Sambo using religion to divide Nigerians —APC

 Vice-President Namadi Sambo

The All Progressives Congress has accused Vice-President Namadi Sambo and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, of using religion to divide Nigerians.

The party, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on Thursday, said Sambo, while addressing PDP supporters in Kaduna, said the APC was pushing a Christian agenda and should be rejected at the polls because its vice-presidential candidate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), has “5,000 churches.”

The APC said, “It must baffle every right-thinking Nigerian what the vice-president stands to gain by his resort to basic instincts. It is more baffling against the background of the fact that it was his party, the PDP, that first labelled our party, the APC, as a Muslim party.

“Not even when the APC elected a Christian as its National Chairman, supported by many party officials who are also Christians, did they back off from their incautious claim. It did not occur to them that our party is more religiously diverse than they have sought to portray it to Nigerians.”

The party urged voters not to be swayed by those who were using religion as a campaign tool.

It said some unscrupulous politicians had already begun distributing leaflets portraying the APC as a religious intolerant party.

It said, “They are hoping that by further inflaming passion with the highly emotive issue of religion, they can revive their shrivelling political fortunes. That is why they have devised the latest strategy of pitting Christians against Moslems through the circulation of satanic leaflets. Nigerians should not be taken in by this cheap plot.

“We ask Nigerians to disregard anyone peddling religion as a tool for securing votes in any part of the country. Faith is a personal thing to individuals and no responsible government will seek to use religion to divide the people.”

CAN got N7bn to campaign for Jonathan –Borno pastor

 CAN President, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor

Fresh facts emerged on Thursday about the allegation by the Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, that President Goodluck Jonathan’s Peoples Democratic Party gave some pastors N6bn to campaign against the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), in the 2015 presidential election.

A Borno State-based Pastor, Kallamu Dikwa, said the money allegedly given to the pastors by the Presidency was N7bn and not N6bn as alleged by Amaechi, who doubled as the Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign Organisation.

Amaechi had alleged that some unnamed leaders of the PDP paid N6bn to Christian clerics to campaign against the APC.

But reacting to the Northern States Christian Elders Forum, who challenged Amaechi to name those pastors involved in the bribery scandal, Dikwa told journalists in Kaduna on Thursday that the said money was channelled through the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria.

Dikwa, who is the Executive Director of the Voice of Northern Christian Movement, said CAN got the said money (N7bn) on January 26, 2015 and disbursed N3m each to state Chairmen of the CAN across the country.

He was also an Associate Pastor with the E. Y. N. Church (Enklesiyan Yan’uwan A Nijeriya) Farm Centre, Dikwa Road, Maiduguri, Borno State, under Rev. Emmanuel Kwajihe between 2002-2004.

But the Presidency and CAN had denied this allegation. While the Presidency said that Dikwa was an agent of the APC, the General Secretary of CAN, Rev. Musa Ayake, maintained that the allegation was total falsehood.

However, Dikwa, said the CAN had started threatening Christians in the state (Borno) that they must re-elect President Jonathan in the rescheduled election.

He said, “It was N7bn that was given to the CAN leadership by President Goodluck Jonathan. They (CAN) later disbursed N3m each to the state chairmen of the CAN. The money was handed over to the CAN leadership on 26th January, 2014.

“This is what I know. One of the CAN officials from Abuja told me that they have collected the money. The corruption in CAN is terrible. They are corrupting the body of Christ because of money.

“They are now threatening Christians in Borno State that they will deal with anybody who refused to vote for Jonathan. And the CAN officials are now campaigning that if Buhari emerges President he will islamise Nigeria; and that Prof. Yemi Osinbajo will resign soon after Buhari wins to give way for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to emerge Vice President.

“And at the same time, CAN is threatening Christians in Borno if they didn’t vote for Jonathan. And the same CAN continues to blackmail Prof. Yemi Osinbajo that Islamic world has bought Osinbajo with millions of dollars, all this is because of the N7bn bribery that they have received from Jonathan.”

But Ayake in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents in Ilorin on Thursday said, “At no time did CAN collect money from Jonathan to preach against Buhari or to give the impression that Buhari wants to islamise Nigeria.”

Ayake added, “I do not think I will lower ourselves, our integrity and our positions to somebody who is fake, who called himself a pastor when he is not; a liar, somebody who does not even know his left from his right. I know the person, if I want to comment, I will be lowering myself and my integrity to such a thing. Please that person is not what he claims to be.

“What he said is a lie. It did not happen. It will not happen.

“He is a liar. We should not waste our time on him. He is not a pastor. He has never been a pastor. He is just a liar. If I should reply, I would be lowering myself. What he said is between him and his God. Let him know that when this life is over, we are going to stand before God to give an account of what we said or did in this life. Let him continue with his lies, God will catch up with him one day.”

Also, the Presidency said that Dikwa was making this allegation because he belonged to the APC.

It said that was the reason he would continue to say anything that could advance the interest of his political party.

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, said this in an interview with one of our correspondents.

Abati said, “Is the pastor a member of the APC? He probably belongs to the APC. Since he is a member of the APC, he will echo, modify and amplify whatever Amaechi said.

“I think before you do anything, you should establish the political affiliation of that pastor.

“He must be a member of the APC. Otherwise, he will face his primary responsibility as a pastor.

“I have no doubt that the man is a member of the APC. As a member of the APC, he will say whatever he feels will advance the course of his party.”

I came to Nigeria to eat, marry – Illegal immigrant

 The suspects

For 21-year-old Musa Isa, who is from the Niger Republic, his major mission to Kwara State, Nigeria was to work and get money to feed himself and later marry.

Isa was one of the 120 illegal immigrants arrested and paraded by the Nigeria Immigration Service, Kwara State Command, on Thursday for not having valid documents.

He said he had stayed in Kwara State for about 10 years without documents and without arrest until Wednesday when he was nabbed by immigration officials.

Isa also said he had been doing menial job, offloading cement in Ilorin for about 10 years.

“The immigration men caught me and brought me here. They caught me because I am from Niger. I do not have my travel documents. I have been here for about 10 years. I have all my people with me.

“I offload cement bags as a labourer. I stay at Lajorin, Muritala. I want to come back to Nigeria. I will prepare my paper. I love Kwara State because I see food to eat, but in my place we do not have much food to eat. I am also looking for money to marry.”

Another illegal Immigrant, Mumuni Hassan, said he was from the Niger Republic but came to Offa, Kwara State, about two weeks ago to work as a cobbler. He also said that he found Offa more lucrative for his work than his country.

Hassan said, “I came here about two weeks ago. I will come back to Nigeria. I will prepare my documents.”

The Public Relations Officer, NIS, Kwara State Command, Mr. Adesola Adeyemi, said the 120 illegal immigrants were arrested during the command’s periodic mop-up exercise.

He stated that 97 of the immigrants were from the Niger Republic while 23 were from the Republic of Benin. He said officials of the command also intercepted a truck with registration number, KATSINA XA 621 KAT, that was loaded with 46 passengers in Ilorin on the suspicion that the passengers were from the Niger Republic.

According to him, after investigation, it was confirmed that the travellers were from the Niger Republic.

He said it was not established that the immigrants were to be involved in electoral malpractices.

“We could not find anything on them that showed that they came for election, but we should move to make sure that we nip any security threat in the bud.”

Adeyemi said the illegal immigrants were ECOWAS citizens, but were to be repatriated to their countries because they did not have travel documents.

He advised them to go through the laid down procedure and get their documents if they genuinely wanted to return and work in Nigeria.

Lamido, Mu’azu meet over Obasanjo

 Former President Olusegun Obasanjo

The Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido and the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, met in Abuja on Wednesday on how to convince former President Olusegun Obasanjo to return to the party.

Investigations by our correspondent in Abuja on Thursday indicated that the meeting took place at the Abuja residence of Mu’azu.

The meeting, it was learnt, was at the instance of Mu’azu, who was said to be worried about the political implications of Obasanjo’s decision to dump the PDP.

Obasanjo, while announcing his decision to leave the party where he was once its Chairman of Board of Trustees, on Monday, also ordered that his membership card be torn to shreds.

At the meeting between the governor and the national chairman of the party, it was learnt that Mu’azu expressed sadness over the turn of events in the party, which has been ruling since the country returned to democratic rule in 1999.

One of the aides of the chairman, who was at the meeting, said the former governor of Bauchi State was “visibly sad that the once-cohesive party” was becoming a joke in the country.

It was learnt that at the meeting, the national chairman of the party sought the opinion of Lamido on how to approach the tirade being thrown by the former President at the party and its Presidential candidate, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.

The chairman’s aide, who spoke with our correspondent on the condition of anonymity, said that the governor warned the party against trading accusations with the former President.

Lamido is considered as one of the governors very close to the former President.

The chairman’s said, “The governor warned the party against fighting the former President. He also asked Mu’azu to warn some members of the party, including a governor from the southern part of the country to stop abusing the former President.

“He told the chairman that the party and the President do not have the capacity to fight the President, saying that before the former President would open his mouth to say a word, he has his facts.

“Besides, he added that there are other sympathisers of the former President in the party and that any attempt to rubbish him (Obasanjo)would make many of them uncomfortable.”

But the party has said it would not relent in its desire to have the former President return to its fold.

The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Olisa Metuh, who spoke with our correspondent in Abuja on Thursday, said that having led the party to victories in the past, it would be wrong for the party to let its former chairman of Board of Trustees leave like that.

Alfa kills, shares friend’s body parts

 Afobaje, Tanko and Suleiman

AN Alfa in the Badagry area of Lagos State, Fatai Afobaje, has been accused of conspiring with some security men in his area to kill his friend, Rafiu Suleiman.

Police sources said after the 40-year-old was dead, Afobaje, along with five others, shared his remains among themselves for ritual purposes.

It was gathered that what remained of the late Kwara State indigene was recovered by men of the Nigeria Police Force on Monday, after an intensive search.

The incident happened at Oko Agbonla, Magbon in the Badagry area.

PUNCH Metro gathered that Afobaje and Suleiman had been friends for a long time, and the deceased had given a lot of money to the suspect.

Afobaje was said to have conspired with the Chief Security Officer of the area, identified only as Tanko, to kill Suleiman on Friday.

Our correspondent learnt that apart from the corpse, the police also recovered a clay pot which contained the fingers of the deceased with a few naira notes.

A source said the two men had met in a commercial bus and became friends that lasted for years.

He said, “The two men met in a commercial bus. Suleiman had offered to pay the transport fare of Afobaje after the conductor was about embarrassing him because he had no change.

“The Alfa then said he would like to know him better for being so gracious to him (Alfa). So, Suleiman gave the Alfa his address and asked him to visit.

“That was how the friendship started. From what we found out, Suleiman, who worked as a crane operator, would collect his salary and give half of it to Alfa at the end of the month and that happened for a long time.”

The source, who added that investigation was still on, said Afobaje suddenly connived with his friends to kill Suleiman.

Another source said on Friday, last week, the victim was called by Alfa to come for a meeting around 8pm.

He said, “As soon as the victim got to the street’s gate, the security guards surrounded him and asked who he was looking for. When he told them, they flogged him with charms and he died.

“They then called the Alfa to come and when he arrived, they shared his body parts. While one collected his head, another demanded all his intestines, while another asked for his breasts, which were given out.”

Our correspondent learnt that when the victim’s boss did not find him, he made a call to his wife, who explained that she had yet to also see him.

His boss was said to have contacted policemen from the Morogbo division who then launched a search for him.

The deceased’s brother, Yinusa Wahab, told PUNCH Metro that the victim’s wife asked him to search Afobaje’s house, adding that the victim was there.

Wahab said, “We went to the house, but he was not around. We searched everywhere and didn’t see my brother. Later, we saw a mutilated corpse floating on a stream near the house. It was swollen and there was no head. The breast had been cut off.

“We went back to the house and as we looked around, I saw some fingers in a pot which were still being burnt and when I saw them, I could recognise that they belonged to my brother.”

The police were said to have apprehended the suspect, and he reportedly named the chief security officer as an accomplice.

Afobaje, when queried, owned up to the act, saying he divided the body with the other suspects.

He said, “He was on his way to my house when he was killed. When I got there, he had been killed and then we shared his body. I urge my accomplices to also confess because the act has been uncovered and there is nothing we can do about it.”

The Police Public Relations Officer, Lagos State Command, Kenneth Nwosu, confirmed the incident.

He said, “The decomposing corpse of the victim has been recovered, while Alfa Fatai has been arrested.

“The matter has been transferred to the State Department of Criminal Investigation, Yaba.”