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ANGO ABDULLAHI: Is This the Leadership the North Deserves st a Time Like This? – Ndi Kato

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I refuse to put my elders through this.
Through the pain of remembering each injustice meted out against them with each derogatory word aimed at lowering them to a level they were constantly pushed to.

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I refuse to put my elders through the stress of responding to words they are older than; because I know that my elders have outgrown these words. Not that my elders have ever stooped to the bottom of the verbal barrel but they have outgrown having to listen to it or acknowledging it.
I refuse to let them expend any form of emotions on these tantrums so I will do it myself. A young woman from the Middle Belt who was born years after Professor Ango Abdullahi served as Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University will respond to this and if Ango Abdullahi wants to keep descending beyond this, the old gentleman is welcome to by all means… I love the idea of dancing naked in the market square; it is amusing to us onlookers.

I grew up witnessing crisis after crisis in my region with the mass murder of people I hold dear being at the centre of it all; I am now almost in my 30s and there is no change, NOTHING! We are still losing lives for any reason at all and the reasons are thrown at us with no second thought because THE LIFE OF THE NIGERIAN, INCLUDING THE LIVES OF MY PEOPLE IN THE MIDDLE BELT HAVE BEEN GREATLY DEVALUED.

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My elders had to live through occupation of their land under the pretext of this “Northern Unity” Ango Abdullahi speaks of, many did not get to the expected apexes of their careers, many sacrificed their dreams and the dreams of their people for this unity; Mr Abdullahi should be all too familiar with this. It is worthy of note that a man with such a mindset was once a Vice Chancellor of a Federal University and any serious country would investigate his tenure and the treatment of people who do not come from his region.

How were students and lecturers from other parts of Nigeria treated? Did you wake up thinking that two Southern lecturers shaking hands in the morning were planning to destabilize the school to topple you as VC? Did you go into your office with thoughts of how to dismiss them in a fit of paranoia? Your utterances beg the question.

Every single time we see statements from you, we are tempted to review your actions.
Moving forward, Ango Abdullahi referred to us Middle Belters as “Our Middle Belters”; a region so tired of bloodshed, a region trying to reclaim itself is still referred to by Mr Abdullahi with a sense of ownership. When did we become “Our”? A professor knows all too well semantics and the politics of words; he didn’t just say it, he meant ownership.

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Sir, it is 2018, feudal behaviours have no place here. No region owns another. If no one else will tell you, I will.

Here is where it gets even more troubling, Ango Abdullahi was asked if he was trying to justify the herdsmen killings and he maintained “I AM JUSTIFYING IT VERY STRONGLY BECAUSE HERDSMEN ARE BEING UNJUSTLY TREATED IN THIS COUNTRY”.

Let us look closely at what Ango Abdullahi, a former Vice Chancellor of a Federal University in Nigeria is justifying.

• Continuous mass murder of Nigerians spread from Zamfara to South East, South West and South South.

• A breakdown of law and order which Senator Kabiru Marafa cried about in the senate where these armed groups have constituted themselves an authority over the populace, operating as a mini government while terrorising the people. THIS IS THE CASE IN ZAMFARA.

• Pending starvation and shortage in food production from farming communities who can no longer sustain the Nation because their farms are now death traps.

• Erasure of the culture and entire heritage of Nigerians who have to flee their communities and are often replaced by these attackers who end up settling after displacing the people.

• RAPE: YES!!! Ango Abdullahi’s response said he was justifying these actions strongly. I know Ango Abdullahi reads the news, I know he knows of the young girls and women kidnapped in Zamfara during these attacks. I know he reads about the women raped and killed in Plateau and Southern Kaduna YET Ango Abdullahi STRONLGY JUSTIFIES THESE ACTIONS.

• He justifies theft, kidnapping and armed robbery too.

• Ango Abdullahi justifies the killing of policemen; last week one of the policemen had his eyes and other vital organs gouged out. Ango Abdullahi thinks this is right.

• The displacement of 100s of thousands of Nigerians and the Nigerian government dealing with IDP situations that the Nation’s present economic situation and policies are not equipped for.

• Ango Abdullahi justifies widespread insecurity in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
What Ango Abdullahi is thus saying is that if he feels within himself that he is not being treated the way he wants to, He can turn Nigeria upside down as he pleases and that is EXACTLY WHAT HE IS DOING WITH HIS WORDS.

Departing from my region, let us look at his words in the context of the North seeing as he is the spokesperson of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF). The same North the good people of Zamfara State belong to. I do not know how the people of Zamfara are coping at the moment, suffering this unfathomable pain of murder, poverty by way of horrendous leadership and a complete lack of representation by the people who should stand in for them; How are they coping knowing that the spokesperson of the Northern Elders Forum, THEIR OWN ELDERS think that the attacks against them are justified?

Zamfara state suffered meningitis outbreak, no word from their elders. The rest of the nation watched as meningitis ravaged part of the North with the government doing little to nothing and BLAMING the people saying their iniquities brought this upon them. Hunger and strife has visited the people now more than ever and NO WORDS, NO INTERVENTION FROM THE ELDERS. Add all these to the complete disregard for the life of the average Northerner by those who should protect them and then we can discuss who is playing politics with what.

And now we have the SPOKESPERSON OF THEIR ELDERS FORUM SAYING HE JUSTIFIES THE KILLINGS AGAINST THEM. Did the babies slaughtered in Zamfara in your own region attack anyone? Why do you, Ango Abdullahi think they deserve to die?

This was to be in response to Ango Abdullahi for his paranoia laced, derogatory comments against other parts of the country but I cannot help but cry out for the people under the Northern Elders Forum, the people of the North who are suffering and dying while the likes of Ango Abdullahi play politics with their very existence and beat the drums of war knowing very well that neither he nor any of his descendants will be here to dance to the tune.

I have searched through everything and every bit of history and I cannot see what the people of Northern Nigeria have done to deserve this kind of leadership; it is unacceptable for any region that intends to survive and stand a chance at growth; AREWA DESERVES BETTER!

Someone has to speak up for the North as others are rising up to speak up for their own people and represent them in a civil manner. Someone has to say that Arewa deserves better from the people they consider leaders, someone has to say that the life of the average Northerner who is a poor man trying to get by matters, someone… ANYONE, has to stand up and say this deliberate underdevelopment by the leaders in Northern Nigeria should be switched for a better deal. That the schools and the hospitals should be built better, that there is a drug problem that needs fixing, that young boys and girls should be given proper education.

That policy and research centres should be set up and that maternal mortality should be given a very near future exit date.
SOMEONE HAS TO SAY THESE THINGS and as it stands, Ango Abdullahi and the era, the mindset and social construct he represents IS NOT THAT PERSON.
THIS IS NOT THE REPRESENTATION THE NORTH DESERVES.

Leaders from other regions are not perfect but at least you can see efforts and remorse and an effort to right missteps and patch the leadership vacuum facing our ailing nation not parading ostentatiously at a time like this.
In conclusion, regions coming together to celebrate friendship with each other is not your problem. Celebrating murder is not what you were put on earth to do; God frowns on it. We are a nation facing an existential crisis and all well meaning leaders are standing up to see how they can stabilize things, it is a shame that this is what you have to contribute at a time like this.

I did start by saying that I will not let my elders go through the distress of responding to what you have said and I will end by calling you to order and reminding you of the duty you owe Northerners as an elder and that is sensible leadership at a time like this not drumming the beat of war.

Wisdom is profitable to direct.
Thank You.

Ndi Kato,
Coordinator of Public Communication for the Middle Belt Forum

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Tinubu-Shettima supporters vow to expose appointees plotting against President’s 2027 interests

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Tinubu-Shettima supporters vow to expose appointees plotting against President’s 2027 interests

 

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Some members of the All Progressives Congress under the umbrella of Southwest Tinubu-Shettima Presidential Supporters Movement have called on President Bola Tinubu not to delay in sacking some of his appointees who have allegedly been plotting his political downfall for their selfish interests.

Addressing a press conference on Thursday in Lagos, the Tinubu-Shettima Presidential supporters condemned, in its entirety, the development which they described as “satanic agenda”, and called on President Tinubu and the APC leadership to immediately arrest the situation and ensure that the party is not hijacked by a disloyal few.

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They also vowed to expose those scheming to succeed Tinubu in 2027, with the notion that he might not be able to contest.

According to the supporters, allegations by a prominent member of the ruling APC, Jesutega Onokpasa, about those around the president already planning to succeed him possibly before he completes his first term in office, ought not to be taken with levity.

Onokpasa, a former member of the APC Presidential Campaign Council for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, had in a video clip, alleged the ongoing drama around the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s allegations against former Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, and the continued attack on former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, were part of plans by these individuals against the President.

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Speaking on behalf of the group, Femi Bode-Banjoko, APC Chieftain and Coordinator, Southwest Tinubu-Shettima Presidential Supporters Movement said, although Onokpasa didn’t mention names, “it is not difficult to make an educated guess as to those involved in such satanic plot to be scheming for Asiwaju’s untimely departure for their own selfish political ambitions.”

Bode-Banjoko added, “These characters have been using their positions as appointees of the president to pursue their personal agendas rather than concentrate on the assignments of their offices.

“Because of that, their performances in office have been woeful till date. Rather than assist the president to improve on the country’s security and economy, they are busy chasing their perceived political enemies all around the country whilst the country suffers. They continue to give our Party a bad name among Nigerians because they are not justifying their appointments whatsoever but concentrating on alienating those who worked hard for the success of our Party in the last presidential election from the president.

“For instance, former Governors Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State and Ganduje of Kano were in the forefront of Northern Governors who gave one hundred percent support and loyalty with tireless hard work to ensure Asiwaju’s victory to emerge as our Party’s Presidential candidate and eventually as the President and Commander-in-chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria last year.

“Nasir El-Rufai and former Governor Yahaya Bello were the ones who went to Court to bail out the country from the satanic plot of the Naira redesign policy that threw many Nigerians into pains and penury.

“These retrogressive political opportunists made sure that El-Rufai was frustrated out of the Ministerial appointment through flimsy petitions and are now instigating his successor against him. Former Governors El-Rufai, and Yahaya Bello delivered their states to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in 2023 through unprecedented hard work, dedication and Party loyalty whilst these ones who are reaping from where they didn’t sow lost their states and couldn’t even deliver any significant electoral value to the Party’s ticket. But they are now exploiting their positions to go after those who delivered for the ticket.

“They wouldn’t allow our Party’s national chairman to rest by sponsoring proxy wars against him. They have succeeded in alienating former Governor El-Rufai from the president and the Party and still going after him using his successor. They are after the life of former Governor Yahaya Bello who worked so hard to win his state for the President and the Party at the governorship election whilst they achieved zero for the Party. The offices they occupy are failing in their mandate as there have been no noticeable improvement in the country’s security and so forth.”

The Coordinator of the support group, therefore, urged the president to fire all incompetent and disloyal members of his cabinet and replace them with those who can help him secure the country better among other development indicators.

“All those paying marabouts millions of Naira and dollars to pray for the President to be sick or even die will receive the arrow of death before they achieve their aim,” he said.

Bode-Banjoko restated the group’s undivided loyalty to President Tinubu and the party, assuring that “He (Tinubu) will complete his first term and win his second with even greater electoral success by God’s grace.”

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Rivers Crisis: Yoruba Youths Berate Wike For Disrespecting Tinubu …say FCT Minister never respected Abuja peace accord

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Rivers Crisis: Yoruba Youths Berate Wike For Disrespecting Tinubu

…say FCT Minister never respected Abuja peace accord

 

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The Oduduwa Youths Initiative (OYI) has rebuked the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, for disrespecting President Bola Tinubu by breaching the Peace Accord initiated by the President.

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In a statement signed by its leader, Otunba Gbenga Ojo, the youths said it is against the culture of the Yoruba people to disrespect elders and authorities in government like Wike has done.

 

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In December, Governor Siminalayi Fubara signed an agreement with his predecessor to end the political crisis in Rivers State.

 

 

An eight-point peace deal was brokered by President Tinubu and other stakeholders at a crucial meeting in the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

 

 

However, the FCT Minister and his lieutenants have sustained attacks on the Governor, particularly through the state assembly members.

 

 

According to Ojo, the members, led by Martin Amaewhule have made several futile attempts to destabilise the government of Fubara.

 

 

He said the lawmakers have continued to make life difficult for Governor Fubara by vetoing him, amending and enacting laws without his assent.

 

 

Ojo noted that the recent threat by the 27 lawmakers to resume impeachment proceedings against the Governor lends credence to the deepening crisis between the two parties.

 

 

The Oduduwa youths also slammed Wike for his continuous public outbursts, ruling out the possibility of any reconciliation with Fubara.

 

 

But on his part, the group said Fubara implemented the agreements, including the re-appointment of the nine pro-Wike commissioners who resigned their positions in the heat of the crisis and payment of the withheld entitlements of the lawmakers.

 

The Oduduwa Youths Initiative, therefore, called on Wike to apologise for the level of disdain and disregard for the office of the President.

 

 

Ojo warned that failure to do so would attract protests across the country by Yoruba youths to demand his sack as Minister.

 

 

“We have followed the political crisis in Rivers State and the swift intervention by President Tinubu to end further hostilities,” Ojo said.

 

 

“However, we have been surprised that the peace accord has not been implemented by the FCT Minister who appears to have thrown caution to the wind in his conduct.

 

 

“For months now Amaewhule and his cohorts have been entangled in unconstitutionality, in their selfish bid to destablise the administration of Governor Fubara and satisfy the whims and caprices of Wike.

 

 

“In January, the lawmakers overrode the decision of the governor not to approve four bills earlier passed by the assembly. The governor had withheld his assent rightly stating that such amendments would create confusion and breach constituted laws.

 

 

“The Rivers House recently again overrode the decision of Fubara not to assent to some bills. They even resumed impeachment proceedings against the Governor.

 

 

“We are not surprised though because Wike has consistently made careless remarks undermining the President. He has been very heedless and uncult.

 

 

“Therefore, we are giving the FCT Minister 24 hours to apologise for disrespecting the President. Failure to do so would attract massive protests across the country calling for his sack”.

 

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Appointees ‘wishing Tinubu dead before 2027, strategising for Presidency’ behind El-Rufai, Yahaya Bello’s ordeals – prominent APC chieftain drops bombshell

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Appointees ‘wishing Tinubu dead before 2027, strategising for Presidency’ behind El-Rufai, Yahaya Bello’s ordeals – prominent APC chieftain drops bombshell

 

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A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Jesutega Onokpasa, has revealed that certain appointees of President Bola Tinubu are plotting to succeed him before the end of his tenure and are seriously wishing that the President will not make it to 2027 for their selfish reasons.

Onokpasa, a lawyer and former member of the APC Presidential Campaign Council for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who lamented the alleged hypocrisy, pull him down mentality and anti-party activities going on in the governing party, laid curses on those he accused of wishing Tinubu dead, saying, “If they don’t repent, Asiwaju will attend their funeral.”

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He said this in a video, where he was seen addressing party members and drawing their attention to the belief that the ongoing drama around the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s allegations against former Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello; and the continued attack on former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, were plans mapped out by these individuals to allegedly perfect their plans.

Expressing concern over ill treatments, selective prosecution and hounding meted out on some prominent chieftains of the party since the emergence of Tinubu’s presidency, Onokpasa alleged that the particular appointees he was referring to in Tinubu’s government were behind the ordeals of former Governors Yahaya Bello, Nasir El- Rufai and Abdullahi Ganduje in order to perfect their “satanic” succession plans, while allegedly wishing that the President would no longer be around by 2027.

Referring to a particular appointee of Tinubu whose name was not mentioned, the chieftain said, “You drive Rufai away, you start hounding Ganduje, although there are other things involved, you start attacking Yahaya Bello, what did you do? You don’t have mandate my friend, you are just an appointee… you think we don’t know what is going on?

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“Listen, Asiwaju is a child of God. Asiwaju will rule this country for eight complete years. There is nothing anybody can do about that. He will rule this first four years, he will so perform, Nigerians, again, will vote for him and next time around, we will win a majority of the total votes cast. So, all these your satanic plans, plotting that our President will not make it to 2027, you are wasting your time. Get that through your head.”

The party chieftain, who Nigerians know to be a die-hard supporter of President Tinubu, also angrily bemoaned what he called the attitude of “using and dumping” people who worked for the victory of the President in 2023, while those who were against the President and even insulted him, were being given priorities “over authentic supporters and genuine Batists.”

Onokpasa, who was also a member of the APC Presidential Legal Team and Chairman, Tinubu Media Support Group, said, “Of recent concern to me is the case of my younger brother, His Excellency, the former Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello. In this party, we have had our brother, the former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El Rufai basically chased out of our party despite what he did for us to make us win. Now, it is Yahaya Bello. A few weeks or months ago, it was our National Chairman, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje that was basically almost being chased from our party.”

Blowing hot against those behind the ugly trend, who he claimed were arrogating powers to themselves at the detriment of Tinubu’s wellbeing, and warning them to desist, Onokpasa stated, “Listen, we cannot tolerate such nonsense in a party. Let everybody in this party come to his senses. We know how we won election. We won election because of the grace of God, because the grace of God is upon our President, Asiwaju. We won election with the lowest margin. This our government has the lowest margin since 1999. We won with less than 40 per cent of the votes. In every other election, someone had won with 50 per cent of the votes.

“Everybody that contributed to our victory is important to me, because me, I am a fanatical Batist. This is the way I see Bola Tinubu’s administration. Bola Tinubu is a child of grace. The way I see it, God wants Bola Tinubu to be our President and we need him to be our President for eight years. What we should all square up to right now is a question of, there is no need to beat about the bush; there are people in our party who don’t believe in our President. For whatever reason they feel, I don’t know where they went to, that’s their headache.”

He cautioned those wishing Tinubu dead, stressing that the president would make it beyond 2027.

“Even after that eight years, he (Tinubu) will become an elder stateman for many years after that and none of you … all of you doing this rubbish, if you don’t repent, Asiwaju will attend all of your funerals. I am the one that is saying it,” he said.

Onokpasa recounted how a young man died in Edo State after wishing the President dead, saying, “I will like to share a story with you. There was this young man in Delta State where I come from. He had the guts to come to me and he said, uncle, this man, Bola Tinubu that you are supporting is going to die before the election and I told him, are you the God that created him? Do you know what happened? May his soul rest in peace, he died before Bola Tinubu won election.”

“There are people in this party who don’t believe in Asiwaju, they never believe that Asiwaju can make it to 2027. Do you know what? All these people, if they don’t repent, Asiwaju will attend all of their funerals. They are mad! They don’t have mandate, it is Asiwaju we voted for, it is Asiwaju that has mandate, it is Asiwaju that is the President. And we need Asiwaju to run complete eight years to finally make this country the pride of the black race,” APC chieftain stated.

On the Bello-EFCC controversy, he said it was for the court to decide, stating, “Nobody is supporting corruption. However, we fight corruption according to law and you will not have a personal indifference with somebody and then you use the instrumentality of office to torment that person. We will not tolerate that in this party. We must not.”

He also lambasted a particular appointee that he portrayed to be high-handed, alleging that the appointee funded an opposition member against the APC candidate, Usman Ododo, during the Kogi State governorship election.

The popular Tinubu loyalist said, “I mean, can you imagine the nonsense. You sponsored somebody who left our party, he used to be a member of our party committee, you claim to be a member of our party, you now sponsor him against our own candidate, Usman Ododo, you give him money, he lost, we defeated him. Sorry! Then, you say his lawyer, my learned friend, Jibril Okutepa, he is the one that you now brief to torment Yahaya Bello?

“I am very proud of Yahaya Bello, Yahaya Bello helped Asiwaju to win election. Anybody who helped Asiwaju to win election is my brother. He is my father’s son that my mother gave birth to. I don’t owe you any apology, who are you? Nonsense! You will turn all of us to cowards?”

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