Violence mars census
By Sun News Publishing
Thursday, March 23, 2006

No fewer than five persons were feared dead in a public disturbance in Ihiala, Anambra State, over a bid by a group, suspected to be the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) to distrupt the ongoing national headcount in the South Eastern State of Anambra Wednesday.

The development came on the heels of an attack Tuesday on the Otolo Nnewi police station also in Anambra by suspected MASSOB members, which left about seven vehicles and eight motocyles burnt.
In Onitsha, five National Population Commission (NPC) officials were bathed with acid in a scuffle with street urchins.

Police Service Commission boss, Chief Simon Okeke has ordered the police to crack down on trouble makers who may try to distrupt or sabotage the national exercise.
No fewer thatn 27 suspects have however, been arrested by the police in connection with the incidents.
Although it was not clear as at press time Wednesday whether any of the acid victims had given up the ghost after they were rushed to nearby hospitals in Onitsha, sources said they were badly burnt by the raw acid.

The Controller of NPC in Onitsha South council area, Mr. Emma Nwakile who confirmed this to Daily Sun’s Nwabueze Okonkwo in Onitsha said the incident took place at Upper Onira Street when the enumerators refused to relinquish their census materials to the suspects on demand.
Nwakile also confirmed the arrest of 15 suspects by the police for their alleged involvement in either trying to disrupt the exercise or taking part in the acid attack.

Geoffrey Anyanwu, Awka.
Reacting to the situation, Chief Okeke frowned at the actions of the miscreants, who, he said, he was certain were not genuine MASSOB members, but added that they should be flushed out if they were indeed the perpetrators of the crime.

He said: "I tend to believe that these are miscreants, these are robbers disguised as members of MASSOB, I tend to believe so. But if indeed they are MASSOB, they should be massobed out of the society, they should be moved out of the society, and they are unwanted elements in the society. They want to derail democracy"
"The MASSOB I used to know since 10, 15 years ago led by Uwazuruike, a lawyer, have not been behaving like that. They are in pursuit of their project in friendly manner without violence, but this people that came here two nights ago, they had explosives, sub-machine guns, they have AK47, fully armed more than police, only God saved the situation. I must commend the police for standing up to their duty. If that is what MASSOB stands for; there is no place for it in this country".

The state police command, said yesterday that it had arrested 27 persons suspected to be members of MASSOB for disrupting the census exercise in the state
Confirming this to newsmen, the state commissioner of police Mr. Moses Anegbode said 12 of the suspects were apprehended in three areas in Onitsha, while 10 were among those that attacked the Otolo Nnewi Police Station.

He however denied knowledge of any killing, but said that during the face-off with the suspected MASSOB members, two policemen were kidnapped by the group while another was injured.
The police, he said, also recovered two buses loaded with locally made bombs and dynamites from the group that operated in Nnewi, which they abandoned after a shoot-out with police.
Anegbode assured that the command was prepared to check any threat to the successful conduct of the population and housing census in the state.

GODDY OSUJI, Enugu
The census in Enugu has turned violent when an elderly retired female teacher and coordinator of the on going exercise narrowly escaped death. But her car and census materials were not spared as unidentified persons burnt them to ashes
The incident which took place at New Haven Primary School in Enugu Metropolis was a surprise attack on the census officials who were distributing materials when the five unidentified persons with guns and horsewhips swooped on them and gave them thorough beating while a Jetta Super Executive car with registration number BE 605 ENU belonging to Chief Mrs Florence Ogbuewu the coordinator New Haven zone were set ablaze and burnt to ashes.

Clamour for an extension of the duration of the on-going national census filled the air as it becomes obvious that the exercise is yet to fully gain momentum from its slow start on Tuesday.
Reports across the nation indicated a bedlam for the third day running due to shortage of working materials, protracted protests by desperate National Population (NPC) ad-hoc staff over non-payment of their allowances and rain, which stalled the exercise in Lagos and Ogun State on Wednesday.
The development has raised anxiety among Nigerians that the exercise may end without their being counted.
Meanwhile, widespread allegation by trained enumerators of sharp practices by NPC officials which had been behind the crisis at payment points was confrimed in Lagos Wednesday, with police arrest of one Modinat Bakare who allegedly came with a fake identity card and clearance paper to collect the N5,200 allowance due to one Abiola Arogundade, a genuine NPC enumerator in the Ajeromi local government. The suspect, who was caught in the act, named one Nkwor Chuks a vital registration assitant of NPC as having aided her in procuring the fake documents.
Lagos Police spokesman, Ojajuni Olubode, who confirmed the incident to Daily Sun said the matter was being investigated.

Femi Babafemi, Lagos
Major highway and back streets of Lagos remained deserted for the second day running as residents stayed indoor on Wednesday in obedience to the directive of the state government which restricts movements between 7am and 4pm to enable people participate fully in the ongoing census exercise.
The national head count, which began on a shaky start on Tuesday, however, picked up in many parts of the state as enumerators defied an early morning rain to visit homes to count residents.
The movement restriction order coupled with the heavy down pour worked like magic as the usual vehicular and human traffic on Lagos roads was completely absent till about 4pm when some private and commercial vehicle owners hit the roads.

Apart from the absence of the usual hurstle and burstle on the roads, commercial and social activities were also paralysed as shops and offices were closed. The ever busy Lagos State government Secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja was a ghost of itself as all the offices were under lock and key.
Some of the empty roads include the Oshodi-Apapa expressway, Agege motor road, Ojodu-Berger-Ikeja road. Many streets were turned to football pitches by youths who were apparently tired of being indoors.
Armed policemen were also seen in strategic locations trying to monitor the exercise while some private vehicle owners took the chance of the absence of traffic on the roads to drive against traffic especially on the Apapa-Oshodi express way.

PETRUS OBI, Abakaliki
The confusion and poor start of the census in Ebonyi State have led to call by leaders and people of the state on the Federal Government to extend the duration of the exercise to ensure that NPC conducts accurate head-count in the country.

At the three senatorial zones of the state visited by our reporter people waited in vain to be counted with no enumerator seen to perform the exercise.
In Ebonyi North Senatorial zone of the state, only the state Governor, Dr. Sam Egwu, his wife and other members of his household were counted while enumerators who were supposed to be counting people on the first day were seen doing the initial exercise of house numbering.
Despite the two days public holidays declared by the state government, which compelled people to stay at home, market places were open with business going on as usual.

David Onwuchekwa, Nnewi
A member representing Onitsha North and South Federal Constituency at the National Assembly, Mr Gozie Agbakoba has called for sanity among Igbo groups to make the on-going population census a success in the Southeast.
Agbakoba made the call at his constituency when he reacted to violent disruptions of the population census exercise at Onitsha and Nnewi, Anambra State. He said such disruptions will not be in the best interest of the Igbos who stood to lose for not being counted in a project, which is supposed to be a yardstick for national development.

The lawmaker explained that the controversial exclusion of ethnicity and religion from the census exercise should be blamed on the governors and elder statesmen that were members of the National Council of States, where the clause was removed.
Said he: "When the matter came up, I challenged the National Population Commission but they said that it was removed by the National Council of States where governors and elder statesmen are members. So it is not after printing documents worth billions of naira then you go back to print new ones to insert ethnicity and religion."

Osun State
As the census entered the third day, Osun State Governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola has directed that there should be total restriction of human and vehicular movement across the state with effect from Thursday March 23, till Saturday March 25, 2006.
The restriction will be effective from morning till 4p.m on each of the three days.
The directive according to a statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr Idowu Adelusi, became necessary following government’s observation of the need to give all residents of the state an opportunity to get counted in the ongoing exercise.

"It will, therefore, be an offence for anybody to be seen loitering about, driving vehicles or riding motorcycles while the movement restriction lasts," the statement said, adding: "Necessary mechanisms to enforce this directive have already been put in place by government. All residents of Osun State are thus enjoined to ensure that they use this period to stay at home and get counted by the enumerators."
Lagos lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, faulted the exclusion of the factors of ethnicity and religion from the ongoing national census, saying this deviates from the constitution.

Fawehinmi, in a statement on Wednesday, noted that ethnicity and religion were two crucial parameters for identifying Nigerians, saying they should have been included in the questionnaires being used for the head-count.

According to him, the venture, billed to end in the next two days, is unconstitutional and an exercise in futility." He urged that it be halted.
The lawyer who quoted copiously sections of the constitution maintained that the document made ethnicity a fundamental aspect of the federal character, which must be the operational basis of the governance of the country at all levels.
"Consequently, what is provided for in the constitution as a condition for the governance of the country cannot be excluded from the census."

In addition, he observed that religion was a fundamental right of every citizen that must be known and which he/she must have the fundamental right to disclose.
Ekiti State
Chairman of Oye Local Government, Omobamitale Oguntoyinbo, has tasked traditional rulers in the council area to mobilise their people to be counted in the ongoing national census.
The council chairman who said this in Oye Ekiti during his courtesy visits to the 16 royal fathers in Oye Local Government to sensitise the people on the imperative of the head count, opined that traditional rulers have a role to play in ensuring the success of the exercise.
Oguntoyinbo, in a release signed by Biodun Esan, Information Officer said this is the first time a census is taking place in Ekiti State since it was created.

According to him, this census is very vital to Ekiti State as the outcome will form the indices to be used by Economic Planners to determine what each town and village will get in terms of social and infrastructural amenities.
He urged indigenes of the local government to come out enmass to be counted during the exercise.
Ibrahim Barde, Kano
400 strong trained census enumerators for Fagge Local Government council, Kano State held hostage, the council chairman, Alhaji Nasiru Suleiman Rabo, the Permanent Secretary, Government House, Alhaji Mohammed Garba Fagge and the district head and representative of the Kano Emirate Council, in Kano Wednesday for non-payment of their allowances.

Daily Sun which visited the local government secretariat where the captives were held met the youths singing war songs and raining invectives on them for allegedly invoking tricks and delay tactics to deny them of their allowances.

Speaking to this correspondent, one of the aggrieved enumerators narrated their frustrations thus: "I am Alhaji Abdu from Fagge area. All of us who trained for census for Fagge area of Fagge Local Government for 14 days have not been paid our allowances, for that we have decided not to work until we are paid and we have come to gather here to ensure that those who are making desperate moves to deny us of our legitimate allowances cannot get away; they either pay or they will not be allowed to leave this secretariat today; we are demanding the mandatory N5,500 each and we are 400 of us here, waiting to see what will happen, no pay, no work," he said.

The situation was the same in the other neighbouring metropolitan local government council areas, such as Dala, Gwale, Tarauni, Municipal, Ungogo and Kumbotso. The only exception in the metropolitan area was Nassarawa Local Government. The Chairman, Alhaji Nasiru Yusif Gawuna said: "My council envisaged these difficulties, long before the commencement of the exercise so, we were prepared for the task and when there were traces of difficulties, we told the UND officials that we have to decentralize the payment centres and they agreed and we did that within a day, our payments were completed but the two day delay is making us to seek for additional two days to enable us complete the assignment perfectly well," he said.

Moshood Adebayo, Abeokuta
An early morning rain in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital slowed down enumeration exercise which entered its third day nationwide just as scores of people were counted under duress at Bakatari, a disputed border village between Ogun and Oyo State Wednesday.

Accompanied by whirlwind, the rain which lasted about thirty minutes removed roofs of many houses.
Shortage of enumeration materials like erazer, pencils, ink-pads and Form 01 as well as inadequate numeration officials were also recorded at Ake, Adedotun, Mokola, Totoro/Sokori, Ijemo, Isale-Ijeun all in Abeokuta South and North Local Government council areas of the state.
As at 3.45p.m., thousands of houses and peoples waited endlessly for enumerators that were in short number to the highly populuated quarters of the state capital.

At the disputed village, Bakatari, Daily Sun learnt that National Population Commisison(NPC) officials from both Ogun and Oyo states enumerated people against their wishes.
"I saw hell with anti-riot police from Oyo State forcing me to be enumerated in the state against my wish. I am an Egba woman who wish to be counted as an Ogun State indigene, but I was forced to be counted by enumerators from Oyo in the presence of the police who threatened to deal with me", the light complexioned villager told Daily Sun.

There has been an age-long dispute between Ogun and Oyo states over the border village of Bakatari.
Reacting to the situation at Bakatari, the Chairman of Odeda Local Government Council, Yemi Coker assured that everything would be done to ensure a hitch-free census.
From Nwagbo Nnenyelike, Ilorin
The national census suffered a setback Wednesday in Kwara State due to shortage of working of materials. This was against the assurance of the Professor Bartholomew Beluchukwu Eme; the Kwara State Commissioner of NPC at the first day the headcount took off. Prof. Eme had assured that the commission had enough materials to satisfy the needs of Kwara in the exercise.

But when Daily Sun visited Oro Ago, Babanloma, Share, Igbaja, Oke-ode, Idofian, Omupo, and Ganmo, all in Ifelodun Local Government Area, the materials were lacking in so many places as officials and the residents were waiting. Also Sango, Amilegbe, and Sabo-Oke areas of Ilorin East Local Government had similar problems. In Ilorin South Local Government area people are also anxiously waiting for the census officials.

Attahiru Ahmed (Gusau)
In Zamfara State, the census was stalled following crisis that erupted in which the Emir of Tsafe, Alhaji Habibu Aliyu, narrowly escaped being lynched by aggrieved villagers.

It was gathered that the aggrieved youths of Danjigba village of Tsafe Emirate Council had also vandalised duty bus for the councilors. As early as 6:30 am on Tuesday, the angry youths reportedly barricaded the border of the town preventing census officials from entering their village.
Daily Sun learnt that the aggrieved youths of the area were lamenting that they have not benefited anything as far as dividends of democracy was concerned and that they had been receiving empty promises from the state government especially in terms of constructing their roads.
A youth who prayed for anonymity told our reporter that they barred the census officials from their village because of what they called bias in employment of census enumerators.

When the news reached the local government of Tsafe, the Emir and councilors quickly went there to solve the problems but, the angry youths, there and then started stoning the bus which conveyed councilors while the Emir’s guard has to quickly make U-turn to save him (emir) from being lynched.
When the Federal Commissioner in charge of census (NPC) in the state, Dr Bode Iwaloye was contacted he denied having any report from Tsafe area as of the time of filling this report.
It was gathered that activities were at a stand still at the NPC office in Gusau following sudden disappearance of key to the safe of the commission.
Akin Alofetekun (Minna)
Barely 24 hours after the commencement of the 2006 national population and housing census, the people of Gurara Local Government Area in Niger State have vowed not to accept the result of the exercise in the area.
On his part, the Emir of Suleja Alhaji Awwal Ibrahim has called for the extension of the days of the exercise if a thorough job was to be done.
Speaking through the council chairman Alhaji Jaafaru Abdullahi in Gawu Babangida yesterday, the people said there was element of sabotage of the exercise in the area.

According to Abdullahi this morning, just this morning we were told that all the materials meant to enumerate our people are already exhausted in just one day.
What they did with the materials we don’t know but we know very few of our people have been counted Abdullahi stated.

Federal Commissioner for NPC in Niger State, Alhaji Aliyu Ibrahim Dogondaji described the complaint as a mere rumour, saying nobody has put such complaints on paper.
The traditional ruler of Suleja joined many other notable Nigerians in decrying the slow pace of the enumeration exercise and expressed the fear that the five days might not be enough to complete the exercise.

The Emir who received journalists in his palace yesterday however commended his people for their cooperation with census officials.
Abu Onyelebocho, Damaturu
Some prominent personalities in Yobe state expressed worries over the shortages of some materials for the ongoing National Population and Housing Census in the state.
The Emir of Damaturu, Alhaji Shehu Hashimi II Ibn Umar El-kanemi who confirmed the situation at his palace in Damaturu said it was unreasonable to experience such shortages in the first day of the exercise after the royal fathers had so much mobilized the people for effective participation. Similarly, the Majority Leader of the Yobe State House of Assembly, Nasiru Hassan Yusuf, told newsmen that there were shortage of forms, ink and pencils that were required for the census. Honourable Yusuf said with efforts of the state government, the 2B pencils have been procured from Maiduguri noting that Yobeans have been asked to remain patient the problem was being taken care of.