Former Taraba State Governor, Darius Ishaku, explains how former Anambra State Governor Willie Obiano told him that Peter Obi left enough funds for him, which he used to build the Anambra International Airport and execute other major projects.
Borgu: We Must Never Normalise the Killing of Nigerians
The reports emerging from Borgu, Niger State, are becoming increasingly difficult to comprehend and deeply painful to contemplate. On 27 August, I expressed my anguish over the reported abduction of about 600 Nigerians, many of them women, children and elderly people, alongside the killing of others. I described it then as “one case too many” and urged that it be treated with the urgency it deserved.
Today, that anguish has become even deeper. We are now confronted with continuing reports of the gruesome killing of some of those abducted, while many others remain unaccounted for.
In another disturbing incident, a bandit group reportedly beheaded a Nigerian and sent his severed head to a community leader over a ₦50 million levy. If the reported killing was intended to increase pressure on the community and extract more money for those still being held, then we must recognise the terrible reality before us: human life is being deliberately turned into a bargaining instrument.
One person is killed to terrorise an entire community, while others are kept alive as hostages for more ransom. This is not merely criminality; it is the systematic devaluation of human life. These are not statistics. They are Nigerians. They are mothers, fathers, children, brothers, sisters and elderly people. Their only offence was to live in communities where the protection of the state has become increasingly inadequate.
We must therefore ask ourselves a fundamental question: At what point do we, as a nation, decide that this is no longer acceptable? We cannot continue to normalise the kidnapping of hundreds of citizens, the killing of innocent people, the imposition of levies on communities, the displacement of entire populations and the payment of ransom as though these are unavoidable features of Nigerian life.
The consequences of insecurity go beyond those abducted or killed. Families are displaced, farms abandoned, businesses destroyed, children deprived of education, and citizens forced to seek safety elsewhere. Insecurity ultimately destroys both lives and public confidence in government.
Nigeria cannot continue reacting only after lives are lost. We need intelligence-led operations, stronger community security, rapid response, better coordination and equipment for our security forces, effective border protection, and sustained action against criminal networks.
The primary responsibility of government is the security and welfare of its citizens. While politicians prepare for elections, Nigerians are asking for something more fundamental: the right to live. We must never accept a Nigeria where kidnapping, ransom, criminal levies and the killing of innocent citizens become normal. Every Nigerian life matters. Every victim deserves justice. Every community deserves protection.
Our prayers must be matched with action. No criminal group should determine who lives or dies anywhere in Nigeria. Nigeria must restore security, justice, and the dignity of human life.
A New Nigeria is POssible. -PO
As the incumbent SSG of Anambra under @PeterObi at the time he left office on 17 March, 2014, I had the honour of personally being present when Peter Obi signed the attached handover letter. I was also present, when Gov. Willie Obiano received and signed an acknowledgement for his own copy of the letter, complete with the annexed certified bank statements, related documents and the Handover Report. The letter listed assets and liabilities - in black and red.
During the nationally televised Anambra 2017 governorhip debate on Sunday 12, November, 2017, organized by Channels Television, Gov. Willie Obiano asserted surprisingly that there were no funds left by the Obi Administration. I recall asking him on national television, how as a certified accountant and auditor he would sign off and accept financial documents, for which he now was expressing reservations. He then publicly acknowleged for the first time that some specified funds were in place and asked what was the use of saving money, when there was work to be done. As Gov. Darius Ishaku of Taraba would later confirm to members of the Nigerian press corps, Gov. Obiano had disclosed to him that his predecessor (Gov. Obi) had indeed left huge sums, which enabled him to independently build the Anambra Airport at Umueri.
If Gov. Obiano to whom Peter Obi handed over to in 2014 would eventually acknowledge -implicitly and explicitly - that Gov. Peter Obi indeed left the stipulated funds; a fact that was also publicly corroborated by Gov. Alex Otti, in his capacity as an ex- banker, what then, one may ask, is the beef and grouse of the incumbent Anambra State Government?
Go Figure!
Presidential candidate Peter Obi releases handover document in response to Anambra Government’s claims that his administration left loans and liabilities
This is the highest office in the land, but one person says he wants to eat and chop on the heads of the people...
Crass and utterly despicable utterance!! 🤮🤮