that “our planet” will not recover if Trump rules for another four years.He made this known in a tweet on Tuesday.Biden tweeted, “If we give Donald Trump another four years in the White House, our planet will never recover.”The former vice president launched his White House candidacy – his third, following disastrous bids in 1988 and 2008 – in April 2019 in this blue-collar city.Biden has a slight lead in the pivotal state, which Trump won by less than a percentage point in 2016.But the polls have tightened in recent days, and after the brash billionaire’s shock victory four years ago.Biden earlier called on voters to “take back” American democracy from Trump.“It’s time to stand up and take back our democracy. We can do this,” the 77-year-old former vice president said as he wrapped up a boisterous drive-in rally in Pittsburgh in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania.“I have a feeling we’re coming together for a big win tomorrow,” he said to cheers and honks, adding that if elected president he would act to “get COVID under control on day one.”But Trump on Tuesday predicted a “beautiful victory” in his final reelection campaign stop hours before polls open across the United States.“We’re going to have another beautiful victory tomorrow,” he told a crowd in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the same place where he held the climactic rally of his 2016 campaign, when he upset the polls to beat Hillary Clinton.“We’re going to make history once again,” he added.(Sundiata Post)
Where there is no shame, there is no honour. An American was abducted in Niger Republic on October 26. He was recovered on Saturday, 31st October by US special forces in Northern Nigeria. Someone said the kidnappers kept their captive in Nigeria because they felt safe here. How did my ‘compatriots’ in the North feel when the country of recovery was described by the international press as ‘Northern Nigeria’? Is it not said that whoever births a demon must suckle it? Where I come from, we say theft is not the only crime that shames a man. This incident is one of such. We do not know yet the identities of the kidnappers. We may never know. But what we know is that the rescue was carried out in Northern Nigeria. That is bad enough for all of us who answer Nigerian. It is bad enough and tragic for our president who is from that north that has become a nest for sad, criminal occurrences. It isn’t as bad as this in Hamlet yet Shakespeare cries “O shame, where is thy blush?”
Buhari’s ‘carefully chosen’ security chiefs whose ancestral homes are in that axis, how did they receive that news? In Yorubaland, chief hunters in whose compound stolen items are found historically excused themselves; they committed suicide. They might not be the thieves but their ineffectual buffoonery at preventing (and detecting) the crime rendered them culpable in the act. The northern elite and their street backers would not see this as a reason to shed tears. I have not heard the shrill howling of shame from them and all the powers in their warehouse. Buhari contested one, two, three, four times for the presidency of Nigeria because he said he wanted to secure the nation. He, indeed, wept at his third failure. Five years down the road of his presidency, everywhere is terror-infested, even his corner of the country is no longer accessible to decent men and women. Wild dogs who eat kids, flesh and bones, have blocked the road to his home. So, why does he still call himself a lion? He reclines in his easy chair in Abuja, picks his teeth while his troubled people sob daily at home with no one to console them. Power, says Jonathan Swift, is no blessing in itself except it is used to protect the innocent.
What is our president’s own definition of power? Let us ask him. Let us ask his North too why power for the sake of greed and pleasure is all they seek. I see the elite in that wolf-infested desert as social butterflies, they are forever in love with frivolous pleasure. They will never rise and chant O to gee (enough is enough) to killings and kidnapping of the poor at their backyard. They would rather speak ill of modest southern efforts at stopping local strains of violent crimes, official lethargy and bad governance.I listened to Usman Yusuf, a professor of Haematology-Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplantation, on Arise TV on Saturday. You remember him? He is that former executive secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) who had some bad noise around his tenure two, three years ago. He is not a quiet man. He speaks loud and clear without being servile, like every political elite from the North. I respect them for that.
On Arise TV, Yusuf complained about the EndSARS protest and queried the swiftness with which his kinsman, Muhammadu Buhari attended to the demands of the protesters. He described the protesters as ‘kids’ being remote-controlled by politicians who wanted the presidency of Nigeria. Hear him: “We’ve seen the sponsorship they got. They got sumptuous meal well cooked with drinks, some with the logo of a national bank; we’ve seen ambulances following them, we’ve seen drones, we’ve seen international funding by Twitter and we’ve seen them outreach to foreign governments and organizations.” Yusuf then asked: “So all these kids who did these are leaderless?”
He said the ‘sponsors’ of the protests “planned to make the country ungovernable to make room for an undemocratic regime change or cause total anarchy in the land leading to the breakup of the country.” I nodded as he made his points. So, to these people, everything is about power and privileges? The South may cry about SARS and police brutality, those are not the North’s headache. He said the problem of the North are terrorism and banditry. If those were your headaches, why not cry as high too so that your addled kinsman in the Villa would give it the same swift treatment he gave the EndSARS demands?
Yusuf blasted the Buhari government for quickly attending to the protesters: “Nigerians will attest to the fact that the rapid sequence of events is the fastest that this government has responded to any pressing national issue bedevilling this country.” He described the pace of the response as “rapid-fire” and well-coordinated by the executive and legislative arms of government which “may not be unconnected with the fact that #ENDSARS protesters have powerful advocates in the corridors of power of this government.” That connection “in the corridors of power,” Yusuf stressed, is not available to “thousands of victims of the ongoing carnage of banditry and Boko Haram insurgency in Northern Nigeria.”I had so much going on in my mind as I listened to him.
The executive and the legislature that he spoke about, who ‘owns’ them? The bandits and terrorists killing the North, whose ‘kids’ are they? Whoever births a demon must be ready to feed it with whatever it eats. If the North has invested so much in Buhari and his presidency and the president has failed them tragically, how is that the problem of others who want to live in safety down South? I thought of his complaint that the EndSARS people railed against SARS and its atrocities. What sort of person cries murder because his sick neighbour calls in a doctor? I knew the professor was not just professing blankly; he was delivering a ‘coordinated’ message of the inheritors of Nigeria. He was the voice of ‘sponsors’ who were scared that the protesters threatened their pot of soup.It is odious and detestable to reduce every reform demand to the South fighting the North. Each time they do this, they shrink existence in Nigeria to a voyage to nowhere.
If these people devote to securing their North as much energy they put into taming the South, the shame of an American being rescued by foreign forces on our soil won’t have happened. Even they (the overfed northern elite) won’t be on exile from their ancestral homes. Or how many of those who are daily on overdrive on Abuja TV stations and on the internet still go to their villages? Why should it bother anyone that victims of police brutality rallied against their tormentors? There are more than one name for beings who leave their debilitating leprosy untreated but march against their neighbours’ guinea worm treatment protocol. Let’s track back to the US rescue operation in the ‘inviolable’ territory of Nigeria.
How much of local content was in that operation? A foreign country gleefully announced that its forces had stormed another nation to rescue someone. What that means is that that host country is a baby in diapers, a proper shithole – extremely unpleasant and useless in doing clean jobs. It is sad. Indeed, when an elephant becomes an ant, a coconut shell full of water becomes a sea. Spotting and rescuing a man from a ragtag band of marauders has become an impossible task for the giant of Africa. The borders are forever closed, yet murderous bandits dash in and dash out with human loots without hindrance. Forget the fact that crime leaves a trail like a water beetle; forget that like a snail, it leaves its silver track; Nigeria has long lost all sense of smell and sight. It won’t see crimes and criminals it doesn’t want to track. The Americans had to come in their almightiness into our country to perform that surgery. Shame.
When Americans shout ‘God bless America.’ This is one of the reasons. The rescue operation was described as high risk – and it was. But an elephant does not limp when walking on thorns. Because of a 27-year-old somebody with no name recognition, the best of US special forces were dispatched to Africa to risk death. Why would God not bless that country? Why would that citizen, his little daughter and wife, not love that nation till death do them part? About the same time the Americans were rescuing their compatriot, bandits were kidnapping and murdering villagers in President Buhari’s Katsina State. Reports said gunmen killed two villagers and abducted six others in Faskari Local Government area between October 24 and 25. Seventeen people were kidnapped about the same time while praying in a mosque in Toto Local Government Area of Nasarawa State. They have not been found.
They may be lost forever. It is a daily occurrence that attracts daily silence from our own leaders. If we have special forces anywhere, they won’t be available to fight criminals and rescue the abducted. They are available solely to break protests and secure power for the privileged..
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, has urged parents to instill family values in their children as a way to save the country from degeneration.
The minister made the call on Saturday in Kaduna during a stakeholders’ engagement with 77 district heads, religious and community leaders from the 23 Local Government Areas of Kaduna State.
“We are calling the attention of parents that we have failed our children in the sense that the kind of values we use to have is no more.
“We need to remind ourselves that our children need to be upright and that this criminality going on, on daily basis, is not for their benefits and the benefit of the state and country.”
The minister appreciated efforts by the Kaduna state government in managing security issues in the state.
Ahmed told the stakeholders that the Federal Government has created a N75 billion entrepreneurship support fund, to enable youths in the country grow their businesses and be economically independent.
The minister explained that the fund would support the youth to actualize their innovative and enterprenueral ideas, be productive and employers of labour.
Also speaking at the event, the Minister of Environment, Dr. Muhammad Mahmud, called for collective efforts to tackle the security challenges in the country.
He urged the stakeholders to support government in addressing the security challenges and unemployment in the country.
The minister advised the youths to be self reliant, by focusing on skills acquisition and not depending on government.
Mahmud urged the leaders to be advocates of peace in their respective communities in order to bring about meaningful development.
Earlier, the Kaduna State Deputy Governor, Dr Hadiza Balarabe, appealed to the stakeholders to sensitise their communities on the need to always uphold the law in all their conducts.
According to her, the state government will remain resolute in dealing with any lawlessness and criminal acts.
She also condemned the recent spate of looting and destruction of public and private properties.
“These mob actions are unreasonable and intolerable,” the deputy governor said.
She expressed the hope that the interactions would lead to understanding and collective efforts to develop the state.
“As good citizens, it is part of our civic duty to support government in the development of the state.
“So, we need this interactions between the government, traditional and religious institutions that allow us to reason together.
“It is agreed that there are problems, but government is doing all it can to address them. I urge all on the need to join forces to save the society from those seeking to destroy it.
“This is a responsive government and we have listened to the demands of our people and are doing our best to address them,” the deputy governor added.
The stakeholders tasked the government to do more in securing the lives and property of the people.
They appreciated the government for its efforts so far in managing the security situation across the state, and requested that such interface be held quarterly, to address emerging challenges.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Ekiti State Governor and Chairman of Nigeria Governors Forum, Dr Fayemi Kayode, and Governors of Sokoto and Jigawa, Aminu Tambuwal and Badaru Abubakar, respectively, attended the event. (NAN)
Many Nigerians especially the youngs ones have had their lives cut short by rogue officials in the Nigerian Police force. These helpless Nigerians have been killed iun the most dehumanizing way over allegations that were yet to be proven by a competent court in the land
One of such death is that of Seyi Fasere who until his death was a final-year student of Ekiti-State University in Ado-Ekiti. The soon to be graduate was shot dead by the police in Ilupeju in Ekiti state.
His mother in an interview with the Punch reveals how her son was killed inm a brutal manner by men paide to secure his life.
What do you do?
I was a trader but I have not been able to work since the police killed my son, my first child. Seyi was shot dead by a policeman, popularly known as Akobi Esu (Devil’s firstborn).
Why was he killed?
They said he was an armed robber but my son was not an armed robber. They just wasted his life and the killers are walking freely as if they have not committed any offence.
Where and when did it happen?
It happened in March 2013. He was killed at a police station at Obalasan in Ilupeju Ekiti. It is very close to Oye Ekiti.
How did it happen?
My son, Seyi, was a final-year student at the Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti when the incident happened. He was taking his final examination and had one more examination to take.
He had not fully paid his tuition; he still had N100,000 to pay and he said the school management was threatening that he would not be allowed to sit the last examination if he did not pay.
He came back home to Ilupeju Ekiti and we were able to raise the money and give to him. I think he had an examination to take the following day.
He went to a barbershop to have a haircut and sent a neighbour to tell me that his younger brother should bring his bag to him at the bus stop – Esinkun.
But I told his brother that he could not just leave without returning home to shower and wash off the hair and more importantly, pray before embarking on the journey. I never knew I would not see him alive again. He left around 5:30pm; that was the last time I saw him.
His brother took his bag to him at the bus stop and I was later told that he saw a woman he knew in the bus going to Ado Ekiti and she asked him to join but he said he would wait for a car.
But the woman, who is a septuagenarian, Madam Victoria, told us later that he persuaded him to board the bus because she was also going to Ado Ekiti to visit her children.
That was how he boarded the bus and they embarked on the journey. Just three of them were in the bus.
When they got to Obalasan, they heard that armed robbers were attacking a bank ahead of them and the driver was said to have asked the old woman if she knew a shortcut so they would not run into the robbery scene.
They said she gave the driver the direction of another route. The driver was new on that road so he was said to have asked to be directed. At that time, we started hearing gunshots in Ilupeju because it is not very far from us.
I was worried and I ran to Esinkun where he boarded the bus but I was told that he had left. Later, the driver parked the bus and they hid somewhere so they could wait until the shooting would stop.
The woman said she asked Seyi to go and bring their bags because the driver had dropped their bags and turned back.
Was he shot while carrying the bags or what?
I heard that the policemen combing everywhere to see if they could arrest some of the robbers saw him when he was taking the bags. They arrested him and took him to the station. The woman did not see Seyi again.
She returned to Ilupeju because that is where she lives; the woman is resident here. She came to ask if Seyi had come back home because she said they had to abandon the journey because of the robbery incident.
I told her that I had not seen him. We started searching everywhere for him but we did not hear that he was arrested and taken to the station that night.
How did you eventually know he was killed at the station?
We heard the following morning that somebody was killed and I called his dad who was in Ado-Ekiti to know if he had seen Seyi but he said no. I told him about what happened. The following morning, one of my younger brothers called me and told me that they had killed Seyi at the station. I left and his dad also came from Ado-Ekiti and together with Blessing, his younger brother, we left for the police station.
What happened at the police station?
Immediately we got there, the policemen there grabbed me and beat me ruthlessly. They slapped me about 20 times and kicked me several times; they removed my slippers and used them to hit my head.
Despite what happened, they beat me, humiliated me and put me behind the counter. I was just weeping and crying to God that why would this terrible thing happen to me.
My husband too was not spared, they slapped him so many times. They removed his shoes and used them to hit his head. They brutalised us and my husband was put in a cell at the police station and not behind the counter.
I fell down there and to compound my sorrow, they brought my son’s corpse and put it before me and asked me to be looking at my son. There is no agony that can be worse than that for a mother. I wept bitterly.
Why did they beat you and your husband?
They said Seyi was an armed robber. They said we did not bring him up well and that was why he became an armed robber. But I was weeping and telling them that my son was not a thief and each time I said that, one of them would slap me.
Did you notice anything about his corpse?
They had removed his shirt and tied his hands behind his back. His trousers were worn inside out. That confirmed it that he was arrested before he was killed and he was not killed while shooting at them as they claimed. Will an armed robber tie his two hands behind his back and be shooting?
Even if I did not go to school, I know that is not logical but they wasted my son’s life, humiliated me, and labelled my son an armed robber. It is only God that can remove that sorrow from my heart. They offended Seyi’s creator, who is God almighty and I know He will fight for us.
Was any of the armed robbers that actually attacked the bank arrested?
They killed him around 4am and put his corpse before me from 7am until the time they saw one of the armed robbers who participated in the robbery. I think the armed robber was shot during a gun battle between them and the police.
He was wounded and was in pain. He was found the following morning and residents drew the attention of the police to him and they picked him up. He was begging them to take him to hospital to be treated. He didn’t want to die.
He was one of the armed robbers. I heard him say he only distributed guns to the robbers but not a marksman. He said they all came from Kogi State and that he is Ebira.
The policemen asked the arrested armed robber if Seyi was one of them and he said he was not a member of their gang. He said six of them came from Kogi State for the operation.
That was when they asked us to go home. Seyi’s brother, Blessing, was also thoroughly beaten and he was handcuffed and locked up. At a point, they took him in handcuffs to our house to search everywhere. But what would they find in the house of a poor person? They found nothing.
They tarnished our image because some people saw how Blessing was handcuffed and led to the house by the police. They heard that the police killed Seyi so they would conclude that my children were armed robbers but God sees everything and I want Him to fight for me.
They eventually released us and asked us to go home when they knew Seyi was innocent but they did not admit that they were wrong. The three of us were put on a motorcycle and asked to be taken home to mourn our son.
Did they release the corpse to you for burial?
They later took his corpse to the mortuary at the Federal Medical Centre, Ido Ekiti. His hands were tied behind his back the way he was killed. We went there a number of times but I became tired at a point. We were asked to go and get his remains from the mortuary after almost three years after the incident. I brought him home and buried him but since then, I have not been okay. The sorrow led to high blood pressure and after the beating, I know that I have not been alright but there is nothing I can do about it.
Is the policeman who you said shot Seyi still in Ilupeju?
They transferred all of them out of the place because there were a series of protests held at the time by students. The National Association of Nigerian Students, EKSU students, and youths in Ilupeju were always protesting then because they knew that Seyi was not a thief let alone an armed robber.
A security man at a school close to the place where the incident occurred later came and told us that he saw Seyi at the police station and that Seyi begged him to inform us that he had been arrested.
But the man said he did not know Seyi. He said Seyi answered all the questions the policemen asked him when he was there at the station and that immediately after he left the police station, he heard a gunshot and knew that they had killed him.
His name is Ojo. He lives in Ilupeju here. The man said Seyi begged them not to kill him. He said he told them that he was not a thief but they did not listen. The man said a chief told the police to kill Seyi. The man said the chief said Seyi’s parents refused to allow him (Seyi) to be installed as a chief.
Was Seyi entitled to become a chief or what?
They wanted to give him a chieftaincy title which never existed in his father’s lineage. The so-called title has to do with idol worshipping and we said no. They wanted to use that to destroy our Christian faith but we rejected it. We said our son was still in school and was not interested in such a chieftaincy title.
Which church do you attend?
We all attend Deeper Christian Life Ministry. Seyi was a children’s teacher in church until his death. Even after church service, he would gather kids together in our area and teach them the word of God.
When we heard it was someone who told the police to shoot Seyi, my younger brother went to the Palace of Apeju of Ilupeju and he said he overheard someone telling somebody on the telephone that they should not have killed him. The issue became very serious then.
I suffered a lot and I was advised to see the former state governor, Ayo Fayose, about it. But when I got there, they said he had just left his office. But he was not the governor then.
Somebody called him on the phone and he said that I should inform journalists in Ado-Ekiti about it; that was when the police realised that the matter had become serious. But despite that, they did not do anything.
Was the case taken to court or how did it end?
I was asked to get a lawyer and I did. I went to court a number of times and the court asked the policemen to also appear. But you know how court cases go; I became tired of the whole process and refused to go to court again. They killed my son and I was still going to court every time and wasting time and money.
Why didn’t you tell Governor Kayode Fayemi, who was the governor at that time?
The governor heard about the case and instructed the Secretary to the State Government, Ganiyu Owolabi, who is also from Ilupeju Ekiti, to address the issue. I was told the governor said the SSG should not be in the office while there was a serious crisis in his hometown.
Did the SSG come?
He came to the palace and we were invited but I left there in anger.
Why?
He asked what we wanted them to do. But because it was still fresh then, I said if they gave me money, would I not spend it? What can anyone give me to replace the life of my son? I left the meeting in anger. Government’s agent killed my son and they did not do anything about it. How much can anybody give me?
What do you want to be done to those who killed Seyi?
I cannot judge but I want God to judge his killers. He was my first child and they just killed him like that. That sad incident destroyed everything about my life.
I can no longer trade and I only eat when people give me money. I don’t have the strength to work again and I still feel a lot of pain. It is God that can remove the bitter experience from my heart.
Will you testify before the Panel of Enquiry set up by the state government to get justice for victims of police brutality?
I will testify if they call me. I will tell them how I was stripped naked by my son’s death.
What is your view about the #EndSARS protests all over the country?
They were one of God’s judgments against the police. They killed many people who did not commit any offence. Do you think God will applaud them for taking innocent lives? I consider the protests as God’s judgment against their evil acts.
Did any of your children join any of the #EndSARS protests?
They are all in Ado-Ekiti; I am the only one at Ilupeju. Three of them have graduated from university and have nothing to do. So, I asked them to learn skills that will help them.
One is an apprentice photographer; one is an apprentice mechanic while one is an apprentice tailor. The last one is at the technical college in Ado-Ekiti. My husband is also in Ado-Ekiti; he is a security guard, collecting N10,000 per month.
Governors of northern states have called for the censorship of social media to “avoid the spread of fake news”.
At a meeting in Kaduna on Monday, the governors said the effect of uncontrolled social media is devastating.
They also condemned the “subversive” actions of some #EndSARS protesters, saying some people took advantage of peaceful protest to push their “separative agenda”.
Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers state, says he did not order the military to kill residents of Oyigbo local government area of the state.
Wike declared a 24-hour curfew in Oyigbo on October 21 following the outbreak of violence spilling from the EndSARS protest which led to the killing of some members of the army and the police.
The governor, who blamed the unrest on members of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), last Wednesday, signed an executive order to enforce the ban on the group and its activities in the state.
Soldiers were deployed in the local government to prevent further breakdown of law and order.
The soldiers have, however, been accused of extra-judicial killings and abuse of human rights. The security agents are allegedly moving from house to house, killing people on Wike’s order.
But speaking during an interview on Africa Independent Television (AIT) on Monday, Wike denied the allegation against him.
He said he ordered “security agencies”, not specifically the army, to bring to justice any member of the group that disrupts the peace in the state.
“The issue of people saying I sent soldiers to Oyingo to kill Igbo people is balderdash; It is completely a none issue. Have I even directed police one day? I have no command over the police so how will I now begin to direct the army?” Wike said.
“I said security agencies, I never said the military, are to make sure this ban on IPOB is maintained and that they should not allow the activities of IPOB, anywhere in any of the local governments. Oyigbo is the boundary between us and Abia state, so it is very easy for them to use Oyigbo to launch attacks, and we came out to say that what has happened is something that we should not take lightly; we must come out openly, heavily against this terrorist organisation. I have no regret about that and I stand on my point to say that even the south-east governors never supported IPOB. So why me? I’m not from the south-east, I’m from Niger Delta, now support IPOB? On what basis?
“People are now seeing IPOB as if it is the mouthpiece of the Igbo people which is not correct. You cannot allow some bands of criminals to give the people a bad name. No responsible government can see the kind of destruction, for nothing …they went to kill six army operatives, four police officers…. They’re using it to cause trouble in my state and you say I should not talk. It came to a situation where the Igbos were now fighting the Hausas.”
Wike alleged that Rotimi Amaechi, minister of transportation, told the people of the state to rise up against him.
“He thinks I’m harassing him politically, so he is doing that to bring me down,” he said.
When it comes to potentially infectious microbes, beards beat the dogs.
First things first. Why is this on TreeHugger? Because A) bacteria are fascinating and play a huge role in the nature of us and our planet B) avoiding potentially-infectious germs is good preventative medicine; and mostly C) after writing too much about the imminent collapse of nature thanks to humankind, sometimes a writer just wants to write about beards and dogs.
So here we are; and mind you, this is interesting.
A group of 13 researchers had a question, as described in the study’s objective: “To determine whether it would be hygienic to evaluate dogs and humans in the same MRI scanner.”
Well that’s the short version, at least. The title of the study, which was published in European Radiology, gives a bit more detail: “Would it be safe to have a dog in the MRI scanner before your own examination? A multicenter study to establish hygiene facts related to dogs and men”
(Which now ranks amongst my top favorite scientific study titles.)
Anyway, the whole thing came about because the cost of MRI scanners is prohibitive for most veterinary clinics to have on site, so a number of dog MRIs were to be conducted at the radiology department of a European hospital that also does around 8,000 MRI scans of humans each year, explains Brandon Specktor at LiveScience.
For the study, they took samples from 30 dogs – samples came from saliva swabs as well as fur from the dogs’ backs, an area that is prone to skin infections and is “particularly unhygienic.” The dogs were scanned, and then the researchers took samples from the scanner itself.
Next, they collected samples from the beards of 18 hospital patients; the men ranged in age from 18 to 76, and were in relatively good health. After their MRIs, samples were taken from the scanner again.
Here’s what they found, as noted in the study:
A significantly higher bacterial load in specimens taken from men’s beards compared with dogs’ fur.
All of the men (18 out of 18) showed high microbial counts, whereas only 23 out of the 30 dogs had high microbial counts.
Human-pathogenic microorganisms were more frequently found in human beards (7 out of 18) than in dog fur (4 out of 30).
More microbes were found in human oral cavities than in dog oral cavities.
After MRI of dogs, routine scanner disinfection was undertaken and the CFU [colony-forming units] found in specimens isolated from the MRI scanning table and receiver coils showed significantly lower bacteria count compared with “human” MRI scanners.
As Specktor reports, “Seven of the men and four of the dogs tested positive for human-pathogenic microbes – the kind of bacteria that can make a person ill if they colonize the wrong part of the host’s body. These microbes included Enterococcus faecalis, a common gut bacteria that is known to cause infections (especially urinary tract infections) in humans, and several cases of Staphylococcus aureus, a common skin/mucous-colonizing bacteria that may live on up to 50% of all human adults, but can cause serious infections if it enters the bloodstream.”
The authors concluded that, “bearded men harbour significantly higher burden of microbes and more human-pathogenic strains than dogs.” But that said – before the beardless among us start feeling all high and mighty – this was a very small study. And, the authors added, “there is no reason to believe that women may harbor less bacteriological load than bearded men.”
So maybe in the end this isn’t about beards at all … and really, the focus should be directed at one of the study’s key points: “Deficits in hospital hygiene are a relevant risk for patients.”
With deadly healthcare-related infections on the precipitous rise (and antibiotic efficacy on the wane), this is no small matter. And given that “antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats to global health, food security, and development today,” according to the World Health Organization, it seems prudent to be keeping tabs on the microbes – especially in hospitals where they revel in running amok.
“The central question should perhaps not be whether we should allow dogs to undergo imaging in our hospitals,” the authors write, “but rather we should focus on the knowledge and perception of hygiene and understand what poses real danger and risk to our patients.”
Wait, this was supposed to a fun story, what happened? Next stop, cute kittens.
Civil rights advocacy group, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has petitioned the office of Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Tukur Yusuf Buratai, over serious allegations of sexual molestation of girls in Aba, Abia State, and the alleged use of brute force on civilians.
The rights advocacy group reminded the Army Chief of his solemn pledge to respect the constitutionally guaranteed fundamental freedoms of the citizens, while asking him to act swiftly to investigate these allegations.
It lamented that the atrocious criminal acts of some of the operatives on internal security operations are tarnishing “his hard earned good image as a no-nonsense officer who wields the big stick to deal with acts of professional misconduct and indiscipline since the last five years.”
HURIWA said: “We have just deliberated for three hours and as a body, we have decided to send to the Chief of Army a strong worded petition to draw his attention to the cases and reports of gross human rights violations by soldiers posted to Aba in Abia State on internal security operations under the Operation Crocodile Smile.
“We got reports from our members in Aba, Abia state of serious violations of the fundamental dignity of the human persons against many girls by soldiers manning checkpoints just as we have received reports of sexual harassment of girls by soldiers in Aba, Abia state.
“These actions, if verified, are direct violations of the Constitution because chapter 4 of the Nigerian Constitution contains the entire body of fundamental human rights including right to the dignity of the human person, right to freedom from torture, right to life and freedom of movement.
“These persistent reports of sexual attacks against younger persons of the female gender must be thoroughly investigated and the soldiers responsible for such heinous crimes against humanity should face the internal mechanisms of judicial sanctions within the Nigerian Army as a matter of urgency and this is to assure the international community of the commitments of the Chief of Army Staff that the armed forces will continue to respect and protect human rights during operations, knowing the consequences of its violation.”
HURIWA recalled that the Army Chief has on many occasions informed Nigerians that if there were complaints of human rights violations against personnel, such complaints were investigated and where necessary, those involved were either court martial or charge to court just as the rights group said the decision of the group to personally write the Army Chief was because of the need for the operatives of the Nigerian Army to be compelled by their superiors not to continue to engage in professional misconduct and indiscipline that graphically paints Nigeria before the international community as a nation without rules and regulations.
The rights group therefore called on the hierarchy of the Nigerian Army to allow civil society groups to monitor the internal military operations of the Nigerian Army in Oyigbo in Rivers State to ascertain the true state of affairs there following spiralling accusations that soldiers are engaging in ethnic profiling of Igbo residents and systematically carrying out pogroms following the recent alleged killing of some soldiers by suspected members of the Indigenous peoples of Biafra (IPOB).
HURIWA also condemned the public statements of Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State which the group said violates all known laws against hate speech by playing up the erroneous impression that IPOB is purely Igbo or that IPOB speaks and work for the over 60 million Igbo ethnic nationals.
HURIWA warned the Rivers State Government to respect the Constitution by arresting and bringing citizens accused of committing any crime no matter how grievous before the courts of law rather than play up ethnic sentiments and hate speech targeting and castigating Igbo-speaking people of Nigeria.
“It is the hate speech by Governor Wike that has created an atmosphere of mutual suspicion against the Nigerian Army and this is why there are allegations of ethnic profiling against Igbo by the Nigerian Army on the prompting of the Rivers State Governor who has not managed the crises as much as a statesman should.
“The Rivers State Governor needs to be tolerant of all other ethnic groups not indigenous to his state but who are legitimately engaged in meaningful business.
“The Rivers State Governor has poured petrol into the fire literally which is why there are fears and General atmosphere of panic that soldiers are killing young Igbo youth.”
On the petition to the Army, the rights group said: “We have also written our petition to the office of Chief of Army Staff Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai to let him take action to ensure that the rules of engagement are followed by the operatives of the Nigerian Army in Oyigbo in Rivers State.
“The Nigerian Army should quickly let the world know exactly what the situation is because it is totally unacceptable that independent civil society stakeholders are not being allowed to observe the enforcement of the internal military operations in that restive part of Rivers state to make sure that there is no case of extrajudicial killings of civilians or even persons suspected of any crime since section 36(5) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria of 1999 as amended which is the Grund Norm of the Country provides for fair hearing for suspects accused of any sort of crime.
“We expect that the Chief of Army Staff who has done a lot to set up a department of civil military relations and a human rights desk will do whatever he can not to tolerate the application of extrajudicial executions of Nigerians by operatives of the Nigerian Army.” (News Express)
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