Courting famine with Northern unrest by Don Abiodun Odedeyi

Unrest in Northern part of Nigeria may result into regional crisis if current trend is left unattended to. While artificial farmine is fast gripping hard hit areas like Maiduguri, Yobe, other areas are getting hit without knowing it.

 Bomb, kidnapping, attack and counter attack had left many residence of the vast northern areas to flee leaving behind their main source of livelihoood and a lifewire to million others - Agriculture.

Fleeing for dear lives, farmers are abandoning their farms for the safety of the south, a situation which is affecting the grecory market negatively.

The development may soon upset the already volatile economy crisis in the country because most foods stuff consumes in the country, especially in the south, are produce in the north.

According to National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA), a large percentage of northern farmers abandon their farms for safety in the south.

‘The attacks on these farmers who produce beans, onions, pepper, maize, rice, livestock etc for the Nigeria populace had displaced many farmers’

The United Nation, in February, also expressed fear that the current development would make it difficult for the World Food Programme to source its supply from Nigeria to affected areas in the Sahel region.

Direct attack on cattle market in Nasarawa (April 2012) left more than 40 dead, a similar attack in Kaduna recorded several dead.

Already, tomatoes, which is a major ingridient in food now goes for 4-pieces at 100 naira from it previous 6-piece.
The Nigerian government recently acknowledged the challenge posed by the crisis to agriculture when The Special Adviser to the Minister of Agriculture, Dr Olukayode Oyeleye, told newsmen that terrorism remained a challenge to agriculture despite efforts made to revive it.

‘Farmers will run from the farm if their lives are threatened by terrorists but it is beyond the ministry to provide security. It is the job of security agencies. Farming cannot take place where there is insecurity.’

More than anything, northern Nigeria is known for it vast agriculture tradition with their market tentacles reaching as far as the western coast of Lagos, 700 kilometres away from the region.

With a very dry, semidesert plains, coupled with annual rainfall that is less than 500mm (20in) per year (raining season last for three months in some areas) compare to other regions where rainy season starts in April or May and runs through September or October with rainfall of more than 4,000 mm (60in), ingenuity in farm technique, though at great stress, sustain the region’s agriculture dominance.

Agriculture, including farming and herding, accounts for 23 percent of Nigeria’s GDP and engages 3 percent of the economically active population.

David Mark and the Nigerian disgrace

In 2009, a Briton was sentenced to death in Laos, that tiny South-East Asian country that borders Thailand, for drug-related offences. She was saved by biology. As the story was reported in the media, this woman got a fellow Briton to donate her some semen, inserted it into herself and thankfully, became pregnant. The laws of Laos would not execute a pregnant woman and that bought her some time until the British government’s intervention went through. She was repatriated to the UK (where there is no capital punishment) and she served, comparatively, a very light sentence and under far more humane conditions. An irony of the story is that this woman, Samantha Orobator, is Nigerian born.

 Another irony is that while the trial lasted, even though it was beamed on all major news media like CNN, it is not on record Nigeria intervened; not even as some eye service at least. Not surprisingly either, when she
praised her redeemer, she mentioned only Britain. And even while I condemn her offence, I must also confess I found the extent to which Britain worked to save her commendable.

Please keep this story in mind as I take a quote from the Nigerian Senate President, David Mark, who said
recently that the country would not do anything to help those convicted of drug-related offences and
similar crimes abroad because, “if they break the laws there (abroad), they should face the consequences. This is a warning to other Nigerians abroad. They cannot continue to tarnish our image.”
 

There are many unfortunate statements coming out of Nigeria in recent times but this one makes me want to
throw the toilet bowl in the direction of the Three Arms Zone. It is maddening that the Senate president would miss the point about intervening on behalf of your citizens. It is as political as it is humanitarian. You do it to communicate the worth of your nationality; to show other countries you will not tolerate disrespect.

Of course, no country likes its citizens to commit crimes. Many of us squirm in our seats when we hear that one Nigerian or the other has been arrested for an offence. When the case of Farouk AbdulMutallab happened, even the President pointed out on the CNN that the boy was radicalised abroad and only a few years of his life were spent on the Nigerian soil. Then Minister of Information, Dora Akunyili, announced to the world that suicide bombing was not in our “Nigerian character”. (Since then, time has changed that
perception and the joke is now on us). Beyond the shame of it, however, a self-respecting country first
drives the fox away before blaming the chicken for wandering too far.

When, recently, a US soldier, Robert Bales, went on a killing spree in Afghanistan, murdering 16 people, did
the US abandon him to the enraged Afghans? Did they not ship him back to the US immediately and their
media immediately changing the tenor of the issue by saying Bales is “deranged”, “traumatised after losing a
friend” and, “was wounded in war”?

Beyond the political reasons, did it occur to Mark that sometimes, those people arrested abroad are victims of all sorts of social inhumanity ranging from racism to xenophobia? Has he heard of stories of people who
were tried and convicted in a foreign language and without any legal representation whatsoever? True,
there are legitimate criminals who should be punished but there are also people who are victims and should
be protected from an unjust system.

And, speaking of those tarnishing Nigeria’s image abroad, did Mark honestly think those who steal or who
are arrested for drug-related offences have done anything worse than what Nigerian leaders, especially
those holed in the National Assembly, have done and are currently doing? In my opinion, those who do drugs have not done half the damage our leaders have done.

Today, corruption in Nigerian high places is a banal news story and I cannot think of what can ruin the
country’s already tattered image further. Nigerian corruption has bred so many evils among which the
Senate itself symbolises more than a handful. How come Mark missed that and looked externally for the
source of Nigeria’s poor foreign image?

To bring it closer home, didn’t Mark himself just return from Israel to treat his illness while Nigerian hospitals
are as rundown as they get? Was he not welcomed at the airport by a band of executive idlers who cannot,
even for the sake of propriety, pretend they are busy in the office to justify their outrageous salaries? And Mark thanked God for saving his life rather than Nigerian taxpayers whose sweat and blood made his trip
possible! Isn’t that enough to ‘tarnish Nigeria’s image abroad’ or it’s immoral only when it happens outside
Nigerian borders?

Some people reason that Nigerians go abroad and commit crimes of desperation because those at the
helm of affairs at the various levels of government over the years made the country not worthy of living in
the first place. It is a fine line but, really, an unworthy argument that merely tries to justify crimes. But here is
what I suspect is the reason for Mark’s stance: his is a sense of guilt; an unease about his role in the many
demons that continue to plague Nigeria. He needs to push down those “criminals” to convince himself that
he and his fellow travellers, on the road of Nigerian history, are not the worst things that have happened to
the country. Those ones out there who are accused of crimes should therefore be sacrificed to purge the
Nigerian image which Mark and others have defaced with cow droppings.

In any case, no one is asking Mark to extend his sympathies to defend people who commit crimes and
happen not to be senators. As Senate President, he should not speak with such disregard for his fellow
citizens who might be victims of a cruel system. He should keep quiet and stop acting like a eugenicist, as a
columnist once described him. In case he doesn’t know, it is tough enough carrying the green passport in many countries of the world and where you are treated like a second class citizen. It is worse when your own leaders act as if your lives are not worth anything. If you treat your own people with such contempt, how do you expect other countries to treat them with respect?

BY ABIMBOLA ADELAKUN (AA_ADELAKUN@UTEXAS.EDU)

Uncheck insecurity pattern in northern Nigeria

Over the past year, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has carved out what might be termed a zone of immunity in southern Yemen, away from CIA interference. According to one U.S. counter terrorism official, "Those territorial gains have allowed the group to establish additional training camps."

Some of the world most wanted terrorist, including those behind September 11 attacks on US soil hailed from this country. In 2009, it was the same Yemen that a Nigerian, Abdulmutallab, was converted from a mare student to a terrorist while studying in an Arabic school in the country.

In territorial gain, al Qaeda now have influence in Africa, East Asia and the Arabia peninsula.

Though, much subdue in most North African countries, the group is more active in Somalia and recently, Nigeria.

These two African countries have had their share of terrorism which had made Somalia inaccessible to both aid workers and troops and Nigeria whose Norther region is becoming a no-go zone to foreigners who are easy target to kidnappers and al Qaeda sympathizers.

Nigeria: Journey into the world of suicide bombing

The world 'suicide bomber' first had a Nigerian name when AdbulMutallb's name made headline in 2009 when he tried unsuccessfully to detonate a bomb aboard a plane. The design of the Christmas Day bomb was ingenious, according to counterterrorism officials. A specially sewn pouch in AbdulMutallab's underwear contained the main PETN explosive charge, which was connected to a detonator. The initiation for the device was a syringe in his underwear filled with two easily obtainable chemicals: potassium permanganate and ethylene glycol.

PETN is a white, odorless powder than cannot be detected by most X-ray machines. AbdulMutallab revealed to the FBI in his initial interview that he wore the underwear device on several flights during an almost three-week journey through Africa before traveling from Lagos to Amsterdam.

As Northwest 253 made its final approach to Detroit, he plunged the syringe, mixing the two chemicals and setting them afire. According to the prosecution, this flame set off the detonator, but the PETN main charge was not detonated. Instead, some of it started burning, creating a fireball on AbdulMutallab's lap.

An explosives expert says that a likely explanation for the failure of the underwear device to fully detonate was wear and tear during AbdulMutallab's lengthy transit through Africa. When the device was later examined, al-Asiri's fingerprints (Al-Asiri is a young al Qaeda bomb maker from Saudi but now reside in Yemen) were found on it.

Today, the Nigerian Islamist sect Boko Haram has killed close to 2000 people since it launched an uprising in 2009, including more than 250 in the first weeks of this year, according to Human Rights Watch.

In July of the same year, the sect launched an uprising in the north-east in which more than 800 people were killed in five days of fighting with security forces.


"We will consider negotiation only when we have brought the government to their knees," the spokesman, Abu Qaqa, said in the group's first major interview with a western newspaper. "Once we see that things are being done according to the dictates of Allah, and our members are released [from prison], we will only put aside our arms – but we will not lay them down. You don't put down your arms in Islam, you only put them aside."

 Security agents in Nigeria seems clueless on capable tactics needed to tackle the menace of the sect, from curfew to joint task force operation, it has become a dilly-dally affairs as stakeholders' call for truce and dialogue is now unanimous.

Newly-appointed Minister of Police Affairs, Navy Capt. Caleb Olubolade (rtd) said, “We will explore dialogue with any aggrieved persons so that peace will reign in Nigeria. Where that is not working, I hope it will work, we will look at what we can do to guarantee peace."

Speaking in Ibadan, recently, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt.-Gen. Azubike Ihejirika said lack of information had made it impossible for security agencies to arrest leaders of the Boko Haram.

It is however, demeaning that security agents will complain of lack of information when it is their duty to gather information. This points to the rot and uncoordinated efforts on the part o these agencies.

While the state of unionism of the Nigeria state hang in the balance, threat from other sophisticated terrorist is a wake up call for the Nigerian government to sit tight and do things right before it is too late.

Odedeyi Abiodun

Blue is the colour of Manchester

Manchester City won their first league title in 44 years to deny rivals Manchester United a 20th league championship in a gripping conclusion to the English Premier League season.

 

Defending champions United, who secured a 1-0 away win at Sunderland via to a Wayne Rooney goal, had looked on course to win the title before City scored two remarkable stoppage-time goals to fashion an improbable 3-2 home victory against Queens Park Rangers.

City had led the table on goal difference at the start of Sunday and Pablo Zabaleta's first-half goal suggested Roberto Mancini's side would comfortably win their first title since 1968.

But a mistake by Joleon Lescott allowed Djibril Cisse to level and following a red card for Joey Barton, Jamie Mackie popped up to head in QPR's second goal to give United fans hope that their team might yet snatch the title from their city rivals.

City bombarded the QPR penalty area and in stoppage time Edin Dzeko headed home to give their fans hope, before Sergio Aguero scored a stunning individual winner in a finale that no script writer would have dared pen.

It was a goal that ensured City won the title on goal difference in the Premier League's 20th season, arguably the most dramatic finish in its history given it was decided in the last three minutes.

"To win it like this is incredible," Mancini, who at times during the second half gave the impression he could barely believe his side appeared to be doing all they could to throw away the title, told Sky Sports. "I don't think I've ever seen a finale like this.

"We didn't deserve to lose, we had a lot of chances and we deserved to win the game and championship.

"It's fantastic for the club and the supporters after 44 years. It's been a crazy season and a crazy last minute."

In 1999 United won the Champions League final with two stoppage-time goals against Bayern Munich in Barcelona and Sunday's epic events bore parallel, though this time the Red Devils manager Sir Alex Ferguson had to suffer as victory was snatched away from him in those heart-palpitating final moments.

"I would like to say on behalf of Manchester United congratulations to our neighbours," said Ferguson. "It's a fantastic achievement to win the Premier League. It's the hardest league in the world and anyone who wins it deserves it."

The game at the the Eithad Stadium had consequences at the other end of the table given a QPR defeat would have condemned them to relegation if Bolton Wanderers had beaten Stoke City away - and at one stage Owen Coyle's side led 2-1 at the Britannia Stadium.

But a 77th-minute Jonathan Walters goal earned Stoke a 2-2 draw to relegate Bolton to the Championship and allow QPR - managed by former Manchester City manager Mark Hughes - to stay up in the Premier League.

Arsenal finished third after a 3-2 win at West Brom to secure their Champions League place, while north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur beat Fulham 2-0 to take fourth.

Spurs will join Arsenal in the Champions League only if Chelsea lose to Bayern Munich in the European Cup final on May 19.

Newcastle's hopes of a Champions League place evaporated after a 3-1 defeat at Everton, though Alan Pardew's team have the consolation of a Europa League place.

It is estimated that Manchester City's owner Sheikh Mansour from the ruling family of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates has invested close to $1.6 billion in securing this Premier League title.

The title gives City's owners huge kudos, though not necessarily immediate financial benefits.

"It should be remembered that there is a price of success, namely bonus payments to players and managers," financial blogger Kieron O'Connor, who writes the Swiss Ramble blog, told CNN.

"In fact, it is entirely possible that the net financial result might be negative for a direct comparison between finishing first or second, though it might be different if the comparison is against coming, say, sixth the previous season."

It is a title that City probably should have wrapped up a long time ago.

At one stage in December after their barnstorming start to the season -- notably a 6-1 win over the defending champions at Old Trafford - City were eight points of United after beating Norwich 5-1.

However, a combination of Carlos Tevez going AWOL after failling out with Mancini, Yaya Toure's absence as he played for the Ivory Coast at the African Cup of Nations, David Silva's dip in form and Mario Balotelli's ill-disciplined antics allowed the defending champions to claw back that deficit and go eight points clear.

But a disastrous April for United - including a 1-0 defeat by City at the Eithad Stadium - enabled Mancini's team to move top on goal difference going into the final round of matches.

Sunday's games were broadcast to 211 countries around the world - testament to the Premier League's global appeal.

The remarkable end to the season could not have come at a better time for the leagee given it has recently announced the new tender for its next three-year broadcasting rights starting from the 2013/14 season.

"Games going down to the last game of the season will certainly increase interest and may in turn show the league as more valuable because of the unresolved title, Champions League and relegation issues," said lawyer Daniel Geey of Field Fisher Waterhouse.

Curled from cnn.com

Boko Haram full text on why they bomb THISDAY Newspaper

The extremist group, Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati Wal-Jihadl, popularly called Boko Haram, today named more media houses and staff as targets of their attack.

In an 18minutes video, the group threatened to attack more media houses, naming Voice of America (Hausa), Radio France (Hausa), Daily Trust, Guardian Newspapers, among others. The group also gave reasons why they bombed Thisday office in Abuja and other media houses last Thursday.

“This is a message from jamaatu ahlis sunnah lil daawati wal jihad, and we wish to inform Nigerians our reasons for attacking some media houses,” the group said.

 

The video also shows that the radical group carried a live coverage of the bombing in Abuja showing and filmed the exact explosion of the Thisday bombing. The group created the new Youtube video under the name Alhaji Mani.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDqv6srmoI4&feature=player_embedded#!

 

Read full transcript of video below. Boko Haram video transcription
Video has a background music in Hausa language, saying," Nigerians, our name is not Boko Haram, we are Muslims, Ahlis sunnah". The lyrics also said, “We attacked Thisday because we will never forget or forgive anyone who abused our prophet.”
First written message says the video is from ‘Public awareness department which presents; ‘Reasons for attacking Thisday Newspaper’
The Video also shows coverage of the suicide attack at Thisday office in Abuja.
It also shows a man wielding a rifle and reciting some prayer verses. Shots of the late leader of the sect Muhammad Yusuf, delivering a sermon, and in other clips, preaching, was shown.
Full transcription
"This is a message from the public awareness department of the Jamatu Ahlis sunnah lil daawati wal jihad, a group engaged in jihad in Nigeria.
"We wish to explain about the attack we carried out on Thisday Newspapers. Some of the reasons why we decided to attack some Media Houses, especially Thisday, is because the paper was used in dishonouring our prophet, Mohammad (SAW) during a beauty pageant in Kaduna in November 2002.
"At that time, some people who called themselves leaders of Muslims came out to say they have forgiven those who committed the offence.
"But based on our knowledge, we know that no one has the power to forgive anyone for an offence that God himself has given judgement, especially on an offence that has to do with dishonouring Prophet Muhammad (SAW).
"No one has the power to forgive this type of offence, and the judgement is for such persons to be killed.
"This lady that committed this crime, the judgement on her is to be killed at any opportunity; and the media house is also supposed to be driven out of existence whenever there is a chance to do so.
"We are just getting the opportunity to attack the media house, and we are hoping to continue these attacks until we drive them out of existence.
"It is our hope that Allah (SWT) will help his religion.
"We know that any genuine Muslim must have been deeply touched by the Thisday incident.

"Thisday newspaper is also leading in helping the government in fighting us, alongside other media houses that we will mention soon.
"Some of the offences of Thisday and other media outlets include: firstly, during the botched attempt to rescue some kidnapped foreign nationals in Sokoto; these media houses asked us if we have anything to do with the kidnap and we said we have nothing to do with it, yet these media houses reported that we were responsible for the incident, that was a lie against us.
"Secondly, when we sent a video of our leader, Abubakar Shekau, the media houses reported things that our leader did not say, such as that in response to the president’s threat to finish us in three months, we have also threatened to finish the government in three months. But the truth is, nowhere in the video did our leader said what they attributed to him.
"Thirdly, on the purported arrest of Abu Qaqa by the SSS, we have come out to tell them that the person arrested was not Abu Qaqa,yet the media continue to portray us as liars, and even said that our leader had ordered for Abu Qaqa II to be executed, and we are now searching for Abu Qaqa III.
"Recently too, they came out with another lie that one Mohammed Awwal Kontagora was the Abu Qaqa II that was executed, and that even his parents confirmed it, that was just a big lie to convince the world.
"The media also said that we have killed the father of Abu Darda, so as to pass a message to him, because he had leaked our secrets after his arrest by security agencies, and they  wanted him to know that he is one of our targets.
"These are all lies, and they are many.
"These media houses have committed a lot of offences that is detrimental to Islam, and we don’t have the power to forgive them. We will take revenge on them by God’s grace, some of these media houses have been categorized into three groups.
"The first group is the likes of Thisday whose offences are big.
"The second group we will also attack soon are Punch, Daily Sun, Vanguard, Guardian, Nation, Tribune, and National Accord, which are all newspaper houses.
"There is also VOA Hausa radio. All these media houses we will attack them including their staff and offices, by God’s grace.
"VOA Hausa for instance have recently started campaigning for people to support the government against us by exposing us,
"The next group that are on the verge of joining this list who if they are not careful we will attack very soon include, Leadership, Daily Trust, Peoples Daily and RFI(Radio France international)
"There is an online medium known as Saharareporters who have their office in New York, and who have made their site as a platform for attack against Islam. So we are warning them to stop making their site an avenue for attacking Islam, otherwise we will find a way of attacking them too.
"We resorted to using this medium to send our message instead of the normal tele-conference because of the fear by journalists; which made them refuse to conduct the conference.
"We are grateful to God for the success recorded on the attack on Thisday, and we hope to continue such attacks.
"Finally, the government has now resorted to arresting our wives and children and also demolishing our houses, like they did in Biu recently, that is why we have also resolved to start attacking government schools, especially, tertiary ones.
"We promise to demolish 500 buildings for any one of our houses that the government destroys.
"We have already started with Gombe and Kano."