For the attention of those criticising the action of the DSS!
BASIC GUIDE TO ARGUING EITHER IN FAVOUR OR AGAINST THE RECENT ARRESTS OF SOME JUDICIAL OFFICERS BY THE DSS.
Before you argue either in favour of the recent arrests of some judicial officers by the DSS, it is important that most of you know the following facts. They will guide you to argue intelligently and intelligibly. This is my part of contribution to the change agenda.
1. No judicial officer has immunity against, arrest, search, investigation and/or prosecution in respect of an allegation of crime.
2. The National Judicial Commission (NJC) is responsible for the appointment, discipline/punishment of judicial officers only in respect of breach of judicial ethics, and not crime.
3. Even where a judicial officer has been sanctioned by the NJC for any misconduct, the state still reserves the right to prosecute the erring officer if his misconduct amounts to a crime.
4. The Administration of Criminal Justice Act (2015) is the procedural law that guides the activities of all federal investigating and prosecutorial agencies like the police, EFCC, ICPC, DSSS,etc., as well as the Federal High Court, High Court of the FCT, National Industrial Court, Code of Conduct Tribunal, etc.
5. Any action taken by any prosecutorial agency either during investigation or prosecution must be in line with the ACJA
4. Under the ACJA, there is no time limit or time frame when a person can be arrested. There is no day that a person cannot be arrested.
5. Sections 12 (2) & 13 ACJA give a law officer the power to break into and out of any house for the purpose of arresting a suspect who fails to let the arresting officer in.
6. Section 43 (1) ACJA states: "A warrant of arrest may be executed on any day, including a Sunday or public holiday."
7. The person arresting may not necessarily be the person to prosecute. A private person may arrest a suspect and hand him over to a prosecuting authority(Section 23 ACJA).
8. A person may be arrested notwithstanding that the person arresting him is not in possession of an arrest warrant on demand, but can show the warrant as soon as practicable. Section 44 ACJA.
9. "A warrant of arrest issued by a Federal High Court sitting anywhere may be executed in any part of Nigeria." Section 47 (1) ACJA.
10. A search warrant can be executed by anyone to whom it is directed (Section 147 ACJA).
11. "A search warrant may be issued and executed at any time on any day, including a Sunday or public holiday."(Section 148).
12. Apart from the President, vice president, Governor and a Deputy Governor, no other person has immunity from arrest and/or prosecution
Monday, October 10, 2016
Wednesday, October 5, 2016
NIGERIAN LOOTERS
The Nigerian looters have long resolved to take care of themselves-no matter their region and religion. they don't have tribal marks but are one family. Injury to one of them is injury to all. But deluded Nigerians on social media continue to classify Nigeria along ethno-religious Lines. As soon as Hon Abdulmumin Jubril broke ranks with his partners in-crime in the House of representatives and Began to sing,i knew he would be the one to bite the dust. I just knew it. It's budget padding allegations should Naturally provide an opportunity To cleanse the Legislature. Instead Jibrin has been suspended and the beat goes on..Nigeria!!!🤔
Sunday, September 25, 2016
DEMINISING NORTH-EAST
Government should establish a comprehensive Explosive Detection and Disarming Program in Northeast Nigeria ...
As residents of liberated areas begin to leave IDP camps for what use to be their homes, villages and communities, they face a serious threat from unexploded bombs (UXBs), Improvised explosive device (IED), vehicle borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), and conventional munitions deployed by both parties in the conflict.
Use of IEDs and non Military grade explosives is not new to Nigeria during the civil war, Biafran fighters deployed IEDs as a tactical weapon to compliment its lack of arms and to slow the advance of federal troops, they deployed these unconventional crude crafted explosives in anti personnel and anti vehicle roles during the war. The first recorded use of VBIED was in July 1967, when a car filled with explosives attempted to enter the Police HQ in Lagos.
Insurgents in North east Nigeria are the first group to extensively deploy IEDs and VBIEDs to deliberately target civilians and troops, The group began using small IEDs in 2011 to attack security forces and soft targets, They used their first VBIED to attack the UN compound in Abuja, further more IEDs have been used to interdict and arm bush military convoys and patrols teams in North East Nigeria, Due to present success in the Government counter terrorism and counter insurgency CTCOIN operations indigenes of rural communities living in IDP camps around Northern Nigeria are beginning to leave this camps for what used to be their homes , The Government has also launched rebuilding programs expected to work towards exploring the agricultural , solid mineral and crude oil potential of the North eastern part of Nigeria, This unexploded ordinance, IEDs and VBIEDs post a threat to this crucial rebuilding programs, safety of returning civilians, workers and wild life.
Nigeria Army EOD units are currently clearing mines and IEDs placed in different locations but they face the challenge of a massive landscape and rugged topography which makes it difficult to completely clear the region of IEDs, VBIEDs and unexploded ordinances ,The remoteness of certain locations also means that there will always be areas Troops cannot deploy anti mining vehicles or EOD personnel’s , These has made It very important for the government to established a civilian base IEDD (Improvised Explosive Device Disposal) teams as well as the disposal of conventional munitions made of members of the civilian JTF(local vigilantes) , Due to their knowledge of local terrain, they are able to notice disturbance to the ground where explosives have been buried and will play crucial role in government explosive detection and Demining activities, their regular presence in the villages and towns makes it easy for them to respond to emergency situations concerning conventional explosives , Mines, IED,BOMB threats, With necessary training and equipments, assets like bomb detecting dogs, they can detect this explosive or intervene in situations where innocent civilians returning to their farms or villages step on IED or Mine , Thus engaging CJTF is a key counter IED task.
Government needs to also provide necessary technical knowledge using police EOD experts to train and retrain CJTF members drafted into the IEDD teams, necessary survival equipments, kits and capabilities to should be provided to teams, further more Government should put the teams under direct leadership and supervision of the Nigeria police force, to ensure standard and discipline, International Demining Organization should be invited to assist in the clearance. Government will only be able to clean up the North eastern region of Nigeria faster using locals / CJTF personnel’s, During complicated situation for CJTF Demining personnel’s, they are expected to call for assistance from the nearest military facilities or police Bomb disposal unit . The North east today has military grade and crude crafted explosives scattered around, it is a matter of national concern and importance to clean up the region to enable full exploration of its enormous environmental resources by both the government, private firms and returning populace.
As residents of liberated areas begin to leave IDP camps for what use to be their homes, villages and communities, they face a serious threat from unexploded bombs (UXBs), Improvised explosive device (IED), vehicle borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), and conventional munitions deployed by both parties in the conflict.
Use of IEDs and non Military grade explosives is not new to Nigeria during the civil war, Biafran fighters deployed IEDs as a tactical weapon to compliment its lack of arms and to slow the advance of federal troops, they deployed these unconventional crude crafted explosives in anti personnel and anti vehicle roles during the war. The first recorded use of VBIED was in July 1967, when a car filled with explosives attempted to enter the Police HQ in Lagos.
Insurgents in North east Nigeria are the first group to extensively deploy IEDs and VBIEDs to deliberately target civilians and troops, The group began using small IEDs in 2011 to attack security forces and soft targets, They used their first VBIED to attack the UN compound in Abuja, further more IEDs have been used to interdict and arm bush military convoys and patrols teams in North East Nigeria, Due to present success in the Government counter terrorism and counter insurgency CTCOIN operations indigenes of rural communities living in IDP camps around Northern Nigeria are beginning to leave this camps for what used to be their homes , The Government has also launched rebuilding programs expected to work towards exploring the agricultural , solid mineral and crude oil potential of the North eastern part of Nigeria, This unexploded ordinance, IEDs and VBIEDs post a threat to this crucial rebuilding programs, safety of returning civilians, workers and wild life.
Nigeria Army EOD units are currently clearing mines and IEDs placed in different locations but they face the challenge of a massive landscape and rugged topography which makes it difficult to completely clear the region of IEDs, VBIEDs and unexploded ordinances ,The remoteness of certain locations also means that there will always be areas Troops cannot deploy anti mining vehicles or EOD personnel’s , These has made It very important for the government to established a civilian base IEDD (Improvised Explosive Device Disposal) teams as well as the disposal of conventional munitions made of members of the civilian JTF(local vigilantes) , Due to their knowledge of local terrain, they are able to notice disturbance to the ground where explosives have been buried and will play crucial role in government explosive detection and Demining activities, their regular presence in the villages and towns makes it easy for them to respond to emergency situations concerning conventional explosives , Mines, IED,BOMB threats, With necessary training and equipments, assets like bomb detecting dogs, they can detect this explosive or intervene in situations where innocent civilians returning to their farms or villages step on IED or Mine , Thus engaging CJTF is a key counter IED task.
Government needs to also provide necessary technical knowledge using police EOD experts to train and retrain CJTF members drafted into the IEDD teams, necessary survival equipments, kits and capabilities to should be provided to teams, further more Government should put the teams under direct leadership and supervision of the Nigeria police force, to ensure standard and discipline, International Demining Organization should be invited to assist in the clearance. Government will only be able to clean up the North eastern region of Nigeria faster using locals / CJTF personnel’s, During complicated situation for CJTF Demining personnel’s, they are expected to call for assistance from the nearest military facilities or police Bomb disposal unit . The North east today has military grade and crude crafted explosives scattered around, it is a matter of national concern and importance to clean up the region to enable full exploration of its enormous environmental resources by both the government, private firms and returning populace.
Friday, September 23, 2016
SELLING OF ASSETS? NO
Sale of National Assets: NO by khalifa dikwa. It is a distraction from equally serious corruption issues and an attempt to walk Nigerians into slavery, it is a deliberate card by the double agents to further run Nigeria's economy aground when the FG has the option of a time framed concession / mortgaging of a few less strategic assets to shore up our foreign reserves or outrightly borrow from a few international development banks that will not impose throat cutting interests or other conditions. There are friendly nations that can lend Nigeria more than $15b needed to pull Nigeria out of its cumulative recession. A few of them can raise the said amount as loans or loots when properly grilled by EFCC and cooperation of similar national and international agencies. This amount can easily be retrieved from looters if we have a corrective legislative bureaucracy devoid of judicial gymnastics supporting EFCC and DSS, now that the entire world trusts Buhari govt for blocking holes hitherto institutionalised by a few folks to steal and share our commonwealth. If these folks are allowed another chance, they will repeat what they did in the past. They may sell even the Presidency, the National Assembly, military barracks, etc as they did with the National quarters built for our legislators, NITEL, NEPA etc. The 2011 report on similar sales may boil the blood of the healthiest Nigerians. Let the proponents of the sale start selling their personal belongings, give the proceeds to Nigeria as gift or loans rather than asking FG to again sell our inherited national strategic assets meant for us and our children. Any govt that does so will surrender its authority and guts to a few capitalists who cannot even show their tax certificates or have their fronting cronies in the 3 arms of govt to declare their assets.. Nigeria must not gamble with its authority to check excesses of national saboteurs. It is simply weird and shameless on their part to even think of it. Perhaps, they were the ones who fronted for the previous actors behind our present mess. Prof.Khalifa Dikwa
Saturday, July 23, 2016
ETIMOLOGY OF BOKO HARAM -ABDULHAMID AL-GAZALI
Understanding Some Fundamental Issues On Boko Haram
ETYMOLOGY AND PHASES
ETYMOLOGY AND PHASES
Abdulhamid Al-Gazali, algazali04@yahoo.com
Preface
Let me this week start my column unusually with a short preface that goes thus:
This piece, as a continuation of the lecture I delivered to Hilal Islamic Crescent on the 11th of Ramadan, 1435 A.H., is second part of the series I'm inspired by the said lecture to write in the few coming weeks. Since they are written only within the period of a week each, readers should bear with the fact that as much as I will like to, I cannot deal with the many vexing topics in that area exhaustibly. However, I hope to at the end, upgrade each and adjust them into a book for publication as part of my input to the ongoing studies/debates in that area of knowledge (Boko Haram) as a historian and someone who actually saw it from its onset for the purpose of history, security and studies. This, and the first part should therefore be treated by the reader as (a disjointed) preliminary.
BOKO HARAM: ETYMOLOGY
When I wrote last time on this subject, I did not take the time to make some very fundamental clarification on some key issues. I think for a better understanding of the crisis, I should, now.
No meaningful study of this crisis will be thorough without concentrating it even if in passing to the 'etymology' of the term 'Boko Haram' (Western education is prohibited) as it refers to the insurgents--especially at a preliminary stage. Many have treated this term as though it was the insurgents that chose to refer to themselves as so. Indeed, they were not, but certainly, whoever it was, you wonder what term could have been fitter! Their overall body language, their dispositions, the crux of their arguments, and sometimes--perhaps sometimes--their actions even at their early stages reflects the fittingness of this term to them.
Of course there couldn't have been a better name for a group of people who declared Western education a major sin and promise to stop it! There's no doubt about the fact that Muhammad Yusuf had unequivocally confirmed--to those who sought to understand whether he was only against some aspect of the Western education or the whole of it and/or confusing it with Western culture--that everything about it is 'haram' (prohibited).
So to start to rationalise this will amount to bozoism. Of course some have attempted doing that especially when he said after his capture that computers and other technologies are but not 'haram'. But this only goes to show that Yusuf did not understand what he was fighting. What is science, without technology, you tend to ask. Of course, this man had never been to any Western school to understand anything about it.
At a stage we thought he was against Western concepts, values and ideas such as feminism, democracy, liberalism, communism and so on. But to be honest with you, even though to Muslims, they are un-Islamic, Muhammed Yusuf did not understand what they stood for and/or meant, to afford him that excuse.
Or, what do you think of one who thinks Boko is all about Darwinist theory of evolution? Who thinks 'planet' is the same thing as the'world'? So, to be honest with you, this man is just a puritanical literalist with very shallow understanding of other necessary basic Islamic texts that complement the understanding of the message of the Quran. They are in Islam referred to as 'khawarij'--those who went out (of Islam), though unbeknownst to them--because of their puritan literalism and exceedingly extreme interpretation of, yes, sensitive texts. This however is common to virtually all religions. In fact, the person to whom Muhammad Yusuf can be compared is not Osama bin Laden, but John Kony of the Lord's Resistance Army, whose puritan interpretation of the Biblical text led him to believe that the world must be governed--and he will see to its implementation--by the 10 Commandments of the Bible even if thousands would die in the course.
This is a digression from the central theme of the piece, but the reason why I deem it necessary is because I want to show that though the sect members did not call themselves 'Boko Haram', their body language and utterances--ie their preaching and sermons--have already 'allocated' it to them.
Within Maiduguri, we used to refer to them as Yusufiyya: those who follow Yusuf's warped interpretation of the Quran. Though it has to be noted--again--that at the early stages of this movement, most people embraced it believing that it was the true teachings of Islam.
While we used to call them Yusufiyya, they referred to themselves as Jamma'atul Ahlis Sunnah Lidda'awati Wal Jihad (JASLIWAJ). However, when they declared a war against the state, the term 'Boko Haram'--when it was coined by an Aljazeera reporter--became popular. That was in June 2009.
It was used even before that time to refer to them by few. The term was in fact taken from the commentaries of his followers. Those who Muhammad Yusuf had convinced, went an extra mile in some very hyper critical ways to conclude that Boko--even when Muhammad was reluctant to disclose--haram. It was common to hear from their seemingly proselytising commentaries that Boko is haram, downright; that working with the government is un-Islamic; that the government does not worth the loyalty of the people. I have known many people who, convinced to the brim, authoritatively tell people--and it was us--that Boko and working with the government is haram and they pitied them--and it was us--for not understanding that. People hearing these things a little more frequently, therefore began to ascribe the term 'Boko Haram' to them. But it is not the group's official name. 'Boko Haram' cannot be a sect's name as it means 'western education is forbidden'.
So the point here is, the fact that we have continued to call them Boko Haram has confused and misled us to believe that the group was particularly aimed at stopping or attacking western education. This is not entirely true as some of their actions and targets seem to suggest. When we come to treat #Targets of Boko Haram, this point will be adequately elaborated. But for now, this should noted.
PHASES OF THE BOKO HARAM INSURGENCY
Secondly, attention has to be drawn to the phases in the Boko Haram crisis as it has varying ones. As you may have already known, it used to have two phases, but three now-and went through many stages in its development. The first phase was before 2009. That was when they waged a war against the state, in a retaliation to the assault of the then security men under the aegis of Operation Flush on their men. The war was the closing of the first phase.
About a year after the war, the second phase of its development started, when the remaining few of the war forces, under Abubakar Shakau, regrouped--and drafted in new recruits--and began to unleash terror. That was when they evolved into a full-blown terrorist organisation.
The third phase is the post-Maiduguri phase. This phase started at the middle of 2013 when the Civilian JTF emerged and sent the insurgents completely out of Maiduguri. During this time, their (mode of) operations, centre of activity and targets changed. Typically, each of these three phases vary in mode of operation, severity, targets and what have you, such that, while the first phase was basically about preaching dangerous messages and posing threats, the second phase was about guerrilla warfare and the third about organised massacre and intensified kidnapping. And at the end, it can be seen that the story of Boko Haram is a story of the making of a terrorist group or perhaps the evolution of a terrorist organisation.
Now, it will be misleading to overlook or ignore these phases and/or treat them as one thing. Granted, they are three phases of one thing; but there are aspects of these phases that can best be understood only when they are treated in isolation. It is fair to say, the 2009 war marked a point of transition from the first to the second phase, and the emergence of CJTF in the middle of 2013, to the third phase; but it is even fairer to first treat the reasons for these series of transitions, before concentrating on the phases separately and drawing out their connections and dichotomies.
FACTORS THAT ACCOUNTED FOR THE TRANSITION FROM THE FIRST TO THE SECOND PHASE OF BOKO HARAM
The second phase saw the re-emergence of Boko Haram as a full-blown terrorist organisation that moved away from mere preaching to unleashing terror. Clandestine killings of selected targets, particularly those who at any time opposed them, soon claimed the lives of hundreds. These included many prominent clerics who used to oppose their ideologies and provide counterarguments; district heads who collaborated with the government to identify them and security forces particularly the police who killed many of their members including their leader extra-judicially. But let me highlight some of the reasons for this.
First, as I have already stated in the first part, there was a great mishandling of the situation by the government. The government failed to understand that the problem was a social one and deserves solution from the same line. We must continue to say that the deployment of the security forces under the auspices of Operation Flush was what aggravated an already dangerous situation. Throughout the world, the government of the day seem not have known, that the moment you invite the military to address a social problem (which you are partly or in whole responsible for), they would only help to compound the situation--and they were invited and have compounded it beyond redemption.
Yes, Muhammad Yusuf was preaching a very dangerous message--and people were getting increasingly convinced--about the injustices of the government, its brutality against Islam, telling them how much the government hates the kind of their organisations, and very clearly, the government helped to confirm his messages, to convince the followers even more. The government invited soldiers who soon as they arrived began to harass people such that even those who did not believe in his messages initially began to see reason in them. Soon, we began to hear in people's conversations, such things as: 'Allah Ya yi wa malam (Muhammad Yusuf) albarka, yau yayi kaca-kaca da sojoji' - 'may God bless malam, he has condemned the soldiers flat-out today'. People who never even knew him, the victims of the soldiers' brutality, sympathisers of these victims, were hearing these things. And just too naturally, they began to flock to his preaching, believing that they would find expression of their contempt in a fearless man!
What ought to have been done then was actually to engage the leadership of the potentially dangerous organisation in an endless dialogue. Yes keep dialoguing with them. Invite them together with other scholars to the government house, talk to them. Build schools and ensure that all potential members of the group go to schools. Engage the youths in some job. Encourage other scholars to enlighten the people on the correct teaching of Islam without causing rancour and confusion.
To the best of my knowledge, none of these was done. The military crackdown on not only members of the sect as a perceived solution only helped to generate contempt for the state and eventually succeeded in breeding 'vengeful violence' in the people of the state. I have known many, to be frank, who were happy, at least at the early days, when the insurgents declared a full-scale war against the military. The point here is not to say that these people were in support or sympathetic of the insurgents, but perhaps were fed up with the excesses of the military. So it goes on to show how the soldiers compounded the matter.
You can't flog an old man in his sixties just because he crossed a red-line or ask him to frog-jump and expect his children, relations and the people around to like you in a place like Maiduguri where elders are almost revered. You would, I swear, wonder whether we were in a military regime, because it had become common to come across such scenes all over Maiduguri all the time where people are flogged or punished one way or the other for no good reason.
May the soul of HRH, Alhaji Mustapha Umar El-Kanemi, the then Shehu of Borno, rest in peace. By far, he was the only person who understood the gravity of the situation, but at the same time understood the right solution it deserved. It can be recalled that in 2006 when the insurgents defied the Shehu's order to observe the eid on a certain day and went on to perform theirs a day or two earlier, the state government mobilised security men to stop them. Perhaps it was the same Shehu whose order was defied that intervened and warned the government on the use of force. The insurgents even as early as that time were armed to teeth, battle ready, as they went out to perform their eid. It was him who had always engaged the sect leader in dialogues, admonishing him to shun violence and extremism. But sadly he died along the way and the government did not think it worthy to carry on.
The second reason was the extra-judicial killing of some of the sect members particularly their leader--as if they are innocent of that themselves! The killing of the sect leader instantly on his capture by the police was one of the things that went a long way in clearing the way for the re-emergence of the sect as an entirely terrorist group. No doubt, at the end, he has to be killed, but it has to go through the legal framework.
This factor contributed in at least two or three ways. First, it was his killing alongside some of his men extra-judicially that developed in the remaining members the feelings of vengeance. Perhaps Yusuf in a certain session of his preaching had told his followers that he knew he would be killed for saying the truth, but it was left to them, to wake up and continue the task of 'Boko-haramising' education, of establishing Sharia and so on. And he said the 'truth'--and the lies--and got killed! Perhaps whatever he said, was a gospel! And with this, is anyone surprised with Shekau's ruthlessness?
Second, it was perhaps what paved the way for Shekau who is more ruthlessly violent and aggressive to emerge as the leader of the sect. We knew that it was Shekau who almost single-handedly pressed for the 2009 war to be declared. In fact, it was said that it was him who shot Muhammad Yusuf on his arms the night before the war to push for it. He threatened him that if he did not declare the war, he would be considered an apostate himself and thus be killed too! In a piece I penned in 2011, 'We All Miss Muhammad Yusuf', I have noted that, if he was not killed instantly on his capture, chances were that one: his men would not have regrouped to take revenge. Two, if however they do (which they did), it was easier to dialogue with them, since he must have to be in detention, or ask him to instruct them, since they were quite obedient to him, to ceasefire.
Third, of course, had he been dealt with according to the law, eventually, many hidden secrets capable of bringing the crisis to an end would have been unravelled. Had he been thoroughly interrogated by security forces, professional journalists and students of knowledge, possibly this crisis would have been over now. Unfortunately, this opportunity was missed, obviously, for reasons that some truth-phobic entities wanted him and what he knew dead!
That was injustice. That was why earlier in the first part of this piece, it was noted that this crisis is fundamentally a bi-product of injustice: a reaction to injustice in stages, the first, second and third phases being results of injustice at different degrees.
Furthermore, it could be said with all confidence that those who survived the war of 2009 were quite too few to really regroup and fight back. However, what happened was that while the few, most of whom were actually the most powerful members, regrouped, they recruited new members. Our focus at this juncture is therefore, since the recruitment was almost necessary for them, how they were able to do that. This question is valid insofar as a meaningful inference is hoped to be drawn at the end because it was clear that after the war it must have clear to all and sundry that the Boko Haram madness was up to no good; and with the defeat they suffered in just three days of fight, they would not succeed even in future, to contemplate joining.
Perhaps, among such factors was the extreme poverty and idleness that our youths found themselves in. A mention has to be made that majority of the Boko Haram forces who operate now joined it after the war and did not even ever meet Muhammad Yusuf or heard his preaching up to this point in time. In 2013, I have personally interviewed over three of the insurgents when they were captured by the Civilian JTF and they all confirmed this line of argument! Of course, it could be recalled that in the first part, it was noted that even before Muhammad Yusuf armed his followers with guns, there were youths who already had with them guns and other deadly weapons.
Such youths were initially in the payrolls of politicians, as we know, particularly Ali Sheriff. But after the 2007 election, these violent thugs began to lose the patronage and support they enjoyed initially from the politicians, because their principal employer in the person of Ali Sheriff then under the defunct platform of ANPP (APP earlier) had already been re-elected for the second and last time. A note ought to be made here that these violent youths played key role in the politics of Borno then in such outrageously nonsensical crimes as carting away with ballot boxes, intimidating opposition and election agents into fear, multiple voting and etc--which were what determined the outcome of elections in the state. He was therefore growing disinterested in them as he was not running for a third term. Perhaps this can be understood from the fact that as a result of falling out with them, at the tail-end of his regime, Ali Sheriff imposed a very restrictive curfew on 'achaba' (motorcycle) as a punishment to them. They fell out because Ali Sheriff could not keep on 'furnishing' them with money as he was not after a third term. This provoked them to the extent that they swore to massively vote against him when he vied for the post of a senator in the state's metropolis. When he eventually failed to a PDP aspirant, I think we are all living witnesses to the jubilation that greeted it.
Now, by 2011, these thugs did not only fall out with their boss, he in fact relocated to Abuja, therefore 'introducing' an end to the era of ECOMOGs (violent politics). But this he did without dispossessing them of the weapons he and his likes had armed them with. And no more enjoying the patronage of the government that emerged, which not only ignored them, but derided, they became both jobless and idle. Already armed, perfected on the art of terror, uneducated, jobless and idle, how are these youths NOT ready made recruits for a Boko Haram ready to rain down money?
These youths had already specialised on the art of violence and unleashing terror, which included clandestine killings, intimidating and harassing innocent people. With no iota of Muhammad Yusuf's ideology, talk less of inspiration from Islam, but every element of materialism, these youths were recruited by the re-emerging Boko Haram, operating on the dictates of Shekau. These was even easier since the mode of operation was guerilla in nature and thus, membership remain highly secret.
Let us also add that the banning of motorcycles on the streets of Maiduguri in 2011 by the emergent governor, Kashim Shettima, deprived many of sources of livelihood, thus compounding an already compounded situation!
I think enough is said about some of the factors that brought us to where we are now. But obviously, if the first part of the piece was concentrated to the factors that brought about the first phase of the insurgency, and this the second, I think the justice has to be extended to the third phase, which we are in now, starting from mid 2013.
To be continued...
ETYMOLOGY AND PHASES
ETYMOLOGY AND PHASES
Abdulhamid Al-Gazali, algazali04@yahoo.com
Preface
Let me this week start my column unusually with a short preface that goes thus:
This piece, as a continuation of the lecture I delivered to Hilal Islamic Crescent on the 11th of Ramadan, 1435 A.H., is second part of the series I'm inspired by the said lecture to write in the few coming weeks. Since they are written only within the period of a week each, readers should bear with the fact that as much as I will like to, I cannot deal with the many vexing topics in that area exhaustibly. However, I hope to at the end, upgrade each and adjust them into a book for publication as part of my input to the ongoing studies/debates in that area of knowledge (Boko Haram) as a historian and someone who actually saw it from its onset for the purpose of history, security and studies. This, and the first part should therefore be treated by the reader as (a disjointed) preliminary.
BOKO HARAM: ETYMOLOGY
When I wrote last time on this subject, I did not take the time to make some very fundamental clarification on some key issues. I think for a better understanding of the crisis, I should, now.
No meaningful study of this crisis will be thorough without concentrating it even if in passing to the 'etymology' of the term 'Boko Haram' (Western education is prohibited) as it refers to the insurgents--especially at a preliminary stage. Many have treated this term as though it was the insurgents that chose to refer to themselves as so. Indeed, they were not, but certainly, whoever it was, you wonder what term could have been fitter! Their overall body language, their dispositions, the crux of their arguments, and sometimes--perhaps sometimes--their actions even at their early stages reflects the fittingness of this term to them.
Of course there couldn't have been a better name for a group of people who declared Western education a major sin and promise to stop it! There's no doubt about the fact that Muhammad Yusuf had unequivocally confirmed--to those who sought to understand whether he was only against some aspect of the Western education or the whole of it and/or confusing it with Western culture--that everything about it is 'haram' (prohibited).
So to start to rationalise this will amount to bozoism. Of course some have attempted doing that especially when he said after his capture that computers and other technologies are but not 'haram'. But this only goes to show that Yusuf did not understand what he was fighting. What is science, without technology, you tend to ask. Of course, this man had never been to any Western school to understand anything about it.
At a stage we thought he was against Western concepts, values and ideas such as feminism, democracy, liberalism, communism and so on. But to be honest with you, even though to Muslims, they are un-Islamic, Muhammed Yusuf did not understand what they stood for and/or meant, to afford him that excuse.
Or, what do you think of one who thinks Boko is all about Darwinist theory of evolution? Who thinks 'planet' is the same thing as the'world'? So, to be honest with you, this man is just a puritanical literalist with very shallow understanding of other necessary basic Islamic texts that complement the understanding of the message of the Quran. They are in Islam referred to as 'khawarij'--those who went out (of Islam), though unbeknownst to them--because of their puritan literalism and exceedingly extreme interpretation of, yes, sensitive texts. This however is common to virtually all religions. In fact, the person to whom Muhammad Yusuf can be compared is not Osama bin Laden, but John Kony of the Lord's Resistance Army, whose puritan interpretation of the Biblical text led him to believe that the world must be governed--and he will see to its implementation--by the 10 Commandments of the Bible even if thousands would die in the course.
This is a digression from the central theme of the piece, but the reason why I deem it necessary is because I want to show that though the sect members did not call themselves 'Boko Haram', their body language and utterances--ie their preaching and sermons--have already 'allocated' it to them.
Within Maiduguri, we used to refer to them as Yusufiyya: those who follow Yusuf's warped interpretation of the Quran. Though it has to be noted--again--that at the early stages of this movement, most people embraced it believing that it was the true teachings of Islam.
While we used to call them Yusufiyya, they referred to themselves as Jamma'atul Ahlis Sunnah Lidda'awati Wal Jihad (JASLIWAJ). However, when they declared a war against the state, the term 'Boko Haram'--when it was coined by an Aljazeera reporter--became popular. That was in June 2009.
It was used even before that time to refer to them by few. The term was in fact taken from the commentaries of his followers. Those who Muhammad Yusuf had convinced, went an extra mile in some very hyper critical ways to conclude that Boko--even when Muhammad was reluctant to disclose--haram. It was common to hear from their seemingly proselytising commentaries that Boko is haram, downright; that working with the government is un-Islamic; that the government does not worth the loyalty of the people. I have known many people who, convinced to the brim, authoritatively tell people--and it was us--that Boko and working with the government is haram and they pitied them--and it was us--for not understanding that. People hearing these things a little more frequently, therefore began to ascribe the term 'Boko Haram' to them. But it is not the group's official name. 'Boko Haram' cannot be a sect's name as it means 'western education is forbidden'.
So the point here is, the fact that we have continued to call them Boko Haram has confused and misled us to believe that the group was particularly aimed at stopping or attacking western education. This is not entirely true as some of their actions and targets seem to suggest. When we come to treat #Targets of Boko Haram, this point will be adequately elaborated. But for now, this should noted.
PHASES OF THE BOKO HARAM INSURGENCY
Secondly, attention has to be drawn to the phases in the Boko Haram crisis as it has varying ones. As you may have already known, it used to have two phases, but three now-and went through many stages in its development. The first phase was before 2009. That was when they waged a war against the state, in a retaliation to the assault of the then security men under the aegis of Operation Flush on their men. The war was the closing of the first phase.
About a year after the war, the second phase of its development started, when the remaining few of the war forces, under Abubakar Shakau, regrouped--and drafted in new recruits--and began to unleash terror. That was when they evolved into a full-blown terrorist organisation.
The third phase is the post-Maiduguri phase. This phase started at the middle of 2013 when the Civilian JTF emerged and sent the insurgents completely out of Maiduguri. During this time, their (mode of) operations, centre of activity and targets changed. Typically, each of these three phases vary in mode of operation, severity, targets and what have you, such that, while the first phase was basically about preaching dangerous messages and posing threats, the second phase was about guerrilla warfare and the third about organised massacre and intensified kidnapping. And at the end, it can be seen that the story of Boko Haram is a story of the making of a terrorist group or perhaps the evolution of a terrorist organisation.
Now, it will be misleading to overlook or ignore these phases and/or treat them as one thing. Granted, they are three phases of one thing; but there are aspects of these phases that can best be understood only when they are treated in isolation. It is fair to say, the 2009 war marked a point of transition from the first to the second phase, and the emergence of CJTF in the middle of 2013, to the third phase; but it is even fairer to first treat the reasons for these series of transitions, before concentrating on the phases separately and drawing out their connections and dichotomies.
FACTORS THAT ACCOUNTED FOR THE TRANSITION FROM THE FIRST TO THE SECOND PHASE OF BOKO HARAM
The second phase saw the re-emergence of Boko Haram as a full-blown terrorist organisation that moved away from mere preaching to unleashing terror. Clandestine killings of selected targets, particularly those who at any time opposed them, soon claimed the lives of hundreds. These included many prominent clerics who used to oppose their ideologies and provide counterarguments; district heads who collaborated with the government to identify them and security forces particularly the police who killed many of their members including their leader extra-judicially. But let me highlight some of the reasons for this.
First, as I have already stated in the first part, there was a great mishandling of the situation by the government. The government failed to understand that the problem was a social one and deserves solution from the same line. We must continue to say that the deployment of the security forces under the auspices of Operation Flush was what aggravated an already dangerous situation. Throughout the world, the government of the day seem not have known, that the moment you invite the military to address a social problem (which you are partly or in whole responsible for), they would only help to compound the situation--and they were invited and have compounded it beyond redemption.
Yes, Muhammad Yusuf was preaching a very dangerous message--and people were getting increasingly convinced--about the injustices of the government, its brutality against Islam, telling them how much the government hates the kind of their organisations, and very clearly, the government helped to confirm his messages, to convince the followers even more. The government invited soldiers who soon as they arrived began to harass people such that even those who did not believe in his messages initially began to see reason in them. Soon, we began to hear in people's conversations, such things as: 'Allah Ya yi wa malam (Muhammad Yusuf) albarka, yau yayi kaca-kaca da sojoji' - 'may God bless malam, he has condemned the soldiers flat-out today'. People who never even knew him, the victims of the soldiers' brutality, sympathisers of these victims, were hearing these things. And just too naturally, they began to flock to his preaching, believing that they would find expression of their contempt in a fearless man!
What ought to have been done then was actually to engage the leadership of the potentially dangerous organisation in an endless dialogue. Yes keep dialoguing with them. Invite them together with other scholars to the government house, talk to them. Build schools and ensure that all potential members of the group go to schools. Engage the youths in some job. Encourage other scholars to enlighten the people on the correct teaching of Islam without causing rancour and confusion.
To the best of my knowledge, none of these was done. The military crackdown on not only members of the sect as a perceived solution only helped to generate contempt for the state and eventually succeeded in breeding 'vengeful violence' in the people of the state. I have known many, to be frank, who were happy, at least at the early days, when the insurgents declared a full-scale war against the military. The point here is not to say that these people were in support or sympathetic of the insurgents, but perhaps were fed up with the excesses of the military. So it goes on to show how the soldiers compounded the matter.
You can't flog an old man in his sixties just because he crossed a red-line or ask him to frog-jump and expect his children, relations and the people around to like you in a place like Maiduguri where elders are almost revered. You would, I swear, wonder whether we were in a military regime, because it had become common to come across such scenes all over Maiduguri all the time where people are flogged or punished one way or the other for no good reason.
May the soul of HRH, Alhaji Mustapha Umar El-Kanemi, the then Shehu of Borno, rest in peace. By far, he was the only person who understood the gravity of the situation, but at the same time understood the right solution it deserved. It can be recalled that in 2006 when the insurgents defied the Shehu's order to observe the eid on a certain day and went on to perform theirs a day or two earlier, the state government mobilised security men to stop them. Perhaps it was the same Shehu whose order was defied that intervened and warned the government on the use of force. The insurgents even as early as that time were armed to teeth, battle ready, as they went out to perform their eid. It was him who had always engaged the sect leader in dialogues, admonishing him to shun violence and extremism. But sadly he died along the way and the government did not think it worthy to carry on.
The second reason was the extra-judicial killing of some of the sect members particularly their leader--as if they are innocent of that themselves! The killing of the sect leader instantly on his capture by the police was one of the things that went a long way in clearing the way for the re-emergence of the sect as an entirely terrorist group. No doubt, at the end, he has to be killed, but it has to go through the legal framework.
This factor contributed in at least two or three ways. First, it was his killing alongside some of his men extra-judicially that developed in the remaining members the feelings of vengeance. Perhaps Yusuf in a certain session of his preaching had told his followers that he knew he would be killed for saying the truth, but it was left to them, to wake up and continue the task of 'Boko-haramising' education, of establishing Sharia and so on. And he said the 'truth'--and the lies--and got killed! Perhaps whatever he said, was a gospel! And with this, is anyone surprised with Shekau's ruthlessness?
Second, it was perhaps what paved the way for Shekau who is more ruthlessly violent and aggressive to emerge as the leader of the sect. We knew that it was Shekau who almost single-handedly pressed for the 2009 war to be declared. In fact, it was said that it was him who shot Muhammad Yusuf on his arms the night before the war to push for it. He threatened him that if he did not declare the war, he would be considered an apostate himself and thus be killed too! In a piece I penned in 2011, 'We All Miss Muhammad Yusuf', I have noted that, if he was not killed instantly on his capture, chances were that one: his men would not have regrouped to take revenge. Two, if however they do (which they did), it was easier to dialogue with them, since he must have to be in detention, or ask him to instruct them, since they were quite obedient to him, to ceasefire.
Third, of course, had he been dealt with according to the law, eventually, many hidden secrets capable of bringing the crisis to an end would have been unravelled. Had he been thoroughly interrogated by security forces, professional journalists and students of knowledge, possibly this crisis would have been over now. Unfortunately, this opportunity was missed, obviously, for reasons that some truth-phobic entities wanted him and what he knew dead!
That was injustice. That was why earlier in the first part of this piece, it was noted that this crisis is fundamentally a bi-product of injustice: a reaction to injustice in stages, the first, second and third phases being results of injustice at different degrees.
Furthermore, it could be said with all confidence that those who survived the war of 2009 were quite too few to really regroup and fight back. However, what happened was that while the few, most of whom were actually the most powerful members, regrouped, they recruited new members. Our focus at this juncture is therefore, since the recruitment was almost necessary for them, how they were able to do that. This question is valid insofar as a meaningful inference is hoped to be drawn at the end because it was clear that after the war it must have clear to all and sundry that the Boko Haram madness was up to no good; and with the defeat they suffered in just three days of fight, they would not succeed even in future, to contemplate joining.
Perhaps, among such factors was the extreme poverty and idleness that our youths found themselves in. A mention has to be made that majority of the Boko Haram forces who operate now joined it after the war and did not even ever meet Muhammad Yusuf or heard his preaching up to this point in time. In 2013, I have personally interviewed over three of the insurgents when they were captured by the Civilian JTF and they all confirmed this line of argument! Of course, it could be recalled that in the first part, it was noted that even before Muhammad Yusuf armed his followers with guns, there were youths who already had with them guns and other deadly weapons.
Such youths were initially in the payrolls of politicians, as we know, particularly Ali Sheriff. But after the 2007 election, these violent thugs began to lose the patronage and support they enjoyed initially from the politicians, because their principal employer in the person of Ali Sheriff then under the defunct platform of ANPP (APP earlier) had already been re-elected for the second and last time. A note ought to be made here that these violent youths played key role in the politics of Borno then in such outrageously nonsensical crimes as carting away with ballot boxes, intimidating opposition and election agents into fear, multiple voting and etc--which were what determined the outcome of elections in the state. He was therefore growing disinterested in them as he was not running for a third term. Perhaps this can be understood from the fact that as a result of falling out with them, at the tail-end of his regime, Ali Sheriff imposed a very restrictive curfew on 'achaba' (motorcycle) as a punishment to them. They fell out because Ali Sheriff could not keep on 'furnishing' them with money as he was not after a third term. This provoked them to the extent that they swore to massively vote against him when he vied for the post of a senator in the state's metropolis. When he eventually failed to a PDP aspirant, I think we are all living witnesses to the jubilation that greeted it.
Now, by 2011, these thugs did not only fall out with their boss, he in fact relocated to Abuja, therefore 'introducing' an end to the era of ECOMOGs (violent politics). But this he did without dispossessing them of the weapons he and his likes had armed them with. And no more enjoying the patronage of the government that emerged, which not only ignored them, but derided, they became both jobless and idle. Already armed, perfected on the art of terror, uneducated, jobless and idle, how are these youths NOT ready made recruits for a Boko Haram ready to rain down money?
These youths had already specialised on the art of violence and unleashing terror, which included clandestine killings, intimidating and harassing innocent people. With no iota of Muhammad Yusuf's ideology, talk less of inspiration from Islam, but every element of materialism, these youths were recruited by the re-emerging Boko Haram, operating on the dictates of Shekau. These was even easier since the mode of operation was guerilla in nature and thus, membership remain highly secret.
Let us also add that the banning of motorcycles on the streets of Maiduguri in 2011 by the emergent governor, Kashim Shettima, deprived many of sources of livelihood, thus compounding an already compounded situation!
I think enough is said about some of the factors that brought us to where we are now. But obviously, if the first part of the piece was concentrated to the factors that brought about the first phase of the insurgency, and this the second, I think the justice has to be extended to the third phase, which we are in now, starting from mid 2013.
To be continued...
Thursday, July 14, 2016
Kanuri
How Much Do you know of the Kanuri Language,People and Culture ?
Kanuri is a dialect continuum spoken by some eight million people, as of 2007, in Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon, as well as small minorities in southern Libya and by a diaspora in Sudan and also Oyem in Gabon . It belongs to the Western Saharan subphylum of Nilo-Saharan. Kanuri is the language associated with the Kanem and Bornu empires which dominated the Lake Chad region for a thousand years.
The basic word order of Kanuri sentences is subject–object–verb. It is typologically unusual in simultaneously having postpositions and post-nominal modifiers – for example, "Bintu's pot" would be expressed as nje Bintu-be, "pot Bintu-of".
Kanuri has three tones: high, low, and falling. It has an extensive system of consonant weakening (for example, sa- "they" + -buna "have eaten" > za-wuna "they have eaten".
Traditionally a local lingua franca, its usage has declined in recent decades. Most first-language speakers speak Hausa or Arabic as a second language.
The largest population of Kanuri reside in the northeast corner of Nigeria, where the ceremonial Emirate of Borno traces direct decent for the Kanem-Bornu empire, founded sometime before 1000 CE. Some 3 million Kanuri speakers live in Nigeria, not including the some 200,000 speakers of the Manga or Mangari dialect.[1] The Nga people in Bauchi State trace their origins to a Kanuri diaspora.[7]
In southeastern Niger, where they form the majority of the sedentary population, the Kanuri are commonly called Beri Beri ( a Hausa name).[3] The 400,000 Kanuri population in Niger includes the Manga or Mangari subgroup, numbering some 100,000 (1997) in the area east of Zinder, who regard themselves as distinct from the Beri Beri.[3] Around 40,000 (1998) members of the Tumari subgroup, sometimes called Kanembu in Niger, are a distinct Kanuri subgroup living in the N'guigmi area, and are distinct from the Chadian Kanembu people.[8] In the Kaour escarpment oasis of eastern Niger, the Kanuri are further divided into the Bla Bla subgroup, numbering some 20,000 (2003), and are the dominat ethnic group in the salt evaporation and trade industry of Bilma.
Kanuri speak the Kanuri language, or one of its related languages a member of the Nilo-Saharan language family. Divisions include the Manga, Tumari, and Bilma dialects of Central Kanuri, and the more distinct Kanembu language.[10]
Inheriting the religious and cultural traditions of the Kanem-Bornu state, Kanuri peoples are predominantly Sunni Muslim.
In Chad, Kanembu speakers differentiate themselves from the large Kanuri ethnicity. The Kanembu are centered in Lac Prefecture and southern Kanem Prefecture. Although Kanuri, which derived from Kanembu, was the major language of the Borno Empire, in Chad Kanuri language speakers are limited to handfuls of speakers in urban centers. Kanuri remains a major language in southeastern Niger, northeastern Nigeria, and northern Cameroon[11].
In the early 1980s, the Kanembu constituted the greatest part of the population of Lac Prefecture, but some Kanembu also lived in Chari-Baguirmi Prefecture. Once the core ethnic group of the Kanem-Borno Empire, whose territories at one time included northeastern Nigeria and southern Libya, the Kanembu retain ties beyond the borders of Chad. For example, close family and commercial ties bind them with the Kanuri of northeastern Nigeria. Within Chad, many Kanembu of Lac and Kanem prefectures identify with the Alifa of Mao, the governor of the region in precolonial times.[6]
Originally a pastoral people, the Kanuri were one of many Nilo-Saharan groups indigenous to the Central South Sahara, beginning their expansion in the area of Lake Chad in the late 7th century, and absorbing both indigenous Nilo-Saharan and Chadic (Afro-Asiatic) speakers. According to Kanuri tradition, Sef, son of Dhu Ifazan of Yemen, arrived in Kanem in the ninth century and united the population into the Sayfawa dynasty. This tradition however, is likely a product of later Islamic influence, reflecting the association with their Arabian origins in the Islamic era. Evidence of indigenous state formation in the Lake Chad area dates back to the early first century B.C. (ca. 800 B.C.) at Zilum.
Religion
Kanuri became Muslims in the 11th century, Kanem became a centre of Muslim learning and the Kanuri soon controlled all the area surrounding Lake Chad and a powerful empire called Kanem-Bornu Empire which reached its height in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries when they ruled much of Central Africa.
Traditional state
Following the downfall of the Kanem-Bornu Empire and the Scramble for Africa in the 19th century, the Kanuri were divided under the rule of the British, French and German African empires.
Despite the loss of the Kanuri led state, the Shehu of Borno continues as ruler Emirate or Sultanate of Borno. This traditional Kanuri/Kanembu Emirate at Borno maintains a ceremonial rule of the Kanuri people, based in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria, but acknowledged by the 4 million Kanuri in neighboring countries. The Shehu ("Sultan") of Borno draws his authority from a state founded before 1000 CE, the Kanem-Bornu Empire.[12] The current ruling line, the al-Kanemi dynasty, dates to the accession of Muhammad al-Amin al-Kanemi in the early 19th century, displacing the Sayfawa dynasty which had ruled from around 1300 CE. The 19th Shehu of Borno Mustapha Umar El-Kanemi, died in February 2009
Political leaders
In Nigeria, famous post-independence Kanuri leaders include the politicians Sir Kashim Ibrahim, Ibrahim Imam, Alhaji Mai Deribe, Alhaji Zanna Dipcharima,Alhaji Shetima Ali Monguno,Baba Gana Kingibe, former GNPP leader Waziri Ibrahim,Alhaji Kuli Deribe,Alhaji Bukar Bolori,Alhaji Mohammed Aburos of Fezzan,Sheik Abubakar Elmaskin,Goni Maliki of Makkah (Mecca city),Alhaji Umar Na Alhaji Lawan of Fezzan,Sheik Ibrahim Saleh,Alhaji Mala Kachallah of Fezzan(Governor) and the former military ruler, General Sani Abacha as well as Brigadier Abba Kyari among many others that are deserved to be mention but unfortunately were not mentioned (my apology for that). In Niger, Kanuri political leaders include the former Prime Minister of Niger Mamane Oumarou, and the former President of Niger, Tandja Mamadou and the present chief of Army staff of Cameroon Mallam Bukar. In addition we even have Kanuris in the republic of Gabon and one of them was appointed a Minister under President Ali Oumar Bongou.In fact a town called Oyem is a 100 % town presently own,ruled and manage by the Kanuris. One of the most popular Kanuri Gabonese is Malem Tidzani (Standard Organization of Gabon).
Finally the Kanuri people are the only tribe in the whole World that has people of no other religion apart from Islam so literally the Kanuri people are 100 % Muslims.
Kanuri is a dialect continuum spoken by some eight million people, as of 2007, in Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon, as well as small minorities in southern Libya and by a diaspora in Sudan and also Oyem in Gabon . It belongs to the Western Saharan subphylum of Nilo-Saharan. Kanuri is the language associated with the Kanem and Bornu empires which dominated the Lake Chad region for a thousand years.
The basic word order of Kanuri sentences is subject–object–verb. It is typologically unusual in simultaneously having postpositions and post-nominal modifiers – for example, "Bintu's pot" would be expressed as nje Bintu-be, "pot Bintu-of".
Kanuri has three tones: high, low, and falling. It has an extensive system of consonant weakening (for example, sa- "they" + -buna "have eaten" > za-wuna "they have eaten".
Traditionally a local lingua franca, its usage has declined in recent decades. Most first-language speakers speak Hausa or Arabic as a second language.
The largest population of Kanuri reside in the northeast corner of Nigeria, where the ceremonial Emirate of Borno traces direct decent for the Kanem-Bornu empire, founded sometime before 1000 CE. Some 3 million Kanuri speakers live in Nigeria, not including the some 200,000 speakers of the Manga or Mangari dialect.[1] The Nga people in Bauchi State trace their origins to a Kanuri diaspora.[7]
In southeastern Niger, where they form the majority of the sedentary population, the Kanuri are commonly called Beri Beri ( a Hausa name).[3] The 400,000 Kanuri population in Niger includes the Manga or Mangari subgroup, numbering some 100,000 (1997) in the area east of Zinder, who regard themselves as distinct from the Beri Beri.[3] Around 40,000 (1998) members of the Tumari subgroup, sometimes called Kanembu in Niger, are a distinct Kanuri subgroup living in the N'guigmi area, and are distinct from the Chadian Kanembu people.[8] In the Kaour escarpment oasis of eastern Niger, the Kanuri are further divided into the Bla Bla subgroup, numbering some 20,000 (2003), and are the dominat ethnic group in the salt evaporation and trade industry of Bilma.
Kanuri speak the Kanuri language, or one of its related languages a member of the Nilo-Saharan language family. Divisions include the Manga, Tumari, and Bilma dialects of Central Kanuri, and the more distinct Kanembu language.[10]
Inheriting the religious and cultural traditions of the Kanem-Bornu state, Kanuri peoples are predominantly Sunni Muslim.
In Chad, Kanembu speakers differentiate themselves from the large Kanuri ethnicity. The Kanembu are centered in Lac Prefecture and southern Kanem Prefecture. Although Kanuri, which derived from Kanembu, was the major language of the Borno Empire, in Chad Kanuri language speakers are limited to handfuls of speakers in urban centers. Kanuri remains a major language in southeastern Niger, northeastern Nigeria, and northern Cameroon[11].
In the early 1980s, the Kanembu constituted the greatest part of the population of Lac Prefecture, but some Kanembu also lived in Chari-Baguirmi Prefecture. Once the core ethnic group of the Kanem-Borno Empire, whose territories at one time included northeastern Nigeria and southern Libya, the Kanembu retain ties beyond the borders of Chad. For example, close family and commercial ties bind them with the Kanuri of northeastern Nigeria. Within Chad, many Kanembu of Lac and Kanem prefectures identify with the Alifa of Mao, the governor of the region in precolonial times.[6]
Originally a pastoral people, the Kanuri were one of many Nilo-Saharan groups indigenous to the Central South Sahara, beginning their expansion in the area of Lake Chad in the late 7th century, and absorbing both indigenous Nilo-Saharan and Chadic (Afro-Asiatic) speakers. According to Kanuri tradition, Sef, son of Dhu Ifazan of Yemen, arrived in Kanem in the ninth century and united the population into the Sayfawa dynasty. This tradition however, is likely a product of later Islamic influence, reflecting the association with their Arabian origins in the Islamic era. Evidence of indigenous state formation in the Lake Chad area dates back to the early first century B.C. (ca. 800 B.C.) at Zilum.
Religion
Kanuri became Muslims in the 11th century, Kanem became a centre of Muslim learning and the Kanuri soon controlled all the area surrounding Lake Chad and a powerful empire called Kanem-Bornu Empire which reached its height in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries when they ruled much of Central Africa.
Traditional state
Following the downfall of the Kanem-Bornu Empire and the Scramble for Africa in the 19th century, the Kanuri were divided under the rule of the British, French and German African empires.
Despite the loss of the Kanuri led state, the Shehu of Borno continues as ruler Emirate or Sultanate of Borno. This traditional Kanuri/Kanembu Emirate at Borno maintains a ceremonial rule of the Kanuri people, based in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria, but acknowledged by the 4 million Kanuri in neighboring countries. The Shehu ("Sultan") of Borno draws his authority from a state founded before 1000 CE, the Kanem-Bornu Empire.[12] The current ruling line, the al-Kanemi dynasty, dates to the accession of Muhammad al-Amin al-Kanemi in the early 19th century, displacing the Sayfawa dynasty which had ruled from around 1300 CE. The 19th Shehu of Borno Mustapha Umar El-Kanemi, died in February 2009
Political leaders
In Nigeria, famous post-independence Kanuri leaders include the politicians Sir Kashim Ibrahim, Ibrahim Imam, Alhaji Mai Deribe, Alhaji Zanna Dipcharima,Alhaji Shetima Ali Monguno,Baba Gana Kingibe, former GNPP leader Waziri Ibrahim,Alhaji Kuli Deribe,Alhaji Bukar Bolori,Alhaji Mohammed Aburos of Fezzan,Sheik Abubakar Elmaskin,Goni Maliki of Makkah (Mecca city),Alhaji Umar Na Alhaji Lawan of Fezzan,Sheik Ibrahim Saleh,Alhaji Mala Kachallah of Fezzan(Governor) and the former military ruler, General Sani Abacha as well as Brigadier Abba Kyari among many others that are deserved to be mention but unfortunately were not mentioned (my apology for that). In Niger, Kanuri political leaders include the former Prime Minister of Niger Mamane Oumarou, and the former President of Niger, Tandja Mamadou and the present chief of Army staff of Cameroon Mallam Bukar. In addition we even have Kanuris in the republic of Gabon and one of them was appointed a Minister under President Ali Oumar Bongou.In fact a town called Oyem is a 100 % town presently own,ruled and manage by the Kanuris. One of the most popular Kanuri Gabonese is Malem Tidzani (Standard Organization of Gabon).
Finally the Kanuri people are the only tribe in the whole World that has people of no other religion apart from Islam so literally the Kanuri people are 100 % Muslims.
Thursday, June 2, 2016
Afrique Noire
Ton continent est noir
Par la couleur de sa peau
Par son histoire tragique
Son futur incertain
Tu incarnes l’espoir
Mais la lourdeur du dépôt
Après les temps euphoriques
De leur sombre festin
T’a fait payé un tribut
Que tes enfants subissent
Affublés de balafres
Des coups portés à leurs pères
Chaque ethnie ou tribu
Qui aujourd’hui subsiste
A hérité de ces affres
Dont leurs aînés ont souffert
Tu demeures ampli de joie
Un symbole du sourire
Exemple de courage
En ce fébrile présent
Je me suis plu sous ton toit
Même si j’y ai vu mourir
Contenant ma rage
Nombre d’enfants
L’âme emplie de douleur
Les yeux sujets aux larmes
Devant l’hécatombe
De destins écroulés
Mais je laisserais tout l’or
De ce monde sans charme
Pour qu’avant ma tombe
Je puisse à nouveau fouler
Par la couleur de sa peau
Par son histoire tragique
Son futur incertain
Tu incarnes l’espoir
Mais la lourdeur du dépôt
Après les temps euphoriques
De leur sombre festin
T’a fait payé un tribut
Que tes enfants subissent
Affublés de balafres
Des coups portés à leurs pères
Chaque ethnie ou tribu
Qui aujourd’hui subsiste
A hérité de ces affres
Dont leurs aînés ont souffert
Tu demeures ampli de joie
Un symbole du sourire
Exemple de courage
En ce fébrile présent
Je me suis plu sous ton toit
Même si j’y ai vu mourir
Contenant ma rage
Nombre d’enfants
L’âme emplie de douleur
Les yeux sujets aux larmes
Devant l’hécatombe
De destins écroulés
Mais je laisserais tout l’or
De ce monde sans charme
Pour qu’avant ma tombe
Je puisse à nouveau fouler
A LA JEUNESSE AFRICAINE
Tu aura beau fermer les yeux très fort, c'est par pour autant que tu pourra te prétendre aveugle...
Le feu qui te brûlera, c'est celui auquel tu te chauffes
Sous toute douceur charnelle un peu profonde, il y a la permanence d'un danger.
Qui attend que tout danger soit écarté pour mettre les voiles, ne prendra jamais la mer."
Quand le feu est à la maison de ton voisin, la tienne est en danger.
Il faut être gentil avec la CHINE. C'est très dangereux de faire peur à ceux que l'on craint
Le feu qui te brûlera, c'est celui auquel tu te chauffes
Sous toute douceur charnelle un peu profonde, il y a la permanence d'un danger.
Qui attend que tout danger soit écarté pour mettre les voiles, ne prendra jamais la mer."
Quand le feu est à la maison de ton voisin, la tienne est en danger.
Il faut être gentil avec la CHINE. C'est très dangereux de faire peur à ceux que l'on craint
Sunday, May 29, 2016
PRESIDENT BUHARI'S DEMOCRACY SPEECH.MAY 29,2016.
MY COMPATRIOTS,
IT IS ONE YEAR TODAY SINCE OUR ADMINISTRATION CAME INTO OFFICE. IT HAS BEEN A YEAR OF TRIUMPH, CONSOLIDATION, PAINS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. BY AGE, INSTINCT AND EXPERIENCE, MY PREFERENCE IS TO LOOK FORWARD, TO PREPARE FOR THE CHALLENGES THAT LIE AHEAD AND REDEDICATE THE ADMINISTRATION TO THE TASK OF FIXING NIGERIA. BUT I BELIEVE WE CAN ALSO LEARN FROM THE OBSTACLES WE HAVE OVERCOME AND THE PROGRESS WE MADE THUS FAR, TO HELP STRENGTHEN THE PLANS THAT WE HAVE IN PLACE TO PUT NIGERIA BACK ON THE PATH OF PROGRESS.
WE AFFIRM OUR BELIEF IN DEMOCRACY AS THE FORM OF GOVERNMENT THAT BEST ASSURES THE ACTIVE PARTICIPATION AND ACTUAL BENEFIT OF THE PEOPLE. DESPITE THE MANY YEARS OF HARDSHIP AND DISAPPOINTMENT THE PEOPLE OF THIS NATION HAVE PROVED INHERENTLY GOOD, INDUSTRIOUS TOLERANT, PATIENT AND GENEROUS.
THE PAST YEARS HAVE WITNESSED HUGE FLOWS OF OIL REVENUES. FROM 2010 AVERAGE OIL PRICES WERE $100 PER BARREL. BUT ECONOMIC AND SECURITY CONDITIONS WERE DETERIORATING. WE CAMPAIGNED AND WON THE ELECTION ON THE PLATFORM OF RESTORING SECURITY, TACKLING CORRUPTION AND RESTRUCTURING THE ECONOMY. ON OUR ARRIVAL, THE OIL PRICE HAD COLLAPSED TO AS LOW AS $30 PER BARREL AND WE FOUND NOTHING HAD BEEN KEPT FOR THE RAINY DAY. OIL PRICES HAVE BEEN DECLINING SINCE 2014 BUT DUE TO THE NEGLECT OF THE PAST, THE COUNTRY WAS NOT EQUIPPED TO HALT THE ECONOMY FROM DECLINING.
THE INFRASTRUCTURE, NOTABLY RAIL, POWER, ROADS WERE IN A DECREPIT STATE. ALL THE FOUR REFINERIES WERE IN A STATE OF DISREPAIR, THE PIPELINES AND DEPOTS NEGLECTED.
HUGE DEBTS OWED TO CONTRACTORS AND SUPPLIERS HAD ACCUMULATED. TWENTY-SEVEN STATES COULD NOT PAY SALARIES FOR MONTHS. IN THE NORTH-EAST, BOKO HARAM HAD CAPTURED 14 LOCAL GOVERNMENTS, DRIVEN THE LOCAL AUTHORITIES OUT, HOISTED THEIR FLAGS. ELSEWHERE, INSECURITY WAS PALPABLE; CORRUPTION AND IMPUNITY WERE THE ORDER OF THE DAY. IN SHORT, WE INHERITED A STATE NEAR COLLAPSE.
ON THE ECONOMIC FRONT, ALL OIL DEPENDENT COUNTRIES, NIGERIA INCLUDED, HAVE BEEN STRUGGLING SINCE THE DROP IN PRICES. MANY OIL RICH STATES HAVE HAD TO TAKE TOUGH DECISIONS SIMILAR TO WHAT WE ARE DOING. THE WORLD, NIGERIA INCLUDED HAS BEEN DEALING WITH THE EFFECTS OF THREE SIGNIFICANT AND SIMULTANEOUS GLOBAL SHOCKS STARTING IN 2014:
A 70% DROP IN OIL PRICES.
GLOBAL GROWTH SLOWDOWN.
NORMALIZATION OF MONETARY POLICY BY THE UNITED STATES FEDERAL RESERVE.
OUR PROBLEMS AS A GOVERNMENT ARE LIKE THAT OF A FARMER WHO IN A GOOD SEASON HARVESTS TEN BAGS OF PRODUCE. THE PROCEEDS ENABLE HIM TO GET BY FOR REST OF THE YEAR. HOWEVER, THIS YEAR HE COULD ONLY MANAGE 3 BAGS FROM HIS FARM. HE MUST NOW THINK OF OTHER WAYS TO MAKE ENDS MEET.
FROM DAY ONE, WE PURPOSELY SET OUT TO CORRECT OUR CONDITION, TO CHANGE NIGERIA. WE REINFORCED AND GALVANIZED OUR ARMED FORCES WITH NEW LEADERSHIP AND RESOURCES. WE MARSHALED OUR NEIGHBOURS IN A JOINT TASK FORCE TO TACKLE AND DEFEAT BOKO HARAM. BY THE END OF DECEMBER 2015, ALL BUT POCKETS AND REMNANTS HAD BEEN ROUTED BY OUR GALLANT ARMED FORCES. OUR IMMEDIATE FOCUS IS FOR A GRADUAL AND SAFE RETURN OF INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS IN SAFETY AND DIGNITY AND FOR THE RESUMPTION OF NORMALCY IN THE LIVES OF PEOPLE LIVING IN THESE AREAS.
EFCC WAS GIVEN THE FREEDOM TO PURSUE CORRUPT OFFICIALS AND THE JUDICIARY WAS ALERTED ON WHAT NIGERIANS EXPECT OF THEM IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION. ON THE ECONOMY, IN PARTICULAR FOREIGN EXCHANGE AND FUEL SHORTAGES, OUR PLAN IS TO SAVE FOREIGN EXCHANGE BY FAST TRACKING REPAIR OF THE REFINERIES AND PRODUCING MOST OF OUR FUEL REQUIREMENTS AT HOME. AND BY GROWING MORE FOOD IN NIGERIA, MAINLY RICE, WHEAT AND SUGAR WE WILL SAVE BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN FOREIGN EXCHANGE AND DRASTICALLY REDUCE OUR FOOD IMPORT BILL.
WE RESOLVED TO KEEP THE NAIRA STEADY, AS IN THE PAST, DEVALUATION HAD DONE DREADFUL HARM TO THE NIGERIAN ECONOMY. FURTHERMORE, I SUPPORT THE MONETARY AUTHORITY’S DECISION TO ENSURE ALIGNMENT BETWEEN MONETARY POLICY AND FISCAL POLICY. WE SHALL KEEP A CLOSE LOOK ON HOW THE RECENT MEASURES AFFECT THE NAIRA AND THE ECONOMY. BUT WE CANNOT GET AWAY FROM THE FACT THAT A STRONG CURRENCY IS PREDICATED ON A STRONG ECONOMY. AND A STRONG ECONOMY PRE-SUPPOSES AN INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTIVE BASE AND A STEADY EXPORT MARKET. THE MEASURES WE MUST TAKE, MAY LEAD TO HARDSHIPS. THE PROBLEMS NIGERIANS HAVE FACED OVER THE LAST YEAR HAVE BEEN MANY AND VARIED. BUT THE REAL CHALLENGE FOR THIS GOVERNMENT HAS BEEN RECONSTRUCTING THE SPINE OF THE NIGERIAN STATE. THE LAST TWELVE MONTHS HAVE BEEN SPENT COLLABORATING WITH ALL ARMS OF GOVERNMENT TOREVIVE OUR INSTITUTIONS SO THAT THEY ARE MORE EFFICIENT AND FIT FOR PURPOSE:
THAT MEANS A BUREAUCRACY BETTER ABLE TO DEVELOP AND DELIVER POLICY
THAT MEANS AN INDEPENDENT JUDICIARY, ABOVE SUSPICION AND ABLE TO DEFEND CITIZEN’S RIGHTS AND DISPENSE JUSTICE EQUITABLY.
THAT MEANS A LEGISLATURE THAT ACTUALLY LEGISLATES EFFECTIVELY AND
ABOVE ALL; THAT MEANS POLITICAL PARTIES AND POLITICIANS COMMITTED TO SERVING THE NIGERIAN PEOPLE RATHER THAN THEMSELVES.
THESE ARE THE PILLARS OF THE STATE ON WHICH DEMOCRACY CAN TAKE ROOT AND THRIVE. BUT ONLY IF THEY ARE STRONG AND INCORRUPTIBLE. ACCORDINGLY, WE ARE WORKING VERY HARD TO INTRODUCE SOME VITAL STRUCTURAL REFORMS IN THE WAY WE CONDUCT GOVERNMENT BUSINESS AND LAY A SOLID FOUNDATION ON WHICH WE CAN BUILD ENDURING CHANGE.
AN IMPORTANT FIRST STEP HAS BEEN TO GET OUR HOUSEKEEPING RIGHT. SO WE HAVE REDUCED THE EXTRAVAGANT SPENDING OF THE PAST. WE STARTED BOLDLY WITH THE TREASURY SINGLE ACCOUNT, STOPPING THE LEAKAGES IN PUBLIC EXPENDITURE.
WE THEN IDENTIFIED FORTY-THREE THOUSAND GHOST WORKERS THROUGH THE INTEGRATED PAYROLL AND PERSONAL INFORMATION SYSTEM. THAT REPRESENTS PAY PACKETS TOTALING N4.2 BILLION STOLEN EVERY MONTH. IN ADDITION, WE WILL SAVE TWENTY-THREE BILLION PER ANNUM FROM OFFICIAL TRAVELLING AND SITTING ALLOWANCES ALONE.
FURTHERMORE, THE EFFICIENCY UNIT WILL CUT COSTS AND ELIMINATE DUPLICATIONS IN MINISTRIES AND DEPARTMENTS. EVERY LITTLE SAVING HELPS. THE REDUCTION IN THE NUMBER OF MINISTRIES AND WORK ON RESTRUCTURING AND RATIONALIZATION OF THE MDAS IS WELL UNDERWAY. WHEN THIS WORK IS COMPLETE WE WILL HAVE A LEANER, MORE EFFICIENT PUBLIC SERVICE THAT IS FIT FOR THE PURPOSE OF CHANGING NIGERIA FOR THE GOOD AND FOR GOOD.
AS WELL AS MAKING SAVINGS, WE HAVE CHANGED THE WAY PUBLIC MONEY IS SPENT. IN ALL MY YEARS AS A PUBLIC SERVANT, I HAVE NEVER COME ACROSS THE PRACTICE OF PADDING BUDGETS. I AM GLAD TO TELL YOU NOW WE NOT ONLY HAVE A BUDGET, BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, WE HAVE A BUDGET PROCESS THAT IS MORE TRANSPARENT, MORE INCLUSIVE AND MORE CLOSELY TIED TO OUR DEVELOPMENT PRIORITIES THAN IN THE RECENT PAST. 30% OF THE EXPENDITURE IN THIS BUDGET IS DEVOTED TO CAPITAL ITEMS. FURTHERMORE, WE ARE PROJECTING NON-OIL REVENUES TO SURPASS PROCEEDS FROM OIL. SOME CRITICS HAVE DESCRIBED THE BUDGET EXERCISE AS CLUMSY. PERHAPS. BUT IT WAS AN EXAMPLE OF CONSENSUS BUILDING, WHICH IS INTEGRAL TO DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT. IN THE END WE RESOLVED OUR DIFFERENCES.
WE HAVE, THEREFORE, DELIVERED SIGNIFICANT MILESTONES ON SECURITY, CORRUPTION AND THE ECONOMY. IN RESPECT OF THE ECONOMY, I WOULD LIKE TO DIRECTLY ADDRESS YOU ON THE VERY PAINFUL BUT INEVITABLE DECISIONS WE HAD TO MAKE IN THE LAST FEW WEEKS SPECIFICALLY ON THE PUMP PRICE OF FUEL AND THE MORE FLEXIBLE EXCHANGE RATE POLICY ANNOUNCED BY THE CENTRAL BANK. IT IS EVEN MORE PAINFUL FOR ME THAT A MAJOR PRODUCER OF CRUDE OIL WITH FOUR REFINERIES THAT ONCE EXPORTED REFINED PRODUCTS IS TODAY HAVING TO IMPORT ALL OF ITS DOMESTIC NEEDS. THIS IS WHAT CORRUPTION AND MISMANAGEMENT HAS DONE TO US AND THAT IS WHY WE MUST FIGHT THESE ILLS.
AS PART OF THE FOUNDATION OF THE NEW ECONOMY WE HAVE HAD TO REFORM HOW FUEL PRICES HAD TRADITIONALLY BEEN FIXED. THIS STEP WAS TAKEN ONLY AFTER PROTRACTED CONSIDERATION OF ITS PROS AND CONS. AFTER COMPREHENSIVE INVESTIGATION MY ADVISERS AND I CONCLUDED THAT THE MECHANISM WAS UNSUSTAINABLE.
WE ARE ALSO ENGAGED IN MAKING RECOVERIES OF STOLEN ASSETS SOME OF WHICH ARE IN DIFFERENT JURISDICTIONS. THE PROCESSES OF RECOVERY CAN BE TEDIOUS AND TIME CONSUMING, BUT TODAY I CAN CONFIRM THAT THUS FAR: SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF ASSETS HAVE BEEN RECOVERED. A CONSIDERABLE PORTION OF THESE ARE AT DIFFERENT STAGES OF RECOVERY. FULL DETAILS OF THE STATUS AND CATEGORIES OF THE ASSETS WILL NOW BE PUBLISHED BY THE MINISTRY OF INFORMATION AND UPDATED PERIODICALLY. WHEN FORFEITURE FORMALITIES ARE COMPLETED THESE MONIES WILL BE CREDITED TO THE TREASURY AND BE OPENLY AND TRANSPARENTLY USED IN FUNDING DEVELOPMENTAL PROJECTS AND THE PUBLIC WILL BE INFORMED.
ON THE NIGER DELTA, WE ARE COMMITTED TO IMPLEMENTING THE UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME REPORT AND ARE ADVANCING CLEAN-UP OPERATIONS. I BELIEVE THE WAY FORWARD IS TO TAKE A SUSTAINABLE APPROACH TO ADDRESS THE ISSUES THAT AFFECT THE DELTA COMMUNITIES. RE-ENGINEERING THE AMNESTY PROGRAMMES IS AN EXAMPLE OF THIS. THE RECENT SPATE OF ATTACKS BY MILITANTS DISRUPTING OIL AND POWER INSTALLATIONS WILL NOT DISTRACT US FROM ENGAGING LEADERS IN THE REGION IN ADDRESSING NIGER DELTA PROBLEMS. IF THE MILITANTS AND VANDALS ARE TESTING OUR RESOLVE, THEY ARE MUCH MISTAKEN. WE SHALL APPREHEND THE PERPETRATORS AND THEIR SPONSORS AND BRING THEM TO JUSTICE.
THE POLICY MEASURES AND ACTIONS TAKEN SO FAR ARE NOT TO BE SEEN AS SOME EXPERIMENT IN GOVERNANCE. WE ARE FULLY AWARE THAT THOSE VESTED INTERESTS WHO HAVE HELD NIGERIA BACK FOR SO LONG WILL NOT GIVE UP WITHOUT A FIGHT. THEY WILL SOW DIVISIONS, SPONSOR VILE PRESS CRITICISMS AT HOME AND ABROAD, INCITE THE PUBLIC IN AN EFFORT TO CREATE CHAOS RATHER THAN RELINQUISH THE VICE-LIKE GRIP THEY HAVE HELD ON NIGERIA.
THE ECONOMIC MISFORTUNE WE ARE EXPERIENCING IN THE SHAPE OF VERY LOW OIL PRICES HAS PROVIDED US WITH AN OPPORTUNITY TO RESTRUCTURE OUR ECONOMY AND DIVERSIFY. WE ARE IN THE PROCESS OF PROMOTING AGRICULTURE, LIVESTOCKS, EXPLOITING OUR SOLID MINERAL RESOURCES AND EXPANDING OUR INDUSTRIAL AND MANUFACTURING BASE. THAT WAY, WE WILL IMPORT LESS AND MAKE THE SOCIAL INVESTMENTS NECESSARY TO ALLOW US TO PRODUCE A LARGE AND SKILLED WORKFORCE.
CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA WILL OFFER MORE FISCAL INCENTIVES FOR BUSINESS THAT PROVE CAPABLE OF MANUFACTURING PRODUCTS THAT ARE INTERNATIONALLY COMPETITIVE. WE REMAIN COMMITTED TO REFORMING THE REGULATORY FRAMEWORK, FOR INVESTORS BY IMPROVING THE EASE OF DOING BUSINESS IN NIGERIA.
MEANWHILE, THE FIRST STEPS ALONG THE PATH OF SELF-SUFFICIENCY IN RICE, WHEAT AND SUGAR – BIG USERS OF OUR SCARCE FOREIGN EXCHANGE – HAVE BEEN TAKEN. THE LABOUR INTENSIVE FARMING ENTERPRISE (LIFE), WILL BOOST THE ECONOMY AND ENSURE INCLUSIVE GROWTH IN LONG NEGLECTED COMMUNITIES. SPECIAL INTERVENTION FUNDS THROUGH THE BANK OF AGRICULTURE WILL PROVIDE TARGETED SUPPORT. CONCERNS REMAIN ABOUT RISING COST OF FOODS SUCH AS MAIZE, RICE, MILLET, BEANS AND GARI. FARMERS TELL ME THAT THEY ARE WORRIED ABOUT THE COST OF FERTILIZERS, PESTICIDES AND THE ABSENCE OF EXTENSION SERVICES. THE FEDERAL AND STATE GOVERNMENTS ARE ON THE SAME PAGE IN TACKLING THESE HURDLES IN OUR EFFORTS AT INCREASED FOOD PRODUCTION AND ULTIMATELY FOOD SECURITY.
I WOULD LIKE TO TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO EXPRESS MY APPRECIATION FOR THE INCREASING ROLE THAT OUR WOMEN ARE PLAYING IN REVITALIZING THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR. MODERN FARMING IS STILL HARD AND HEAVY WORK AND I SALUTE OUR NIGERIAN WOMEN IN SHARING THIS BURDEN. IN THIS RESPECT I AM VERY PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THAT THE GOVERNMENT WILL SHORTLY BE LAUNCHING THE NATIONAL WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT FUND, WHICH I HAVE APPROVED TO PROVIDE N1.6 BILLION IN MICRO-FINANCE LOANS TO WOMEN ACROSS THE NATION TO ASSIST IN REHABILITATING THE ECONOMIES OF RURAL COMMUNITIES, PARTICULARLY THOSE IMPACTED BY THE INSURGENCY AND CONFLICT.
WITH RESPECT TO SOLID MINERALS, THE MINISTER HAS PRODUCED A ROADMAP WHERE WE WILL WORK CLOSELY WITH THE WORLD BANK AND MAJOR INTERNATIONAL INVESTORS TO ENSURE THROUGH BEST PRACTICES AND DUE DILIGENCE THAT WE CHOOSE THE RIGHT PARTNERS. ILLEGAL MINING REMAINS A PROBLEM AND WE HAVE SET UP A SPECIAL SECURITY TEAM TO PROTECT OUR ASSETS. SPECIAL MEASURES WILL BE IN PLACE TO PROTECT MINERS IN THEIR WORK ENVIRONMENT.
FOR TOO LONG, OURS HAS BEEN A SOCIETY THAT NEGLECTS THE POOR AND VICTIMIZES THE WEAK. A SOCIETY THAT PROMOTES PROFIT AND GROWTH OVER DEVELOPMENT AND FREEDOM. A SOCIETY THAT FAILS TO RECOGNIZE THAT, TO QUOTE THE DISTINGUISHED ECONOMIST AMARTYA SEN “ POVERTY IS NOT JUST LACK OF MONEY. IT IS NOT HAVING THE CAPABILITY TO REALIZE ONE’S FULL POTENTIAL AS A HUMAN BEING.”
SO, TODAY, I AM HAPPY TO FORMALLY LAUNCH, BY FAR THE MOST AMBITIOUS SOCIAL PROTECTION PROGRAMME IN OUR HISTORY. A PROGRAMME THAT BOTH SEEKS TO START THE PROCESS OF LIFTING MANY FROM POVERTY, WHILE AT THE SAME TIME CREATING THE OPPORTUNITY FOR PEOPLE TO FEND FOR THEMSELVES. IN THIS REGARD, FIVE HUNDRED BILLION NAIRA HAS BEEN APPROPRIATED IN THE 2016 BUDGET FOR SOCIAL INTERVENTION PROGRAMMES IN FIVE KEY AREAS. WE ARE COMMITTED TO PROVIDING JOB CREATION OPPORTUNITIES FOR FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND TEACHERS AND ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND ARTISANS ACROSS THE NATION. 5.5 MILLION CHILDREN ARE TO BE PROVIDED WITH NUTRITIOUS MEALS THROUGH OUR SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAMME TO IMPROVE LEARNING OUTCOMES, AS WELL AS ENROLMENT AND COMPLETION RATES. THE CONDITIONAL CASH TRANSFER SCHEME WILL PROVIDE FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR UP TO 1 MILLION VULNERABLE BENEFICIARIES, AND COMPLEMENT THE ENTERPRISE PROGRAMME – WHICH WILL TARGET UP TO 1 MILLION MARKET WOMEN; FOUR HUNDRED AND SIXTY THOUSAND ARTISANS; AND TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND AGRICULTURAL WORKERS, NATIONWIDE. FINALLY, THROUGH THE EDUCATION GRANT SCHEME, WE WILL ENCOURAGE STUDENTS STUDYING SCIENCES, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING AND MATHS, AND LAY A FOUNDATION FOR HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT FOR THE NEXT GENERATION
I WOULD LIKE TO PAY A SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO OUR GALLANT MEN AND WOMEN OF THE ARMED FORCES WHO ARE IN HARM’S WAY SO THAT THE REST OF US CAN LIVE AND GO ABOUT OUR BUSINESS IN SAFETY. THEIR WORK IS ALMOST DONE. THE NATION OWES THEM A DEBT OF GRATITUDE.
ABROAD, WE WANT TO ASSURE OUR NEIGHBOURS, FRIENDS AND DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS THAT NIGERIA IS FIRMLY COMMITTED TO DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES. WE ARE READY PARTNERS IN COMBATING TERRORISM, CYBER CRIMES, CONTROL OF COMMUNICABLE DISEASES AND PROTECTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT. FOLLOWING ON THE PARIS AGREEMENT, COP 21, WE ARE FULLY COMMITTED TO HALTING AND REVERSING DESERTIFICATION. ELSEWHERE, WE WILL INTENSIFY EFFORTS TO TACKLE EROSION, OCEAN SURGE, FLOODING AND OIL SPILLAGE WHICH I REFERRED TO EARLIER BY IMPLEMENTING THE UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME (UNEP) REPORT.
WE ARE GRATEFUL TO THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY NOTABLY FRANCE, THE US, UK AND CHINA FOR THEIR QUICK RESPONSE IN HELPING TO TACKLE THE RECENT EBOLA OUTBREAK IN OUR SUB-REGION. WE ALSO ACKNOWLEDGE THE HUMANITY SHOWN BY THE ITALIAN AND GERMAN GOVERNMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF BOAT PEOPLE, MANY FLEEING FROM OUR SUB-REGION BECAUSE OF LACK OF ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY. WE THANK ALL OUR PARTNERS ESPECIALLY SEVERAL COUNTRIES IN THE EU.
WE APPRECIATE THE VALUABLE WORK THAT THE UN AGENCIES, PARTICULARLY UNICEF, ICRC, THE WORLD FOOD PROGRAM HAVE BEEN DOING. WE MUST ALSO APPRECIATE THE WORLD BANK, THE GATES FOUNDATION, THE GLOBAL FUND AND EDUCATE A CHILD OF QATAR ARE FOR THE EXCELLENT WORK IN OUR HEALTH, EDUCATION AND OTHER SECTORS.
FELLOW CITIZENS LET ME END ON A HAPPY NOTE. TO THE DELIGHT OF ALL, TWO OF THE ABDUCTED CHIBOK GIRLS HAVE REGAINED THEIR FREEDOM. DURING THE LAST ONE YEAR, NOT A SINGLE DAY PASSED WITHOUT MY AGONIZING ABOUT THESE GIRLS. OUR EFFORTS HAVE CENTRED AROUND NEGOTIATIONS TO FREE THEM SAFELY FROM THEIR, MINDLESS, CAPTORS. WE ARE STILL PURSUING THAT COURSE. THEIR SAFETY IS OF PARAMOUNT CONCERN TO ME AND I AM SURE TO MOST NIGERIANS. I AM VERY WORRIED ABOUT THE CONDITIONS THOSE STILL CAPTURED MIGHT BE IN. TODAY I RE-AFFIRM OUR COMMITMENT TO RESCUING OUR GIRLS. WE WILL NEVER STOP UNTIL WE BRING THEM HOME SAFELY. AS I SAID BEFORE, NO GIRL SHOULD BE PUT THROUGH THE BRUTALITY OF FORCED MARRIAGE AND EVERY NIGERIAN GIRL HAS THE RIGHT TO AN EDUCATION AND A LIFE CHOICE.
I THANK YOU AND APPEAL TO YOU TO CONTINUE SUPPORTING THE GOVERNMENT’S EFFORTS TO FIX NIGERIA.
Friday, May 13, 2016
Saturday, April 30, 2016
وصيّة والدٍ لولده عند الزواج
أيْ بُني : أحمد الله جل في علاه أن أحياني حتى أراك يوم زفافك وقد اكتملت رجولتُك وتسعى لتحرز نصف دينك, وها أنت ستخرج من عالم عشت فيه كالطائر الحر تسعى فيه بدون قيد , تحلق عالياً بلا قيود, وتقف على شطآن البحار دون همّ أو غمّ إلى عالم جديد فيه من المسؤولية ما فيه .
أي بُني : إنّ أسعد ما يكون الأب يوم يرى فلذة كبده قد صار رجلاً , وإنّك ستقدم على عالم جديد وحياة جديدة , فيها من الجمال الكثير إن أنت أحسنت التنقيب عنه واستخراجه , وفيها من التنغيص ما يودي بك إلى شقاء الحياة وتعس الرفادة .
فاحرص على الانتقاء ترتقي واحرص على حسن المعاملة تتقي , وإيّاك وسوء الظن في زوجك فهو الجحيم بعينه وهو المهلكة بذاتها
أي بني : إنّك لن تنال السعادة في بيتك إلا بعشر خصال تمنحها لزوجك فاحفظها عني واحرص عليها :
أما الأولى والثانية : فإنّ النّساء يحببن الدلال ويحببن التصريح بالحب , فلا تبخل على زوجتك بذلك فإن بخلت جعلت بينك وبينها حجاباً من الجفوة ونقصاً في المودة .
وأما الثالثة: فإنّ النّساء يكرهنَ الرجل الشديدَ الحازم ويستخدمن الرجل الضعيف اللين , فاجعل لكل صفة مكانها فإنّه أدعى للحب و أجلب للطمأنينة .
وأما الرابعة : فإنّ النساء يُحببن من الزوج ما يحب الزوج منهنّ من طيب الكلام وحسن المنظر ونظافة الثياب وطيب الرائحة , فكن في كل أحوالك كذلك, وتجنب أن تقترب من زوجتك تريدها نفسك و قد بلل العرق جسدك وأدرن الوسخ ثيابك فإنّك إن فعلت جعلت في قلبها نفوراً وإن أطاعتك , فقد أطاعك جسدها ونفر منك قلبُها .
أما الخامسة : فإنّ البيت مملكة الأنثى وفيه تشعر أنّها متربعة على عرشها وأنها سيدة فيه, فإيّاك أن تهدم هذه المملكة التي تعيشها
وإياك أن تحاول أن تزيحها عن عرشها هذا ,فإنّك إن فعلت نازعتها ملكها وليس لملكٍ أشدّ عداوةً ممن ينازعه ملكه وإن أظهر له غير ذلك .
أما السادسة : فإنّ المرأة تحب أن تكسب زوجها ولا تخسر أهلها فإيّاك أن تجعل نفسك مع أهلها في ميزان واحد , فإمّا أنت وإمّا أهلها فهي وإن اختارتك على أهلها فإنّها ستبقى في كمدٍ تُنقل عَدْواه إلى حياتك اليومية .
أما السابعة : فإنّ المرأة خُلِقت مِن ضِلعٍ أعوج وهذا سرّ الجمال فيها وسرُّ الجذب إليها وليس هذا عيباً فيها " فالحاجب زيّنه العِوَجُ " , فلا تحمل عليه إن هي أخطأت حملةً لا هوادة فيها تحاول تقييم المعوج فتكسرها وكسرها طلاقها , ولا تتركها إن هي أخطأت حتى يزداد اعوجاجها وتتقوقع على نفسها فلا تلين لك بعد ذلك ولا تسمع إليك , ولكن كن دائما معها بين بين .
أما الثامنة : فإنّ النّساء جُبلن على كُفر العشير وجُحدان المعروف فإن أحسنت لإحداهنّ دهراً ثم أسأت إليها مرة قالت: ما وجدت منك خيراً قط , فلا يحملنّك هذا الخلق على أن تكرهها وتنفر منها فإنّك إن كرهت منها هذا الخلق رضيت منها غيره .
أما التاسعة : فإنّ المرأة تمر بحالات من الضعف الجسدي والتعب النفسي حتى إنّ الله سبحانه وتعالى أسقط عنها مجموعةً من الفرائض التي افترضها في هذه الحالات , فقد أسقط عنها الصلاة نهائياً في حالة الحيض وفترة النفاس, وأنسأ لها الصيام خلالهما حتى تعود صحتها ويعتدل مزاجُها , فكن معها في هذه الأحوال ربانياً, كما خفف الله سبحانه وتعالى عنها فرائضه أن تخفف عنها طلباتك وأوامرك .
أما العاشرة : فاعلم أنّ المرأة أسيرة عندك فارحم أسرها وتجاوز عن ضعفها تكن لك خير متاع وخير شريك والسلام
Abd al-Lateef Muhammad al-Barigawi’s advice to his son on his wedding day:
Dear son, you will not attain good fortune in your home except by 10 characteristics which you show to your wife, so remember them and be enthusiastic in acting upon them.
As for the first two; women like attention and they like to be told clearly that they are loved. So don’t be stingy in expressing your love for your wife. If you become limited in expressing your love, you will create a barrier of harshness between you and her, and there will be a decrease in affection.
3, Ladies hate a strict, overcautious man, yet they seek to use the soft vulnerable one. So use each quality appropriately. This will be more appealing for love and it will bring you peace of mind.
4. Ladies like from their husbands what their husbands like from them, i.e. kind words, good looks, clean clothes and a pleasant odour. Therefore, always remain in that state.
5, Indeed, the house is under the sovereignty of the woman. While she remains therein, she feels that she is sitting upon her throne, and that she is the chief of the house . Stay clear of destroying this kingdom of hers and do not ever attempt to dethrone her, otherwise you will be trying to snatch her sovereignty. A king gets most angry at he who tries to strip him of his authority, even if he portrays to show something else.
6. A woman wants to love her husband, but at the same time she does not want to lose her family. So do not put yourself and her family in the same scale, because then her choice will be down to either you or her family. And even if she does choose you over her family, she will remain in anxiety, which will then turn into hatred towards you in your daily life.
7. Surely woman has been created from a curved rib, and this is the secret of her beauty, and the secret of the attraction towards her. And this is no defect in her, because ‘the eyebrows look beautiful due to them being curved’. So if she errs, do not rebuke her in a manner in which there is no gentleness, attempting to straighten her; otherwise you will simply break her and her breaking, is her divorce. At the same time do not let her off upon that mistake, otherwise her crookedness will increase and she will become arrogant with her ego. Thereafter, she will never soften for you and she won’t listen to you, so stay in between the two.
8. It is in the women’s nature to be ungrateful towards their husbands and to deny favours. If you were to be nice to her for her whole life but you grieved her once, she will say, “I have never seen any good from you”. So don’t let this attitude of her make you dislike her or to run away from her. If you dislike this feature of hers, you will be pleased with some other good habits within her, so create a balance.
9. Surely there are times when a woman goes through some conditions of bodily weakness and fatigue of the mind. Such that Allah has relieved her of some of her compulsory worships during that period; Allah has totally pardoned her from praying, and has postponed the days of fasting for her within this break to a later date until she regains her health and becomes normal in her temperament once more. Thus, during these days, treat her in a godly manner. Just as Allah has relieved her of the duties, you should also lessen your demands and instructions from her during those days.
10. Last but not least, know that a woman is like a captive with you. Therefore, have mercy upon her.
Sunday, March 6, 2016
Northern Nigerian Leaders: Mission Accomplished
You've managed to reduce the work and sacrifice of Sir Ahmadu Bello
and Tafawa Balewa with your poor leadership, lack of vision, greed and
selfishness. You've managed to render the vibrant youths of the north
incapacitated. As leaders, you've looted and squandered funds meant
to develop the people and the region. As elders, you've managed to
allow your greed and selfishness to overpower you.
Not only have you failed as leaders and elders, but you have failed your
children and the entire future generation of the north. Over 60
percent of the population in the region is under age 25, yet this group
barely have any working experience to develop and compete with the
rest of Nigeria. Northern Nigeria not only have the lowest literacy
rate in the country, it is also regarded as one of the worst places on
earth for the girl child to be born. The region is not only affected by
poverty, but also ravaged with incessant killings and attacks by
extremist groups like Boko Haram.
Nigeria is a blessed land. It's endowed with abundant natural
resources and human capital. It is a country with a young population
and democracy. It is undeniably a growing economy. A simple walk
through Lagos and you'll be in awe of the amazing innovation and
creativity that is oozing from highly driven and determined youths.
However, there's a stark difference as you move up north of the
country. Here, you'll find vibrant, hopeless youths begging instead of
coding. You'll find both young and old waiting for their daily bread
from the leaders that have made promises but choose to ignore.
Congratulations, Northern Elites, because the youths believe in you.
They respect you and honor you. You've managed to create a blind-
following that's void of critical reasoning. They buy in the us vs. them
narrative that you created for your convenience during elections.
They're regarded as nuisance in their own land. While you occupy
places and positions of power in their names, you forget them. You
ignore them. They are left to fend for themselves in this age of knowledge-
based economy with inadequate tools to stand on their own. As Nigeria
becomes more technologically advanced, Northern Nigeria simply
consumes rather than produce.
Were you surprised by the outrage of Ese Oruru? The entire country
went crazy of the alleged kidnapping and unverified story, yet no one
cares to speak up for the northern child. Is Yinusa not someone's
child? Is his life as a northern boy not equal to Ese's? What happened
to being innocent until proven guilty?
Are you proud of yourselves when your story is crafted by others?
Why are you against the development and progress of your own
people? Why would you rather remain status quo?
What do you think will happen in the next 10-20 years? Do you think
your children, those that you have pampered and educated and placed
in positions of power, will replace you? Are you aware that the system
has changed, and the world is a global village? While you are busy
trying to hold on to power, ignoring to invest in the development of
your region and people, the rest of Nigeria has moved on. Nigerians
are writing codes and creating websites and using big data to find
loopholes in your padded national budget. They're analyzing your
tweets and Facebook posts to craft your story, true or false.
While you treat northern youths like pests, and ignore to invest in the
their progress and development, you're providing a breeding ground
for miscreants and egregious behaviour. Do you think Boko Haram is
the worst it could get? Boko Haram is ruthless for directing their
attacks on the poor and innocent. Can you imagine if it directed its
anger towards you and your interests? What do you think is going to
happen if you continue to turn the blind eye against your own people?
What is the future of a society filled with massive uneducated,
unemployed, disgruntled and drug addicted youths? As a famous Hausa
proverb says "in zaka gina ramin mugunta, ka gina shi daidai kwabrinka."
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