Niger, Atiku mourn Kontagora monarch

4NUJ flays killing of NTA employee in Kogi

The Director-General of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF), Dr. Salihu Lukman, has criticised Islamic cleric, Sheikh Abubakar Gumi, for calling on the authorities to grant amnesty to bandits terrorising the country.

The PGF boss, in a piece entitled ‘Nigerian Democracy and Challenges of Nation Building’, argued that bandits could not be placed on the same pedestal as Niger Delta militants, who were granted amnesty by the Umaru Yar’Adua administration.

He maintained that Gumi’s position was not only self-serving but clearly a threat to national security.

Applauding the authorities for waging a full-scale war against bandits in the Northwest geopolitical zone, Lukman said there was an urgent need to regulate the conduct of religious leaders in the country.

He argued: “With all the lamentation about the alleged inability of the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led government of President Muhammadu Buhari to mobilise a response to end the security challenge in the country, around the second week of August 2021, the narrative is beginning to change. In line with the instructions of Buhari, the security agencies are speaking the language best understood by bandits and insurgents.

“So-called media commentators, religious and other leaders have discredited decisions of government to shut down communication services, markets, etc. in the states where the military operations are taking place. A religious leader has already proclaimed that the military operations against the bandits will fail.”

ALSO the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has condemned the gruesome murder of a Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) employee, Chukwu Obiahu, in Okene, Kogi State.

It was gathered that unknown assailants stoned the late Obiahu to death on Tuesday evening after work.

Briefing journalists yesterday, Kogi State NUJ Chairman, Momoh-Jimoh Adeiza, called on security agencies to unravel the circumstances behind the death of the late NTA engineer.

He described the deceased as a gentleman.

While commiserating with the NTA family over the irreplaceable loss, the NUJ chairman observed that it had become very difficult for many Nigerians to go about their legitimate businesses.