Six facts about Atiku Abubakar

PDP Presidential Candidate for 2019 Election Atiku Abubakar

   1.In the run up to the 2007 elections, then Vice President Atiku Abubakar contesting under the banner of ACN told the US Ambassador to Nigeria Mr. John Campbell in a meeting at the US embassy in Abuja that “Nigeria's presidents are selected by manipulation of the political process, not by vote totals”. Credible election is a sine qua non to democracy that civilised men and women thrives to uphold to engender the culture of an egalitarian society but if Atiku Abubakar does not believe in elections then what do Nigerian democracy stands to gain from him. His candidature reminds us of when results were written and announced by the likes of Able Guobadia and Muarice Iwu under their watchful eyes and the disillusionment with elections when votes did not count during Obasanjo and Atiku era.  In fact Atiku was the chief architect of the rigging of the 1999 and 2003 election. Atiku as a serial law breaker lacks respect for democratic processes. Can he accept to go through it now after having confessed that elections are mere formalities in Nigeria and that votes do not count?

  2. Atiku Abubakar was quoted as saying: ‘if the worst comes to the worst, I will insult any judge. It may not be only insults, but as well as beating up such a judge’. This was the threat made against judges by Atiku Abubakar, then Vice President, following the ruling by the election tribunal against his supposed ‘political godson’ Governor Boni Haruna relating to the disputed 2003 gubernatorial election in Adamawa State. In 2005, the then Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Justice Muhammed Uwais was put under pressure and immense intimidation by Obasanjo and Atiku Abubakar that the CJN had to report to US embassy where he told the American ambassador, Mr. John Campbell that he approached the Embassy to relate the story to the Ambassador so that "someone knows what is happening here" in case "something happens" to him and the other justices. He was behind the manipulation of the judicial processes in favour of PDP.

   3. In February, 2007, a Senate Committee disclosed that its investigation discovered that Obasanjo and Atiku had diverted $145 million dollars from Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF). Billions of dollars were missing from the Fund during their rule and President Obasanjo accused Atiku of stealing it. Commenting on the stealing of money from PTDF and other alleged corrupt practices by Atiku and Obasanjo, T.Y. Danjuma said it was a case of trying to outdo one another as Obasanjo was also helping himself with the fund.

    4.  In the 8 years of their rule, Atiku Abubakar performed the duties of VP for only 4 years. The other 4 he was not allowed to say or do anything. He was eventually sacked by Obasanjo though illegally until the court voided it he was not allowed access to office. A vice president that committed serious offences that would warrant his illegal removal from office by the president wants to be president himself and the president who sacked him is supporting him. What is their agenda?

    5.  Atiku Abubakar took the role of an undertaker for corrupt deals while in government. For instance, he gave bribe of (N50 million) fifty million naira to Senators Mantu and Zingwina from a PDP slush account with Obasanjo’s full knowledge for senate confirmation of El Rufia as Minister of FCT.

   6.  Atiku is now facing his third defeat by President Buhari. First in 2007 presidential election when Buhari contested under the ANPP while Atiku contested under ACN. Atiku came a distance third behind Buhari who came second. He again came second in 2014 when he unsuccessfully challenged Buhari for the APC president ticket for the 2015 elections. Same is expected to happen on February 16, 2019.

Atiku’s endorsement scam: North east man represented Middle Belt Forum

Atiku Abubakar

A spokesman for the Middle Belt Forum said the man who represented the group and read an endorsement letter to Atiku Abubakar on Sunday is not from the zone.

According to Gowon Egbunu, the man Dr Bitrus Pogu is from Chibok in Borno State, in Nigeria’s north east. Pogu, he said, chairs the Chibok community in Abuja.

“I watched and listened with regret, one Dr. Bitrus Pogu, the Chairman of Chibok community in Abuja, on Channels Television a while ago, claiming to be speaking for the Middle Belt Forum”, Egbunu said.

The Middle Belt Forum spokesman emphatically denied endorsing the presidential ambition of Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 16 February election.

“There was no time when we came together as a people to endorse Atiku Abubakar as our candidate in the 4th coming elections. Atiku Abubakar is not our candidate and will never be”, said Middle Belt Forum spokesman, Gowon Egbunu.

“Beloved Middle Beltans, take that as fake news and go about your normal business. If there’s a need to endorse any candidate, you will be communicated accordingly”, Egbunu, who is director of media and publications for the forum said.

“This is to clear the air and put the records straight, that, Middle Belt people are honest and highly principled people, who will not sell their conscience for a loaf of bread. (NAN)

Reuters: How Atiku secured temporary waiver of US visa ban

*2 lobbyists helped secure temporary waiver on Visa Ban

*Atiku personally pays $80,000 a month to Holland &Knight, one of the two lobbyists, while PDP pays $90,000 to Ballard and Partners

Atiku Abubakar

Reuters has reported that Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party was able to visit Washington, United States  two weeks ago to meet with top U.S. diplomats and lawmakers due  to a temporary suspension of a travel ban.

The news agency said the visa ban, which is still in place,  was  linked to decade-old bribery scandals, quoting  people familiar with the matter.

The U.S. administration has not commented on Atiku’s status or his travel, but several U.S. diplomats and others familiar with the visit told Reuters the former vice president has been banned from entering the United States for the past several years after he figured prominently in two corruption cases.

For Atiku’s supporters, the fact he was able to visit Washington on Jan. 17 and 18 without being arrested was proof that the allegations were baseless.

“It is fake news, and we showed that,” said Harold Molokwu, who heads the U.S. chapter of Atiku’s People’s Democratic Party of Nigeria.

Several U.S. government officials said the travel ban was waived temporarily by the U.S. State Department after lobbyists mounted a campaign among congressional lawmakers arguing that the administration should not snub the leading challenger to Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari in the Feb. 16 election.

Several U.S. government officials said the travel ban was waived temporarily by the U.S. State Department after lobbyists mounted a campaign among congressional lawmakers arguing that the administration should not snub the leading challenger to Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari in the Feb. 16 election.

One person familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Atiku was allowed to enter because the United States saw little benefit to creating bad blood with the man who might be the next leader of Africa’s most populous nation and the continent’s biggest oil producer.

Lobbyists hired by Atiku said they sought to overcome resistance at the State Department by securing support from members of Congress for the visit, as well as arguing that the top U.S. official for African affairs, Assistant Secretary Tibor Nagy, had an obligation to encourage democracy in the seventh most populous country in the world.

Lobbyists hired by Atiku said they sought to overcome resistance at the State Department by securing support from members of Congress for the visit, as well as arguing that the top U.S. official for African affairs, Assistant Secretary Tibor Nagy, had an obligation to encourage democracy in the seventh most populous country in the world.

“Assistant Secretary Nagy was pleased to meet with him and share the U.S. government’s expectations that Nigeria’s elections be free, fair, transparent, and peaceful, and reflect the will of the Nigerian people,” a State Department official said, stressing the department had not requested the waiver.

Buhari first took power in a military coup in the 1980s but was democratically elected in 2015. He is seeking a second term in part on an anti-corruption platform.

Atiku’s visa troubles stem from when he served as Nigeria’s vice president, from 1999 to 2007.

He figured prominently in the corruption trial of former U.S. Representative William Jefferson, who was accused of trying to bribe Atiku in an effort to expand a technology business in Nigeria. Jefferson was convicted in 2009 and sentenced to 13 years in prison. His sentence was subsequently reduced.

Separately U.S. Senate investigators in 2010 alleged that one of Atiku’s four wives helped him transfer more than $40 million in “suspect funds” into the United States from offshore shell companies.

At least $1.7 million of that money was bribes paid by German technology company Siemens AG, according to Senate investigators. Siemens pleaded guilty to bribery charges in 2008 and agreed to pay a $1.6 billion fine.

Atiku has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. Neither he nor his wife face criminal charges in the United States.

“These issues have been addressed several times in the past and we do not wish to comment further on them,” a spokesman for Atiku said when asked about the corruption allegations.

Holland & Knight was hired by Atiku personally in December to help him secure a visa, in part by enlisting members of Congress to request one on his behalf, according to a lobbyist for the firm. It has been paid $80,000 so far.Ballard Partners was hired by Atiku’s political party at a rate of $90,000 per month in September, before Atiku emerged as the party’s candidate, according to U.S. disclosure filings.

Atiku’s whirlwind visit to Washington last month was put together with the help of two U.S. lobbying firms.

Holland & Knight was hired by Atiku personally in December to help him secure a visa, in part by enlisting members of Congress to request one on his behalf, according to a lobbyist for the firm. It has been paid $80,000 so far.

Ballard Partners was hired by Atiku’s political party at a rate of $90,000 per month in September, before Atiku emerged as the party’s candidate, according to U.S. disclosure filings.

The firm’s lobbyists worked to set up a meeting with Nagy, arguing it would show that the United States wanted to encourage free and fair elections in a country where graft is endemic.

“We are not asking the administration or anyone to take sides, but to merely demand the same level of freeness and fairness,” Ballard lobbyist Jamie Rubin told Reuters.

Aside from Nagy, Atiku met with business leaders at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and at least two Republican lawmakers in the House of Representatives who specialise in foreign affairs, Representative Michael McCaul of Texas and Representative Chris Smith of New Jersey.

Neither requested a visa waiver for Atiku, spokespersons for the two congressmen said.

Atiku stayed at the Trump International Hotel, owned by the president, and met with several hundred Nigerian expatriates there, according to two people who attended the gathering.

The luxury hotel is the subject of several lawsuits that allege Trump is violating an anti-corruption clause in the U.S. Constitution that limits the president’s ability to accept gifts from foreign governments.

Atiku’s supporters say they chose the hotel because they were able to book rooms at a discounted rate with only a few days’ notice.

“I think it was because of the availability of the space,” said Uche Udemadu, an official with the U.S. chapter of the People’s Democratic Party of Nigeria.

A spokeswoman for the hotel declined to comment.

Source: NAN

Chief Justice of Nigeria, Onnoghen to face Code of Conduct Tribunal

Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen

The Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) has scheduled Monday Jan. 14 for the arraignment of Justice Walter Onnoghen, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), on allegations of false and non- asset declarations.

Mr Ibraheem Al-Hassan, the tribunal’s Head, Press and Public Relations, said this in Abuja.

He said the action was consequent upon an application filed by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) to the chairman of the tribunal.

Al-Hassan said the application was signed by Mr Ibrahim Usman and Mrs Fatima Ali on behalf of the bureau.

He, therefore, said the tribunal would commence the trial of the CJN on six-count charge as the service of summons had been effected on the defendant.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Anti-Corruption and Research Based Data Initiative (ARDI) filed the petition at the Code of Conduct (CCB) against Justice Onnoghen.

Mr Dennis Aghanya, Executive-Secretary of the organization, who made the copy of the petition available to NAN on Saturday in Abuja, said the body had acted as a whistleblower.

Aghanya said the petition, which was filed on Jan. 7, was an offshoot of a painstaking investigation into the dealings of the CJN.

He said the organisation was of the strong opinion that the allegations were weighty enough to compel an action against Justice Onnoghen.

The petition reads in parts: “we hereby petition you on suspected violations of the law and the Constitution of Nigeria by the Honourable Mr. Justice Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen, the Chief Justice of Nigeria.

“ Specifically, we petition you based on the alarming facts detailed below, all of which indicate that the leader of our country’s judicial branch is embroiled in suspected official corruption, financial crimes and breaches of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act.

“The particulars of our findings indicate that: His Lordship Justice Walter Onnoghen is the owner of sundry accounts primarily funded through cash deposits made by himself, up to as recently as 10th August 2016.

“These appear to have been run in a manner inconsistent with financial transparency and the code of conduct for public officials.’’

The body had alleged that Justice Onnoghen made five different cash deposits of 10,000 dollars each on March 8, 2011 into Standard Chartered Bank Account 1062650.

The group also alleged that the CJN on June 7, 2011, made two separate cash deposits of 5000 dollars each.

It was also alleged that the June 7, 2011 transactions were followed by another four cash deposits of 10,000 dollars each.

Similarly, ARDI further alleged that Justice Onnoghen had on June 27, 2011, made another set of five separate cash deposits of 10,000 dollars each and made four more cash deposits of 10,000 dollars on June 28, 2011.

The body alleged that the CJN had also failed to declare his assets immediately after taking office, adding that the inaction was contrary to Section 15 (1) of Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act.

ARDI also alleged that Onnoghen did not comply with the constitutional requirement for public servants to declare their assets every four years during their career.

The group alleged that the Code of Conduct Bureau Forms (Form CCB 1) belonging to Justice Onnoghen for 2014 and 2016 were dated and filed on the same day.

The group alleged that the acknowledgement slip for Declarant SCN: 000014 was issued on Dec.14, 2016 while that for Declarant SCN: 000015 was also issued on Dec.14, 2016.

The petitioner alleged that the two CCB acknowledgment slips were issued to Justice Onnoghen when he had been sworn-in as the CJN.

“The affidavit for SCN: 000014 was sworn to on 14th December 2016; 2 of 6 b. The affidavit for SCN: 000015 was sworn to on 14th December 2016.

“Both forms were received on 14th December 2016 by one Awwal Usman Yakasai.

“The discrepancy between Justice Walter Onnoghen’s two CCB forms that were filed on the same day is significant.

“In filling the section on Details of Assets, particularly cash in Nigerian Banks, His Lordship as Declarant SCN: 000014 mentioned only two bank accounts,’’ the petitioner alleged.

According to the petitioner, the CJN runs Union Bank account number 0021464934 in Abuja, with balance of N9, 536,407 on Nov. 14, 2014.

The body alleged that the second account the CJN said he runs is Union Bank number 0012783291 in Calabar, with balance of N11, 456,311 as at Nov. 14, 2014.

The petitioner said the sources of the funds in the accounts were stated as salaries, estacodes and allowances.

The petitioner, however, alleged that Justice Onnoghen as Declarant SCN: 000015, had listed seven bank accounts that were in use.

The group said the CJN was linked to Standard Chartered account 00001062667, with balance of N3, 221,807.05 as at Nov. 14, 2016.

Another account they alleged was operated by the CJN included Standard Chartered account 00001062650, with balance of $164,804.82, as at Nov.14 2016.

The other account linked to him is Standard Chartered with account number 5001062686, with balance of 55,154.56 Euros as at Nov. 14, 2016 among others. 

NAN

Gunmen attack Father Mbaka: Spokesman

Father Mbaka: attacked by gunmen

Agency Report

A spokesman of Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka, has alleged that there was an assassination attempt on the controversial priest in Enugu on Thursday.

The spokesman, Maximus Ugwuoke blamed it all on politics, days after Mbaka publicly declared the Abubakar-Obi ticket doomed.

“It is with rude shock and utter surprise that we received the report of the attempted assassination plot of the Spiritual Director of Adoration Ministry Enugu Nigeria last Thursday evening by some unknown gun men who fired gun shots at him on his way in Enugu.

“This incident has added to several other assassination plots targeted at Fr. Mbaka since after the first plot that was carried out on him on his way from the Bishop’s house where he had gone to answer an impromptu call by his Bishop during the regime of Governor Chimaroke Nnamani of Enugu State .

“This assassination plot against Fr. Mbaka is coming barely few days after the 2018 Harvest and Bazaar of the Ministry whereat Fr. Mbaka had come under massive media attack for asking Peter Obi, the PDP Vice Presidential candidate for the 2019 general elections who attended the Bazaar programme, to make public his support or donation for the Church Project of the Ministry.

“Many supporters of Peter Obi and even clergies have misconstrued this as embarrassing to Peter Obi and to the Catholic Church and this has consequently given rise to the statement issued by the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) that same Thursday on the issue.

“The issue had lingered inspite of the apology which Fr. Mbaka in his characteristic humility had tendered at the altar to Peter Obi and anyone who may have, in any way, form or shape been offended at the Bazaar event.

“We have refrained from making any official statement on the ongoing media attack against Fr Mbaka over the Baazar incident because he had held us back from joining issues with the Church clergies and hierarchies on the subject, but we cannot continue to keep silent especially now that the issue is taking the dimension of a plot to terminate his life.

“We recall that the last time Fr. Mbaka raised alarm over threat to exterminate him was in early 2015 when he faced a similar persecution by some church hierarchy and the PDP Government following his 31st December Prophecy of the imminent defeat of former President Goodluck Jonathan led PDP Government by President Mohammadu Buhari at the 2015 general elections.

“Today with the 2019 general elections around the corner, it appears that history is repeating itself.

“The contemporaneousness of the recent attack of Fr. Mbaka by gunmen with the Peter Obi and the CBCN saga leaves us to a safe conclusion that the attack on Fr. Mbaka may have either been politically engineered or ecumenically endorsed, and thus we will not hesitate to call on the security agencies in this country to beam their search lights and leave no stone unturned in getting to the root of this issue.

“Fr Mbaka’s life means so much to us and many poor and voiceless Nigerians for whom he lives and so we cannot be silent on the face of any threat to his life real or perceived”.

Meanwhile, Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State, who was a beneficiary of Mbaka’s blessings last Sunday, has called for investigation of the allegation

Umahi, who spoke as Chairman of the South-East Governors Forum, in a statement, expressed shock over the alleged assassination attempt on Mbaka and called on security agencies to unravel the circumstances surrounding the alleged attack on the Catholic Priest.

The Ebonyi governor, in the statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Emmanuel Uzor described the alleged attack on the priest as highest provocation of man against God and called for full scale investigation to unravel those behind the attempted assassination.

He said the attempted assassination of the Catholic priest showed how low men had descended in their inordinate quest for power and to silence the truth, and thanked God for saving the life of Mbaka while calling on the Inspector General of Police to dispatch a crack team to investigate the alleged attack. 

NAN

Nigeria’s infrastructure deficit to hit $878bn by 2040 — SEC

Ms Mary Uduk, Acting Director-General of Securities
and Exchange Commission (SEC) 

Agency Report

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Sunday said that the country’s infrastructure deficit would hit 878 billion dollars by 2040 and called for active utilisation of green bond for infrastructural gap.

Ms Mary Uduk, SEC Acting Director-General, said this at the 2018 annual workshop organised by the Capital Market Correspondents Association of Nigeria (CAMCAN) in Lagos.

She said that Nigeria should tap into green bond opportunities, adding that the commission would continue to promote an active enabling and regulative environment for its issuance.

“The future holds opportunities for renewable energy, energy efficiency, infrastructure, food, agriculture and the task ahead is to ensure funds are channeled to green projects with multiple socio-merits,” Uduk said.

She said there must be more domestic participation in green bonds investment for Nigeria to claw its way out of deficit in infrastructure, power and energy, transportation and eliminating environmental degradation.

Uduk, who was represented by Head, Registration and Market Infrastructure Department, SEC, Mr Emomotimi Agama, said that it was necessary for Nigeria to stand at the fore-front of innovations and initiatives.

She said that the second tranche of green bonds which had been issued, presented an opportunity for the country to solve its infrastructural deficit.

“The biggest opportunity, to my mind, which green bond issuances will present, is the potential to solve Nigeria’s infrastructural deficits, improve agriculture and alleviate poverty while also protecting the environment. – a multi-faceted strategy,” she said.

Also speaking, Mr Bola Onadele, the Managing Director, FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange, said that 155 billion dollars had been realised from the green bonds issuance, thereby gaining attention of investors.

Onadele who was represented by Mr Emmanuel Etaderhi, Senior Vice President, Economic development division at the Exchange, said that
the country’s resources was not growing in tandem with the rising population.

He said that the reason for Nigeria’s woeful performance in the power and energy sector was due to its inability to tap into energy utilisation from the sun like other European countries.

According to him, the challenges affecting green bonds include low level of local participation in green bond verifiers, lack of investible projects, cost of verification and lack of understanding on the part of key investors.

“Green bond investors enjoy waivers relating to tax and in the next 15 years, we will require $7 trillion in investments connecting sustainable finance to capital markets,” he said.

He noted that the FMDQ had set a sustainable finance committee to engage private and public and will engage in training partnership with FSD Africa and Climate Bond Initiative (CBI).

Commenting further, Director, Climate Finance Advisor, CBI, Dr Jubril Adeojo, said that green bonds was made for Africa and with the deficits seen in major sectors of the economy.

Adeojo stated that green bond opportunities were enormous, noting that the nation would focus more on renewable energy, hybrids to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of the workshop was: Exploring Green Bond market for economic growth. (NAN)

Buhari sues for love between Muslims and Christians in Nigeria

President Buhari

Agency Report

President Muhammadu Buhari has extended hands of fellowship to those seeking to divide the country through religion, insisting that Christians and Muslims can flourish together.

He warned against the playing politics with religion.

“As our constitution codifies, politicising religion has no place in Nigeria; for it makes us turn away from one another; it makes us retreat into our communities and walk different paths.

“I believe that there is a better way. To those who seek to divide, I still hold my hand out in brotherhood and forgiveness.

“I ask only that they stop, and instead encourage us to turn towards one another in love and compassion. Nigeria belongs to all of us. This is what I believe.’’

Buhari stated this in an opinion article which featured on Friday on Church Times, UK’s largest Anglican newspaper.

According to his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, President Buhari, in the article, referenced a Biblical verse and stressed that Christians and Muslims share the same root even though their beliefs differ.

In 1844, the Revd Samuel Ajayi Crowther returned home to Yoruba land (now part of modern-day Nigeria).

“Twenty years earlier, he had been kidnapped and sold to European slave traders who were bound for the Americas.

He was freed by an abolitionist naval patrol, and received by the Church Missionary Society. There, he found his calling.

Crowther made his voyage home to establish the first Anglican mission in Yoruba land. He came with the first Bibles translated into Yoruba and Hausa languages.

He opened dialogue and discussion with those of other faiths. And his mission was a success: Crowther later became the first African Anglican bishop in Africa.

Today, Nigeria has the largest Christian population on the continent. The messages and teachings of Christianity are part of the fabric of each person’s life.

“Along with the millions of Christians in Nigeria today, I believe in peace, tolerance, and reconciliation; in the institution of the family, the sanctity of marriage, and the honour of fidelity; in hope, compassion, and divine revelation”, President Buhari wrote.

“Like Bishop Crowther, I am a descendant of Abraham; unlike him, I am a Muslim. I believe our two great religions can not only peacefully coexist but also flourish together. But Muslims and Christians must first turn to one another in compassion. For, as it says in Amos 3.3: “Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet?”

“As they are People of the Book, I believe that there is far more that unites Muslims and Christians than divides them. In fact, I believe that the messages of the Bible are universal: available for anyone to exercise, and instructive to all.

“We must resist the temptation to retreat into our communities, because, if we do, we can only look inwards. It is only when we mix that we can reach new and greater possibilities.

“Whichever religion or religious denomination they choose to follow, Nigerians are devout. Anything that Nigerians believe will place impositions on their practice, and belief is therefore sure to cause widespread alarm.

“And, unfortunately, there are those who seek to divide Nigerians — and our two great religions — and to do so for their own advantage.

“I stand accused — paradoxically — of trying to Islamise Nigeria while also being accused by Boko Haram terrorists of being against Islam.

“My Vice-President is a devout man, a Christian pastor. He, too, is accused of selling out his religion, because of his support for me.

“This is not the first time that I — nor, indeed, my Christian-Muslim evenly split cabinet — have been the subject of such nonsense. Fortunately, the facts speak differently from the words of those who seek to divide us from one another.

“Since my administration has been in power, Boko Haram has been significantly and fatally degraded; I have befriended church leaders and church groups both within and outside our country; my Vice-President has addressed and opened dialogue with Muslims up and down our land.

“In all things, we seek that which all well-meaning Christians and well-meaning Muslims must seek: to unite, respect, and never to divide. Does it not say

“There is no compulsion in religion” (Qur’an 2.256)? Does it not say “Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us” (Luke 9.50)? This, surely, is the path that followers of both our two great religions must walk.

“UNFORTUNATELY, those who wish us all to walk apart have recently found another focus for their efforts: the tragic clashes between nomadic herdsmen and settled farmers in the central regions of Nigeria.

“For generations, herders have driven their cattle from the north to the centre of our country; they tend to be predominantly Muslim, although not exclusively. The farmers, in certain areas of central Nigeria, are predominantly Christian.

“The causes of this conflict are not religious or theological, but temporal. At the heart of this discord is access to rural land, exacerbated both by climate change and population growth.

“Sadly, there are some who seek to play fast and loose and so make others believe that these are not the facts. When religion is claimed as the cause — and by those who know that it is not — it only makes finding a resolution more difficult.

“The government has taken action to mediate, to bring the two groups together in peace and unity. But we also need all parties to follow the teachings of the scriptures, and encourage reconciliation rather than cause division.

“As it is said: “Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear?” (Mark 8.18). (NAN)