THE National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, yesterday, pleaded with the five governors from the north elected on the platform of the party, saying that there was no way he could have condemned them for visiting President Goodluck Jonathan on trouble-shooting mission.
Tukur’s conciliatory’s position on the governors came a few hours after Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, registered All Progressives Congress as a political party.
Tukur in a statement, yesterday by his aide, Shuaibu-Gara Gombe, said he was in total support of the governors’ visits to President Goodluck Jonathan, former presidents, ex-heads of state and other Nigerians, who can contribute to reconciling aggrieved members of the party.
The governors are Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano State; Babangida Aliyu, Niger; Murtala Nyako, Adamawa; Sule Lamido, Jigawa and Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto.
The PDP National Chairman’s endorsement of the governors’ actions and activities was also coming barely 24 hours after Tukur, Tuesday, tongue lashed the governors, warning them to show decorum, humility and respect.
It will be recalled that Tukur had said in a statement by his Special Assistant, Media, Mr. Oliver Okpala, Tuesday, that as governors and leaders, they must desist from any action that could truncate the nation’s democracy.
He had also urged them to respect his age as an elder and bluntly told the governors that they must embrace peace and stop dramatising the country’s few problems against the backdrop that it could send wrong signal to Nigerians and the international community.
According to Okpala’s statement, Bamanga Tukur warned them against what he termed unguided utterances, adding that their calls were causing unnecessary political tension and overheating the polity, stressing that as leaders, they were expected to show respect to him as an elder.
Disowning the statement by Tukur’s Media Assistant, PDP’s Acting National Secretary, Dr. Charles Akitoye, said that the thoughts of Okpala do not in any way represent the actions of Bamanga Tukur.
Akitoye said: “In addition to the earlier statement by Ahmed Gara, on behalf of the National Chairman, denouncing the release by Mr. Oliver Okpala, the Media Assistant to our respected National Chairman, the National Secretariat of PDP hereby reaffirm that the press release do not represent the thoughts and, even actions of the Chairman.”
on the visit of the five Governors to some political leaders-especially in view of his ever persistent role to achieve lasting peace and progress for the party which himself and others nursed from infancy.’’
Ahmed Shuaibu-Gara Gombe who noted that the PDP National Chairman has totally rejected the statement by Okpala, however described them as embarrassing and counterproductive
He said, ‘’I am directed by the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur(Tafidan Adamawa) to completely deny a press statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Prince Oliver Okpala which was circulated to Media Organisations recently making uncomplimentary remarks about some Northern Governors.
‘’The National Chairman who is currently in Saudi Arabia found the Statement not only embarrassing, but counter productive no matter the intention of the Media Assistant.
‘’The National Chairman was infuriated particularly when the media Assistant singled out 5 Northern Governors who were invited by Mr. President for consultations in Abuja recently.
‘’Between the National Chairman and these Governors, there is a mutual respect up till this moment and they never asked the President to remove the National Chairman as a condition for peace. It was only the Adamawa State Governor, Murtala Nyako who is promoting the Agenda of removing the National Chairman which is understandable and they never discussed this with the President.
‘’As a matter of fact, the National Chairman is happy that the Governors are indeed helping his reconciliation efforts particularly their meeting with the President which Amaechi’s face-off with the President was the main issue and substantial progress was made by the Governors and the president in fence mending. There is no way the Chairman could have condemned the Northern Governors talk less of accusing them of overheating the polity as contained in the statement of the Media Assistant.
‘’The National Chairman, therefore wish to re-emphasise his support for any initiative towards reconciliation by party members regardless of who is promoting it.
‘’The Consultative efforts of the 5 Governors took precedent before the newly established reconciliation Committee of the party, therefore it is unthinkable for the Media Assistant to have condemned the Northern governors of not utilizing the reconciliation Committee as a medium or Channel to table their Grievances.
‘’The National Chairman also wish to unequivocally state that he has not resigned as is not ready to resign as Chairman of the party as reported in some section of the press.
‘’Finally, the National Chairman is hereby once again saying that the press Statement by the Media Assistant is regrettable and does not contain his thoughts or his position on the 5 Northern Governors and asked all those who feel embarrassed to over look the overzealousness of his Media Assistant.’’
vanguard
Wednesday, 31 July 2013
Kano blast: My brother in NYSC is 38th of 50 corpses I counted – Witness
A man who said his brother was one of those that lost their lives in a bomb blast, Monday, at Sabongari in Kano State, has said that he counted no fewer than 50 dead bodies in a mortuary in the city.
The witness who simply identified himself as Godwin, from Edo State claimed that his dead brother wore number 38 tag at the mortuary in Kano State with more bodies in the morgue.
He said his brother was a member of National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, whom he said was mobilised from Ebonyi State where he schooled to serve in Kano State.
Godwin who spoke on phone on a live radio progamme ‘Day Break Show’ in Abeokuta, yesterday, said though normalcy had since returned to the troubled area, there was still feeling of insecurity among non-indigenes in the state capital.
He said: “As I’m speaking, I am at the mortuary to collect my brother’s corpse and he is number 38 and I can see more bodies.
“The total figure is about 50. The 12 causalities claimed by the government is not correct.
“Kano has been peaceful in the last three months, but, with this latest one, we are again living in fear. Even though we were born here, we still see ourselves as non-indigenes, which should not be. It is terrible and worrisome here.”
vanguard
The witness who simply identified himself as Godwin, from Edo State claimed that his dead brother wore number 38 tag at the mortuary in Kano State with more bodies in the morgue.
He said his brother was a member of National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, whom he said was mobilised from Ebonyi State where he schooled to serve in Kano State.
Godwin who spoke on phone on a live radio progamme ‘Day Break Show’ in Abeokuta, yesterday, said though normalcy had since returned to the troubled area, there was still feeling of insecurity among non-indigenes in the state capital.
He said: “As I’m speaking, I am at the mortuary to collect my brother’s corpse and he is number 38 and I can see more bodies.
“The total figure is about 50. The 12 causalities claimed by the government is not correct.
“Kano has been peaceful in the last three months, but, with this latest one, we are again living in fear. Even though we were born here, we still see ourselves as non-indigenes, which should not be. It is terrible and worrisome here.”
vanguard
APC registration: The beginning of the end of misrule and cluelessness – Ribadu
A chieftain of the newly registered All Progressives Congress, APC, Nuhu Ribadu, has joined other Nigerians in expressing happiness over the emergence of the opposition party, even as he charged members of the party to strive harder for the ultimate goal of dislodging the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Mr. Ribadu, in a statement in Abuja, congratulated key players in the merged parties “for shoving their personal interests in order to allow for mutation of a pan-Nigerian party that can provide credible alternative to the ruling party”.
The statement, issued by Mr. Ribadu’s media aide, Abdulaziz Abdulaziz, quoted the 2011 presidential candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, as expressing hope that the new party would have sweeping victory in the next general election.
“Like millions of Nigerians from all over the country, I am immensely delighted over the successful registration of the All Progressives Congress, APC by the Independent n National Electoral Commission (INEC),” Mr. Ribadu said.
According to him, the registration of the party by the electoral body “is not the end. It is the beginning of the end of misrule and cluelessness.” He called for renewed zeal and commitment by members of the party to achieve the desired objective.
He called on Nigerians to resist manipulations of the electoral process either through whipping up religious or sectional sentiments or by the use of money; maintaining that 2015 elections would be a major litmus test for the opposition and all progressive Nigerians.
PREMIUM TIMES
*
Mr. Ribadu, in a statement in Abuja, congratulated key players in the merged parties “for shoving their personal interests in order to allow for mutation of a pan-Nigerian party that can provide credible alternative to the ruling party”.
The statement, issued by Mr. Ribadu’s media aide, Abdulaziz Abdulaziz, quoted the 2011 presidential candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, as expressing hope that the new party would have sweeping victory in the next general election.
“Like millions of Nigerians from all over the country, I am immensely delighted over the successful registration of the All Progressives Congress, APC by the Independent n National Electoral Commission (INEC),” Mr. Ribadu said.
According to him, the registration of the party by the electoral body “is not the end. It is the beginning of the end of misrule and cluelessness.” He called for renewed zeal and commitment by members of the party to achieve the desired objective.
He called on Nigerians to resist manipulations of the electoral process either through whipping up religious or sectional sentiments or by the use of money; maintaining that 2015 elections would be a major litmus test for the opposition and all progressive Nigerians.
PREMIUM TIMES
*
Bankers Won’t Speak The Truth Says Pat Utomi
A professor of political economy and entrepreneurship at the Lagos Business School, Prof. Pat Utomi has taken a swipe at Nigerian bankers for contributing to the culture of corruption that is destroying the country. In an extensive interview with SaharaTV over the weekend on the state of the Nigerian economy, Prof. Utomi accused bankers of being averse to telling the truth.
“Bankers are the worst people in this,” Utomi said. “They won’t speak the truth. They say we escaped it this time. But they get caught the next time around.”
Defending himself on the role he played as the star witness for accused banker Mr. Atuche who is accused of defrauding Bank PH B of N27 billion, Utomi said that system was unfair.
“The system set up a prosecutorial lynch mob,” Utomi told SaharaTV’s Rudolf Okonkwo. “Things are thrown on some people. Sometimes really framed. Sometimes partially true. And everybody goes on lynch mood. And there is an obfuscation of truth and reality. And we all get this high, yes, lock up those people. It is the reason we are not making progress.”
He repeated the charge he made during the trial that there was a calculated effort by the Yar’ Adua administration to go after Bank PH B.
“Umaru Yar’Adua said and did things in my presence that I knew he deliberately pushed the system to go after bank PH B because his family had a small share in what part became bank PH B,” Utomi charged. “And I thought that the truth must come to be told if not we go through this game again and again and our country will not grow because we allow people who have power not to have checks.”
The former presidential candidate under the African Democratic Congress party of Nigeria repeated his suggestion that two or three major international investigative consultancies should be brought in to review the banking reform in place. “Review all the banks,” he demanded. “Do a forensic. If they were to prove that the banks they went after were worse than, really and objectively, than the ones around, I will spend the rest of my life in jail.”
The founder of the Center for Value and Leadership at the Lagos State Business School identified greed as a major problem in our society. “Few people have overcome this problem,” Prof Utomi said. “System works well not because people are good guys. Systems work well because you have strong institutions. It’s the nature of the institutions that lead to boundaries to conducts. And those boundaries to conduct are what make investments possible.”
Nigeria has been plagued by a 7% jobless growth economy that has left so many of its citizens poorer. With borrowing escalating under the guise of infrastructural development and income dropping due to a $5 billion a year oil theft, Utomi suggested that the slug of figures being thrown around by the managers of the economy were aimed at taking the attention of ordinary Nigerians away from the rot that is actually going on in the economy. With crude oil selling at over $100 a barrel when Nigeria pegged crude oil price in the 2013 budget at $79 a barrel, Utomi lamented that the Nigerian economy was being abused. He questioned the jump in the so-called oil subsidy in just a year and blamed it on cronies of political office holders who were allowed to cart away lots of money for the purposes of funding the electoral interest of those in power. As a result, he said, the government had to cover the leakage by making Nigerians pay more.
On the findings of a presidential committee on public service reform that discovered that top government officials in Nigeria take home N1.126 trillion a year in salaries and allowances – out of a national budget of N4.9 trillion, Utomi reiterated his call for a part-time citizenship legislature. When asked to explain why there was no outrage in the country Prof. Utomi blamed it on the failure of citizen involvement.
“There is a dearth of leadership in civic society,” he said. “There is a failure of citizens that anybody will get away with murder in Nigeria. Nigeria is very sadly one of the most unjust societies on earth. And it is so because people don’t stand up for their rights. People don’t fight for what they should fight for. Every time you stand up to do something because you think that is just and the way it should be everybody who knows you gets on the phone – why are you complaining? Why you? How to get to waking civic society up must be the biggest challenge for us as a country.”
The erstwhile Managing Director of Volkswagen Nigeria and a former student union activist wondered why the next generation of Nigerians does not agitate for things especially when they are the ones with a lot to lose. “Most of what is going on in Nigeria is really an abuse of the next generation by a generation that had their turn a long time ago, ran Nigeria as twenty something year olds and continue to run Nigeria as eighty something year olds, abused their own opportunities, abused the opportunities of their children and are now abusing the opportunities of their grandchildren and yet these grand children don’t feel a sense of outrage,” he said. “In our time we were on the streets before the inks were dry on anything that upset us.”
As President Jonathan argues that his so-called transformational agenda was truncated by difficulties, SaharaTV asked Utomi if the president knows that history does not accept such excuses. “The kinds of people who reach the top of public life in Nigeria,” Utomi said “do not have the preparation to understand the meaning of history.”
sahara reporters
“Bankers are the worst people in this,” Utomi said. “They won’t speak the truth. They say we escaped it this time. But they get caught the next time around.”
Defending himself on the role he played as the star witness for accused banker Mr. Atuche who is accused of defrauding Bank PH B of N27 billion, Utomi said that system was unfair.
“The system set up a prosecutorial lynch mob,” Utomi told SaharaTV’s Rudolf Okonkwo. “Things are thrown on some people. Sometimes really framed. Sometimes partially true. And everybody goes on lynch mood. And there is an obfuscation of truth and reality. And we all get this high, yes, lock up those people. It is the reason we are not making progress.”
He repeated the charge he made during the trial that there was a calculated effort by the Yar’ Adua administration to go after Bank PH B.
“Umaru Yar’Adua said and did things in my presence that I knew he deliberately pushed the system to go after bank PH B because his family had a small share in what part became bank PH B,” Utomi charged. “And I thought that the truth must come to be told if not we go through this game again and again and our country will not grow because we allow people who have power not to have checks.”
The former presidential candidate under the African Democratic Congress party of Nigeria repeated his suggestion that two or three major international investigative consultancies should be brought in to review the banking reform in place. “Review all the banks,” he demanded. “Do a forensic. If they were to prove that the banks they went after were worse than, really and objectively, than the ones around, I will spend the rest of my life in jail.”
The founder of the Center for Value and Leadership at the Lagos State Business School identified greed as a major problem in our society. “Few people have overcome this problem,” Prof Utomi said. “System works well not because people are good guys. Systems work well because you have strong institutions. It’s the nature of the institutions that lead to boundaries to conducts. And those boundaries to conduct are what make investments possible.”
Nigeria has been plagued by a 7% jobless growth economy that has left so many of its citizens poorer. With borrowing escalating under the guise of infrastructural development and income dropping due to a $5 billion a year oil theft, Utomi suggested that the slug of figures being thrown around by the managers of the economy were aimed at taking the attention of ordinary Nigerians away from the rot that is actually going on in the economy. With crude oil selling at over $100 a barrel when Nigeria pegged crude oil price in the 2013 budget at $79 a barrel, Utomi lamented that the Nigerian economy was being abused. He questioned the jump in the so-called oil subsidy in just a year and blamed it on cronies of political office holders who were allowed to cart away lots of money for the purposes of funding the electoral interest of those in power. As a result, he said, the government had to cover the leakage by making Nigerians pay more.
On the findings of a presidential committee on public service reform that discovered that top government officials in Nigeria take home N1.126 trillion a year in salaries and allowances – out of a national budget of N4.9 trillion, Utomi reiterated his call for a part-time citizenship legislature. When asked to explain why there was no outrage in the country Prof. Utomi blamed it on the failure of citizen involvement.
“There is a dearth of leadership in civic society,” he said. “There is a failure of citizens that anybody will get away with murder in Nigeria. Nigeria is very sadly one of the most unjust societies on earth. And it is so because people don’t stand up for their rights. People don’t fight for what they should fight for. Every time you stand up to do something because you think that is just and the way it should be everybody who knows you gets on the phone – why are you complaining? Why you? How to get to waking civic society up must be the biggest challenge for us as a country.”
The erstwhile Managing Director of Volkswagen Nigeria and a former student union activist wondered why the next generation of Nigerians does not agitate for things especially when they are the ones with a lot to lose. “Most of what is going on in Nigeria is really an abuse of the next generation by a generation that had their turn a long time ago, ran Nigeria as twenty something year olds and continue to run Nigeria as eighty something year olds, abused their own opportunities, abused the opportunities of their children and are now abusing the opportunities of their grandchildren and yet these grand children don’t feel a sense of outrage,” he said. “In our time we were on the streets before the inks were dry on anything that upset us.”
As President Jonathan argues that his so-called transformational agenda was truncated by difficulties, SaharaTV asked Utomi if the president knows that history does not accept such excuses. “The kinds of people who reach the top of public life in Nigeria,” Utomi said “do not have the preparation to understand the meaning of history.”
sahara reporters
2 store keepers jailed 24 years for stealing mosquito nets
AN Asaba Chief Magistrate’s Court has sentenced head storekeeper attached to Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, office Asaba and his assistant to 24 years imprisonment for stealing treated mosquito nets.
The nets were procured by the Federal Government for six states in the South-South geo-political zone and kept in the warehouse.
Jailed were Mr. Mike Okonkwo, Head of Store, MDGs office, Asaba and Mrs. Finecountry Tracy, his assistant.
Incidentally, the businessman, who purchased the nets from the storekeepers, Ugwu Joseph, jumped bail during trial and was still at large when the judgment was delivered, Monday.
Delivering judgment, Chief Magistrate S. C. Ehikwe sentenced the storekeeper and his assistant to three years imprisonment with hard labour on each of the four counts for which they were found guilty. Sentences are, however, to run concurrently.
The magistrate also ordered that: “The police is urged to intensify their efforts to get Ugwu Ugochukwu arrested as the bench warrant issued for his arrest and his surety to show cause was extended.
“When arrested, warrant to serve his jail term would be signed in line with the terms of the second and third accused persons. It is further ordered that his surety wherever found should be arrested to face his own charge.”
Counsel to the third accused, Mr. F. N. Monye had pleaded for “utmost leniency,” saying that third accused is a housewife and urged the court to be lenient with her, same for the second accused he claimed that he was a victim of circumstance.
The court, however, noted that: “The issue of mercy and leniency depends on the nature of the case. Those who are privileged to be entrusted with the welfare of the less privileged should regard such a responsibility as a sacred duty bestowed on them by God.”
“Denying the less privileged the benefit of health care which is the only way the government can get to them is not only a sin against humanity but a crime against God. Such people do not deserve mercy. The punishment is to serve as a deterrent to others.”
Prosecution had told the court in one of the charges that; “You Ugwu Ugochukwu (male) Mike Okonkwo (male) and Finecountry Tracy (female) on or about the month of June, 2011 at Millennium Development Goals warehouse located at the back of the Police Headquarters Asaba within the Asaba magisterial district stole 100 balls of treated mosquito nets valued six million naira, two baby weighing scales valued one hundred thousand naira property of Federal Republic of Nigeria under the custody of MDG Delta State and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 390(9) of the Criminal
vanguard
The nets were procured by the Federal Government for six states in the South-South geo-political zone and kept in the warehouse.
Jailed were Mr. Mike Okonkwo, Head of Store, MDGs office, Asaba and Mrs. Finecountry Tracy, his assistant.
Incidentally, the businessman, who purchased the nets from the storekeepers, Ugwu Joseph, jumped bail during trial and was still at large when the judgment was delivered, Monday.
Delivering judgment, Chief Magistrate S. C. Ehikwe sentenced the storekeeper and his assistant to three years imprisonment with hard labour on each of the four counts for which they were found guilty. Sentences are, however, to run concurrently.
The magistrate also ordered that: “The police is urged to intensify their efforts to get Ugwu Ugochukwu arrested as the bench warrant issued for his arrest and his surety to show cause was extended.
“When arrested, warrant to serve his jail term would be signed in line with the terms of the second and third accused persons. It is further ordered that his surety wherever found should be arrested to face his own charge.”
Counsel to the third accused, Mr. F. N. Monye had pleaded for “utmost leniency,” saying that third accused is a housewife and urged the court to be lenient with her, same for the second accused he claimed that he was a victim of circumstance.
The court, however, noted that: “The issue of mercy and leniency depends on the nature of the case. Those who are privileged to be entrusted with the welfare of the less privileged should regard such a responsibility as a sacred duty bestowed on them by God.”
“Denying the less privileged the benefit of health care which is the only way the government can get to them is not only a sin against humanity but a crime against God. Such people do not deserve mercy. The punishment is to serve as a deterrent to others.”
Prosecution had told the court in one of the charges that; “You Ugwu Ugochukwu (male) Mike Okonkwo (male) and Finecountry Tracy (female) on or about the month of June, 2011 at Millennium Development Goals warehouse located at the back of the Police Headquarters Asaba within the Asaba magisterial district stole 100 balls of treated mosquito nets valued six million naira, two baby weighing scales valued one hundred thousand naira property of Federal Republic of Nigeria under the custody of MDG Delta State and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 390(9) of the Criminal
vanguard
Islamic Philanthropist's Son Throws Journalist In Jail Over Story
A seasoned journalist, Segun Ogunbunmi, who is the publisher of Global News Magazine has been arrested by Tunde, the son of late Alhaji Iyanda Folawiyo who is a known Islamic philanthropist, over a story published by the gossip magazine some weeks ago.
Ogunbunmi was nabbed today, Wednesday, July 31, 2013, by some law enforcement agents in Lagos and taken to Zone 2 Police Command, Onikan, Lagos.
A story on an alleged sex scandal involving Tunde and one Ifeoma Williams had been published by Ogunbunmi.
The magazine had reported the story on its cover page with the headline 'Tunde Folawiyo, Ifeoma Williams In Messy Sex Scandal; How His Wife Caught The Lovebirds In Paris'.
Mr. Tunde did not find this publication funny with the publisher.
naij
Ogunbunmi was nabbed today, Wednesday, July 31, 2013, by some law enforcement agents in Lagos and taken to Zone 2 Police Command, Onikan, Lagos.
A story on an alleged sex scandal involving Tunde and one Ifeoma Williams had been published by Ogunbunmi.
The magazine had reported the story on its cover page with the headline 'Tunde Folawiyo, Ifeoma Williams In Messy Sex Scandal; How His Wife Caught The Lovebirds In Paris'.
Mr. Tunde did not find this publication funny with the publisher.
naij
Lagos CP: There Was Nothing Like Deportation of Igbos
The Lagos Security Council has debunked deportation of 67 Igbos to Anambra State, saying the affected people indicated interest to be resettled in their home town.
Briefing newsmen today after the State Security Council meeting at the State House, Ikeja, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria, Commissioner of Police, Umar Manko said there was nothing like deportation of Igbos.
"What happened was that the state did rehabilitation and resettlement of the citizens from other states who came into the state and turned into destitute. After, the state government revived and reformed them. After that, they indicated their interest of going back to their home town to be resettled. That was what happened. There wasn't any deportation," he explained.
Also, Manko reassured residents of Lagos of adequate security as security operatives were on top of their jobs, urging Lagosians to go about their lawful businesses as their security was guaranteed.
"I want to use this opportunity to reassure the residents of the state that the security of the state is perfect. The security operatives are on top of their jobs and the residents should go about their lawful businesses.
"Of course, everyone knows that the Eid-il-fitri is around the corner, we have done everything necessary to ensure that the festival comes and go peacefully. All the security agencies in the state have done their home work to ensure that residents of Lagos have free festival," he stated.
On cart pushers, the police commissioner said the 2012 Traffic law outlawed their operation from the highways, saying that the police would immediately begin enforcing the law to get them out of the roads.
"We are going to start enforcing that law from today on those who aren't expected to push cart on the highways, particularly on the bridge. Our officers would be mandated to start arresting the cart pushers and this is information for them to keep off the street of Lagos State," he warned
Pm news
Briefing newsmen today after the State Security Council meeting at the State House, Ikeja, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria, Commissioner of Police, Umar Manko said there was nothing like deportation of Igbos.
"What happened was that the state did rehabilitation and resettlement of the citizens from other states who came into the state and turned into destitute. After, the state government revived and reformed them. After that, they indicated their interest of going back to their home town to be resettled. That was what happened. There wasn't any deportation," he explained.
Also, Manko reassured residents of Lagos of adequate security as security operatives were on top of their jobs, urging Lagosians to go about their lawful businesses as their security was guaranteed.
"I want to use this opportunity to reassure the residents of the state that the security of the state is perfect. The security operatives are on top of their jobs and the residents should go about their lawful businesses.
"Of course, everyone knows that the Eid-il-fitri is around the corner, we have done everything necessary to ensure that the festival comes and go peacefully. All the security agencies in the state have done their home work to ensure that residents of Lagos have free festival," he stated.
On cart pushers, the police commissioner said the 2012 Traffic law outlawed their operation from the highways, saying that the police would immediately begin enforcing the law to get them out of the roads.
"We are going to start enforcing that law from today on those who aren't expected to push cart on the highways, particularly on the bridge. Our officers would be mandated to start arresting the cart pushers and this is information for them to keep off the street of Lagos State," he warned
Pm news
ASUU threatens to cancel Post-UME exams in universities
Students might have written Post-UME exams in vain.
Thousands of students who wrote the university-organised matriculation examinations, commonly called Post-UME, during university lecturers strike may have engaged in a futile exercise and may be forced to re-write the examination as lecturers complain they had no input in the exercise.
Speaking at a press conference called by the Ibadan Zone of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) at the Lagos State University, Ojo, the Zonal Coordinator, Adesola Nassir, said the leadership of the universities that have conducted the examination hurriedly did so because of the financial gains accruable from the candidates.
“It is an abnormality,” he said. “How can you hold such an important examination without the input of academic staff,” he asked.
“Vice-chancellors are employing non-academic staff and consultant to do Post-UME. They are doing it because of money. The exam already constitutes a crisis-point in the universities.”
Mr. Nassir said the “results from the examination may be jettisoned.”
After writing the government sanctioned Universal Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), most individual universities in Nigeria require students to pass internally organised matriculation examinations called Post-UME.
In most cases, an average a student’s score from both examinations is considered before the student is granted admission. This arrangement started in 2005 over complaints about the falling standard of UTME by universities.
The Ibadan Zone of ASUU comprises University of Lagos (UNILAG), University of Ibadan (UI), Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Lagos State University (LASU), University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (UNAAB), and Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED).
Premium times
Thousands of students who wrote the university-organised matriculation examinations, commonly called Post-UME, during university lecturers strike may have engaged in a futile exercise and may be forced to re-write the examination as lecturers complain they had no input in the exercise.
Speaking at a press conference called by the Ibadan Zone of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) at the Lagos State University, Ojo, the Zonal Coordinator, Adesola Nassir, said the leadership of the universities that have conducted the examination hurriedly did so because of the financial gains accruable from the candidates.
“It is an abnormality,” he said. “How can you hold such an important examination without the input of academic staff,” he asked.
“Vice-chancellors are employing non-academic staff and consultant to do Post-UME. They are doing it because of money. The exam already constitutes a crisis-point in the universities.”
Mr. Nassir said the “results from the examination may be jettisoned.”
After writing the government sanctioned Universal Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), most individual universities in Nigeria require students to pass internally organised matriculation examinations called Post-UME.
In most cases, an average a student’s score from both examinations is considered before the student is granted admission. This arrangement started in 2005 over complaints about the falling standard of UTME by universities.
The Ibadan Zone of ASUU comprises University of Lagos (UNILAG), University of Ibadan (UI), Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Lagos State University (LASU), University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (UNAAB), and Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED).
Premium times
APC, CNPP, CPC commend INEC over registration
INEC announced the registration of the APC, a merger of some political parties in Nigeria.
The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties, CNPP, the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the defunct Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, has commended the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, over the registration of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
CNPP, in a statement by its spokesperson, Osita Okechukwu, shortly after the electoral body announced the registration of the APC in Abuja, said it “congratulates INEC for its forthrightness, steadfast and obedience to the rule of law”.
Mr. Okechukwu also stated that “it is heart-warming that INEC captured the intendment of the 1999 constitution not to register phony groups or mischief makers as political parties”.
CNPP said the registration of the APC signals the death of a one party state, which has characterised Nigeria’s democracy.
“Nigerians now have a golden opportunity to make choice between two dominant political parties; one anchored on social democracy, pro-people and one anchored on conservative and anti-people programs as is the case in all liberal democracies,” Mr. Okechukwu said in the statement.
On its part, the APC also congratulated INEC “for doing the right thing and for not succumbing to pressures from phantom political associations that sought to force it to circumvent the law”.
The party congratulated Nigerians on the emergence of the new party, saying with the birth of APC, Nigerians now have an alternative to a ruling party “that has taken the people for a bad ride in the past 14 years”.
In a statement issued by its interim National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, in Lagos on Wednesday, APC said its emergence is a victory for Nigeria and for democracy that will propel and that it has now also propelled the country to the league of top democratic nations with two major political parties.
”The journey has been long and tortuous. All sorts of obstacles were thrown into our path by anti-democratic forces, but we were painstaking, determined and unrelenting in our quest for a formidable platform that will allow our country, Nigeria, to achieve her full potentials and join the league of respectable nations.
”With the approval of our merger by INEC and the emergence of APC, today marks the beginning of a new dawn for our country and her long-suffering people. We thank Nigerians both here and in the Diaspora for standing by us. We thank the media for their fairness,” Mr. Mohammed said.
We will not disappoint Nigerians
Mr. Mohammed also said the party will not “disappoint Nigerians who have reposed much confidence in us. We say that contrary to the lies being peddled by the naysayers, we are not seeking political power for the sake of getting it, but in order to use it to empower our people and allow their long-nursed hopes and dreams to become a reality.
”And to those who have vowed to change their names if APC survives for a year, we hope they will live up to their words,” the APC said.
APC said Nigerians can now look forward to a truly democratic party in the best traditions of what the world considers as the best form of government.
The party promised to unveil, in the days ahead, its membership registration plans to give all Nigerians, especially those who have become disenchanted with the way things are going in the country, the much-awaited opportunity to be part of the country’s democratic process in the true sense of the word.
”We will also be unveiling our plans to turn today’s hopelessness into a time of great opportunities, to reverse the downward slide in our socio-economic development, and to ensure that every Nigerian benefits from the commonwealth, instead of the present situation in which a few fat cats are milking the system dry at the expense of the citizenry,” the APC said.
Speaking in the same vein, the spokesman, of the now defunct CPC, Rotimi Fashakin, said, “This is good news to Nigerians. For the first time we have a situation where three parties will come together to talk of merger to help Nigeria and democracy. It is a big challenge to the continued dominance of PDP.”
Mr. Fashakin also commended INEC for” being professional and for refusing to be used by PDP to stop APC registration”.
“When the history of this nation is written, INEC will occupy a good position for doing an onerous duty to the nation,” he said.
premium times
The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties, CNPP, the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the defunct Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, has commended the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, over the registration of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
CNPP, in a statement by its spokesperson, Osita Okechukwu, shortly after the electoral body announced the registration of the APC in Abuja, said it “congratulates INEC for its forthrightness, steadfast and obedience to the rule of law”.
Mr. Okechukwu also stated that “it is heart-warming that INEC captured the intendment of the 1999 constitution not to register phony groups or mischief makers as political parties”.
CNPP said the registration of the APC signals the death of a one party state, which has characterised Nigeria’s democracy.
“Nigerians now have a golden opportunity to make choice between two dominant political parties; one anchored on social democracy, pro-people and one anchored on conservative and anti-people programs as is the case in all liberal democracies,” Mr. Okechukwu said in the statement.
On its part, the APC also congratulated INEC “for doing the right thing and for not succumbing to pressures from phantom political associations that sought to force it to circumvent the law”.
The party congratulated Nigerians on the emergence of the new party, saying with the birth of APC, Nigerians now have an alternative to a ruling party “that has taken the people for a bad ride in the past 14 years”.
In a statement issued by its interim National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, in Lagos on Wednesday, APC said its emergence is a victory for Nigeria and for democracy that will propel and that it has now also propelled the country to the league of top democratic nations with two major political parties.
”The journey has been long and tortuous. All sorts of obstacles were thrown into our path by anti-democratic forces, but we were painstaking, determined and unrelenting in our quest for a formidable platform that will allow our country, Nigeria, to achieve her full potentials and join the league of respectable nations.
”With the approval of our merger by INEC and the emergence of APC, today marks the beginning of a new dawn for our country and her long-suffering people. We thank Nigerians both here and in the Diaspora for standing by us. We thank the media for their fairness,” Mr. Mohammed said.
We will not disappoint Nigerians
Mr. Mohammed also said the party will not “disappoint Nigerians who have reposed much confidence in us. We say that contrary to the lies being peddled by the naysayers, we are not seeking political power for the sake of getting it, but in order to use it to empower our people and allow their long-nursed hopes and dreams to become a reality.
”And to those who have vowed to change their names if APC survives for a year, we hope they will live up to their words,” the APC said.
APC said Nigerians can now look forward to a truly democratic party in the best traditions of what the world considers as the best form of government.
The party promised to unveil, in the days ahead, its membership registration plans to give all Nigerians, especially those who have become disenchanted with the way things are going in the country, the much-awaited opportunity to be part of the country’s democratic process in the true sense of the word.
”We will also be unveiling our plans to turn today’s hopelessness into a time of great opportunities, to reverse the downward slide in our socio-economic development, and to ensure that every Nigerian benefits from the commonwealth, instead of the present situation in which a few fat cats are milking the system dry at the expense of the citizenry,” the APC said.
Speaking in the same vein, the spokesman, of the now defunct CPC, Rotimi Fashakin, said, “This is good news to Nigerians. For the first time we have a situation where three parties will come together to talk of merger to help Nigeria and democracy. It is a big challenge to the continued dominance of PDP.”
Mr. Fashakin also commended INEC for” being professional and for refusing to be used by PDP to stop APC registration”.
“When the history of this nation is written, INEC will occupy a good position for doing an onerous duty to the nation,” he said.
premium times
Lloyd to remain in detention till August 6th
Following what was described as a confused atmosphere at a Rivers State High Court when the Majority Leader of the State House of Assembly, Hon. Chidi Llyod was arraigned Wednesday, by the Police. Authorities told Vanguard that Mr. Lloyd will remain in detention until August 6th.
The decision to take back the house leader Vanguard gathered, stems from the fact that since the presiding Judge in the case of attempted murder and five other counts preferred against Llyod was stopped from hearing the case by the State’s Attorney General, the status-quo will remain the same.
“The case of attempted murder and other counts preferred against Mr. Lloyd are criminal in nature and since there was no hearing as a result of the AG’s intervention, the Police have no alternative than to take back the suspect to detention until August 6 that it was adjourned to”.
Vanguard gathered that the Police team of lawyers prosecuting the house leader is led by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Den Nwigwe.
Recall that Vanguard reported on Tuesday that arrangements have been concluded by the Force Criminal Investigations Department to arraign the Rivers State Majority Leader Mr. Chidi Lloyd on Wednesday before the Rivers state high court.
Consequently, a team of Senior Police lawyers led by a commissioner of Police left Abuja for Port Harcourt where they were joined by the Senior Advocate in preparation for the arraignment yesterday.
The police had on Monday filed a six count charge including attempted murder at the Rivers State high court but Vanguard learnt that certain disagreements on the part of the state Attorney General’s office and the prosecuting team led to the non arraignment of Lloyd on Monday.
When contacted, if Chief Lloyd will remain in police custody as a result of the deadlock, Force Spokesman, CSP Frank Mba said the status-quo will be maintained until date of adjournment.
vanguard
The decision to take back the house leader Vanguard gathered, stems from the fact that since the presiding Judge in the case of attempted murder and five other counts preferred against Llyod was stopped from hearing the case by the State’s Attorney General, the status-quo will remain the same.
“The case of attempted murder and other counts preferred against Mr. Lloyd are criminal in nature and since there was no hearing as a result of the AG’s intervention, the Police have no alternative than to take back the suspect to detention until August 6 that it was adjourned to”.
Vanguard gathered that the Police team of lawyers prosecuting the house leader is led by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Den Nwigwe.
Recall that Vanguard reported on Tuesday that arrangements have been concluded by the Force Criminal Investigations Department to arraign the Rivers State Majority Leader Mr. Chidi Lloyd on Wednesday before the Rivers state high court.
Consequently, a team of Senior Police lawyers led by a commissioner of Police left Abuja for Port Harcourt where they were joined by the Senior Advocate in preparation for the arraignment yesterday.
The police had on Monday filed a six count charge including attempted murder at the Rivers State high court but Vanguard learnt that certain disagreements on the part of the state Attorney General’s office and the prosecuting team led to the non arraignment of Lloyd on Monday.
When contacted, if Chief Lloyd will remain in police custody as a result of the deadlock, Force Spokesman, CSP Frank Mba said the status-quo will be maintained until date of adjournment.
vanguard
My Ex-Hubby Was Not Building Me Any House - Funke Akindele
And it gets messier as Funke Akindele and Ex Husband soil each other's image in public. In a recent interview with Encomium magazine, Funke Akindele's ex husband, Keyinde Oloyede Almaroof, said that he was building a house for his wife before she ended the marriage.
Well Funke Akindele has sort of replied her husband's interview. Here is what she said...
In a recent interview with Encomium magazine, Funke Akindele's ex husband, Keyinde Oloyede Almaroof, said that he was building a house for his wife before she ended the marriage. He revealed that it's a one-storey building (uncompleted) located off Adeniji Jones in Ikeja, adding that the rejection of the building was one of he reasons for their split. READ IT HERE
in a revealing chat with E-247 magazine, Funke Akindele sort of replied her husband's interview...
Read what Funke told E24-7MAGAZINE after the cut:
- See more at: http://topeorekoya.blogspot.com/2013/07/funke-akindele-my-ex-hubby-was-not.html?showComment=1375257017398#sthash.aEqmBpFC.dpuf
In a recent interview with Encomium magazine, Funke Akindele's ex husband, Keyinde Oloyede Almaroof, said that he was building a house for his wife before she ended the marriage. He revealed that it's a one-storey building (uncompleted) located off Adeniji Jones in Ikeja, adding that the rejection of the building was one of he reasons for their split. READ IT HERE
in a revealing chat with E-247 magazine, Funke Akindele sort of replied her husband's interview...
Read what Funke told E24-7MAGAZINE after the cut:
- See more at: http://topeorekoya.blogspot.com/2013/07/funke-akindele-my-ex-hubby-was-not.html?showComment=1375257017398#sthash.aEqmBpFC.dpuf
That place is not for me, I have been through hell and back.
I was abused emotionally and verbally. Really, I felt we could work things out when the trouble started two months after the marriage.
But I made up my mind and shut the door of the marriage at him when the trouble was coming to me too much.
I stooped to conquer him; buried my fame and name to make him my husband, but it did not work. At a point in time, I asked if it's not the same man that was all over me before we married.
He nearly got me off my career. He called me severally; I did not pick his calls but when he realized my silence was tormenting him, he took to Facebook.
It's alright.
Ask him when did he come to my house last? He left me here in my rented apartment with nothing and he will just dash in and dash out. He gets abusive, caustic anytime we have a misunderstanding and often told me to my face, he's going to his wife in Oshodi.
He sent me SMS that he has seen a buyer for his house at Adeniyi Jones for N40million. He asked me if he should sell it and that if he does, he will buy me a new car and a rent me a new apartment.
Why now? I don't need all that, I want my sanity. I respect him to the end but he chose to treat me that way. He said he wanted to clip my wings.
After Funke ignored him, he sent her another text abusing her and calling her names.
"So you can see that he does not mean well for me," Funke re-iterated.
Funke and Kehinde rarely spent substantial time together even at the peak of their marriage.
Both kept to hectic schedules by virtue of their chosen professions.
While Funke is often involved in back-to-back shooting on movie sets, Kehinde jumps from one construction site to another; pressing buttons for his political ambitions; and keeping dates with his wife at home and other women by the side.
Besides, Kehinde's disturbing and haunting pasts have repeatedly stared Funke right in the face, and according to impeccable source, Funke learnt shockingly that her once beloved hubby was expelled from the University of Jos almost as soon as he was matriculated as a student of the ivory tower.
His admission, was faulty right from the beginning and since that first attempt at tertiary education went awry, he shut his door at education.
When he returned from Jos, he found strength in his entrepreneurial skill coupled with the influence and support of his mother, a market leader and successful businesswoman; he became an estate developer, building chains of shops in Oshodi market.
Gradually, he crept into politics and his popularity soared that he became a well-known grassroots politician and a great mobilizer.
To shore up his image, he found in Funke who has become monstrously popular with her movie, Jenifa and the sequel, The Return of Jenifa, a ready tool.
He convinced the favourite actress to lead him to the Leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, whom he had assaulted many years ago during the market women leadership tussle between his mother, AlhajaAlmaroof and the late Iyaloja General Alhaja Abibat Mogaji.
After he atoned for his 'sins,' he joined the train of well- wishers that went to London to felicitate with the former governor when one of his sons graduated from a university in London.
Kehinde's lost bid to win the contract to rebuild Oshodi market really threw him off balance and that probably made him to turn the heat on his latest wife, Funke who wanted his attention.*
Well Funke Akindele has sort of replied her husband's interview. Here is what she said...
In a recent interview with Encomium magazine, Funke Akindele's ex husband, Keyinde Oloyede Almaroof, said that he was building a house for his wife before she ended the marriage. He revealed that it's a one-storey building (uncompleted) located off Adeniji Jones in Ikeja, adding that the rejection of the building was one of he reasons for their split. READ IT HERE
in a revealing chat with E-247 magazine, Funke Akindele sort of replied her husband's interview...
Read what Funke told E24-7MAGAZINE after the cut:
- See more at: http://topeorekoya.blogspot.com/2013/07/funke-akindele-my-ex-hubby-was-not.html?showComment=1375257017398#sthash.aEqmBpFC.dpuf
In a recent interview with Encomium magazine, Funke Akindele's ex husband, Keyinde Oloyede Almaroof, said that he was building a house for his wife before she ended the marriage. He revealed that it's a one-storey building (uncompleted) located off Adeniji Jones in Ikeja, adding that the rejection of the building was one of he reasons for their split. READ IT HERE
in a revealing chat with E-247 magazine, Funke Akindele sort of replied her husband's interview...
Read what Funke told E24-7MAGAZINE after the cut:
- See more at: http://topeorekoya.blogspot.com/2013/07/funke-akindele-my-ex-hubby-was-not.html?showComment=1375257017398#sthash.aEqmBpFC.dpuf
That place is not for me, I have been through hell and back.
I was abused emotionally and verbally. Really, I felt we could work things out when the trouble started two months after the marriage.
But I made up my mind and shut the door of the marriage at him when the trouble was coming to me too much.
I stooped to conquer him; buried my fame and name to make him my husband, but it did not work. At a point in time, I asked if it's not the same man that was all over me before we married.
He nearly got me off my career. He called me severally; I did not pick his calls but when he realized my silence was tormenting him, he took to Facebook.
It's alright.
Ask him when did he come to my house last? He left me here in my rented apartment with nothing and he will just dash in and dash out. He gets abusive, caustic anytime we have a misunderstanding and often told me to my face, he's going to his wife in Oshodi.
He sent me SMS that he has seen a buyer for his house at Adeniyi Jones for N40million. He asked me if he should sell it and that if he does, he will buy me a new car and a rent me a new apartment.
Why now? I don't need all that, I want my sanity. I respect him to the end but he chose to treat me that way. He said he wanted to clip my wings.
After Funke ignored him, he sent her another text abusing her and calling her names.
"So you can see that he does not mean well for me," Funke re-iterated.
Funke and Kehinde rarely spent substantial time together even at the peak of their marriage.
Both kept to hectic schedules by virtue of their chosen professions.
While Funke is often involved in back-to-back shooting on movie sets, Kehinde jumps from one construction site to another; pressing buttons for his political ambitions; and keeping dates with his wife at home and other women by the side.
Besides, Kehinde's disturbing and haunting pasts have repeatedly stared Funke right in the face, and according to impeccable source, Funke learnt shockingly that her once beloved hubby was expelled from the University of Jos almost as soon as he was matriculated as a student of the ivory tower.
His admission, was faulty right from the beginning and since that first attempt at tertiary education went awry, he shut his door at education.
When he returned from Jos, he found strength in his entrepreneurial skill coupled with the influence and support of his mother, a market leader and successful businesswoman; he became an estate developer, building chains of shops in Oshodi market.
Gradually, he crept into politics and his popularity soared that he became a well-known grassroots politician and a great mobilizer.
To shore up his image, he found in Funke who has become monstrously popular with her movie, Jenifa and the sequel, The Return of Jenifa, a ready tool.
He convinced the favourite actress to lead him to the Leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, whom he had assaulted many years ago during the market women leadership tussle between his mother, AlhajaAlmaroof and the late Iyaloja General Alhaja Abibat Mogaji.
After he atoned for his 'sins,' he joined the train of well- wishers that went to London to felicitate with the former governor when one of his sons graduated from a university in London.
Kehinde's lost bid to win the contract to rebuild Oshodi market really threw him off balance and that probably made him to turn the heat on his latest wife, Funke who wanted his attention.*
FAAN Apologises To Oshiomhole Over Closure Of Benin Airport
Authorities of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has apologized to the Edo State Government and air travelers over the incident which led to the closure of the Benin Airport on Tuesday.
The Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria Managing Director, Mr. George Uriesi who led other management staff which included Mr. Yakubu Dati, General Manager, Mr. Kolawole Adefomiwa, Deputy General Manager, Mr. Adeboye Festus, the Chief Security Officer and Mr. Ayodele Sunday, Airport Manager, Benin City said "we deeply regret the events of yesterday and we will like to find out how we can avoid a situation like this arising in the future, because it is neither in the interest of FAAN nor in the interest of Edo State Government for the Airport to be closed down, because there was a lot of hardship and serious economic consequences as a result of the shutdown and there is need to settle this matter.
"I want to assure Your Excellency that FAAN is a good corporate citizen, I am convinced that there was a misunderstanding and I want to get to the bottom of this misunderstanding so that it does not happen again.
"If we have any obligations, we will meet them, and I hope that in the future if there are issues of misunderstanding, we will be able to talk about them quickly without them leading to delays and inconveniences to the public. So, sir we are here to reassure you of our respects and desire to be good corporate citizens and partner with the State Government to deliver services to the people of Edo State".
In his response, Governor Oshiomhole noted that tax law was a federal law which the state Government is only trying to implement. He noted that the tax which FAAN defaulted on was the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) which even the President and Governors pay.
Oshiomhole said the State Board of Internal Revenue got a proper Court Order to seal the FAAN Manager's Office, noting that the FAAN Manager on his own decided to seal up the Airport to gain public sympathy.
The Governor said the problem with Nigeria is not immunity, but impunity as people often violate the law and get away with it.
He insisted that anybody who works and lives in Edo State must pay tax in contribution to the development of the State.
The Governor said a way to avoid a re-occurrence of the ugly incident was for FAAN to comply with the law.
He however, expressed his displeasure with the FAAN Manager Benin Airport, Mr. Ayodele Sunday for dramatizing the issue, saying "I hope in future, this sort of thing does not happen"
Pm news
The Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria Managing Director, Mr. George Uriesi who led other management staff which included Mr. Yakubu Dati, General Manager, Mr. Kolawole Adefomiwa, Deputy General Manager, Mr. Adeboye Festus, the Chief Security Officer and Mr. Ayodele Sunday, Airport Manager, Benin City said "we deeply regret the events of yesterday and we will like to find out how we can avoid a situation like this arising in the future, because it is neither in the interest of FAAN nor in the interest of Edo State Government for the Airport to be closed down, because there was a lot of hardship and serious economic consequences as a result of the shutdown and there is need to settle this matter.
"I want to assure Your Excellency that FAAN is a good corporate citizen, I am convinced that there was a misunderstanding and I want to get to the bottom of this misunderstanding so that it does not happen again.
"If we have any obligations, we will meet them, and I hope that in the future if there are issues of misunderstanding, we will be able to talk about them quickly without them leading to delays and inconveniences to the public. So, sir we are here to reassure you of our respects and desire to be good corporate citizens and partner with the State Government to deliver services to the people of Edo State".
In his response, Governor Oshiomhole noted that tax law was a federal law which the state Government is only trying to implement. He noted that the tax which FAAN defaulted on was the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) which even the President and Governors pay.
Oshiomhole said the State Board of Internal Revenue got a proper Court Order to seal the FAAN Manager's Office, noting that the FAAN Manager on his own decided to seal up the Airport to gain public sympathy.
The Governor said the problem with Nigeria is not immunity, but impunity as people often violate the law and get away with it.
He insisted that anybody who works and lives in Edo State must pay tax in contribution to the development of the State.
The Governor said a way to avoid a re-occurrence of the ugly incident was for FAAN to comply with the law.
He however, expressed his displeasure with the FAAN Manager Benin Airport, Mr. Ayodele Sunday for dramatizing the issue, saying "I hope in future, this sort of thing does not happen"
Pm news
Fashola Picks Gbeleyi As New Finance Commissioner
Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), has nominated the Director-General of the State's Office of Public - Private Partnerships (PPP), Mr. Ayodeji Gbeleyi as the new commissioner for finance.
If the nomination is approved by the House of Assembly, Gbeleyi will succeed Mr. Tokunbo Abiru who recently resigned from the State's Cabinet.
Mr. Gbeleyi at the moment is Fashola's Special Adviser on PPP, the agency driving the government collaboration with the private sector to tackle the state's infrastructure challenge.
Gbeleyi is a Fellow of the Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (FCA).
He is an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN), an alumnus of the Harvard Kennedy School, the London Business School, Lagos Business School and an MBA holder from the International Graduate School of Management, University of Navarra, Barcelona, Spain.
pm news
If the nomination is approved by the House of Assembly, Gbeleyi will succeed Mr. Tokunbo Abiru who recently resigned from the State's Cabinet.
Mr. Gbeleyi at the moment is Fashola's Special Adviser on PPP, the agency driving the government collaboration with the private sector to tackle the state's infrastructure challenge.
Gbeleyi is a Fellow of the Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (FCA).
He is an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN), an alumnus of the Harvard Kennedy School, the London Business School, Lagos Business School and an MBA holder from the International Graduate School of Management, University of Navarra, Barcelona, Spain.
pm news
Appeal Court Declares Lead City University Law Programme Illegal
The Court of Appeal on Wednesday ruled that Lead City University, an Ibadan-based private university, had been running its law programme illegally.
The three-man panel of judges, in a judgement that lasted about three hours, upturned an earlier decision of an Oyo State High Court which declared illegal the invalidation of the programme by the National Universities Commission (NUC).
The lower court’s judgement was based on a suit filed by a first class graduate of law in the university, Segun Alli, accusing the NUC of denying him the right to proceed to the law school after completing his degree programme in the private university.
Giving the lead judgment, which was unanimously adopted by two other justices, Chidi Uwa upheld the appeal of the NUC, declaring that the university had been operating its law programme without the required accreditation.
The court also held that Mr. Alli lacked the locus standi to initiate the suit in the first place. It held that the matter under contention was between NUC and the Lead City University over compliance with directives to set up a valid Law Faculty.
The Appeal Court said the University had failed to obtain and meet the requirements of the NUC and National Council of Legal Education before graduating students for the same course.
Justice Uwa added that Lead City University had admitted students to study law in the university on 22nd of May 2005 whereas it got a license to operate on 9th June, 2005.
Wondering how the university could be running programmes before it came to existence, Mr. Uwa said the NUC only approved the setting up of a law faculty at the university in 2008, while the university graduated their first law students in 2009, describing same as totally illegal.
leadership
The three-man panel of judges, in a judgement that lasted about three hours, upturned an earlier decision of an Oyo State High Court which declared illegal the invalidation of the programme by the National Universities Commission (NUC).
The lower court’s judgement was based on a suit filed by a first class graduate of law in the university, Segun Alli, accusing the NUC of denying him the right to proceed to the law school after completing his degree programme in the private university.
Giving the lead judgment, which was unanimously adopted by two other justices, Chidi Uwa upheld the appeal of the NUC, declaring that the university had been operating its law programme without the required accreditation.
The court also held that Mr. Alli lacked the locus standi to initiate the suit in the first place. It held that the matter under contention was between NUC and the Lead City University over compliance with directives to set up a valid Law Faculty.
The Appeal Court said the University had failed to obtain and meet the requirements of the NUC and National Council of Legal Education before graduating students for the same course.
Justice Uwa added that Lead City University had admitted students to study law in the university on 22nd of May 2005 whereas it got a license to operate on 9th June, 2005.
Wondering how the university could be running programmes before it came to existence, Mr. Uwa said the NUC only approved the setting up of a law faculty at the university in 2008, while the university graduated their first law students in 2009, describing same as totally illegal.
leadership
Appeal Court Declares Lead City University Law Programme Illegal
The Court of Appeal on Wednesday ruled that Lead City University, an Ibadan-based private university, had been running its law programme illegally.
The three-man panel of judges, in a judgement that lasted about three hours, upturned an earlier decision of an Oyo State High Court which declared illegal the invalidation of the programme by the National Universities Commission (NUC).
The lower court’s judgement was based on a suit filed by a first class graduate of law in the university, Segun Alli, accusing the NUC of denying him the right to proceed to the law school after completing his degree programme in the private university.
Giving the lead judgment, which was unanimously adopted by two other justices, Chidi Uwa upheld the appeal of the NUC, declaring that the university had been operating its law programme without the required accreditation.
The court also held that Mr. Alli lacked the locus standi to initiate the suit in the first place. It held that the matter under contention was between NUC and the Lead City University over compliance with directives to set up a valid Law Faculty.
The Appeal Court said the University had failed to obtain and meet the requirements of the NUC and National Council of Legal Education before graduating students for the same course.
Justice Uwa added that Lead City University had admitted students to study law in the university on 22nd of May 2005 whereas it got a license to operate on 9th June, 2005.
Wondering how the university could be running programmes before it came to existence, Mr. Uwa said the NUC only approved the setting up of a law faculty at the university in 2008, while the university graduated their first law students in 2009, describing same as totally illegal.
leadership
The three-man panel of judges, in a judgement that lasted about three hours, upturned an earlier decision of an Oyo State High Court which declared illegal the invalidation of the programme by the National Universities Commission (NUC).
The lower court’s judgement was based on a suit filed by a first class graduate of law in the university, Segun Alli, accusing the NUC of denying him the right to proceed to the law school after completing his degree programme in the private university.
Giving the lead judgment, which was unanimously adopted by two other justices, Chidi Uwa upheld the appeal of the NUC, declaring that the university had been operating its law programme without the required accreditation.
The court also held that Mr. Alli lacked the locus standi to initiate the suit in the first place. It held that the matter under contention was between NUC and the Lead City University over compliance with directives to set up a valid Law Faculty.
The Appeal Court said the University had failed to obtain and meet the requirements of the NUC and National Council of Legal Education before graduating students for the same course.
Justice Uwa added that Lead City University had admitted students to study law in the university on 22nd of May 2005 whereas it got a license to operate on 9th June, 2005.
Wondering how the university could be running programmes before it came to existence, Mr. Uwa said the NUC only approved the setting up of a law faculty at the university in 2008, while the university graduated their first law students in 2009, describing same as totally illegal.
leadership
Islamic law sanctions marriage based on maturity not age – Ahmad Sani
SENATOR Ahmad Rufai Sani, ANPP, Zamfara West Wednesday said that under the Islamic law, a girl was considered ripe for marriage based on her physical and mental maturity and not necessarily age, just as he stressed that situations could arise where a very big girl was ready for marriage at age 14, 15, 16 as obtained in other countries.
According to him, the 1999 Constitution does not in any way provide for any specific age when a girl could be married, but was quick to add that the same constitution stipulates that any girl aspiring to be married must attain a full age.
Speaking Wednesday in an interview on the ‘Kakaaki’ aired programme by the African Independent Television (AIT), Senator Ahmad Sani who denied backing the child marriages during the clause by clause voting on the report of the Senator Ike Ekweremadu led Constitution review, said insinuations that he supported child marriage during the exercise were untrue, misleading and however attributed that entire criticisms to what he termed, the handiwork of mischief-makers.
According to him, the constitutional provision in the 1999 Constitution was in consonance with the Islamic law which states that for a girl to be married, she must have attained the age of maturity and puberty, adding, “What is the criteria for defining maturity or otherwise of a girl?
‘’The Nigerian constitution didn’t say 18 years. There is no definition in the Nigerian constitution; any woman who is married is of age. You see in Islamic law, once a girl reaches the age of puberty and she is matured she is of full age and she is ready for marriage.
Senator Ahmed Yerima
“And once she is married, she is of full age. And that is why the constitution recognises Islamic law and made that provision. So if you say you are going to remove that provision, you are going against and counter to Islamic law.
“So under Sharia law, any country that practices Sharia, age is not a defining factor for marriage.’’
Commenting on international conventions that pegged the age at which a girl can be married at 18 and to which Nigeria was a signatory, the former governor of Zamfara State noted that such international conventions were inferior to the constitutional provisions of the affected country, adding that once a convention was in conflict with the constitution of any country, the constitution naturally must prevail.
Substantiating his argument, the lawmaker explained that the United Kingdom which is a signatory to the same convention, an age limit of 16 to be eligible to engage in sexual intercourse.
“Today as I am talking to you now let me tell you the consent for girls to have sex is 13 and 14. In Spain it is 13. They all signed these conventions. The conventions are not anything to go by once your constitution makes provisions.
“Under sharia law, you have to be physically and maturely developed.
So if she (a girl) is not the age of 18, Islam does not accept child marriage as you define it. Child marriage is a girl that is not matured, has not reached the age of puberty, she is a minor and it is not age. You can have a very big girl who is ready for marriage at age 14, 15, 16 just as is obtained in other countries. Maturity is defined by her physical appearance, by when a girl starts menstruation for example, she is matured.’’
Senator Sani who also said that under Islamic law, a widow has the right to inherit the property of her late husband no matter her age, declared that “in fact, there is a formula (written); you see as far as Islamic law is concerned Islam has a code of conduct. It has every provision.’’
The Senator who gave an example of his first wife who was 16 years when they got married her at the age of 16 and his second wife, an Egyptian, who was 14 when he married her, said, “It is not the age as far as Islamic law is concerned, it is the maturity and age of puberty.
These issues are all matters of faith. As I said, some people are talking out of ignorance or out of sheer mischief. I am a Muslim and Nigeria is a multi-religious society. That is why our constitution makes ample provision for Sharia law, common law and for customary law.
“So we are expected to live together, appreciate the differences we have and understand ourselves. I should respect the views, aspirations and feelings of Christians and the Christian is expected to respect my own religious faith. If I believe in something and this is the doctrine of Islam, I mean a non-Muslim should not bother to find out why I should believe in that.
“Recently, I saw in Al Jazeera that the present Pope said gays should be allowed freedom in society, whatever it means but the Chairman Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) said he was going to march to the Senate if we approve gay marriage. So these are matters of interpretations.
“In Islamic law, we don’t have problem of interpretation, we have a written law and from the inception of this law every item is clearly defined.
“So in Nigeria today, what is lacking is people do not understand their laws. Some people thought that Senator Yerima decided to introduce new things into the constitution, not knowing that this item is in the constitution. Those who put it there were very sensitive on the issues of our faith – as Muslims and they respect our feelings and aspirations of Muslims.
‘’If you remove the definition of full age, you remove the woman. Like I said if a Moslem woman marries somebody who is not a Nigerian and you want her to live with him, with his own family with the children they have in his own country and you want her to be a citizen of his country and the country does not accept dual citizenship and she is not a kid and you do not make that provision for women; married women what does she do?
“She should wait in Nigeria until she is 18, even though she is married? So it is not even the issue of marriage, not the age of marriage but people are changing the debate to be talking about the marriage of minors.
“Islamic law does not accept for the marriage of a girl that is not matured, a girl that is not of age. This is where we have problem. Islamic law does not recognise age. We recognise maturity and puberty and you can see this from the physical appearance of the girl.
Maturity of mind, maturity of body, maturity of size, everything put together. It is not because of age.
“When I was looking at the UK law they put the age of consent for a girl to have sex or boyfriends at 16; for a homosexual they started with 21, they reduced it to 18, now they are reducing it to 16.
My argument is that somebody who is not a Muslim would not appreciate what is Islamic law. In Islamic law, we don’t use our sense to say well this is what we have to do. We are all guided by what our creator has said we must do. As far as we Muslims are concerned, we have no option, no choice.
“The Child Rights Act based on the Second schedule, Part 1, Section 61 is unconstitutional in relation to Islamic law and customary law. An Igbo woman who marries based on tradition and culture cannot be
prosecuted under the Child Rights Act because the constitution specifically said the National Assembly can make laws for the formation and annulment of marriages excluding marriages under Islamic law and customary law because Islamic law has some specific rules and regulations.
“The Child Rights Act affects only those who conduct their marriages under common law in Nigeria today. The right is valid, it is constitutionally enacted but it affects only when you go and conduct your marriage in the church.’’
vanguard
According to him, the 1999 Constitution does not in any way provide for any specific age when a girl could be married, but was quick to add that the same constitution stipulates that any girl aspiring to be married must attain a full age.
Speaking Wednesday in an interview on the ‘Kakaaki’ aired programme by the African Independent Television (AIT), Senator Ahmad Sani who denied backing the child marriages during the clause by clause voting on the report of the Senator Ike Ekweremadu led Constitution review, said insinuations that he supported child marriage during the exercise were untrue, misleading and however attributed that entire criticisms to what he termed, the handiwork of mischief-makers.
According to him, the constitutional provision in the 1999 Constitution was in consonance with the Islamic law which states that for a girl to be married, she must have attained the age of maturity and puberty, adding, “What is the criteria for defining maturity or otherwise of a girl?
‘’The Nigerian constitution didn’t say 18 years. There is no definition in the Nigerian constitution; any woman who is married is of age. You see in Islamic law, once a girl reaches the age of puberty and she is matured she is of full age and she is ready for marriage.
Senator Ahmed Yerima
“And once she is married, she is of full age. And that is why the constitution recognises Islamic law and made that provision. So if you say you are going to remove that provision, you are going against and counter to Islamic law.
“So under Sharia law, any country that practices Sharia, age is not a defining factor for marriage.’’
Commenting on international conventions that pegged the age at which a girl can be married at 18 and to which Nigeria was a signatory, the former governor of Zamfara State noted that such international conventions were inferior to the constitutional provisions of the affected country, adding that once a convention was in conflict with the constitution of any country, the constitution naturally must prevail.
Substantiating his argument, the lawmaker explained that the United Kingdom which is a signatory to the same convention, an age limit of 16 to be eligible to engage in sexual intercourse.
“Today as I am talking to you now let me tell you the consent for girls to have sex is 13 and 14. In Spain it is 13. They all signed these conventions. The conventions are not anything to go by once your constitution makes provisions.
“Under sharia law, you have to be physically and maturely developed.
So if she (a girl) is not the age of 18, Islam does not accept child marriage as you define it. Child marriage is a girl that is not matured, has not reached the age of puberty, she is a minor and it is not age. You can have a very big girl who is ready for marriage at age 14, 15, 16 just as is obtained in other countries. Maturity is defined by her physical appearance, by when a girl starts menstruation for example, she is matured.’’
Senator Sani who also said that under Islamic law, a widow has the right to inherit the property of her late husband no matter her age, declared that “in fact, there is a formula (written); you see as far as Islamic law is concerned Islam has a code of conduct. It has every provision.’’
The Senator who gave an example of his first wife who was 16 years when they got married her at the age of 16 and his second wife, an Egyptian, who was 14 when he married her, said, “It is not the age as far as Islamic law is concerned, it is the maturity and age of puberty.
These issues are all matters of faith. As I said, some people are talking out of ignorance or out of sheer mischief. I am a Muslim and Nigeria is a multi-religious society. That is why our constitution makes ample provision for Sharia law, common law and for customary law.
“So we are expected to live together, appreciate the differences we have and understand ourselves. I should respect the views, aspirations and feelings of Christians and the Christian is expected to respect my own religious faith. If I believe in something and this is the doctrine of Islam, I mean a non-Muslim should not bother to find out why I should believe in that.
“Recently, I saw in Al Jazeera that the present Pope said gays should be allowed freedom in society, whatever it means but the Chairman Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) said he was going to march to the Senate if we approve gay marriage. So these are matters of interpretations.
“In Islamic law, we don’t have problem of interpretation, we have a written law and from the inception of this law every item is clearly defined.
“So in Nigeria today, what is lacking is people do not understand their laws. Some people thought that Senator Yerima decided to introduce new things into the constitution, not knowing that this item is in the constitution. Those who put it there were very sensitive on the issues of our faith – as Muslims and they respect our feelings and aspirations of Muslims.
‘’If you remove the definition of full age, you remove the woman. Like I said if a Moslem woman marries somebody who is not a Nigerian and you want her to live with him, with his own family with the children they have in his own country and you want her to be a citizen of his country and the country does not accept dual citizenship and she is not a kid and you do not make that provision for women; married women what does she do?
“She should wait in Nigeria until she is 18, even though she is married? So it is not even the issue of marriage, not the age of marriage but people are changing the debate to be talking about the marriage of minors.
“Islamic law does not accept for the marriage of a girl that is not matured, a girl that is not of age. This is where we have problem. Islamic law does not recognise age. We recognise maturity and puberty and you can see this from the physical appearance of the girl.
Maturity of mind, maturity of body, maturity of size, everything put together. It is not because of age.
“When I was looking at the UK law they put the age of consent for a girl to have sex or boyfriends at 16; for a homosexual they started with 21, they reduced it to 18, now they are reducing it to 16.
My argument is that somebody who is not a Muslim would not appreciate what is Islamic law. In Islamic law, we don’t use our sense to say well this is what we have to do. We are all guided by what our creator has said we must do. As far as we Muslims are concerned, we have no option, no choice.
“The Child Rights Act based on the Second schedule, Part 1, Section 61 is unconstitutional in relation to Islamic law and customary law. An Igbo woman who marries based on tradition and culture cannot be
prosecuted under the Child Rights Act because the constitution specifically said the National Assembly can make laws for the formation and annulment of marriages excluding marriages under Islamic law and customary law because Islamic law has some specific rules and regulations.
“The Child Rights Act affects only those who conduct their marriages under common law in Nigeria today. The right is valid, it is constitutionally enacted but it affects only when you go and conduct your marriage in the church.’’
vanguard
12-Yr-Old Boy Rapes 9 Yr-Old Girl
A 12-year-old boy who raped a nine-year-old girl after viewing pornography on the internet has avoided a custodial sentence, UK.
The High Court in Edinburgh was told the boy, who is now 14, was "emulating" the actions he had seen after having "unfettered" online access.
Defence counsel said the case could represent the "tip of the iceberg". Judge Lady Smith said the case would be referred to the Children's Panel and the boy kept under supervision.
The boy's defence counsel, Sean Templeton said: "There is a real risk that young people of the current generation of teenagers are growing up with a skewed view of what sex is and sexual activity."
He said it was a great concern that they could be getting sex education through pornographers.
He added: "He was afforded unfettered access to the internet and it has become apparent from a very young age, the age of 12, he was accessing hard-core pornography."
Mr Templeton said that the boy had identified the websites he visited to police. "The behaviour witnessed was reminiscent of the acts carried out by him," he said.
Lady Smith told the teenager that having looked at detailed reports prepared in his case, she could consider a non-custodial sentence.
Behave sexually
She told the boy he must "behave" and that he was being given an opportunity to "make something" of himself, to put his mistakes behind him and accept the wrongdoing and to think carefully of what it was like for the girl and "what she is living with because of that wrongdoing".
The judge told him: "You should not and must not regard pornography as any guide at all as to how to behave sexually."
The judge pointed out that he had pled guilty to statutory offences under the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009.
The boy, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, had earlier admitted statutory offences of rape and sexual assault committed between 1 December 2010 and 31 January 2011 at a Scottish island community.
Advocate depute, Jane Farquharson said the offences came to light after the girl complained of having a sore stomach.
She eventually asked her mother if her problem could be because she was about to have a baby.
Her mother asked her if something had happened to her and she became hysterical before revealing what the boy had done.
bbc news
The High Court in Edinburgh was told the boy, who is now 14, was "emulating" the actions he had seen after having "unfettered" online access.
Defence counsel said the case could represent the "tip of the iceberg". Judge Lady Smith said the case would be referred to the Children's Panel and the boy kept under supervision.
The boy's defence counsel, Sean Templeton said: "There is a real risk that young people of the current generation of teenagers are growing up with a skewed view of what sex is and sexual activity."
He said it was a great concern that they could be getting sex education through pornographers.
He added: "He was afforded unfettered access to the internet and it has become apparent from a very young age, the age of 12, he was accessing hard-core pornography."
Mr Templeton said that the boy had identified the websites he visited to police. "The behaviour witnessed was reminiscent of the acts carried out by him," he said.
Lady Smith told the teenager that having looked at detailed reports prepared in his case, she could consider a non-custodial sentence.
Behave sexually
She told the boy he must "behave" and that he was being given an opportunity to "make something" of himself, to put his mistakes behind him and accept the wrongdoing and to think carefully of what it was like for the girl and "what she is living with because of that wrongdoing".
The judge told him: "You should not and must not regard pornography as any guide at all as to how to behave sexually."
The judge pointed out that he had pled guilty to statutory offences under the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009.
The boy, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, had earlier admitted statutory offences of rape and sexual assault committed between 1 December 2010 and 31 January 2011 at a Scottish island community.
Advocate depute, Jane Farquharson said the offences came to light after the girl complained of having a sore stomach.
She eventually asked her mother if her problem could be because she was about to have a baby.
Her mother asked her if something had happened to her and she became hysterical before revealing what the boy had done.
bbc news
SHOCKING: Man Scales Fence To Have Sex With Mad Woman
21-year-old Lateef Sulaiman has been arrested by Officials of the Lagos State Government for allegedly scaling a 14-feet fence to gain entrance into the Lagos State Rehabilitation and Training Centre, Majidun area of Ikorodu, Lagos, southwest Nigeria, to have sex with a mad woman.
Sulaiman was said to have jumped into the female dormitory around 9.30 p.m. recently and had sex with a deranged woman before he was arrested and handed over to the taskforce at Alausa.
In his confessional statement at the taskforce headquarters, Sulaiman allegedly said he had had sex with a mad woman at the rehabilitation centre on five occasions before his arrest, saying that he knew where the female dormitory was because he had gone to the centre in the past to seek employment and had thoroughly studied the environment.
He was arraigned at the Special Offences Court, Alausa in Ikeja for his alleged offence
Sulaiman was slammed with a four-count charge. In the first count charge, he was said to have scaled the 14-feet fence of the rehabilitation home and slept with a mentally ill inmate and thus committed an offence punishable under the laws of Lagos State.
Having pleaded not guilty, he was granted bail in the sum of N50, 000 with two sureties who must be civil servants and present evidence of tax payment for five years.
Sulaiman could not meet the bail conditions and was remanded at the Badagry Prison.
Special Adviser to the Governor on Youth and Social Development, Dr. Dolapo Badru, lamented that there is a lot of satanic rituals going on in the society, wondering what could have made a young man scale the fence to sleep with a mad woman.
"It is this same satanic ritual that makes a herbalist to tell a man to bring the private part of somebody to be used for rituals without killing the person in order to get rich," he said.
He said it is senseless and baseless for a man to want to sleep with a mad woman, thinking that his fortune in life would change for the better.
According to him, the only thing such a bizarre act could do to a man was to make him contract deadly diseases.
"This act is simply part of the activities of ritualists and a way to get money in a quick means. The case is in court," he said.
pm news
Sulaiman was said to have jumped into the female dormitory around 9.30 p.m. recently and had sex with a deranged woman before he was arrested and handed over to the taskforce at Alausa.
In his confessional statement at the taskforce headquarters, Sulaiman allegedly said he had had sex with a mad woman at the rehabilitation centre on five occasions before his arrest, saying that he knew where the female dormitory was because he had gone to the centre in the past to seek employment and had thoroughly studied the environment.
He was arraigned at the Special Offences Court, Alausa in Ikeja for his alleged offence
Sulaiman was slammed with a four-count charge. In the first count charge, he was said to have scaled the 14-feet fence of the rehabilitation home and slept with a mentally ill inmate and thus committed an offence punishable under the laws of Lagos State.
Having pleaded not guilty, he was granted bail in the sum of N50, 000 with two sureties who must be civil servants and present evidence of tax payment for five years.
Sulaiman could not meet the bail conditions and was remanded at the Badagry Prison.
Special Adviser to the Governor on Youth and Social Development, Dr. Dolapo Badru, lamented that there is a lot of satanic rituals going on in the society, wondering what could have made a young man scale the fence to sleep with a mad woman.
"It is this same satanic ritual that makes a herbalist to tell a man to bring the private part of somebody to be used for rituals without killing the person in order to get rich," he said.
He said it is senseless and baseless for a man to want to sleep with a mad woman, thinking that his fortune in life would change for the better.
According to him, the only thing such a bizarre act could do to a man was to make him contract deadly diseases.
"This act is simply part of the activities of ritualists and a way to get money in a quick means. The case is in court," he said.
pm news
Fake Herbalist Who Dupes People Arrested
A suspected fraudster who posed as a herbalist, an estate agent and phone repairer to dupe at least ten people of various sums of money, has been nabbed by his victims at Ijagemo, Lagos.
It was learnt that Gbenga Ogunmefun posed as a herbalist and collected N30,000 from a housewife simply called Morufa.
But he was unable to heal her of her ailment and refused to refund her money.
The suspect who lives in Bada compound, Baba Fatia's house, Ijagemo, allegedly collected phones and cash from a man called Aro, a lady called Vivian and another woman known as Iya Falda.
It was gathered Ogunmefun who claimed to come from Odeda in Odeda Local Government Area of Ogun State, also posed as an estate agent and allegedly collected N20,000 from Joseph Sunday but he failed to provide him accommodation or refund his money.
When some of the victims dragged Ogunmefun before High Chief Hakeem Babatunde Balogun, he admitted duping the people and promised to refund whatever he swindled from them.
After an initial deposit of N10,000, the supect signed an undertaking to pay N7,000 monthtly instalment until he had paid the money he extorted from his victims.
In the undertaking signed by his wife, Mrs. Reginje Ogunmefun as a witness, dated 29 July, 2013, the suspect promised to refund all the phones in his custody to their owners.
Pm news
It was learnt that Gbenga Ogunmefun posed as a herbalist and collected N30,000 from a housewife simply called Morufa.
But he was unable to heal her of her ailment and refused to refund her money.
The suspect who lives in Bada compound, Baba Fatia's house, Ijagemo, allegedly collected phones and cash from a man called Aro, a lady called Vivian and another woman known as Iya Falda.
It was gathered Ogunmefun who claimed to come from Odeda in Odeda Local Government Area of Ogun State, also posed as an estate agent and allegedly collected N20,000 from Joseph Sunday but he failed to provide him accommodation or refund his money.
When some of the victims dragged Ogunmefun before High Chief Hakeem Babatunde Balogun, he admitted duping the people and promised to refund whatever he swindled from them.
After an initial deposit of N10,000, the supect signed an undertaking to pay N7,000 monthtly instalment until he had paid the money he extorted from his victims.
In the undertaking signed by his wife, Mrs. Reginje Ogunmefun as a witness, dated 29 July, 2013, the suspect promised to refund all the phones in his custody to their owners.
Pm news
'Death Sentence': Tourists Abducted, Robbed and Murdered
A Kenyan court has sentenced a hotel resort worker to death after convicting him of being in a gang which murdered a British tourist and abducted his wife.
Judith Tebbutt, of Hertfordshire, was held for six months in Somalia after pirates shot her husband David in 2011.
The Met Police, which helped the Kenyan probe, said Ali Babitu Kololo, 27, was found guilty of robbery with violence.
Kenya has not carried out a death sentence since 1987, and Kololo is expected to serve a prison term.
He had been sacked from his job several months before he guided the kidnappers to the Tebbutts' villa at the remote resort on an island in Kenya's Lamu archipelago.
He pleaded not guilty at his trial held in the town of Lamu, and said he had been acting under duress.
The Met Police said a small team of counter-terrorism officers travelled to Kenya shortly after the murder and kidnap to support the local police investigation.
The inquiry matched footprints found on the beach to the shoes worn by Kololo when he was arrested shortly after the incident.
The Foreign Office confirmed the death penalty had been imposed, but said it was not expected to be carried out because of a moratorium in place since 1987.
A spokesman said: "We welcome efforts by the Kenyan authorities to bring those responsible for the kidnap of Judith Tebbutt and the murder of her husband, David, to justice.
"Today's news that Ali Babitu Kololo has been found guilty of robbery with violence is a positive development, but the wider Kenya investigations continue."
Writing on Twitter, the UK ambassador to Somalia, Neil Wigan, said: "Welcome conviction in Lamu today of Kololo for his role in Tebbutt kidnap and murder."
The Tebbutts, from Bishop's Stortford, travelled to the resort, close to the Somalia border, after visiting the Masai Mara game reserve.
In an interview with the BBC last week, Mrs Tebbutt, 58, said she felt uncomfortable after arriving at the beach resort for a two-week stay as she and her publisher husband were the only guests.
She was awoken by the sounds of her husband struggling with someone in the dark. Then she was jabbed with the barrel of a rifle and dragged down to the beach.
She revealed after her release she remained unaware that the gang had killed her husband for two weeks after she was kidnapped.
Her release came after her family reportedly paid a ransom.
bbc news
Judith Tebbutt, of Hertfordshire, was held for six months in Somalia after pirates shot her husband David in 2011.
The Met Police, which helped the Kenyan probe, said Ali Babitu Kololo, 27, was found guilty of robbery with violence.
Kenya has not carried out a death sentence since 1987, and Kololo is expected to serve a prison term.
He had been sacked from his job several months before he guided the kidnappers to the Tebbutts' villa at the remote resort on an island in Kenya's Lamu archipelago.
He pleaded not guilty at his trial held in the town of Lamu, and said he had been acting under duress.
The Met Police said a small team of counter-terrorism officers travelled to Kenya shortly after the murder and kidnap to support the local police investigation.
The inquiry matched footprints found on the beach to the shoes worn by Kololo when he was arrested shortly after the incident.
The Foreign Office confirmed the death penalty had been imposed, but said it was not expected to be carried out because of a moratorium in place since 1987.
A spokesman said: "We welcome efforts by the Kenyan authorities to bring those responsible for the kidnap of Judith Tebbutt and the murder of her husband, David, to justice.
"Today's news that Ali Babitu Kololo has been found guilty of robbery with violence is a positive development, but the wider Kenya investigations continue."
Writing on Twitter, the UK ambassador to Somalia, Neil Wigan, said: "Welcome conviction in Lamu today of Kololo for his role in Tebbutt kidnap and murder."
The Tebbutts, from Bishop's Stortford, travelled to the resort, close to the Somalia border, after visiting the Masai Mara game reserve.
In an interview with the BBC last week, Mrs Tebbutt, 58, said she felt uncomfortable after arriving at the beach resort for a two-week stay as she and her publisher husband were the only guests.
She was awoken by the sounds of her husband struggling with someone in the dark. Then she was jabbed with the barrel of a rifle and dragged down to the beach.
She revealed after her release she remained unaware that the gang had killed her husband for two weeks after she was kidnapped.
Her release came after her family reportedly paid a ransom.
bbc news
E X C L U S I V E: 34 SENATORS TABLED NO BILLS IN 2 YEARS
Why North’s senators lag behind – Smart Adeyemi
Halfway into the tenure of the Senate, 34 senators have not sponsored any bill since coming to office, according to official records released by the Senate.
The Senate’s Mid-Term Assessment Report shows that of the total 109 senators, 74 have sponsored at least a bill during the period starting June 2011 while the rest initiated none. Senate President David Mark sponsored no bill but, by convention, he is not expected to table any bill in his capacity as presiding officer of the Senate.
A Daily Trust analysis of the assessment report issued last month reveals that senators who did not sponsor any bill constitute about one-third of the upper chamber.
This is coming amidst public debate on the emoluments of Nigerian federal lawmakers, who a recent report by the Economist ranked top in a global chart of Economist ranked top in a global chart of legislators’ salaries.
Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) records in possession of Daily Trust show that each senator is entitled to N35 million in yearly salaries and allowances.
Based on this alone, the 34 senators would have collectively received more than N1 billion in wages, apart from other hefty allowances received in quarterly installments.
No bills
Senators who did not sponsor any bill in the two years under review, according to the assessment report, include Jibrilla Mohammed Bindowo (PDP, Adamawa), Chris Ngige (ACN, Anambra), Babayo Garba Gamawa (PDP, Bauchi), George Akume (ACN, Benue), Maina Ma’aji Lawan (ANPP, Borno), Mohammed Ali Ndume (PDP, Borno), Ahmad Zannah (PDP, Borno), Nwanko Christopher (PDP, Delta), Oguji Sunny (PDP, Ebonyi) and Babafemi Ojudu (ACN, Ekiti).
Other senators with no bills are Mohammed Danjuma Goje (PDP, Gombe), Abdulazeez Usman (PDP, Jigawa), Ahmed Makarfi (PDP, Kaduna), Mohammed Sani Saleh (CPC, Kaduna), Kabiru Gaya (ANPP, Kano), Sadiq Yar’Adua (CPC, Katsina), Mohammed Magoro (PDP, Kebbi), Suleiman Adoke (PDP, Nasarawa), Solomon Ewuga (CPC, Nasarawa), Obadara Olugbenga Onoalapa (ACN, Ogun), Kunlere Boluwaji (LP, Ondo), Robert Boroffice (LP, Ondo), Olusola Adeyeye (ACN, Osun) and Hosea Agboola Ayoola (PDP, Oyo).
Also on the list are Magnus Abe (PDP, Rivers), Wilson Asinobi Ake (PDP, Rivers), Mohammed Maccido (PDP, Sokoto), Abubakar Umar Turare (PDP, Taraba), Aisha Jummai Alhassan (PDP, Taraba), Alkali Jajere (ANPP, Yobe), Bukar Abba Ibrahim (ANPP, Yobe), Ahmed Sani Yarima (ANPP, Zamfara), Sahabi Alhaji Ya’u (PDP, Zamfara) and Kabiru Garba Marafa (ANPP, Zamfara).
Since the inception of the seventh Senate on June 6, 2011, a total of 342 bills were introduced, with the first bill being tabled on June 28, 2011 by Senate leader Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba (PDP, Cross Rivers) who also sponsored a total of 24 bills, placing him on top of the chart among senators. The last bill during the period was sponsored by Senator Ibrahim Gobir (PDP, Sokoto), tabled on June 5, 2013.
In terms of highest number of bills sponsored by an individual, Ndoma-Egba is closely followed by Senator Benedict Ayade (PDP, Cross Rivers), who introduced 18 bills in two years under review. Next is Senator Ita Enang (PDP, Akwa Ibom), who sponsored 12 legislations.
Three senators came fourth on the chart with 11 bills each to their names. They are Senators Smart Adeyemi (PDP, Kogi), Domingo Obende (ACN, Edo) and Ifeanyi Okowa (PDP, Delta).
Ganiyu Solomon (ACN, Lagos) introduced nine bills, while Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan (ANPP, Yobe), Odion Ugbesia (PDP, Edo) and Aloysius Etuk (PDP, Akwa Ibom) sponsored seven bills each during the period.
Hope Uzodinma (PDP, Imo) had six bills, Barnabas Gemade (PDP, Benue) six, Chris Anyanwu (APGA, Imo) five, while nine others sponsored four bills each.
The two senators who died within the period, Gyang Dantong (PDP, Plateau) and Pious Ewherido (DPP, Delta), had sponsored one and four bills respectively.
Some of the senators on the list, including Sadiq Yar’Adua and Solomon Ewuga, only came to the Senate last year after winning tribunal judgements.
Deputy Senate Leader Abdul Ningi’s name did not appear on the list of senators who sponsored bills during the period, but he told Daily Trust that this must have been an omission because he initiated the NYSC bill in July last year.
Northern senators lag behind
An analysis of the midterm performance report show that although senators from the North are in the majority with 57 out of 109, they performed less than their counterparts from the South in terms of bills sponsorship.
Only 33 of the 57 Northern senators sponsored at least one bill in the two year-period under review while the remaining 24 had no single bill.
Of the total 342 bills introduced, 191 were sponsored by senators from the South, 85 bills sponsored by northern senators, 42 were Executive bills submitted by President Jonathan while 23 were forwarded from the House of Representatives for Senate’s concurrence.
Speaking to Daily Trust in Abuja on the apparent lesser performance by Northern senators, Senator Smart Adeyemi, who is vice chairman of the Northern Senators Forum, said northern lawmakers performed less because most of them are inexperienced.
“It’s because they are new and do not have experience, they spent two years learning and discovering what they should do,” he said.
“But by the time we come back in the next six months they will graduate. Each time we say people should return their legislators is because without experience they do nothing.”
Adeyemi added: “Nigerians need to be educated because even in the process of passing laws inexperienced person may not be able to quickly interpret what the law is intended for and how it will affect his constituents. So in making of laws, experience of legislators counts. If he is not experienced he may even raise his hand against a policy that may even help his people.”
Adeyemi, who sponsored 11 bills in the past two years, argued that although southern senators may be new, they are more experienced and educated than their colleagues from the North.
“If you take a look at most of the southern senators even though they are new, but they have legal background, many of them are lawyers and have been in administrations over the years,” he said.
“For me, one is my experience and also because I am a journalist. These give me a lot of advantage. The media must educate our people to appreciate the need to look at the calibre of people they elect into the National Assembly.”
“We’re not short of laws”
Some of the senators who sponsored no bills during the two-year period gave explanations to Daily Trust on why this has been the case.
Kabiru Marafa said: “It’s a matter of priority. Firstly, it’s my first time in the Senate so I give myself time to learn the ways of the Senate. Secondly, I focused more on the primary needs of my constituents like unemployment, good governance and representation, security and the like. I will start thinking about bills when I see a genuine desire to implement or enforce the ones we have now.”
Makarfi said: “I don’t believe in unnecessary sponsoring of bills or motions. We are not short of laws but implementation of laws. How many such sponsored bills have become laws? I believe we are missing the point and will not join in such futile projects.”
Zanna said: “We are preoccupied with what is happening in Borno State where we have been losing our people every day. Therefore, my attention is on my people and how to solve their problems.”
Ndume said: “Some bills and motions do not make sense at all. Some bring bills just to be credited to them. It does not make sense to bring bills seeking establishment of agencies and commissions at a time when government is trimming them down. I am sponsoring a bill on Constituency Development Fund which has been around for the past 10 years without legal backing.”
Ewuga, who came into the Senate after a court ruling last year, said: “I am just one year in the Senate now and the process of bill making is tedious even before it comes for first reading. I am conceptualising some bills but I don’t rush my things.”
daily trust
Halfway into the tenure of the Senate, 34 senators have not sponsored any bill since coming to office, according to official records released by the Senate.
The Senate’s Mid-Term Assessment Report shows that of the total 109 senators, 74 have sponsored at least a bill during the period starting June 2011 while the rest initiated none. Senate President David Mark sponsored no bill but, by convention, he is not expected to table any bill in his capacity as presiding officer of the Senate.
A Daily Trust analysis of the assessment report issued last month reveals that senators who did not sponsor any bill constitute about one-third of the upper chamber.
This is coming amidst public debate on the emoluments of Nigerian federal lawmakers, who a recent report by the Economist ranked top in a global chart of Economist ranked top in a global chart of legislators’ salaries.
Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) records in possession of Daily Trust show that each senator is entitled to N35 million in yearly salaries and allowances.
Based on this alone, the 34 senators would have collectively received more than N1 billion in wages, apart from other hefty allowances received in quarterly installments.
No bills
Senators who did not sponsor any bill in the two years under review, according to the assessment report, include Jibrilla Mohammed Bindowo (PDP, Adamawa), Chris Ngige (ACN, Anambra), Babayo Garba Gamawa (PDP, Bauchi), George Akume (ACN, Benue), Maina Ma’aji Lawan (ANPP, Borno), Mohammed Ali Ndume (PDP, Borno), Ahmad Zannah (PDP, Borno), Nwanko Christopher (PDP, Delta), Oguji Sunny (PDP, Ebonyi) and Babafemi Ojudu (ACN, Ekiti).
Other senators with no bills are Mohammed Danjuma Goje (PDP, Gombe), Abdulazeez Usman (PDP, Jigawa), Ahmed Makarfi (PDP, Kaduna), Mohammed Sani Saleh (CPC, Kaduna), Kabiru Gaya (ANPP, Kano), Sadiq Yar’Adua (CPC, Katsina), Mohammed Magoro (PDP, Kebbi), Suleiman Adoke (PDP, Nasarawa), Solomon Ewuga (CPC, Nasarawa), Obadara Olugbenga Onoalapa (ACN, Ogun), Kunlere Boluwaji (LP, Ondo), Robert Boroffice (LP, Ondo), Olusola Adeyeye (ACN, Osun) and Hosea Agboola Ayoola (PDP, Oyo).
Also on the list are Magnus Abe (PDP, Rivers), Wilson Asinobi Ake (PDP, Rivers), Mohammed Maccido (PDP, Sokoto), Abubakar Umar Turare (PDP, Taraba), Aisha Jummai Alhassan (PDP, Taraba), Alkali Jajere (ANPP, Yobe), Bukar Abba Ibrahim (ANPP, Yobe), Ahmed Sani Yarima (ANPP, Zamfara), Sahabi Alhaji Ya’u (PDP, Zamfara) and Kabiru Garba Marafa (ANPP, Zamfara).
Since the inception of the seventh Senate on June 6, 2011, a total of 342 bills were introduced, with the first bill being tabled on June 28, 2011 by Senate leader Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba (PDP, Cross Rivers) who also sponsored a total of 24 bills, placing him on top of the chart among senators. The last bill during the period was sponsored by Senator Ibrahim Gobir (PDP, Sokoto), tabled on June 5, 2013.
In terms of highest number of bills sponsored by an individual, Ndoma-Egba is closely followed by Senator Benedict Ayade (PDP, Cross Rivers), who introduced 18 bills in two years under review. Next is Senator Ita Enang (PDP, Akwa Ibom), who sponsored 12 legislations.
Three senators came fourth on the chart with 11 bills each to their names. They are Senators Smart Adeyemi (PDP, Kogi), Domingo Obende (ACN, Edo) and Ifeanyi Okowa (PDP, Delta).
Ganiyu Solomon (ACN, Lagos) introduced nine bills, while Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan (ANPP, Yobe), Odion Ugbesia (PDP, Edo) and Aloysius Etuk (PDP, Akwa Ibom) sponsored seven bills each during the period.
Hope Uzodinma (PDP, Imo) had six bills, Barnabas Gemade (PDP, Benue) six, Chris Anyanwu (APGA, Imo) five, while nine others sponsored four bills each.
The two senators who died within the period, Gyang Dantong (PDP, Plateau) and Pious Ewherido (DPP, Delta), had sponsored one and four bills respectively.
Some of the senators on the list, including Sadiq Yar’Adua and Solomon Ewuga, only came to the Senate last year after winning tribunal judgements.
Deputy Senate Leader Abdul Ningi’s name did not appear on the list of senators who sponsored bills during the period, but he told Daily Trust that this must have been an omission because he initiated the NYSC bill in July last year.
Northern senators lag behind
An analysis of the midterm performance report show that although senators from the North are in the majority with 57 out of 109, they performed less than their counterparts from the South in terms of bills sponsorship.
Only 33 of the 57 Northern senators sponsored at least one bill in the two year-period under review while the remaining 24 had no single bill.
Of the total 342 bills introduced, 191 were sponsored by senators from the South, 85 bills sponsored by northern senators, 42 were Executive bills submitted by President Jonathan while 23 were forwarded from the House of Representatives for Senate’s concurrence.
Speaking to Daily Trust in Abuja on the apparent lesser performance by Northern senators, Senator Smart Adeyemi, who is vice chairman of the Northern Senators Forum, said northern lawmakers performed less because most of them are inexperienced.
“It’s because they are new and do not have experience, they spent two years learning and discovering what they should do,” he said.
“But by the time we come back in the next six months they will graduate. Each time we say people should return their legislators is because without experience they do nothing.”
Adeyemi added: “Nigerians need to be educated because even in the process of passing laws inexperienced person may not be able to quickly interpret what the law is intended for and how it will affect his constituents. So in making of laws, experience of legislators counts. If he is not experienced he may even raise his hand against a policy that may even help his people.”
Adeyemi, who sponsored 11 bills in the past two years, argued that although southern senators may be new, they are more experienced and educated than their colleagues from the North.
“If you take a look at most of the southern senators even though they are new, but they have legal background, many of them are lawyers and have been in administrations over the years,” he said.
“For me, one is my experience and also because I am a journalist. These give me a lot of advantage. The media must educate our people to appreciate the need to look at the calibre of people they elect into the National Assembly.”
“We’re not short of laws”
Some of the senators who sponsored no bills during the two-year period gave explanations to Daily Trust on why this has been the case.
Kabiru Marafa said: “It’s a matter of priority. Firstly, it’s my first time in the Senate so I give myself time to learn the ways of the Senate. Secondly, I focused more on the primary needs of my constituents like unemployment, good governance and representation, security and the like. I will start thinking about bills when I see a genuine desire to implement or enforce the ones we have now.”
Makarfi said: “I don’t believe in unnecessary sponsoring of bills or motions. We are not short of laws but implementation of laws. How many such sponsored bills have become laws? I believe we are missing the point and will not join in such futile projects.”
Zanna said: “We are preoccupied with what is happening in Borno State where we have been losing our people every day. Therefore, my attention is on my people and how to solve their problems.”
Ndume said: “Some bills and motions do not make sense at all. Some bring bills just to be credited to them. It does not make sense to bring bills seeking establishment of agencies and commissions at a time when government is trimming them down. I am sponsoring a bill on Constituency Development Fund which has been around for the past 10 years without legal backing.”
Ewuga, who came into the Senate after a court ruling last year, said: “I am just one year in the Senate now and the process of bill making is tedious even before it comes for first reading. I am conceptualising some bills but I don’t rush my things.”
daily trust
PDP Congratulates APC On Registration
Nigeria's ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has congratulated the largest opposition party on the latter's registration by the electoral commission. The APC was registered on Wednesday.
The opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, was registered on Wednesday by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and already has 11 state governors as members.
The merging parties that formed the APC, thus, cease to exist. In a statement on Wednesday by its acting spokesman, Tony Okeke, PDP described the registration as "healthy development for the nation's democracy."
The ruling party, however, said that "the registration of the new party poses no threat to the PDP."
It noted that Nigerians are not deceived by the change of flag by the opposition, saying such "does not remove their dictatorial tendencies and penchant for deceit and propaganda for which Nigerians have rejected them irrespective of party name"
Premium times
The opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, was registered on Wednesday by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and already has 11 state governors as members.
The merging parties that formed the APC, thus, cease to exist. In a statement on Wednesday by its acting spokesman, Tony Okeke, PDP described the registration as "healthy development for the nation's democracy."
The ruling party, however, said that "the registration of the new party poses no threat to the PDP."
It noted that Nigerians are not deceived by the change of flag by the opposition, saying such "does not remove their dictatorial tendencies and penchant for deceit and propaganda for which Nigerians have rejected them irrespective of party name"
Premium times
A new party is born! Congratulations Nigeria – APC
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has congratulated Nigerians on the emergence of the new party, saying with the birth of APC, Nigerians now have an alternative to a ruling party that has taken the people for a bad ride in the past 14 years.
In a statement issued by its interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in Lagos on Wednesday, APC said its emergence is a victory for Nigeria and for democracy, and that it has now also propelled the country to the league of top democratic nations with two major political parties.
”The journey has been long and tortuous. All sorts of obstacles were thrown into our path by anti-democratic forces, but we were painstaking, determined and unrelenting in our quest for a formidable platform that will allow our country, Nigeria, to achieve her full potentials and join the league of respectable nations.
”With the approval of our merger by INEC and the emergence of APC, today marks the beginning of a new dawn for our country and her long-suffering people. We thank Nigerians both here and in the Diaspora for standing by us. We thank the media for their fairness, and we commend INEC for doing the right thing and for not succumbing to pressures from phantom
political associations that sought to force it to circumvent the law.
”We promise not to disappoint Nigerians who have reposed much confidence in us. We say that contrary to the lies being peddled by the naysayers, we are not seeking political power for the sake of getting it, but in order to use it to empower our people and allow their long-nursed hopes and dreams to become a reality.
”And to those who have vowed to change their names if APC survives for a year, we hope they will live up to their words,” it said.
APC said Nigerians can now look forward to a truly democratic party in the best traditions of what the world considers as the best form of government.
The party promised to unveil, in the days ahead, its membership registration plans to give all Nigerians, especially those who have become disenchanted with the way things are going in the country, the much-awaited opportunity to be part of the country’s democratic process in the true sense of the word.
”We will also be unveiling our plans to turn today’s hopelessness into a time of great opportunities, to reverse the downward slide in our socio-economic development, and to ensure that every Nigerian benefits from the commonwealth, instead of the present situation in which a few fat
Vanguard
In a statement issued by its interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in Lagos on Wednesday, APC said its emergence is a victory for Nigeria and for democracy, and that it has now also propelled the country to the league of top democratic nations with two major political parties.
”The journey has been long and tortuous. All sorts of obstacles were thrown into our path by anti-democratic forces, but we were painstaking, determined and unrelenting in our quest for a formidable platform that will allow our country, Nigeria, to achieve her full potentials and join the league of respectable nations.
”With the approval of our merger by INEC and the emergence of APC, today marks the beginning of a new dawn for our country and her long-suffering people. We thank Nigerians both here and in the Diaspora for standing by us. We thank the media for their fairness, and we commend INEC for doing the right thing and for not succumbing to pressures from phantom
political associations that sought to force it to circumvent the law.
”We promise not to disappoint Nigerians who have reposed much confidence in us. We say that contrary to the lies being peddled by the naysayers, we are not seeking political power for the sake of getting it, but in order to use it to empower our people and allow their long-nursed hopes and dreams to become a reality.
”And to those who have vowed to change their names if APC survives for a year, we hope they will live up to their words,” it said.
APC said Nigerians can now look forward to a truly democratic party in the best traditions of what the world considers as the best form of government.
The party promised to unveil, in the days ahead, its membership registration plans to give all Nigerians, especially those who have become disenchanted with the way things are going in the country, the much-awaited opportunity to be part of the country’s democratic process in the true sense of the word.
”We will also be unveiling our plans to turn today’s hopelessness into a time of great opportunities, to reverse the downward slide in our socio-economic development, and to ensure that every Nigerian benefits from the commonwealth, instead of the present situation in which a few fat
Vanguard
INEC approves APC Registration
Incoming reports indicate that INEC has approved the Merger of three major opposition parties ACN, ANPP and CPC into the All Progressive Congress APC
Fresh N27bn loan for Nigeria, Onne power project top FEC agenda for Wednesday
The meeting will also discuss augmentation of a road contract in Cross River.
The Executive Council of the Federation (FEC) may during its weekly meeting on Wednesday approve another $230 million (N27 billion) credit facility from two international development agencies.
The meeting is expected to be held at its usual venue in Aso Rock, Abuja and is to expected to be presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan.
The Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, is expected to present a memo seeking the approval of members for an International Development Association credit of SDR 112.8million (about $170million).
The memo would also cover approval for French Development Agency credit of SDR39.8million (about $60million) for the second rural access and mobility project, while another memo would be presented on the implementation of the template for selecting priority projects in the country.
Several Nigerians have complained about Nigeria’s increased borrowing and seeming increasing debt profile, while Ms. Okonjo-Iweala has defended it saying it is within international threshold and at very low interest rates.
The Minister of State for Defence, Olusola Obada, is expected to defend a proposal for the ratification of two signed bilateral agreements and Memorandum of Understanding, while the Minister of Transport would present the report of the Cabinet Committee on the public/private partnership contract for the development of a gas-fired Independent Power Project (IPP) for reliable power supply to the Onne oil and gas zone, Port Harcourt, River State.
The Minister of Works, Mike Onolomemen, would, is expected to present memo to Council for deliberation towards the ratification of President Goodluck Jonathan’s anticipatory approval for the augmentation of contract for the rehabilitation of the Calabar-Ugep-Ogoja-Katsina Ala Road section 1 in Cross River State contract no 6011
The Minister of Culture, Tourism, and National Orientation, Edem Duke, would be expected to present the report of participation at the 50th Anniversary celebration of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU)/African Union (AU) held at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
premium times
The Executive Council of the Federation (FEC) may during its weekly meeting on Wednesday approve another $230 million (N27 billion) credit facility from two international development agencies.
The meeting is expected to be held at its usual venue in Aso Rock, Abuja and is to expected to be presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan.
The Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, is expected to present a memo seeking the approval of members for an International Development Association credit of SDR 112.8million (about $170million).
The memo would also cover approval for French Development Agency credit of SDR39.8million (about $60million) for the second rural access and mobility project, while another memo would be presented on the implementation of the template for selecting priority projects in the country.
Several Nigerians have complained about Nigeria’s increased borrowing and seeming increasing debt profile, while Ms. Okonjo-Iweala has defended it saying it is within international threshold and at very low interest rates.
The Minister of State for Defence, Olusola Obada, is expected to defend a proposal for the ratification of two signed bilateral agreements and Memorandum of Understanding, while the Minister of Transport would present the report of the Cabinet Committee on the public/private partnership contract for the development of a gas-fired Independent Power Project (IPP) for reliable power supply to the Onne oil and gas zone, Port Harcourt, River State.
The Minister of Works, Mike Onolomemen, would, is expected to present memo to Council for deliberation towards the ratification of President Goodluck Jonathan’s anticipatory approval for the augmentation of contract for the rehabilitation of the Calabar-Ugep-Ogoja-Katsina Ala Road section 1 in Cross River State contract no 6011
The Minister of Culture, Tourism, and National Orientation, Edem Duke, would be expected to present the report of participation at the 50th Anniversary celebration of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU)/African Union (AU) held at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
premium times
SHOCKING: Man Slashes Friend's Throat Over Mobile Phone Charger
A 27-year-old man was killed by his friend, weekend, over the ownership of a mobile phone charger.
The tragedy occurred at Isapodo area of Ijebu-Ife, in Ijebu North-East Local Government Area of Ogun State on Sunday.
The victim, Mr Dele Oje, described as an easy going person by his neighbours, was said to have been allegedly killed by his friend, simply identified as Muyideen after the latter requested for a phone charger from the former.
Investigations revealed that Oje had earlier argued with his friend over who owned the charger minutes before he was killed.
Shortly before his death, an argument had ensued between the duo, prompting neighbours in the two-storey building to intervene.
Unfortunately, the neighbours had barely left the scene of the argument, when Dele's friend descended on him as the deceased attempted to have his breakfast and slashed his throat with a sharp object.
A neighbour of the deceased who did not want to be named, narrated what she described as an unfortunate incident, said: "We had earlier settled a seeming quarrel between the friends over the ownership of a telephone charger when Muyideen killed his friend''.
'We got there later only to see blood stains on the wall and floor of the building, an indication that Oje had attempted to escape from his assailant''.
Another resident who identified himself as Abayomi Oyeyemi also said that after the murder, Muyideen fled only to be fished out in a near-by bush, three hours after.
The body has been deposited at the Ijebu-Ode General Hospital mortuary while Muyideen who was arrested by the youths in the community had been handed over to police at the Ogbere division.
The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Muyiwa Adejobi, who said he was yet to be briefed by the Ogbere Divisional Police Officer, added that he did not have details of the incident
the Sun
The tragedy occurred at Isapodo area of Ijebu-Ife, in Ijebu North-East Local Government Area of Ogun State on Sunday.
The victim, Mr Dele Oje, described as an easy going person by his neighbours, was said to have been allegedly killed by his friend, simply identified as Muyideen after the latter requested for a phone charger from the former.
Investigations revealed that Oje had earlier argued with his friend over who owned the charger minutes before he was killed.
Shortly before his death, an argument had ensued between the duo, prompting neighbours in the two-storey building to intervene.
Unfortunately, the neighbours had barely left the scene of the argument, when Dele's friend descended on him as the deceased attempted to have his breakfast and slashed his throat with a sharp object.
A neighbour of the deceased who did not want to be named, narrated what she described as an unfortunate incident, said: "We had earlier settled a seeming quarrel between the friends over the ownership of a telephone charger when Muyideen killed his friend''.
'We got there later only to see blood stains on the wall and floor of the building, an indication that Oje had attempted to escape from his assailant''.
Another resident who identified himself as Abayomi Oyeyemi also said that after the murder, Muyideen fled only to be fished out in a near-by bush, three hours after.
The body has been deposited at the Ijebu-Ode General Hospital mortuary while Muyideen who was arrested by the youths in the community had been handed over to police at the Ogbere division.
The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Muyiwa Adejobi, who said he was yet to be briefed by the Ogbere Divisional Police Officer, added that he did not have details of the incident
the Sun
MY STORY: I’ll Tell The Whole World What My Dad Did To Me - Says Pregnant Teenage Girl Raped By Father In Osun
The trend among some fathers who choose to have sex with their daughters has reached an alarming state, with a new dimension introduced by a father who allegedly had carnal knowledge of his eight and half months pregnant daughter in Ibadan, the capital city of Oyo State, when she went to visit him after about 14 years of living apart.
The girl, Ibukun, (not real name) who was impregnated by her lover in another state where she lived with her paternal grandmother was said to have been brought to Ibadan when she started having complications with her pregnancy. Her mother, who got separated from her father last December, took her in to keep an eye on her, but with her meagre income of N250 per day which she earns as a cook assistant in a local cafetaria, the woman seemed incapable of taking care of Ibukun and her two younger brothers who were staying with her.
When Ibukun saw that life in Ibadan did not suit her, she decided to go back to Osogbo. However, she had the urge to see her father whom she had not seen for 14years since her grandmother took her into custody. But her decision spelt peril for her as she allegedly ended up being raped by her father.
According to Ibukun, "I was defecating one day when I started bleeding. I was taken to hospital where they saw my womb protruding from my cervix. The ultrasound scan I did showed that I had placenta previa. At another hospital, the womb was pushed in and I was warned not to have sex until delivery.
"I was brought to Ibadan but I was not comfortable. I told my mother that I wanted to go back to Osogbo but I thought of going to see my father whom I saw last when I was a child. I asked my younger to take me there, with the thought that I would at least get transport money from him.
"I went there on Saturday July 20 with the intention of sleeping over. My brother went to sleep and I also went to lie down. My father came and ordered me to remove my clothes, raining curses on me. He started robbing my breasts with his hands. He later took black soap, rubbed it on his hands and started using the hands to rub my breasts again.
"By then, I could see that he was aroused as his manhood had risen beneath the loin cloth he tied around his waist. It was after that that he had sex with me. I was weeping and my brother saw him and exclaimed 'Ah! My brother also started crying. It was my brother who told my mother but I went to my aunt at Bodija area and narrated my experience to her."
The father, Mr Kehinde Olasode however denied sleeping with his daughter, swearing with the Quran. He said that he only used some leaves recommended to him to bath his daughter because of the bleeding she was experiencing in pregnancy.
Olasode said: "She had been living with my mother in Osogbo since she was about five years of age. I have not seen her all these years. About two months ago, I was called and informed that she was pregnant and bleeding. I called her mother to inform her and she brought her to Ibadan to stay with her mother at Apete. On Saturday, July 20, her brothers brought her to me, and I sat her down to castigate her for getting pregnant instead of being serious with education or a vocation.
"Meanwhile, someone told me to get Jatropha (lapalapa) leaves with black soap with which she should bath, saying that the bleeding she was experiencing would stop. I used the soap to rub her head and her breasts and gave her water to rinse her body. I don't know how they came about the story that I slept with her."
The mother, Adijat, told Crime Reports that she left her husband in December to look for means of survival in Lagos because he was not responsible over the three children she bore him. "The burden was too much for me. He has another woman who bore him two children.
"My daughter got pregnant in Osogbo and she later started bleeding. We brought her to Ibadan and she stabilised. When I noticed that she was almost due, I agreed with her to go back to Osogbo because there is no single baby dress in Ibadan and I am financially incapacitated to buy them.
"She went to her father on July 20 and came back to tell me that her father rubbed and squeezed her breasts, vowing to expose him to the whole world. She also said that he slept with her but I don't know how true that is."
Crime Reports gathered that the case was reported at Mapo police station and the Divisional Police Officer, SP Ganiyu Ali ordered the arrest of the suspect.
Confirming the story, the Police Public Relations officer in Oyo State, Olabisi Okuwobi-Ilobanafor, said that the suspect would be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), for further investigations. Crime Reports also gathered that nurses at the State Hospital, Yemetu could not conduct the test necessary to check for presence of spermatozoa in Ibukun's vulva because of her bleeding state, so as not to trigger labour.
tribune
The girl, Ibukun, (not real name) who was impregnated by her lover in another state where she lived with her paternal grandmother was said to have been brought to Ibadan when she started having complications with her pregnancy. Her mother, who got separated from her father last December, took her in to keep an eye on her, but with her meagre income of N250 per day which she earns as a cook assistant in a local cafetaria, the woman seemed incapable of taking care of Ibukun and her two younger brothers who were staying with her.
When Ibukun saw that life in Ibadan did not suit her, she decided to go back to Osogbo. However, she had the urge to see her father whom she had not seen for 14years since her grandmother took her into custody. But her decision spelt peril for her as she allegedly ended up being raped by her father.
According to Ibukun, "I was defecating one day when I started bleeding. I was taken to hospital where they saw my womb protruding from my cervix. The ultrasound scan I did showed that I had placenta previa. At another hospital, the womb was pushed in and I was warned not to have sex until delivery.
"I was brought to Ibadan but I was not comfortable. I told my mother that I wanted to go back to Osogbo but I thought of going to see my father whom I saw last when I was a child. I asked my younger to take me there, with the thought that I would at least get transport money from him.
"I went there on Saturday July 20 with the intention of sleeping over. My brother went to sleep and I also went to lie down. My father came and ordered me to remove my clothes, raining curses on me. He started robbing my breasts with his hands. He later took black soap, rubbed it on his hands and started using the hands to rub my breasts again.
"By then, I could see that he was aroused as his manhood had risen beneath the loin cloth he tied around his waist. It was after that that he had sex with me. I was weeping and my brother saw him and exclaimed 'Ah! My brother also started crying. It was my brother who told my mother but I went to my aunt at Bodija area and narrated my experience to her."
The father, Mr Kehinde Olasode however denied sleeping with his daughter, swearing with the Quran. He said that he only used some leaves recommended to him to bath his daughter because of the bleeding she was experiencing in pregnancy.
Olasode said: "She had been living with my mother in Osogbo since she was about five years of age. I have not seen her all these years. About two months ago, I was called and informed that she was pregnant and bleeding. I called her mother to inform her and she brought her to Ibadan to stay with her mother at Apete. On Saturday, July 20, her brothers brought her to me, and I sat her down to castigate her for getting pregnant instead of being serious with education or a vocation.
"Meanwhile, someone told me to get Jatropha (lapalapa) leaves with black soap with which she should bath, saying that the bleeding she was experiencing would stop. I used the soap to rub her head and her breasts and gave her water to rinse her body. I don't know how they came about the story that I slept with her."
The mother, Adijat, told Crime Reports that she left her husband in December to look for means of survival in Lagos because he was not responsible over the three children she bore him. "The burden was too much for me. He has another woman who bore him two children.
"My daughter got pregnant in Osogbo and she later started bleeding. We brought her to Ibadan and she stabilised. When I noticed that she was almost due, I agreed with her to go back to Osogbo because there is no single baby dress in Ibadan and I am financially incapacitated to buy them.
"She went to her father on July 20 and came back to tell me that her father rubbed and squeezed her breasts, vowing to expose him to the whole world. She also said that he slept with her but I don't know how true that is."
Crime Reports gathered that the case was reported at Mapo police station and the Divisional Police Officer, SP Ganiyu Ali ordered the arrest of the suspect.
Confirming the story, the Police Public Relations officer in Oyo State, Olabisi Okuwobi-Ilobanafor, said that the suspect would be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), for further investigations. Crime Reports also gathered that nurses at the State Hospital, Yemetu could not conduct the test necessary to check for presence of spermatozoa in Ibukun's vulva because of her bleeding state, so as not to trigger labour.
tribune
Akpabio Appoints New SSG As Umana Resigns
The Akwa Ibom State Governor has appointed a new Secretary to the State Government to replace Umana Umana. The new appointtee Udom Gabriel Emmanuel, is an Executive Director at Zenith Bank.
Mr. Umana has resigned his appointment after he had a secret meeting between Mr. Akpabio and Mr. Umana on Tuesday at the latter's residence in Uyo.
The meeting was was held yesterday after Mr. Umana's office was sealed on monday by armed security operatives from the Government House, Uyo, reportedly on the orders of Mr. Akpabio.
The office remained sealed by the security officials as at Tuesday.Armed security men led by one A. Akiola, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, said to head the police security unit in the Government House, Uyo, reportedly stormed the government secretary's office block located within the government house, at about 10 a.m. on Monday and took over, after sacking civil servants working there.
The armed mobile policemen and plain clothe operatives from the State Security Service who mounted security at the entrance of Mr. Umana's office, were on Tuesday still busy checking every person and vehicle going in or out of the premises, even as movement remains restricted. Though the official reason for the unexpected siege remains unknown, as no government official was ready to talk on the issue.
Mr. Umana had last Thursday made public his intention to contest for governor in 2015, a decision that many say did not go down well with Mr. Akpabio, who cannot re-contest as this is second term in office.
Premium times
Mr. Umana has resigned his appointment after he had a secret meeting between Mr. Akpabio and Mr. Umana on Tuesday at the latter's residence in Uyo.
The meeting was was held yesterday after Mr. Umana's office was sealed on monday by armed security operatives from the Government House, Uyo, reportedly on the orders of Mr. Akpabio.
The office remained sealed by the security officials as at Tuesday.Armed security men led by one A. Akiola, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, said to head the police security unit in the Government House, Uyo, reportedly stormed the government secretary's office block located within the government house, at about 10 a.m. on Monday and took over, after sacking civil servants working there.
The armed mobile policemen and plain clothe operatives from the State Security Service who mounted security at the entrance of Mr. Umana's office, were on Tuesday still busy checking every person and vehicle going in or out of the premises, even as movement remains restricted. Though the official reason for the unexpected siege remains unknown, as no government official was ready to talk on the issue.
Mr. Umana had last Thursday made public his intention to contest for governor in 2015, a decision that many say did not go down well with Mr. Akpabio, who cannot re-contest as this is second term in office.
Premium times
A $4 Million Apology To Student Abandoned In Cell For 4 Days Without Food, Water
A 25-year old college student reached a $4.1 million (N659,200,239) settlement with the U.S. federal government after he was abandoned in a windowless Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) cell for more than four days without food or water, according to his attorneys.
Chong said he drank his own urine to stay alive, hallucinated that agents were trying to poison him with gases through the vents, and tried to carve a farewell message to his mother in his arm.
It remained unclear how the situation occurred, and no one has been disciplined, said one of his attorneys.
"It sounded like it was an accident - a really, really bad, horrible accident," Chong said.
Chong was taken into custody during a drug raid and placed in the cell in April 2012 by a San Diego police officer authorized to perform DEA work on a task force.
The officer told Chong he would not be charged and said, 'Hang tight, we'll come get you in a minute.'
The door to the 5-by-10-foot cell did not reopen for 4½ days.
Justice Department spokeswoman confirmed the settlement was reached for $4.1 million but declined to answer other questions.
Since attorney fees are capped at 20 percent of damages and the settlement payment is tax-free, Chong will collect at least $3.2 million (N514,497,747).
'S'
Chong was a 23-year-old engineering student when he was at a friend's house where the DEA found 18,000 ecstasy pills, other drugs and weapons. His attorneys acknowledged Chong was there to consume marijuana.
Chong and eight other people were taken into custody but authorities decided against pursuing charges against him after questioning.
Chong said he began to hallucinate on the third day.
In the cell, he urinated on a metal bench so he could have something to drink. He also stacked a blanket, his pants and shoes on a bench and tried to reach an overhead fire sprinkler, futilely swatting at it with his cuffed hands to set it off.
Chong said he accepted the possibility of death. He bit into his eyeglasses to break them and used a shard of glass to try to carve "Sorry Mom" onto his arm so he could leave something for her. He only managed to finish an "S".
"I didn't just sit there quietly. I was kicking the door yelling," he was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency. "I even put some shoestrings, shoelaces through the crack of the door for visual signs. I didn't stay still, no, I was screaming."
Five or six people found him covered in his feces in the cell at the DEA's San Diego headquarters.
"All I wanted was my sanity," Chong said. "I wasn't making any sense."
Chong was hospitalized for five days for dehydration, kidney failure, cramps and a perforated esophagus. He lost 15 pounds.
The incident prompted the head of the DEA to issue a public apology last May, saying he was "deeply troubled" by the incident.
Mr Chong's lawyer said that as a result of the incident the DEA had introduced new policies for detention, including checking cells daily and installing cameras inside them.
Mr Chong, now an economics student at the University of California, says he plans to buy his parents a house.
washington times
Chong said he drank his own urine to stay alive, hallucinated that agents were trying to poison him with gases through the vents, and tried to carve a farewell message to his mother in his arm.
It remained unclear how the situation occurred, and no one has been disciplined, said one of his attorneys.
"It sounded like it was an accident - a really, really bad, horrible accident," Chong said.
Chong was taken into custody during a drug raid and placed in the cell in April 2012 by a San Diego police officer authorized to perform DEA work on a task force.
The officer told Chong he would not be charged and said, 'Hang tight, we'll come get you in a minute.'
The door to the 5-by-10-foot cell did not reopen for 4½ days.
Justice Department spokeswoman confirmed the settlement was reached for $4.1 million but declined to answer other questions.
Since attorney fees are capped at 20 percent of damages and the settlement payment is tax-free, Chong will collect at least $3.2 million (N514,497,747).
'S'
Chong was a 23-year-old engineering student when he was at a friend's house where the DEA found 18,000 ecstasy pills, other drugs and weapons. His attorneys acknowledged Chong was there to consume marijuana.
Chong and eight other people were taken into custody but authorities decided against pursuing charges against him after questioning.
Chong said he began to hallucinate on the third day.
In the cell, he urinated on a metal bench so he could have something to drink. He also stacked a blanket, his pants and shoes on a bench and tried to reach an overhead fire sprinkler, futilely swatting at it with his cuffed hands to set it off.
Chong said he accepted the possibility of death. He bit into his eyeglasses to break them and used a shard of glass to try to carve "Sorry Mom" onto his arm so he could leave something for her. He only managed to finish an "S".
"I didn't just sit there quietly. I was kicking the door yelling," he was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency. "I even put some shoestrings, shoelaces through the crack of the door for visual signs. I didn't stay still, no, I was screaming."
Five or six people found him covered in his feces in the cell at the DEA's San Diego headquarters.
"All I wanted was my sanity," Chong said. "I wasn't making any sense."
Chong was hospitalized for five days for dehydration, kidney failure, cramps and a perforated esophagus. He lost 15 pounds.
The incident prompted the head of the DEA to issue a public apology last May, saying he was "deeply troubled" by the incident.
Mr Chong's lawyer said that as a result of the incident the DEA had introduced new policies for detention, including checking cells daily and installing cameras inside them.
Mr Chong, now an economics student at the University of California, says he plans to buy his parents a house.
washington times
KANO BLAST: Kano Bombers Disguised As Fruit Sellers
More details emerged yesterday on Monday's twin explosions by Boko Haram in Kano metropolis even as survivors recounted how they cheated death.
The Joint Security Task Force (JTF) and the police said 12 people died while 12 others were injured. Ohanaeze Ndigbo disagreed with the figures, saying 45 people lost their lives.
It was confirmed yesterday that the lone bomber hid the Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in a wheelbarrow, disguising as a fruit seller before they were detonated at New and Enugu/Igbo Road, all in Sabon-Gari, populated by non-indigenes, mostly the Igbos.
One explosion went off at 41 New Road, the Christ Salvation Pentecostal Church at the peak of evening worship.
An eyewitness, Mazi Columba Ndubuisi, told Daily Sun that the Boko Haram bomber arrived in Enugu Road, with a wheelbarrow, adding that the terrorist pretended to be selling watermelon, oranges and bananas. According to him, the attacker hid the IEDs inside the wheelbarrow under the bananas and oranges, adding that after roaming innocently for a while, he parked the wheelbarrow near the shop of one Mama Ejima by the side of a parked Mercedes Benz car. Ndubuisi said he trades on fire -fighting equipment very close to the scene of the blasts, when the boy parked his wheelbarrow casually, some people were actually calling him to come and sell to them, but they surprisingly noticed that the boy, rather than selling, made his way to the main road, leaving his wares.
He said barely a few minutes after, the bomb exploded killing the woman (Mama Ejima) and several other people.
Another witness, who is simply called Mr. Eddy, said typical of the fellowship, worshippers separated themselves from their children, adding that the kids were roaming about the scene when the first device exploded near their play-point.
The witness, who was watching football in a nearby bar when the first blast occurred, recalled that following the shocking explosion, the whole scenario was thrown into confusion, with several people sustaining injuries, while many more died of the first blast.
He said that just minutes after the first blast, when they were trying to escape, the second exploded, trapping some people who had dared to run in the direction of the first blast.
Mr. Eddy, who resides in the same building where the church is located, said several people died on account of the blasts, including three persons who sat close to him at their drinking table.
"There was smoke everywhere. People were running everywhere, people were lying on the ground, many motorists jumped inside their cars and sped off. They came here with four pick-up vans to carry the bodies. I did not count them, but I know that they were many," he added.
Meanwhile, several families were yet to discover the whereabouts of their relatives. Daily Sun learnt that at least, eight wounded persons were hospitalized.
Speaking from his hospital bed at the Emergency Unit of the Armed Forces Hospital in the state capital, Mr Chika Ekenne said the blasts took them by surprise, adding that but for the mercy of God, he would have died from the explosion.
Ekenne, who had deep wounds on his left shoulder in addition to several sharp cuts, said that he was hit by the second explosion that occurred in New Road area of Sabon -Garri Area.
According to the victim, who was wreathing in pains at press time, he was a resident of Abuja, who had come to the state to finish a business, adding that he went to the particular scene in the company of a friend to give some money to his daughter, who was to transfer the same to another of his children, who is in school.
Mr. Ekenne, who hails from Etiti in Mbaino in Imo State told Daily Sun that when the first bomb exploded by the side of the church, a number of people at the drinking bar escaped, adding that unfortunately, he forgot his keys when he fled in fright.
He recalled that in the midst of the thick billowing smoke, thinking that it was a single blast, he ran back, only to be hit by the second explosion which stuck him and threw particles at him.
While pleading that they should not tell his wife about his current state and tragedy, he noted that his wife may not be able to stand the shock.
daily trust
The Joint Security Task Force (JTF) and the police said 12 people died while 12 others were injured. Ohanaeze Ndigbo disagreed with the figures, saying 45 people lost their lives.
It was confirmed yesterday that the lone bomber hid the Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in a wheelbarrow, disguising as a fruit seller before they were detonated at New and Enugu/Igbo Road, all in Sabon-Gari, populated by non-indigenes, mostly the Igbos.
One explosion went off at 41 New Road, the Christ Salvation Pentecostal Church at the peak of evening worship.
An eyewitness, Mazi Columba Ndubuisi, told Daily Sun that the Boko Haram bomber arrived in Enugu Road, with a wheelbarrow, adding that the terrorist pretended to be selling watermelon, oranges and bananas. According to him, the attacker hid the IEDs inside the wheelbarrow under the bananas and oranges, adding that after roaming innocently for a while, he parked the wheelbarrow near the shop of one Mama Ejima by the side of a parked Mercedes Benz car. Ndubuisi said he trades on fire -fighting equipment very close to the scene of the blasts, when the boy parked his wheelbarrow casually, some people were actually calling him to come and sell to them, but they surprisingly noticed that the boy, rather than selling, made his way to the main road, leaving his wares.
He said barely a few minutes after, the bomb exploded killing the woman (Mama Ejima) and several other people.
Another witness, who is simply called Mr. Eddy, said typical of the fellowship, worshippers separated themselves from their children, adding that the kids were roaming about the scene when the first device exploded near their play-point.
The witness, who was watching football in a nearby bar when the first blast occurred, recalled that following the shocking explosion, the whole scenario was thrown into confusion, with several people sustaining injuries, while many more died of the first blast.
He said that just minutes after the first blast, when they were trying to escape, the second exploded, trapping some people who had dared to run in the direction of the first blast.
Mr. Eddy, who resides in the same building where the church is located, said several people died on account of the blasts, including three persons who sat close to him at their drinking table.
"There was smoke everywhere. People were running everywhere, people were lying on the ground, many motorists jumped inside their cars and sped off. They came here with four pick-up vans to carry the bodies. I did not count them, but I know that they were many," he added.
Meanwhile, several families were yet to discover the whereabouts of their relatives. Daily Sun learnt that at least, eight wounded persons were hospitalized.
Speaking from his hospital bed at the Emergency Unit of the Armed Forces Hospital in the state capital, Mr Chika Ekenne said the blasts took them by surprise, adding that but for the mercy of God, he would have died from the explosion.
Ekenne, who had deep wounds on his left shoulder in addition to several sharp cuts, said that he was hit by the second explosion that occurred in New Road area of Sabon -Garri Area.
According to the victim, who was wreathing in pains at press time, he was a resident of Abuja, who had come to the state to finish a business, adding that he went to the particular scene in the company of a friend to give some money to his daughter, who was to transfer the same to another of his children, who is in school.
Mr. Ekenne, who hails from Etiti in Mbaino in Imo State told Daily Sun that when the first bomb exploded by the side of the church, a number of people at the drinking bar escaped, adding that unfortunately, he forgot his keys when he fled in fright.
He recalled that in the midst of the thick billowing smoke, thinking that it was a single blast, he ran back, only to be hit by the second explosion which stuck him and threw particles at him.
While pleading that they should not tell his wife about his current state and tragedy, he noted that his wife may not be able to stand the shock.
daily trust
US Tourist Killed In Thailand Over 'Singing'
An American tourist was allegedly stabbed to death by three Thai musicians after he refused to stop singing at a bar in a popular tourist resort, police said Wednesday.
Bobby Ray Carter, 51, died after he was stabbed twice in the chest while his son Adam, 27, suffered a stab wound to his arm, during a fight with members of the house band from the Longhorn Saloon early Wednesday at Ao Nang beach in Krabi.
Police said the three musicians were arrested at the scene and confessed to stabbing the Americans.
Carter had joined the musicians on stage for a singalong, but a row broke out when he refused to stop singing as the band took a break.
On its website the Longhorn Saloon advertises "jam with the band" as one of its attractions, along with "good music, funfunfun and friendly staff".
"He and his son quarrelled with all three musicians because he wouldn't stop singing despite the musicians taking a break," said Lieutenant Colonel Attapong Seanjaiwuth of Krabi tourist police.
"He then demanded the money he had already given as a tip back. But the real fight broke out outside of that pub. He was stabbed twice and died while on the way to local hospital."
Thailand has come under scrutiny in recent months over its treatment of foreign tourists, who are a mainstay of the economy.
Tourists have registered a series of complaints with authorities over their treatment ranging from jet ski scams, drink spiking, robbery, assault and even police extortion.
vanguard
Bobby Ray Carter, 51, died after he was stabbed twice in the chest while his son Adam, 27, suffered a stab wound to his arm, during a fight with members of the house band from the Longhorn Saloon early Wednesday at Ao Nang beach in Krabi.
Police said the three musicians were arrested at the scene and confessed to stabbing the Americans.
Carter had joined the musicians on stage for a singalong, but a row broke out when he refused to stop singing as the band took a break.
On its website the Longhorn Saloon advertises "jam with the band" as one of its attractions, along with "good music, funfunfun and friendly staff".
"He and his son quarrelled with all three musicians because he wouldn't stop singing despite the musicians taking a break," said Lieutenant Colonel Attapong Seanjaiwuth of Krabi tourist police.
"He then demanded the money he had already given as a tip back. But the real fight broke out outside of that pub. He was stabbed twice and died while on the way to local hospital."
Thailand has come under scrutiny in recent months over its treatment of foreign tourists, who are a mainstay of the economy.
Tourists have registered a series of complaints with authorities over their treatment ranging from jet ski scams, drink spiking, robbery, assault and even police extortion.
vanguard
Akwa Ibom crisis: Akpabio, Umana in secret meeting
The government secretary’s office was still sealed by security operatives as at Tuesday evening.
The political crisis in Akwa Ibom may be on the verge of being resolved as Governor Godswill Akpabio on Tuesday held a secret meeting with the embattled Secretary to the State Government, Umana Umana.
Mr. Umana’s office was sealed on Monday by armed security operatives from the Government House, Uyo, reportedly on the orders of Mr. Akpabio. The office remained sealed by the security officials as at Tuesday.
Armed security men led by one A. Akiola, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, said to head the police security unit in the Government House, Uyo, reportedly stormed the government secretary’s office block located within the government house, at about 10 a.m. on Monday and took over, after sacking civil servants working there.
The armed mobile policemen and plain clothe operatives from the State Security Service who mounted security at the entrance of Mr. Umana’s office, were on Tuesday still busy checking every person and vehicle going in or out of the premises, even as movement remains restricted.
Though the official reason for the unexpected siege remains unknown, as no government official was ready to talk on the issue, sources told PREMIUM TIMES that the crisis is caused by the 2015 governorship election in the state.
Mr. Umana had last Thursday made public his intention to contest for governor in 2015, a decision that many say did not go down well with Mr. Akpabio, who cannot re-contest as this is second term in office.
PREMIUM TIMES gathered that Mr. Akpabio, who had sent Mr. Umana on an official assignment in Abuja, was himself out of town when the take-over by the security details occurred on Monday.
Since his return to Uyo late on Monday, Mr. Umana has reportedly been operating from his private residence even as his aides maintained that he has not been sacked or asked to resign.
Sources close to the Government House, Uyo, told our reporter that after the governor returned to the state late on Monday, he summoned a meeting with his close aides to get the full briefing of what transpired in his absence.
Later on Tuesday afternoon, the governor, accompanied by his close aides, reportedly drove in his official convoy to pay an unscheduled visit to Mr. Umana in the latter’s private residence at Ewet Housing Estate, Uyo. The two men had a closed-door meeting that lasted for over an hour.
Details of the meeting were not made public, but indications are that it may have bordered on how to find a way to calm frayed political nerves and douse the palpable tension that has since engulfed the state.
The Akwa Ibom Commissioner of Information has declined comment on the crisis saying he is currently in Abuja on an assignment and not in Akwa Ibom.
Mr. Akpabio and Mr. Umana have remained political allies dating back more than a decade to when they both served as members of the State Executive Council under the Victor Attah administration. Mr. Attah was Akwa Ibom governor between 1999 and 2007, and was succeeded by Mr. Akpabio.
The political bond between Messrs Akpabio and Umana was so strong that many believed there was an existing agreement that suggested Mr. Umana would succeed Mr. Akpabio in 2015.
Current happenings in the state, however, indicate that is not the situation.
Premium times
The political crisis in Akwa Ibom may be on the verge of being resolved as Governor Godswill Akpabio on Tuesday held a secret meeting with the embattled Secretary to the State Government, Umana Umana.
Mr. Umana’s office was sealed on Monday by armed security operatives from the Government House, Uyo, reportedly on the orders of Mr. Akpabio. The office remained sealed by the security officials as at Tuesday.
Armed security men led by one A. Akiola, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, said to head the police security unit in the Government House, Uyo, reportedly stormed the government secretary’s office block located within the government house, at about 10 a.m. on Monday and took over, after sacking civil servants working there.
The armed mobile policemen and plain clothe operatives from the State Security Service who mounted security at the entrance of Mr. Umana’s office, were on Tuesday still busy checking every person and vehicle going in or out of the premises, even as movement remains restricted.
Though the official reason for the unexpected siege remains unknown, as no government official was ready to talk on the issue, sources told PREMIUM TIMES that the crisis is caused by the 2015 governorship election in the state.
Mr. Umana had last Thursday made public his intention to contest for governor in 2015, a decision that many say did not go down well with Mr. Akpabio, who cannot re-contest as this is second term in office.
PREMIUM TIMES gathered that Mr. Akpabio, who had sent Mr. Umana on an official assignment in Abuja, was himself out of town when the take-over by the security details occurred on Monday.
Since his return to Uyo late on Monday, Mr. Umana has reportedly been operating from his private residence even as his aides maintained that he has not been sacked or asked to resign.
Sources close to the Government House, Uyo, told our reporter that after the governor returned to the state late on Monday, he summoned a meeting with his close aides to get the full briefing of what transpired in his absence.
Later on Tuesday afternoon, the governor, accompanied by his close aides, reportedly drove in his official convoy to pay an unscheduled visit to Mr. Umana in the latter’s private residence at Ewet Housing Estate, Uyo. The two men had a closed-door meeting that lasted for over an hour.
Details of the meeting were not made public, but indications are that it may have bordered on how to find a way to calm frayed political nerves and douse the palpable tension that has since engulfed the state.
The Akwa Ibom Commissioner of Information has declined comment on the crisis saying he is currently in Abuja on an assignment and not in Akwa Ibom.
Mr. Akpabio and Mr. Umana have remained political allies dating back more than a decade to when they both served as members of the State Executive Council under the Victor Attah administration. Mr. Attah was Akwa Ibom governor between 1999 and 2007, and was succeeded by Mr. Akpabio.
The political bond between Messrs Akpabio and Umana was so strong that many believed there was an existing agreement that suggested Mr. Umana would succeed Mr. Akpabio in 2015.
Current happenings in the state, however, indicate that is not the situation.
Premium times
Tuesday, 30 July 2013
Lagos Govt accuses traders, drivers of causing gridlock
Lagos State Government has accused street traders and commercial vehicle drivers operating within the Ikotun area of causing gridlock.
The government said if something was not done about the selling of wares and parking indiscriminately on the roads, defaulters would be made to face the full wrath of the law.
This warning was given by the Chairman, Lagos State Taskforce on Environmental and Special Offences Enforcement Unit, CSP Bayo Sulaiman, during a meeting with stakeholders in Alausa, Ikeja.
The task force chairman said, "Government has identified street trading and indiscriminate parking on the major roads, especially by commercial vehicles loading and offloading goods, as the main cause of gridlock in the area. It is necessary to convene this meeting to intimate you on government's displeasure over the situation and a possible solution to it."
Sulaiman said government did not want majority of the residents to suffer to please a few number of traders and drivers who, in their bid to make brisk business, cause untold hardship for other road users.
He urged property owners who were letting public road to street traders to desist from such act, saying the walkways, drainages and roads were not extension of their property.
He said, "A road that is free of encumbrance is not only beneficial to the citizenry, but also an advantage for the traders in terms of patronage."
A leader of Ikotun market, Alhaji Shakiru Amballi, said the traders also wanted an end to street trading. He pledged that the unions would do more to ensure that things moved on accordingly.
Punch
The government said if something was not done about the selling of wares and parking indiscriminately on the roads, defaulters would be made to face the full wrath of the law.
This warning was given by the Chairman, Lagos State Taskforce on Environmental and Special Offences Enforcement Unit, CSP Bayo Sulaiman, during a meeting with stakeholders in Alausa, Ikeja.
The task force chairman said, "Government has identified street trading and indiscriminate parking on the major roads, especially by commercial vehicles loading and offloading goods, as the main cause of gridlock in the area. It is necessary to convene this meeting to intimate you on government's displeasure over the situation and a possible solution to it."
Sulaiman said government did not want majority of the residents to suffer to please a few number of traders and drivers who, in their bid to make brisk business, cause untold hardship for other road users.
He urged property owners who were letting public road to street traders to desist from such act, saying the walkways, drainages and roads were not extension of their property.
He said, "A road that is free of encumbrance is not only beneficial to the citizenry, but also an advantage for the traders in terms of patronage."
A leader of Ikotun market, Alhaji Shakiru Amballi, said the traders also wanted an end to street trading. He pledged that the unions would do more to ensure that things moved on accordingly.
Punch
Police, hoodlums accused of killing undergraduate, friend
Policemen attached to the Badagry Police Division, Lagos State, and some hoodlums have been accused of killing a 25-year-old undergraduate of Delta State University, Ifechukwude Nwainokpor, and his friend, identified simply as Kazeem.
An eight-minute video clip of the gruesome killing, which was made available to PUNCH Metro, showed the two victims handcuffed together. They were covered in their own blood and beaten to death with sticks. Tyres were also put round their necks.
An irate mob could be seen in the video, shouting, "die, die, burn them, burn them."
At some points in the video, a policeman was seen interviewing the boys. He asked who sent them (victims) to rob the area, an accusation they denied. One of the hoodlums, holding a sharp object attempted to cut off the private part of one of the victims.
Nwainokpor could be seen pleading with the hoodlums and policemen to spare his life, saying he could identify himself if given a chance. His plea, however, fell on deaf ears.
Our correspondent, who visited the family of Nwainokpor on Tuesday, learnt that the lynching took place around 3pm on July 21, 2013 in Ajara area of Badagry, a community not far from Nwainokpor's family home.
His father, Samuel, told PUNCH Metro that his son was arrested while passing through a street in the area but a misunderstanding later ensued and the hoodlums pounced on him and Kazeem.
He added that Nwainokpor, who was nicknamed Ify, was a final year student of Geology and Mining.
He said, "On that particular day, I was in Ghana when I received a telephone call that I should come immediately. My wife was in Delta State taking care of her mother.
"When I arrived two days later, my relatives and the caretaker of my house told me that my son was killed in the Ajara area along with his friend. I was devastated.
"I got my son a temporary job with a Customs licensed agent since their lecturers were on strike. He worked everyday except on Sundays when he visited his friends. On that day, he went to see Kazeem and they were strolling around Ajara."
Samuel said because there had been a robbery in Ajara four days earlier, some of the residents were on the lookout for strange faces.
He added that when the youth saw two unknown young men, they accosted them and an argument ensued.
He said the youth called the head of the vigilante group in the area, one Asiribo.
He said, "Asiribo came to the scene with a locally-made pistol and handcuffs. He handcuffed my son and his friend before asking them questions.
"Later, it was decided that the boys be taken to the Baale, Agano Oniyon of Agamade Ajara. But as they were going, Asiribo, while trying to return his gun into its pouch, mistakenly shot himself in the stomach and died."
Samuel said Asiribo's death infuriated the youth, who blamed the boys for his death.
"The mob picked up sticks and beat them to death. Policemen were there," he said.
Holding back tears, the retired immigration officer added that the police treated the matter as a robbery case. Beating his chest, Samuel said there was no way his son would have been involved in armed robbery.
He said, "I have been living in Badagry since 1982. I have only two children and Ifechukwude is the first. Ironically, he was born in that same area where he was killed.
"I have lived in this area without any trouble and the residents can tell you that my sons are good boys."
Nwainokpor's boss, Aloysius Onyenibedi, described him as an honest and hardworking person.
"I trusted him to the extent that I used to keep a lot of money with him. He was good to my children and was honest," he said.
The Nwainokpor family berated the Divisional Police Officer, Badagry Police Station, Dankoli Mohammed, for the manner he treated the case.
Samuel said when he approached the DPO, he was told that his son was killed at midnight for armed robbery.
He said, "When the policemen came to take the corpses, guns were planted on them. Policemen at the station told the DPO that they were robbers. Their corpses were taken along with that Asiribo to Badagry General Hospital's mortuary.
"The following morning, the DPO released Asiribo's corpse for burial without investigation. My relatives went to the station and after showing the DPO the video, the matter was transferred to the Area K Command.
"At Present, Asiribo's son has fled, while the DPO has been unable to identify the policemen who were present at the scene when my son and his friend were killed."
PUNCH Metro however learnt that through the video, some people had arrested one of the perpetrators. The suspect had been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, Yaba.
The spokesperson for the state police command, Ngozi Braide, said, "The incident is quite pathetic. Even if they were armed robbers, no one has the right to take the life of another. Why then do we have the police and the judiciary? The Nigerian police as well as the law condemn mob action and jungle justice. The commissioner of police has set up a high- powered investigation body to investigate the matter."
Punch
An eight-minute video clip of the gruesome killing, which was made available to PUNCH Metro, showed the two victims handcuffed together. They were covered in their own blood and beaten to death with sticks. Tyres were also put round their necks.
An irate mob could be seen in the video, shouting, "die, die, burn them, burn them."
At some points in the video, a policeman was seen interviewing the boys. He asked who sent them (victims) to rob the area, an accusation they denied. One of the hoodlums, holding a sharp object attempted to cut off the private part of one of the victims.
Nwainokpor could be seen pleading with the hoodlums and policemen to spare his life, saying he could identify himself if given a chance. His plea, however, fell on deaf ears.
Our correspondent, who visited the family of Nwainokpor on Tuesday, learnt that the lynching took place around 3pm on July 21, 2013 in Ajara area of Badagry, a community not far from Nwainokpor's family home.
His father, Samuel, told PUNCH Metro that his son was arrested while passing through a street in the area but a misunderstanding later ensued and the hoodlums pounced on him and Kazeem.
He added that Nwainokpor, who was nicknamed Ify, was a final year student of Geology and Mining.
He said, "On that particular day, I was in Ghana when I received a telephone call that I should come immediately. My wife was in Delta State taking care of her mother.
"When I arrived two days later, my relatives and the caretaker of my house told me that my son was killed in the Ajara area along with his friend. I was devastated.
"I got my son a temporary job with a Customs licensed agent since their lecturers were on strike. He worked everyday except on Sundays when he visited his friends. On that day, he went to see Kazeem and they were strolling around Ajara."
Samuel said because there had been a robbery in Ajara four days earlier, some of the residents were on the lookout for strange faces.
He added that when the youth saw two unknown young men, they accosted them and an argument ensued.
He said the youth called the head of the vigilante group in the area, one Asiribo.
He said, "Asiribo came to the scene with a locally-made pistol and handcuffs. He handcuffed my son and his friend before asking them questions.
"Later, it was decided that the boys be taken to the Baale, Agano Oniyon of Agamade Ajara. But as they were going, Asiribo, while trying to return his gun into its pouch, mistakenly shot himself in the stomach and died."
Samuel said Asiribo's death infuriated the youth, who blamed the boys for his death.
"The mob picked up sticks and beat them to death. Policemen were there," he said.
Holding back tears, the retired immigration officer added that the police treated the matter as a robbery case. Beating his chest, Samuel said there was no way his son would have been involved in armed robbery.
He said, "I have been living in Badagry since 1982. I have only two children and Ifechukwude is the first. Ironically, he was born in that same area where he was killed.
"I have lived in this area without any trouble and the residents can tell you that my sons are good boys."
Nwainokpor's boss, Aloysius Onyenibedi, described him as an honest and hardworking person.
"I trusted him to the extent that I used to keep a lot of money with him. He was good to my children and was honest," he said.
The Nwainokpor family berated the Divisional Police Officer, Badagry Police Station, Dankoli Mohammed, for the manner he treated the case.
Samuel said when he approached the DPO, he was told that his son was killed at midnight for armed robbery.
He said, "When the policemen came to take the corpses, guns were planted on them. Policemen at the station told the DPO that they were robbers. Their corpses were taken along with that Asiribo to Badagry General Hospital's mortuary.
"The following morning, the DPO released Asiribo's corpse for burial without investigation. My relatives went to the station and after showing the DPO the video, the matter was transferred to the Area K Command.
"At Present, Asiribo's son has fled, while the DPO has been unable to identify the policemen who were present at the scene when my son and his friend were killed."
PUNCH Metro however learnt that through the video, some people had arrested one of the perpetrators. The suspect had been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, Yaba.
The spokesperson for the state police command, Ngozi Braide, said, "The incident is quite pathetic. Even if they were armed robbers, no one has the right to take the life of another. Why then do we have the police and the judiciary? The Nigerian police as well as the law condemn mob action and jungle justice. The commissioner of police has set up a high- powered investigation body to investigate the matter."
Punch
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)