Ayade under fire over NEC retreat

Cross River State Governor Ben Ayade has come under fire following his absence  from  the ongoing  National Economic Council retreat  in Abuja.

The  retreat is being  chaired by  Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo.

Calabar-based   economic analysts George Ebri and Mike Effa expressed their disappointment at Ayade’s absence from the retreat, saying the state had missed an opportunity to benefit from a national event.

Ebri criticised  the governor’s refusal to direct   his deputy  Ivara Esu to represent him at  the event.

Ayade has been out of the country  since the second week of February without officially handing over to  Esu.

Ebri  said, “We are very sad that  our governor is absent from a retreat  to address the economic crisis confronting the country when his colleagues are there.

“The initiative is a welcome development. It’s what the country needs at this critical period. I enjoin President Muhammadu Buhari to sustain it and make it more frequent.”

Effa, who  queried the governor’s frequent foreign trips, lamented Ayade   had travelled to different countries without officially  handing over  to his deputy.

He said, “The situation in Cross River State where the governor has established offices outside the country is worrisome and it should be addressed  by the  House of Assembly.

“He  has deliberately denied us the opportunity to  share  our economic woes with other governors. I am sure he didn’t even direct his deputy to represent him.

“At this critical stage of our economy, Ayade has decided to operate annex offices in every part of the world to  the detriment of the masses. This is pure wickedness.”

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Lagos fire razes 100 buildings, kills two traders

No fewer than 100 makeshift structures were razed on Monday after fire ravaged a part of Small Kuramo in the Lekki area of Lagos State.

Two people, identified as Kemi and Azeez, aka Akube, were burnt to death in the inferno.

The duo were said to be asleep and were choked by smoke.

PUNCH Metro gathered that valuables worth millions of naira were destroyed in the fire.

However, the cause of the fire could not be ascertained as there were conflicting accounts.

While residents said the fire started after a generator exploded in one of the cabins, the Lagos State Fire Service said the explosion was from a shanty where the occupant was cooking near a keg filled with petrol.

A resident, who did not identify himself, said the fire created confusion in the community.

He said, “The fire started a few minutes to 3am. We tried our best to put it out, but we couldn’t.

“When we saw the way the fire was spreading, we started salvaging our property.

“The intervention of the fire service, however, minimised the damage.”

Our correspondent observed that the shanties served both residential and commercial purposes.

A part of the cabins also sheltered commercial sex workers.

A trader in the community, Jude Obi, said he lost goods estimated at N3m, adding that some hoodlums took advantage of the situation to steal some of his wares.

He said, “I have two cabins here and they were stocked with different kinds of clothes. When someone raised the fire alarm, I tried to save my goods.

“Those that I was able to bring out and put on the road were stolen. I don’t want to remember my loss, because it brings tears into my eyes. I lost goods worth N3m.”

Another member of the community, who identified himself only as Orioye, said despite their losses, they lived in fear.

“We are in a hopeless situation. We cannot ask for help from the government or any Nigerian because many people don’t see us as a part of the society. We are citizens of this country and we don’t deal in illegal business here,” Orioye said.

The secretary to the traders at the Lekki Beach Road, Michael Onuwaje, said preliminary investigation by the community showed that the fire started from a generator.

“While some claim it was a faulty generator which was being repaired that caused the fire, others said as they were fuelling a generator that was working, an explosion resulted. The fire spread to other structures.

“Azeez, who was one of our traders, was burnt to death while asleep. He was 27 years old. Another lady, whom we have not been able to identify, was also killed,” he added.

It was learnt that policemen from the Ilasan division took the charred remains of the deceased to a mortuary.

Onuwaje said the material loss was valued at N20m, adding that there was no plan to rehabilitate the victims.

The Director of the Lagos State Fire Service, Rasak Fadipe, said firefighters from Lekki Phase 1 and Phase 2 responded to the fire.

He added that over 100 structures were destroyed by the fire.

He said, “We got the distress call around past 3am and immediately we got there, we discovered they were shanties which covered about four acres of land.

“But the fire had already spread to a space of about four plots. We engaged in active firefighting operation and ensured the fire did not spread beyond the position we met it.

“In the course of the operation, we discovered two bodies at different locations and we handed the corpses to the police.

“While the female was identified as Kemi, no one could identify the man.

“We gathered that the fire started after an explosion caused by a woman, who was cooking near a keg of petrol.”

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Hearing begins today as medical students sue UNILAG

Some 100-level medical students at the University of Lagos have urged a Federal High Court in Lagos to quash the decision of the university’s Senate, which allegedly changed the academic requirement needed by them to proceed to 200-level.

The students, numbering about 31, claimed that the decision taken by the university’s Senate on January 27 was “an attempt to weed them out of the university.”

Already, the case has been assigned to Justice Sule Hassan, who has fixed hearing for Tuesday (today).

The students accused the university of raising the academic requirement in order to accommodate diploma students, who allegedly paid N500,000 to the institution’s College of Medicine.

The aggrieved students, through their lawyer, Mr. Jiti Ogunye, therefore, urged the court to declare the Senate decision as a nullity.

They, among others, also sought an order of certiorari “removing and reviewing the decision.”

The students explained that they were admitted to the university in the 2014/2015 academic year to studyMedicine and Surgery, Dentistry, Medical Laboratory Science, Nursing, Physiotherapy, Pharmacology, Physiology and Radiography.

According to them, their admission followed their successful performance in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination and the post-UTME set by the university.

They claimed that upon being admitted to the university, the academic requirements they needed to proceed to the second year were clearly stated in the Faculty of Science pre-Medical and Pharmacy Programmes 2014-2016 Information Handbook made available to them.

 They added, “The said revision was not carried out with noble and genuine intentions to enhance academic standards in the MBBS and other medical programmes in the College of Medicine.

“It was also not for the reason of adherence to the admission quota of either the National Universities Commission or of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria for the MBBS in the College of Medicine, (which is 150 for the College of Medicine).

“It was for the purpose of creating admission spaces for foundational course students who are given (or more appropriately sold) admission into the MBBS and other medical programmes upon participating in a one-year programme organised by a Joint Unified Preliminary Examination Board for which they paid to the university  a minimum total fee of N400,000 per session.

“The said payment is part of the internally generated revenue of the university, a stream of revenue which has attracted wide criticism in the university system in Nigeria, for lack of transparency and accountability in its management.”

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N2bn for small, medium scale industries fund missing in Plateau

AS part of efforts to recover the money looted by the previous administration in Plateau State, the government has uncovered the disappearance of N2 billion meant for the small and medium scale industries in the state.
The Secretary to the State Government, Honourable Rufus Bature, who disclosed this in an interview  with  the Nigerian Tribune in Jos, said the money was released to the state, for the development of small and medium scale industries, towards  the end of the last administration.
According to him, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had written to the state government to verify if the money was disbursed for the purpose it was meant for, adding that the present administration in the state had no record of such disbursement to small and medium scale industries.
“There was a money that came towards the end of the last administration that was supposed to be given to the small and medium scale industries in the state. The money is about N2 billion, but the money suddenly disappeared and the CBN has written to us on what we have done with the money, but we didn’t inherit such money,” he said.
Honourable Bature further pointed out that the AP-led government in the state, had made some recovery in terms of money looted, adding that parts of the money in some private accounts had been discovered.

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Army/Shi’ite Clash: Judicial panel fails to collect army’s memorandum

THE Judicial Commission of inquiry constituted by the Kaduna State government to look into the clashes between the Nigeria Army and the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) also known as the Shi’ite, has  failed to take the memorandum of the army as promised in the last adjournment.
It will be recalled that the panel had, last week, ordered the counsel to the Shiite to presents its memorandum on or before Monday, March 21, 2016, while assuring that the commission would commence its proceedings in earnest, by collecting the memorandum submitted by the Nigeria Army on the said date.
 The panel failed to keep to its order as it again for the fifth time adjourned its sitting till Wednesday, March 23rd, 2016 for continuation of its proceedings.
The reason for the adjournment according to the chairman of the commission, Justice Muhammadu Garba Lawal, was to give the counsel to the IMN another final opportunity to have access to their leader Ibrahim El-Zakzaky.
“The commission has considered the unexpected application by the counsel to the commission for yet another adjournment to enable counsel to the IMN have access to their leader.
“The inability of the counsel to the IMN to see the leader of the movement is the reason for the adjournment, now with the strong indication of the possibility of seeing him on Monday it is reasonable to grant a short adjournment.
“The commission has granted the application and proceedings adjourned till Wednesday, March 21, 2016 and to also take the presentation from the army,” he stated.
Earlier in his application, one of the leading counsels to the commission, Yunus Ustaz Usman ,  informed the commission that efforts to have access to the leader of the Islamic Movement is beginning to yield result.
Meanwhile, IMN has filed criminal charges against the Nigerian Army at the International Criminal Court in Hague.
Speaking in at news conference in Kaduna, on Monday, the spokesperson for the movement, Ibrahim Musa said they decided to take legal action because what took place in Zaria in December, was a genocide against their group.

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PTA sets up panel to investigate alleged sexual harassment at Queens College

The Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), of Queens College, Lagos, said in Lagos, on Monday, that it had set up panel to investigate alleged sexual harassment in the school.

Chairman of the PTA, Mrs Beatrice Akhetuanen, told a news conference that the panel would be working with the Police Station in Sabo, Yaba to investigate the teacher said to be perpetrating the act.

According to online report, the teacher is said to have sexually harassed a JSS II student of the school.

The report claimed the teacher was usually drunk, and started molesting the girl who screamed and was rescued by some of the girls, booing him.

The student's mother alleged that she reported the case to the House Mistress who confirmed the teacher was in the habit of doing such and there was nothing anyone could do to him.

She alleged that the case was also reported to the Vice Principal but she said the teacher would not be allowed to leave the school that instead, her daughter would leave.

Akhetuanen said no parent had reported any sexual harassment to the principal or vice principal and that the teacher was not living in the school.

The PTA chairman, however, pleaded with the aggrieved parent to come forth so that the case could be looked into.

''The so-called parent has not shown herself, all efforts to get her has proved abortive.

"When I tried calling the number I saw on the report, she did not pick her call", she said.

Earlier, the SSS III students were seen protesting, saying that the accused had been set up by someone and was unjustly accused.

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PDP wants Amaechi, Peterside, others arrested

CHAIRMAN, Rivers State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Felix Obuah, has called for an immediate arrest and prosecution of the Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, Senator Magnus Abe and Dr Dakuku Peterside over Saturday’s poll fiasco.
In a statement, Obuah said the APC leaders, alongside Jukaye Flag Amachree and others, masterminded the violence, killings and various electoral malpractices during the Saturday rerun in some parts of the state.
The PDP chairman also demanded the arrest and prosecution of Mr Barry Mpigi for hijacking electoral materials in Tai Local Government Area to his home town, Koroma, with the aid of the military.
Obuah also accused the former Commissioner for Youth in the state, Mr Felix Nwaeke, who, in connivance with an army captain, absconded with all electoral materials for ward 2, Obeakpu, in Oyigbo Local Government Area.
According to him, Mrs Ibim Semenitari, aacting Managing Director of NDDC, “has shown that she lacks manners and does not possess the honour of a woman, as she engaged in ballot paper hijack and falsification of polls results.”
He strongly condemned the involvement of the army in the elections which, he said, heightened tension in the state.
The PDP chairman also bemoaned the assassination attempt on the Chief of Staff, Government House, Emeka Woke; the assault on the Secretary to the State Government, Kenneth Kobani and other PDP leaders, who had been marked for arrest and detention.

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I wasn’t caught with military uniform, cash —Wike’s aide

CYRIL Dum Wite, the Special Adviser on Special Projects to Governor Nyesom Wike, has debunked the allegation that he was arrested by soldiers during the legislative rerun on Saturday, for being in possession of military uniform and large sum of money.

The pictures of the governor’s aide, along with three other men, went viral on the social media, as he was arrested in Khana Local Government Area with some cash and a security uniform displayed along with him.

However, Wite, who is on police bail, disclosed in Port Harcourt, on Monday, that he was neither in possession of military uniforms, nor the large amount displayed in his photograph.

This was as he blamed his ordeal on the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), saying the soldiers who arrested him were manipulated by the party’s candidate in Khana state constituency 2, Friday Inkee.

He also denied knowing the three men who were paraded along with him when he was arrested, saying they were arrested for an offence that was different from what he was held for.

The governor’s aide said he was arrested by soldiers at the INEC office in Bori where he had gone to lodge a complaint that election materials for his Ward 12 in Lugbara in Khana constituency 1 had been allegedly hijacked.

“I had no uniform. What you saw on the video with about three men wearing camouflage, I had no knowledge of them; I don’t know them from Adams. I was seated on the floor when they brought them.

“I think they were arrested on the road; the police can attest to that. I don’t know them; they were not arrested with me. I was beaten and kicked to the floor at the INEC office in Bori; I was not arrested from anywhere.

“I had no uniform at all. In this case, only one police uniform and it belonged to one of the four police officers that were to serve in my unit. All of them came to identify that uniform that it belonged to one of the officers there.

“What really happened was that they had been at the RAC centre in my village since last Thursday. A cousin of mine had assisted them to provide them with food, water and where to take their bath.

“On this Saturday morning, the man has gone to his room to take his bath and left his bag in the car. So when the information came that they were hijacking election materials at Bori, I just told my cousin who owns the car to let us go there.

“When they started beating us and searching his car, they saw a bag and when they emptied the content of the bag, a uniform was there and an identity card that belonged to that police officer who was posted to the RAC centre, clearly on election duties and who was assisted by the community where he was posted to,” he said.

According to him, “the man (the policeman) came and identified his uniform and said he was taken his bath and left his bag in the owner’s car. The car is not mine. The man identified his bag, containing his uniform, ID card and his Bible. They gave him his bag and allowed him to go back to the RAC centre.

“The owner of the uniform is not a fake police officer; he was posted on an election duty and he identified his bag. What is wrong in assisting the Nigerian police to work?

“The uniform does not belong to me; it does not belong to the owner of the car. The owner left the uniform in the car to take his bath and hurriedly we took the car to go and prevent the hijack of election material.”

Wite also denied being the owner of the money displayed along with his photographs when he was arrested as he claimed that the money belonged to his cousin.

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Cancel Rivers rerun election - APC

RIVERS State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has called for an outright cancellation of the legislative rerun held in the state, saying the exercise was marred with violence and irregularities.

Chairman of the party in the state, Dr Davies Ikanya, made the call while addressing a press conference at the party’s secretariat in Port Harcourt, on Monday.

This was as he accused Governor Nyesom Wike of undue interference in the electoral process, adding that a fresh rerun should be conducted and should be devoid of the pitfalls that characterised the last exercise.

“The position of APC is that the entire rerun was marred by irregularities, violence and unlawful interferences by Nyesom Wike, the governor of Rivers State.

“[There were also] inadequate security, compromised process, especially with indiscrimate, irregular and untrained ad hoc staff in some cases, amongst other very serious issues.

“APC calls on the INEC chairman and its entire management team to cancel the Rivers State rerun, to enable all the pitfalls earlier enumerated to be corrected before a fresh rerun is held,” he said.

Ikanya alleged that the first strategy of Governor Wike was to deliberately saturate the atmosphere with his threat of death and violence against INEC personnel for the rerun.

He said, some few days to the election, Wike accused the INEC federal commissioner who was sent to conduct the election of plotting to swap election results without concrete evidence.

The Rivers APC chairman further alleged that the rerun election witnessed a well-planned spate of violence across rivers state, adding that the genesis of this was the repeated threats and the killing of two soldiers in two local government areas in the state.

“It was glaring that security was inadequate across the state. The only fairly secure areas were the local government area headquarters where a handful of police and army personnel were deployed, but were unable to effectively cover other volatile areas and population centres of the local councils.

“In some places like Emohua, no returning and collation officers reported for work, giving way for unknown ad hoc  personnel to be recruited for a very sensitive job of result collation. In Gokana, Khana and Andoni, PDP thugs held electoral personnel hostage, leading to the suspension of the process,” he said.

The APC chieftain also alleged that strange and untrained ad hoc staff were used by INEC on election day, saying it became obvious that the messages of threat by Governor Wike drove fear into trained ad hoc personnel.

The trained ad hoc staff, he said, got scared and refused to turn up for election duties, forcing INEC to engage the services of unknown persons with no training and background checks whatsoever to work as ad hoc personnel.

“The situation led to confusion and alleged sabotage at various places and, in the process, electoral officers [EOs] took over the work of returning officers (ROs), with some of them declaring results which is not their job,” he said.

He also said the election should be cancelled, based on the fact that PDP and Governor Wike had, at various times, publicly said the result sheets for the exercise were fake.

He said, INEC, by declaring results for PDP, using the alleged fake result sheets, had “created a big credibility problem for the process. We condemn the attempt by INEC to accept and uphold results declared on fake result sheets.”

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