Uproar at Confab as former Police AIG threatens to arrest delegate

News

July 2, 2014

The Edo delegate challenged the census figures of Northern Nigeria.

A mild uproar broke out at the National Conference on Wednesday following a threat by former Assistant Inspector-General of Police, AIG, Ibrahim Ahmed, to arrest a delegate from Edo State, Chris Agbonwanegbe, for challenging the census figure of Northern Nigeria.

Mr. Agbonwanegbe, who was contributing to the report of the Conference Committee on Political Restructuring and Forms of Government, had challenged the census figures bandied by states in the North.

He called on delegates to address the injustice that led to the creation of more states and local governments in the North as against what is obtainable in the South.

Mr. Agbonwanegbe made a specific reference to the disparity in the number of local governments in Kano and Lagos states.

He argued that while Lagos has the highest number of people in Nigeria, it has only 20 local government areas, while Kano with a lower population has 44.

As the Edo delegate was addressing the Conference, his Northern counterparts shouted and rebuked him for daring to challenge the population of Kano.

But Mr. Agbonwanegbe stood his ground and insisted that sustainable development would continue to elude the country if steps are not taken to conduct reliable census to gather data for national planning and development.

He, however, lamented that Nigeria does not have the capacity to conduct a free and credible census, and suggested that the United Nations, UN, be invited to conduct census for the country.

He noted that if the UN is allowed to conduct a credible census, the country would have correct figures that would finally put the long years of population disparity to rest.

Mr. Agbonwanegbe said, “I did my National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, programme in the North. So, I know what I saw during my service years. I can authoritatively tell you that there is injustice in this country.

“How can a state like Katsina or Kano have more local government areas than Lagos which has the highest population? It is obvious that there is injustice and this should be addressed.

“From previous censuses we have had, it is obvious that Nigeria cannot conduct a credible census. We need to invite the United Nations to help us in conducting a census that will be accepted by everyone and finally put the argument about the region with the highest number to a rest.”

Mr. Agbonwanegbe’s submission did not go down well with many delegates from the North who almost threw caution to the wind in a bid to stop him from speaking further on the matter.

While the Northern delegates screamed and raised a point of order to stop the Edo delegate from continuing to speak, Conference Chairman, Idris Kutigi, ignored them.

But the former AIG, Mr. Ahmed who could not hold back his anger flouted the rule of the house by screaming, “Arrest him! Arrest him now!”

Mr. Ahmed remained on his feet shouting, thereby polarizing the Conference along Northern and Southern lines.

While the delegates raved and ranted, another Kano delegate, Junaid Mohammed, went and met with Mr. Agbonwanegbe and two of them walked out of the chamber, holding hands and talking.

As the duo were leaving the chamber, some Northern delegates castigated Mr. Kutigi for refusing to stop the Edo delegate from challenging the population of Kano State.

Not long after, former governor of Ogun State, Segun Osoba, re-echoed the position of Mr. Agbonwanegbe and called for the reversal of the injustice he said characterized the number of local government councils in some parts of the country.

Mr. Osoba drew attention to Lagos State, which he said contributes more than 80 per cent to the nation’s Value Added Tax, VAT, yet does not have the required number of local government areas unlike states in the North.

“The era of trying to manipulate census figure is over. With the help of Google, we can now get the number of people in a particular area. We can use that to conduct our census. I do not subscribe to the fact that the United Nations should conduct our census for us.”

Tags AIG, Chris Agbonwanegbe, confab, Ibrahim Ahmed, National conference, news, Nigeria, nigeria police, Premium Times

caliph Braide

The gross irrationality and inconsequential prevalence in the Nigeria society, couple with the character such as displayed by the former Police AIG, in the on going confab. The former Police AIG should let it sink in his brain that we are all social animals and as such, should reason as one. Shouting down other person’s opinion in an open conference is a sign of incivility and gross excessive oppressiveness and insult on the region which Mr. Agbonwanegbe represents. People should stop behaving like less homosapiens, and make good use of their brains as rational humans. I believe the former Police AIG has come their with the soul aim of championing disarray by creating uproar for the continuity of the prevalent polarization in the polity. Only constructive argument will be helpful in the conference at this time. Gone are the days when Nigeria had illegitimate government and governance were based on nondemocratic and unbureaucratic manner. Nobody should champion tarantism in the ongoing confab. Tarantism was a phenomenon in Italy in the 15th and 17th centuries. I think the former Police AIG ought to have been called to order not to tyranise in his participation.
Spoken word

As long as we dont have reliable data, we are just a country by name only.
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Garden-City Boy

For those who sometimes wonder how awusa turned out to be the most hated clan, they don’t need a deep probe to find why. Even with a rare opportunity provided at a National Conference for these cow-heads to seek ways to make up for years of brutal impunity, fire-breathing awusas choose open threats of more violence to intimidate and blackmail Southerners. Clearly, the specie of the homo sapiens called awusa must be congenitally depraved. That the awusa clan is absolutely lacking in every veneer of human values, decorum and accepted norms is not in question.
Certainly, these awusas don’t even feel embarrassed, let alone be ashamed of themselves, for the age-long culture of barbarism that has finally torn Nigeria apart and for which they are notorious. For close to 40 years, awusa people kept power under tight grip, behaved with uncivilized swagger, murdered, maimed and imprisoned Southerners, plundered and pillaged our resources, devastated our land, mindlessly polluted our water and air . All this while, they held guns to our heads while operating like bandits under the guise of military heads of state and military presidents.
With the dawn of each day, these same awusas drive more nails into their coffin of self-inflicted public odium with unguarded, irresponsible, contemptuous presumption of other people. They wallow in this mentality of rapaciousness and must have everything their way…..as though the rest of us don’t count.
Having overindulged themselves in addictive braggadocio, the awusa man got used to getting away with his insanity and demonic misdemeanor; he regards himself as Nigeria’s SACRED ANIMAL, the allah-anointed enforcer to whip us into line each time we “misbehave”. And that is exactly the sickening script this awusa jackass, Ibrahim Ahmed, is acting.
The only counsel for the likes of Ibrahim Ahmed is that awusas must beware of what they ask for as they soon might get it. They need to be wary as to the limit they may push their already rotten luck with the type of Ibrahim Ahmed’s idiotic tantrums. The people they push to the brick wall may not wish to be pushed through it and something has got to give. They may want to exercise baseline prudence and learn from the lessons of the Central African Republic. But it is still the awusaman’s choice to ignore that lesson if, as their emir told us, reservations have been confirmed in readiness for the planned exodus back to their original Cameroons and Niger homesteads. Everyday no be Christmas, as they say.
- mohammad Abubakar
  
  Garden city boy by your tantrum you have aptly portrayed yourself for who you are : A depraved, bigoted and hate filled moron whose chicken brain is so obsessed with Hausa phobia thereby adding to the grand delusion. Why dont you commit suicide and save yourself this self inflicted torment?
  - Garden-City Boy
    
    Suicide? Don’t you worry, I’ll do that tomorrow and the Garden-City Boy will not be around anymore to tell it to you….in your faces. You awusa ass-wipes have had it your way all the while. You need to realize that your cup is more than full; your arrogance and impunity must be reined in. And there is no going back.
  - DaTruth
    
    mohammad Abubakar: for once in thi life, be truthful to yourself if not others. Nothing said above is farther from the truth. Ethnic and religious prejudice should be kept apart if we do have to make Nigeria a better place in the world for us all. Call a spade a spade, there is no how Kano’s population would have been more than that of Lagos even the blind knows this, i served in Katsina and spent some times in kano, we saw what is obtainable there.
    - mohammad Abubakar
      
      I can talk to somebody like you who is civilised without trading insults, it is the gutter type like garden city boy that I abhor. Coming back to the point, I want you also for once in life to be truthful to yourself and admit what you have seen in the north since you served in Katsina. In the core north especially in the rural areas you will find out that a young man marries at the age of 17 – 18. By the time he is 30 and above he will have more than one wife and at least 6 children if not more. By the time he reached 50 years of age he will have not less than 15 children and this is liberal estimate, I personally knows of a junior local govt worker aged 39 years who has 3 wives and 24 children!
      
      In the South one hardly get married before graduation and then plan his family, even those who dont go to school and opt for trading usually marry late i.e when they “arrive”. With this scenario be truthful ethnic and religious prejudice apart and tell me how southern population can be more than northern population!
      - Garden-City Boy
        
        My dear bushman, is your explanation supposed to be complimentary……or derisive of your barbaric tribe?
      - mohammad Abubakar
        
        The real dirty barbaric jackass is you as clearly depicted because you are not capable of decent discussion without spewing abuses and insults. It is characters like your sorry self that led us to where we are today viewing each other with so much derision and hatred, The best solution to all these is to go back to regional govt with complete autonomy while the center maintain minimal control and for your information let every region have 100% control of its resources!
      - Restov
        
        Mr Mohammed, how many northerners will share this opinion of yours in the National Conference?
        Are you just having fun on the internet knowing it’s going nowhere.
- Ezra Obiwale
  
  While your points are very valid, name-calling and abuses tainted these very much. You should try to pass across your information/opinion in a manner that even the opposing (logical) party will be able to think along with you without becoming incensed.
  - Garden-City Boy
    
    That is the real problem, the reason awusa impunity was allowed to fester. With such sound-bytes from you, it is clear that neither you or anyone close has been impacted by the barbaric behavior of these fellows called awusa. You are afraid they might be incensed if it is said the way it is, preferring to nibble it around the edges. Yet you gain no mileage as the targeted slaughter of Southerners, particularly your Igbo people continues un questioned. Is that what you want.
    Are you one of those who would want us accept that Boko Haram are neither awusa people nor muslims; or that, since they now include awusa muslims as target we should inherit an absolutely awusa problem as ours? How many more Igbo people have been massacred since after the pogrom and civil war that saw over 3million Igbos dead? Are you really serious about not incensing awusa people. Did anybody ‘incense’ them into the spate of Boko Haram carnage? I need to know what you are talking about.
    I can tell you this. You only delude yourself if you ever imagine that, by pretending to yourself that awusa barbaric impunity does not exist, it will simply make it go away just as dewdrops in the morning sun.
Nasib

Sometimes I am inclined to believe that SOME southerners are stupid if not crazy.An average man from Kano has 2 wives with atleast 8 children while most of people from south has only 1 wife and not morethan five children.in my family there are 3 wives with 11 children.So I don’t why you should worry yourslf about nothing.fools.
- South
  
  You are clearly an idiot for calling southerners a fool. Nama, that’s what you are .
- sharp shape
  
  Out of the 8 children 4 will die before their first year birthday and two will be almajiri and we all know their life expectancy is short as most will die before 25 !! Your point is stupid
- Goodluck
  
  Nasib and your follow awusa sycophants, where are these average men in Kano with 3 wives and 100 children? Where do they stay? Don’t they come out? You say these things as if you do not know that the southerners have mixed up with your people for a very long time and knows all the nooks and cranies of your towns. Let us stop deceiving ourselves, there is no way KANO that i have lived in can have more population than LAGOS.
NelsonEhiaris

the atitude of the forme AIG ibrahim ahmed atest to housa/fulani mentality of bein more superior to other tribe.you could immagine how he was shouting to arrest the edo deligate like the police force was his personal tools to castigate people.it is hard time they know that nigerians most expecially are no longer cawards.it is already good morning for nigeria.
Mai Gaskiya

If I could recall, the last census was conducted by Obasaanjo, a southerner. As for the case of Lagos state, all they people left to be counted in their varous origin states
- HE
  
  If you people are sincere, why are you always agitated each time such sensitive issues are brought up for discussion. Odimegwu was removed as NPC Chairman because he saw the records at National Population commission and raised the alarm. Your people called for his head and he was removed now the confab is bring it up again yet you people are agitated. WHY?
Zubairu Usman

United Nation or Google, one thing for sure is that a husband plus at least two wives with six children will never be same number as one husband and a wife plus two children.
- Lorddaniels
  
  Zubairu, going by this your permutation then how come niger, chad and Mali with similar religion to northern nigeria has far less population? In fact all the aforementioned country put together has population less than 20m yet nigeria is bigger than Nigeria land wise. Nigeria is a fraud. Let’s break it nigeria. H
  - Zubairu Usman
    
    Break!, it’s easy to use or say. The same USA/UK/UN to bring or invent the measuring instruments for the breakage?. Then, who’ll do the sharing after 100years of coexistence and inter marriages.
    - sharp shape
      
      You must be crazy !!
  - Restov
    
    Nowhere in the world have arid regions held more population than the rain forests. I tend to wonder where the Kano population lives. Only big cities support big populations. Kano State has only one city – Kano. Others are minor towns and villages.
    Nigeria is a big fraud! It’s painful we’re preserving the fraud for our children. This conference would have a good opportunity to redress these anomalies. It’s better late than never.
    
    If this conference does not achieve true federalism it achieved nothing. I regret the turn of events. My expectations are:
    
    True federalism with states as federating units and states reduced to 18 in all based on economic viability
    States to manage their resources, make their laws and have their police
    Federal government taking much less responsibility and does not interfere with states.
    
    This unitary thing is to the advantage of the lazy ones. No one will work hard if you continue to spoon feed them with federal allocations period.
- sharp shape
  
  What about high infant mortality rate and short life expectancy prevalent in the north
- 100%Black
  
  Not if 5 of the 6 children drop dead from poverty, violence, illiteracy, hunger, almajirism or rampant disease.
  Which are all constant factors in that mass-murdering northern desert…
  - Zubairu Usman
    
    OR being killed in the name of a designed challenges of naive politicking. This
ayomi

“…threat by former Assistant Inspector-General of Police, AIG, Ibrahim Ahmed, to arrest a delegate..” The man is no longer serving in the police force but has the gall to threaten to arrest another delegate at the conference

A census will be the beginning of the end to Northern (Fulani) dominance. This the Northern leaders will never accept and the south will never allow for status quo

“Mr. Ahmed remained on his feet shouting, thereby polarizing the Conference along Northern and Southern lines.” This is the best thing that happened in that instance, a north/south divide.

What position will South West APC (though are attending the conference as Yoruba) and Middle Belt delegates take on this issue is the question.

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