‘FREE ESE’ CAMPAIGN: Dickson promises to work with Ganduje for Ese’s return

Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, has promised to work with his Kano State counterpart, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje, to ensure the return of 14-year-old Ese Oruru, who was abducted, taken to Kano, converted to Islam and married by one Yinusa.

A non-governmental organisation, Kindling Hope Across Nations Initiative, which has been working with Ese’s parents to secure her release and return home, said this in a statement.

The statement said the governor had during a meeting with KHAN Initiative officials on Sunday, expressed concern over the issue and appealed to the NGO to allow him intervene in the issue.

The KHAN Initiative said, consequently, it cancelled a rally, aimed at drawing attention to the 14-year-old’s shocking story, which was scheduled for Monday.

“In view of the personal interest demonstrated by the Executive Governor of Bayelsa State, we have decided to suspend the rally to give both state governments time to urgently bring Ese back,” the NGO said.

It explained that the governor had expressed concern that a rally might lead to a breach of the peace, “given the high level of tension currently in the state on account of the proposed rally”.

The NGO, however, said it would continue the fight to return Ese back to her parents and seeks justice for her.

Dickson’s intervention follows the launch of “Free Ese” campaign by PUNCH, which has drawn the attention of thousands of Nigerians to the sordid story and failure of top officials in Bayelsa and Kano states to do the right thing.

Stories about Ese’s plight and the travail of her parents have led to increased calls for her immediate release and the prosecution of those involved in her abduction.

KHAN, an NGO committed to improving the lives of people and creating a world where everyone is empowered to live above poverty, has worked with the Orurus since they reported the incident to the organisation.

The Executive Director, KHAN Initiative, Mr. Kizito Andah, had told Sunday PUNCH that after receiving the case, the organisation immediately swung into action by formally informing the Department of State Services.

He said several meetings were held in December 2015 with officers of the DSS, noting that the state security outfit made several promises to secure the release of the victim, but that up till date, Ese was still held hostage by the perpetrators.

Andah, who is also the Secretary, Child Protection Network, claimed that their coordinator also spoke with the Inspector-General of Police and the police boss gave his word that the girl would be returned to her parents. Yet, that had not been done.

Ese had been abducted in August 2015 by Yinusa, who was a longstanding customer of her mother, Mrs. Rose Oruru, a food vendor in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital.

Since August 12 when her parents made the shocking discovery, trips to Kano, the involvement of the police and efforts to get the Emir of Kano, Mallam Lamido Sanusi, at whose palace the girl is believed to be held to resolve the matter and ensure the return of the 14-year-old to her parents have failed.

While her mother was told that Ese had converted to Islam and, therefore, was no longer her daughter, her father was told that his daughter was an 18-year-old adult and not 14, hence she was capable of making decisions for herself.

‘FREE ESE’ CAMPAIGN: Dickson promises to work with Ganduje for Ese’s return

I"m a radical Emir - Sanusi Lamido

Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammad Sanusi II, has described himself as a radical traditional ruler.

The monarch said that he graduated from the late Dr. Yusuf Bala Usman’s school of progressive struggle to become a teacher, banker and now a radical Emir.

Emir Sanusi Lamido

Sanusi, a former CBN governor said struggle only has meaning if it is against injustice and oppression, adding that any other struggle is meaningless.

Speaking on at the 10th anniversary memorial seminar organised by the Centre for Democratic Development and Research Training in honour of the late Usman in Kaduna yesterday, the Emir said the message Bala left was one that everyone should take home.

According to him, “we spend so many decades fighting a system, and every time we think we have defeated one system, the next one seems to be even worse and it is like an uphill task. If you look at what we were fighting in the 1970’s and 1980’s against the NPN, and compare the NPN with what came after that, the NPN will look like an angel.

“So, we are at a point in this country where we actually have to reverse this trend. For us that were in ABU in the 70’s, we were inspired or taught by the late Bala. He was an undisputed leader of Northern progressives.

“Most of us graduated to become radical teachers, radical professors, radical bankers and radical emirs, but we never left the essential message of Bala and it is a message that all of us should take home.

“In life, if you are at all committed to struggle, struggle only has meaning if it is against injustice and oppression. Any other struggle is meaningless.

“Fighting for ethnicity, starting needless and mindless religious wars, struggle for spores of power, none of those are worth it.

“People are dying every day from lack of education, from lack healthcare, lack of security, bad governance, corruption, bad economic policies and the real struggle that is meaningful in our lives is to try to improve that situation and fight against those injustices.

“It has been my misfortune to be always mis-categorised in government, but I am not a card bearing member of any political party. But I have friends who shared the same vision of Bala Usman and that is what brought us together.

“I pray that this seminar will continue the tradition of cultivating minds and setting mindsets, programmes and hopefully, those minds will be integral to the change that we want, the removal of oppression and injustice and the creation of a better society which was the dream of the late Bala Usman.”

I"m a radical Emir - Sanusi Lamido

SSS Returns Emir Sanusi’s Seized Passports

In what appears to be the end of the faceoff between President Goodluck Jonathan and, Muhammad Sanusi II, the emir of Kano, the director general of the State Security Services, SSS, Bassey Etang, has handed over the two travelling passports to the emir at his palace yesterday.

The senior special assistant to Governor Kwankwaso on chieftaincy and emirate council affairs, Alhaji Tijjani Mailafiya, confirmed to LEADERSHIP Sunday that the emir has gotten back his travelling passports.

It could be recalled that Sanusi’s diplomatic travelling passport was seized at Murtala Muhammad International Airport in Lagos when he returned from Niger Republic, while the other local passport was seized at Malam Aminu Kano International Airport when he was about boarding a Turkish Airline to France.

Governor Kwankwaso’s special assistant on emirate affairs lauded the gesture of the federal government in returning Sanusi’s passport which will allow him continue the work of the people at home and abroad when necessary.

According to information from some quarters, the release was perhaps as a result of the recent visit of the emir and his senior councillors to President Jonathan at the villa in Abuja.

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SSS Returns Emir Sanusi’s Seized Passports