Clement Nwabuko

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Owo Massacre: A Nation Only Strives, Develops When There is Peace, Harmony – IPCR

Owo Massacre: A Nation Only Strives, Develops When There is Peace, Harmony – IPCR

The Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) condemns the killing of innocent worshippers during a church service at St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State on Sunday, June 5, 2022.

The IPCR describes the gruesome massacre of the defenseless faithful as disheartening, despicable and barbaric, noting that such heinous crime is a smear on the serenity, sacredness and dignity of humanity as well as an affront to the territorial integrity of the Nigerian state.

The Director-General of the Institute, Dr. Bakut Bakut, further notes that a nation only strives and develops when citizens avoid act of criminality and stay together in peace and harmony. He calls on Nigerians to be accommodating, tolerant and receptive to one another as well as shun vices that are inimical to peace and antithetical to development.

The Director-General admonishes that as a nation, we should let unity and oneness define us, noting that clear cut ideas that bring development are incubated in a peaceful environment.

The Institute appeals to those perpetrating all manner of violence and criminality in the country and in a way, sabotaging the efforts of the Federal Government, to desist and give peace a chance given that Nigeria is the only country we can call our own. We should treasure our country as a common heritage for the present and the generation to come.

The Director-General commends the security agencies especially the Armed Forces and Police who are the frontline agencies for their commitment and gallantry in maintaining peace and order. He charges them to deploy all necessary machineries in making sure that the perpetrators of St. Patrick Catholic Church Massacre are apprehended and face the full wrath of the law.

Dr. Bakut commiserates with the families of the victims of the unfortunate attack, the Catholic Church, the government as well as the people of Ondo State.

Owo Massacre Another Wakeup Call On Security Agencies To Up Their Game – Ojukwu

Owo Massacre Another Wakeup Call On Security Agencies To Up Their Game – Ojukwu

The Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission, Chief Tony Ojukwu SAN has condemned the attack at St. Francis Catholic Church Owo, adding that the massacre is another wakeup call on all Security Agencies to up their game with a view to averting the occurrence of such incidents in future”.

The Executive Secretary who was reacting to the unfortunate incident which claimed several lives, leaving others injured and hospitalized, has urged the Nigerian Police and other relevant Security Agencies to do their utmost best to arrest and prosecute the perpetrators of this dastardly act without further delay.

Ojukwu made the call on Tuesday in a statement signed by the Deputy Director Public Affairs of the Commission, Fatimah Agwai Mohammed made available to Peionews.

According to the statement, the Learned Senior Advocate has also denounced the alleged reprisal attacks on some Hausa settlements by some individuals in Owo, the host Community, saying that such reaction is misguided and highly reprehensible as two wrongs cannot make a right and the law enforcement agents should be allowed to do their job. This will help not to escalate the conflict, the Executive Secretary advised.

He used the opportunity to call on the Federal Government to provide the needed resources to the Security Agencies to do the needful in the protection of lives and properties of innocent citizens, saying “the incessant killings in our dear country has been going on for too long, criminals are operating with impunity all over the land, the Owo massacre is another wakeup call on all Security Agencies to up their game with a view to averting the occurrence of such incidents in future”

Similarly, he called on every one living in Nigeria to play a role in securing the nation; “all hands must be on deck, we should be united in fighting these crimes to protect lives and properties in every part of this nation by always providing intelligence information to Security Personnel and educating other citizens on the essence of peaceful coexistence”

On the survival of those still in hospital which he describes as crucial, Chief Ojukwu urged on well-meaning Nigerians to save the lives of the victims in any way they could help.

The Nation’s Chief Human Rights Officer sympathized with families who have lost their loved ones in the attack and prayed to God to give them the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.

In another development, the human rights Czar has also condemned the alleged killing of a young man Ahmed Usman over blasphemy at the Lugbe axis of the FCT. He commended the police and other law enforcement agents for arresting 15 of the alleged perpetrators and urged a transparent and fair trial of the suspects to render justice and fair trial to all concerned.

He lamented that jungle justice is gradually eroding the peaceful coexistence in our dear country; he called on the government to put in place necessary measures to check the perpetrators of jungle justice so as not to allow it to become the norm whereby people could be maimed or killed even without any provocation or any opportunity to defend themselves as provided in the 1999 constitution of Nigeria.

He advised aggrieved parties that taking laws into their hands cannot be an option in any situation, saying we should learn to be civil and law-abiding in championing any cause or ventilating our grievances.

Tinubu’s Group Lists Conditions For Consensus, Warns Against Illegality

Tinubu’s Group Lists Conditions For Consensus, Warns Against Illegality

Tinubu Campaign Organisation has warned against the imposition of a consensus candidate by the All Progressives Congress.

The organisation was reacting to the announcement of Senate President Ahmed Lawan as consensus candidate of the party on Monday.

In a statement signed by its Legal Director, Babatunde Ogala, SAN, the support group listed three conditions for picking a consensus candidate as stipulated in the Electoral Act.

Tne statement read, “The media is inundated with reports that the Chairman of the All progressives Congress (APC) has unilaterally announced the purported adoption of a certain aspirant the consensus presidential candidate of the APC for the forth coming presidential election in 2023.

“While the National Chairman is yet to deny or offer any clarification on the alleged declaration, it is necessary to state that such a declaration is a legal impossibility.

“This is because under the regime of the Electoral Act 2022, consensus, though provided for as one of the means by which a political party may produce its candidate, must specifically occur in a precise form.

“Section 84(9) (10) and (11) of the Electoral Act 2022 are the relevant provisions and they state as follows:
“(9) A political party that adopts a consensus candidate shall secure the written consent of all cleared aspirant for the position, indicating their voluntary withdrawal from the race and their endorsement of the consensus candidate”.

“(10) Where a political party is unable to secure a written consent of all cleared aspirants for the purpose of a consensus candidate, it shall revert
to the choice of direct or indirect primaries for the nomination of candidates for the aforesaid elective position.

“(11) A special convention or nomination congress shall be held to ratify the choice of consensus candidates at designated centers at the National,
State, Senatorial, Federal and State Constituencies, as the case may be”.

“Instructively, none of the above conditions have occurred in respect of producing the presidential candidate of the APC. Therefore, any declaration of a consensus candidate would be premature and a violation of extant provisions of the law.

“We are confident that as a law-abiding entity, the APC will not be part of such. We are further persuaded to urge our supporters to disregard this report considering that the overwhelming majority of the APC Northern Governors who, after meeting with the President, re-affirmed their preference for a
president from the Southern part of Nigeria.

“This patriotic decision is widely accepted by all Nigerians as a demonstration of deep understanding of the nuanced fault lines of our nation.

“In the circumstance, a unilateral declaration by the National Chairman of a consensus presidential candidate for the party will not only violate the law, but set the party on collision course with its Governors who are critical stakeholders in the party.”

Guterres Condemns Heinous Attack In St. Francis Catholic Church Owo

Guterres Condemns Heinous Attack In St. Francis Catholic Church Owo

UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, has condemned the heinous attack on worshippers at a Catholic Church in Nigeria, at Owo, Ondo State, urging the Nigerian Government to fish out the perpetrators.

Guterres, in a statement by his spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, on Monday, urged the Nigerian authorities to spare no effort in bringing the perpetrators to justice.

According to him, the secretary-general condemns in the strongest terms the heinous attack in St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State.

The attack, which happened on Sunday, resulted in the death and injuries of scores of civilians as people gathered for the Pentecost mass in the parish.

The spokesman said the secretary-general emphasised that attacks on places of worship are abhorrent.

Guterres extends his heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims and wishes a speedy recovery to the injured.

He also expresses his sympathies to, and solidarity with, the Government and people of Nigeria.

Earlier at a news conference in New York, Dujarric said the UN condemned Sunday’s horrific attack on worshippers.

He told journalists in New York that the UN Resident Coordinator in the country, Matthias Schmale, strongly condemned the attack.

“I can tell you that the Resident Coordinator for Nigeria said that the UN in Nigeria strongly condemns the brutal attack on worshippers at St Francis Catholic Church.

“The team sends its deepest condolences to families and friends mourning the victims of this horrific crime,’’ he said.

According to him, Schmale appealled for calm, saying perpetrators should be brought to justice.

APC NWC Members Divided Over Announcement of Lawan As Consensus Candidate

APC NWC Members Divided Over Announcement of Lawan As Consensus Candidate

Members of the All Progressives Congress have been left divided following the announcement of Senate President Ahmed Lawan as consensus candidate.

According to Punch, this has brought confusion to the party.

The PUNCH gathered that members of the NWC met on Tuesday in line with the directive of the president Muhammadu Buhari that a consensus candidate should be picked after consultation.

It was learnt that during the meeting, a candidate was announced to be Buhari’s candidate but members of the NWC kicked.

A member of the NWC told Punch that Ahmed Lawan was announced as the consensus candidate.

This, he said, other members kicked against, leading to a division among the NWC members.

Punch

Just In: Lawan is APC’s consensus candidate, Adamu declares

Just In: Lawan is APC’s consensus candidate, Adamu declares

Coming shortly after a meeting President Muhammadu Buhari held meeting with Northern governors of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the National Chairman of the party has announced Senate President Ahmed Lawan as the consensus candidate of the party.

Adamu made the announcement at the meeting of the National Working Committee (NWC) on Monday in Abuja, according to The Nation Newspaper.

Other aspirants including Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; Dr Kayode Fayemi and David Umahi, among others will, however, be allowed to contest the primary at the convention holding tomorrow at the Eagle Square, Abuja.

Meanwhile, Buhari’s meeting is coming just hours ahead of the APC’s presidential convention, which is scheduled to take off today at the Eagle Square, Abuja.

Although there was no official note to the reason for the meeting with the governors, it was suggested it may not be unconnected with preparations towards assuring a successful convention and narrowing down on who takes the flag of the party tomorrow.

It is the fourth meeting between the President and party stakeholders in relation to the primary.

Aside from his meeting with APC Governors last Tuesday, Buhari has met with the party’s presidential aspirants where he urged them to consult and pick a formidable candidate from among themselves.

On Sunday night, the President also hosted members of the National Advisory Council to a

Those in attendance are Chairman of Progressive Governors Forum Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi); chairman of Northern Governors Forum Simon Lalong; Abubakar Baduru (Jigawa) and Babagana Zulum (Borno).

Others are: Aminu Bello Masari (Katsina); Abdullahi Sule (Nasarawa); Bello Matawale (Zamfara); Mallam Nasir el-Rufai (Kaduna); Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano); Yahaya Inuwa (Gombe); Abubakar Bello (Niger) and Mai Mala Buni (Yobe).

Source

Owo Church Killings A Sacrilegious Attack From Enemies Of Nigeria – Omi-Agege Says

Owo Church Killings A Sacrilegious Attack From Enemies Of Nigeria – Omi-Agege Says

Last Sunday’s dastardly attack on worshippers at St Francis Catholic Church, Owo may be a calculated attempt to provoke massive crisis in Nigeria and all security agencies must work together in investigating it, Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege has said.

Reacting to the sad incident through a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Yomi Odunuga, the Deputy Senate President noted Ondo State Governor, Chief Rotimi Akeredolu’s suspicions that the assailants could be foreign trained anarchists, adding that the investigators must spread their tentacles beyond Nigeria in order to bring them and their facilitators to justice.

“I commiserate deeply with His Excellency, Governor Akeredolu, the Catholic Church, families of innocent victims and the entire citizens of Ondo State over this unprecedented gruesome attack aimed towards shattering the peace of Nigeria.

“There is much more to the attack than what many can immediately see or understand; therefore, I join other well-meaning people in pleading that no one should contemplate reprisal attacks that will only affect innocent persons.

“If the aim of these terrorists and anarchists is to set us against one another across Nigeria, we must collectively remain firm in rejecting their nudging towards violence against one another.

“My deepest condolences to the traditional ruler, Chiefs, the people of Owo and families of all those affected during the criminal incident. May God and the hard work of our security agencies unmask the perpetrators of evil and all those associated with them,” Senator Omo-Agege stated.

Tampering Of Delegates List Tears Anambra APC Apart

Tampering Of Delegates List Tears Anambra APC Apart

…. Party stalwarts stranded, following frequent change of names

…Blame Sen. Uba and state chairman, Basil Ejidike, for the tampering

The camp of Anambra State delegates to the ongoing presidential primaries of the ruling All Progressives Congress, (APC), is now in turmoil following the random change of delegates ‘elected’ to represent the state. The state has a total of 63 national delegates, three each from the state’s 21 local government areas.

Over the last three weeks, our sources say, there has been at least three different lists emanating from the Anambra State chapter of the APC.

Although the authentic list of delegates has since been filed with the APC headquarters and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, leaders of the party in the state remain determined to effect changes to the already established list. Besides the removal of certain individuals due to political exigencies, the latest attempt to foist a change is been championed by members of the state working committee, SWC, who insist on being accommodated.

Tempers, however, flared last night as the chapter met at the Maitama office of the acclaimed leader of the party in the state, Senator Andy Uba. Sources close to the meeting disclosed that many party stalwarts were shocked during accreditation, when they discovered that their names had disappeared from the list. In their place were SWC members from each LGA.

Some of those whose names were tampered with include Chief Johnbosco Onunkwo, a frontline gubernatorial aspirant and financier of the party, BenChuks Nwosu, a former speaker of the Anambra State House of Assembly, Chief Chibuzor Obiakor, the party’s state agent at the last governorship election in the state, Hon. Chizoba Obidigwe, a former member of the House of Representatives and leader of the party in Ayamelum LGA, and Chief Dubem Obaze, a leading stalwart.

In fact, matters nearly degenerated into fisticuffs after representatives of APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu visited the Anambra delegation and announced a welcome package of N250,000 for each delegate.

Although the state chairman had earlier announced a 15 percent deduction from every monetary gift to the delegates, he ended up deducting N50,000, instead of N37,500 from the money donated from the Tinubu team.

For now, delegates wait for the accreditation process to commence, even as they continue to grumble over the contentious Anambra delegates list.

Abuja Agog As Ejike Ugboaja FC Scouting Program Kicks Off On Sunday

Abuja Agog As Ejike Ugboaja FC Scouting Program Kicks Off On Sunday

The Federal Capital City, Abuja will from Sunday, June 5, 2022 host about 28 teams from across the country at the Goal Project, Parkage B, MKO Abiola National Stadium as Ejike Ugboaja FC is organising a-5-day scouting program.

The program will feature about five hundred players across the country. However, scouts from ten clubs across the Europe including Arsenal, Chelsea among others have already confirmed their participations.

Speaking ahead of the scouting program, the chairman of the organising club, Ejike Ugboaja FC, Christopher Ejike Ugboaja said, the idea behind the five-day scouting program was to give Nigeriian young players the opportunity to be seen by those super clubs in Europe.

He said, talents are abound in Nigeria, but how do they get to be recognise has been the problem, therefore, in his quest to give back to the society he has chosen to organise the scouting program so that they can come together showcase their talents before the scouts and the lucky ones could be spotted and giving a contract immediately.

“As I keep saying, they are good players in Nigeria but, the issue has been who will help expose them to these foreign scouts? And that is the reason I came in, because having played basketball to it’s pinnacle and coupled with the facts that I have helped over two thousands Nigerian basketball players and America footballers schools in the United State of America and clubs too, I thought it wise to replicate same in football “

“We have concluded all arraignment concerning the program. The scouts will be in the country on Saturday and leave for their respective clubs on June 9, after the closing ceremony

“Our prayers are that they should be able to identify and sign as many players as possible, so that at the end we would have empower the young players because that is the reason behind the program.,” Ugboaja said.

Experts Converge In Abuja To Develop Framework For Transitional Justice In North East

Experts Converge In Abuja To Develop Framework For Transitional Justice In North East

Abuja – A group of Senior Legal Academics, Solicitor Generals/Permanent Secretaries, and Personalities from related fields have converged in Abuja to develop a suitable framework for a successful Transitional Justice Programme in North East Nigeria.

The Strategic Expert Meeting for the development of Transitional Justice Framework is one of the activities under a project titled “Promoting Transitional Justice and Reconciliation in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe State”. The project is being implemented by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in Partnership with United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) and supported by the European Union (EU).

The Executive Secretary of the Commission Chief Tony Ojukwu SAN while delivering a welcome address at the meeting said the Commission is pleased to host the highest level of experts as far as justice machinery in the three project states of Adamawa Borno and Yobe is concerned.
This is for the purpose of developing a suitable framework for the Transitional Justice, a project that we have introduced to some communities in the three states.

The Human Rights Boss was represented at the event by his Senior Special Adviser, Mr. Hilary Ogbonna who also doubles as the Project Coordinator.

He stated that “it is highly imperative to design a framework that will best suit the communities ravaged by insurgency” he emphasized that ” the framework should be in conformity with the values, beliefs, culture and tradition of the people, this will make it easy for the community to adapt” he added.

He also stressed that “the framework must be predicated on the principles of natural justice, fair hearing, victim justice, survivor justice, equality etc” .

In his remark, the representative of the UNDP Mr. Elia Von Rota applauded the effort of the Commission in bringing such caliber of intellectuals together to develop the framework, saying he will be pleased to be an observer at the meeting.

In his good will message, the Permanent Secretary and Solicitor General of Adamawa State Samuel Yaumande Esq, said the initiative is the first of its kind in the North East. He pointed out the need to have in place an effective justice system that would reconcile and reintegrate members of communities who have experienced gross human rights violations as a result of the insurgency. He advised that “in designing the framework, it is necessary to take into consideration the need of the victims to enable them pick up their pieces of lives and move forward”.

Similarly, his Yobe State Counterpart Hajiya Kadija Alkali said the programme could not have come at a better time than now, due to the recent massive surrender of many insurgents. She said “there is need for everyone to embrace the transitional justice and reconciliation approach, because it gives hope for peace to reign among the members of the community”. She called on the experts to make concerted efforts towards having a perfect framework that will serve as a guideline to achieve lasting peace in the region.

The representative of the Permanent Secretary and Solicitor General of Borno State who is also the Director of Civil Litigation B M Bukar Esq said “the justice system we adopt from the English people is alien to our culture, as such it is not suitable for us”. He described it as “unnecessarily long and boring to our people, it is not easy to enforce foreign culture on our people”. According to him, “this method of Transitional Justice and Reconciliation is the best thing that can happen to us in this region as far as making peace and reconciliation is concerned and we must all ensure that it works”.

At the event were Academics from different Universities as well as Civil Society Organizations and State Coordinators of the Commission.