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NEWSWATCH TIMES, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2015
NEWS Chief of Army Staff escapes assassination Continued from page 1
COAS was blocked in Zaria on his way to the Emir’s Palace. An eyewitness account told our correspondent that the COAS was in Zaria to a end the passing out ceremony at the Nigeria Army Depot, Zaria, yesterday, when the fracas took place. According to the eye witness, the Shiite movement was to hold its annual maulud at Hussaimiyya in Zaria, yesterday, at about the same time the Chief of Army Sta was passing through the area. Eyewitnesses said that as early as 12 noon, members of the Shiite group barricaded the road where the COAS would pass as is their usual custom. However, the security details a ached to the Chief of Army Sta came down from the vehicle to plead with the congregation to create space for the Army Chief to pass, but to no avail. He said there was commotion and pandemonium, as from the distance, people could hear gun shots. He also a rmed that at a point, the convoy of the Chief of Army Sta succeeded in clearing the way for him. Findings in Zaria also revealed that immediately the COAS le , some soldiers in three trucks came to the scene and people started scampering for their lives. It was from then that pandemonium broke out between the Shiite members and soldiers that resulted in the death of many people. Speaking on the clash, the Shiite spokesperson, Ibrahim Usman, said three people were reported dead and 20 were injured. Also reacting to the clash, the Army spokesman, Colonel U K. Usman, disclosed that the Chief of Army Sta went to the Emir’s palace to pay homage to the royal father. He said, as the convoy was moving towards the military depot, the COAS’ vehicle was a acked by members of the Shiite group, adding, “In fact, the COAS escaped an assassination a empt.” There has been a long history of
Ooni, Tinubu, Ekwueme, others witness coronation of new Olu of Warri Sylvester Idowu, Warri
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clashes between the military and the Shiite sect. For instance, a clash last year led to the death of many members, including the sons of the leader of the sect, Ibrahim El Zakzaky, in Zaria, which is the base of the sect’s head. This was even as members of the sect were a acked by suspected Boko Haram insurgents along Zaria, Kano last month. Sunni Islam and Shiite Islam are the two major schools in Islam throughout the world. The demographic breakdown between the two denominations is di cult to assess and varies by source. It is, however, alleged that 85 to 90% of the world’s Muslims are Shiites. Boko Haram, the dreaded Islamic Jihad group in Nigeria is said to belong to the Sunni radical jihadists, who want to create a people in the region. It has operated close to 10 year as an Islamic insurgency group in Nigeria and it has le at least 17,000 people dead, just as it has made more than 2.6 million homeless. There are several InternallyDisplaced Peoples’ (IDP) camps in the northern part of Nigeria today. It has increasingly used suicide bombers against ‘so ’ civilian targets since the start of a military o ensive earlier
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this year that pushed them out of territory they controlled. The Nigerian authority has set a target to end Boko Haram in Nigeria. President Buhari promised Nigerians that the group would become history by December 2015. The military is expected to completely uproot the group. Nigerian Shiite Muslims had in the past accused the Nigerian troops of killing their members and injuring others in clashes between the group and soldiers in Zaria in 2014, including the leader of the group, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky, as well as a woman with a baby strapped to her back. The group said in a statement at the time that: “Reports reaching our desk now indicated that some soldiers of the Nigerian army have opened fire on the tail end of the Quds procession held a er Jumaat prayers in Zaria, Kaduna State. The procession, which took o from Sabon Gari Jumaat Mosque, reached Kofar Doka peacefully with no incident.” It continued: “However, some soldiers a acked the procession at the PZ junction in Zaria. They shot Mahmud Ibraheem Zakzaky, but his body was taken away by the Muslim brothers. And several other Muslim brothers were shot by the security agents.”
he Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi; National leader of All Progressive Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and former Vice President, Chief Alex Ekwueme; were amongst dignitaries that yesterday witnessed the coronation of Ogiame Ikenwoli, Ikenwoli Gbesimi Emiko as the 20th Olu of Warri. The colourful ceremony took place at Ode Itsekiri, the ancestral home of the Itsekiris, where the new king of Warri was formally crowned amidst wild jubilation amongst the Itsekiris and their neighbours as well as visitors. Ogiame Ikenwoli was formally crowned at about 3.55 p.m in the presence of dignitaries a er the completion of the ritual formalities at 1.5 p.m having taking the sword of o ce that gave him the tile of Ogiame Ikenwoli. Speaking at the event, President Muhammadu Buhari commended the Itsekiris for a peace transition following the demise of the late Olu acknowledging that it was obvious that the ethnic group have always been peaceful. He urged the Itsekiris to extend the cooperation given to the late Olu whom he described as a unifying figure to the new royal father. Represented by the Secretary to the Federal Government, Mr. Babachir David Lawal, President Buhari also commended the Itsekiris for not been involved in scandals and embezzlements plaguing the nation so far. Governor Ifeanyi Okowa described the coronation as historic and also praised the Itsekiris for a peaceful and successful transition without rancour over who succeed the late king. He solicited for the support of the Olu for his administration policies which he said was aimed at widespread development of the state and prosperity for all Deltans. Oni of Ife described the event as a new dawn in Itsekiriland and Warri as well as Ife and Yorubaland and urged the Federal Government to create employment for the teeming youths of the country. He assured that the exisiting relationship between the Yorubas and Itsekiris would be sustained and solicited for peaceful coexistence between the ethnic groups.
Insurgency: Poverty, unemployment to blame –Buhari
Continued from page 1 Dangote, who was also honoured with a Doctorate of Science, said the high level of unemployment of the Nigerian youths had contributed to insurgency in the country. According to the Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Williams Barnabas Qurix, the President was awarded a honorary doctorate degree in recognition of his contributions to the development of the country as a former o cer of the Nigerian Army, former minister, former Head of State and currently, the President of the country. Responding to the honour done to him and Dangote, President Buhari commended the University for considering both of them worthy of the award. He, however, used the opportunity to harp on the importance of entrepreneurial education, saying that the security challenges confronting Nigeria could not be separated from poverty and unemployment. According to him, job creation and youth employment were top priority list
of his administration. Employment would come a er security and the fight against corruption. He said: “One of the focal points of this administration is job creation. Because job creation helps in the achievement of other objectives of the government, such as poverty reduction and security, which are the major challenges this administration is confronted with. Insecurity cannot be divorced from unemployment and poverty, because an idle mind, they say, is the devil’s workshop. “This administration will ensure that youths in the country are gainfully employed and youth restiveness curtailed. With the declining internally-generated revenue and over-dependence on equallydeclining oil revenues, there is need to seek other ways of diversifying the economy, so as to boost the internallygenerated revenue. One of the ways we can achieve this is through reorientation of our youths towards an entrepreneurial mindset. You should, therefore, promote and enhance the teaching and learning of entrepreneurial skills in all schools and
tertiary institutions, such as yours.” The President noted that it was in recognition of the importance of entrepreneurial skills that the Federal Government, through the National Universities Commission (NUC), made it mandatory for all universities to teach entrepreneurship skills, so that graduates can become job creators instead of job seekers a er schooling. He linked entrepreneurship skills acquisition to national development, and said that, to encourage and assist Nigerian youth to move from being job seekers to job creators, his administration would sustain and improve ongoing programmes by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), the Bank of Industry (BoI), the Bank of Agriculture (BoA), and other federal agencies, to grant them start-up loans at concessionary rates. He also urged the Nigerian private sector to also do more to support government’s e orts to boost youth entrepreneurship and the development of micro, small and
medium scale enterprises in the country. He thanked the University for conferring a honourary Doctorate degree of Le ers on him. Speaking earlier, the Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Qurix, said the Kaduna State University was one of the first universities to establish entrepreneurship research and development centres in line with the directive of the NUC. He said: “We have, in addition to this, established a skills acquisition centre. I am happy to report that we have fully implemented the teaching of entrepreneurship studies at the second and third years for all students of KASU.” On the honorary doctorate degrees awarded President Buhari and Dangote, the Vice Chancellor said the university resolved to honour them because they had since underlined the place of Nigeria in the comity of nations, and that they had proved beyond reasonable doubt that they were determined to make Nigeria great.