NYSC Withdraws Corps Members From Jigawa Guber Polls

UNLESS remedial steps are taken, the governorship and House of Assembly election in Jigawa State may be affected by the shortage of ad-hoc officials as some members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) have abandoned their primary assignments.

Corps members serving in Hadejia Local Council had sent a Save Our Souls (SOS) message to the NYSC coordinator in the state following threats to their lives during post-election violence in the area last Monday.

Consequently, the state NYSC’s Coordinator, Mr. Baba Ahmed, has withdrawn the 350 corps members from the area due to insecurity.

Ahmed told The Guardian yesterday in Dutse that the corps members were withdrawn from their places of primary assignments because of threats to their lives by hoodlums in the area.

He said: “They called me and the director-general, asking us to take them from Hadejia because their lives were not secured.

“They also reported to us that the irate youths stormed the police station threatening them where they were taking refuge.

As I am talking to you now, I have brought all the corps members in the area to state capital for their safety.”

He said that the NYSC had informed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that the corps members in Hadejia would not participate in the forthcoming governorship and House of Assembly election.

Hadejia, Mallamadori, and Jahun were among the towns that experienced post-election violence in the state, where many churches were raised down and several persons displaced.

Meanwhile, Governor of Oyo State, Adebayo Alao- Akala, has promised adequate protection for INEC ad-hoc personnel, NYSC members during the governorship election on Tuesday.

Alao-Akala also urged parents of the corps members not to loose sleep over the safety of their children in the state “because the government will ensure the necessary protection and non-violent atmosphere during the election.“

In a statement yesterday, the governor’s spokesman, Dotun Oyelade, said special arrangements had been made to shield them from danger during the exercise.
Source: Guardian Nigeria News

Yakowa Pleads As Non- Indigenes Flee Kaduna

FACED with mass exodus of non-indigenes from Kaduna State due to the violence that erupted in the state, Governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa has appealed to them not to desert the state.

Yakowa pleaded with the fleeing residents yesterday to stay and join him to ensure the emergence of a people-oriented government, saying Nigerians must learn to embrace dialogue rather than resorting to violence to resolve issues.

He said they should turn out en- masse on Thursday, April 28 to exercise their franchise and join in rebuilding the state.

Addressing journalists in his office, Yakowa said there is no reason for any Nigerian to resort to violence as there were enough provisions in the nation’s laws to seek for justice, adding that violence has never solved any problem.

While joining President Goodluck Jonathan to say “enough is enough,” the governor said: “Let us embrace dialogue in resolving issues; let us embrace the path of peace. There is enough in the law and electoral act to use instead of resorting to violence.

“We will no longer accept any act of lawlessness. Henceforth, security operatives will deal with troublemakers because nobody is above the law. Therefore, I want to appeal to political, religious and traditional leaders to guide our youths so that they don’t take the laws into their own hands”.

He assured registered voters in the state of their security during the elections and asked them to come out en-masse to vote for the candidate of their choice.

Meanwhile, the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU) has that it has every reason to believe that the violence was premeditated and not spontaneous “as the sponsors would want Nigerians and the world to believe.”

In a statement yesterday, the National Public Relations Officer of SOKAPU, Timothy Bonet, said the fact that the violence broke out long before the results of the presidential elections was collated and announced, lends credence to the fact that it was planned and executed to achieve the objectives of the sponsors.

Also, the Leader of the human rights community in the North, Malam Shehu Sani said they have commenced investigations into alleged shooting of civilians at Rigasa, a suburb of Kaduna metropolis.

He alleged that those responsible for the shooting were snipers in a helicopter during the violence.

At a press conference in Kaduna yesterday, Sani, who was flanked by other rights activists, said reports reaching them indicated that killings that were going on and warned that the human rights community would drag perpetrators to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
Source: Guardian Nigeria News

UN Plans Probe Of Post-Polls Riots

EMU, CAN, JNI, South-South Leaders Deplore Attacks

THE United Nations (UN) is taking the post-election violence in Nigeria beyond the realm of the country’s internal affairs.

Without encroaching on the powers of the Federal Government to maintain law and order, the UN through the International Criminal Court (ICC) says it will investigate the crisis to determine whether crimes against humanity were committed.

In a statement from the ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor, Mr. Luis Moreno-Ocampo, said it was following the mayhem in Nigeria from the National Assembly to the presidential polls to determine whether crimes abhorred by the global body had been committed.

At home, ethnic, religious, social groups and individuals yesterday condemned the unwarranted attacks on Nigerians by thugs believed to be championing the cause the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) presidential candidate, Maj-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, who lost the election to the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) candidate, President Goodluck Jonathan.

Among those who deplored the violence and demanded the probe of its masterminds are the leaders of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Jama’atu Nasir Islam (JNI), South-South Elders Forum, the Eastern Mandate Union (EMU), and the Youth Adolescent Reflection and Action Centre, (YARAC).

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) confirmed yesterday that over 8,000 persons had been displaced by the crisis in Bauchi State.

In the statement made available to journalists yesterday, ICC said: “It is closely following the situation in Nigeria and is concerned with the outbreak of violence surrounding the National Assembly and presidential elections of April 2011.

“In the context of its ongoing preliminary examination activities, the Office will seek to establish whether the recent violence may have been planned and organised and whether crimes falling within the court’s jurisdiction may have been committed.

“The Office is mindful that the upcoming governorship elections on April 26 could lead to further violence. Those, who commit atrocities to gain power will be held to account,” Moreno-Ocampo said.

He added: “in accordance with the complementarity principle, the Office will, in the first place, support national investigations into the violence and its perpetrators.“

The ICC, which is a UN court, has been raising concern on developments in Nigeria, especially recurring religious violence in the northern part of the country.

Based in The Hague, the ICC is an independent and permanent tribunal with the jurisdiction to try genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. But it can only prosecute when and if a UN member state, which is signatory to its protocol and treaty, is unwilling or unable to do so.

In Kaduna State, CAN and JNI have blamed the state government and religious preachers over the bloody crisis in the state where several residents and their property were destroyed.

At a meeting with officials of the state government to look into the causes of the post-election violence, which erupted last Monday, the leaders on the platform of Kaduna State Inter-Religious Harmony Committee, accused the government of not taking proactive measures to avert the crisis.

They urged parents to educate their wards to imbibe the necessary morals for peace to prevail in the state.

The state chairman of CAN, Rev. Samuel Kujiat, advised the government to take necessary measures to protect lives and property, especially those living in rural areas.

Kujiat suggested that the religious and opinion leaders should document their resolutions and ensure that government provides lasting solution to crises in the state.

The JNI Chairman, Alhaji Jafa’aru Makarfi, urged the government to adopt proactive security measures ahead of the governorship polls in the state.

The Deputy Governor Ramallan Yero pledged that the government would address issues raised by the leaders.

The Eastern Mandate Union (EMU), which also deplored the violence, warned that it would not accept any situation where certain persons would hide under the cover of election protest to attack Ndigbo.

While warning that Ndigbo might be forced into aggressive defence of their lives and property and vowed “not to watch this kind of pogrom to happen again.”

In a statement, EMU Director of Publicity, Ochie Malachy Chuma, charged the perpetrators and sponsors of the disturbances to sheathe their sword because “no section of the country has the monopoly of violence.”

“We wish to warn the perpetrators of the present mass slaughter of our people in some parts of northern Nigeria and also their sponsors that 2011 is not 1966; that the circumstances of 1966 and today are not the same; all those implicated in the present bloodshed would be held accountable not just in Nigeria but also by the international community. Let no one be deluded to think that such massive liquidation of our people would go unnoticed and unchallenged.”

A political analyst and member of the South- South Elders Forum, Prince Ernest Okojie, yesterday asked Nigerians to support Jonathan to deliver his electoral promises.

Okojie in a statement condemned the post- election violence, killing and destruction of property that trailed the presidential polls, which he said international observers and stakeholders adjudged as the most free, fair and credible exercise since 1999.

The CPC governorship candidate in Enugu State, Chief Osita Okechukwu, has blamed the violence on the failure of zoning policy introduced by the PDP by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

He said crisis over the presidential election could have been avoided if the PDP had allowed the zoning arrangement to succeed by ensuring that the North served out its tenure after the death of former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.

Speaking in Enugu yesterday, Okechukwu, called on Jonathan to, as a matter of urgency, consider the remote and immediate causes of the disturbances through a judicial commission of inquiry.

Meanwhile, the number of internally-displaced persons (IDP) in last Monday’s protests and political violence has risen to over 8,030 persons in nine towns and communities in Bauchi State, the North-East Coordinator of NEMA, Aliyu Sambo, has said.

In an interview with The Guardian yesterday in Maiduguri, Sambo said many of the houses and shops of the displaced persons were set ablaze, including mosques and churches that are yet to be ascertained by the agency’s assessment and rescue team.

To cope with the rising number of IDP, he said the agency had set up nine resettlement camps, with the provision of food items, blankets and other basic needs to cushion the shocks and possible outbreaks of diseases at the camps.

He told The Guardian that of the nine resettlement camps, Azare and Katagum local councils have the highest number of 4,300, while Jama’re has 1,700.

Source: Guardian Nigeria News

Nigeria unrest 'recalls lead-up to 1967 Biafra war'



Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has said the violence following his election is a "sad reminder" of events that plunged Nigeria into civil war.

He said Nigeria was still struggling to come to terms with the suffering of the 1967 conflict when the south-east tried to establish the state of Biafra.

Tens of thousands of people have fled the recent post-poll unrest.

The president said the violence was intended to frustrate remaining polls, but they would go ahead.

However, elections for powerful state governors will be delayed for two days, until Thursday, in two of the worst affected states - Kaduna and Bauchi, the electoral commission announced.

Riots broke out in the north on Monday after Mr Jonathan, a southerner, emerged as the winner of the presidential poll.

Former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari, who is popular in the north, denies instigating the "sad, unfortunate and totally unwarranted" events.

Nigeria is divided by rivalry between the predominantly Muslim north and the mainly Christian south, which also have cultural, ethnic and linguistic differences.

Mr Jonathan's People's Democratic Party (PDP) has previously alternated its presidential candidate between people who come from each of the two halves of the country, in an attempt to keep the peace.

'Enough is enough'
In an address to the nation, President Jonathan said the "horrific acts" of the last few days had been shocking.

"They killed and maimed innocent citizens. They set ablaze business premises, private homes and even places of worship," he said.

"If anything at all, these acts of mayhem are sad reminders of the events which plunged our country into 30 months of an unfortunate civil war," he said referring to the Biafran war in which more than one million people died.

"As a nation we are yet to come to terms with the level of human suffering, destruction and displacement, including that of our children to far-away countries, occasioned by those dark days.

"Enough is enough," he said.

The BBC's Abdullahi Kaura Abubakar in Kaduna, the state which has witnessed the worst of the violence, says Kaduna city is now calm.

But it is difficult to confirm what is happening in the south of the state where there have been reports of continuing trouble.

Kaduna's police say 32 people have died in the clashes - our reporter says the casualty figure may rise as Muslims tend to bury their dead quickly - sometimes before their deaths are officially reported.

He went to one hospital in the city and saw 25 charred corpses on a mortuary floor and was told there were another 25 bodies in the mortuary fridge but he had to leave without checking because of the stench.

On Wednesday, the Red Cross put the figure of those fleeing the violence at 48,000.

'Dastardly acts'
During his speech, the president said that security has been reinforced nationwide to quell any further unrest.

He added that there was no grievance that the law courts could not address.

Gen Buhari has said that his party will challenge some of the results - he maintains the election commission's computers were programmed to disadvantage his party in some parts of Nigeria.

But he urged his supporters to refrain from attacks, saying: "It is wrong for you to allow miscreants to infiltrate your ranks and perpetrate such dastardly acts as the mindless destruction of worship places.

"Needless to say, this act is worse than the rigging of the elections."

International observers have said the election was reasonably free and fair.

Mr Jonathan, a Christian from the oil-producing Niger Delta, was appointed to the presidency last year upon the death of incumbent Umaru Yar'Adua, a northern Muslim whom he had served as vice-president.

He staked his reputation on the election, repeatedly promising it would be free and fair.
Source: BBC News