BuhariGate: A Malicious Propaganda Against Buhari

By Garba Shehu

As the war on corruption heightens, the political battle-line between the governing All Progressives Congress, APC and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has sharply been drawn.

While leaders from both parties voice out their support for the clean-up of the country by ridding it of corruption, the National Working Committee of the PDP seems clearly to be working contrary to the anti-corruption rhetoric of their Board of Trustees. Their public communication organs have, in particular, become increasingly combative against the exercise. 

*Buhari

All that the President, leading the APC change orchestra, is trying to do is to revamp a moribund nation with growth, jobs and recovered looted funds. Sadly, only a few, if any in Wadata House are treating the war against corruption as the extra-ordinary event which it is. Instead, when they speak up, they do so most ardently against it. In a clear demonstration of obstructionist politics, they challenge the government in every move it makes, but fail to spell out alternative roadmaps to curbing the monstrous corruption that threatens to consume the country; they rush to condemn and dramatize even the smallest of measures which, given time and patience will manifest through positive outcomes. 

Doing this gives the PDP the illusion of being an effective opposition party but taken in the context of national interest and the mood of the nation, it is doubtful it is yielding anything beyond limited political returns. To most Nigerians, the cacophonous opposition is just a media spectacle to distract or mellow the President.

After an historic loss in an election to the opposition for the first time in the annals of this country’s political history, PDP has not looked inwards in any serious way to seek its revival. The first and major leap at reform ended disastrously when first, the party establishment rejected a well-timed apology tendered on its behalf for their past failures. Then, the leader of the reform movement got himself mired in allegations leading to court charges of the theft of billions of Naira voted for weapons purchase to fight terror in the North East. Chief Raymond Dokpesi's trial (and Col. Dasuki's) is no doubt a serious blow to any prospects of a turn-around in the PDP. 

Stop Punishing Nigerians For Politicians' Wrongs! - Ben Murray-Bruce

Gov Okorocha’s Christmas Tree And Other Tales Of Political Vanity

By Moses Ochonu

Political vanity is a particularly Nigerian affliction and has been an ancillary scholarly interest of mine. I published an academic article in 2004 on the subject, citing several examples from Nigeria’s then fledgling experiment with civilian rule. The article dwelled extensively but not exclusively on the cases of late former governors Abubakar Audu of Kogi State and Mohammed Lawal of Kwara State.

*Okorocha

The former had an obnoxious penchant for naming every government project after himself and his family members. The latter was so consumed by a need to personalize his power that all mass transit buses belonging to the Kwara State government during his tenure were boldly marked with the moniker “UP LAWAL.”

Since the publication of that article, similar examples of personalized power and political vanities in high places have proliferated. I am reliably informed that in Kayode Fayemi’s Ekiti State, a remarkable record of infrastructural investments was marred by an inexplicable insistence on naming all projects after the former governor and his wife.

Public office holders in Nigeria adorn their offices with all manner of silly award plaques. One former minister, God rest her soul, had an entire wall of her office covered in awards from all manner of organizations — some of them concrete, others clearly made up by sycophants to curry her favor. She liked to take pictures against the background of this wall of vanity. The pictures made it to newspapers and then to the Internet, where they live to date. It was a vulgar form of political narcissism, a kind of self-deification.

The said former minister was so in love with her own image that she invested energy, time, and resources feting and garnishing herself in awards and other accouterments of self-validation. She built a shrine to herself, reveling in her own proclaimed greatness. Fortunately, she was a largely effective, achieving public servant, so her political vanities didn't matter that much. She could be forgiven for her vain indulgences.

Our Change Slogan Is Not A Campaign Gimmick – President Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari's Christmas Message To Nigerians 

*President Buhari with Bishop Matthew Kukah 

I felicitate with all Nigerians, especially our Christian brothers and sisters, on the joyous occasion of this year’s Christmas. On this occasion of the commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ, let us all rededicate ourselves to the virtues of peace, love, honesty, justice, equity, piety, humility and service to others which he taught. 

There can be no doubt that a greater manifestation of these virtues and ideals in our lives will immensely help us to become a more united, peaceful, secure and progressive nation.

Let us also reach out in love and compassion to fellow Nigerians who are in distress at this period of our nation’s history.

I particularly urge you all to remember victims of terrorism and insurgency in the country, especially Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

The Federal Government will continue to collaborate with state governments and other stakeholders to ease the harsh conditions in IDP camps, while the ultimate objective remains to quickly put an end to insurgency and return the IDPs to their homes.

We must never again allow any group to hold the nation to ransom under whatever guise.

Let us also not allow current socio-economic and security challenges to dampen our expectations for a better Nigeria.

This administration has taken a number of measures to restore hope to our people. The 2016 Budget defines our commitment to giving Nigeria a new lease of life.

Our change slogan is not a campaign gimmick but a promise that must be kept. We are determined to bring about tangible changes in the lives of our people.

In this regard, efforts will be intensified to recover stolen funds, block revenue leakages and enthrone due process, transparency and accountability.

Public office is a public trust that must be held to the highest ethical standards.

I wish all Nigerians a Merry Christmas.

Please drive carefully.

MUHAMMADU BUHARI

RELATED POST 

Pastor Kumuyi Is Right: Christmas Is Idolatrous

Aisha Buhari's Lavish Party Obscene, Callous And Wicked – The THIRD Force

Press Release 

*Aisha Buhari 

“The THIRD Force considers it morally repugnant and a slight on the sensibilities of Nigerians that at a time when over 2,000 Nigerian lives have been reportedly wasted and unaccounted for in the Zaria Shia massacre; at a time when Nigerians are confronted with severe economic hardship, fuel scarcity and Nigeria’s worst ever crash of the Naira against the dollar; at a time when Nigerians are groaning under the yoke of what may be the worst Christmas celebration ever; at a time when the scourge of Boko Haram attacks have overwhelmed the capacity of our military to defend the territorial integrity of Nigeria Aisha Buhari, the wife of the Nigerian president is throwing a lavish party that was not only obscene in its opulence, but callous, wicked and insensitive to the plight of millions of deprived Nigerians who are bearing the brunt of this government’s record cluelessness, lack of direction and phantasmagoric policies.

*Mrs. Buhari arrives for the dinner party (informationvilla)

“What exactly are we celebrating? Has President Buhari’s government achieved so much that a party of rice, pounded yam, fruit juices and malt drinks organized for starving youths of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party is the priority of the moment? What happened to the IDP camps with millions of displaced Nigerian citizens who have been reduced to beggars by a government that failed them?

“Under Buhari, Nigeria’s economy has suffered terrible blows. Nigeria appears directionless; the right of citizens to free speech is being threatened; our stock market is crashing; citizens are being killed and their rights violated by the same authorities that swore to protect them; our president is globetrotting like foreign trips are running out of fashion; we wake up every day in a Nigeria where election promises are being denied by the ruling party and return home to food left over by the movers and shakers of the country. Yet here we are, organizing a party to immortalize the folly. What disdain!

Hired Writers Behind Purported Interview Granted By Me - Femi Falana

Press Release

My attention has just been drawn to an obnoxious publication of an interview that I never granted. In the fake interview, I was alleged to have condemned the judgment of the Court of Appeal in respect of the governorship election in Akwa Ibom State. I did not grant the interview ascribed to me by the hack writers. In fact, I could not have condemned the judgment as it is well grounded in law. The so called interview is a hatchet job in every material particular.

Those who know me will attest to the fact that I have never supported the rigging of elections in any manner whatsoever and howsoever. Hence, I have consistently supported the use of PVC and Card Readers which were strenuously opposed by election manipulators in the country. As a lawyer, I have never represented election riggers in any court or tribunal. As a public commentator, I have regularly advocated for the prosecution of election riggers in Nigeria and in other African countries.

Onitsha Massacre: The Dangerous Silence Of Gov Obiano

By Osondu Nwike

Governance in a democratic dispensation is primarily meant to protect the governed among other responsibilities. The relationship between the leader and the led does not start and end with canvassing for votes at which time the leader dines and dances with the common man.

Governor Willy Obiano's silence and inactivity on now two pronounced massacres in Onitsha is dangerous not only on his insensitivity on the lives of Igbo people but on the troubling suspicion on who the real enemies of the Igbo people are. It is Biblical, dating to the days of Esau and Jacob that for a porridge, one can mortgage his rights. Has Obiano played along for his porridge at Abuja?. It is a known fact that after the 1st Onitsha massacre, the governor of the city where the dastardly act took place did not visit any of the wounded neither did he make out time to show concern to the families of the victims nor condemned the act in strong terms.

Yesterday, 17th of December, 2015, about 8 unarmed Igbos marching towards the Niger Bridge head were killed by the soldiers while over 13 were wounded. The most disturbing part of this second massacre is the allegation that same soldiers abducted the bodies of the killed and made away with them.

Gov. Obiano must set politics aside and act as the protector of his people. Anambra people and the rest of Nigerians resident in Onitsha must be seen by the governor as part of his responsibility to protect and care no matter the association, religion and status they represent.

It is on record that the governor of Kaduna State, in company of the IGP and the Minister of Interior visited the Shiite leader, expressing concern and love for the people no matter what may have transpired and that is the expectation of Anambra people, that is the expectation of the Igbos, that is the expectation of IPOB, that is the expectation of MOSSOB and that is the expectation of Nigerians.

In the Zaria incident, the Amnesty International, British High Commissioner and many others issued statements condemning the massacre but in Onitsha massacres, non even acknowledged such occurrences. The reason being that the leadership of the State did not even acknowledge it in the first instance. Collaborators, silent conspirators and other elements of that nature are always identifiable in societies but when it involves lives, it becomes dangerous for leaders to be silent.

- The Nigerian Voice 

Challenges Awaiting Kogi Governor-Elect, Bello

By A. S. M. Jimoh

The Kogi state gubernatorial election has come and gone, but the controversy that trailed it has refused to die. The whole scenario of the election has taught us important lessons. It has shown that power truly belongs to God, a cliché often use by our politician but never live by it. Secondly, our effort alone can never earn us our goal. We need a touch of the Divine.

*Yahaya Bello

While there are losses, angers, victories and jubilations, the man who smiles most is one young Alhaji Yahaya Bello, born approximately forty years ago. Following the death of Alhaji Audu Abubakar, him being the runner-up in the primary was picked by the party through constitutional provision to be Audu’s replacement. He is now the Governor-elect. If Allah wills, he will take the mantle of leadership of Kogi state on the 27th of January 2016.

Because of the triviality and complexity that surround Kogi politics, he will be navigating a very turbulent water. He will be faced by ethnic distrust and a comatose state with nothing to show in term of infrastructure and other indices of development. Nevertheless, if he has the mettle, he will sail through the troubled water to safety unscathed. For a man who deployed enormous resources to campaign, make promises, went to primary and finally winning the governorship, it is assumed that he has the vision to lead the state out of its current direction to an intensive care unit. But recent history has shown that many our politicians only invest in campaign, make promises, pretend a vision and when he/she wins, he/she turns out to be worse than a highway armed-robber and a pillaging army. Alhaji Yahaya Bello must show he is different.

Justice For The Living, Justice For The Dead

By Owei Lakemfa

 Human history is replete with instances of the people getting fed up with official policies and taking on the government. Monday January 9, 2012 was one of those days when the Nigerian people in anger, decided to shut down the country. The populace succeeded in taking over the towns and cities across the country of over 167 million people, but there were desperate efforts to retake the streets. One of them occurred in Ogba, a suburb of Ikeja, the Lagos State capital.

One of the two busiest and longest streets in the area is Yahaya Abatan. But on this day, like in other parts of Lagos, the street was completely deserted with shops and businesses closed and zero vehicular traffic. On a stretch of this road, youths played football with some spectators on the side line, while a few people gathered beside a newspaper vendor reading newspapers and discussing events in the country.

Suddenly, a police van RRS 101A arrived the scene. The police team was led by Chief Superintendent of Police, Mr. Segun Fabunmi the then Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Pen Cinema Police Station. Mr. Fabunmi with a 28-year experience in the police, ordered the youths to stop playing football and disperse. They took it for a joke since they were not demonstrating or hindering anybody from moving about. One of the spectators watching the match, 28-year old Demola Abiodun Aderintola Daramola, a tailor and commercial motorcycle rider jokingly told the police officer to leave the youths alone.

Junaid Mohammed’s Hate-Rhetoric

By John Otu

The interview published in the Sunday Sun newspapers of December 13, 2015, of Dr. Junaid Mohammed, convener of the Coalition of Northern Politicians, Academics, Professionals and Businessmen, rankled in its sweeping generalization about the current agitations by members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and segments of the Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB). As I write, before me is Alvan Ewuzie’s mature rejoinder in Daily Sun of Thursday, Dec. 17, 2015 to Junaid’s tirade. Ewuzie’s thoughtful response to Junaid would have sufficed, as it addressed the highlights of Dr. Junaid’s irreverent remarks but a few more issues arising from the notorious interview need to be elaborated upon.

*Junaid Mohammed 

From his hasty conclusions and uncouth language, Junaid betrays his ignorance of Ndigbo and Nigeria’s political history. For him, Ndigbo are a conquered people who should ‘submit themselves’ to the superior race, as it were. Any action displayed by the agitators is thus adjudged by him as typical of Ndigbo. He says rather in an inductive leap, “Showing an open nepotism in what they do is their stock-in-trade. So people then say, “Look we are not going to have these Igbo people as leaders because their nepotism is absolutely intolerable.”

Our self-appointed convener is not done. He passes a peremptory judgment on the Igbo, threatening to report them to President Buhari to withdraw whatever miserable attention he has paid to them, “So if they continue to be unreasonable in this case insisting on getting some key positions or telling Buhari how to run the government, then he needs to take the right step by confronting them…”

My immediate reaction on reading Junaid was to question his claims to lofty pedigree and education.

Fuel Scarcity: Swallow Your Pride And Accept Responsibility - Ben Murray-Bruce Tells FG

*Senator Ben Murray-Bruce 

As fuel scarcity worsens in Nigeria despite all efforts (including securing an approval from the National Assembly to pay subsidies) by the President Muhammadu Buhari regime to arrest it, Information Minister, Mr. Lai Mohammed, came out to blame the previous administration of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan for the problem. But Senator Ben Murray-Bruce from Bayelsa State thinks that is very ridiculous. He sent out the following tweets...

Buhari’s Budget A Big Fraud - PDP

…Says President Planning To Mortgage Nigeria’s Future

                   Press Statement

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) describes the N6.8 trillion 2016 federal budget presented by President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday as a big fraud and executive conspiracy tailored towards mortgaging the future of the nation.

The party queried President Buhari’s decision to borrow N2 trillion, the biggest in the history of the nation as the height of recklessness and deceit from a government that trends on propaganda.

The PDP in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh on Tuesday berated the Federal Government for trying to use their bogus welfare programme and phantom capital projects as cover and conduit to syphon the funds to satisfy partisan interests, particularly to settle huge campaign debts.

“It is obvious that this budget is an extension of the campaign promises of the APC government, presented as a manifesto filled with bogus promises which implementation will be inconclusive, thereby allowing the APC to once again deny their promises.

“There has never been any known economy in the world where government deliberately mortgage the future of its nation by borrowing excessively to finance partisan interests while hiding under bogus welfare programmes. This is moreso important as the APC in reeling out their bogus campaign promises never informed Nigerians that they would mortgage their future through excessive borrowing.

Grace Has Replaced Robert Mugabe – Tsvangirai

Zimbabwe’s aging President Robert Mugabe has been “surreptitiously but willingly” replaced by his wife Grace, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai claimed Monday.

  Grace Mugabe, 50, had taken over in a “palace coup” and no one in government was doing anything about the country’s crisis, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader said in an end-of-year message. “No one in government is thinking of solutions to the national challenges as everyone is preoccupied with issues of who will succeed this tired man steering the ship of State,” he said.

  “There is no boldness to confront the national crisis; what with an aged president and everyone around him fighting to succeed him,” Tsvangirai added, highlighting Zimbabwe’s growing unemployment and hunger.

Lai Mohammed Lied On Fuel Scarcity

By Reno Omokri

 Dear Honourable Minister Lai Mohammed, Greetings and congratulations on your recent and well deserved appointment as Nigeria's Minister of Information. You may recall that we met on the set of 'Politics Today' in May of 2011 soon after I was interviewed by Deji Bademosi and just before you were interviewed.

*Lai Mohammed 

The purpose of my letter to you today is in response to your statement made on Monday the 21st of December, 2015, in which you accused former President Goodluck Jonathan, whom I served as one of three spokesmen, of being responsible for the current excruciating fuel scarcity now subsisting in Nigeria.

Your exact words were "What I will be telling Nigerians is that what we met on ground is such that we are paying for the sins of the last administration...One of the reasons for the fuel scarcity was the inability of the last government to make adequate provision for fuel subsidy".

My candid take on your message to Nigerians is that it is an abdication of responsibility on your part and does not project you and the government you represent as being responsible. Government, as you very well know, is a continuum. One government takes over from where the other stopped and to say that an action in December of 2015 (six months after ex President Jonathan handed over to the incumbent on May 29th, 2015, ) is the fault of the last President, is to confer super human powers on Jonathan.

Dasukigate: The Vindication of Okonjo-Iweala

By Ikeogu Oke

A French proverb – wise as all proverbs are – says, “For desperate ills desperate remedies.” Those who have found fault with Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala “for the transfer of US$300 million and British Pounds £5.5 million of the recovered Abacha funds to an ONSA operation account” (in what amounts to a move in support of the war against the Boko Haram terrorist group) may not be familiar with this proverb and its implication that there are certain problems that arise in the affairs of humans and nations which reasonable people unanimously agree on the rightness of ignoring convention in solving them.

*Okonjo-Iweala

Take, for instance, the tactics adopted by the United States in fighting terror post 9/11. It involved the torture of suspects at the facility in Guantanamo Bay by the procedure known as waterboarding, etc., but ultimately yielded information leading to the discovery of Osama bin Laden in his secret hideout in Pakistan.

We know that torture breaches the convention of respect for the dignity of suspects. We know what happened to Osama bin Laden in his encounter with the US Navy Seals, though the convention is not to punish – let alone liquidate – an accused person without trial. We also know that that final encounter with bin Laden involved an “unconventional” violation of the territorial integrity and airspace of his host nation. But more importantly, there was a general consensus that America faced such a desperate threat from terror that it was understandable that it took such desperate measures in dealing with it, hence such breaches of convention were generally regarded as insignificant – and justified – in light of the overriding need to find a remedy for the desperate ill of a terrorist threat which compares to Boko Haram in today’s Nigeria.

And the grouse of the critics of Okonjo-Iweala, for which they have asked President Buhari to order her arrest and prosecution, is that she – they allege – disbursed the said funds in a manner that violated convention, given that the funds should have been appropriated through Senate approval before their disbursement.

Nigeria: Electricity Tariff Increased, Fixed Charges Removed

PRESS RELEASE

New Tariff Regime Removes Fixed Charges

The new electricity tariff regime approved over the weekend by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has removed fixed charges for all classes of electricity consumers. Henceforth, from the next billing period, distribution companies will no longer charge their customers monthly fixed charges. Fixed charge is that component of the tariff that commits electricity consumers to paying an approved amount of money not minding whether electricity is consumed during the billing period.

*Amadi 

Under the new tariff regime, electricity consumers will now only pay for what they consume from month to month. According to the Chairman/CEO of NERC, Dr. Sam Amadi, "This is good news for electricity consumers who have long asked for a more just and fair pricing of electricity. The regulatory commission had promised to address all the complaints against fixed charges through a regulatory process that promotes investments in the electricity industry without unfairly burdening electricity consumers. This is in line with NERC's mandate to be fair in all its regulatory interventions".

Although, the new tariff regime comes with an increase in energy charges, all electricity consumers (residential as well as commercial) will no longer pay fixed charges. Their total bills will depend on the electricity they actually consume and may be reduced when they conserve electricity. Consumers will no longer be spending money every month to pay for fixed charges even when they do not receive electricity in their homes and business.

According to the chairman of NERC, "The objective of the new tariff is to enable prudent consumers to save money on electricity bill as they can now control their consumption and not pay monthly fixed charges".

Terrorism Has Become Very Sophisticated Now – Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari said Monday in Abuja that his administration was taking urgent and appropriate actions to restore order, due process and probity to the procurement processes of the nation's Armed Forces.

Speaking at a meeting with the British Secretary of State for Defence, Mr. Michael Fallon, President Buhari lamented that the procurement of equipment for Nigeria's Armed Forces which followed due process in the past, had become open to corruption and shady deals under the last administration.

"They just put foreign exchange in a briefcase and traveled to procure equipment for the military. That is why we have found ourselves in the crisis we are now facing,” the President said.

Welcoming the offer by the British Government to assist Nigeria in defence procurements, intelligence gathering and training, President Buhari restated his conviction that the international community must collaborate more and work with greater unity of purpose to overcome global terrorism.

“Terrorism has become very sophisticated now. If developed nations can be attacked, and hundreds of lives lost, how much more developing countries? 

"In the West African sub-region, Nigeria is the main battleground of the Boko Haram insurgency. We have made a lot of progress against the terrorists, but we will welcome more assistance from our friends and the international community," the President told Mr. Fallon.

Mr. Fallon said he was in the country to see what more Britain could do to support Nigeria in battling terrorism and violent extremism.
"Groups like Boko Haram don’t believe in democracy and freedom of choice, so it’s a common fight for us all,” he told President Buhari.

Femi Adesina
Special Adviser to the President
(Media & Publicity)
December 21, 2015

2015 – A Year Of Power Reform In Nigeria

With the change of government from Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to All Progressives Congress (APC) and the attendant hand over of Aso Rock to President Muhammadu Buhari, 2015 indeed marked a turning point in the history of Nigeria’s power sector. Idowu Oyebanjo writes

Buhari and Jonathan 

On May 29 2015, the PDP led government of former president Goodluck Jonathan in a show of unprecedented statesmanship in the history of Nigeria, handed over power to an APC government led by Former Military Head of State, General Muhammad Buhari (GMB). A key slogan in the months leading to this change of government is the "change" mantra. Although it was a change in political power, it equally meant a change for the electrical power system in Nigeria. From the start, the fear of Buhari gripped the agents of the "demons" holding back the country from seeing light. Suddenly, the four refineries of NNPC which have been undergoing turn around maintenance (TAM) for the last 40 years unstopped began to function, providing gas for the starved thermal power plants around the country. For the first time in the distant many years, Nigerians who are connected to the power grid felt the impact of electricity as power generation reached an all time high of 4.68GW. This was sustained for a time. The foot soldiers of the enemies then started a campaign of idiocy that the changes were due to the works done by the previous government. Nigerians are no fools and amongst the most intelligent people in the world, Nigerians rank atop.

Armsgate: The SUN Newspaper Returns N9million

 PRESS RELEASE 

NPAN And N120 Million Compensation: 

Our Position 

The Man­agement of The Sun Publishing Limited has considered the public outcry and diverse controversies generated among media hous­es, the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN) and the public over the N120 million paid by the Goodluck Jonathan administration as compensation to newspa­per companies for the unlawful seizure of their newspapers and stoppage of circulation by armed soldiers in several cities across the country in June 2014.

1.                  After the unlawful action of the military, to which The Sun lost millions of naira, we had signified the intention to commence liti­gation against the Federal Government along with other affected newspaper companies.
2. However, at the level of the NPAN, which The Sun is a member, a de­cision was collectively taken to accept the Presi­dency’s offer of peace­ful settlement in place of litigation in the interest of peace and national se­curity.

2.                We were later in­formed of the payment of N120 million compensa­tion out of which the sum of N9 million was paid to The Sun Management by the NPAN.

3.                At the time the com­pensation was paid, we had no inkling whatso­ever under which expen­diture sub-head in the Presidency the fund was sourced and that it was al­legedly part of the funds meant for the purchase of arms.

4.                As a very responsible newspaper organization, which places premium on ethics, individual and cor­porate integrity, we are certainly embarrassed by the turn of events and the unfortunate insinuation of involvement in the illegal sharing of the nation’s commonwealth and the feasting on the blood of soldiers fighting the war against insurgency.

Nigeria: A Government Of Sadists!

By Femi Fani-Kayode

On the night of 12th December 2015 in the city of Zaria, Kaduna state, Sheik El Zakzaky, the leader of the 10 million-strong Shia muslim community in Nigeria, was shot, brutalized and dumped in a wheelbarrow. He barely escaped with his life but sadly, according to Iranian government sources and the New York Times, his wife, two of his sons and no less than one thousand of his shia muslim followers were not so lucky.

*Femi-Fani-Kayode 

They were massacred in the sanctity of their homes that night by members of the Nigerian Armed Forces. Up until the time that I am writing this essay not one word of regret or remorse has been expressed by President Muhammadu Buhari, the Nigerian Armed Forces or the Federal Government about the whole incident.

That alone speaks volumes but what is more important to note is the fact that this is one of the most brutal and callous events in the history of our country. It was premeditated, well-planned, well-orchestrated and well-executed. Homes were bombed and burnt to the ground and innocent and defenseless men, women and children were slaughtered in an unrelenting frenzy of violence.

 After the carnage the bodies of the victims were left in the compound of the houses and in the streets and gutters for carrion birds to feed on and for street urchins and petty thieves to rob. This was indeed a sordid and shameful chapter: it was not only mass murder but it was also a crime against humanity. Those that were murdered were targeted simply because they were Shia Muslims and simply because, earlier in the day, some of them had mounted a road block which obstructed the convoy of the General Burutai, the Chief of Army Staff.

It is very clear that by this act alone the Chief of Army Staff, under whose orders these men were acting, President Muhammadu Buhari, who is the Commander-in-Chief of our Armed Forces, and every single officer and soldier that took part in the massacre are guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity and are therefore candidates for the International Criminal Court at the Hague. Our leaders must be accountable and it is my fervent prayer and desire that the whole matter ends up there and that both Buhari and Burutai are called to justice.