Love in the castle live in makurdi.

Its the season of love... Come and celebrate the love season  with that special  someone on Valentine's day 14th feb 2018.. With a lot of activities  to give you the tine of your life.. 

Featuring: lovers games,  poem competition,  karaoke,  amazing music performances, short drama and soo much more.

Venue: newcastle events center chief steven lawani street New G. R. A  makurdi

Time: Red Carpet 5pm main event 7pm.  P. S Lots of prizes to be won

Strange snake swallows N36 million cash in JAMB office

A mystery snake is said to have sneaked into the accounts office of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, in Makurdi, the Benue State capital and made away with N36 million cash.

Before now, JAMB candidates purchased scratch cards from JAMB state offices and other designated centers, to gain access to the Board’s website for either registration or to check their admission status but the reforms introduced by JAMB registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, recommended an end to the use of scratch cards.

A team of auditors was dispatched to different state offices of JAMB to take inventory of the sold and unsold scratch cards and recover whatever money that might have either been generated or mismanaged during the period of the sale of scratch cards.

On their visit to Makurdi office of JAMB, a sales clerk, Philomina Chieshe, told JAMB registrar and his team that she could not account for N36 million she made in previous years before the abolition of scratch cards.

In the course of interrogation, Philomena confessed that it was her housemaid that connived with another JAMB staff, Joan Asen, to “spiritually” steal the money from the vault in the accounts office.

She said: “I was one of the four sales clerks attached to JAMB office in Makurdi. My responsibility was to sell scratch cards to candidates and not involved in handling the revenues. It was the responsibility of Joan Asen and my other senior colleagues. I only remit money when am done selling the cards.

“Few months ago, there was issue of fraud in the Makurdi office. Auditors were sent from Abuja to carefully flip the record books of the office, to perhaps, ascertain the current state of affairs.

“The state Coordinator, Obilo, was not around when the audit team came. But in the course of the audit, N36 million was discovered to have been missing from the account. An investigation was launched. In the course of the investigation, it was discovered that Joan Asen, who is account staff and a lady outside JAMB have connived to steal the money.”

Philomina in her confessional statement said that Joan Asen and her accomplices confessed that they have been stealing the money “spiritually” through a mysterious snake that always sneak into the office to swallow the money from the vault.

According to her “It was a mystery to me too. I have been saving the money in the bank, but I found it difficult to account for it. So I started saving it in a vault in the office. But each time I open the vault, I will find nothing. I became worried and surprised how the millions of Naira could be disappearing from the vault. I began to interrogate everybody in the house and office, and no one could agree on what might have happened to the money. I continued to press until my housemaid confessed. She said that the money disappeared “spiritually”. She said that a “mysterious snake” sneaked into the house and swallowed the money in the vault.”

Herdsmen kill three again in Benue

The Benue State Police Command has confirmed that three people were killed while several others sustained injuries during an attack on Tsukwa village under Logo Local Government Area on Thursday night.

A spokesperson for the Command, ASP Moses Yamu, while confirming the incident, said, “We received a report of an attack on Tsukwa on Thursday around 7.30 pm, and our men stationed around the area quickly rushed to the village.



“At the time our men got to the village, it was discovered that the attackers shot at people and killed three who were on motorcycles, before escaping with one of the bikes.”

While also confirming the attack, Chairman of Logo LGA, Mr. Richard Nyajo, said that the herdsmen laid an ambush for the victims in a forest opposite a church and opened fire on sighting them.

He said, “The herdsmen had between 7pm-8pm on Thursday laid an ambush in Kukwa near the Redeemed Christian Church of God located along Anyiin-Ayilamo Road. They shot six people, killing three in the process, while three others who sustained severe injuries had been taken to the hospital for treatment.”

In a related development, panic has gripped residents of Adaka community, a suburb of Makurdi, the state capital, as people are beginning to flee their homes.

Findings by our correspondent revealed that suspected herdsmen had allegedly sent a letter warning residents of an impending attack in Gwer West Local Government Area.

As a result of the development, residents of Adaka have been vacating the community in droves for fear of being attacked.

Confirming the situation, Yamu said that policemen had been drafted to the area to douse the tension caused by the threat.

(Coiled from Punch)

Appreciation Letter From Idoma Carnival President

I want to express my profound gratitude to the whole of Idoma nation and indeed people from all walks of life for your various contributions in one way or the other in making the 2017 edition of Idoma International carnival a huge success. It was a collective and colaborative effort which has shown that the carnival which began in 2013 as a little idea has grown to become a big voice and a rallying point for the whole of Idoma nation especially in the area of cultural reneisanse, showcasing and exposing our cultural heritage to the world, youth empowerment,tourism,  economic recovery, and and indeed a spring board to the much needed peace and unity without which there can
be no meaningful development in a dear land.
I also want to use this rare privilege to encourage our sons and daughters at home and in  diaspora and indeed their friends to come home every December, not just to savour the moment but to join hands to move Idomaland forward.
Even though it is very difficult to mention names of individuals and organisations who made the 2017 Idoma International carnival memorable,  I am compelled to single out Idoma National Forum led by its president, Bar Amali Adoya Amali and all the members, the cultural troupes from all the nine Local Governments in Idomaland, the chairman of Otukpo Local Government who doubles as the ALGON Chairman in Zone C of Benue State, members of the board of trustees,  Hero lager beer who were our major and number one sponsor and others too numerous to mention for want of time and space.
The journey to more memorable and bigger carnival in 2018 has begun and we invite all well meaning sons, daughters, friends of Idomaland,  and organisations to join the train as we are open to new ideas and innovations on how to move our land to the next level of development.
What we have started is not just an event or show but a movement that will translate into  tangible benefits .
Once again , on behalf of my team from Port Harcourt, Abuja, Otukpo, Lagos and Makurdi, I say THANK YOU.

Dr Edwin Ochai
President/Chairman Board of Trustees
Idoma International Carnival

N10m bribe allegation against Police X-Squad: Benue youths shut Makurdi-Gboko Road, protest harassment of BIRS boss

MAKURDI—Over 2,000 youths, yesterday, took over Makurdi-Gboko Road protesting the alleged demand of N10 million bribe from, and manhandling of the Chairman of Benue Internal Revenue Services, BIRS, Mrs. Mimi Adzape-Orubibi, by a Police team.

The angry youths chanted war songs and created hours of traffic gridlock on the road, bearing placards some of which read “Scrap X-Squad,” “We are tired of Police harassment” and “We demand the sack of the head of the X-Squad.”

It took the personal intervention of the BIRS Chairman and the Benue State Police Commissioner, Fatai Owoseni, to calm and disperse the irate youths, who gathered on the platform of Coalition of the Harmonised Civil Society Organisation in Nigerian.

Mrs. Adzape-Orubibi appealed to the youths to desist from any action that can aggravate the already tensed situation in the state as a result of herdsmen incursions.

According to her, “the Police is handling the matter and I know that justice will be done, given the correspondence we have had with the Police.”

We’re investigating—Police Commissioner

Reacting, the Police Commissioner said the Inspector General of Police never directed any personnel to collect money from government establishments.

Owoseni said: “I can assure you that those involved in the said matter have already been moved to Abuja for questioning.”

In his remark, leader of the youths and President General of Tiv Youths Organisation, Mr. Timothy Hembaor, said: “We are here to cry, shout, wail, grumble show solidarity and, if need be, die until Mr. President directs an investigation into the allegation of assault on the Chairman of BIRS and the total takeover of revenue collection by the Police X-Squad in the state.”

Coiled from vanguard 

Wike visits Ortom, approves N200m for victims of Benue massacre [PHOTOS]

Rivers state Governor, Nyesom Wike ,has released N200million to assist the Benue State Government to provide relief materials for victims of the new year massacre in Benue.

Wike led a delegation to condole with the Government and people of Benue State, Thursday.

Governor Wike and Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom led other leaders to offer prayers at the graveside of the 73 Benue people murdered in cold blood by Fulani herdsmen.

 

Coiled from Daily Post NG

Benue government loses confidence in FG over killer herdsmen

 

Senator David Mark (left); Tor Tiv James Ayatse; Benue State Deputy Governor Benson Abounu; President Muhammadu Buhari; Governor Samuel Ortom and other delegation from the state after a closed-door meeting at the State House, Abuja… Recently. PHOTO: PHILIP OJISUA

• Says no going back on anti-open grazing law
• Accuses IGP of bias, abandoning state
• 15 die in fresh Adamawa cattlemen attack
• PDP berates Buhari over carnage

The Benue State government yesterday declared it had lost confidence in the ability of the country’s security agencies to bring to justice herdsmen accused of killings in the state.

It also warned the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) and other Fulani socio-cultural organisations to stop calls for a repeal of the anti-open grazing law, vowing the legislation would remain.

“The Benue State government will not repeal or suspend this law for any reason. And we appeal to the police and other security agencies to enforce the law, which is their constitutional responsibility. However, if they continue to fail, with the help of God, we shall overcome this dark episode in our history,” it said.

Addressing a world press conference in Makurdi, the state capital, the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Lawrence Onoja, stated: “We are simply asking the police and other security agencies in the country to put an end to these killings, arrest the people behind them and prosecute them, to regain the people’s confidence.”

He condemned the failure of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, to relocate to the state, as ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari, noting that the police chief was sighted for just a day, following which he left immediately.

Onoja said the IGPs initial description of the “pre-planned Benue killings by Fulani herdsmen on January 1 and 2, 2018, as mere communal clash” showed that Idris “does not accord any urgency or seriousness to arresting the perpetrators of the mass murder.”

He regretted that the body language of the police boss might have “emboldened the herdsmen militia to further lay false claim of ownership to the Benue Valley through a so-called right of conquest.”

The IGP’s statement, he said, “is highly provocative, insensitive and completely violates the basic principle of natural justice with his open bias against the innocent people of Benue State.”

According to the spokesman, Idris has “demonstrated his incompetence as a police chief and we have lost confidence and trust in him, since he has clearly shown that he either lacks the capacity to apprehend these armed Fulani militia or by his inaction and utterances portrayed himself as complicit in the grand plot to dispossess our people of their ancestral land by violent means.”

On claims by the police that the state operates an armed militia, the commissioner said: “It is not true. It is the prerogative of the police to go after such group and arrest them, rather than continue with falsehood. On assumption of office, this government declared an amnesty and hundred of youths surrendered illegal arms. These (arms) were publicly destroyed in full public glare and in accordance with specifications of the United Nations, which sent experts to carry out the exercise under the supervision of the Presidential Committee on Small Arms.”

“If the IGP is really sincere with disarming militias, the starting point should be with the Fulani herdsmen, rated the fourth most deadly on the Global Terrorism Index,” he added.

Meanwhile, a deadly clash between herdsmen and villagers in Song Local Government Area of Adamawa State killed about 15 persons at the weekend.

The Police Spokesman in the state, Othman Abubakar, however, put the number at six. “The information I got is that the herdsmen lost three people and the farmers also lost three during the clash between the two groups,” he said.

Trouble began when cattle allegedly overran a pond, said to be the only source of water for a community. A woman who protested against the development was attacked, sustained machete wounds, but managed to flee. The community members mobilised and confronted the herdsmen, allegedly killing four. The herdsmen, in turn, staged a reprisal and razed Fimba, Shiure and Tinde villages, killing about a dozen people.

A resident of Tinde and a university lecturer, Dr. Amos Yusuf, said: “I was told by some of my relations that escaped from the village that 15 people were killed during the invasion of three villages, including mine, by some Fulani herdsmen. They burnt the three villages and killed 15 people.”

The poor management of the farmers/herdsmen crisis has continued to draw attacks from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Yesterday the party criticised government’s handling of the killings by Fulani herdsmen.

“We believe that the Federal Government’s decision to set up a committee to address the issues of herdsmen killings is a pretentious approach to a matter that requires firm action and leadership by the president, in line with his oath of office to protect all Nigerians, irrespective of creed, tribe and political affiliation,” the party said after a meeting of its National Working Committee and PDP governors in Asaba, Delta State.

In the joint statement by the National Chairman Prince Uche Secondus and the Chairman Governors’ Forum Ayodele Fayose, the party urged Buhari to address the nation on how he plans to end the carnage.

(Coild from the Guardian)

THE NAME "MAK-UR-DI" AND HOW IT CAME ABOUT.

In the late 19th century, there was a man called Makyur Adi, Son of a fisherman and farmer,  it is estimated that he was born immediately after a tribal conflict between the Jukun's and the Northern settlers had just ended.

Adi was trained to be a fisherman like his father, but it was said that he was more inclined towards trade and farming.

He grew to become a large scale farmer, agricultural merchant and trader of great repute,  Makyur gradually built his economic empire from selling commodities to the Jukun's and herdsmen travellers who would stop nearby to get water for their livestock along the Benue Valley territory known as Lobi.

Makyur Adi was known to be a friendly and generous man with commodities that were rare, so much that merchant ferries will travel from far eastern Africa, Congo and Cameroun to patronise his produce.

His popularity grew rapidly within that region as he acquired vast amount of farm lands over a period of time  and continued to expand.  Whenever these traders got to the Benue valley, they would ask for directions to the place of Makyur Adi.

He was also well known by the neighbouring tribes, especially the Hausa's of the northern region who would refer to him as a man of great wealth. (Mai-Kudi)

Over time , Makyur Adi's vast plantation and settlement would gradually evolve to be popularly reffered to as Mak-ur-di.

Makurdi and the rest of what we know as Benue today was later be carved out by the British for the purposes of administration and reffered to as part of the Lower Benue Province and part of the protectorate of Northern Nigeria.

Makurdi town, today is the capital of Benue state, east-central Nigeria. It lies on the south bank of the Benue River. Benue State is known as a rich agricultural region which lies below the Benue trough currently accounting for 70% of Nigeria's Soya Bean production. 

This is the story as told by an aboriginal of Makurdi - Tyough, from over nine generations of preserved history.

Tyough is the Son of Igbawua
Igbawua, Son of Beetseh
Beetseh,  Son of Kungwa
Kungwa, Son of Kule
Kule, Son of Gate'
Gate', Son of Vyieer
Vyieer, Son of Agumaji
Agumaji, Son of Tyough  (Where he gets his name from)
Tyough, Son of Atom

Agumaji was buried at the banana plantation located at what is currently known as the University of Agriculture staff quarters Makurdi.

His great grandson Kungwa  (Tyough's great grand father)was a fisherman and farmer of great repute , his grave is at what we know today as BBL staff quarters at Gaadi-Gboko road.

Kungwa's Son Beetseh (Tyough's grand father)  was a customary court registrar in wadata and Kungwa's grand Son  (Tyough's father) served as Chairman of Makurdi local government in the third republic.

Tyough is from Ujam village , Ucha hamlet, Nyiev clan of Isherev whose last ten generations have settled in and around Makurdi over the last few hundreds of years.

ORTOM APPROVES DUSK TO DAWN CURFEW IN GBOKO

ORTOM APPROVES DUSK TO DAWN CURFEW IN GBOKO

Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, has approved the imposition of a dusk to dawn curfew in Gboko town from today, 31st January, 2018, until further notice.
The curfew which will last from 6 pm to 6 am every day is as a result of security threats in the area.
Those exempted from the curfew are those on essential services such as hospital staff and others who show convincing identification.
He has directed security agencies particularly the police and the army to provide round the clock surveillance in the town so as to forestall a breach of the peace.
The Governor has appealed to residents of Gboko to comply with the curfew in their own interest as security operatives have been directed to arrest those found moving about in the town during the period of the curfew.

Tahav Agerzua,
Special Adviser,
Media and ICT.
31st January, 2018.

The Four Horsemen of the Fulani Apocalypse

The Four Horsemen of the Fulani Apocalypse
   
By Obadiah Mailafia

IN all probability I have some trace of Fulani blood coursing through my veins. My grandparents, for one thing, had their kind of features. My paternal grandfather Baba Gambo Galadima had what the German poet Wolfgang von Goethe termed an “elective affinity” with all manner of itinerant Fulani tribesmen and clerics who settled in the outskirts of his sprawling compound and on his farmsteads.

Although I am of evangelical Christian parentage, I learned the Holy Koran at the feet of grandfather’s Fulani friend, Mallam Banni, an austere cleric of the Sufi Qadiriyya sect.

For better or worse, mine was a Fulani childhood. As a child, I wasn’t particularly fond of school. I used to deceive my parents that I was going to school, only to sneak into the nearby Fulani ruga where my best friends Lawal and Orie lived with their parents, cattle and sheep. I would join them in taking the cattle out to grazing. Whenever we were thirsty in the searing afternoon heat we would go under the udder of the fattest cow and gobble up fresh milk to our hearts’ content. It is the closest I have been to paradise!

I later moved to a snooty missionary boarding school and from there to university in Zaria. And then Paris, Ottawa, Uppsala and Oxford; pursuing a glittering career in London, Abidjan and Tunis.

Things changed. Lawal’s parents passed on. Orie died. The cattle were diminished in number. But throughout these years Lawal would visit my parents every now and then. Whenever I came on holiday I would bring Lawal gifts. He looked upon the watches, shoes, shirts and money with indifference; reminding me that our life-long friendship was more precious than money and material things. We were family.

Sadly, Lawal died five years ago. For me, the earth had changed.

The Pullo that I grew up with are a proud and honourable race. Their ancestral homelands are the high mountains of Futa Jallon in Upper Guinea. They later spread out to Maasina in Mali and Futa Toro in Senegal. Today, they number some 20 million; the largest single ethnic pastoralists in the world, spread across West and Central Africa. Many have left their ancestral pastoralist-nomadic way of life and have settled in towns and cities.

Their women, if truth be told, are among the most beautiful on earth – a highly romantic people. They live in spare and Spartan conditions, with a code of honour known as pulaaku. It is the essence of being Pullo; a combination of attributes such as honour, self-respect, discipline, loyalty and valour.  They neither forgive nor forget. For them, friendship is for life.

I find it strange that this noble race of men and women I have known all my life are now supposed to be our enemies. But make no mistake about it. There is better hatred in the Middle Belt. For the better part of a decade, armed Fulani militias have been on a murderous rampage throughout the wide expanses of our ancient savannah homeland.

They have killed, raped and pillaged unarmed, defenceless peasants in Adamawa, on the Plateau, Southern Kaduna, Taraba, in Nasarawa and the Benue valley. They have gone as far south as Enugu, Calabar, Akwa Ibom, Ondo, Oyo and Ekiti. Armed with sophisticated weapons, they have killed women and children and burnt down entire villages in a kind of blitzkrieg that would have impressed Hitler and the Nazi Bundeswehr — an undeclared, one-sided war against an unarmed and defenceless people.

The recent Benue tragedy is the latest in a long catalogue of genocidal mayhem being perpetrated by these nomadic armed bandits. Apart from the thousands of unacknowledged casualties, there is the humanitarian disaster of internally displaced people, IDPs, land dispossession, the prospect of creeping hunger and destruction of our entire national food system.  There is also the erosion of social capital which is the glue that has melded rural communities together in a symbiotic relationship that has existed for centuries. I grew up in a rural village and I know.

Four factors, I believe, are driving this new spirit of violence and war. I call them the “Four Horsemen of the Fulani Apocalypse”.

The first is the reality of Climate Change. Desertification across the Sahel and in the northern part of our country has dried up ancient grazing lands. Rivers are disappearing. Lake Chad, which once extended as far as Kano and Yobe, according to ancient accounts, has shrunk to dangerous levels. The livelihoods of farmers, fishermen and pastoralists are being severely undermined.

Second, the culture of violence which emerged with Boko Haram and wahhabi-salafi global Jihad has given an added impetus to Fulani militias to pursue their political objectives through the barrel of the gun. The fall of Muammar Gadaffi in Libya in October 2011 and the sacking of his armouries has led to the proliferation of cheap weapons throughout West Africa.

Third, our country has become a gravitational vortex for Fulani and other immigrants from our neighbouring countries. The relative prosperity of Nigeria and lush grasslands of the Middle Belt are an obvious “pull” factor. On the “push” side, their original home country of Guinea has become a hostile environment to the Fulanis.

Despite the fact that they make up the majority, with 40 percent of the population, the Malinke, Susu and others have always ganged up against them. No Fulani has ever ruled Guinea. The other ethnic groups are deeply hostile to them, accusing them of being racist, clannish and oppressive. They have now turned to Nigeria as their second home; aided by the fact three ethnic Fulanis – Shehu Shagari, Umaru Yar’Adua and Muhammadu Buhari – have ruled our country. They invoke the history of the Caliphate of Usman Dan Fodio in the belief that Nigeria is their God-given birthright and patrimony.

Finally, I would not rule out international complot. The enemies of our country have been prophesying, ad nauseum, that Nigeria will disintegrate. I have read enough of Western classical diplomacy to know that no rising power is ever treated with kid gloves by those who regard themselves as the masters of the universe.

World powers are doing all they can to ensure that our country will never rise up to its fullest potential. There could be no better way than to use an ubiquitous and highly mobile army such as the Fulanis to penetrate the nooks and crannies of our agrarian countryside. Destroying our food will deepen rural poverty, triggering a cycle of violence that could ultimately destroy our country.

Ultimately, we will have to forge a modus vivendi between farmers and pastoralists. But it will have to be shorn of grandstanding and narrow-minded bigotry. We need a comprehensive settlement that is fair to all; anchored on equity, social justice, confidence building, dis-armament and inter-communal dialogue. We will have to invest more in rural infrastructures. Some sort of rural administration must be put in place to guarantee the presence of governmental authority which has been missing for decades.

I am glad that the federal government has now understood that creating so-called “colonies” without disarming the bandits can only lead to peace of the graveyard.

Success Story 2017

In Nigeria, Benue State is known as the heart beat of the middle belt and the entertainment hub north of the Niger. It is inhabited by majorly the Tiv and the Idoma people.  Otukpo, the traditional and administrative headquarter of the Idoma people is also famous for being the heart of the lion and the land of the brave.
History was again made as Idoma International carnival which was in its 5th year brought the streets alive as Idoma sons and daughters, both at home and in the diaspora and visitors from different parts of Nigeria came out in their thousands to attend and participate in all the electrifying activities of the 2017 edition of the carnival .
It was more than just a carnival as men, women, fathers, mothers, the young and the old,  the traditional rulers, the academics, politicians, business men and women, captains of industries, opinion leaders and leaders of thought, students, etc gathered together for the first time in many years at the same time to celebrate a common cultural heritage and chart a way forward for the Idoma nation. It was indeed emotional and a sight to behold . It was in collaboration with all the 9 local governments that make up Idomaland, Idoma National Forum, Benue State Government through the Ministry for Arts, Culture and Tourism and Idoma National Youth Forum .
Highlights of the 2017 edition of the carnival were football tournament , Idoma Achievement Awards where the legendary Bongos Ikwue, amongs several sons and daughters of the land who gave us their today for the sake of our tomorrow were honoured,  the street carnival/party was indeed colour,  glamour and glitz at its best, the cultural displays with the perfect blend of our cultural heritage was the definition of sights and sounds of Idomaland, Ogbureke traditiinal wrestling, musical concert and comedy nights had Harrysongs, Seyilaw, Arinze Baba alongside Benue's finest from home, Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt, etc.
The grand finale was Face of Idoma International where a brand new car was the star prize among other mouth watering prizes for the runner up and first runner up. The philanthropic side of the carnival saw the President and Chairman Board of Trustees of the carnival,  Prince Edwin Ochai donating over 180 bags of rice to some widows in Ado Local Government and renovating some parts of St Mary's primary school Otukpo, Venue of the annual event.
It was indeed the break of a new dawn as the Idoma people for the first time in decades spoke with one voice and is gradually drawing the attention of the world to the rich tourism potential of the land which is being used as a vehicle to bring about peace, unity and development of Idomaland.
The event was proudly supported by Hero lager beer, Access Bank, MTN, Skye Bank, Radio Benue, Fidelity Bank, Ragolis water, Joy FM, and Peaches Integrated Services Nig LTD.
2018 Edition of Idoma International carnival beacons and WE ARE READY!!!! #UNITEIDOMAPEOPLE

MUSIC: OluwaNatty X SouthBoy – Ohh God

Afropop Act “OluwaNatty” known for his Yoruba comic freestyle goes serious has he bounce on a hip-hop beat along side rapper “SouthBoy”.

This is unusual! And am sure his fans where not expecting this.

The song sure made lots of meaning and was mixed my SouthBoy.

Follow:

IG/Twitter: @iamOluwaNatty

Facebook: Oluwa Natty

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