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August 28, 2006
Militants to face life jail * Anti-terrorism agency to be established
ABUJA— THE Senate has received another bill, prescribing a life imprisonment for those involved in hostage taking, kidnapping and other related activities committed in the country. The bill entitled: “An Act to Prohibit Terrorism” sponsored by Senator Ben Obi (PDP, Anambra Central) is coming after a similar bill proposed by President Olusegun Obasanjo entitled: “Prevention of Terrorism Act.”
By Emmanuel Aziken
Posted to the Web: Monday, August 28, 2006
President Obasanjo’s bill prescribes a maximum of 20-year jail term for those who are found guilty of what it defines as terrorism actions. Senator Obi’s proposals against terrorism also aim to establish an anti-terrorism agency which would be a specialised counter-terrorism organ saddled with the responsibility of enforcing anti-terrorism and other related laws.
The bill which specifies acts considered as terrorism and makes provisions for punishment when passed into law would repeal Section 14 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Act 2003 which prescribes punishment for terrorism acts.
It says:
No person or body corporate shall:
(a) Carry out or attempt to carry out any act which is a violation of the criminal code or the penal code and which may endanger the life, physical integrity or freedom of, or cause serious injury or death to any person, any number or group of persons or cause or may cause damage to public property, natural resources,
environmental or cultural heritage and is calculated or intended to: intimidate, put in fear, force, coerce or induce any government, body, institution, the general public or any segment thereof, to do or abstain from doing any act or adopt or abandon a particular standpoint, or to act according to certain principle, or disrupt any public service, the delivery of any essential service to the public or to create a public emergency or create a general insurrection in a state."
The bill gives exclusive jurisdiction to the Federal High Court for the trial of all cases.
The bill seeking to establish the Nigerian Anti-Terrorism Agency provides for an Advisory Committee for the agency which shall include the National Security Adviser, the Inspector-General of Police, the head of the Defence Intelligence Agency, the Director-Generals, National Intelligence Agency and the State Security Service.
Also to be included in the committee are the head of the proposed agency and a representative of the Federal Ministry of Justice.
Posted by Publisher at 09:41 AM | Comments (0)
US ranks Nigeria among world’s trouble spots - Afghanistan, Iraq top list
THE United States government has listed Nigeria among the 29 trouble spots in the world. Nigeria was ranked among such countries as Afghanistan, which topped the list, Iraq, Indonesia, Iran, Liberia, among others.
FEMI OSINUSI, Associate Editor - 28.08.2006
Other countries on the ranking by the US government are Algeria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, East Timor, Eritrea, Haiti.
The remaining countries on the list are Israel, Cote D’Ivoire Coast, Kenya, Lebanon, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Uzbekistan, Yemen and Zimbabwe.
The US government has, therefore, asked its citizens to avoid travelling to these countries, describing them as volatile spots in the world.
According to the report, the warning on Nigeria was being issued over what it called the deteriorating security situation in the country, reflecting in the number of kidnappings occurring in the area and the alleged killing of hostages in the land.
“The Department of State continues to warn US citizens of the dangers of travel to Nigeria. The lack of law and order in Nigeria poses considerable risks to travellers. Violent crimes committed by ordinary criminals, as well as by persons in police and military uniforms, can occur throughout the country and tend to peak between November and January,” the statement by the department said.
According to the report, the security situation in the Niger Delta had deteriorated significantly. “Travel to the region remains very dangerous and should be avoided,” the statement further added.
The statement also said apart from the Niger Delta area, crimes had continued to take place in Lagos, Abuja and other parts of the country.
“Crime in Lagos and Abuja is an ongoing problem. Some expatriates have been robbed in the outlying Lagos suburb of Lekki and in Abuja, the Maitama area has seen a series of home invasions. In a working class section of Lagos Mainland, an October 25, 2005 clash between police and residents left several dead.
“Even Victoria Island and Ikoyi, which are generally safer than other parts of Lagos, have experienced attempted bank robberies and have seen an increase in smash-and-grab car robberies, including some involving some expatriates,” the statement added.
The statement, therefore, advised American citizens travelling to Nigeria and the other 28 countries listed to register through the State Department travel registration website or register directly with the nearest US embassy or consulate.
Posted by Publisher at 09:39 AM | Comments (0)
2007 presidency: No stopping IBB – Tahir
Second Republic Minister of Internal Affairs, Dr. Ibrahim Tahir, says the onslaught by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), against General Ibrahim Babangida will neither succeed nor mar his credibility to run for the presidency in 2007.
By PAUL ORUDE, Bauchi
Monday, August 28, 2006
Speaking to Daily Sun in Bauchi, Tahir believes Babangida did not commit the multiple offences he is being accused of, including allegedly squandering over $12.5 billion oil windfall, controversial killing of his bosom friend and comrade-at-arms Gen Mamman Vatsa over coup plot, among others.
“The guiding principle of democracy is founded upon the mystique of election, which is an expression of the people’s choice,” Tahir stated. “The right of all men to stand elections, and be voted for is the qualifying rules of the election, undiluted for any purpose. Personal opinion is personal opinion; it has no greater status than that.”
Babangida, who ruled as military president between 1985 and 1993, left the country in tatters, after annulling the June 12, 1993 presidential elections won by Bashorun M.K.O.Abiola, is warming up to run in 2007.
Babangida and his family have been in the eye of the storm in recent times with the arrest of his eldest son, Mohammed, by the EFCC and the commission’s investigations into the several cases of alleged corruption and abuse of office pending against the former leader.
“Oil windfall, the man who wrote the report, Okigbo, was my best friend,” Tahir said. “I’ve searched high and low in the Okigbo report wherein Babangida took anything or stole anything. I found none. Okigbo was my best friend. I talked to him and he said it was really unfortunate in our country how people make it. There is $2.8 billion allegation which melted in the glare of the klieglights. When the late Tai Solarin was asked to justify his campaign about $2.8 billion stolen by the departing government of Shehu Shagari, he said he heard it at a bus stop. For God sake!
“And that was the foundation of his action. Some guy was talking about it at the bus stop, and he believed it, and the whole nation was about to be set on fire. Same with this oil windfall.
June 12
On the annulment of the June 12 election by Babangida, Tahir said, “This business of annulment of June 12, people are very funny. When Babangida opens his mouth about June 12, some people will run and hide. People who made delegation to see him, asking him to annul June 12 and he refused...
“People should let the game be played by the rule. Let the fun, the rhythm and the whole drama of the game, let it be heard, the roar of the crowd, the boos, the bad egg stuff, rotten tomatoes throw, but at the end of the day, let’s vote according to conscience and if Babangida wins, why not?
“Adam Clentinpow was reputedly a criminal and the people in Harlem kept voting him back into congress. Sometimes he left congress to serve some jail term, and returned.
“I hold it against no man that the past may have something against him. But this campaign, why should I join a campaign against Babangida? He is a warm person. Against the general opinion, he is shy and he is not somebody who likes exposing himself. He is not a talkative, rather, a quiet person.
“As the tiniest person in the neighbourhood, he went through a test growing up that made him tough, wily, crafty, and that has been further exacerbated by the creed of the tank officer, a strategic arm of decision. Babangida is always weighing things, he is not rash, and people say that he is Maradona, I think that is cautious, careful, and he is intelligent, it doesn’t take him long to decipher what somebody is making out
Dele Giwa
You know, intelligence services are very complicated and arms traders are more complicated than intelligence services. If you stumble on gun running, which Dele Giwa did, real powerful machinery of gun running, and he began to start an expose and the people made promises and deals with Giwa, and that parcel was delivered to him. I don’t believe from state house, but from some gun running organisations which adopted that sign.
Vatsa
Speaking on the recently revisited issue of the killing of Vatsa 20 years ago by the family who think Vatsa was innocent; Tahir said “I noticed first that this Vatsa matter is now 20 years. That is a very long time in which to recall anything. On what foundation Mrs. Vatsa can pin anything?
“Apart from the obscurity of the issue, because of distance from history, and because of the fact that the record of military matters tend on the whole, to be closely guided, I doubt if the military machine will want its document or its proceedings be brought out to public scrutiny.
“There is the other question that Obasanjo is now in power. I pray his wish will be granted by Almighty Allah so that somehow, one day, he will be able to put his feet up by the fire, to reflect on the past, I pray no one is going to come after him with emotional outburst.
“Matters of state in Nigeria, are being reduced to very farcical dimensions. We are rapidly beginning to be sent to the level not just of a banana republic, but below the banana republic, something like the comic story of Peter Ustinov, about an imaginary state in which everything is a kind of an absurdity.
“I have deep sympathy for this woman, and I have deeper sympathy for the son, but, being a great friend of his father, I cannot say he was guilty or not because I was not privy to the court martial.”
Posted by Publisher at 09:35 AM | Comments (0)
PDP in Make or Break Meeting; Atiku, guidelines top agenda uncertainty of governors' loyalty worries party
Strong indications emerged last night that Vice-President Atiku Abu-bakar's alleged doubtful loyalty to the Peoples Demo-cratic Party (PDP) would be on the agenda of the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the party today.
By Kola Ologbondiyan and Oke Epia in Abuja, 08.28.2006
The meeting, which holds against the background of growing worry over alleged poaching of its governors by newly emerging parties, would also consider and ratify guidelines for the congresses and national convention of the party.
Besides, the hierarchy of the party is expected to submit reports of zonal reconciliation committees as well as committees set up to investigate the crises in Bayelsa and Anambra States of the party.
THISDAY gathered that though no formal charge had been brought against Atiku, the hawks in the party might broach the issue of his reported romance with opposition parties as a basis to call for sanction against him.
The Vice-President had been reportedly fingered as the main force behind the Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD). He was reported to have been part of a meeting with 12 state governors where the issue of ACD mergers with other parties and political tendencies were discussed.
Atiku has, however, denied being part of the meeting.
But those moving against him are said to have rallied strategies to bring the Vice-President into focus at the NEC meeting to create the ground for putting him on the spot such that the party may have to formally begin investigations of the alleged anti-party activities.
Today痴 meeting is also crucial because the NEC is expected to ratify guidelines for the congresses, primaries and national convention already prepared by the National Working Committee (NWC).
The approved guidelines may be released after the meeting, according to a party source.
Reports from the zonal committees set up to reconcile aggrieved members of the party after the botched attempt to secure a third term for President Olusegun Obasanjo are also expected to be submitted.
Six committees were constituted at the last NEC meeting to go states in all the zones of the country and reconcile party members who were aggrieved as a result of the last registration and revalidation of membership last year.
The reports are believed to have been submitted to the NWC and may merely receive the endorsement of the NEC today.
Special investigative/disciplinary committees set up to get to the root of crisis in the Bayelsa and Anambra States of the party will turn in their reports.
The issues will receive the attention of NEC because the cases of alleged suspension of the state chairman fall within the purview of the organ.
But THISDAY gathered that the committee for Bayelsa State may have recommended that the suspension of the Chairman,
Chief Fred Agbedi, be lifted since he had in the same speech at the rally complained of by Governor Goodluck Jonathan, assued all contestants of a level-playing field.
Besides, the committee was aid to have found the governor痴 complaint against the chairman as self-serving since some members of the state executive council had also being doing his biddings too.
Agbedi had been suspended last month for allegedly using the state structure of the party to boost the aspiration of a governorship hopeful in the state. He was suspended by the State Working Committee (SWC) for allegedly attending a rally organised for Mr. Timi Alaibe and presenting the party痴 flag to the aspirant.
The NWC, however, nullified the suspension since it was outside the purview of the SWC to suspend a NEC member.
But the national body imposed its own suspension and asked a committee headed by the Deputy National Chairman (North), Alhaji Ibrahim Shema, to investigate the complaints.
The same scenario played out in Anambra State where the state Chairman, Mr. Uchenna Emordi, allegedly campaigned for a gubernatorial aspirant, Chief Chris Uba.
Emordi痴 suspension by his colleagues at the state executive was, however, reversed by the NWC, which also set up a committee to investigate the matter.
As the crucial meeting gets under way, THISDAY information has it that the party leadership is rankled over its inability to determine where the 27 governors elected on its platform stand in the desire to rally the party's support in favour of any of the candidate anointed by the President to fly the PDP flag as its presidential candidate.
Obasanjo is known to have sworn to block Atiku who last week distanced himself from reports that he held a meeting with some of the PDP governors to form another party.
THISDAY investigations, however, revealed that the possible influences of Atiku and former military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, on the party痴 governors had also become a source of concern within the PDP hierarchy.
The party is said to been more worried that if it proceeded to convention with its structures in the hands of the governors across the 27 states, the possibilities of the governors swinging to victory abound.
There were strong indications last night that the PDP leadership was pointing accusing fingers at some of the governors who worked against the third term bid of Obasanjo as poaching on other governors and encouraging them to leave the party.
THISDAY, however, gathered that the governors were also uncomfortable about their political future, particularly if they supported any candidate brought forward by the President.
Already, the Benue State Governor, Chief George Akume, is believed to be holding high level consultations with the leadership of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), with a view to cross carpeting from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ANPP any moment from now.
According to THISDAY findings, the latest of such high level consultation between Akume and ANPP leadership was held in Makurdi, the Benue State capital last Wednesday where the ANPP National Convention Planning Committee Chairman, who is also the Kebbi State Governor, Alhaji Adamu Aliero, and his Zamfara State counterpart, Alhaji Sani Ahmad Yerima, were said to have met for several hours with Akume.
Although details of the meeting were sketchy at press time, the ANPP team was said to be working on Akume to join ANPP before its national convention which comes up on the 1st and 2nd of September.
The ANPP is expected to elect its national officers at the convention.
THISDAY was further informed that Akume had earlier met with the National Caretaker Committee Chairman of the ANPP, the Governor of Borno State, Alhaji Ali Modu Sherrif, to discuss his intention to cross over to the party.
The decision of Akume to dump the PDP for the ANPP, according to checks was due to his continued face-off with Obasanjo, which started with the Zaki Biam incident in 2001 where no fewer than eight villages were razed down by the Nigerian Army and unspecified number of civilians killed.
As a result of the protracted face-off, Obasanjo has not paid a state visit to Benue since Akume assumed office over seven years ago. Unofficial sources also said that the face-off was responsible for Akume's hard opposition to the botched third term project. It could not be ascertained why he opted for ANPP instead of the Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD) where Atiku's loyalists are believed to be gathered.
Atiku's media aide, Mallam Garba Shehu, has. however, distanced his boss from the Abuja meeting said to have been attended by "a dozen or so governors for the purpose of forming a new political party.
Garba said: "For the avoidance of doubt, the Vice President, Atiku Abubakar remains a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) which he helped to form and nurture; a party he continues to serve in all conscience with loyalty and diligence. In spite of the many challenges that the PDP faces, nothing has happened that would warrant a change in the Vice President's status or position in the party.
"In this position as a leader and co-founder of the
PDP, Atiku would continue to cherish his membership of the party. The Vice President would therefore, like the general public to disregard any information on his alleged presence at a meeting to form a new party as he was unaware of any such meeting."
PDP's spokesperson, Mr John Odey, however, told THISDAY last night that the party was not unaware of plots to poach its governors into other parties but cautioned that the governors should not leave their own house for another one that had not been built.
Odey, who spoke to THISDAY on telephone, said the party had guaranteed the political future of the governors, noting that "this is why they, the governors themselves had bunched themselves together and showing interests in the (2007) presidential race."
"We are aware they (other parties) are poaching but they (governors) should not bother themselves. They should remain focused," he said.
According to him, the fears said to have been raised by the governors are "slants being planted," adding that the governors needed not to be worried "because President Obas-anjo has returned the party to the grassroots and said that Nigerians should choose whom they want as his successor.
Posted by Publisher at 09:33 AM | Comments (0)
kerosene scarcity: Marketers Blame NNPC
Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) members have blamed the current scarcity of kerosene across the country on the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
28th August
By Bassey Udo,Energy Editor
The scarcity has already pushed up the price of kerosene in most filling stations in Lagos and its environs at the weekend to between N90 and N94 per litre.
Though NNPC officials said there is no scarcity of the commodity, as there is sufficient stock to last at least three months, an official of the Nigerian Independent Petroleum Company (NIPCO) Plc, managers of IPMAN petroleum products depot in Apapa, told Daily Independent that top officials of the corporation should be held responsible for the crisis
But an official of the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) said in a telephone interview that the marketers’ claims are untrue and baseless.
He disclosed that apart from kerosene being refined locally from the Port Harcourt Refinery, NNPC also imports dual-purpose kerosene (DPK) to build a total stock of kerosene available in its depots across the country to between 150,000 and 200,000 metric tons (MT).
Most members of the association, who pleaded anonymity, shared the opinion of their colleague that officials of the PPMC do not follow set criteria in the allocation of the product, but do so on the basis of patronage.
"When deregulation of the industry began, NNPC conducted the census of independent and major oil marketers. Based on the result, the NNPC adopted the sharing formula in the ratio 60:40 in favour of the independent marketers. Later, the major marketers protested, demanding a 50:50 formula.
"Even then, NNPC never followed this formula in the allocation of the product. What its top officials do is to allocate products using the Nigerian factor of who delivers the highest patronage to them," the NIPCO official said.
According to the marketers, three weeks ago, the NNPC took delivery of about 58,000 metric tons of kerosene it imported through Jutune vessel and allocated the consignment discretionarily to only four members of the Depot and Petroleum Product Marketers Association (DAPPMA) without any allocation to the independent marketers.
"If NNPC is saying they have sufficient stock of kerosene in all their depots across the country, let them say the last time the commodity was allocated to marketers at either Ejigbo or Ibadan depots.
"For some time now, even some of the oil majors do not have supplies of some prime products like the dual-purpose kerosene (DPK)," they said.
The marketers also denied allegations that the independent marketers often refuse to lift products allocated to them at the depots, preferring the imported blend of DPK, which they always convert to aviation fuel for additional profit.
They said in the last three weeks, most of their members across the country have been queuing for days in Apapa to lift products without success.
They disclosed that the story is the same in Port Harcourt Refinery where the trucks belonging to some members of DAPPMA with connections in the Presidency are allowed to lift products ahead of other marketers.
Posted by Publisher at 09:31 AM | Comments (0)
Police report on Funsho Williams out early September
THE Inspector General of Police, Mr. Sunday Ehindero, will next month make public the outcome of police investigation into the murder of a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party in Lagos State, Engineer Funsho Williams.
ADELOWO OLADIPO, Lagos - 28.08.2006
Nigerian Tribune gathered at the weekend that the failure of the British Police to return to the police authorities in Nigeria samples of the fingerprints lifted and medical examinations conducted on the remains of the late Williams might have made it impossible for the IG to announce his findings until now.
A reliable police source told the Nigerian Tribune that the large number of people whose finger and footprints were taken at the time and the perceived sensitivity of the matter might be the reason why the British police were yet to send their report.
The source noted that the inability of the police authorities in Nigeria in conjunction with the Federal Government to modernise their forensic equipment, which it described as outdated, necessitated the invitation to the British police.
The source said: “We still use binoculars in our forensic and fingerprints department at the Force Criminal Investigation Department, Alagbon, Ikoyi, Lagos.”
The source assured Nigerians that the police would leave no stone unturned in unmasking the killers of Engineer Williams. Further checks have revealed that all the case files relating to the murder of Williams had been transferred to the office of the Inspector General of Police.
The source disclosed that some of the arrested suspects were still being detained at the Force Criminal Investigation Department. “Those released, like politicians and the Director General of the National Maritime Authority, Engineer Festus Ugwu, had their international passports seized by the police, with an instruction to them that they should be reporting to F.C.I.D. Alagbon, Ikoyi, periodically pending when the case would be disposed of,” the source added.
Posted by Publisher at 09:31 AM | Comments (0)
Court stops Borisade from probing Sosoliso plane crash
A Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has restrained the Minister of Aviation, Dr. Babalola Borisade, from investigating the cause of the ill-fated Sosoliso flight that crashed at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa.
By Femi Makinde, Port Harcourt
Published: Monday, 28 Aug 2006
The court, in its ruling on an application brought before it by wife of one of the victims, Mrs. Aleruchi Cookey Gam, stated that Borisade was not competent to carry out the investigations.
A copy of the ruling was made available to our correspondent in Port Harcourt on Sunday.
Justice A.O. Faji ruled that it would be inconsistent with the rules of natural justice for the minister or his office to appoint inspectors of accidents to investigate the causes and circumstances of the crash since he and his office had been accused of incompetence.
He also restrained Borisade from receiving, acting or exercising responsibilities conferred on him by the provisions of regulations 7,8 and 9 of the civil aviation rule.
The court ruled that any appointment of inspectors of accident or directive by the minister to anybody or persons, including the Accident Prevention Bureau, for the purpose of investigating the crash should be considered null and void.
However, the court gave an order of mandamus compelling the Chief Justice of the Federation to immediately commence a public inquiry into the cause of the disaster and make appropriate recommendations that would prevent a recurrence.
A Sosoliso plane crashed at the Port Harcourt International Airport on December 12, 2005 killing nearly all passengers and crew members on board.
The plane which left Abuja for Port Harcourt was carrying, among others, 71 pupils of Loyola Jesuit College, Abuja, who were going home on Christmas holiday.
Posted by Publisher at 09:30 AM | Comments (0)
‘Struggle for democracy not over’
Nigerians have been urged to be prepared to make further sacrifices if the present democratic dispensation must be sustained.
By Dotun Oladipo
Published: Monday, 28 Aug 2006
This advice was given by notable Nigerians who spoke at the 60th birthday celebration of former Secretary of the National Democratic Coalition, Mr. Ayo Opadokun, in Lagos on Sunday.
Among those who made the call were the Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; former Chief of Army Staff, General Alani Akinrinade; founding Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Solomon Lar; and the former Military Governor of Lagos State, Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu,
Tinubu described Opadokun as a true democrat, a dogged and consistent fighter of the democratic struggle.
Tinubu said he combined this virtue with his stubbornness in spite of the travail he went through.
Lar faulted the mode of operation of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, describing it as a Gestapo body that should only have existed in the era of the late Nazi leader, Adolph Hitler.
He said EFCC had consistently contravened the provision of Section 214 of the 1999 Constitution, which he said forbids a an alternative police force.
Akinrinade praised the contributions of Opadokun to the democratic struggle, adding that he had choices to look after his family but instead choose to face the struggle headlong.
He said the struggle would continue for as long as there is lack of equity and social justice in the country.
Kanu said that as things were in the country, there is no way the lovers of democracy would not have to return to the trenches and probably return to the NADECO days.
Kanu said that those who formed NADECO did so when they became frustrated with the late General Sani Abacha for not honouring huis words to handover to the late Basorun Moshood Abiola as agreed to before he sacked the regime of Chief Earnest Shonekan.
Posted by Publisher at 09:29 AM | Comments (0)
Black weekend 3 students die in cult war; Robbers kill doctor, Speaker’s aide; Catholic Church looted
IT was a black weekend in Benin City, Edo State capital and Lagos State as a medical doctor and three students were killed in different circumstances.
CHUKWUDI ACHIFE, Enugu VINCENT ADEKOYE, Benin City, LUKKEY ABAWURU,
This is as rampaging armed robbery gang attacked again Saint Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, Okokomaiko, Lagos carting away unspecified amount of money, while another gang raided houses about 500 metres away from the church.
In Benin City, a prominent medical doctor, Dr. Augustine Isemina was murdered by unknown gunmen last Friday at about 9.00 pm.
He was reportedly abducted from a church premises in a village near of the Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR) Benin-City by armed yourhs before he was murdered in cold blood.
At Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo main campus, three students of the university have been confirmed dead in a clash involving two outlawed secret cults, namely Eiye Fraternity and Buccaneer Fraternity.
A spokesman of the Edo State Police Command, Mr. Peter Ogboi, who confirmed the murder of Dr. Isemina said the killers would be caught, noting that assassination was strange to the state.
The late Dr. Isemina until his death was attached to NIFOR Health Clinic and his murder was coming barely a month after former Minister of Solid Minerals, Elder Moses Ugbesia’s son escaped assassination by whiskers in Benin city.
The young man had recently graduated from the Igbinedion University, Okada Town, Edo State and was lucky to have escaped the gunmen, when they were contemplating on how to carry out the evil plot.
Throwing light on the murder of the late Dr Isemina, the Edo State Police spokesman said. It was a bad development and because of the way it happened, the command shall do everything possible to ensure that those heartless killers are arrested and made to face the bitter wrath of the law.“The information available indicated that the medical doctor called Dr Augustine just closed from one of the churches located within the vicinity of the NIFOR and was about driving out of the premises when some gunmen, riding on a motorcycle popularly called okada halted him and abducted him.
Continuing, Oboi said “report said he was stocked inside the booth of his car and driven to a remote part of the village where the gunmen murdered him and dumped his lifeless body on a footpath.“Assassination in whatever form is a strange development to Edo State and the Edo State Police command is seriously worried about the latest incident and has beefed up security within and outside the village. Enough men have been mobilized to commence full scale investigation into the incident and within the next few days something positive shall be heard in the investigation carried out,” the police spokesman said.
Daily Champion gathered during a visit to the village last weekend that in reaction to fear and tension within the communit,y residents have imposed a dusk to dawn curfew in the area, while some government officials living in the village have relocated to Benin for fear of being the next victim of the ravaging gunmen.
Following the incident, Edo State Police Commissioner, Mr Bala Hassan has summoned a meeting of politicians in the state, where he read the riot act and harped on need for them to keep their followers in check during electioneering campaigns.
In the LASU secret cults’ bloody clash, the identities of dead students could not be ascertained at press time.However, Lagos State Police Command said three persons have so far been arrested in connection with the dastardly act.An eye witness said the cults attacked each other for undisclosed reasons.
We gathered that Iba village, Agboroko, Igbolerin, Oke-Odan and other places where the students reside were thrown into confusion as residents ran for dear lives as a result of the incident.
At PPL bus stop, a corpse of a young man believed to be a student of the institution was found in his own pool of blood.
Confirming the incident, Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr Olubode Ojajuni said the cause of the clash between the two cultists have not been established.
According to him, both group confronted themselves and attacked each other for yet to be identified reasons. Ojajuni, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) said the corpses of the deceased have been taken to the mortuary.He gave the names of those arrested as Ogunobi Oluwasesan, Ogunyemi Oluwafemi and Babaleke Feyi, noting that they were undergoing interrogation before the police.
On the raiding of St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, we reliably learnt that suspected armed robbers attacked the church shortly after it held a mini-fund raising for its forth-coming harvest.
An eye witness told our correspondent that the fleeing suspects, based on information, stormed the premises, late at night demanding for the huge sums of money realized on the day.
He stated that the suspects broke into the house and quickly headed to the Parish Priest’s room in search of fund, noting that luck ran against them as the Parish Priest was said to have earlier taken the money outside the church for safe keeping.
The robbery suspects were said to have threatened to set the church ablaze if nothing tangible was recovered from the church. They were also said to have threatened to kill their source, who was said to have been a member of the church.
Our correspondent also learnt that a senior member of the church had immediately informed his gang of the fund and asked them to commence action so as to get the whole money meant for supposedly God’s work.Also at Chief Esan Way, New Okoko Layout, robbery suspects broke into several shops and carted away several valuable items including cash.
At No 56 of the street, the suspects stole about 20 bags of rice and at Dele Jagun Street, the suspects also wreaked havoc in the areas.
Addressing the community over the incident, chairman of Community Development Committee, Mr Dele Jagun enjoined the Commissioner of Police, Mr Emmanuel Adebayo to approve a police post in the area as a means of checking the robbery menace.
Jagun, however, urged youths in the area who are engaged in evils to repent of their evil ways, saying, crime does not pay.At Okokomaiko Police station, a Senior Police Officer confirmed the incident but added that the police are investigating the case with a view to tracking down the culprits.
Meanwhile, private security measures have been adopted by the church and the community.Last year, the Catholic Churches in Lagos like the Saint Leo Catholic Church, Ikeja, St Gregory, Agege and others were variously attacked by armed robbers.
Meanwhile, a mobile policeman attached to the speaker of the Enugu State House of Assembly, Chief Abel Chukwu was shot dead in Enugu yesterday by unidentified Ogun men who also snatched the deceased’s AK 47 service rifle.
But Chief Chukwu said the incident was a case of armed robbery.
The officer, Corporal Benjamin Nwajei was killed along Lagos Street in the Asata area of Enugu Sunday at about 8.00 am as he rode on a motorcycle en route his duty post at the Speaker’s residence at the Enugu legislative quarters.
Eyewitnesses said armed men bearing Federal Government plate number knocked him down and shot him several times at close range with a pump action rifle.
Daily Champion learnt that the security aide who is a native of Delta State left the Central Police Station CPS) barracks on his motorbike to join his other colleagues at the Speaker’s quarters preparatory to a scheduled trip to Nsukka that morning but he could not get to the quarters before the gunmen attacked him.“The armed men knocked him down with their car and before he could know what was happening, they opened fire on him. He was shot on the chest and all over his body. He fell down and bled to death. Residents of the area ran for their lives when they heard the sporadic shots but they returned later only to see the mobile policeman lying in a pool of blood with his uniform,” an eyewitness said.
Chief Abel Chukwu confirmed the report in a chat with newsmen saying he was in church when the deceased corporal’s wife ran to the church to inform him of the incident, adding that he immediately rushed to the scene but did not meet the corpse, as it was taken away by his colleagues from the Mopol 3, PMF, Enugu.“It was a terrible thing. I saw a lot of blood on the ground and I could not imagine what happened.“Immediately I rushed to the Mobile Police barracks but I was told that his corpse has been deposited at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH). I also went to the Commissioner of Police to inform him of the development,” Chukwu said.He said that he was to attend a function at Nsukka yesterday and had informed his security and personal aides to assemble at his quarters for the trip after the church service but he had to put off all engagements for the day.
The Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Mike Abattam could not be reached for his comments on the development yesterday but Chief Chukwu said the Commissioner of Police promised to launch a thorough investigation into the matter
Posted by Publisher at 09:26 AM | Comments (0)
2007: ANPP to pick candidates by consensus; PDP convention guidelines out today
The All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) is planning a strategy to decide who will run under the party’s flag in the forthcoming elections. The party is working to avoid a repeat of the discontent and wrangling caused by the selection process in the last election.
By Ahmed I. Shekarau & Hammeed M. Bello
It will ask aspirants to drop their ambition in favour of a consensus candidate before even going into the primaries, the Kebbi state governor said at the weekend. Alhaji Muhammadu Adamu Aliero who is also the ANPP national Convention planning committee chairman, in an exclusive interview with Daily Trust in Abuja, said: “we’ll try to have a consensus so that we don’t have to go into the primaries where there would be problem of factions.”
Governor Aliero added: “but I assure you that we’ll do it in such a way that we’ll reconcile all the candidates who are vying for the presidency; so also at the state level where our governorship candidates would emerge”. The ANPP will deliberately delay choosing its flag bearers for the presidential and other elections until December. He said this was a strategic move to ensure that other parties “do not take advantage of any unforeseen bickering that could arise from its selection exercise”.
Asked when the ANPP will choose its flag bearers for the governorship and presidential elections, the convention planning committee chairman who was not precise said: “right now, we are looking towards the month of November 2006, for us to have a convention where the flag bearer of the party at the national level, that’s the presidential candidate, will be nominated. Equally, the same thing with the governorship, National Assembly, state Assemblies and council membership candidates of our party will also be nominated.
“We’re doing this because we want to make sure that other parties do not take advantage of our holding our convention earlier…. That’s why we’re shifting the date of our convention to November and possibly even December”, Governor Aliero stressed. He was however optimistic that the party will not shift grounds on the deadline for the congress to elect its national officers which has been scheduled to hold as from Friday to Saturday this week.
According to him, the convention had to be postponed earlier to give more time to the interim officials to ensure that “all contending issues (from state congresses) are attended to, disputes are resolved and where necessary, we’ll even conduct fresh congresses if we cannot resolve the disputes amicably”. Governor Aliero described as “unfortunate”, the exit of Chief Don Etibiet from the ANPP, stressing that “it’s more unfortunate and lamentable for him to have gone into the PDP. “This virtually confirms most of the allegations against him (Etiebet) that he was being used as a stooge by the PDP to destabilise the ANPP”, the governor said.
The convention committee chairman however expressed optimism that a “credible” leadership for the ANPP will emerge at the end of the forthcoming convention, assuring that “we’ll do everything possible to avoid the pitfalls of the past”. Meanwhile, the top decision making body of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) will meet today in Abuja to decide on how the candidates for the presidential election should emerge. It is believed an “integrity test” will be introduced to the process, according to a source within the committee.
The committee will also decide on some disciplinary charges leveled at two governors. The National Executive Committee (NEC) which includes the President and Vice President, the PDP governors and National Assembly leadership, and members of the National Working Committee (NEC) of the party will at a meeting at the party headquarters in Abuja formally approve and release the guidelines for the party’s primary election.
Inside sources told Daily Trust the NEC may have set December 2 as a tentative date for the primary elections, as part of the election guidelines. December 2 is barely two weeks to the deadline given by the election umpires, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for all parties to submit names of their flag bearers for the presidential election.
Although the National Chairman of the party, Dr. Ahmadu Ali recently disclosed part of the guidelines in Abuja, saying delegates to the primaries have been limited, NEC will either approve the guidelines to be presented, or amend sections that are unacceptable. There are indications that part of guidelines which require any aspirant seeking the presidential ticket of the party to pass the integrity test may face intense opposition because it is perceived as a ploy to discredit some aspirants.
Charges of indiscipline leveled against Governors Boni Haruna and Orji Uzor Kalu are also to be decided by the NEC, although the case of Vice President Atiku Abubakar may not come up because of fears of a division that may arise. A decision will be taken also on the party crisis in Anambra following the struggle by two brothers, Chris and Andy Uba over who controls the party in the state. The NEC will also decide on the crisis in Bayelsa state. The Party had suspended for one month, the Chairman of the party in the State, Chief Fred Agbidi for alleged acts of indiscipline.
He was suspended along with deputy national organizing secretary Mr. Blessom Akpoloma. A statement by the National publicity secretary of the party, Mr. John Odey which announced the suspension said “ after due deliberations, the NWC suspended the state chairman, Chief Fred Agbidi and the deputy national organizing secretary for a period of one month and referred their matter to the national disciplinary committee.
The committee will recommend any action if necessary to the NWC for implementation,” the statement said. It said in the mean time, the PDP has directed the Vice Chairman of the party in Bayelsa, Prince Christopher Hobobo who hails from the Bayelsa South Senatorial District as Chief Agbidi, to act as chairman, pending the investigations by the national disciplinary committee.
The suspension of Agbidi might not be unconnected with a rally recently held by a section of the PDP in Bayelsa State, during which a director of the Niger Delta Deve-lopment Commission (NDDC), Mr. Timi Alaibe was adopted as the Bayelsa state governorship candidate for the 2007 election.
Dr. Ahmadu Ali while disclosing part of the guidelines for the congresses and convention, said the party has increased the number of ward delegates to participate in the congresses from seven to forty. The party also pegged to 10 each, the number of commissioners and special advisers a state governor could take to the national convention for the election of the party’s flag bearer for the presidential election.
He said it as part of the ongoing reforms of the party, there was need to create a level playing ground, hence the pegging of the guidelines. Ali said 25 delegates and 15 members of the executive of the party in each ward would participate in the election of the party’s flagbearer for the House of Representatives, the Senate and the governorship elections.
Posted by Publisher at 09:23 AM | Comments (0)
Celtel may shift operations base to Nigeria
WITH new investments in network expansion alone for its new intake, Vmobile Nigeria, Celtel International BV of The Netherlands has announced plans to put in a minimum of N91 billion (about $700 million) to grow its operation in the country.
From Sonny Aragba-Akpore, Dar Es-Salam, Tanzania
Besides, the Kuwait-based company may soon make Lagos, Nigeria its operational hub for all its networks in the Middle East and Africa. Nigeria is the company's 15th country of operation.
Celtel International bought 65 per cent equity in Vmobile three months ago for about N150 billion ($1.005 billion) to become the Nigerian company's core investor. The new majority shareholders will among other things, take over the management and change the name Vmobile to Celtel Nigeria.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Celtel International, Mr. Marten Pieters, told visiting Nigerian reporters to Dar Es-Salaam, Tanzania at the weekend that Nigeria was the 15th country where it had operations in Middle East and Africa. He added that with Nigeria, "we hope to become Africa's number one mobile telephones operator, in the next five years."
He said that the company plans to build a network profile of about 150 million customers in the next five years with Nigeria alone having 50 million.
"We want to build a truly pan-African network and Nigeria will be the hub." Pieters, flanked by Celtel, Tanzania, Managing Director, Mr. Steve Torode, said.
Pieters also pledged that there would be no job losses. Indeed, he praised the Nigerian managers of the company for a job well done, saying: "We are very proud now that we are majority shareholders of Vmobile and we are absolutely convinced that you will help us a lot in further building our company throughout Africa."
Celtel has its operational base in Kuwait where MTC-Celtel holds sway while its administrative headquarters remains in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
He admitted that Vmobile had had a very troubled history.
"That is why I think it is so good that the company now has reached a safe harbour and is in a good family. But of course now, entering into the family means that you have to adopt the family name. What we see in Nigeria so far is that Vmobile has done a very good job in promoting its brand-Vmobile. It is a strong brand. But there is also a lot of proof in the industry that if you have a strong brand, you can build on that brand equity and change it into another brand. Let me give you a few examples. Vodafone started out with only one licence and now it is all over the world. They started from scratch with only a few licences. They bought quite a few licences and they rebranded them all. Orange did the same thing. Orange bought a lot of companies and rebranded them into orange operations."
"Vmobile has become a member of the Celtel family, so it has to adopt the Celtel name," he said.
Pieters said that the intention of the new Celtel in Nigeria was to ensure telephone penetration to all parts of the country.
"Our target is the mass market where people cannot afford $100 per month. We hope to crash tariffs to a manageable level where the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) may drop to below $25 per month.
"These are good customers because we are guaranteed of their patronage," he said.
Pieters explained that "there are lower average revenue per users. That is what you have everywhere. The people that need the phones the most will be the first ones to buy them. In 1987 in the Democratic Republic of Congo then called Zaire, where the first mobile phone calls were made, they paid about $3000 for a handset and about $1,000 a month for subscription fees for the calls; and they were very happy to do that because they needed the service. If I were a diamond trader and I made $3 million per year, then, I don't care about these bills, and that is the reality."
He continued:"What we now see is that we get into the mass market and the mass market of course, is normal people that cannot afford to have telephone bills of $100 per month. But, that does not mean that they are not good customers. They are still good customers to us because even someone that uses $10 per month can still be a good customer. And in Nigeria there are so many people out there, and that is the attraction."
Pieters said that in reality, tariffs are relatively higher in Nigeria than other countries of its operations in Middle East and Afrca because while operators have access to common international gateways, they have to build individual facilities in Nigeria.
"There is no monopoly of international gateways and that actually keeps the tariffs high. And that's what we are having here (Tanzania). There was no competition in international traffic because it was monopolised into the fixed line operators. That has changed. The market has opened. And then you see that competition starts and then you are able to drop the tariffs because you don't have to go through the monopoly that actually keeps the tariff very high and then every mobile operator sitting behind him can do nothing else than also to keep the tariffs high. That is the situation here. But in Nigeria you already have a different situation because there is already competition on the international traffic."
"First of all, building a mobile network is an art. Though it is scientific and a technology-driven thing, the reality is that it is very much dependent on the quality of the people that are working on it. So you see differences on the quality of the networks. The other issue is that if you purchase a piper aircraft for instance and it carries four passengers. Now what we do with the mobile networks is that during the flight we construct that little aircraft into a Boeing 747 which is a big jumbo jet because we have to add passengers during the flight and we can't go down and stop and put the plane in a hanger for the weeks and say we are going to add some extra chairs. But you can imagine if you reconstruct your piper in the air into Boeing 747, that is quite a difficult task and something might go wrong."
Celtel is interested in unified licensing. "We are interested in united licensing. In the end, everybody will have a unified licence. That is the whole philosophy about the unified licences. It is a very good direction, we think, in the licensing process because what happened in the past was that governments, regulators would give licences based on a certain technology, which in a way is a little bit funny because the technology is actually not interesting for the customer. The customer is interested in the service. Let us take our main product, which is still simply the voice call. I think you as a user of a mobile phone are not very interested if your voice call travels over a 900 frequency or 1800 frequency or something in between. I don't think you are interested in that. So, it is a little bit funny if you as a government say that 'okay, you can do voice service to a company but you can only do it on this technology."
"Governments are now moving from that. So what they would do would be to say, okay, you can do a service and you pick the best technology. And the best technology today, might be very different from the best technology five years from now. And we see that in the industry."
But he has his reservations on unified licences. "Don't expect too much from it. That is the down-side. People get excited because it is unified licensing. In the end, what limits the number of operators for example, that do mobile telephony, is not the number of licences, the thing is the availability of frequencies and that is a very limited thing."
He added:"United licensing is good but, at the same time, you must not see it as magic that will change the whole industry because that won't happen. It's a kind of natural evolution, a kind of natural growth path that we are going through."
Posted by Publisher at 09:22 AM | Comments (0)
Airport security operative stabbed dead...By unknown assailants
AS the nation continues to witness gruesome political killings and other forms of assassinations of prominent citizens in addition to escalation of armed robbery cases, last Friday another murder was added to the long list of those killed in yet to be unravelled circumstances.
By MUHAMMAD BELLO,
Assistant Editor, Sunday Triumph
This time around, the victim is an airport security operative at Malam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA).
The official, Abubakar Tahir who resides in Gwammaja Housing Estate in Kano metropolis was stabbed to death by unknown assailants who attacked him in front of his neighbour’s house.
An eyewitness told Daily Triumph that he was coming back from the roadside where he went to buy tea. ‘’It was about 11 p.m in the night. He was holding a thermo flask in his hand. Shortly after, he left us we heard shouts of thief, thief twice, then there was silence,’’ the eyewitness said.
A short while after he was found in a pool of his own blood in front of his house where he fell dead.
Our correspondent gathered from a family source that his wife who had earlier reacted to the alarm she raised by locking the door of their house was shocked to learn that the victim was her husband.
It was also gathered that one of the attackers who was in a haste to flee the scene left behind his cap and the knife he used to attack him. ‘’We also gathered that one of the attackers who was in a haste to flee the scene left behind his cap and the knife he used to attack him. ‘’We also extracted the victim’s cellular phone and scrolled to the last call he made. We called the number but there was no answer,’’ said the family source.
There is an unsubstantiated allegation that Tahir have knowledge of the trafficking of a substance believed to be hard drugs through his duty post.
It was learnt that he refused to collect a bribe of N5 million offered him by a faceless baron two months ago when the deal was first busted.
Earlier information we got indicate that a name sake of the victim, an SSS official, was the one killed was clarified by the state director as in correct.
According to him, their official bearing the same name was involved in an accident three weeks ago.
He said SSS operatives attached to airports have nothing to do with drug trafficking cases. ‘’Our operatives in any airport are only concerned with traffic control,’’ he explained.
When the police spokesperson in Kano, Superintendent of Police, Baba Muhammad was contacted, he said the command was not aware of the murder. He advised that he should be contacted today.
Posted by Publisher at 09:20 AM | Comments (0)
Nigeria troops 'burn Delta slums'
Nigerian soldiers have burnt hundreds of slum houses near where a soldier was killed during the kidnapping of foreign oil workers, residents say.
Residents in the city of Port Harcourt say the troops became angry when they learned one of their colleagues had been killed in a shootout.
Hundreds fled with their belongings as the fire spread through the slum area.
The army, which is pursuing militants in the Niger Delta, blamed the fires on militants disguised as soldiers.
At least three foreigners were abducted by gunmen from a bar close to the offices of a subsidiary of the Italian oil company, Eni, on Thursday night, near where the slums were burnt.
During the kidnapping, a soldier protecting the workers was shot and killed.
Surprised
Residents say the soldiers then poured petrol onto their houses and set them on fire, accusing the community of sheltering militants.
A local pastor denied militants had been hiding in the area.
"The people who attacked came from the water, they do not stay here," he told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.
"I have nowhere to stay. My church, my house, most of my documents are burnt," he said.
There are no reports of any deaths but one man had to go to hospital with burns, the pastor said.
Regional army spokesman Maj Sajir Musa denied the army had burnt the houses.
"It was the militants who disguised [themselves] in army uniform and set the places ablaze in an attempt to tarnish the image of the Nigerian army soldiers," he said.
"They have done that in response to our constructive efforts to get rid of armed robbers and hostage-takers."
Tensions
A few residents have now returned to pick through the charred remains, hoping to recover some of their belongings.
The incident comes just a week after Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo ordered the police and army to take a new tough line with armed men, who have been responsible for at least seven separate kidnappings in the space of a few weeks.
As part of the new policy, security forces last week raided another slum inside the city and arrested more than 100 people, though most were later released.
The BBC's Alex Last in Nigeria says what concerns local leaders, and the oil companies, is that this new tough policy will only increase tensions in an already volatile region.
The abductions and attacks on oil facilities have led to oil companies withdrawing staff, cutting Nigeria's oil production by a quarter.
Foreigners in Nigeria's oil capital, Port Harcourt, now move around with several armed guards.
Oil industry sources say hostage-taking has become an attractive business, as oil companies strike clandestine ransom deals - frowned upon by the government.
Posted by Publisher at 09:07 AM | Comments (0)
August 23, 2006
Soyinka accuses Obasanjo of buying votes
Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, has taken President Olusegun Obasanjo to the cleaners on his anti-corruption crusade, accusing him of buying votes in the 2003 presidential polls, just as Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Bello Masari, dismissed prevailing agitations for zoning of the presidency as undemocratic.
By MURPHY GANAGANA and UBONG UKPONG, Abuja
Wedneday, August 23, 2006
Soyinka and Masari spoke in Abuja, even as President Obasanjo dropped hint of plans to confer more powers on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), towards checkmating corrupt past leaders from returning to power in 2007.
Speaking Tuesday in Abuja, at the 5th National Seminar on Economic Crime organised by the EFCC, Soyinka urged President Obasanjo to rid the country of symbols of corruption, which, he said, were currently still deep-rooted despite the president’s claims to fighting corruption.
"He (Obasanjo) was selected in 1999. In fact, he bought votes, and we are talking about anti-corruption. The truth is that we must remove the culture of corruption and non-accountability. Now, what that means is that we are repudiating the past, we are repudiating certain figures in past leaderships who have solidified innate cells, to tell people that we are the best," Soyinka said, adding: "It is wrong to say that the current President did not engage in money politics. He was not elected. He was selected and re-selected by his party and we are still contesting the result of his 2003 re-selection."
Taking a swipe at members of the National Assembly for being pre-occupied with how to amass wealth through ridiculous allowances on assumption of office, the Nobel Laureate called on political office holders to halt the culture of seeking entitlements.
He said, "immediately they assumed office, they started voting money for their office furniture, domestic, and even toilet furniture, allowances for their drivers, cooks, and even relations. If you have volunteered to be in public service, there shouldn’t be culture of entitlement," Soyinka emphasized.
Assuring the EFCC of his support in the fight against corruption, Soyinka urged President Obasanjo to rid the nation of all symbols of corruption, especially those that remind the citizenry of corrupt past leaders. "We‘ve had many corrupt leaders in this nation. Corrupt leadership invariably had been the manifestation of governance in this country.
"An instance is the late General Sani Abacha. Up till now, everybody is scrambling to try and get together all the loot that he shifted out of this country. Even the current president had appealed to me more than once to try and assist in getting back some of the loot that Sani Abacha stashed away. And even at that, what struck me is that some monuments are still named after the former leader. People will take us as unserious.
"If we are still fronting the symbols of corruption, we are not talking about the brutalities, the tortures, and political killings. I am talking about something that pre-occupies us today, and that is corruption," Soyinka stressed.
Also speaking on the occasion, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Bello Masari, urged politicians and Nigerians to de-emphasise zoning of political offices, especially the presidency, contending that it would work against the emergence of a candidate with the requisite leadership qualities.
"Emphasis should be placed on the ingredients of what makes a good leader. Identify any good person in the country to be the president, not a regional or zonal president," Masari admonished, adding that leadership is the state of the mind and responsibility of the leader, not his age or region.
In his remarks, EFCC Chairman, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, expressed fears over the sustenance of the present anti-corruption crusade after Obasanjo’s exit in 2007, saying that the gains so far recorded by the present administration stood the risk of being eroded if mistakes were made in the choice of leaders next year.
Ribadu said: "Nigeria is approaching an election year in 2007 and we want to join other well meaning Nigerians in placing on the front burner of discourse, the quality of leadership we desire and expect, and we should and must get. Secondly, and as a corollary to the first, is how the fight against corruption by this administration will be sustained in the post 2007 era.
"The combination of these two related issues will define the future of democracy, the rule of law, and development in our country. The gains recorded by Mr. President and his administration, which have been internationally recognised, stand the risk of being eroded if mistakes are made with the choice of our leaders in the 2007 elections," he cautioned.
Disclosing that the EFCC had recorded unprecedented 84 convictions in less than two years, Ribadu warned that the coming months and years would be very tough. "We shall proceed henceforth, in the firm belief that our support is across board. We are confident that we shall prevail over the enemy," he said.
Posted by Publisher at 12:48 PM | Comments (0)
Senate Invites IG, DG of SSS; INEC chairman too, over 2007 polls
Political Killings
The Senate has invited the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Sunday Ehin-dero, and the Director General of the State Security Service (SSS), Col. Kayode Areh, to explain reasons for the rising wave of crimes, particularly political assassinations, and their inability to apprehend and prosecute the perpetrators.
08.23.2006
The officers are to appear before the Senate tomorrow even as the legislative body issued a similar summons to the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Maurice Iwu, to give it a comprehensive report on the commission’s state of preparedness for the 2007 general elections.
No date has, however, been fixed for Iwu’s appearance.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN), told reporters after yesterday’s plenary that the commission’s boss would be engaged after Ehindero and Areh had appeared before the Senate.
The decision by the Senate to summon the trio stemmed from the welcome address by the President of the Senate, Chief Ken Nnamani, entitled: “Providing Leadership in Difficult Times,” to the members who resumed yesterday from a six-week recess.
Shortly after the address, the Senate Leader, Senator Dalhatu Tafida, supported by the Deputy Minority Leader, Senator Daniel Saror, moved the motion that Ehindero, Areh and Iwu be summoned before the house.
The resolution was also reinforced by another motion listed in the day’s order paper, and brought by seven senators led by Ndoma-Egba, pursuant to the Senate Standing Rules 42 and 45 on matters of urgent public importance on the spate of assassinations in the country.
The other sponsors of the motion moved by Ndoma-Egba and seconded by Senator Jonathan Zwingina, were Senator Dalhatu Tafida, Senator Effiong Bob, Senator Bassey Ewa Henshaw, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma and Senator Olorunnibe Mamora.
Prior to the reading of the motion, the Senate had voted on the suggestion by its president in his speech that it should invite Ehindero and Are to appear before it for a comprehensive briefing on what they are doing and the progress they have so far made in the investigations of recent political assassinations.
The Senate president said, “In the past weeks, villains and assassins have attempted to take the clock of democracy backwards (as) democratic gains recorded are suddenly being turned to democratic deficits.
“While the senate was on recess, Engineer Funso Williams and Dr. Ayo Daramola, governorship aspirants in Lagos and Ekiti States respectively, were murdered in gruesome and cold blooded manner.
“The death of these political stalwarts at this moment compounds fears about 2007. The Senate sends condolences to the families of these illustrious Nigerians for their losses and we pray that God will grant them the grace to bear the losses”.
Nnamani said that the murders had raised the barometer of violence in Nigerian politics, expressing the hope that the country was not back to the beaten path of electoral violence. “We hope that this wanton destruction of life is not an evil sign of a bleak election year,” he stated,
He said Nigerians desired free, fair and credible polls in 2007, but warned that this could not be achieved if hired killers were allowed to operate freely. “I commend the quick response of the Nigeria Police to these gruesome murders,” Nnamani said.
On the issue of 2007 polls, he suggested that the Senate should resolve to request INEC chairman to appear before it to apprise it of the difficulties and challenges that the commission was facing as well as acquaint the house with its strategy to ensure free, fair and credible elections.
Said the Senate president: “In addition, we may resolve to mandate the Senate Committee on INEC, working alone or in conjunction with the House Committee on INEC, to hold periodic meetings and dialogues with the INEC and other relevant agencies and civil society groups to ensure that preparations for the elections are firmly on track”.
Nnamani said further, “Our anxiety about the 2007 elections and commitment to ensure free polls in Nigeria is bona fide, and in keeping with out legislative mandate under the constitution
“Having appropriated funds for the INEC and passed a new electoral law to streamline electoral processes in Nigeria, it will be gross dereliction of our collective responsibility as legislators if we do not take seriously the anxiety daily expressed by Nigerians on the state of preparedness of INEC to conduct free, fair and credible elections in 2007”.
In line with the motion moved by the senate leader on the basis of the speech by the senate president, the house proceeded to endorse four out of the six prayers contained in the motion moved by Senator Ndoma-Egba and six other members.
The most significant of the prayers was the summoning of the IG and the DG, SSS, after Senators Zwingina, Uche Chukwumerije, Kassim Victor Oyofo and Saidu Danssadau, among others, had contributed to the motion, for them to appear before the house to explain the reasons behind the rising wave of political assassinations.
Posted by Publisher at 12:45 PM | Comments (0)
EFCC charges 3 Ekiti Commissioners over fraud
THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) will soon arraign three commissioners in Ekiti State for alleged fraud in connection with the Ekiti State integrated poultry project.
AKEEM NAFIU and ERIC IKHILAE, Lagos - 23.08.2006
The three commissioners, Chief Boboye Olanipekun, Kayode Osho and Richard Toyin Ojo, are in charge of Agriculture, Works and Finance, respectively.
They were accused alongside Gbenga James and Biological Concepts Nigeria Limited of fraudulently concealing the true source of about N27.5m being part of the amount meant for the execution of the Ekiti State integrated poultry project.
According to the charge sheet No. FHC/L/CS/188, the offence was allegedly committed between May, 2004 and April, 2006.
The 12-count charge alleged that Chief Boboye Olanipekun and Gbenga James on the 29th of September, 2004 in Ado-Ekiti, collaborated with Biological Concepts Nigeria Limited to conceal the genuine origin of the sum of N2.5 million.
The charge sheet further alleged that Kayode Osho sometime in December, 2005 in Ado Ekiti, collaborated with Gbenga James and Biological Concepts Nigeria Limited to conceal the genuine origin of the sum of N8.5 million while Richard Toyin Ojo was accused of accepting the cash payment of the sum of N1 million from Biological Concepts of Nigeria Limited.
Also, in one of the charges, Gbenga James, Biological Concepts Nigeria Limited and Kayode Osho were accused of converting the sum of N720,000 from the money meant for the execution of Ekiti State integrated poultry project.
It will be recalled that Gbenga James is currently undergoing trial alongside Goke Olatunji a personal assistant of the Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose, for alleged money laundering and illegal diversion of public funds.
When contacted for the Ekiti State government’s comments on the matter, the Chief Press Secretary to the state governor, Elder Idowu Adelusi, said he was not aware of such a development.
Posted by Publisher at 12:39 PM | Comments (0)
Flood alert in Abuja
Heavy rainfall caused a flash flood which devastated parts of Abuja and its major satellite towns yesterday. Not far from the City gate, the road was submerged forcing some motorists to abandon their vehicles in the flood waters.
By Mohammed Lawal Shuaibu & Abdullahi M. Gulloma
A small stream flowing through Gwagwalada broke its banks after hours of heavy rain. The water submerged houses and left 60 families homeless.
People trapped in their homes were heard screaming for help as the water rose. Rescuers broke windows to rescue women and children.
Witnesses saw water tanks, refrigerators, television sets, gates and other building materials floating down-stream.
The worst affected buil-dings in the suburb were illegally built and closest to the stream. Some are made of concrete, but others are made of wood and zinc.
Kubwa was also flooded for the second time in less than a month.
At the beginning of the month, Kubwa suffered a devastating flood with waters washing homes away without warning in the early hours of the day.
The FCDA said it would demolish the buildings damaged by the flood in Kubwa.
Water also destroyed part of the main road into Abuja yesterday causing traffic chaos trapping motorists for hours.
The sudden burst of fast flowing water ripped away a section of the Gagwalada -Lokoja road.
The Federal Road Safety Commission described the road as a “death trap”, but no one was injured during the flood.
A witness said the flood caused traffic hold up on the road. He said: “Motorists were forced to park on the sides of the road and waited for almost three hours for the flood to subside as it had washed the road at the village. It was about 4.30pm that vehicles were able to move”.
An FRSC spokesman said the culvert was not big enough to carry the road across the river.
He said: “Our major problem now is that we do not know the extent to which the flood has damaged the culvert underneath and that the road has a crack across.
The FRSC also maintained that apart from the culvert underneath being small to carry the road, the trench dug by the side of the road by contractors burying their communication cables also aided the flood to damage the culvert and the road.
“As it is now, this part of the road is dangerous and that is why we are here with police to ensure make-shift signals for motorists”, he said.
Though the flood did not cause any casualty, the dangerous nature of the road coupled with this development could cause death to motorists who ply the road in no time if nothing is urgently done to arrest the situation, he said.
The heavy downpour yesterday also disrupted commercial activities in most areas across the Federal Capital Territory and flooded parts of Nyanya and Karu in the outskirts of Abuja.
The rain which started in the early hours of yesterday, seriously affected businesses, especially that of commercial motorcyclists popularly known as Okada riders.
Okadaman, Nafiu Yusuf, told Daily Trust yesterday he was only able to pick two passengers and that the heavy rain would affect his daily returns of N700 to the owner of the motorcycle.
Another okada rider, Moses Bako, said passengers were not patronising motorcycles because of the heavy rain. This, he said, “has been hitting us bad.”
The rain also affected areas like Nyanya and Karu. Mostly affected were areas around Zenith Bank, LEA Primary School, Mammy market, Nyanya market and the road leading to the city centre.
As at 9 a.m., customers could not access Zenith Bank as its three security men could not reach the gate to open it for them. The building materials market in the area was washed away by the flood.
Motorists who went to a nearby AP petrol station to buy fuel were similarly trapped in the station as the flood completely took over the road leading to the station.
At the LEA Primary School, buildings were half submerged as the entire school compound was overtaken by the flood.
On the major road leading to the town, motorists could not have easy passage as part of the road was taken over by refuse washed “ashore” by the flood.
Commuters also had their share of the bad experience as the commercial drivers exploited the situation to arbitrarily increase their fares by 30 per cent.
In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, a trader, Madam Grace Enwulem, who brings fruits from Akwanga to sell at Karu market, said that she lost some of her wares to the flood because the vehicle she boarded broke down in the flood. She said that she abandoned the vehicle and her goods to seek shelter elsewhere.
A motorist, Mr. Raphel Akingba, blamed the flood on the drainage system in the area and people’s habit of dropping refuse in the channel.
He advised local authorities to put in place a proper refuse disposal mechanism.
A trader at the building materials market who preferred anonymity, said the flood has become a common phenomenon anytime it rains in the area.
Posted by Publisher at 12:37 PM | Comments (0)
171 killed as Russian airline crashes
NO fewer than 39 children were among 171 people aboard a Russian plane which crashed in eastern Ukraine killing all passengers and crew members.
FUNKE ODUWOLE with agency report
The Tupoler-154 was flying from southern Russia to St. Petersburg when it disappeared from radar screens following a distress signal.
Russian news agency said officials had ruled out terrorism, but the cause of the crash was still unclear, with various officials citing turbulence, lightning and a fire on board.
The Interfax news agency reported that 39 of the passengers were children, although Russian and Ukrainian governments officials offered differing figures.
The plane crashed near the Ukrainian city of Donetsk, about 400 miles east of Kiev, officials said. “Unfortunately, we believe that no one managed to survive,” Russian Emergency Situations Ministry spokesman Irina Andriyanova said in televised comments.
Andriyanova said there were 171 people aboard: 160 passengers, including six children, and 11 crew members. Tetyana Lytvynova, a spokeswoman for Ukraine’s Emergency Situations Ministry, however, said there were 160 passengers and 10 crew members on board. The discrepancy could not immediately be explained.
Lytvynova could not immediately confirm Russian officials’ report of no survivors. A bad thunderstorm was raging in the area at the time of the crash, said a spokeswoman for the Ukrainian Emergency Situations Ministry in Donetsk, who identified herself only as Yelena. She said there was lightning and heavy winds.
Interfax quoted Ukrainian Emergency Situations Ministry spokesman Igor Krol as saying a fire broke out on the plane at 32,800 feet and that the crew decided to try to make an emergency landing. Interfax also quoted Russian aviation official Alexander Neradko as saying that the plane might have run into strong turbulence.
Andriyanova said she received information that “the plane most likely was hit by lightning.” “There was no damage on the ground. After it fell, it broke apart and burst into flames,” Andriyanova said in televised comments.
Interfax cited witnesses as saying the plane was intact when it hit the ground. The RIA-Novosti news agency later quoted Andriyanova as saying “terrorism has been ruled out.”
The plane disappeared from radar screens two minutes after the crew sent a distress signal, said Yulia Stadnikova, another Russian spokeswoman.
Pulkovo airlines, among Russia’s largest carriers, is based in St. Petersburg. It was the third major plane crash in the region this year, and came less than two months after at least 124 people died when an Airbus A-310 of the Russian carrier S7 skidded off a runway and burst into flames on July 9 in the Siberian city of Irkutsk.
On May 3, an A-320 of the Armenian airline Armavia crashed into the Black Sea while trying to land in the Russian resort city of Sochi in rough weather, killing all 113 people aboard.
Posted by Publisher at 12:36 PM | Comments (0)
Obasanjo seeks N600bn excess oil fund; $2.5bn foreign loan; N135bn extra budget
ABUJA— PRESIDENT Olusegun Obasanjo is seeking Senate’s support to source N1.055 trillion from within and outside the nation’s coffers for development projects and to deal with budgetary constraints arising from the Niger Delta crisis.
By Emmanuel Aziken, Ayodele Adegbuyi & Emma Ujah
Posted to the Web: Wednesday, August 23, 2006
The requests which came in three different letters to the President of the Senate include a supplementary appropriation bill of $1.063 (N135 billion) for Government and a request to withdraw N600 billion from the excess crude account to cover shortfalls in the federation account.
Meanwhile, the Federal Ministry of Finance has suspended deductions from state governments’ monthly allocations in respect of the Paris Club debt deal. Also, the Federal, state and local governments are to share N245 billion for the month of July.
Besides the supplementary appropriation and approval to withdraw from the excess crude account, President Obasanjo is also seeking Senate’s approval for a $2.5 billion (N320 billion) loan from China for the purpose of constructing a power plant on the Mambila Plateau, the modernisation of the railways and the rural telephony projects.
In his letter seeking Senate’s permission to withdraw N600 billion from the federation account to cover budgetary constraints arising from the crisis in the Niger Delta, the President said: “Immediately the budget was passed, the problem in Niger Delta assumed a different dimension resulting in oil production shortfall of about 600,000 barrels per day.
“Currently, we are producing about 2.5mbd which has significant negative variance on oil revenue. This is, therefore, affecting the full implementation of the federal budget and the states and local government budgets as well.
“I, therefore, wish to seek the understanding of the Senate to make up for the shortfall estimated at N600 billion for the federal budget from the excess crude proceeds. Each tier of government will get its proportionate share. This is borne out of my concern to ensure that Budget 2006 is fully implemented at all levels of government.”
In the letter dated August 16, 2006 on the proposed loan from China, the President said $1 billion of the $2.5 billion loan would be used for the construction of the N2600MW hydroelectric power plant, $1 billion for the first phase of the modernisation of the railways which would run from Apapa to Ibadan and another $500 million for the rural telephony project.
Justifying the loan request in the face of the country’s record external reserves, he said: “Much of the infrastructural projects to be financed have high import content and their funding with such a cheap facility would obviate the need to draw down on our external reserve, thereby enhancing the stability of the exchange rate of the Naira, among other benefits.
“The use of the Chinese facility will also assist us in keeping within the framework of our Policy Support Instrument (PSI) with the Bretton Woods Institutions as it would relieve part of the burden which the implementation of the projects would have exerted on the budget.”
In yet another letter dated August 16, 2006, the President is asking for $1.063 billion to fund the power sector projects in the Niger Delta. The President had last year informed the Senate of his intention to draw from the excess crude account to enable him fund those projects but drawing a strong objection from the Senate on the issue.
The President of the Senate had advised President Obasanjo to seek a supplementary budget to cover the projects. In a letter with reference number NASS/S/1017/X/150 dated October 20, 2005, the President of the Senate had amongst others demanded “that the Federal Government share of the project should be determined and funds required for the implementation be identified and appropriated in line with Section 81 of the Constitution. That the President should consider sending a Supplementary Appropriation Bill to cover the Federal Government contribution to the project.”
FG suspends monthly deductions
The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Nenadi Usman, has suspended deductions from state governments’ monthly Federation Accounts allocation in respect of the Paris Club debt deal, directing that further deductions could only be effected after the on-going reconciliation on states’ indebtedness has been completed.
The decision was contained in an address delivered on her behalf by the Minister of State for Finance, Engr. Elias Mbam, at the monthly Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting in Abuja, yesterday.
Mrs. Nenadi also gave the reconciliation committee an October deadline to submit its report which would provide her ministry accurate debt portfolio of each of the states and enable the ministry make deductions proportional to each state’s indebtedness.
She asked all parties to the debt reconciliation exercise, particularly representatives of state governments, to co-operate with officials of the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) as well as the Debt Management Office (DMO) with a view to concluding the exercise within the next two months.
The minister said the deductions would resume in January 2007 after reconciliation had been concluded and appropriate debt portfolio charged to the accounts of individual state governments.
The sum of N254. 485 billion was shared among the three tiers of government from revenue that accrue to the Federation Account and proceeds of the Value Added Tax (VAT) in the month of July.
A total of N422. 753 billion was earned in the month of July from oil, taxes and customs duties but almost 80 per cent of the amount had gone mainly into excess crude oil account and payment of seven per cent and four per cent collection costs to the Nigeria Customs Service and Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), respectively.
The Federal Government took N110.931 billion of the N236.757 billion distributed from the Federation Account, indicating a N6.816 billion decrease when compared with the amount it got last month. States and local governments were allocated N56.266 billion and N43.378 billion, respectively.
Posted by Publisher at 12:35 PM | Comments (0)
Split in ANPP over convention, PDP plans election
HARMONY may have bid farewell to the fold of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) as its National Working Committee (NWC) and the National Convention Committee (NCC) are now sharply divided over the party's proposed national convention.
From Mohammed Abubakar (Abuja) and Kelvin Ebiri (Port Harcourt)
The party has also announced the postponement of the convention, which it will now hold next month, September 1 and 2.
This is as the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Chairman, Col. Ahmadu Ali (rtd), said yesterday that the party would insist on the election and not selection of its candidates during its primaries.
Though ANPP National Caretaker Committee Chairman and Borno State Governor, Ali Modu Sheriff, cited the need to receive and study the reports and recommendations of all the committees before fixing the dates of the convention, The Guardian learnt that the shift was the climax of the cold war, which has been raging between some governors and the convention panel chairman, the Kebbi State Governor, Mohammed Adamu Aliero.
During a media briefing in Abuja yesterday, Sheriff, flanked by his colleagues, Alhaji Bukar Abba Ibrahim (Yobe) and Alhaji Ahmed Sani Yerima (Zamfara), said the decision to postpone the convention was taken by the caretaker committee, leaders and stakeholders in Maiduguri, Borno State and Abuja between Monday and yesterday.
Under the previous arrangement, the convention would have started tomorrow and end on Friday, August 25. He revealed further that the caretaker committee meeting would only hold to receive and consider reports from the constitution review and manifesto review committees.
It was also resolved that a joint meeting of the national caretaker and convention committees would be held on August 25 to receive and consider reports of the states congresses and the zoning of the national offices.
Besides, the newly-elected state chairmen of the party, whose elections were duly certified, would be sworn in on August 28.
Sheriff in the statement also said that the joint caretaker and convention committees would meet on August 30 to receive nominations to the national offices from the zones.
He noted that the accreditation of national delegates for the national convention will be conducted on September 1, preparatory to the convention.
By yesterday's announcement, all the announcements made by the NCC in respect of the convention, according to Sheriff, should be ignored, adding that his new position should be seen as taking precedence over those earlier made by the NCC.
Sheriff said there was nothing wrong with the shift in the dates of the convention since it was in consonance with the constitution of the party.
His words: "We are going to receive the reports of the convention and constitutional review committees, which are all part of the convention, therefore, if there is a change in date, it means we have to ensure that things are done properly, because there is nothing sacrosanct about date in political dispensation as long as those days are constitutional.
"The decision was taken by the party's stakeholders, who have the right to take such decisions at any time to look at the state of the party and take whatever decision they deem necessary for the overall good of the party."
However, a source at the party's secretariat told The Guardian yesterday that the shift was the peak of the disagreement between the two groups jostling for control of the party ahead of the convention.
Though Aliero was said to have been part of the caretaker committee meeting in Maiduguri, he allegedly refused to participate in the concluding Abuja forum because of the differences he had with others.
Governors Dalhatu Attahiru Bafarawa of Sokoto and Ibrahim Saminu Turaki of Jigawa have earlier in the year left the party for the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Aliero's reaction could not be got yesterday.
Meanwhile, Ali in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital on Monday night, said that the PDP will not tolerate unruly behaviour of political aspirants and their supporters during the party's primaries. They will be disqualified, he warned.
Ali spoke at a rally held in his honour at the Alfred Diete Spiff Civil Centre. He said that the amendment of the PDP constitution has made it possible for every ward in a state to elect 25 delegates each.
The 25 delegates and 15 members of the ward executive in a local government area would elect candidates for state Houses of Assembly.
"Similarly, the number of local government areas that make up a senatorial district, will vote for candidate they want to be senator. Then all the 40, of them will congregate in the state capital to produce their gubernatorial candidate. What this means is that the PDP has democratized itself further", he said.
The PDP national chairman noted that the party would insist on the conduct of primaries and would not replace the name of a candidate who had been duly elected.
He then urged all aspirants to return to the grassroots to solicit the support of their people. This he said was because the leadership of the party would not brook petition to displace a person duly elected at a primary.
He explained that in order to instill discipline in the PDP, the party would insist and ensure that every contestant abide by its code of conduct.
According to Ali, the party's leadership has resolved that it would not brook irresponsible behavior because it wants people of integrity to represent it.
He said the national working committee of the PDP has completed work on the guidelines for election, congresses and convention which are to take place before the general elections next year.
These guidelines, he further explained, would be made public as soon as the National Executive Council of the party ratifies them.
The PDP National Chairman explained that the party had taken steps to avert acrimony in the conduct of its affairs, particularly as it concerns the conduct of primaries.
He said that candidates vying for elective positions must be elected and not selected.
Ali said the party has resolved that it would conduct its affairs more transparently this time.
According to him, the whole essence of the on-going reform process in the party is geared towards further democratisation of the party, particularly at the grassroots.
Posted by Publisher at 12:34 PM | Comments (0)
U.S. Orders Citizens Out Of Niger Delta
United States Government has directed its nationals to immediately move out of the Niger Delta because of the tension in the area.
23rd August
By Chinedu Offor (Washington DC), Sylvester Enoghase (Lagos) and Emma Gbemudu (Yenagoa)
The State Department said the latest warning became necessary because of "the deteriorating security situation in the Niger Delta region."
Top officials said the current fighting between Nigerian troops and militants pose considerable risks to travellers. "The security situation in the Delta region has deteriorated significantly. Travel to the region remains very dangerous and should be avoided," the State Department said in a statement.
Justifying the warning, the Department said several Americans and other expatriate oil workers are now targets of armed militants, despite the presence of Nigerian troops.
"Over the last several months, the region has been subjected to a series of attacks on oil company facilities that may be coordinated and have resulted in the death of over 20 security personnel. A militant group claiming responsibility for the recent kidnapping has made public threats against oil company employees and their families, demanding they leave the region."
The U.S. also painted a dismal picture of security nationwide: continuing ethnic strife and politically motivated killings. "In recent months, Lagos and Abuja have also witnessed spikes in crime. Some expatriates have been robbed in the outlying Lagos suburb of Lekki, and in Abuja, the Maitama area has seen a series of home invasions," the Department said.
The government, it added, has not done enough to rein in militias and religious extremists who continue to cause destruction of lives and property.
"Religious tension between some Muslim and Christian communities results in occasional acts of isolated communal violence that could erupt quickly and without warning. The states of Kano and Kaduna are particularly volatile.
"Rival ethnic groups have clashed violently in the Niger Delta region around Warri city and in Plateau State. Senior al-Qaeda leadership has expressed interest publicly in overthrowing the government of Nigeria. Links also were uncovered connecting Nigerians to al-Qaeda in 2004," it stated.
The State Department also mocked recent improvements in the aviation sector, warning that most airlines are still operating planes that are not fit to fly.
"Most Nigerian airlines have aging fleets, and maintenance and operational procedures may be inadequate to ensure passenger safety.
"Domestic passenger airliner crashes in October and December 2005 resulted in numerous deaths. Because international flights tend to meet higher safety standards than domestic Nigerian flights, travellers should attempt to get direct international flights to/from their Nigerian destination, rather than transiting another Nigerian city such as Lagos.
"For domestic travel between Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja, the U.S. Government encourages its employees to use Virgin Nigeria Airlines or Aero Contractors," officials stated.
The Nigerian Embassy in Washington DC has, however, condemned the statement. An official said the statement does not reflect "the current situation of events in the country."
He said there are more drug and crime related killings in the U.S. capital in one week than all the states in Nigeria combined.
"Nigeria is safer than most American cities and President Olusegun Obasanjo has done a lot to improve overall security. The little crime that occurs is always blown out of proportion by the government and the international media," the official stated.
He disclosed that the embassy is also considering issuing a travel advisory for Nigerians visiting the U.S. on the dangers of living in the country.
Meanwhile, there are indications that the Sunday night clash between Ijaw youths and the Joint Military Task Force (JMTF) near Ekeremor might be a case of mistaken identity.
Investigations showed that the youths were on a mission for the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) when they ran into the soldiers who mistook them for hostage takers.
A staff of SPDC was kidnapped at Shell's platform along Ekeremor two weeks ago by youths from a neighbouring community.
Some management staff of the oil company, it was learnt, mobilised some youths to facilitate the release of the hostage.
The group successfully negotiated his release.
But on their way from the mission, the armed youths in two speedboats were stopped for a routine check by soldiers guarding an oil facility along Ekeremor River. The youths resisted.
The soldiers suspected the armed youths were hostage takers and opened fire on them. They responded with gunshots.
This led to the death of nine of the youths, the Shell staff and a soldier.
An SPDC top official confirmed in a telephone interview on Tuesday that the youths had secured the release of the hostage before the encounter with the soldiers.
He, however, said negotiation for his release was spearheaded by Bayelsa State Government and not Shell.
But the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has asked Bayelsa State Government to produce the Shell staff who was one of its members.
PENGASSAN President, Peter Esele, made the call at a press briefing in Lagos on Tuesday.
"We have been informed that Comrade Nelson Ujeya, a community Liaison Officer (CLO) with the Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited (SPDC) while in company of Bayelsa State Government officials on a Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) to Letugbebe community was prevented from leaving the community after the visit since August 8, 2006.
"We are surprised that this dastardly act was carried out in the full glare of a team led by senior Bayelsa State Government officials....
"We are very upset because the government has not cushioned the relief of Nigerians as the same government secured the released of the foreign oil workers, without securing the release of the Nigerian among them. The government of Bayelsa needs to explain to Nigerians the whereabouts of our staff.
"On our part, considering the escalation of kidnapping and other violent acts in the Niger Delta region, we are under tremendous pressure to take action that will guarantee the safety of lives and property of our members," he said.
Posted by Publisher at 12:33 PM | Comments (0)
Vatsa’s wife falls sick
Given her exertions on the bid to seek justice over what she sees as the unjust and cruel execution of her husband in 1985, Hajiya Sefiya Vatsa has fallen slightly ill.
Hassan Ibrahim, Kaduna - 23.08.2006
Sequel to this, her personal physician has advised her to stop speaking to the press and putting herself under stress.
On Monday, while receiving Mr. Shehu Sani and others, Mrs. Vatsa had stated that she had documents that would nail General Babangida in the particular case of her husband’s execution and in the general case of how Babangida ruled Nigeria.
But when the Nigerian Tribune visited Mrs. Vatsa in her Kaduna home yesterday, she refused to entertain any more press interviews for now, as she had been advised by her doctor.
When the Nigerian Tribune called her on her mobile phone after the attempt to talk to her in her home, Mrs, Vatsa sai, “you people should leave me alone for now. I have said all that I need to say for now. Please go to my children if you need to hear anything. They are in Abuja.”
Posted by Publisher at 12:33 PM | Comments (0)
Bakassi: Cameroun demands 14-year tax from indigenes
Bakassi indigenes, on Tuesday, complained that the Camerounian authorities were demanding 14-year tax arrears from them. The period covers the years the Nigerian soldiers prevented them from going into the area.
By Ofonime Umanah, Calabar
Published: Wednesday, 23 Aug 2006
Our correspondent learnt that Nigerians who resided in the settlements that form the Bakassi North, now being administered by Cameroun, were being harassed over the tax arrears.
Worst hit are the fishermen, whom our correspondent learnt had been told to stay off the waters of Bakassi if they could not show evidence of their tax payment in the last 14 years.
The fear of the gendarmes may force many other natives to flee the area for Abana, the headquarters of the local government area still being administered by Nigeria.
The Chairman of the Bakassi Council of Traditional Rulers, Etim Okon Edet, who confirmed the tax demands to our correspondent said, My people have just called me to inform me of the new developments in Archibong and the adjoining settlements.
The gendarmes are asking Nigerians to pay 14 years arrears of tax. We are really in trouble. That is why I keep begging the Federal Government to resettle us immediately so that we will be free from these harassments.”
The representative of the Cross River South in the National Assembly, Senator Bassey Henshaw, said it was an unfortunate development because the demand was not part of the agreement between Cameroun and Nigeria.
The senator said he believed President Olusegun Obasanjo would fulfill his promise to protect the lives and property of Nigerians living in the peninsula and urged the people to remain calm.
Meanwhile, there are signals that members of the National Assembly, particularly those in the Senate, are not comfortable with the Federal Governments decision to cede the Bakassi peninsula.
Henshaw told our correspondent on Tuesday that his colleagues felt bad about the development.
The Senator said, I believe that whatever the National Assembly does will be in the interest of the Nigerian people. I believe ultimately, what is in the best interest of this nation will prevail.
I am speaking to them, I am speaking to my colleagues. The pain of the people is my pain. My colleagues also feel this way. They do because I have spoken to them,” he said.
The Senate will be expected to ratify the agreement for it to have the full force of the law. The natives have already expressed the hope that the legislators would be able to stand by them and jettison the pact. Moreso as Cameroun has already failed to keep its part of the deal.
Posted by Publisher at 12:32 PM | Comments (0)
War in Lebanon: Bitter lesson for Israel -- NSCIA
THE Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), has said that the latest war in Lebanon should have taught the Israelis the bitter lesson of the balance of terror in the troubled Middle East.
From MUSTAPHA SAYE, Kaduna
‘’Any nation in the region in future would think twice before venturing to violate the territorial integrity of her neighbours,’’ the council stated.
This was contained in a communiqué issued at the end of its meeting last Monday and signed by its Secretary-General, Dr. Abdul-Lateef Adegbite a copy of which was made available to Daily Triumph correspondent in Kaduna.
The council praised the United Nations for ensuring a cease fire in Lebanon, pointing out that unless the Palestinian question is addressed and Israel withdraws from occupied Arab territories, the cease-fire would be a mirage and a mere postponement of another battle royale between the freedom-fighting Hezbullah and Zionist Israel.
The council also expressed appreciation over the role played by President Olusegun Obasanjo in the fund raising exercise for the rehabilitation of the National Mosque, and noted with appreciation the gesture of state governors and eminent Muslims who graced the event and contributed generously to the fund.
The council also expressed worry at the upsurge in political violence and assassination of political big wigs in the country, calling on the federal government to give adequate security to prospective candidates in the forthcoming elections and ensure that the next election is not marred by violence and anarchy.
It also called on government to fish out perpetrators of political assassinations and punish them accordingly so as to serve as a deterrent to others who may have murderous intention.
Posted by Publisher at 12:31 PM | Comments (0)
Nigeria police 'killed suspects'
Amnesty International has accused the Nigerian police of summarily killing 12 suspected armed robbers captured in a police raid in Abia state.
The 12 had been paraded before the press the previous day, after the raid in the southern town of Umuahia.
Four others were shot dead in the raid. Amnesty has called for a public inquiry into what happened.
In an unrelated incident, Niger Delta militants say 10 of their men were killed in a crackdown on kidnappers.
Police say they are investigating the deaths of the 12 in Umuahia and could not comment.
The men were arrested earlier in Au