Hundreds of Arewa leaders who received Kano State Governor, Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso, in Lagos on Sunday, said they rejected hundreds of thousands of dollars which was offered to them by President Goodluck Jonathan when the President visited the state two weeks ago.

The leaders, who were drawn from the 20 Local Government Areas and 37 Local Council Development Areas of the state, distanced themselves from the endorsement given to Jonathan by a group.

Speaking during a meeting at the Ikoyi home of a former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Tinubu, the Chairman, Arewa Community in Lagos, Alhaji Sani Kabiru, said those that endorsed Jonathan were impostors.

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He said on the day of the endorsement, some people bought turbans at Agege and went to visit Jonathan at the State House, Marina, posing as emirs only to deceive the President.

He said, “When President Jonathan came to Lagos with dollars, some of us here quickly went back and gathered ourselves Lucky Day App Review and started calling our own not to go to visit Jonathan. I also commend some leaders here for leading an offensive and convinced people not to go there.

“Most of the Arewa leaders and ‘serikis’ did not even go there to collect the dollars. At that event, card-carrying members of the Peoples Democratic Party bought turbans at the Central Market around Moshalashi Bus Stop, Agege. The person that sold the turbans told me that they dressed up as emirs and they were on their way to Jonathan’s place.

“So, most of them were fake. They went to collect dollars but cannot tell anyone because they are in hiding. But we did not stop at that; those that we knew that went, we called them to order and asked them why they went but they said they only collected dollars but they would not vote Jonathan.”

Kabiru said virtually all Arewa members had collected their Permanent Voter Cards. He promised to ensure one million votes for the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.); and the state’s governorship candidate, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode.

While fielding questions from journalists, Kwankwaso berated Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, for what he termed, “inciting comments.”

He said Fayose’s comments against the North were a reflection of Jonathan’s temperament. He, however, urged the people to express their choice at the polls on March 28.

He said, “When I did my National Youth Service Corps in Ogun State, I imbibed the belief that this part of the country has people that are positively cultured ranging from Obafemi Awolowo, Ernest Shonekan, MKO Abiola, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Olusegun Obasanjo and others.”

On Friday, Bayelsa state youths, angered by governor Seriake Dickson’s alleged “deliberate starving the state of funds”, have staged a violent protest against his leadership in Yenagoa.

The protest started at about 6 a.m. at the Tombia-Etegwe roundabout, leaving travellers stranded and bringing commercial activities to a halt.

The majority of protesters were ex-militant leaders. Local police say they used “the excuse of low allocation from federal government” for staging the protest.

According to eyewitnesses, John Opotobo, an ex-militant from Southern Ijaw local government area was killed, while eight others sustained injuries in the course of armed confrontation with the police.

The Bayelsa Police Command, however, denied the death reports, saying they “only shot tear gas canisters”, not live cartridges, to disperse the crowd. They’ve also confirmed the arrest of six protesters.

Eris Paul, popularly known as “General Ogunboss”, who participated in the protest, said: “Aside from the numerous show of incompetence by the present administration, Dickson is trying to hijack the job meant for the oil bearing communities in the state. Most of the South-south states have signed the allocation of the surveillance contract, but Dickson is insisting that the job be awarded to a self-styled company known as Izon Ibe, a security outfit that we don’t know.

“Dickson should concentrate on the use of state allocation and internally generated revenue to advance the good of the state rather than hijack jobs coming to communities.”

The Sultan of Sokoto, Saád Abubakar, has advocated an unrestricted access to education for youth, to enhance peace, harmony and progress in Nigeria.

Mr. Abubakar gave the advice in a message to the opening of the 98th Islamic Vacation Course organised by the Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria, MSSN, on Friday in Ibadan.

Represented by Dawud Noibi, the Executive Secretary, Muslim Ummah of South West Nigeria, the Sultan said unfettered access to education must remain the priority of any government, to ensure a brighter future for Nigerian youth and the country.

He also advised leaders in the country to always be guided in their actions by the fear of God.
Mr. Abubakar urged Muslims to remain patient in the face of the challenges facing the nation, reminding them of Allah’s saying that “every hardship comes with a relief”.

“I urge you all to stay away from evil company. Do not allow anyone to lure you into engaging in any kind of action that could compromise the security of the nation.

“As you are aware, our religion, Islam, stands for peace, so let’s remain peaceful, so that we may live a peaceful life here and be accommodated in the Home of Peace in the life to come,’’ he said.

The Sultan, who is also the President-General, Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, NSCIA, congratulated the MSSN for its educational programmes for the youth and prayed for its continued success.

Earlier, the National President of the Society, Sirajudeen Abdulazeez, called on Muslim students to join in salvaging the country from total collapse.

“We should stand up courageously and wrestle power from those ruling us recklessly,” he said. “We should be bold to tell those who are traumatising and threatening our future that come 2015 we will vote them out.”

Mr. Abdulazeez also urged all Muslims to obtain their voter cards and participate actively in the forthcoming general election.

In a remark, the MSSN B-Zone Coordinator, Mushafau Alaran, called on past leaders of the group to contribute towards the development of its permanent site.

Goodwill messages were received from representatives of the governors of Lagos, Ogun, Oyo and Osun States.

Over 10,000 students are participating in the 10-day vacation course which involves leadership training, lectures and seminar.

(NAN/PREMIUM TIMES)

The kidnapped Chibok girls were yesterday listed by the French Press agency , AFP, as  among  the most influential people of 2014.

AFP last year published a list of the most influential people of 2013 led by Edward Snowden, who revealed the extent of US intelligence surveillance, Iranian President Hassan Rohani and Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, laureate of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.
Here, in order, are the 10 people judged to have had the greatest influence on events in 2014:

VLADIMIR PUTIN: Russian President Vladimir Putin  tops the list  in a  year marked by seismic conflicts in Europe and the Middle East and scarred by episodes of extreme brutality.At 62, Putin is the key player in a confrontation that threatens to open a new Cold War.

ABU BAKR AL-BAGHDADI:  The Iraqi leader of the Islamic State group, born in 1971, is at the heart of a major upheaval in the Middle East. He proclaimed himself caliph of the territory his fighters have overrun in Syria and Iraq, over which he reigns without mercy. A US-led coalition has been formed to confront him.

NIGERIAN CHIBOK SCHOOLGIRLS: The Boko Haram group kidnapped the 276 schoolgirls from Chibok,Borno State, in mid-April, shocking the world. On social networks, people launched a campaign, #bringbackourgirls. The girls became a symbol of the atrocities committed by the group, which has proclaimed its support for the Islamic State group. Of the kidnapped girls, 219 remain in the hands of Boko Haram with no sign of how, when or if they may be freed.

POPE FRANCIS:  He has strongly defended Christians living in the Middle East and has urged Islam’s intellectual leaders to condemn jihadist violence.

MALALA YOUSAFZAI: The Pakistani teenager became a global icon after she was shot in the head and nearly killed by the Taliban on October 9, 2012 for insisting that girls had a right to education. At 17, this year she became the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner in history, jointly awarded the honour alongside the Indian campaigner Kailash Satyarthi.

JOSHUA WONG: At 18, he is one of the faces of the pro-democracy movement that swept Hong Kong this year in defiance of the Chinese leadership. The “umbrella revolution” appears to have been halted or at least interrupted. But Joshua Wong and other leaders believe their demands for true democracy can no longer be ignored.

DIANE AND JOHN FOLEY: Their son, James Foley, an American freelance journalist kidnapped in Syria in November 2012, was the first Western hostage to be executed by the Islamic State group. During their son’s captivity, they were confronted by the US authorities’ categorical refusal to enter into any talks with his kidnappers. With courage and dignity, they have kept his memory alive.

OSCAR PISTORIUS: A Paralympics star, he was the main character in the trial of the year, a case that transfixed South Africa and television viewers around the world. Pistorius shot and killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine’s Day 2013. After a televised trial, the judge sentenced him to jail for five years for manslaughter. Prosecutors have now appealed and are seeking a murder conviction.

THOMAS PIKETTY: The French economist’s weighty tome, Capital in the 21st Century, has racked up hundreds of thousands of sales in France, the United States and Britain, where his academic theories about growing economic inequality have struck a chord among readers. Along with this year’s Nobel Economics Prize laureate Jean Tirole, Piketty testifies to the vitality of economic thinking in France at a time when, paradoxically, the economy itself is in crisis.

JACK MA: The emblematic figure of Chinese entrepreneurship, Jack Ma is the founder of internet giant Alibaba, which combines services similar to those of Amazon, eBay and Google. Alibaba shares began trading on Wall Street in September in the biggest listing in history. The 50-year-old former English teacher is the richest man in China.