Fulani herdsmen kill 20, raze church in Enugu community

Fulani herdsman

Ihuoma Chiedozie, Enugu

No fewer than 20 persons in Ukpabi Nimbo, an agrarian community in the Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State, were killed during an attack by Fulani herdsmen on Monday.

It was learnt that scores of armed cattle rearers, reportedly numbering more than 100, stormed the sleepy community in the early hours of Monday.

A national newspaper had reported on Monday that the herdsmen had recruited scores of gunmen from Nasarawa State for the impending attack on the Enugu community.

Sources in the community said sporadic gunshots were heard as the rampaging herdsmen moved to sack villagers from their homes.

It was gathered that the invading cattle rearers carried guns, bows, arrows, machetes and swords to execute their mission.

The invaders also set a Catholic church in the area on fire.

Many of the villagers were said to have escaped to neighbouring communities in the Uzo-Uwani area, but it was gathered that people in the nearby towns were also worried about possible attacks from the herdsmen.

A police source told our correspondent that as of the time of filing this report, the corpses of five persons, who died in the attack, had been recovered.

It was also learnt that the corpses, which were deposited at the morgue in Bishop Shanahan Hospital, Nsukka, were recovered from farmlands.

There were indications that more bodies would be recovered as a combined team of police and military personnel, who moved into the community to quell the attack, had yet to reach all the affected areas.

But sources in the Ukpabi Nimbo community said more than 20 of their kith and kin were killed before help could come.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Enugu State Police Command, Mr. Ebere Amaraizu, said the total number of casualties could not be ascertained as of the time of filing this report.

Amaraizu, who spoke with our correspondent on the telephone, said the situation in the community had been brought under control, adding that the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Nwodibo Ekechukwu, had led other officers of the command to the affected areas.

The PPRO stated, “We moved in to ensure that the situation did not degenerate beyond control and right now, everything is under control.

“The Commissioner of Police is there with other officers and men and the area is being secured.

“We can’t give the total number of casualties yet; it is when the operation is concluded that we will collate figures and give a definite number.”

Many members of the Ukpabi Nimbo community, who are mostly farmers, have their homes around their farmlands.

It was gathered that several houses as well as farms and crops were also destroyed by the herdsmen.

Our correspondent learnt that the herdsmen had previously fallen out with the villagers over their grazing activities in the community.

Sources in the community disclosed that the villagers had been resisting the use of their farmlands as grazing fields by the herdsmen.

Our correspondent learnt that the situation further degenerated after some herdsmen, who operated in Ukpani Nimbo and other communities in the Uzo-Uwani area, claimed that their cows were missing.

There were also allegations by the herdsmen that some of their colleagues were killed in the area.

The villagers alleged that most of the herdsmen, who were involved in Monday’s attack, were brought from Nasarawa State by other Fulani cattle rearers who were already operating in Enugu.

Our correspondent gathered that before the herdsmen struck on Monday, there was tension in Ukpabi Nimo and other communities in the Uzo-Uwani area over rumour that about 500 herdsmen were mobilising to attack them.

The villagers were said to have alerted the Enugu State Government and the leadership of the Enugu State Police Command after they were informed of an imminent attack by herdsmen.

According to sources, the Chairman, Transition Committee, Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area, Cornell Onwubuya, who was said to have informed Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and the police commissioner of the fears nursed by villagers, also met the leadership of the Hausa-Fulani community in the area over the matter.

Interestingly, the rumoured planned attack by 500 herdsmen was the subject of an emergency stakeholders meeting in the Uzo-Uwani area council at the weekend, hours before the cattle rearers struck.

The meeting, reportedly also deliberated on the incessant herdsmen-related problems in the area including several cases of murder, kidnapping and rape recorded in the recent past.

At the meeting, Onwubuya reportedly explained that some leaders of the Hausa-Fulani community had confirmed the rumoured plan by the herdsmen to launch an attack on the area.

Also at the said emergency stakeholders meeting, leaders of the Hausa-Fulani community in Enugu reportedly assured their hosts that they would take urgent steps to avert the planned attack.

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Mimiko seeks review of revenue allocation formula

Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko

Peter Dada, Akure

The Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, has called on the Federal Government to review the revenue allocation formula for the purpose of development of states and the local governments.

The governor made the call at the inauguration ceremony of the newly-elected chairmen of the 18 local government areas of the state held at the International Event Centre in Akure, the state capital on Monday.

The governor pointed out that the constitution stipulated that the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission should be reviewing the revenue allocation every five years but this had not been done in recent times.

He lamented that the development had been causing a major hindrance to the development and implementation of policies at the state and local governments levels.

He said, “With the present state of finance, it will just be apposite to call the attention of the Federal Government to our skewed fiscal federalism that vests a disproportionate percentage (52 per cent) of revenue in the Federal Government while the states and local governments,  the very tiers with considerable contacts with the populace,  are given 26 per cent and 20 per cent respectively!

“By virtue of Paragraph 32(b) Part I of the Third Schedule to the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the RMAFC is empowered to prescribe a periodic review of the Revenue Allocation formula every five years in accordance with Section 162 (2) of same constitution.”

Mimiko, who said the status quo had remained since 1999, appealed to RMFAC and the Federal Government, to take the appropriate bill to the National Assembly.

While charging the newly-inaugurated council chairmen, who are all members of the Peoples Democratic Party that won the local government election on Saturday, the governor urged them to display exemplary leadership, transparency and accountability in the conduct of government business.

He also advised them to ensure the maintenance of peace and security and seek ways to tackle security challenges because “you are the chief security officers of your various domains.”

“You are expected to complement the efforts of the state government in the pivotal role to ensure the security of lives and property of our people so as to continue with the peace and harmony that currently pervades the state,” Mimiko said.

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20 killed as Fulani herdsmen invade Enugu community

A herdsman with his cattle in Enugu

Ihuoma Chiedozie, Enugu

About 20 persons in Ukpabi Nimbo, an agrarian community in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State, were feared dead during an attack by Fulani herdsmen on Monday.

It was learnt that scores of armed cattle herdsmen, reportedly numbering more then a hundred, swooped on the sleepy community in the early hours of Monday.

Sources in the community disclosed that continuous gunshots were heard as the rampaging herdsmen moved to sack villagers from their homes.

Apart from guns, bows and arrows and machetes, or swords, were also wielded by the herdsmen, it was learnt.

Many of the villagers escaped to neighboring communities in the Uzo-Uwani area, but it was gathered that people in the nearby towns are also worried about possible attacks from the herdsmen.

A police source told our correspondent that, as of the time of filing this report, the corpses of five persons who died in the attack had been recovered.

Our correspondent learnt that the corpses, which were deposited at the morgue in Bishop Shanahan Hospital, Nsukka, were recovered from farmlands.

There were indications that more bodies would be recovered, as our correspondent learnt that the combined team of police and military personnel, who moved into the community to repel the attack, were yet to get to all the affected areas.

Also, sources in the Ukpabi Nimbo community insist more than 20 of their kith and kin were killed before rescue could come.

However, Police Public Relations Officer, Enugu State Police Command, Mr. Ebere Amaraizu, who informed to our correspondent that the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Nwodibo Ekechukwu, led other officers and men to the area, said the total number of casualties could not be ascertained as of the time of filing this report.

Amaraizu, who spoke with our correspondent on the telephone, said the situation in the community had been brought under control.

“We moved in to ensure that the situation did not degenerate beyond control and right now everything is under control.

“The Commissioner of Police is there with other officers and men and the area is being secured.

“We can’t give the total number of casualties yet, it is when the operation is concluded that we will collate figures and give a definite number,” Amaraizu said.

Many members of the Ukpabi Nimbo community, who are mostly farmers, have their homes around their farmlands.

It was gathered that several houses, as well as farms and crops, were also destroyed by the herdsmen.

Our correspondent learnt that the herdsmen had previously fallen out with the villagers over their grazing activities in the community.

Sources in the community disclosed that the villagers had been resisting the use of their farmlands as grazing fields by the herdsmen.

It was equally learnt that the situation further degenerated after some herdsmen who operate in Ukpani Nimbo and other communities in the Uzo-Uwani area claimed that their cows were missing.

There were also claims by the herdsmen that some of their colleagues were killed in the area.

The villagers alleged that most of the herdsmen that were involved in Monday’s attack were ‘imported’ from Nasarawa State by other Fulani herdsmen who were already operating in Enugu.

Our correspondent gathered that, before the herdsmen struck on Monday, there was tension in Ukpabi Nimo and other communities in the Uzo-Uwani area over widespread rumour that about 500 herdsmen were mobilising to attack them.

It was learnt that the villagers, in anticipation of an imminent attack by herdsmen, had alerted the Enugu State Government, and the leadership of the Enugu State Police Command.

According to sources, the Chairman, Transition Committee, Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area, Cornell Onwubuya, who was said to have informed the state governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, and the police commissioner, Nwodibo Ekechukwu, of the fears nursed by villagers, also met the leadership of the Hausa-Fulani community in the area over the matter.

Interestingly, the rumoured planned attack by 500 herdsmen was the subject of an emergency stakeholders meeting in the Uzo-Uwani area council during the weekend, hours before the herdsmen struck.

The meeting, reportedly, also deliberated on incessant herdsmen-related problems in the area, including several cases of murder, kidnappings and rape recorded in the recent past.

At the meeting, Onwubuya, chairman of the Uzo-Uwani local council,  reportedly disclosed that some leaders of the Hausa-Fulani community had confirmed the rumoured plan by the herdsmen to launch an attack in the area.

Also at the said emergency stakeholders meeting, leaders of the Hausa-Fulani community in Enugu reportedly assured that they would take urgent steps to avert the planned attack.

However, the attack still went ahead, as planned, despite the prior notice given to the authorities, and the assurances given at the stakeholders meeting.

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PDP sweeps LG polls in Ondo, APC kicks

Peter Dada, Akure

The Ondo State Independent Electoral Commission has announced the results of the chairmanship and councillorship polls held on Saturday in the 18 local government areas of the state.

In the results announced, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party won all the chairmanship positions in the 18 local government councils of the state just as it won 202 councillorship seats in the 203 wards of the state.

The Allied Congress Party of Nigeria won only one councillorship seat.

Announcing the results of the polls on Sunday at the headquarters of the commission in Akure, the Chairman of ODIEC, Prof. Olugbenga Ige, said only 14 political parties contested the election and that the ruling party won all the chairmanship positions of the 18 local government councils.

He said, “The overall results of the polls indicate that the PDP won in all the 18 local government areas.”

Commending all stakeholders for the support given to the commission during the polls, the ODIEC chairman explained that the election was hitch-free, adding that there was no record of violence or electoral malpractice during the election.

“We promised the people of Ondo State that free and fair polls would be conducted and to the glory of God, we have been able to do our best,” Ige said.

He also announced that the winners of the polls would be issued Certificates of Return at the ODIEC headquarters on Monday (today).

Meanwhile, the main opposition party in the state, the All Progressives Congress, has described last Saturday’s election as a mere selection process, alleging that the winners of the election had been selected beforehand.

It will be recalled that the APC did not participate in the election, following an allegation of bias levelled against the chairman and the members of the commission by the opposition party.

In a statement issued by its Ondo State Director of Media and Publicity, Mr. Steve Otaloro, the APC alleged that the PDP rigged the polls to create an impression that there was an impressive turnout of voters.

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PH, Warri refineries now producing petrol – Kachikwu

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, has announced that the Port Harcourt Refining Company and the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company are now producing a combined volume of seven million litres of petrol daily.

According to him, the PHRC now produces five million litres of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol, while the WRPC produces two million litres of the product daily.Kachikwu, in a statement from the NNPC on Sunday, said this while reopening the Bonny-Port Harcourt crude pipeline.

This is coming as queues for petrol in Abuja and neighbouring cities continued on Sunday.

Hundreds of motorists were seen at the few filling stations that dispensed the product.

However, the minister said in the statement that the government was doing all it could to clear the queues, as he noted that the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company was also scheduled to start production any moment from now.

Kachikwu said the coming on stream of the three refineries would go a long way in ensuring sufficient supply and distribution of petrol across the country.

The minister said the NNPC had been able to recover the Escravos to Warri and Bonny to Port Harcourt crude supply pipelines, stressing that they were critical to the downstream oil sector.

“Port Harcourt is back in production; Warri is back in production; Kaduna, as of today, is receiving crude and will soon be back in production. Lagos is easing off now from fuel scarcity and Abuja is doing the same thing; and once Kaduna begins production, the North will see a lot of improvement,” Kachikwu stated.

The minister said a commercial governance model system had been introduced into the management of the refineries to enable them to compete favourably in the hydrocarbon value chain.

He explained, “What we have done is to find a very creative way of bringing investors who will come in, work with our team here who have the skills, reactivate and upgrade facilities in these refineries.

“The investors will also help us to provide technical support and they will be paid through the flow out of refined products over a period of time, which is why we have also changed the refining model such that the refineries pay for their crude, so it goes into the Federation Account.”

Kachikwu added that the refineries would sell their products to both the Nigerian Petroleum Marketing Company and the marketers.

He insisted that the government would not sell the refineries contrary to claims in some quarters.

“We are not inviting foreign partners to take over the refineries; we do not have the funds. Even now that they are working, they are probably working at about 60 per cent or below capacity; so, you need to upgrade these refineries and get them to a level where they will operate at 90 per cent capacity or more,” the minister said.

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Okonjo-Iweala and Jonathan’s profligacy

 

FORMER Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, touched a raw nerve recently when she recalled the profligacy of the immediate past Nigerian government. But, recanting a day later, she tried vainly to shift the blame to state governors. In the face of daily revelations of the financial banditry of the Goodluck Jonathan administration, her narrative only adds to the injury of Nigerians reeling from economic adversity caused largely by the corrupt government she served.

Speaking at a forum at the George Washington University, United States, she recalled that while the country was able to save $22 billion (referring to the Excess Crude Account), under former President Olusegun Obasanjo (1999-2007), whom she also served as Finance Minister, successive governments lacked the political will to save when oil prices were high. That statement was an admission of her own failure to exert a positive influence on a weak and vacillating president who practically handed over the economy to her with the novel title of Coordinating Minister for the Economy in addition to her Finance Minister portfolio

The direction of public discourse however changed when she caused a statement to be issued a day later that the zero political will to save under Jonathan was squarely the fault of the state governors whom she accused of opposing savings in the ECA and in the Sovereign Wealth Fund. “Rather, she was referring to what many Nigerians know: the strong opposition by some governors to the Jonathan government’s efforts to save in the Excess Crude Account and the Sovereign Wealth Fund sabotaged this important national priority,” the statement said.

This utterly specious statement insults public intelligence. It also flies in the face of facts. Jonathan’s government was profligate, wasteful and had zero, even sub-zero, political will to save. Attributing to Jonathan any serious “efforts to save” is a brazen, insolent attempt to rewrite history, an insult to the collective intelligence of Nigerians who are now bearing the brunt of his cluelessness.

Until mid-2014, when oil prices began to dip, that government benefitted from oil prices that hovered around $100 per barrel and above. Based on savings of the country’s share of oil revenues at prices above the annual budget anchor, the ECA ought to have risen between 2011 and early 2015.  As Charles Soludo and Oby Ezekwesili, former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor and Education Minister respectively under Obasanjo, reminded us, for some 72 months while he (Obasanjo) was in office, the “average monthly oil price was $38 per barrel and yet, he left $43 billion in foreign reserves.” But in the last five years to January 2015 while Okonjo-Iweala and Jonathan ruled the roost, they separately said, with average monthly price at $100pb, foreign reserves had been declining. Soludo said, “If the economy was better managed, our foreign reserves should have been between $102 billion and $118 billion before the fall in oil prices. As of now (January 2015), reserves should be around $90 billion.” Ezekwesili insisted that $22 billion was saved in the ECA and $45 billion in reserves. Okonjo-Iweala’s attempt to blame lower oil production then will not wash. Oil price benchmark was $75pb on 2.3mpd in 2011, $72pb on 2.48mpd in 2012; $79pb on 2.52mpd in 2013, and $77.5pb on 2.38mpd in 2014, while prices actually hovered around $100pb, making up for lower production.

Nigerians have a better memory than Okonjo-Iweala gives them credit for and remember vividly that state governors vigorously opposed Obasanjo’s saving plan too, but it was the then President’s determination that enabled the savings. Rotimi Amaechi, then governor of Rivers State, claimed that governors insisted on sharing what was left of the depleted ECA because they found that the Federal Government under Jonathan and Umaru Yar’Adua before him had been drawing from it without their knowledge. Remarkably, in a rebuttal she authorised on January 7, 2015 to Obasanjo’s lament of the squandering of $22 billion ECA, the Ministry of Finance said; “At the end of May 2007, Nigeria’s gross reserves stood at $43.13 billion – comprising the CBN’s external reserves of $31.5 billion, $9.43 billion in ECA, and $2.18 billion in Federal Government’s savings”. Curiously, at her Washington outing, she admitted, but did not specify when savings hit the often-quoted $22 billion mark.

According to Soludo, the Jonathan team did not save because it lacked the critical virtues of leadership and integrity. Okonjo-Iweala’s attempt to shift the blame for the fiscal recklessness of the government, of which she was the economic pivot, is diversionary. If the state governors were averse to saving – and we readily admit that they were and still are – did they stop her and Jonathan from doing so? The subsisting revenue sharing formula gives 52.68 per cent to the Federal Government; a government committed to “efforts to save in the excess crude account and the SWF” would have still saved its own share, irrespective of the profligacy of state governors.

Rather than the paragon of prudence she seeks to project of herself, Nigerians were shocked by her confession in December 2015 that she acceded to a request from Jonathan and released $322 million of the funds recovered from the loot stashed away by the late dictator, Sani Abacha, for arms procurement. Scandalous tales of un-appropriated money being taken directly from the CBN on Jonathan’s authorisation by officials who promptly proceeded to disburse them into non-government accounts, have continued to emerge; some cases have been charged to court. These cannot be attributed to lack of political will to save by governors. Her memo to Jonathan on the money said a portion was from the Future Generations window of the SWF.  But for an online report that provoked that confession, neither Nigerians nor the governors would have known that the government had begun raiding the SWF. Nigeria’s governors are notoriously wasteful and extravagant, but theirs paled in comparison to the excesses of the Jonathan government.

Just as the governors did not stop her and Jonathan from saving the federal share of the ECA, they did not force them either to deplete special funds or grant the waivers, exemptions and concessions that the Nigerian Customs Service said cost the country N1.4 trillion in the three years to 2014, in contradiction to her own claim of N170.7 billion for the same period. If what was happening under Jonathan was in conflict with her “high moral standards,” why did she not resign?

A country must confront the mistakes of the past to correct them and build a better future than the mess Jonathan and his team bequeathed. There is enough blame to go round: the governors may have been right on the constitutional ground that all revenues accruing to the federation be shared among the three tiers of government, but they are paying the price for it today, as the drastic fall in revenues has left them with no buffers and 27 states owing staff salaries.

Okonjo-Iweala is way off base if she thinks that she can talk herself out of that atrocious government. While the Jonathan government was frittering its oil resources and borrowing to sustain its profligacy, sanctions-hit Iran still managed to have reserves of $93.9 billion and SWF of $62 billion by December 2015; failing state, Libya, had $61.63 billion and $66 billion, and the United Arab Emirates $79.9 billion and $1.21 trillion compared to Nigeria’s $29 billion reserves and $2.9 billion SWF. No thanks to Jonathan and his imprudent government.

In sum, Okonjo-Iweala must give an unqualified, unambiguous apology to the Nigerian people for the wrongs and injustices done to them on her watch as the Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister for the Economy. Or else, she should just keep quiet!

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NSCDC destroys 400 illegal mini refineries in Bayelsa

THE Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Bayelsa State has destroyed more than 400 illegal mini refineries operated by oil thieves in state.
The state NSCDC commandant, Mr Desmond Agu, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yenagoa that the illegal refineries were destroyed between January and March.
Agu said the command now had a gunboat to fortify its operational capacity and had intensified patrols in the coastal settlements and waterways in the state.
He said the intensified patrols by the command had led to the arrest of ex-militant leader and his gang, whom, he said, were being prosecuted.
Agu said the corps had deployed its personnel to provide security to critical national assets and oil facilities across the state.
“We are on ground to ensure safety and protection of vital oil infrastructure and property within the command. The command is determined to deal with the oil thieves and end their illegal businesses.
“We have made some arrests concerning the recent cases of vandalism at Agip’s oil fields in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of the state.
“The corps recovered the bodies of the three oil workers that died in the explosion in one of the fields on March 26. We have handed over the bodies to Agip.
“The case has also been handed over to the Bayelsa State police command because it involves death and falls outside our mandate,” Agu said.
Dr Peter Idabor, Director-General, National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), had earlier attributed the death of the oil workers to poor safety procedures at the oil field.
Meanwhile, officials of Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC) in Bayelsa and its parent company, Eni, have declined comment on the Easter Sunday’s explosion.

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‘Arresting Jonathan’ll spell doom for Buhari govt’

Former President Goodluck Jonathan

The umbrella body of Ijaw youths, the Ijaw Youth Council Worldwide, has alleged that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is laying a foundation for the arrest of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

The IYC, however, advised the anti-graft agency to shelve any plan to “persecute” the former President, insisting that such a move would spell doom for the Muhammadu Buhari administration.

Speaking at a news conference on Saturday to mark the burial of a former Bayelsa State Governor, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, the IYC President, Mr. Udengs Eradiri, said most of the close allies of Jonathan had been arrested by the EFCC.

He particularly condemned the recent arrest and detention of Jonathan’s cousin and contractor, Mr. Robert Azibaola, over an alleged $40m contract fraud.

Eradiri said Ijaw youths would not allow Azibaola, Jonathan or any rising Ijaw leader to be persecuted by the EFCC, the way the Federal Government dealt with the late Alamieyeseigha.

He said, “They have arrested almost all our people. Azibaola was arrested by the EFCC and we are calling on the EFCC to stop persecuting him further and charge him to court if there are issues.

“They detained him for a long time, forcing him to make statements to indict former President Jonathan. Azibaola is a businessman, a contractor, and has the right, like every other Nigerian, to get contracts. Why will the Niger Delta case be a different one?

“We noticed that the same way they persecuted Alamieyeseigha has continued. After Goodluck Jonathan, our people who contributed to that administration, are being persecuted by this government.

“The recent one is the ploy to arrest Goodluck Jonathan, which is unfolding every day. This must stop. Goodluck Jonathan is the most performing President that Nigeria has ever had. We are proud of him.

“Everyday, there is a calculated attempt to whittle down the achievements of former President Jonathan. We call on Nigerians to mount pressure on the government to focus on leading Nigeria right rather than looking for ways to bring down the achievements of Jonathan.

“Buhari should please focus on governance rather than persecution of people who have added value. We are not happy about it and today, we use Alamieyeseigha’s death as a point of contact. The world has seen that from Alamieyeseigha, it has trickled down to all the Niger Delta people.”

Speaking on the alleged removal of 10 per cent community equity from the new Petroleum Industry Bill, Eradiri asked the government to do the needful.

He added that the Federal Government ought to have known that community ownership would ameliorate the years of crises in the Niger Delta region.

The IYC President added, “For us, we will not beg for it. We will not even lobby anybody. The oil is our oil and we will take it. If they like, they should put it, if they don’t like, they should leave it. We expect that this country should have commonsense by including community participation.

“In the issue of pipeline surveillance, this 10 per cent would have covered pipeline surveillance. Once the people know that they have 10 per cent in this business, they will protect it.”

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Saraki’s ally, Baraje, says APC performance poor

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Alhaji Kawu Baraje

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Alhaji Kawu Baraje, on Sunday described the party’s performance since taking office close to one year ago as unimpressive.

He also warned the party against repeating the mistakes made by the Peoples Democratic Party which led to its electoral defeat in 2015.

Baraje, an ally of Senate President, Bukola Saraki, said this during a media briefing in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.

He said Nigerians were not happy with the socio-economic and political development in the country, adding that it was imperative for the government to address the sufferings and

expectations of the people in order to make them happy.

He cited the current petrol scarcity, poor electricity supply and hunger as some of the hardships being experienced by Nigerians.

Baraje said, “I belong to the group that is not very satisfied with the performance of the party; not only because the Senate President is having a very serious political issue, but because there are other cases and instances where we are not happy with the performance of our party.

“I am not a prophet of doom, neither am I a political prostitute. Are you happy going to queue up for up to two to three hours? Are you happy that electricity is not functioning well and people sleep in darkness?

“What we are saying is that majority of Nigerians are not happy and we need to make them happy.

“Majority of Nigerians are suffering and we need to make our impact felt by addressing the suffering of the masses.”

In response, the National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, described Baraje’s comments as unfortunate.

He said, “We are working on a solution in the medium term; short term, yes we can make the fuel queues disappear but we don’t want the problem to re-occur and to do that, you have to work out a solution that will be long-lasting.

“If people want to play to the gallery they are at liberty to do so, they know why they are doing what they are doing.”

Odigie-Oyegun, however, said the Baraje should have asked for clarifications about what the party was doing instead of denigrating the APC.

He said, “At the moment, we know these problems (power outages and fuel queues) are there because it is a case of corruption fighting back.

“We are not resting on our oars; we are working hard and very soon all these problems will be over. Nigerians will certainly win this battle.”

Baraje also warned that if politicians did not achieve their aspirations in their party, “they may consider other options.”

The party chieftain, however, added that it was too early for him to contemplate leaving the APC.

Baraje said, “The PDP made me. I was the National Secretary and later become the National Chairman of the PDP. I made my mark. If I have to be grateful to any political party, I think, it is the PDP.

“So, if I can leave that party, then you will know that the party had gone contrary seriously against my principles of life.

“If I can leave the PDP because of impunity, lack of respect for the rule of law; then do I want to continue in another party that way? But it has not got to that level. That is why we are sounding a note of warning that gradually some of these problems are creeping into the APC. And we must warn ourselves.”

The party chieftain recalled that there had been 155 rerun elections at the state and federal levels so far, noting that the APC lost majority of the elections.

He cited the Rivers State rerun election as an example.

Baraje said, “If you look at the volatile nature of that rerun, some of us with our humble experience expected the national presence of our party much more during that rerun. We did not see that happen. It is regrettable.

“Today, we have gone in rerun elections both at the state and national levels. We ran over 115 rerun elections, and the APC has lost majority of those elections, not because of lack of popularity of the APC. No! But because of lack of enough presence as at now.”

According to him, the APC should not expect magic from its candidates if it decides to abandon them at the middle of an election.

He identified lack of focus and distractions as barriers to the performance of the party. He said the Buhari led-APC administration had good intentions and ideas.

He also said the alleged past misdeeds of the PDP was another inhibiting factor, saying such was another challenge of the APC to render good governance and dividends of democracy to the people.

The APC chieftain urged President Muhammadu Buhari to avoid confrontation with the National Assembly. He advised him to have a dialogue with the National Assembly to resolve crisis if there was any.

He also warned against any attempt to heat up the polity or stage demonstrations on the ongoing trial of the Senate President, saying there will be a ‘mother of all demonstrations’ should anyone try to disrupt the peace in the nation, especially in Kwara State.

Baraje urged the Federal Government to boost agriculture to ensure national food security, address power challenges and other poor infrastructure.

He however commended the Federal Government’s war against Boko Haram insurgents, urging it to do everything within its power to end the menace.

Also, the Labour Party has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to settle down to governance and address the economic woes facing the country.

In a release signed by the National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Abdulkadir Abdulsalam, the party said Buhari’s style of administration should be blamed for the challenges currently facing the country. He called on him to concentrate on fixing the problems by involving real professionals rather than fighting from all sides.

The party added that with the current economic crisis, kidnapping, terrorism and other social vices would be on the rise.

The LP chairman said, “The President should know by now that with Nigeria in economic crisis and the lacklustre attitude of his government to setting up a powerful economic machine, there are only two courses open to the government. They are monetarist deflationary measure and the protectionist method.

“Unfortunately, an economy under heavy government regulation cannot function properly but rather be exposed to a lot of unpleasant things like killing, kidnapping, warfare, padding, delay, economic downturn and impunity will become the linen and ephod for the mainstream expression of governance.”

The party said that the President should note that in today’s Nigeria, there were no electricity, fuel, gas, food and peace, saying that while the ruling class lived in affluence, the masses lived in poverty.

“The President needs to understand that leadership is a creative enterprise and as such allows same to speak and seen without unnecessarily playing the ‘I am in charge’ mentality. He must accept his weaknesses and allow participatory democracy by enlisting spiritual wisdom, greater understanding and absolute knowledge while seriously looking beyond immediate political horizon to involve men of honour with practice to contribute to the rebuilding of the nation and its economy.”

While calling on Buhari to forsake what the party described as his delight in fundamentalism, the LP also urged the President to embrace political and economic liberalism with the countless opportunities it offered.

“We at the party therefore restate our stand on the present state of the nation that all is not well. The President must urgently organise a socio-economic summit that allows the participation of all,” the statement added.

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PDP ex-ministers, elders convene meeting over Sheriff

PDP National Chairman, Ali Modu Sheriff

Former ministers, who served under the Peoples Democratic Party-controlled Federal Government, have convened an emergency meeting, where the plan by the National Chairman of the party, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, to stay beyond May 21 will be discussed.

Also, elders of the party have called another meeting where they will also discuss the implication of Sheriff not honouring his words to leave office on the agreed date.

Investigation by our correspondent in Abuja on Sunday showed that the former ministers had initially agreed to meet on Thursday this week in Abuja, but shelved the meeting in order to allow the elders meet first.

Apart from this, it was gathered that the Chairman of the former Ministers’ Forum, who was also a Minister of Special Duties, Mallam Taminu Turaki (SAN), also asked that the meeting be shifted to give the members an opportunity to attend.

The meeting, it was gathered, would hold next week.

A member of the forum, who is a former Minister of National Planning, Dr. Abubakar Suleiman, confirmed the former ministers’ meeting.

He said it was almost certain that Sheriff was hell bent on perpetuating himself in office, adding that the former governor of Borno State had tried in vain to infiltrate the forum.

Suleiman added, “We were to meet this Thursday, but the meeting was shifted due to logistic issues. We are now meeting next week Thursday.

“We will deliberate on the plan by the chairman of our party to hold on to power despite the assurances given to us by the (former) governors that he would hand over on May 21 during the national convention and other issues.

“He knows that the former ministers are men and women of integrity and that we are not shifting our opposition to his continued stay in office; that’s why he has tried to divide the forum, but he has failed because we are still one.”

It will be recalled that the former ministers had opposed the emergence of Sheriff as the national chairman of the party, claiming that he did not have the experience and ability to lead the party.

Our correspondent reports that during the inauguration of the four committees the National Executive Committee of the party directed him to set up, Sheriff did not give the zoning committee a deadline to submit its report.

The zoning committee is expected to allocate national offices to all the six zones in the federation and later submit its recommendations to Sheriff, who, in turn, will submit it to NEC for approval.

When our correspondent asked the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh, about the deadline for the zoning committee, he said the committee would submit its report in 10 days from Tuesday’s inauguration date.

“The zoning committee, because of the urgency of the job, will submit its report to the NWC in 10 days’ time,” Metuh said.

However, Sheriff later overruled him, saying the committee was free to submit its report anytime it wished.

Our correspondent gathered that the decision of the leaders to convene the emergency meeting was informed by Sheriff’s latest position.

Among those expected at the meeting are a former chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih; a former Minister of Transport, Chief Ojo Maduekwe; a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mr. Bunu Sheriff, and Alhaji Adamu Ciroma.

One of the governors, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said at least, “five of us are now regretting that we didn’t allow the BoT and the former ministers to have their way now.”

He added, “We won’t kept quiet, because this was how we kept mum when (former) President Goodluck Jonathan refused to abide by the one-term agreement he had with us. That action led to where we are today.

“If we need to be taken seriously in 2019, we need to have a credible party now and a credible presidential candidate that can match President Muhammadu Buhari in terms of integrity and so on. For now, we don’t seem to be serious.”

The governor said the antecedents of Sheriff did not portray him as someone who could be relied on.

He said, “When he was in the defunct All Nigerian Peoples Party, he was working for former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Later, he also worked for President Jonathan in the same party. We can’t be sure that come 2019, he won’t be in PDP and be working for President Buhari.”

Sheriff’s Media Adviser, Mr. Inusa Bwala, said his boss had said he wouldn’t stay beyond the date permitted by the party’s constitution.

Meanwhile, leaders of the PDP from Kwara State have protested to the national leadership of the party over the non-inclusion of any party member in the state on the membership of the four committees set up by PDP recently.

The committees are those on zoning, finance, reconciliation and national convention.

It was gathered that no indigenes of the state was among the 250 members of the four committees.

Two members of the party from the state, Suleiman and a former Special Adviser to Jonathan on National Assembly, Sen. Suleiman Ajadi, faulted the omission.

Suleiman, who confirmed the protest, said, “Kwara PDP feels marginalised. We have protested to the office of the National Organising Secretary, who promised to make amends.”

When contacted, Metuh expressed surprise that the state was omitted on the list.

He said, “Are you sure that the state is not represented on the list? If that’s true, then it must be a mistake which we have to rectify. We will look into it.”

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I work for Lagos policeman, says suspected robber

Akeem Popoola

Afeez Hanafi

A 21-year-old suspected robber, Akeem Popoola, says a police inspector attached to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Lagos State Police Command, Ikeja, uses him to swindle unsuspecting victims.

He said he had worked for the policeman, identified as Inspector Festus, aka Ijaya, for about four months before he was arrested.

The carpenter, who is currently in custody at the Agbado divison, Ogun State, was arrested for robbery and burglary. A mattress and speakers of a sound system were reportedly recovered from him in the Giwa area of Agbado on April 6.

He told PUNCH Metro that apart from burglary, he used to collect phones from the inspector and he would later sell them.

He added that Ijaya and two others – Abbey and Aluko – would get the buyers arrested minutes later for buying stolen items.

Akeem said their victims paid Ijaya between N120,000 and N150,000 before they were released, adding that he got N5,000 as his share on each ‘deal’.

“In November 2015, one of my father’s tenants and I fought. When my daddy came back home on that day, she reported me to him and he handed me over to Inspector Festus at the state police command headquarters, Ikeja. He told him I was too troublesome and wanted him to discipline me. But he (Ijaya) did not. He took me to a beer parlor at Alakuko and gave me N5,000. I was very surprised.

“Two days after, we met at another beer parlour around Agbado, where I was made to swear an oath. He brought out a gun and put some gin inside the barrel. He drank from it and gave me the gun to do same. He said he would be sending me on some errands. He gave me a mobile phone and drove me in his Toyota Camry to POWA complex in Ikeja.

“He told me to sell the phone inside the complex which I did for N20,000. After an hour, he handcuffed me and took me in his car with his boys – Abbey and Aluko – to the man that bought the phone. He arrested the man and told him to pay N200,000 if he did not want to be taken to the station. The man raised N150,000 among his friends in that complex and gave him.

“When we left there, he removed the handcuffs and gave me N5,000 and we departed.”

The Oke Ona, Abeokuta indigene said the second deal he had with Ijaya was an iPad he sold to another unsuspecting victim around Ikeja. He said he got a N5,000 share from the N150,000 bribe the inspector allegedly collected from the buyer, who was also accused of acquiring stolen property.

He added that when he decided to quit, Ijaya refused.

Akeem told our correspondent that Ijaya threatened they had sworn an oath and that he would die if he backed out from the deal or revealed it to his father.

“Sometime in February, the inspector gave me a Techo phone which I sold to a guy at Agbado. The guy gave me N7,000 and a small phone. Thirty minutes later, we went back with my hands handcuffed. And as he normally did, he collected about N120,000 from him before he was released. I also got my N5,000 share. I can say all this in his presence,” he added.

Akeem said he had stolen a plasma television at Oke Aro area of Agbado on the order of Ijaya, insisting that the item was still with the policeman.

His father, Mr. Ahmed Popoola, who regretted handing him over to the policeman, said his son was a thief before he took him to Ijaya for discipline.

He said he strove to meet Akeem’s needs and had counselled him on several occasions to no avail.

“He had been stealing before I took him to a police friend, Yekini, who handed him over to Ijaya with a belief that he (Akeem) will change if he sees the way thieves are being punished. He had been embarrassing me. He still has a case in the Sango-Ota division. I was arrested and detained because of him.

“When he finished his secondary school, he told me he did not want to proceed to a higher institution. I enrolled him as an apprentice in my carpentry workshop and constructed a wooden shop for him when he graduated. He removed all the planks I used to construct the shop and sold them. Let the law take its course.”

The spokesperson for the Ogun State Police Command, DSP Muyiwa Adejobi, said the police were on the trail of Ijaya and his accomplices. He added that the case had been transferred to the command’s Special Anti-Robbery Squad.

He said, “The suspect was arrested for robbery and burglary. He mentioned Ijaya and some others and we have commenced investigation. If any of them is actually a policeman, we are going to send a signal to the command he is attached to and he will be arrested.”

But the Lagos State Police spokesperson, SP Dolapo Badmos, denied that Ijaya was a serving cop in the command.

“We don’t have a policeman bearing Festus or Ijaya in the command,” she said

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Recover $200bn loot, shelve $2bn loan plan, Falana tells FG

 

A human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), has advised the Federal Government to shelve its plan to obtain $2bn loan from China.

He said instead of “plunging the nation into more indebtedness” the Federal Government should intensify efforts to recover some funds totalling about $200bn which were either not remitted to the Federation Account or stolen from the nation’s treasury.

Falana gave this advice in a letter dated April 8, 2016, addressed to the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, threatening to sue the Federal Government if his request was not taken seriously.

He said, “In the light of the foregoing, we are compelled to call on the Federal Government to muster the political will and courage to recover the aforesaid withheld or stolen wealth of not less than $200bn belonging to the Nigerian people.

“However, if you refuse to accede to our request we shall have no alternative than to initiate legal proceedings at the Federal High Court with a view to restraining the Federal Government from further plunging the nation into external indebtedness.”

Earlier in a letter dated February 12, 2016 addressed to the minister, Falana had urged the Federal Government to jettison its plan to take a loan of $2.5bn from the World Bank and $1bn from the African Development Bank.

Falana had then urged the  Federal Government to explore alternative sources of raising revenue to fund the 2016 budget “instead of increasing the nation’s external debt of $64bn.”

He said in his fresh letter to Adeosun on Friday that the minister had  assured him that the issues raised in his letter were receiving the attention of the Federal Government.

His fresh letter titled, ‘Request for the collection of outstanding revenue of $200bn withheld from the Federation Account or stolen by looters.’

“In particular, we requested the Federal Government to embark on the recovery of the   revenue of $42bn  withheld from the Federation Account from 1999 to 2012 by some transnational oil companies, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and other agencies  of the Federal Government.

 “In your reply dated March 17, 2016 you assured us that the issues raised in our letter were receiving the attention of the Federal Government.

 “We were therefore surprised to learn that the Administration had applied to the Chinese Government for another loan of $2bn.

“In urging the Federal Government to desist from taking the loan of $2bn from China or any other country we are compelled to advise the Federal Government to intensify efforts to recover the nation’s wealth which has been criminally diverted by a handful of local and foreign looters.”

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PanamaPapers: SERAP wants indicted Nigerian leaders probed

THE Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project says it is giving the Code of Conduct Bureau only 14 days to commence the probe of Nigeria’s past and serving public officials indicted in the PanamaPapers scam.

The group, which decried the extent to which Nigerian public officials had gone in breaching the code of conduct by going to conceal stolen wealth in offshore jurisdictions, said it would sue the CCB if a probe of those indicted in the PanamaPapers did not start in 14 days.

In a statement on Sunday by its Executive Director, Adetokunbo Mumuni, SERAP said it was important for the CCB to leverage on the revelations in the PanamaPapers in demonstration of its readiness to combat the abuse of asset declaration requirements by Nigerian public officials.

It said unless the CCB probed and prosecuted the high-ranking public officers indicted in the PanamaPapers, it would lose public credibility.

It urged the CCB chairman, Mr. Sam Samba, to “use your good offices and leadership to urgently investigate current and immediate-past high-ranking public officers named in the PanamaPapers and others that are maintaining and operating or have maintained and operated foreign accounts in other safe havens and secrecy jurisdictions, and to where appropriate, refer such officers to the Code of Conduct Tribunal for prosecution.”

The statement added, “We would be grateful if the bureau could begin to take these steps within 14 days of the receipt and/or publication of this letter.

“If we have not heard from you by then as to the steps the bureau is taking to address the concerns raised in this letter, the Registered Trustees of SERAP shall take all appropriate legal actions to compel the bureau to effectively discharge its constitutional and statutory mandates in this instance.

“SERAP also believes that bodies like the Code of Conduct Bureau should now seize the opportunity and use its mandate to react to this international scandal by taking concrete and proactive steps to address increasing breaches of constitutional provisions by high-ranking public officers.

“This action will be entirely consistent with the Nigerian 1999 Constitution (as amended), the law establishing the bureau, and will meet demands by Nigerians for improvement in transparency regarding asset declaration and sanctions of public officers for breaches.”

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Bakare flays leaders for politicising Chibok girls’ abduction

Tunde Bakare

The General Overseer, Latter Rain Assembly, Lagos, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has lampooned politicians and political parties for using the abduction of 219 Chibok schoolgirls to score cheap political points.

He noted that the nation had not given the issue the necessary thoughtfulness and seriousness it deserved, stressing that those who are in a position to act have not taken sufficient action towards addressing it or even towards calming the anxiety of the waiting Chibok parents.

The cleric said this in a sermon on Sunday during the thanksgiving service to mark the global action week in commemoration of the second anniversary of the abduction of the schoolgirls organised by the BringBackOurGirls coalition at the Unity Fountain, Abuja.

Bakare stated that the girls would have been rescued if they were children of the political and religious elite and appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to prioritise their  rescue in the midst of the numerous challenges before him. He stressed that the girls had become the symbols of the soul of the nation.

He said, “What do you think I would have done extra if my girl was involved? Have I done those things? What could  have happened, if these were daughters of Emirs or the Prelate or Primate of the Anglican Church or Methodist Church? If any of them happen to be son of Pastor Adeboye not to mention sons or daughters of governors or president, what do you think would have happened on that issue?

“Am just asking a question, what do you think would have happened? We would have done more than we have done, the whole nation has failed these children and we must repent and that is why we must honour those of you (BBOG) who have made it to be on the front burner.”

Reading Isaiah 49:24-26 from the Holy Bible, Bakare urged the BBOG and the Chibok parents not to give up, saying the girls would be rescued alive from Boko Haram captivity.

He recalled that the past administration failed to act on ‘actionable intelligence’ that could have led to the rescue of the girls, noting that the government did not take the necessary steps to rescue them until there was a global outcry.

Bakare said, “It is most severely injurious to see that the fate of our daughters has been frequently politicised. Rather than rise to the occasion as stakeholders and custodians of the security and welfare of the citizens of this nation, political parties and politicians have paid lip service, using our pain and the plight of our daughters to score cheap political points.

“We are not convinced that the matter of our daughters has been given the needed thoughtfulness. We do not believe that those who are in a position to act have taken sufficient action towards addressing this issue or even towards calming our anxiety as waiting parents.”

The fiery cleric who spoke in an emotion-laden voice for about 35 minutes, expressed the conviction that the abducted girls were alive and could still be rescued, noting that there was no evidence, not even satellite photography, suggesting that they were in a mass grave.

“We have heard varied suggestions as to the fate of our girls. We have heard that some have been married off, that some have been sold as slaves, and that some are being held captive as human shields. We have heard that some have been radicalised, and there have been suggestions that they are now being groomed and deployed as suicide bombers.  What we expect the government to do is to systematically analyse the possibilities with a view to eliminating impossibilities,” Bakare suggested.

The Convener, Save Nigeria Group, appreciated the government for the renewed military offensive and the gains recorded in the fight against Boko Haram, but added that the nation expected that the success would be translated into tracing the whereabouts of the girls or even finding some measure of closure for their parents.

“If they have been sold as slaves, to whom have they been sold? What are the locations of these slave buyers or dealers? Are they in the territories in which our girls had been held captive in the past? What attempts have been made to investigate or eliminate this possibility? Have they been sold beyond the Nigerian borders? What routes are there through which they could possibly have been taken?,” he asked.

Given the complex security nature of the abduction, Bakare noted that  rescuing the girls might require special tactical military operations, details of which could not be publicly discussed.

This, he added, should not stop the government from creating a confidential information channel that would keep anxious parents abreast of the basic facts and show that, at least, the country cared for their daughters.

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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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