Group wants Nigerians to keep hope alive despite hardship

A group, Team New Nigeria (TNN) has called on Nigerians to to keep hope alive and desist from any attempt to revolt against government under the pretext of prevailing as so doing would only lead to anarchy and underdevelopment.

The group wants good governance enshrined at all levels in the country such that the people of the country would be placed first. 

Addressing newsmen in Kano on Thursday, the National Director on Media Engagement of the group, Dr Imran Gino said the Team Nigeria movement will engage in mobilizing Nigerians towards patriotism and nationalism in order to strengthen the country. 

“Nigerians should be patient and should not lose hope in government because there is light at the end of the tunnel and the best can only be achieved through patience and endurance” he stated

He called on the government to invest in the people by prioritizing human development and building their capacity in various trades to discourage the weak from engaging in vicious activities.

He acknowledged the current hardship faced by the people of the country that is worsened by the removal of fuel subsidy and subsequent inflation. 

On it’s part the group, which has so far mobilized over 5 million people from all climes in the country, plans to engage in capacity building programs using revolving loan scheme in order to empower the populace. 

The group which rose from a regional meeting in Kano plans to change the psyche of the people by making them more committed as responsible citizens.

The group which is under the national leadership of Dr Modibbo Yakubu Farakwai of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says it is not a political group but out to mobilize Nigerians towards positive changes for the better.

The Spokesman of TNN along with other members

Elrufai, stop the arrogance and egocentrism, save the lives of innocent kidnapped students in Kaduna!

By Abdulmumin Giwa

The solution to the current problem of insecurity in Kaduna is not by allowing innocent kidnapped students to die in the hands of their abductors just to prove your arrogance and egocentrism Mr Governor.

If at all you are honest and you mean well, why not save the lives of the kidnapped students first, which is the most important thing at the moment, and then go after their abductors thereafter. The bandits have been there before, they are there now and will be there tomorrow but the kidnapped students might not.

If you honestly want to fight the bandits you know where they are and how to get them. You have the intelligence, the military and the police to do that. Stop deceiving the people and placing the lives of innocent students at stake. Save the students first, save their lives. Then go after the bandits if you are truly honest.

But it is now clear that you are not doing or planning anything to save the lives of the students or end end banditry. All you are concerned about is your political statements that have worsened insecurity in Kaduna state. All the useless grammar you are making in the media will not solve the problem, they will only aggravate them as they have been aggravated since you started.

Already they have started killing the students in batches and you are still pretending all is well and turning your face the other way. Please keep your arrogance and egocentrism aside and save the lives of the students. Thereafter, if you are truly serious that you want the bandits crushed you go after them to prove you want them all dead. Stop deceiving the public. Go and bring back the students alive using all options available including negotiations. That is what matters at the moment and not the noise making.

Buhari Institutionalizing Injustice by Backing Pantami and Incarnating Zakzaky

By Abdulmumin Giwa

Unfolding events in Nigeria have worsened the way the public view the dispensation of justice by the Nigerian government. The APC led government under President Muhammadu Buhari is seen to be unfair and unjust to a lot of Nigerians based on positions it is taking against them.

The most recent incident is that of the support and backing it gave to its Minister of Communication Dr. Isah Pantami who has been said to have in the past abetted terrorism in his preachments and religious activities. He also never denied it but claimed that he was young with low awareness and therefore apologised for his misdoings now that he is a minister.

More so, the Nigerian government never denied that he abetted terrorism, but put it to the public that he had changed stance thereby placing its full weight behind him.

Some of the things Sheikh Pantami had preached before becoming a minister included supporting known terrorist organizations Alqaeda, Boko Haram and Taliban and even claiming alliance. He described them as his brothers. He even confirmed that some young people have dropped out of school and joined the terror groups as a result, but he was able to call some to order.

He had also preached against Christians and called on Muslim leaders to declare Jihad to fight them for killing Muslims in Yelwan Shandam, Langtan and other places. What is worse is his position on other Muslims like the Shi’a and Tariqah who he sees more as infidels. In fact this position had drawn him closer to the Saudi regime and its activities of spreading hate among Muslim denominations.

All these speeches and preachings he did are easily accessible on social media especially YouTube.

Also, he had never for once came out to declare to the world that he had withdrawn from such terror abetting and promotion of religious conflicts among Nigerians until the issue recently came up and what happened forced him to make the declaration.

The Nigerian government under president Buhari defended and backed him on this telling the world that he will continue as Minister.

This is the same government that has sent the Nigerian Army troops to clampdown on another religious scholar, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky and his followers, in their centres in Zaria, Kaduna state for no crime other than belonging to the Shi’a denomination of Islam.

The Shi’a are announced by the government to be influenced by Iran while the government is also hypothetically having diplomatic relations with Iran. The President Muhammadu Buhari even visited the Shi’a leader Ayatullah Sayyid Khamenei in Iran in one of his several travels abroad and was given red carpet reception.

The unarmed Shi’a were butchered by the Buhari government thereby killing men, women and innocent children some burned to death and others buried alive in mass graves along with dead bodies. The Kaduna state government under Governor Nasiru Elrufai confirmed to the Judicial Commission of Inquiry set up to look into the massacre that they buried 347 in a mass grave in violation of the Geneva Convention.

Peaceful protests have been attacked by the Nigerian government and hundreds are still being killed for calling for the release of their religious leader.

It is still in memory that Sheikh Zakzaky was at his residence with his family in December 2015 when he was attacked and three of his sons were brutally killed, his wife shot in the tommy, he was shot in the eye and limb, his elder sister and nephew were both burned alive by the Nigerian army during the attack. The residence of Shaikh Zakzaky was demolished after burning it down and the rubbles were packed away.

This state terror act was perpetrated against Sheikh Zakzaky who had received several recommendations from far and wide for being peaceful and promoting peace. He had been leading a group of Nigerians that have become the largest blood donors to the National Blood Transfusion Commission in the country. His followers have been received by hundreds of Churches across the country on courtesy calls promoting peace and other unity events.

He has no single record of any crime or terror linked activities or even negative preachments. He had preached against injustice and corruption and had promoted wake up calls to Nigerians seeking developmental progress. In fact he was a victim of the Boko Haram bomb attack where 23 of his followers were killed while on a religious activity.

To cap it all up, officials of this APC led government paid him a hypocritical condolence visit when the first set of his three sons were killed towards the end of the Jonathan’s administration in 2014, because they knew him as a peace promoter. Even President Jonathan was said to have apologized for what happened then.

Sheikh Zakzaky has been proven by a court of competent jurisdiction, the Federal High Court in Abuja to be innocent of all the concocted lies against him by the government. The court ordered that he be released and paid compensation of N50 million, and a house be built for him in any state of his choice in the North. The government acted in contempt of the court and refused to obey the court.

Several groups have called on the Nigerian government to respect the court and release the innocent Sheikh but all to no avail. Among them are credible human rights organizations like Amnesty International, International Human Rights Watch and Islamic Human Right Organization of London, and highly respected religious bodies like the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN. But the government turned deaf ears on all these calls and continue to incarcerate Sheikh Zakzaky and concocting lies against him.

Just of recent, the United States of America in a report declared that Sheikh Zakzaky is a political prisoner and has nothing to do with terrorism, meaning that he was only being jailed for political purposes and not that he had committed any crime or is linked to any.

If the Nigerian government can accept, defend and promote Sheikh Pantami, who it confirmed abetted terrorism and promoted religious crises in Nigeria, then it has no moral right to continue to jail Sheikh Zakzaky who is known to be a peace activist. It has completely lost its morality in the eyes of the world by this. It implies that it has no commitment whatsoever to the fight against the pandemic of terrorism. It implies that the government is not interested in stopping terrorism which some parts of the country have been confirmed to have been taken over by the terrorists.

This singular act by the Nigerian government only depicts it as institutionalizing injustice and unfairness to the citizens and promoting nepotism, a situation that is worsening the tranquillity in the country and promoting calls by some Nigerians for restructuring of the country. Indeed Nigerians are regretting voting this government to power.

Why gazetting to defend Pantami and government’s double standard? ….Free Sheikh Zakzaky

By Abdulmumin Giwa

It is necessary to speak to those making up lies to justify the past of the Communication Minister Dr Isah Pantami while also supporting government’s double standard. Despite his past dangerous utterances Dr Pantami is backed by the Nigerian government while Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky whose suppression was condemned by the Federal High Court is still kept in illegal detention.

Already, there are audio and video clips of all the things he is being accused of doing the round on social media, he himself didn’t deny uttering, the Nigerian government didn’t also deny that he uttered them. They only said he did them while he was young and less informed. And that today he has reverted from abetting terrorism, promoting interdenominational hate speeches among Muslims and being active in promoting religious disharmony between Muslims and Christians. Both himself and the government have not denied it. They only confirmed that he has now changed.

Hence, people cannot be constructing lies and putting make ups on English to deny what both what the Minister himself and the government have confirmed. If it is not true, the presidential statement declaring government support for him will not confirm it. There is no point going about telling lies and dressing up the utterances Dr Pantami had committed in the past. He said them and he did them, but now regrets.

If he, or the government have denied all these from the beginning then the suggestions his defenders are raising would be tenable and justifiable.

I think they should rather concentrate on trying to convince people that he is truly a changed person now and people should view him as such. But the more they try to deny or dress those things up with cosmetics they expose him the more.

More so, this puts the government’s morality more at stake and in question by placing itself on a double standard thereby prompting injustice among citizens and hatching more enemies for the government.

On the other hand, we can all recall that with mischief and hypocrisy, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, otherwise called Shi’a was attacked without any justifiable reason. It was later made up that his followers blocked the way for the Army Chief, Lt Gen Tukur Buratai to justify why hisen spent three days murdering the Shi’as.

Because of this, without arresting and prosecuting those who actually blocked his way, the army clampdown on the Shi’a for three consecutive days killing innocent and unarmed men, women and children who have come to celebrate the commencement of the birth Month of Prophet Muhammad SAWA in their religious centre in Zaria in December 2015, the army engaged in a killing spree and even burned people alive, as they chanted “No More Shi’a”. They killed unarmed citizens just because of their faith. As if that was not brutal enough, the army also invited touts and rogues to scavenge the dead bodies and steal their personal possessions that included rings, pocket money and female jeweleries.

They burned down the Sheikh’s residence and later demolished and even packed the rubbles away. The Sheikh was abducted and taken to Abuja and held in illegal detention since then even as he was shot at in the eye and limb. Three of his sons were shot dead in his presence while his wife was also shot in the tommy.

The Movement took the case before the Nigerian court in Abuja, the Federal High Court, a court of competent jurisdiction in Nigeria and the government was condemned for this act and ordered to pay the Sheikh damages of N50 million, to build a new house for him and that he be released immediately. The government refused to obey this court order and acted in contempt of court. It is now the sixth year and there is no sign of justice for Sheikh Zakzaky from the Nigerian government.

The Judicial Commission of Inquiry, JCI set up by the Kaduna state governor Nasiru Elrufai to investigate the Zaria massacre accused the Nigerian army of acting beyond their rules of engagement, condemned the government for violating the Geneva Convention and burying 347 of the victims in a mass grave, all of which were not reflected in the white paper issued by the state governor who banned the Islamic Movement calling it an “unlawful society”.

This is the government fighting an individual for no just cause but because he does not share the same religious views with them and defending another individual for what he had actually committed that have contributed in setting the country on fire.

Unless the government becomes fair and just and obeys the court’s judgement and release Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky, then there is no morality in backing and defending Pantami after both the government and Pantami have confirmed he is guilty of the negative utterances that have contributed in setting Nigeria on fire today. The government should therefore hasten to release Sheikh Zakzaky who has always been know to be a peace advocate.

UPDATED: Buhari’s aide, Tolu Ogunlesi, under fire for calling Nigerians ‘animals’

A Presidential aide who manages President Muhammadu Buhari’s social media accounts has come under public criticism after excoriating Nigerians who criticised the president’s viral photograph with Naomi Campbell as “animals.

“Naomi Campbell met Nelson Mandela more than once. He hugged her, called her his “honorary granddaughter”. She visits Nigeria for a fashion festival and meets President @MBuhari, and some of you animals are slandering her,” Tolu Ogunlesi said on Twitter Friday, and further emphasised that: “YOU’RE RAVING MAD WITH NOBODY TO TELL YOU.”

Mr. Buhari on Friday morning met with Ms Campbell, a British model, on an inspection tour of the Eko Atlantic real estate project in Lagos.

The assessment was part of Mr. Buhari’s visit to Lagos for the 66th birthday events of Bola Tinubu.

The State House was the first to post Mr. Buhari’s encounter with Ms Campbell on Twitter at noon Friday, in one of the rarest sightings of a leader widely seen as modest and taciturn.

Two hours later, the model, known for her controversial involvements with African rich men, returned the recognition with a tweet, although she ambiguously described it as a “private launch.” She initially said she was there at the instance of Mr. Buhari, but later deleted the tweet after online uproar.

Ms Campbell’s apparent inconsistency together with the State House’s reluctance to release details of the meeting prompted many to question whether the president knew the model’s history prior to the encounter.

While Ms. Campbell, 47, is based in the UK, she’s known to have been involved with rich men from Africa spanning decades.

In 1997, she met with Charles Taylor, a former Liberian warlord currently serving a long sentence for war crimes and crimes against humanity, at a parry organised by former South African President Nelson Mandela.

Mr. Taylor allegedly gave Ms. Campbell a bag that contained diamonds worth millions of dollars and believed to have been mined illegally.

When she testified in the trial of Mr. Taylor at the International Criminal Court, Ms Campbell acknowledged receiving “small, dirty-looking stones” from the former Liberian president’s staff.

The testimony earned her a worldwide ridicule.

Also, in recent years, Ms. Campbell has been rumoured to be dating Kola Aluko, a Nigerian oil dealer currently on the run for alleged fraud.

The duo had been sighted cruising in Mr Aluko’s luxury yacht across the world.

Ms Campbell, who later said she was in Nigeria to participate at the Arise Fashion Show in Lagos, became an instant subject of partisan bickering between Mr. Buhari’s critics and supporters, with some opposition voices implying that she might have been paid for her brief appearance and photo op with the president.

A presidential aide clarified Friday evening that Ms Campbell only ran into Mr. Buhari at Eko Atlantic and sought to have a handshake and take pictures with the Nigerian leader.

Apparently angered by the criticisms, especially against Ms. Campbell as he later stated, Mr Ogunlesi, 36, posted the controversial tweet shortly after 11:00 p.m. Friday.

A few minutes later, he posted another tweet as a response to the initial wave of criticism from many who found his outburst distasteful, doubling down on his description of critics as animals without clarifying those the insult was directed at.
Source: PREMIUM TIMES

The North Is An Orphan

By Abdulmumin Giwa
Although Nigeria has been divided into six geo-political zones, as the name suggests, to suit the Nigeria’s politics, Northern Nigeria is made up of 19 out of all the 36 states in Nigeria. For religious, cultural and historical reasons and even other reasons, the North is more populated than the raining parts of the country and this fact is supported by official statistics arrived at after the national census conducted during the President Obasanjo regime.
Although there are many minority languages and tribes in the North, the region is predominantly dominated by Hausa/Fulani. The other two major tribes in the country are Yoruba in the Western and Igbo in the Eastern parts of Nigeria.
It has also been under a post-colonial Empire established by an Islamic revivalist called Sheikh Uthman bn Fodio. Some parts of the post-colonial empire extend to Niger Republic which shares boarders with Northern Nigeria.
The north has turned out to becoming a toothless bulldog which can only bark but cannot bite, in fact the degenerate state of the North is such that it cannot even bark.
It has lost true advocates and honest patriots. Most of those that had the opportunity of becoming something in the North were very selfish and greedy to the extent that they hardly contribute to the development of the region and its people.
It has become the victim of very many destructive plots that include terrorism, kidnapping, cattle rustling, ethno-religious disputes and crises, all of which have swallowed unaccounted live and property.
Those in the helm of affairs in the North appear to be very wicked that they hardly have any form of posterity projects for the people.
It is such that the North cannot contest with other regions in many aspects of development that include education, economy, industry and infrastructure. Not even the two important industries of the region made up of farming and animal husbandry have been set on developmental goals by its leaders.
The instituted poverty rate in the country is more in the North than in the other parts of the country. Around 2008-9 the poverty rate as stated by some officials of the Central bank of Nigeria was almost 60% in the North. These figures would certainly be worse today especially with the recent economic recessions that have led to the closure of many businesses thereby raising the figures of unemployment.
Virtually almost everything jointly owned by the North are disgracefully non-functional, whether in the banking sector, property, media and several others.
Things even worsened with the advent of the current regime which has not come with any project whatsoever for the North. Northerners are the worse hit by the economic tragedies bedeviling the nation due to inconsistency in the management of the nation’s economy.
More and more youths are becoming jobless and out of school without any projects for their development. So many bodies have been invented in different sections of the northern society in the name of the North.
In the religion section they have the Supreme Council of Islamic affairs, there is the Northern Elders Forum, there is the Northern Governors Forum, and several others. Some of them are even perpetrators of division and disintegration of the North. They hardly even comment on socio-political issues in the country in the interest of the North.
For example, just of recent about 115 young girls were taken hostage by terrorists from a school in a village called Dapchi. The mentality of those in the north was that they were waiting for the Christian Association of Nigeria CAN to speak out for them as they spoke out during the President Jonathan’s regime when Chibok girls were also taken hostage.
The irony here is that Chibok girls were mostly Christians while Dapchi Girls are mostly Muslims but CAN spoke out against President Jonathan who is also Christian. But on the other hand Jama’atu Nasril Islam JNI, another organization predominated by northerners’ major religion Islam could not speak against President Buhari even as the Dapchi girls are Muslims simply because Buhari is a Muslim.
Another set-back in the north is the stupid mentality of determining who is doing the correct religion due to a deliberately instituted religious intolerance. This mentality is enhanced by sectarianism which is also politicized.
For example, Buhari the President, El-Rufai the Kaduna State governor, Buratai the COAS, Daura the DSS Chief are all northerners but the unfortunate thing is that they all joined hands together to kill over 1000 northerners in Zaria simply because they differ in jurisprudential understanding of the Islamic religion with those they killed. They are Sunnis and think those who practice Islam the Shi’a way are not good Muslims and so they now have the opportunity of power to eliminate them. So they used the Nigerian Army to murder them over a period of two days from 12-14th of December 2015 while everyone watched and in some cases even jubilated.
What is worse is that they even used killings for political benefit. El-Rufai is boasting proudly that the Shi’ahs don’t vote so ;he has nothing to lose and to their Wahhabi opponents especially the Izala sect he is now their hero and they will now vote for him next time he wants to become a governor. In fact even while forming the Judicial Commission of Inquiry JCI to investigate the Zaria massacre, El-Rufai joined hands with the Izala sect and allocated two seats to them to prove his loyalty.
It is such that all the politicians in the north have enriched themselves with public funds leaving the impoverished people of the region without help coming from anywhere. They thought they could get that help and assistance from Buhari but were disappointed as there was no integrity to show as claimed.
I heard a Cambridge professor of history describing the main victim of the Zaria massacre whose three children were killed in the army killing spree as the most influential man in the north. The only true and honest person that not only loves the north but even other Nigerians who definitely will one day save not just the orphaned north but the suppressed and exploited Nigeria. By all parameters, he is indeed the true savior of the suffering Nigerians as he has given his all to save it from virtual destruction.

FG Is Responsible For The Death Of Sheikh Qaseem Umar

PRESS STATEMENT

As a leading figure in the Islamic Movement, Sheikh Qaseem Umar is laid to rest in his home, Sokoto today 07/02/18, we unequivocally announce to the world that the federal government must bear responsibility for his death since he was shot by its agents while peacefully protesting the illegal detention of Sheikh Zakzaky – the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria.

Plain cloth policemen acting on a tip off, identified and shot him at close range in Abuja, breaking his right thigh. He was taken to a private facility in Kano to receive treatment. However, he became a martyr on Monday 05/02/18 due to the injuries from that shot. This brings to at least three the number of persons the police killed on that day alone while engaged in a peaceful free Zakzaky protest. Two others had previously been buried. Several others escaped with varying degrees of injuries.

The Federal High Court in Sokoto had ruled, only a few days ago, in the case instituted by Sheikh Qaseem, that it is within the constitutional rights of members of the Movement to practice their faith without hindrance or molestation by the government or its security agencies or their proxies. However, the security agencies continue to trample on these rights with impunity and reckless abandon. This is completely unacceptable and must have to stop.

We therefore hold the Buhari government as directly responsible, and the world must hold them to account. Let it be made known to them that wanton extrajudicial killings won’t deter us from pursuing the goal he was after during the peaceful protest. It will only strengthen us and make us persevere in the face of more provocation and intimidation, till our demands are met; namely the unconditional release of our Leader, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky and his wife Malama Zeenah Ibrahim as ordered by a federal high court since December 2016.

SIGNED BY
IBRAHIM MUSA
PRESIDENT MEDIA FORUM OF THE ISLAMIC MOVEMENT IN NIGERIA
Skype: Ibrahim.musa42
07/02/18

Osteoarthritis: My Mother’s Ordeal

By Mohammed Ibrahim Zakzaky

One night this past January 2018, I believe it was the 5th I received most distressing news about my father suffering from speech difficulties, and some stiffness in some of his limbs, which sounded very similar to symptoms of a stroke. I am quite familiar with this because my late grandmother suffered the same. Prior to this event, I and the rest of the family had been living in constant fear about both my father’s health and that of my mother, for up*(us)* until that date my father who had already lost one of his eyes had remained unable to read with his single remaining eye since an operation he had undergone back in early 2016; a situation that was never properly remedied. This was the bane of sleep for me. Before that he had been capable of reading. In fact all that happened since then was that he was given a +9 glass for his one remaining eye and a magnifying glass, which could can use together to barely read one word at a time if the font were large and clear enough. All attempts to get a second opinion have failed, all our attempts to even hear from the operating doctor himself have also failed, and all attempts to even see the doctor’s official reports have also been bureaucratically refused. In fact all we knew was third hand information as the doctor himself appeared to have been working under the strict subversive supervision of the DSS.

My mother on the other hand has been suffering from a case of osteoarthritis almost two years before the events of December 2015. Although I am not a doctor, I will attempt to describe what osteoarthritis is for those unfamiliar with the condition. It is said that the average adult human body consists of two hundred and six bones. This enormous number of bones relies on connective tissues to support the average frame of a human being. There are many types of connective tissues that form the numerous joints that connect bones together. One of these connective tissues known as cartilage function to allow two or more bones at a joint to move smoothly during the joints normal function. Cartilage can be found between all mobile joints in the human body. However either due to old age, stress on certain joints, inherited factors etcetera. Over time the cartilage at certain joints may deteriorate gradually. This begins with mild and occasional pain at the affected joint and gradually becomes constant pain. It also causes joint swelling, decreased motion range and other side effects over time. This is what osteoarthritis is.

According to all the doctors I have met since when my mother was first diagnosed nearly four years ago, treatment for this painful condition is administered in several stages. First there is management through measures designed to slow the progress of the disease (dis-ease). Then there is medication, to help the sufferer (in this case my mother) cope with the intense and increasingly consistent pain, in time the afflicted person would be given stronger and stronger types of pain killers. Ultimately the two previous measures will become no longer viable, so that the person suffering must immediately have Joint Replacement surgery. All cases of osteoarthritis will inevitably pass through these basic stages of treatment; otherwise the suffering joint will become immobilized and unusable. They will eventually suffer uninterrupted pain every single second of every single hour of every single day for the rest of their life; unless they get surgery. The Doctor’s objective in the stage by stage treatment is to delay that surgery for as long as possible, due mainly to the risks associated with the surgery, not that it can be avoided. Come the time of surgery, as it will inevitably come, it must be done immediately.

In my mother’s case she is suffering from osteoarthritis of the knee joints. In the past two years she has been living in constant and increasingly unceasing and excruciating pain. This has rendered her only capable of standing or walking for increasingly shorter and shorter periods of time. All the while for the past two years every effort to have her examined by a qualified Rheumatologist has fallen on the deaf ears of the DSS, a department of states services toiling under the elected government led by a corpse at best, or an element of evil that can only be balanced on the periodic table of evil intent, protons, neutrons and electrons and Buhari? Etcetera? Until after my father’s stroke which by now I can confidently hope to understand, based on the opinions of the doctors who are hard at work trying to manage a recovery; the stroke was caused by a combination of extreme stress accompanied by extreme inactivity for a man his age. My father also suffers from hypertension as his blood pressure fluctuates constantly, a complication that my late grandmother also suffered from.

When it finally became possible for my father to be examined by his own doctors, the only thing they could possibly do was to try to ensure that they could try to manage a recovery from what is seemingly a deliberately induced stroke. At nearly 70 years of age, he needs to be able to move around more than anything else. He also needs to at the very least to be capable of avoiding situations that guarantee the escalation of his existing blood pressure problems. All situations that can and will be caused by his inability to even read, for he is as you know devoted to study. If today I was to find myself in a situation whereby my wife was in constant pain, and I could do nothing about it, a stroke will be a stroke of good luck for me. The suffering and the pain is too much for my comprehension.

After my father’s stroke there has been one important change, and it is the only one. At least now my parents can see doctors who actually care about treating them. At least now I don’t have to practically guess the truth. Now I can know enough to answer questions. Now for the first time I can tell people the truth about the condition of the health of my father and my mother. Now I know enough to talk about my father’s health. I also know of the health of my mother. I wish, and I always wished it would be good news. It always feels good to say ‘lafiya lau’ and repeat ‘lafiya lau’ I desperately wish I could say that. But so far the information I have gotten is disturbing to say the least. Please if you see me do not ask me, because if I can answer I will do it here in the next paragraph.

Though a doctor has finally been allowed to examine my mother. Unfortunately the doctor’s opinion is one I have dreaded for the past years, many at times I would go sleepless for days and nights wishing, begging that God spare me just a little longer, because I know full well that her Jailors care nothing about her wellbeing, and would rather let her die in agony than allow me to do what needs to be done. This sum of all my fears which has just arrived is not unique to my mother alone. In fact it is quite common to women of her age who are also mothers of children. Having carried the burden of myself and eight others for too many stints of 9 months, her knees are now complaining. I was the first to strain those knees, eight came after me, she has watched as six of them were butchered in front of her eyes. I am sure a lot of sons and daughters know exactly what I am talking about, and a lot of mothers have already gone through only some of the experience I Imagine. The only difference is that in my case I am willing and able to take my mother to a hospital at any moment but alas I am being prevented from doing so, because she lives in captivity with the DSS.

This is not an exaggeration, I have seen this before. The mother of a friend of mine who had osteoarthritis stubbornly delayed traveling for the necessary operation, even following the doctor’s advice for immediate surgery she made little of it. In the end my friend was forced into action when having dislocated and locked her knee in place, his mother screamed for him. She was just trying to stand when the incident occurred; she screamed and wailed in extreme agony for days. By then no amount of pain killer injections or tablets were capable of providing her any relief of significance, luckily he was able to make all the necessary arrangements to have her flown to Dubai for immediate surgery, She moaned and screamed all the way there. To this day we do not like to discuss this traumatic affair.

Even back then I was aware that my mother was ultimately going to be at risk of going through the exact same situation. Except in my particular case my mother is not being placed at such risk because of emotional weakness on my part, my mother needs joint replacement surgery ‘now’ right now, I could get her to where it could be done. But she is being illegally detained at the point of a gun. And there is nothing I can do about it, I do not have a gun. According to the doctor, my mother should have had the surgery long ago, so it is already late.

Of course there was no way I could have known that, since this is the first time that a doctor has been allowed unrestricted access in order to properly assess the situation, it’s also the first time I the son of my mother has been able to know the doctor’s opinion on the health of my parents. The doctor also discovered that the reason my mother had been suffering from increasingly frequent stomach pains has been the fact that a foreign object had been left lodged inside her since December 2015. Through various tests the doctor has determined that it must be a pellet from a bullet. Why this malicious object was left there in the first place, or what more disease it will cause is unclear. My mother’s voice has already changed for the worse.
I can only thank God that he has seen fit to grant me the company of sturdy friends who continue to keep me company in the streets of Abuja. Though we may be few at the moment, we will become many in time. We will continue to protest peacefully against oppression and injustice. Meanwhile I pray for an opportunity to reduce my mother’s pain (or fix it if I can). I know I may fail, I know my mother will continue to suffer; her osteoarthritis will progress as osteoarthritis always does, I know that I will watch as her pain shall continue to increase in intensity. As I remain powerless to offer the obvious solution for my mother, even though I can do so at any given time. I have no power to do so, because of the fact that she is in captivity.

I pray to God to erode the power of the axis of evil, that is the Nigerian Army (murderers and intimidators), The DSS (department of states services, in the hand of Lawal Daura) and Tyrant retired General Muhamadu Uzbekistani Buhari. The president of the country where joint replacement surgery will forever be out of reach if you are unlucky enough to have a mother who has (somehow) offended some of ‘all the president’s men.’ It’s a good book if you have time to read it

We Reject The Renewed Bid To Stigmatize The Islamic Movement As Violent

PRESS STATEMENT

There appears to be some renewed efforts by the government and its agents and agencies to indelibly label the Movement as “violent and terrorist” as a means of “finally nailing the coffin once and for all.” By this evil design, the free Zakzaky campaign now gaining momentum and indeed the Movement, will be done away with finality.
This is a multi-faceted scheme with involvement of agents at various levels and layers.

Recently, the Federal Attorney General, Mr. Abubakar Malami SAN, gave an indication that proved that some sinister motives were behind their refusal to obey court judgement, when he hid under the cover of what
he termed “public interest” as against the tag of “protective custody” they initially used. The bait here is to initiate some very alarming disruption of public peace in the name of the Islamic Movement in order to reach their goals. This evil design of disruption of peace in our name is plotted to be of a magnitude and proportions as to sufficiently frighten the public and want them want to avoid us like a plague. This will swing public opinion against us and want to go for our jugular, especially the law courts The plots by the security forces have thickened to carry out series of attacks of such a large scale and proportions that will be subsequently attributed to the Movement, starting from the course of our peaceful activities using their agents within. In that way, they hope to associate the peaceful campaigns to free Sheikh Zakzaky with violence, and from there, the security forces will take it from there and escalate it to the scale and scope they desire. This two-faced machination of the Security to pretend they are working to enforce peace and security while in fact they mean evil is very much known to us.

We want to unequivocally state for the umpteenth times that the use of violence is never in our character. Our leader, Sheikh Zakzaky has categorically said times without numbers that we are out to save lives and not to destroy them. He said anytime you here a shot and it is said to be coming from our direction, you should know that it is fake news as we do not use weapons or violent tactics to achieve our goals.
This has been clearly demonstrated in the present Free Zakzaky campaigns since the brutal massacre of over a thousand of our innocent members and the illegal detention of our leader and hundreds of his followers for the past two years. For sometimes now we have been staging peaceful protest marches and sit-outs in Abuja to press home our demand for the freedom of our revered Leader Sheikh Zakzaky, his wife and several others in detention since the Zaria massacre of December 2015. We have not for once resorted to the use of terror
tactics. This is not about to change.

We therefore reject any form of violence or use of terror tactics in our name. The Islamic Movement is not and should not be held responsible for any breech of peace or violence that will result from any false-flag plots. We will continue to employ all lawful, legal and constitutional means as we have done throughout these two years of state-perpetrated persecution to achieve our goals, and would not be blackmailed into submission or surrender. Our timely rallies, processions and campaign activities will continue as at when due and
in our ways without fear of intimidation.

Rather than beat about the bush toying with ideas of how to link innocent people with violence and thereby further shed innocent blood, the government should immediately free our leader and his wife, whose health is deteriorating by the day.

SIGNED BY
IBRAHIM MUSA

PRESIDENT MEDIA FORUM OF ISLAMIC MOVEMENT IN NIGERIA

Skype: ibrahim.musa42

28/01/18

We Are Not Placated By Sheikh Zakzaky’s Video Clip

PRESS STATEMENT

Sheikh El-Zakzaky was allowed to speak to a selected section of the Press on Saturday 13th January, 2018 for the first time since his illegal detention. That followed recent wave of incessant but peaceful street actions calling for his immediate and unconditional release all over the country as well as globally following reports of his deteriorating health condition in detention.

This limited and edited view of the voice of Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky, speaking live in the short video clip in the over two years of his illegal detention may seem very pleasant but falls very short of expectations of his total and unconditional freedom as ordered by the Federal High Court Abuja. We are not unmindful of the fact that Sheikh Zakzaky has not committed any crime, and his detention under whatever guise and pretence has been ruled by a competent court in our land as unconstitutional and a breach of his fundamental rights.

There is therefore no justification whatsoever to be satisfied by a few seconds of video clip of an illegally incarcerated Sheikh. It is absolutely a matter of complete freedom that he deserves or nothing at all for the Sheikh in our view. Only a truly free Zakzaky will suffice as ordered by the Federal High Court. It is only a free Zakzaky that can determine, without waiting for permission from anyone or security agents, where and when to seek medical attention and from whom. Similarly, were the Sheikh truly free, he wouldn’t have to be denied access to his personal doctors or have to need special permission to be granted by security agents to see his personal physicians. A truly free Zakzaky will not have to be “granted permission” by anyone to give a press interview, let alone limit it to a selected section of the press. A truly free Zakzaky would not be limited in what questions to address too.

Credible and dependable sources have it that the arranged interview by the security men was made to appear as impromptu, but our Leader, Sheikh Zakzaky granted a much longer interview and addressed far more issues than was released. What did he say about his continuing detention? What did he say about his similarly incarcerated wife and her own ill health? What did he say about the legal tussle or even how the whole saga began in the first place? What did he say about the destruction of his properties, the desecration of his mother’s and children’s graves? What did he have to say about the killing of his elder sister, a nephew, three sons and over a thousand of his disciples? What was his reaction to the mass grave at Mando, which the security did their utmost best to conceal?Why did he opt to challenge his supposed “protective custody” in court when the authorities are telling the world that it was of his own volition? Why did he reject going to Kaduna state constituted Judicial Commission of Inquiry but submitted a memo to Osinbajo Panel of Investigation, only to refuse giving testimony in secret? The questions are nearly endless. We challenge the security forces to either release to the public the full unedited interview, or allow an open live free interview with no restrictions.

Undoubtedly, the Islamic Movement is not impressed with this, and certainly is not fooled by the antics of the Buhari security agencies. We are not placated by Sheikh Zakzaky’s short and edited video clip. The local and global Free Zakzaky campaigns will most certainly continue. Our goal is not to see Sheikh Zakzaky in a controlled press clip but our goal is the unconditional freedom of Sheikh Zakzaky and his wife as ordered by a competent Nigerian Court. Nothing short of that will suffice.

SIGNED BY

IBRAHIM MUSA
PRESIDENT MEDIA FORUM OF ISLAMIC MOVEMENT IN NIGERIA
Skype: ibrahim.musa42
14/01/17