The apex body of over 2.8 million Igbo residents in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the Igbo Community Association of the Federal Capital Territory (ICA) has condemned what it described as the continued failure of Nigeria’s security and investigative agencies to probe and where necessary prosecute the Senator representing Bauchi State in the National Assembly, Senator Shehu Buba.
The group, in a statement signed by its President-General, Ikenna Ellis-Ezenekwe and Secretary General, Mazi Chinwoke Emmanuel Onah, said the alleged inaction by the security agencies was becoming more difficult to explain. The silence, it said, was no longer looking like a matter of oversight, but could be construed as protection, and it demanded to know why Nigerians were not being told why decisive action had not been taken. The International Crisis Group (ICG) said the Department of State Services (DSS) and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had been reportedly alerted to what it described as alleged security concerns surrounding Senator Buba and his purported associations with known and wanted terrorists.
“Multiple sources close to the Senator have alleged direct contact between him and confirmed terrorist suspects, including claims that such persons have had access to his residence, and have received money from him,” the statement reads.
“These are not vague rumors; they are specific, serious allegations of terrorism financing against a man entrusted with oversight of the nation’s security architecture. “Every day that goes by without an investigation is a day the Nigerian state chooses convenience over the safety of its own people.”
The association also compared the alleged inaction against Senator Buba to the treatment meted out to detained Indigenous People of Biafra
The group claimed that Kanu was arrested and prosecuted regardless of they said there was no evidence that he funded, armed or directed any attack on the country.
It argued that if the Nigerian state could act fast against Kanu, it should show the same readiness to investigate allegations against a serving senator.
“If the machinery of the Nigerian state can move with such speed and finality against Kanu on that record, it has no excuse for its paralysis in the face of far more direct allegations against a sitting senator,” the statement read.
The group said Nigerians had a right to ask if justice was being delivered on the basis of evidence or ethnicity and political ties.
It called on President Tinubu to ensure that all Nigerians were equal before the law, calling the alleged disparity a threat to national unity.
“This double standard insults the intelligence of every Nigerian and is a direct threat to the unity of the nation.
“President Tinubu cannot keep preaching one Nigeria while allowing a two-tier system of justice — one for the ordinary citizen and the politically inconvenient, another for those who are well connected — to fester under his watch,” it said.
The association called for the immediate arrest and thorough investigation of Senator Buba by the DSS and other relevant security agencies if there were enough grounds to do so.
It also mandated that the Tinubu administration be made fully publicly accountable as to what action, if any, it had taken following the alleged alerts it reportedly received.
The group also called on the prosecution of the senator if an investigation proved the allegations against him, stressing that he should be made to face the law irrespective of his position.
“If the investigation proves these allegations true, Senator Buba must be treated with the same speed and severity as Nnamdi Kanu, and must be made to answer for it behind the walls of a Nigerian correctional facility and not the chambers of the Senate,” the statement read.
Kano PPMV raises alarm over pressure from PCN, threatens strike
Desmond Mgboh, Kano
The Association of Patent and Proprietary Medicine Vendors (PPMV) in Kano State has threatened to go on a warning strike if the Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria (PCN) fails to stop what it described as undue pressure on its members.
The Chairman of the association in the state, Aminu Hikima, who disclosed this in an interview with Dala FM Radio, said if the matter is not resolved, industrial action might be the only option left for the association to draw attention to their plight.
However, Hikima said the association does not want to go on a strike but would prefer its members to have their issues solved through dialog and intervention of the relevant authorities.
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He called on the PCN to review its strategy and halt the action which he said was putting pressure on vendors of patent medicines across the state.
He said the association’s members continued to cooperate with the regulatory authorities and comply with all legal requirements governing their operations.
He urged the Pharmaceutical Council to ensure its regulatory activities did not disrupt the operations of legitimate medicine vendors, stressing that compliance with regulations should be achieved without harassment.
Hikima also urged the Kano State Government to urgently intervene in the dispute so as to prevent the situation from degenerating into an industrial action.
The government intervention was needed to bring the two parties together, address the grievances and find a lasting solution to the issues, he said.
The chairman of PPMV cautioned that any interruption of the activities of medicine vendors may mean the doom of residents who rely on them to get medicines especially in communities where they are the main source of pharmaceutical products.
He urged the state government to give priority to the issue, warning that an escalation of the dispute could affect access to medicines across the state.
Hikima reiterated the association’s commitment to working with the government and regulatory authorities to ensure that medicine-related businesses are run within the law.
However, he said that while the members were ready to comply with legitimate regulatory requirements, their interests and businesses must also be protected from what the association deemed undue pressure.
