FG rules out ethnic factor in Ife clash

The Federal Government has ruled out ethnicity as the possible cause of the recent bloody clash between Yoruba and Hausa communities in Ile-Ife, Osun State.

The Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau, gave the verdict after he visited the scene of the clash and interacted with leaders of the two communities in the state.

Dambazau disclosed his findings to State House correspondents in an interview on Friday shortly after joining President Muhammadu Buhari and some other top government officials for Jumat prayers inside the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He said he decided to move straight to Ile-Ife when he returned from South Africa where he had gone with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, to discuss with the government of the country on the xenophobic attacks on Nigerians.

The minister said, “We went straight to communities where this crisis occurred and we saw the extent of damage and we met the leadership of the communities and discussed with them.

“It is very clear that this issue is not about crisis between Hausa community and Yoruba community in Ile-Ife.

“The Hausa community has been living in Ile-Ife for close to 200 years. I understand the first settlers arrived there in 1820. This is about the fourth or fifth generation of the community and they have never experienced this kind of thing until now.

“So, it is not about ethnic issue. It is about a couple or bunch of people who constitute themselves to a nuisance to carry out this dastardly act and quite a number of them escaped from the community.

“So, we made them to understand that they should not look at it from the point of view of ethnicity and they all agreed.”

At the meeting, Dambazau said they also emphasised the need for the people to live in peace.

He said they were warned against considering reprisal while they were assured that the culprits would be brought to book.

“The issue of revenge or reprisal should not come to anybody’s mind because the government is handling the situation.

“Those found to have been involved in deliberately attacking people, taking lives and destroying properties will be dealt with in accordance with the law.

“So, we emphasised that there is the need for us to be in peace because without peace, it is impossible to develop and that was understood by everybody.”

Dambazau added that they also visited the palace of the Ooni of Ife, where they were received by the Ooni-in-Council with all the chiefs present.

He said they assured the chiefs that the Federal Government would continue to protect the lives and property of its citizens in accordance with the constitution.

He also disclosed that he moved to Ibadan, Oyo State where he met with the leaders of the Hausa community in the South-West.

The minister said the leaders were prevailed upon to calm their frayed nerves and discuss with their people on the need to maintain peaceful co-existence in the South-West geopolitical zone.

…says expose N1bn theft, get N50m

Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed

Olusola Fabiyi and Eniola Akinkuotu

The Federal Government has given new clarifications on its whistle-blower policy.

According to the government, those who expose a theft of N1bn will receive N50m while those who expose N10bn will get N335m.

In essence, the new policy states that the higher the figure recovered, the lower the reward.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said this in a statement signed by his Special Adviser, Mr. Segun Adeyemi, on Sunday.

The statement read in part, “The minister said any whistle-blower whose information leads to the recovery of up to N1bn will receive five per cent of the amount; that the reward for any amount between N1bn and N5bn will be five per cent for the first N1bn and four per cent of the remaining N4bn and that any amount over N5bn will attract a 2.5 per cent reward.

‘’For example, if a whistle-blower provides information leading to the recovery of N10bn, he or she will receive five per cent of the first 1bn,four per cent of the next N4bn and 2.5 per cent of the remaining N5bn.”

The minister promised that the Federal Government would protect the identity of all whistle-blowers, whether in the public or the private sector, and also ensure that the information they provide would be kept secret.

Mohammed’s assurances come amid criticisms from human rights groups over the dismissal of a Deputy Director at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Ntia Thompson, who was sacked for exposing the theft of $229,000 by some ministry officials.

The information minister added, ‘’For those who may have suffered any backlash as a result of the information they provide, their cases will be reviewed and appropriate mitigating actions taken.”

Mohammed said the assurance followed the presentations made to the Presidential Assets Recovery Committee by concerned citizens and groups about the safety of whistle-blowers.

He added, ‘’Whistle-blowers have nothing to fear, because the committee has put in place the necessary measures to safeguard those who give useful information. As a matter of fact, whistle-blowers have everything to gain and nothing to lose.

‘’What we have done by making this information public is to reassure potential whistle-blowers that the plan to reward is real. We are not just saying we will pay all whistle-blowers, but we are letting them know in advance what they are entitled to, once the information they provide leads to the recovery of looted funds.