Only 107 herders relocated from Oyo to Kaduna, not 4,000 — Fulani leaders

 

SOME Fulani leaders at Ladduga grazing reserve in Kachia Local Government Area of Kaduna state, together with other stakeholders, have disputed the 4,000 figure published by the media, saying that only 107 herders from Oyo State relocated to Kaduna.

Malam Ardo Goge, leader of the Fulanis at Ladduga, told some Peace builders and Journalists, who visited four of the new settlements of the Fulanis from Oyo State, due to the quit notice given to them, that only 107 of them relocated with their children, women and elderly.

Goge explained that the returnees were initially from the community before they left for the South, saying, “They left the area eight years ago to the South in order to feed their animals and now they are back.”

According to him, the returnees were peace loving herders, with a good record of promoting peaceful co-existence, even before they left Ladduga community to the South, saying that no herder would arrive Ladduga without the knowledge of the community leaders.

He challenged journalists and NGOs to prove that over 4000 herders had arrived Ladduga as earlier published in the media, saying that the media should always cross check their facts before posting their news, to avoid unnecessary suspicions.

“These herders were our own people and we have been living with them in peace and harmony for many years, before they migrated to the South, and now they are back due to threat of attack.

“They are not foreigners, they are Kaduna State indigenes, it is the crisis that brought them back.

“we have given them a place to stay and we have cleared the bush for them to build new homes with their families.

‘”But they lack many things like social amenities, clothes, foods as they came into the state without their normal cows and other animals we are used to seeing them with,” he said.

Dr Saleh Momale, a former Permanent Secretary of the Kaduna State Peace Commission, who is also a resident of the community, said he had been part of the fact finding mission to Ladduga community.

Momale said that since the report that over 4000 Fulani herdsmen arrived Ladduga community, he had spent a whole day in the forest with some Fulani leaders, moving round to ascertain the number of Fulanis that relocated from the South.

“From the facts and figures, we only received the report of only 107 Fulani migrants from the South, who were originally Fulanis from the area that came back home,” he said.

He added that some of the Fulani herdsmen complained of lack of shelter, food and warming cloths against the harmattan.

Ibrahim Abdullahi, one of the returnees, reiterated their needs to include food and shelter, as their children were sleeping in open spaces, adding that the ”weather is really cold”.

He called on Non-Governmental organizations (NGOs), Civil society organizations, NEMA, SEMA, The Red Cross, Interfaith mediation centre and public-spirited individuals to come to their aid.

Abdullahi also appealed to Miyetti Allah and all Fulani organizations to come to their rescue as they were really in need of help.

– NAN

 

 

I didn’t say Buhari disappointed Nigerians – Bakare

 

BY LINUS CHIBUIKE

SERVING Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church, Pastor Tunde Bakare, on Thursday, said he was quoted out of context in reports that quoted him as saying that President Muhammadu Buhari had disappointed Nigerians.

He said the newspapers chose the angle they liked and misrepresented the facts in the process, in order to sell their papers.

Bakare, who made the clarification, in an Arise TV interview, said he chose his words carefully and only stated the facts.

Newspapers and blogs had feasted on the Pastor’s Tuesday Instagram interview with the Publisher of Ovation Magazine, Dele Momodu.

He was quoted to have said that there was a general feeling of disappointment among Nigerians with the Buhari administration.

Bakare, who was Buhari’s running mate, under the Congress for Progressive Change in the 2011 election, had, in the Ovation interview, said the drum of disintegration was louder in Nigeria than before, but was optimistic that the country would survive and become “the Nigeria of our dreams”.

But he said on Thursday that “those headlines were creations of the newspapers themselves. Those were not the exact words I used.”

He pointed out that he had specifically said that the coming of President Buhari into power in 2015 was taken as a breath of fresh air to many Nigerians.

He stressed, “I did not use the words: Buhari has disappointed Nigerians. I will not ask the papers not to sell their papers using any headline. Sometimes they make their own deduction from what was spoken.

“I chose to be moderate in all that I say. Except I have concrete facts, I do not just talk. But are Nigerians disappointed? It is everywhere. You see it in the news. When expectations are not met, people will express their frustrations. It is natural and normal.”

That does not however mean the current administration has not done anything good, Bakare noted.

 

 

APC membership revalidation, a huge scam, says PDP

 

BY AYO ESAN

THE Peoples Democratic Party has said the outburst by former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Bisi Akande, has further confirmed revelations that the APC membership
revalidation and registration exercise is a huge scam designed to allot fictitious figures and inflate the APC membership register.

The PDP also mocked the APC on the free for all fight by desperate factions over control of allocated figures, at what it called its phony membership revalidation exercise, held at the Banquet Hall of the Kwara State Government House, Ilorin.

The party said this further exposed the exercise as a monumental swindle.

The PDP, which made this known in a press release signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, on Thursday, also lampooned APC leaders over the public apathy that it claimed had greeted the exercise, despite the deployment of huge financial resources, stating that such was a further confirmation that Nigerians had rejected the APC.

The party said Nigerians were already aware that the purpose of the APC membership revalidation exercise was to produce inflated membership figures to assist the APC allocate fictitious votes for itself in the 2023 elections; a scheme it said was dead on arrival.

It said, “Moreover, no Nigerian would want to join a party of fraudsters, manipulators, political bandits and liars, which has ruined our country and expended its goodwill on the altar of violence, deception and insensitivity to the needs of the people.

“The world watched the show of shame as APC members clashed in bloody brawl, assailing and inflicting injuries on one another with dangerous objects and destroying public property over control of list of fictitious members.

“The PDP has only but pity for delusional APC leaders who are yet to come to terms with the fact that the APC as a party is already dead and that Nigerians cannot be swayed by a fake membership revalidation and a conjured membership figure.”

The PDP commended Akande for his courage in speaking out on the shenanigans in the APC, including the antics of what it described as the illegal national caretaker committee, adding that its meddling with the party’s membership register further confirmed revelations of the fraud inherent in the exercise.

“We also note Chief Akande’s declaration on the waste of resources in the scandalous exercise, which further shows APC’s insensitivity to the plight of sufferings Nigerians,” the party said.

It, however, counseled Chief Akande and a few well-meaning Nigerians still trapped in the APC, not to continue to waste their energy and goodwill “on a dead and rejected party.”

“Our party therefore urges Nigerians to continue to disregard the APC and remain steadfast in rallying on the PDP’s platform in the collective effort to rescue our nation from the misrule of the APC,” Ologbondiyan noted.

 

 

Google phone cameras to read heart, breathing rates with AI tech

 

CAMERAS on Google Pixel smartphones will be able to measure heart and breathing rates starting next month, in one of the first applications of Alphabet Inc’s artificial intelligence technology to its wellness services.

Health programs available on Google Play’s store and Apple Inc’s App Store for years have provided the same functionality. But a study in 2017 found accuracy varied and adoption of the apps remains low.

Google Health leaders told reporters earlier this week they had advanced the AI powering the measurements and plan to detail its method and clinical trial in an academic paper in the coming weeks. The company expects to roll out the feature to other Android smartphones at an unspecified time, it said in a blog post on Thursday, but plans for iPhones are unclear.

Apple’s Watch, Google’s Fitbit and other wearables have greatly expanded the reach of continuous heart rate sensing technologies to a much larger population.

The smartphone camera approach is more ad hoc – users who want to take a pulse place their finger over the lens, which catches subtle color changes that correspond to blood flow. Respiration is calculated from video of upper torso movements.

Google Health product manager Jack Po said that the company wanted to give an alternative to manual pulse checks for smartphone owners who only want to monitor their condition occasionally but cannot afford a wearable.

Po said the technology, which can mistake heart rates by about 2%, requires further testing before it could be used in medical settings.

The new feature will be available as an update to the Google Fit app.

Google consolidated its health services about two years ago, aiming to better compete with Apple, Samsung Electronics Co and other mobile technology companies that have invested heavily in marketing wellness offerings.

– REUTERS

 

 

NIN, prerequisite for issuance, renewal of driver’s licence – FRSC

 

THE Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), on Thursday, said that the National Identification Number (NIN) was a prerequisite for the issuance and renewal of a driver’s licence.

Mr Adebisi Olajide, the FRSC Route Commander in charge of driver’s licence, Ore Unit Command, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ore, Ondo State.

Olajide said that the turnout of drivers had been impressive at the FRSC licensing office, adding, however, that many of them had issues because of their inability to provide their NIN.

He also said that some of the intending drivers and the old ones had issues with their dates of birth not corresponding with their information on the FRSC information portal.

“NIN is a prerequisite for drivers who want to have their driver’s licence and those seeking renewal of theirs.

“This has been a big problem with some of the applicants because most of them have issues with their dates of birth not corresponding with their information on the FRSC portal.

“Drivers need to ensure that they have their NIN before proceeding to obtain or renew their driver’s licence,” Olajide said.

He, however, urged motorists to stop patronising quacks in the process of obtaining or renewing their driver’s licence because of the NIN, saying that anybody caught would be dealt with in accordance with the law.

 

 

Ganduje after me for not supporting him in 2019, says Sheikh Kabara, as DSS takes over his mosque

 

BY SALIU SALIU, KANO

RENOWNED Kano Islamic scholar, Sheikh AbdulJabar Nasiru Kabara, has accused Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of banning his activities because he did not support his re-election in 2019.

He alleged that Ganduje had employed all tactics to get back at him for not standing with him, but could not find an opening until some people attacked his mode of preaching.

He said this just as heavily armed operatives of the Department of State Services took over the mosque and house of the preacher to prevent a breakdown of law and order on Thursday.

The state government had banned Sheikh Nasir Kabara from preaching in the state, noting that his mode of teachings were too violent and inciting.

The Commissioner for Information in the state, Mohammed Garba, had explained that the state government took the decision to avoid creating tension in the state.

He said all seminaries run by the Sheikh would be shut down pending investigation by security agencies.

Kabara however told journalists that the Kano governor took the decision based on political and not religious reasons, adding that the Governor had taken the wrong decision at the wrong time.

He said, “You can see that the action is more political than religious.

“The reasons are very obvious. The person who took the decision (the Governor) has said it, times without number, that he never forgives. I fought him during the last election and he promised to retaliate. Only that he is taking the wrong decision at the wrong time.

“So this ban is purely political, it has nothing to do with religion or incitement. I have told my followers to prepare their votes ahead of the next election and do the needful.

“Alhamdulillah for everything, I am fighting scholars, not Government, but at the end, Government took over on their behalf.”

 

 

Effium crisis: Police arraign 81 for murder, arson

 

BY AGNES NWORIE, ABAKALIKI

THE Ebonyi State Police Command has arraigned 81 persons before a Magistrate’s court, sitting in Abakaliki, for alleged murder, arson, and promotion of communal war, among other offences.

The suspects in the suits numbered, ‘MAB/68c/2021 and MAB/67c/2021’, all natives of Ezza Effium and Effium communities in Ohaukwu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, were accused of muder, unlawful possession of firearms, arson and promoting inter communal war on January 22, 2021.

The prosecutor said they thereby committed offences punishable under sections 516A(a), 42, 319(1), 443, all of Criminal Code Cap 33 Volume 1, Laws of Ebonyi State of Nigeria, 2009; and Section 3 of the Robbery and Firearms Special Provisions Act Cap R.11 Laws of Federation of Nigeria, 2004 as amended.

The Point gathered that those arraigned and remanded at the Nigeria Correctional Center, Abakaliki, from Ezza, were 26 persons while 55 were from Effuim.

Our correspondent observed that the 81 suspects were all males between the ages of 17 and 50 years.

Speaking during the arraignment, the trial Chief Magistrate, Nnenna Onuoha, considering the gravity of the offences, which were beyond the jurisdiction of a magistrate court, ordered the remand of all the suspects in the Abakaliki Correctional Center.

The Magistrate also directed that all case files, evdiences and documents related to the matter be forwarded to the Department of Public Prosecution.