Jos boils again! 18 die in renewed attack

corpses in Jos after a previous attack

Attackers armed with rifles killed 18 people in a village in central Nigeria on Tuesday, the latest violence in a region beset by sectarian clashes, a local government official said.

The attack took place just before dawn in Barkin Ladi, an area close to Jos, the capital of Plateau state.

Clashes between Muslim and Christian gangs have killed more than 200 people in the region since the end of December.

"I can confirm that 18 people were killed," Fom Pam Dawak, chairman of the Barkin Ladi local government area, said.

He said one of the attackers was among the dead and that state government officials had found spent bullet casings from high-velocity rifles at the scene.

The attackers were believed to be members of the mostly Muslim Fulani ethnic group, Dawak said.

Sectarian clashes in the "Middle Belt", the central region around Jos, have killed thousands over the past decade.


Culled from Rueters

AMAECHI BLASTS SEKIBO ON SECURITY

Chibuike Amaechi (middle) flanked by Tele Ikuru and G.U.
Ake (Black Hat)

Rivers State Governor Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has assured Rivers people of continued and adequate security, and that they will sleep with their two eyes closed if he's re-elected into office in April this year.

Governor Amaechi made this promise when he inaugurated members of his Re-election campaign team at the PDP state secretariat in Port Harcourt, Thursday.

Governor Amaechi while speaking at the occassion commented no a statement credited to the gubernatorial candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Rivers State and former transport minister, Dr. Abiye Sekibo during the formal opening of his campaign office in Port Harcourt that he will provide security that will make Rivers people sleep with their two eyes wide open if voted into office.

According to Amaechi, " last night I was listening to the statement of one of the parties that said you will sleep with your two eyes wide open if you vote for them. If your two eyes are open, are you sleeping? Surely, you are not. In our government, you have been sleeping and will continue to sleep with your two eyes closed. We are not assuring our people of security because we already have security. Those who caused the insecurity in the past are now coming back to assure us of security. They  had visited us with insecurity,  ran away to Abuja, now, we have secured the town, they are back to bring insecurity."

"You cant caused insecurity and go to secure your life in Abuja only to come back to govern Rivers State. You can only govern Rivers State when you have secured the lives of our people. You can’t govern Rivers State from Abuja because you won't know what is good or bad in Rivers State, you won't know the sufferings of our people", he said.

Amaechi challenged Dr. Sekibo to show to Rivers people what he did to better their lives when he was in office as SSG in the previous administration of Dr. Odili, noting that those who led the state into lawlessness and insecurity in the past are now coming back to ask for votes from the same people whom they inflicted hardship and pains.

Governor Amaechi however told members of his campaign team to concentrate on issues-based campaigns.

He said, "We must not be arrogant about our successes, we will not allow our people to bedeceived, we must be humble and show the people that having served them, we will serve them better".

"We will not allow any criminal who breaks the law to go scot-free including those who are running elections. Nobody will be above the law; we must continue to deliver on our promises to the people. Whatever we promise our people we must do. We must keep to our promises and be held accountable for our promises", he said.

Governor Amaechi also charged the campaign team to work hard to achieve victory, stressing that the failure or success of the party in the April gubernatorial polls depend on them.

"Let me say to you that our victory or failure after God depends on you. So, you must work hard. Ibelieve that you will go home and canvass for support and ensure that on the day of the elections more persons would come out to vote for us. Don't be carried away by the popularity on the streets, we must not only think that we are popular; we must also act by helping to bring out thevotes. I believe that INEC and the Federal Government will protect everybody's vote because this time, we will ensure that everybody's vote counts."

My encounter with Ateke Tom

Ateke Tom talking to the press at his Okochiri home

I am one of those Nigerians who want to live long and that is why I have always avoided war torn areas.

It is for this reason I have not visited my home, Odouha Ogbakiri (in at least fifteen years) where a senseless communal clash took the lives of at least than one fifth of the population.

This reason made me boycott certain parts of Port Harcourt which I believed were black spots, when you consider the killing fields Port Harcourt turned into between 2002 and 2007.

Of course I won’t be found dead in the Diobu area of Port Harcourt or anywhere near the old Port Harcourt Township called Town because of the fighting and blood spilled in those areas during the dark days of Port Harcourt.

Two other places I would not visit are Okrika and Kalabari kingdoms and I believe by now my reasons for that would be clear. I would not also go near Rumuekpe in Emohua.

Just to get things straight, when I visited Sudan in 2007 I turned down an offer to visit Dafur.

Yes, I am a journalist, a sports caster with Cool 95.9 FM in Port Harcourt and late last year I started receiving text messages with results of a Wakirike Peace and Unity cup hosted/ sponsored by Ateke Tom, the former militant leader who was once alleged to have wondered why people talk badly about him since like he says “I only killed about two thousand people.”

I got the results via text message and used them regularly on my sports show on radio until I received a call one day inviting me to Okochiri in Okrika, the home town of Ateke Tom since he was supposed to present prizes to the winners of the competition.

At first I did not want to go because of myself imposed exile on places like that, but after much cajoling and pleas I thought I should try it out.

Besides I wasn’t the only one making the trip and they were not going to kill all of us would they.

On the day of the trip, I told our contact that I was not going to drive from Port Harcourt into Okrika on my own lest armed men appear from out of the bushes and open fire on us.

Yes I agree I had watched too many American movies for my liking but it had to be safety first.

We drove into Okrika at about 10am with a colleague from work and one from the Africa Independent Television and there we met others from RSTV, Silverbird’s Rhythm 93.7 FM and many others.

As we drove into the town, I remember that I had not been to that part of Rivers State since the early 80s when my dad used to take us there to see his tailor who had been making suits for him since the 1950s when he schooled at the Okirika Grammar School, OGS.

Of course, I could not remember anything from my last visit to the town because it was at least 25 years ago.

We were led to the house of Ateke Tom and the first thing I noticed was that it was still under construction.

When I asked, I was told it was destroyed by the army and air force during the last bombardment of the place.

While we waited for the ceremony to start, we saw a group of young men who obviously were not footballers file into the premises (we were outside watching at that time since we had not been invited in).

These men looked rough, scary and deadly too.

Some had horrible scars on their faces and parts of their bodies; at least two of them had an arm cut off and word went round that they were his soldiers going in to settle a pressing matter.

They spent so much time with him and by the time we went in for the pre-ceremony briefing it was already getting to past noon.

Walking into his house, he just sat behind a table with two bottles of whisky (I think) and glass cups in front of him.

He looked like any normal man on the streets of Port Harcourt, dark glasses, bling bling and smile that would make any ignorant person doubt he had ever done what he did in Rivers State between 2002- 2009.

He asked us to sit and we all did then he watched us for about two minutes and asked if we would not drink with him and nobody moved and inch... naturally.

He took a cup, poured some whisky in it and drank some of it and then said in pidgin English, “Now I don drink wetin dey make una fear, make una join me nah” which simply means, “Now I have drank the thing that scares you, would you guys mind joining me?

Some now got bold enough, stepped forward and drank but I have never tasted whisky in my life so I didn’t move an inch.

After a short session answering questions, he joked with us on a lot of issues and I just sat back wondering, “Is this the bad guy or former bad guy of the Niger Delta region sitting behind a table in front of me, telling jokes and feeling like one of us?”

After that we moved inside the main Okirika village and attended a ceremony where he presented cash prizes to winners of the football, wrestling, dancing and draught competition.

I saw elders and chiefs pay obeisance to him and I wondered, “what alife”

Masquerade dancers. Watch what masquerade
is made of

At least he is trying very hard to launder his image by hosting peace competitions and retreats.

He said he was tired of living in uncertainty and had embraced peace and the amnesty.

He also chided Boko Haram for going to war up north and the series of bomb attacks saying “We wey don see problem sabi the value of peace so make them learn o” meaning, “We who have fought before now understand what it means to live in peace and I wish they learn from us.”

Eventually we left the town back to Port Harcourt and I could finally breathe. I sure did not feel at ease there.

Now I ask myself, will I visit Okirika anytime soon? I seriously doubt it but I am happy for the experience. Thank God I also went there in peace times and not in the heat of the Port Harcourt crisis.

How many really died at PDP Rally?

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP rally has come and gone in Port Harcourt but will be remembered more for the souls that died rather than political statements made by either the president, Goodluck Jonathan or governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi.

But there have been conflicting reports as regards the number of deaths in that stampede at the stadium.

The police report first said there was no death just injury to a couple of people and then the same police later said 2 deaths, then 4 and eventually 14, but how many lives did the PDP rally claim?

Wezinareports.blogspot.com spoke with a member of the Rivers State Road Traffic Management Authority, TIMARIV and he spoke under the condition of anonymity.

“Forget the figures given to you by the police because they never tell it like it is. I was there and I counted 7 bodies before I left the stadium when I couldn’t bear the sight any more.

“I however spoke with my boss who was there until the end and he said thirty people died in the incident,” our source said.

There are also conflicting reports as to the cause of the stampede.

The first say they wanted everyone to stay until after the president’s speech and when people started to leave they wanted to force them back and in order to do that a policeman shot his gun in the air causing the stampede.

Another version goes that a politician threw money in the air and as people scrambled for it police men on horseback rode their horse into the crowd in a bid to send them back.

Rivers State commissioner for information, Ibim Semenitari,who said she was an eyewitness told the press at government house that the situation escalated because  because the plice at the gates shot into the air to disperse the crowd leaving.

She said most of the people who came from other states began to leave with their governors before the president’s speech and the police shot in the air to disperse them.

She however would not say who gave the other to shoot in the air.

Our source at TIMARIV admitted that he never heard a gunshot but he knew that all gates at the stadium were locked because they didn’t want people to leave until after the president’s speech.

“There was only the small gate behind the stadium left open and thousands of people at the rally wanted to leave through that gate.

“We told them it was so wrong but they insisted that everyone must stay until after the president’s speech. It is just sad that such happened here,” he said.

The PDP women leader at Ubima, governor Amaechi's home town is said to be amongst the dead while the governor's sister was also injured in the stampede.

Meanwhile, another incident not reported was one that involved 4 soldiers on the convoy of the president who died just before they got to the stadium.

In their reckless way of driving they were involved in a terrible accident along Aba road (around the NDDC headquarters).

Though that incident was not reported, wezinareports.blogspot.com can reveal that four soldiers from the president’s convoy lost their lives in the tragedy.