President to study elders’ report on insecurity
Jonathan, S”West govs agree on road repairs
NORTHERN leaders at a dialogue with President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja demanded the prosecution of all persons indicted by probe panels on the riots and violence in the region.
Jonathan at the talks held on Wednesday night with the leadership of the Northern Elders’ Forum at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, pledged to study the report presented by the leaders and call them back for another round of deliberations.
The delegation to the meeting, which was held at the Conference Room of the First Lady’s Office, was led by First Republic Minister and former Nigeria’s Permanent Representative in the United Nations (UN), Alhaji Maitama Sule. Others in the team were Chief Paul Unongo, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, Lt.-Gen. Ishaya Bamaiyi (rtd), Mrs. Pauline Tallen, Reverend Pam, and Alhaji Shehu Malami.
And in Kano yesterday, troops attached to the Joint Task Force (JTF) stormed a suspected hide-out of terror gang in Kano and killed four members of an insurgent group.
A German, who was kidnapped by the terror group, was however found dead after the cross-fire between men of the JTF and the gunmen.
Top security sources in Abuja said yesterday that the attack on the armed group followed reports that its senior members were meeting at the spot, which prompted the JTF to mobilise to the scene.
The security chiefs said the operation was not carried out to rescue the kidnapped German, who was identified as Raufach Edgar.
It was learnt that Edgar was kidnapped last January while working for a construction firm, Dantata and Sawoe, but his whereabouts was not known until yesterday when soldiers found him among the dead insurgents in handcuff.
The meeting started at 8.40 p.m. The delegation presented recommendations to Jonathan on how to improve the security situation in the country and the path to peaceful co-existence among its various components.
The President promised to study it and call them back within two weeks to discuss the issues in the document.
At the end of the meeting, Abdullahi told journalists that part of the recommendations was for the government to fully implement the reports of the panels set up to probe earlier religious or ethnic riots in the North. Abdullahi said all the persons indicted by the probe panels must be prosecuted.
Unless this was done, he said, it would seem that those who run foul of the law or breach public peace could do so without consequences.
Abdullahi was however mid-way in the interview pulled away by Unongo but not before he explained that they told President Jonathan that details of the presentation would not be discussed in the media till after the second meeting.
Minister for Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, said the President would meet them soon to discuss the recommendations, adding that President Jonathan expressed appreciation for their concern and assured them of his readiness to work on the report.
Jonathan also met with five governors of the South-West states of Ondo, Ogun, Osun, Oyo and Ekiti yesterday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, over infrastructural development in the zone.
The governors at the parley were Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo), Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo) and Rauf Aregbesola (Osun).
Fayemi told journalists at the end of the meeting that it was positive.
According to him, “we were invited by the President for discussions on areas of mutual interest. They include infrastructure, roads, rail and transportation. It was a very positive discussion. We intimated the President with the poor state of the road infrastructure in the South-West, particularly federal roads and he agreed with us on the need to do something quickly about this.
“All of our people will have a sense of belonging. The truth of the matter is that roads are very important to all Nigerians, not just the people in the South-West. Nigerians don’t make a distinction between federal and state roads. They just want roads that are motorable to enable them have secure and safe travel in the cause of their journey back and forth.
“When you look at particularly the Lagos- Ibadan Expressway and the Benin-Ore-Shagamu Road, not to mention all the small roads that we have in the zone, the Lagos- Ibadan Expressway is the number one arterial road out of Lagos to all parts of the country. It affects the East, North, West. And everybody suffers from the continuing state of dilapidation of that road. The President acknowledges our concern and he has agreed to work with us. It is the partnership to address the fundamental disconnection that have affected the state of the road.”
Amosun said that he still stands by his conviction that the concession of the Lagos-Ibadan road should be withdrawn, adding that “something needs to be done immediately to fix the road. And of course, we have met with the President. And it gladdens our hearts that he identifies with us on the issue. “
The clash, which lasted for almost an hour, occurred at a building near the new campus of Bayero University, Kano (BUK) along Gwarzo Road.
Edgar was the third foreigner to die in the camp of terrorists since the insecurity situation in the North took a worrisome dimension. Last March 8, Britain’s Chris McManus from the North West of England and Italy’s Franco Lamolinara, who were kidnapped in May 2011 died when British and Nigerian forces attempted to rescue them in Sokoto, Sokoto State.
The victims were working for an Italian construction firm, B Stabilini in Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State, when they were abducted by members of the insurgent group in the North.
Residents of Rijyar Zaki and Daambare yesterday told The Guardian that they were woken up in the early hours of yesterday by the sounds of blasts and massive gunshots.
They said this created panic in the area for almost one hour that the bombardment lasted.
The JTF had yesterday scheduled a press conference apparently on the incident but later suspended it.
The new Assistant Inspector-General of Police (Zone One) in Kano, Philemon Ibrahim, told journalists that he heard of the operation but was not in a position to give details of the encounter.
He said: “I am just reporting today (yesterday) and just like you, I have heard of it but it is an operation carried out by the JTF and I don’t have the details.”
The JTF spokesman, Lt. Ikedichi Iweha, said the troops through intelligence gathering discovered that some “militants were in a house as a result of which the house was surrounded.”
He said the militants opened fire when they sighted the troops, to which the soldiers responded. “By the time the coast was cleared, five militants were killed alongside the kidnapped German, who was found handcuffed.”
Also yesterday, former governor of Imo State, Chief Achike Udenwa, urged the incumbent Governor Rochas Okorocha to curb the growing cases of kidnap and other forms of criminality in the state.
He made the appeal in Owerri at an event organised by Okorocha for stakeholders and government officials.
Udenwa, who commended Okorocha for providing infrastructure in the state, urged the government to create a safe environment for investors to operate.
Jonathan, S”West govs agree on road repairs
NORTHERN leaders at a dialogue with President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja demanded the prosecution of all persons indicted by probe panels on the riots and violence in the region.
Jonathan at the talks held on Wednesday night with the leadership of the Northern Elders’ Forum at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, pledged to study the report presented by the leaders and call them back for another round of deliberations.
The delegation to the meeting, which was held at the Conference Room of the First Lady’s Office, was led by First Republic Minister and former Nigeria’s Permanent Representative in the United Nations (UN), Alhaji Maitama Sule. Others in the team were Chief Paul Unongo, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, Lt.-Gen. Ishaya Bamaiyi (rtd), Mrs. Pauline Tallen, Reverend Pam, and Alhaji Shehu Malami.
And in Kano yesterday, troops attached to the Joint Task Force (JTF) stormed a suspected hide-out of terror gang in Kano and killed four members of an insurgent group.
A German, who was kidnapped by the terror group, was however found dead after the cross-fire between men of the JTF and the gunmen.
Top security sources in Abuja said yesterday that the attack on the armed group followed reports that its senior members were meeting at the spot, which prompted the JTF to mobilise to the scene.
The security chiefs said the operation was not carried out to rescue the kidnapped German, who was identified as Raufach Edgar.
It was learnt that Edgar was kidnapped last January while working for a construction firm, Dantata and Sawoe, but his whereabouts was not known until yesterday when soldiers found him among the dead insurgents in handcuff.
The meeting started at 8.40 p.m. The delegation presented recommendations to Jonathan on how to improve the security situation in the country and the path to peaceful co-existence among its various components.
The President promised to study it and call them back within two weeks to discuss the issues in the document.
At the end of the meeting, Abdullahi told journalists that part of the recommendations was for the government to fully implement the reports of the panels set up to probe earlier religious or ethnic riots in the North. Abdullahi said all the persons indicted by the probe panels must be prosecuted.
Unless this was done, he said, it would seem that those who run foul of the law or breach public peace could do so without consequences.
Abdullahi was however mid-way in the interview pulled away by Unongo but not before he explained that they told President Jonathan that details of the presentation would not be discussed in the media till after the second meeting.
Minister for Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, said the President would meet them soon to discuss the recommendations, adding that President Jonathan expressed appreciation for their concern and assured them of his readiness to work on the report.
Jonathan also met with five governors of the South-West states of Ondo, Ogun, Osun, Oyo and Ekiti yesterday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, over infrastructural development in the zone.
The governors at the parley were Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo), Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo) and Rauf Aregbesola (Osun).
Fayemi told journalists at the end of the meeting that it was positive.
According to him, “we were invited by the President for discussions on areas of mutual interest. They include infrastructure, roads, rail and transportation. It was a very positive discussion. We intimated the President with the poor state of the road infrastructure in the South-West, particularly federal roads and he agreed with us on the need to do something quickly about this.
“All of our people will have a sense of belonging. The truth of the matter is that roads are very important to all Nigerians, not just the people in the South-West. Nigerians don’t make a distinction between federal and state roads. They just want roads that are motorable to enable them have secure and safe travel in the cause of their journey back and forth.
“When you look at particularly the Lagos- Ibadan Expressway and the Benin-Ore-Shagamu Road, not to mention all the small roads that we have in the zone, the Lagos- Ibadan Expressway is the number one arterial road out of Lagos to all parts of the country. It affects the East, North, West. And everybody suffers from the continuing state of dilapidation of that road. The President acknowledges our concern and he has agreed to work with us. It is the partnership to address the fundamental disconnection that have affected the state of the road.”
Amosun said that he still stands by his conviction that the concession of the Lagos-Ibadan road should be withdrawn, adding that “something needs to be done immediately to fix the road. And of course, we have met with the President. And it gladdens our hearts that he identifies with us on the issue. “
The clash, which lasted for almost an hour, occurred at a building near the new campus of Bayero University, Kano (BUK) along Gwarzo Road.
Edgar was the third foreigner to die in the camp of terrorists since the insecurity situation in the North took a worrisome dimension. Last March 8, Britain’s Chris McManus from the North West of England and Italy’s Franco Lamolinara, who were kidnapped in May 2011 died when British and Nigerian forces attempted to rescue them in Sokoto, Sokoto State.
The victims were working for an Italian construction firm, B Stabilini in Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State, when they were abducted by members of the insurgent group in the North.
Residents of Rijyar Zaki and Daambare yesterday told The Guardian that they were woken up in the early hours of yesterday by the sounds of blasts and massive gunshots.
They said this created panic in the area for almost one hour that the bombardment lasted.
The JTF had yesterday scheduled a press conference apparently on the incident but later suspended it.
The new Assistant Inspector-General of Police (Zone One) in Kano, Philemon Ibrahim, told journalists that he heard of the operation but was not in a position to give details of the encounter.
He said: “I am just reporting today (yesterday) and just like you, I have heard of it but it is an operation carried out by the JTF and I don’t have the details.”
The JTF spokesman, Lt. Ikedichi Iweha, said the troops through intelligence gathering discovered that some “militants were in a house as a result of which the house was surrounded.”
He said the militants opened fire when they sighted the troops, to which the soldiers responded. “By the time the coast was cleared, five militants were killed alongside the kidnapped German, who was found handcuffed.”
Also yesterday, former governor of Imo State, Chief Achike Udenwa, urged the incumbent Governor Rochas Okorocha to curb the growing cases of kidnap and other forms of criminality in the state.
He made the appeal in Owerri at an event organised by Okorocha for stakeholders and government officials.
Udenwa, who commended Okorocha for providing infrastructure in the state, urged the government to create a safe environment for investors to operate.
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