NORTHERN GOVERNORS CONGRATULATE SULTAN OF SOKOTO AT 65
The Northern Governors Forum has congratulated His Eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, CFR as he marks his 65th birthday.
Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum and Governor of Plateau State Simon Bako Lalong in a congratulatory message described the Sultan as an inspiring leader who has continued to promote national unity, peace and security of Nigeria as well as offered valuable counsel to the Governments at all levels.
Governor Lalong said Sultan Abubakar remains a respectable leader who is always on the side of truth and embraces justice for all people irrespective of their religious, ethnic, political or economic backgrounds.
While wishing the Royal Father many more years of good health, peace of mind and God’s protection, Lalong urged him to continue to offer his wise counsel to the nation, particularly to Northern Governors who have found in him a worthy partner for the emancipation of the region from many of its challenges.
Dr. Makut Simon Macham Director of Press & Public Affairs to the Governor of Plateau State and Chairman Northern Governor’s Forum. 25th August 2021.
Headquarters 3 Division Nigerian Army and Operation SAFE HAVEN (OPSH) notes the press briefing held by TEKAN/ECWA BLOC of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Plateau State Chapter on the rising insecurity in the State delivered on 23 August 2021 at the ECWA Jos DCC Headquarters Jos North Plateau state and the issues raised therein.
The commander appreciates some of the concerns of the Christian bloc and appeals for calm as the Operation is working round the clock with the Government and critical stakeholders to maintain peace in the state. The Operation is determined to protect law abiding citizens of all faiths, ethnic backgrounds on the plateau and ensure peaceful co-existence.
We are not unmindful of the determination of some merchants of crisis to perpetuate unrest in Jos metropolis and its environs. They are also bent on ensuring that the GOC and Commander OPSH does not continue with his mandate of ensuring sustainable peace in the state. The call for the removal of the GOC did not come to us as a surprise as the campaign of calumny against the person of the GOC started shortly after his assumption of command. Those series of attacks were indeed precursors to this latest call for his removal.
While acknowledging some setbacks recorded initially, those challenges have been surmounted by more deployments, robust mobile patrols and increased presence of security personnel. We have also increased our engagements with critical stakeholders and citizens to build confidence and keep the channels of communication open. It is a fact that we have increasingly responded swiftly to distress calls to curtail crime and criminality in the state.
To allege that Maj Gen IS Ali has not lived to expectation in managing the dual responsibility of GOC and Commander Operation SAFE HAVEN is false. Suffice to say that Plateau State is one of the 5 states under the 3 Division area of responsibility and they have been well managed. Moreso, military officers are deployed for appointments based on their competence, training, experience and capabilities. Additionally, the GOC is under oath to discharge his duties professionally and not to please individuals for their personal gains. The erroneous mention of the GOC’s initials as MS Ali is also indicative of the fact that the group does not even know the person of the GOC and Commander Operation SAFE HAVEN.
At this point we urge the TEKAN/ECWA bloc of CAN to encourage her members to cooperate with the security agencies as they strive to restore peace and security in the state and not to resort to self help by taking the laws into their hands.
The public is once again assured that security agencies would continue to carry out its assigned duties professionally devoid of tribal, ethnic, socio-political and religious sentiments by ensuring peace and tranquility in its area of responsibility. Kindly disseminate to the public through your medium. Thank you for your usual cooperation.
Nigeria’s Inspector General of Police (IGP), Alkali Baba Usman has charged Police officers to arrest and deal with any member of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
Mr. Usman made the charge on Monday in Asaba during a visit to the Delta state police command.
He said: “It is expected that whatever affect Anambra State may likely affect, especially Asaba. It is just the bridge that is separating the towns.
“There are always spill over of agitations and demonstrations from Onitsha to Asaba.
“That is why you need to get prepared to deal with any crime or criminality to ensure that those trouble makers are brought to book.”
“You (officers) need to brace up to the IPOB challenge because it is a proscribed organisation, and treat them as such.”
Commending officers and men of the command for their successes, Usman who was Commissioner of Police in the state between 2014 and 2016, urged them to improve on their crime fighting efforts.
The wife of Major-General Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe (J.T.U.) Aguiyi-Ironsi, Nigeria’s first military head of state, Chief Mrs. Victoria Nwanyiocha Aguiyi-Ironsi, is dead. She died in the early hours of Monday, aged 97.
Born on November 21, 1923, she was the second First Lady of Nigeria from January 16, 1966, to July 29, 1996, when her husband was assassinated in a counter military coup carried out by Nigerian military officers of Northern extraction.
Aguiyi-Ironsi was killed in Ibadan in the countercoup led by Murtala Muhammed and which led to the installation of Yakubu Gowon as head of state.
Reflecting on her life after the gruesome murder of her husband in an interview with The Guardian newspaper on June 3, 2016, she said.
“The truth is that 29th of July this year will be 50 years since my husband was killed. By then, I had eight children. I have seen hell and at the same time, I have seen heaven.”
PLATEAU STATE GOVERNMENT REFUTES NBA JOS BRANCH ALLEGATION ON ALLEGED BAIL DENIAL DIRECTIVE BY GOVERNOR LALONG
The Plateau State Government is constrained to refute and correct the misconception and misinformation contained in a press statement issued by the Nigerian Bar Association, Jos Branch, issued by its Chairman, Yakubu S. Bawa, Esq. on 20th August, wherein several issues (albeit incorrectly) were raised against the Executive Governor of Plateau State, Rt. Hon. (Dr) Simon Bako Lalong, KSGG.
This clarification would not have been necessary, but for the fact that the weighty allegations are coming from a professional body like the NBA of which the Executive Governor of Plateau State, Rt. Hon. (Dr) Simon Bako Lalong, KSGG is a proud member, one-time official and serious stakeholder, having earned his place in the noble profession.
Secondly, the matters raised in the press statement if left un-countered, could condense in the minds of right-thinking Nigerians and probably be considered factual with the tendency to cast the Governor in bad light, thereby injuring both his hard-earned reputation and the credibility of his Administration.
The summary of the 3-paged press statement centres on concerns raised by the NBA Jos Branch to what it alleged to be Media Reports credited to the Governor, to the effect that “His Excellency has issued a firm instruction to concerned authorities to decline the grant of bail to those arrested in connection to the mob action meted on the Bauchi – Ondo bound commuters, enroute Rukuba Road Jos North LGA, Plateau State. In the same vein, the statement categorically gave a marching order to security operatives to arrest any person that seeks to secure the release of such suspects on bail”.
For the avoidance of doubt and for the benefit of those who were not present at the High Level Stakeholders Meeting held at the Victoria Gowon Hall of the Government House Rayfield, the Governor gave an opening address during which he highlighted a number of issues relating to the resurgence of attacks particularly in Bassa, Jos North, Riyom, Barkin Ladi and Jos South Local Government Areas.
One of them was his frustration over what he described as the unfortunate report from the Security Agencies which indicated that some suspects earlier arrested in connection with various Capital Offenses (preceding the Bassa and Rukuba Road incidents), were granted Bail only to be fingered as having a hand in most recent attacks.
This much was confirmed to journalists by the Plateau State Commissioner Edward Egbuka after the security meeting of 3rd August 2021 in which he said, “There are records of leaders that are on bail temporarily, and some of them have been fingered in this present attacks. Nobody will be spared”.
What the Governor clearly expressed was a frustration with this development. His warning was to those who stand Surety for such suspects to realise the danger of the fact that some of the persons for whom they stand Surety without necessary background checks, turn out to be fingered in other crimes while on bail. In fact, the Governor shared his frustration with the Chief Judge of the State Hon. Justice Yakubu Gyang Dakwak who was also present at the event. He neither directed the denial of bail to suspects indicted in the Rukuba Road incident, nor ordered the arrest of those who attempt to seek their bail.
Against the foregoing background, to therefore suggest that his Excellency ordered bail to be denied deserving suspects or that those who come to seek bail for others be arrested, is completely incorrect. This is clearly a interpretation of his intervention that was clearly taken out of context and garnished with innuendos to suit certain preconceived narratives. The said allegations attributed to the Governor are therefore not true and should be discountenanced by the public.
The Governor being a Member of the Legal Profession will not associate himself with any pronouncement that is against the tenets of the Constitution or at variance with the Fundamental Human Rights of the Citizens that he has sworn to protect. Besides, he has no intention to arrogate to himself any powers that he does not possess such as deciding who gets or is denied Bail.
With this hindsight and the avalanche of information available to the Governor as the “Chief Security Officer” of the State, his frustration as elucidated earlier stands to be clearly understood by right thinking members of society without the risk of any embellishment and out-of-context interpretation. We take this opportunity to assure the NBA Jos Branch that the Governor remains a defender of the Constitution and of Human Rights, having assumed this responsibility by the Oath he took as Governor of Plateau State and by the virtue of his status as a former law maker and one that has his roots in the legal profession.
Had the NBA Jos Branch sought clarification and exercised restraint, their Press Statement would have been unnecessary. We appeal to the Members of the Learned Profession to endeavour to fact-check issues in order to avoid being drawn into matters that may not be helpful at times like this.
We hope this explanation sets His Excellency, Rt. Hon. (Dr) Simon Bako Lalong, KSGG, Executive Governor Of Plateau State and by the grace of God, Chairman, Northern Governors Forum on the same page with the NBA, Jos Branch and beyond.
Hon. Dan Manjang Commissioner for Information & Communication, Plateau State. 22nd August 2021
Man heading to Plateau arrested with 320 bullets, magazines, others
By Prince Sekat, Jos
An arms smuggler, Likita Abubakar, 35 years old, has been apprehended in Nasarawa State.
Abubakar was caught with 53 magazines, over 260 live ammunition, one motorcycle and N38,500.
A joint team of the Police and the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) apprehended him at Alushi junction in Akwanga.
His colleagues are on their way on motorcycles to Jos in Plateau State, Likita reportedly disclosed.
The suspect is being detained at Akwanga Police Divisional headquarters.
A statement by the Command Public Relations Officer, ASP Ramhan Nansel said the arrest followed intelligence.
Commissioner of Police, Adesina Soyemi has ordered the transfer of the case to the State Criminal Investigation Department, CID, in Lafia for a thorough investigation. Nansel confirmed that Abubakar had been on the wanted list of the Police “for offences ranging from armed robbery to kidnapping”.
The figure in the headline was increased to 320 from 260 after police confirmation
The interception and arrest of Likita Abubakar a Fulani man in Akwanga, on Saturday 21st August, 2021 by the Join Task Force of Police and Federal Road Safety Commission in Nasarawa State while transporting ammunitions to Jos, Plateau State is a clear evidence that war has been declared by terror herdsmen against the good people of Plateau.
I strongly want to call on Plateau State Government and the security agencies to rise to their responsibility of protecting lives and properties and ensure the arrest of the remaining six Gangs and friends of Likita Abubakar a Fulani man who was arrested in Akwanga Saturday the 21st of August, 2021 on his way to Jos with fully loaded arms.
I want to also call on all Plateau State people, especially youth to be united and ensure they are not taken unawares, they should protect their communities by preventing any further attacks.
Section 33 (1) of the Nigerian Constitution provides that persons living in Nigeria, shall have a right to life and no one shall be deprived intentionally, of his life unless in execution of the sentence of a court of criminal office of which he has been found guilty.
This aspect of the constitution has been forgotten, there is killing everywhere. terror herdsmen are above the law. They seems untouchable and seemingly protected.If there activities remain unchecked, another civil war may erupt or the taliban Afghanistan experience.
It is very sad that in the past few weeks Plateau Villages have suffered several attacks and hundreds of innocent souls lost, but this didn’t attract the necessary required attention, rather grazing routes are been reviewed instead of approval of encouraging private ranches.
I call on the security agencies in Plateau State to take action like their colleagues in Nasarawa state to arrest the remaining six gangs who were on their way with loaded Arms to Plateau State for another round deadly of attacks
Enough is enough, we will resist any attempt to continuously disrupt peace on the Plateau by forcefully taken over our ancestral farm lands in what soever form. Government should ensure the return of citizens that has been chased out of there communities
Rep. Dachung Musa Bagos Member Representing Jos South/Jos East Federal Constituency House of Reps Abuja.
ALH ATTAH MUHAMMED BESTOWED WITH A CHIEFTANCY TITLE AS IYAN JIBAN (KUKA ) BY LONG JIBAN MISKOOM ALI ZEMLONG YENRIEM.
on behalf of all Plateau youths in the seventeen local government areas of Plateau state congratulates you sir,on your recent honour bestowed on you as the IYAN JIBAN, KUKA.
We’re not surprised owing to the magnitude of goodwill and contacts at your disposal with which you have piloted the affairs of your immediate community.
We are aware that all these honours and goodwill emanated from your unrivalled generosity that cannot be compared to the those before you.
Your discipline, knowledge, skills, and indeed your very essence, have garnered you all these Congratulations! It’s a well-earned reward for all that you do to your community.
You’re the kind of person who is never afraid to take the plunge. That’s why you so deeply deserve this new challenge and insha Allah you will succeed. Congratulations, I know that this fabulous appointment will be a springboard to even more triumphs.
We will continue to place you on a very high premium and pedestal and pray God to continue to strengthen you as you move from Glory to Glory!
ONDO FULANI PREACH FORGIVENESS AS PLATEAU DEPUTY GOVERNOR LEADS DELEGATION TO ONDO; DELIVERS SURVIVORS OF RUKUBA ROAD ATTACK & CONDOLES GOVERNMENT.
Plateau State Governor Simon Bako Lalong on on Friday 20th August 2021 sent a high powered delegation led by Deputy Governor Prof. Sonny Gwanle Tyoden to Ondo State State to formally deliver the survivors of the unfortunate attack in Rukuba road Jos and convey condolences and apologies of the Government and people of Plateau State to their families as well as the entire people of the State.
The Deputy Governor who was accompanied by Emir of Wase HRH Mohammed Sambo Haruna; Yoruba Community Leader, Plateau State, Chief Jide Olagbemiro; Chairman MACBAN, Plateau State, Alh. Nura Mohammad; Alh. Sani Mudi, JNI; and Prof. John W. Wade, mni, D.G. Research & Documentation Government House, asked the people of Ondo to forgive the people of Plateau for the actions of the few misguided criminals who he said acted on their own as they did not represent any religious, ethnic or social interest in the condemnable act.
He said Governor Lalong has been distressed by this development which is an attempt to jeopardize the hard earned peace that has been substantially restored in the last 6 years since his coming office. He assured of Government commitment to protecting lives and properties of all Nigerians and reiterated that the culprits involved would be brought to book as many arrests have been made. He said Plateau State remains a home for all as the melting pot of the nation.
Deputy Governor, Hon. Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa said immediately reports of the incident were recieved, Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu reached out to Governor Lalong and got the full picture of the tragic event. The Governor immediately went to the cattle market to sympathise with the leadership of the Fulani brethen and reiterated that his Government is concerned about the welfare of all citizens irrespective of their backgrounds.
He praised Governor Lalong for his quick intervention and other proactive measures to contain the situation and prevent it from getting out of hand. He also appreciated the sending of such a high level delegation to accompany their people back home as well as commiserate with the Government and people of Ondo State.
The leader of the Fulani in the South west, Alh. Kabiru Mohammed assured that they have forgiven all in the interest of the peace and stability of Nigeria. He promised that there will be no reprisals as they were happy to see their brothers back in their midst. He said Nigeria is greater than any individual or interest groups.
Emir of Wase HRH Dr. Muhammad Sambo Haruna, in his remarks asked the victims and their families to see the whole act as destiny from Allah and as human beings all have different ways of transiting to eternity as destined by God. He prayed for the repose of the souls of those who lost their lives and prayed God to grant quick healing to the injured.
A similar delegation will soon visit Bauchi to pay formal visit to the Government and Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi.
Dr. Makut Simon Macham Director of Press & Public Affairs to the Governor of Plateau State. 21st August 2021.
The Local Administration in Jos North has sealed AY Shafa filling station around Dariye motor park along Bauchi Junction – Farin Gada road, Jos pending the investigation on the whereabout of the suspect or suspects.
This was in reaction to the recent killing of of a student of the university of Jos at the filling station on Thursday this week.
Management Committee Chairman of Jos North Local Government Shehu Usman had on Thursday this week released an official statement pledging to go after any person or persons who attack innocent citizens and fish them out to face the full wrath of the law. He had also warned that in the event any suspect or suspects escape, his administration would be left with no choice than to arrest residents of the area where the act took place for appropriate sanction.
To match word with action, Management Committee Chairman of Jos North Shehu Usman had matched word with action by sealing the A Y filling station, scene of the crime near Dariye motor park
Usman stressed that investigation has since commenced on the killing of the student and other innocent soul which was taken by the miscreant.
Usman called on citizens in the area and the entire local government to be be more vigilant and report any suspicious persons or activities around them.
Still in Jos North, the Management Committee Chairman of Jos the Local Government Shehu Usman has expressed optimism that his administration will take data of tricycles in the area in order to reduce crime and criminality in the locality.
Usman was speaking while in an engagement meeting with officials of tricycle ridders union Association in his office. Usman while expressing concern with the increasing number of Trycircles coming to Jos without registration plate number cautioned that his administration would never tolerate any act of indicipline.
On his part Chairman tricycle union of Jos North Dahiru Hassan promised to collaborate with the council to fetch out bad eggs among their members.
Meantime, Angwan Rimi community has begun the search to fetch out suspected criminals who attempted to burn the Redemed Christian church of God
Reacting to the development Management Committee Chairman of Jos North Local Government Shehu Bala Usman said there is no hiding place for criminals in Jos North Local Government
Philip Eplong Senior Information Officer Jos North Local Government
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