Nigerian News

PHOTO: Kabiru Sokoto CAPTURED

2012-02-10T08:00:00.000-08:00

Photo Credit, SaharaReporters

Escaped Boko Haram operative, Kabiru Umar aka "Kabiru Sokoto", has been re-arrested by Nigeria's secret police working with other security agencies in Mutum Biu, Taraba state.

Kabiru was snagged from a hut where he was hiding with his brother. Kabiru Sokoto who allegedly masterminded the bombing of St Theresa Catholic Church, Madalla, Niger State on Christmas Day.

The church bombing killed 42 people.

via Sahara Reporters

Nigeria bound truck with arms and ammunition seized in Ghana

2012-01-11T07:50:00.000-08:00

A truck loaded with ammunitions heading to Nigeria has been impounded by Ghanaian police in the capital Accra upon a tip off by a resident. The police said it is holding in custody five persons arrested on Tuesday for attempting to transport ammunitions from Ghana to Nigeria.

The occupants of the truck, three Ghanaians and two Nigerians who have been arrested and currently in detention are assisting the police with further investigations.

The Greater Accra Regional Police Commander DCOP Rose Bio Atinga at a press conference after the interception said upon the tipoff, “we quickly dispatched our policemen. We went and found the vehicle at the location, it was empty.

“However, the policemen did due diligence, they entered the vehicle, inspected the vehicle and found that at the base of the vehicle there were some items which looked suspicious so they confronted the driver and he opened up the items.

“To their dismay, they found arms and ammunitions stashed at the basement of the vehicle. We realized a huge quantity of AA and BB cartridges, and pump action guns and double barrel guns."

FULL TEXT OF THE PRESIDENT'S SPEECH ON THE DEREGULATION OF THE PETROLEUM SECTOR/PALLIATIVES/COST CUTTING MOVES OF HIS GOVERNMENT

2012-01-08T05:14:00.000-08:00

NATIONAL BROADCAST BY PRESIDENT GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN, GCFR, ON THE DEREGULATION OF THE DOWNSTREAM PETROLEUM SECTOR SATURDAY, JANUARY 7, 2012
___________________________________________
Dear Compatriots,
1. A week ago, I had cause to address Nigerians on the security challenges we are facing in parts of the country, which necessitated the declaration of a state of emergency in 15 Local Government Areas in four states of the Federation. That course of action attracted widespread support and a demonstration of understanding. With that declaration, government had again signaled its intention to combat terrorism with renewed vigour and to assure every Nigerian of safety.

2. The support that we have received in the fight against terrorism from concerned Nigerians at home and abroad has been remarkable. We believe that it is with such continued support that progress can be made on national issues. Let me express my heartfelt appreciation to everyone who has expressed a commitment to support us as we strive to improve on the country’s security situation, and build a stronger foundation for the future. The recent mindless acts of violence in Gombe, Potiskum, Jimeta-Yola and Mubi are unfortunate. I urge all Nigerians to eschew bitterness and acrimony and live together in harmony and peace. Wherever there is any threat to public peace, our security agencies will enforce the law, without fear or favour.

3. This evening, I address you, again, with much concern over an issue that borders on the national economy, the oil industry and national progress. As part of our efforts to transform the economy and guarantee prosperity for all Nigerians, Government, a few days ago, announced further deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector. The immediate effect of this has been the removal of the subsidy on petrol.

4. Since the announcement, there have been mixed reactions to the policy. Let me seize this opportunity to assure all Nigerians that I feel the pain that you all feel. I personally feel pained to see the sharp increase in transport fares and the prices of goods and services. I share the anguish of all persons who had travelled out of their stations, who had to pay more on the return leg of their journeys.

5. If I were not here to lead the process of national renewal, if I were in your shoes at this moment, I probably would have reacted in the same manner as some of our compatriots, or hold the same critical views about government. But I need to use this opportunity as your President to address Nigerians on the realities on the ground, and why we chose to act as we did. I know that these are not easy times. But tough choices have to be made to safeguard the economy and our collective survival as a nation.

6. My fellow Nigerians, the truth is that we are all faced with two basic choices with regard to the management of the downstream petroleum sector: either we deregulate and survive economically, or we continue with a subsidy regime that will continue to undermine our economy and potential for growth, and face serious consequences.

7. As you all know, the subject of deregulation is not new, we have been grappling with it for more than two decades. Previous administrations tinkered with the pump price of petroleum products, and were unable to effect complete deregulation of the downstream sector. This approach has not worked. If it did, we would not be here talking about deregulation today. I understand fully well that deregulation is not a magic formula that will address every economic challenge, but it provides a good entry point for transforming the economy, and for ensuring transparency and competitiveness in the oil industry, which is the mainstay of our economy.

8. As a President, elected and supported by ordinary Nigerians, and the vast majority of our people, I have a duty to bring up policies and programmes that will grow the economy and bring about greater benefits for the people. Let me assure you that as your President, I have no intention to inflict pain on Nigerians.

9. The deregulation of the petroleum sector is a necessary step that we had to take. Should we continue to do things the same way, and face more serious economic challenges? Or deregulate, endure the initial discomfort and reap better benefits later? I want to assure every Nigerian that whatever pain you may feel at the moment, will be temporary.

10. The interest of the ordinary people of this country will always remain topmost in my priorities as a leader. I remain passionately committed to achieving significant and enduring improvements in our economy that will lead to sustained improvement in the lives of our people.

11. I am determined to leave behind a better Nigeria, that we all can be proud of. To do so, I must make sure that we have the resources and the means to grow our economy to be resilient, and to sustain improved livelihood for our people. We must act in the public interest, no matter how tough, for the pains of today cannot be compared to the benefits of tomorrow. On assumption of office as President, I swore to an oath to always act in the best interest of the people. I remain faithful to that undertaking.

12. To save Nigeria, we must all be prepared to make sacrifices. On the part of Government, we are taking several measures aimed at cutting the size and cost of governance, including on-going and continuous effort to reduce the size of our recurrent expenditure and increase capital spending. In this regard, I have directed that overseas travels by all political office holders, including the President, should be reduced to the barest minimum. The size of delegations on foreign trips will also be drastically reduced; only trips that are absolutely necessary will be approved.

13. For the year 2012, the basic salaries of all political office holders in the Executive arm of government will be reduced by 25%. Government is also currently reviewing the number of committees, commissions and parastatals with overlapping responsibilities. The Report on this will be submitted shortly and the recommendations will be promptly implemented. In the meantime, all Ministries, Departments and Agencies must reduce their overhead expenses.

14. We are all greatly concerned about the issue of corruption. The deregulation policy is the strongest measure to tackle this challenge in the downstream sector. In addition, government is taking other steps to further sanitize the oil industry.

15. To ensure that the funds from petroleum subsidy removal are spent prudently on projects that will build a greater Nigeria, I have established a committee to oversee the implementation of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme. I sincerely believe that the reinvestment of the petroleum subsidy funds, to ensure improvement in national infrastructure, power supply, transportation, irrigation and agriculture, education, healthcare, and other social services, is in the best interest of our people.

16. Fellow Nigerians, I know that the removal of the petroleum subsidy imposes an initial burden on our people, especially the rising cost of transportation. Government will be vigilant and act decisively to curb the excesses of those that want to exploit the current situation for selfish gains. I plead for the understanding of all Nigerians. I appeal to our youth not to allow mischief-makers to exploit present circumstances to mislead or incite them to disturb public peace.

17. To address the immediate challenges that have been identified, I have directed all Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government to embark immediately on all projects which have been designed to cushion the impact of the subsidy removal in the short, medium and long-term, as outlined in the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme Document.

18. Tomorrow, 8th January, I will formally launch a robust mass transit intervention programme to bring down the cost of transportation across the country. The programme will be implemented in partnership with state and local governments, labour unions, transport owners, and banking institutions, and supported with the provision of funding at zero interest rate as well as import duty waiver on all needed parts for locally-made mass transit vehicles, which will create additional jobs in the economy.

19. We will keep these incentives in place for as long as it takes. I want to assure you that Government will not rest until we bring down the cost of transportation for our people. Let me thank the transporters’ associations that have agreed to reduce transport fares. I have directed the Minister of Labour and Productivity to work with these associations to come up with a sustainable plan to guarantee this within the shortest possible time.

20. In addition, I have ordered the mobilization of contractors for the full rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt –Maiduguri Railway Line and the completion of the Lagos-Kano Railway Line. I have also directed the immediate commencement of a Public Works programme that will engage the services of about 10, 000 youths in every state of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory. This will create an additional 370, 000 jobs.

21. Government has taken these decisions in the best interest of our economy, so that we not only have benefits today, but to ensure that we bequeath even greater benefits to our children and grandchildren.

22. Let me assure Nigerians that every possible effort will be made to ensure that we march forward, with a collective resolve to build a Nigeria that can generate greater economic growth, create and sustain new jobs, and secure the future of our children.

23. This Administration will aggressively implement its programme to reposition and strengthen our economy, while paying adequate attention to the immediate needs of our citizens.

24. I assure you all that we will work towards achieving full domestic refining of petroleum products with the attendant benefits.

25. As I ask for the full understanding of all Nigerians, I also promise that I will keep my word.

26. Thank you. May God bless you; and may God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR
President
Federal Republic of Nigeria
January 7, 2012

What do you think?

Fuel subsidy: FG to procure 1,600 mass transit buses

2012-01-04T15:52:00.000-08:00

…Orders MDAs to pay Jan. Salaries on 20th

BY DANIEL IDONOR

ABUJA – PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan and his cabinet members yesterday rose from an emergency session of the Federal Executive Council, FEC, saying that government would not reverse the increase in pump price of petrol from N65 to over N141 per litre.

The Federal Government however, approved the procurement of 1,600 mass transit buses on Monday, as part of the long term plans to cushion the harsh effects of the increase in pump price of petrol.

Addressing State House correspondents, at the end of the meeting, presided over by President Jonathan, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Mr Olusegun Aganga, Minister of Trade and Investment who was joined by Labaran Maku, Minister of Information and Idris Umar, Minister of Transportation, said the 1,600 mass transit buses formed part of the N10 billion revolving loan set aside by the government to address problems of the transport sector in the country.

The government decried the strike action ordered by the organised labour over the issue, saying, “We believe it will be of greater harm to Nigerians for labour to insist on strike because it will further compound the sufferings of the people, because if we do not support production and continue to support subsidy, one third of the budget will be used to support consumption, and this will spell doom” for the nation..

According to the Ministers, “there is on-going dialogue with the organised labour and no reasonable government will deliberately inflict suffering on the part of its citizens”.

He however said that FEC also directed all Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, to pay the monthly salaries of workers by January 20 to ameliorate the harsh effect; consequently, FAAC meeting has been scheduled for January 15 to deliberate on the revenue sharing for the month.

The revolving loan according to him is payable over a five years period and attracts five per cent interest rate under the Urban Mass Transit Programme and would be made available to credible transporters, labour unions and other Nigerians involved in transport business.

According to him “we have a duty to turn short term pain to long term gains,” adding that “government has placed order for massive supply of decent diesel buses to solve transportation problem. In the next couple of weeks, there will be sufficient mass transit buses. It will go on for two years”.

From right; President Goodluck Jonathan, Vice President Namadi Sambo; Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Anyim Pius Anyim and Head of Service Isa Bello Sali at the Federal Executive Council meeting summoned by President Jonathan Wednesday, in Abuja.

Aganga further stated that “any moment from now, we should take delivery of these buses. As the FEC, we are not here to punish Nigerians.

”For the first time, we want to put in place a sustainable, robust mass transit programme to reduce the pains fellow Nigerians are going through now.

”We have been undertaking poverty and social impact analysis to see what impact this will have on Nigerians.

’’That is because we realised the pain it will cause; and today’s meeting gave us the opportunity to empathise and to know that it was a very painful decision.

”I think we will all agree that the economy case has been a case of how and when but we have a duty as government to cushion the temporary pains. We have a duty to convert the pain to long term gains for Nigerians and the economy,” he said.

On the outcome of the meeting, Maku said, “The meeting was called to deliberate on very crucial national issues particularly, the deregulation of the downstream sector of the Nigerian oil industry” adding that “Mr. President called the meeting to expedite action on the measures to cushion the effects of the removal of fuel subsidy”.

He regretted that because, “previous government had postponed deregulation, the intended benefits did not come through because as long as government continues to monopolise the sector, no private sector will come in and invest.

”Having taken this plunge, (increasing the pump price of petrol) to go back will be to cripple the economy; that is why we are calling on our citizens to bear with us.

’’In no time, the prices will come down unlike in the past where marketers used to hoard fuel because government was subsidising.

’’That would no longer be the case. The customer will be king now, because if they do not sell, they won’t recover their money,” he added.

The Information Minister then appealed for understanding saying: “Our country is in a difficult situation and we are appealing to the citizens to appreciate this difficulty.

’’With the measures we have taken, we are confident that we will correct the imbalance in the economy.

”There is no way a country will survive with N5 trillion debt that is being serviced with N500 billion.

“The entire capital budget is completely borrowed and if it continues, the economy will collapse and companies will be forced to cut work force.”

In his own contribution, Umar said government had completed the dredging of the lower Niger noting that the Lagos-Kano-Jebba rail rehabilitation project will be completed by the end of March .

The Minister added that depending on availability of passengers, the “Lagos to Ilorin rail transport will resume soon”.

Via: Vanguard

Ex-militants threaten Jonathan over fuel subsidy cabal

2012-01-04T15:43:00.001-08:00

By Emma Amaize and Godwin Oghre
SAPELE- A group of ex-militants, under the aegis of Niger Delta Revolution Force, has urged President Goodluck Jonathan to, as a matter of urgency, arrest and try all those recently uncovered by the Senate to have illegitimately been benefiting from fuel subsidy or risk its wrath.

The leader of the group, Comrade Babatunde Omatseye told Vanguard in Sapele, Wednesday, that the group would regroup and launch attacked on oil facilities across the Niger Delta region, as well as go after those who unjustly benefited from fuel subsidy, should government fail to direct the relevant law enforcement agencies to prosecute them.

Comrade Omatseye also advised the law enforcement agencies to shun the use of force, capable of maiming or killing unarmed members of the civil society who were protesting across the nation, the recent removal of fuel subsidy and its concomitant hike in transportation fares or risk reprisal attack from the group.

The ex-militant leader said the group, comprising of over, 1,400 former combatants would no longer fold their hands and watching the entire nation plunge into “irrecoverable abysmal economic quagmire”, and called on the federal government to restore to status-quo the price of fuel across the nation.

Omatseye further said the group was considering the possibility of regrouping for an onslaught on oil facilities across Niger Delta should President Jonathan fail to prosecute the beneficiaries of the fuel subsidy and revert the present hike in price of fuel to N65.00 per liter.

He asserted that the removal of subsidy by the federal government has no benefits to the lives of the people of Niger-Delta, pointing out that it has only added to their suffering.

The ex militant leader also denounced the situation in which kerosene is presently sold for N130, fuel N145 and diesel N150 per liter in the guise of subsidy removal, contrary to N50, N65, and N90 respectively that the products were earlier sold.

Source: Vanguard

PPPRA Announces Formal Removal of Subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS)

2012-01-01T07:34:00.001-08:00

By Reginald Stanley

Following extensive consultation with stakeholders across the nation, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) wishes to inform all stakeholders of the commencement of formal removal of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), in accordance with the powers conferred on the agency by the law establishing it, in compliance with Section 7 of PPPRA Act, 2004.

By this announcement, the downstream sub-sector of the petroleum industry is hereby deregulated for PMS. Service providers in the sector are now to procure products and sell same in accordance with the indicative benchmark price to be published forthnightly and posted on the PPPRA website.

Petroleum products marketers are to note that no one will be paid subsidy on PMS discharges after 1st January 2012.

Consumers are assured of adequate supply of quality products at prices that are competitive and non-exploitative and so there is no need for anyone to engage in panic buying or product hoarding.

The PPPRA in conjunction with the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) will ensure that consumers are not taken advantage of in any form or in any way.

The DPR will ensure that the interest of the consumer in terms of quality of products is guaranteed at all times and in line with international best practice.
In the coming weeks, the PPPRA will engage stakeholders in further consultation to ensure the continuation of this exercise in a hitch-free manner.

Signed:

Reginald Stanley
Executive Secretary, PPPRA.

culled from Sahara Reporters

PRESIDENT JONATHAN REMOVES FUEL SUBSIDY !!! [UPDATED]

2012-01-01T06:38:00.000-08:00

Reports have it that the President will announce Subsidy Removal by 4:00 PM today...

I was able to purchase Fuel at the filling station for N65 and as I was gettin home a neighbour alerted me of the impending removal by 4 PM... He was dashing to the station.

He however called to tell me the station had been closed!!!

This confirms it...

Is this a good New Year's gift for Nigerians?

UPDATE
--------------

It is confirmed... PPPRA announced the subsidy removal effective Jan, 1 2012 on NTA.

BREAKING: President Jonathan Declares State of Emergency in the North... FULL TEXT HERE

2011-12-31T11:34:00.000-08:00

The President declared state of emergency in the troubled areas in the four states, Borno, Yobe, Niger and plateau states in his Saturday afternoon,nationwide broadcast.

Below is the text of Jonathan’s address

ADDRESS BY HIS EXCELLENCY, PRESIDENT GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN, GCFR, ON THE OCCASION OF THE DECLARATION OF A STATE OF EMERGENCY IN CERTAIN PARTS OF THE FEDERATION IN ORDER TO RESTORE PULIC ORDER, PEACE AND SECURITY IN THE FEDERATION, December 31, 2011

Fellow Nigerians, it has become necessary to address you on recent events in some parts of the country that have threatened our collective security and shaken the foundations of our corporate existence as a nation.

2. You are all aware of the security challenges which the activities of the Boko Haram sect have foisted on the country. What began as sectarian crises in the North Eastern parts of the country has gradually evolved into terrorist activities in different parts of the country with attendant negative consequences on our national security.

3. Government in an effort to find a lasting solution to the security threats occasioned by the activities of the Boko Haram sect, constituted a Presidential Committee under the Chairmanship of Ambassador Usman Gaji Galtimari, to ascertain the immediate and remote causes of the crises. While efforts are being made to implement the recommendations of the Committee, the crises have assumed a terrorist dimension with vital institutions of government including the United Nations Building and places of worship becoming targets of terrorist attacks.

4. While the search for lasting solutions is ongoing, it has become imperative to take some decisive measures necessary to restore normalcy in the country especially within the affected communities. Consequently, I have in the exercise of the powers conferred on me by the provisions of section 305(1) of the Constitution, declared a state of emergency in the following parts of the federation, namely:

(i) Borno State

a) Maidugiri Metropolitan LGA

b) Gamboru Ngala LGA

c) Banki Bama LGA

d) Biu LGA

e) Jere LGA

(ii) Yobe State

a) Damaturu LGA

b) Geidam LGA

c) Potiskum LGA

d) Buniyadi-Gujba LGA

e) Gasua-Bade LGA

(iii) Plateau State

a) Jos North LGA

b) Jos South LGA

c) Barkin-Ladi LGA

d) Riyom LGA

(iv) Niger State

a) Suleja LGA

The details of this proclamation will be transmitted to the National Assembly as soon as they reconvene from their current recess, for their necessary action.

5. The Chief of Defence Staff and the Inspector-General of Police have been directed to put appropriate measures in place to ensure the protection of lives and properties of residents in the affected parts of the country. I therefore urge the political leadership in the affected states and Local Government Areas to give maximum cooperation to the law enforcement agencies deployed to their respective communities to ensure that the situation is brought under control within the shortest possible time.

6. The Chief of Defence Staff, in collaboration with other Service Chiefs, has also been directed to set up a special force unit within the Armed Forces, with dedicated counter terrorism responsibilities.

7. As part of the overall strategy to overcome the current security challenges, I have directed the closure of the land borders contiguous to the affected Local Government Areas so as to control incidences of cross boarder terrorist activities as terrorists have taken advantage of the present situation to strike at targets in Nigeria and retreat beyond the reach of our law enforcement personnel.

8. Let me assure our neighbours, especially within the ECOWAS sub-region, of Nigeria’s commitment to its international obligations as provided by the ECOWAS Protocol on Free Movement of Persons. The temporary closure of our borders in the affected areas is only an interim measure designed to address the current security challenges and will be reviewed as soon as normalcy is restored.

9. I commend the efforts of our political leaders at various levels as well as our traditional and religious leaders for their support for the various conflict resolution mechanisms and peace building measures that have been initiated by this administration. We call on the citizenry to continue to provide useful information to our law enforcement agencies to enable us arrest the situation.

10. Terrorism is a war against all of us. I call on all Nigerians to join hands with government to fight these terrorists.

11. I wish all Nigerians a very happy New Year.

12. Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Ladi Akindele, Owner of Chrome remanded in prison over N15 million fraud

2011-12-28T22:37:00.000-08:00

An Igbosere Magistrate Court, Lagos, has remanded part owner of Chrome, Ladi Akindele, in Kirikiri Prison, Lagos, till his next court appearance, following an alleged assault and issuance of N15 million dud cheque to his partner, Mr. Charles Ahize.

The accused was said to have breached the terms of the joint business.

He was said to have assaulted Ahize when he stormed the Victoria Island, Lagos, site of their joint business (Chrome) with touts.

It was gathered that on December 14, the police visited the accused to invite him for questioning over the assault and issuance of dud cheques case against him.

He was said to have resisted arrest in a manner that almost led to breach of public peace. He was eventually taken away.

Based on the order of Inspector-General of Police, the accused was detained for failing to honour the invitation. Eight days later, he was charged to court.

Part of the reasons the court refused to grant the accused bail was because he resisted arrest and threatened law enforcers.

The matter was adjourned till January 25, 2012.

Source: Vanguard

I’m alive, says man allegedly shot dead during protest Lekki toll protest

2011-12-28T22:31:00.001-08:00

LAGOS – Contrary to media reports that one person was shot dead by the police while several others sustained injuries during the protest that greeted the commencement of toll collection at the Lekki toll gates, the man told newsmen yesterday that he did not die after all.

Femi Ogunsanya, who spoke at the premises of the State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID, Panti, Yaba, however, admitted that he was manhandled by the police but later rushed to the hospital where he was treated and discharged.

The 38 year-old staff of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, Lekki undertaking told journalists that he did not participate in the peaceful protest that later turned violent, stressing that he was just a victim of circumstance.

He said he was shocked when his colleagues drew his attention to a newspaper publication that he was shot dead. According to him, “actually, I was manhandled by the police that day because I woke up in the hospital. I did not participate in the protest. When I closed from office, on my way home, I met Lekki Local Government chairman at the gate and we exchanged pleasantry.

Suddenly, I saw people running, I tried to escape but was grabbed from behind and a hit of gun butt on my head landed me on the ground; that was the only thing I could remember. I am alive.”

Reacting, the state Command Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Samuel Jinadu, appealed to media professionals to always verify their stories before publication, admitting however that policemen were drafted to the crisis area when it became apparent that the hitherto peaceful protest had turned violent.

CIBN de-registers Cecilia Ibru...

2011-12-28T22:17:00.001-08:00

The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) has struck-out the name of Mrs. Cecilia Ibru, former Managing Director/Chief Executive, Oceanic Bank International Plc and an Honorary Fellow of the Institute from her Register of members.

This is towards the furtherance, maintenance and observance of ethical standards and professionalism among practitioners of the banking profession in Nigeria.

The action was taken in line with the decision of the Institute’s Disciplinary Tribunal on Monday, December 12, 2011, which was confirmed by the Governing Council of the Institute, at its Meeting of Tuesday, December 13, 2011.

The Disciplinary Tribunal, made up of eminent members of the banking profession with a retired Justice of the Supreme Court as an Assessor, in a unanimous decision, granted the CIBN’s request.

Source: Vanguard

Boko Haram: Protect yourselves in any way you can, Oritsejafor tells Christians

2011-12-28T22:09:00.001-08:00

ABUJA— PRESIDENT, Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, yesterday told Christian faithful across the country to protect themselves, their property and churches in any way they could, against any attack, even as he asked Muslim leaders to call their people to order.

Oritsejafor stated this when he paid a visit to St Theresa’s Catholic Church, Madalla, the scene of the Christmas bomb blast at Madalla, Niger State.

Oritsejafor, while sympathising with members of the parish, said the visit was to let them know that they were not alone.

“Even though Jesus Christ is with you, we have come to show solidarity,” he said.

Oritsejafor, who described the Madalla bomb blast as “madness that should not be talked about among human beings,” said Christian faithful should expect the unexpected “when you are in the world but our belief in God must be stronger now.”

He said although the Muslim community had taken a good step by visiting and sympathising with Christians and victims of the bomb blast, it was not enough.

He said they should take a step further and help reach Boko Haram members, noting that the perpetrators were not spirits.

His words: “We see this as pure madness, normal people don’t behave like this, even animals have value for each other not to talk of human beings.”

Culled From Vanguard

SSS Statement detailing how Nigerian Lawmaker Ran Boko Haram

2011-11-22T07:19:00.001-08:00

ALI SANDA UMAR KONDUGA (A.K.A. USMAN AL-ZAWAHIRI)

By MARILYN OGAR,

ARREST OF ALI SANDA UMAR KONDUGA (A.K.A. USMAN AL-ZAWAHIRI), SPOKESMAN OF THE BOKO HARAM SECT

On 3rd November, 2011 about 2030 hours at Gwange area, Maiduguri, Borno State, a joint security operation led to the arrest of Ali Sanda Umar KONDUGA, acclaimed spokesman of the Boko Haram sect, widely known in the media as Usman AL-ZAWAHIRI. He was a former political thug operating under a group widely known as ECOMOG.

2. His arrest further confirms the Service position that some of the Boko Haram extremists have political patronage and sponsorship. This is moreso as AL-ZAWAHIRI has so far made valuable confessions in this regard. Highlights of some of his admissions are:

i. That he was recruited by a political party stalwart in Maiduguri, Borno State;
ii. That following the compulsory registration of all SIM cards nationwide, he was asked to steal a SIM card which he used in sending threat text messages

iii.     That the pseudo name, Usman AL-ZAWAHIRI was given to him by the said politician to portray him as an extremist as well as conceal his true identity;
iv.     That one of his benefactor’s promised to pay him Ten Million Naira (N10 million) to work for his party but by stint of fate, he died on his way to deliver the part payment of Five Million Naira (N5 Million) to AL-ZAWAHIRI
v.      That consequent upon this, subject claimed a serving member of the National Assembly took over the running of his activities;
vi.     That he was behind the threat text messages sent to the Judges of the Election Petition Tribunal in Maiduguri. His objective was to ensure that the Tribunal sacks the present Government in Borno State;
vii.    That he was also behind other threats messages sent to Governor Sule LAMIDO, Governor Babangida ALIYU, Amb. Dalhatu Sarki TAFIDA, Chief Olusegun OBASANJO and Justice Sabo ADAMU (Chairman of the Election Petition Tribunal in Borno State).

viii.   That most of the threat messages he sent to Justice Sabo ADAMU, were scripted and relayed to him by the National Assembly member.
ix.     That the threat text messages eventually led to the relocation of the election petition tribunal from Maiduguri to Abuja;
x.      That the same legislator promised to send him some telephone numbers of members of the GALTIMARI Committee on Security in the North East, before he (AL-ZAWAHIRI) was apprehended.
xi.     That the telephone number and content of the text message sent to the Attorney General and Minister of Justice were also given to him by the Legislator in order to compel him (AGF) to influence the judgment of the tribunal against the Government in Borno State.
3       Meanwhile, analysis of AL-ZAWAHIRI’s phone has confirmed constant communication between him and the legislator.
4.      The Service wishes to reiterate its commitment to addressing the current threats posed by the Boko Haram sect and other forms of fundamentalism in the country, including the dimensions of political patronage and sponsorship of extremist and violent groups. We call on all well-meaning Nigerians to sustain their confidence in the nation’s security establishment, as we work tirelessly to ensure a safe and peaceful Country for us all.

MARILYN OGAR, msi
DEPUTY DIRECTOR
PUBLIC RELATIONS
DSS, ABUJA.

Jonathan Threatens Sudden Justice to Terrorists, Sponsors [Thisday]

2011-11-16T02:04:00.001-08:00

National Security Adviser, Gen. Andrew Owoye Azazi

By Ahamefula Ogbu

Worried by the slow grind of the justice system, especially in dealing with cases arising from the frequent terrorist attacks by Boko Haram, President Goodluck Jonathan Tuesday promised “sudden justice” for promoters of violence in the country.

He expressed confidence in the preparedness of his administration not only in squaring up with the assailants but also defeating them, especially as he had reinforced security institutions to deal with those who have refused to repent, be rehabilitated and reintegrated into normal society.

He however made a case for the review of the justice system of the country to make it less adversarial by considering the introduction of suspended sentences and parole.

Jonathan, who spoke at the State House, Abuja during the inauguration of the reconstituted Presidential Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy, said the society should have a place for correctional approach in the penal system to make it more redemptive with the protection of human rights in mind.

Sounding tough on the security challenges the country has been facing, the president said he would not spare the sponsors and perpetrators of the violence in the country.

“Let me seize this opportunity, therefore, to reassure the nation that I have initiated a very rapid and robust process to enhance the capacity of our security forces to protect lives and property. Even as our nation overcame past security scares, I am confident in the ability of our security agencies to overcome the present ones as well,” he said.

Members of the committee are Permanent Secretary (Special Duties), Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the Director of Special Duties in the same Office who will serve as the Secretary.

Others are a representative each from National Human Rights Commission; Nigerian Prison Service; Jaamatul Nasir Islamiyyar; Christian Association of Nigeria; and a retired Police DIG, Alhaji Uba Ringim, who represented the Police.

Those whose names were announced Tuesday as members are Alhaji Munir Jaffaru; Mr. T.J. Okpoko (SAN); Mr. C.N. Orji; and Mr. Bolaji Ayorinde.

“We are resolute in our charge to the security agencies to go after all promoters of terror and other anti-social activities in the country and bring them to book.

“Our review of processes and institutional reforms are, indeed designed to strengthen and realign all the instruments and agencies of crime prevention, interdiction and punishment. My administration will not rest on its oars until the spirit of the law runs across the land. We promise to deliver swift and certain justice for criminal elements.

“While we intend to always provide a window of opportunity for those who have seen the folly of their anti-social behaviour to retrace their steps, I wish to renew my call to those that choose to live on the fringes of the law: Retrace your steps and we will work with you to facilitate your reintegration and rehabilitation. If you undermine the state, be prepared to face the full wrath of the law,” he warned.

He said his heart goes to those who lost their dear ones in the unwarranted carnage that the country had witnessed but assured them that the death of their loved ones would not be in vain as he would ensure that the perpetrators face the full weight of the law, adding that the caring and forgiving spirit of Nigerians had been overstretched.

He said the type and level of violence being visited on the country by anti-social elements was unacceptable to the culture and religion of the people and commended those who had resisted joining such groups to cause destruction.

“I also want to reassure those of our people who have lost their relatives to these crimes that we shall bring the perpetrators to book. We share in your pain. We stand united as we confront the inhumane actions of the misguided few who seem determined to violate the core values of tolerance and peaceful co-existence. We shall fight and defeat that evil,” he added.

The committee was last constituted in 2009 when the tenure of the one formed in 2005 expired. The present committee will be headed by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke.

President Jonathan charged Adoke to sit down with his members and clear the backlog of cases for determination on their merits so that fairness within the ambits of the law shall be engendered.

Jonathan stressed the need to give opportunities to convicted persons by the law to either before serving their terms or after doing so, to be fully reintegrated into normal society, saying the society stands to benefit more than administering punitive system.

“The pervasive assumption is that the Nigerian penal system is punitive, and that every encounter with the law may be a permanent exit from decent society. My view is that we need to place emphasis on our penal system being more correctional’’.

He said exercising prerogative of mercy was a serious matter where either the president or the governors grant pardon to convicted persons either in the absolute or in mitigation and sometimes involves life and death of citizens which makes it imperative that absolute care be exercised in the discretion for public good.

The president said the work of the committee goes beyond the quest to decongest prisons and redressing miscarriage of justice, but also includes engendering value re-orientation devoid of ethnic consideration and quota system, religion or politics as “those who look forward to the option of the prerogative of mercy as an excuse for criminal conduct will be disappointed”.

Adoke was represented at the occasion by Dr. Tunji Abayomi who pledged to do all within their power to operate within the mandate and achieve the constitutional desire of setting them up.

Those whose names were announced Tuesday as members are Alhaji Munir Jaffaru, Mr. T.J. Okpoko (SAN), Mr. C.N. Orji, and Mr. Bolaji Ayorinde.

Although he was preaching the need for forgiveness and rehabilitation of repentant outlaws, he said the exercise of prerogative of mercy did not mean that the government would shy away from the protection of Nigerians against any form of violence.

High Court Halts Operations of Nationalised Banks [Thisday]

2011-11-16T01:52:00.001-08:00

CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi

By Davidson Iriekpen

The Federal High Court in Lagos has temporarily halted the operations of the three commercial banks that were recently nationalised by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

They are Mainstreet (from the defunct Afribank), Keystone (Bank PHB) and Enterprise (Spring Bank).

Ruling on the ex-parte application filed by Chuks Nwachuku on behalf of some aggrieved shareholders of the former banks, the presiding judge, Justice Charles Archibong, restrained the banks from further dealing with the assets, businesses and operations of the three banks pending the determination of the motion on notice filed by the aggrieved shareholders.

The shareholders, among whom are Boniface Okezie, Adeyemi Kehinde, Adebowale Bolanle and Cole Alexander, in the motion ex-parte are seeking for an order to restrain the three new banks, the CBN, the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) and the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) from further dealing with the assets, businesses and operations of the nationalised banks.

The shareholders had gone to court to challenge the nationalisation of the three banks, saying that the actions violated their rights to freedom from compulsory acquisition of property guaranteed under the constitution and the prohibition of nationalisation of enterprises contained in Section 25 of Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission Act Joined as respondents in the suit are the three nationalised banks, the CBN, NDIC, AMCON, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), the three banks and the Minister of Finance.

In the suit, the shareholders argued that the revocation of the licences of the banks by the CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, was prejudicial to their rights to invest in public quoted companies in accordance with the Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) Act and the Investment and Security Act (ISA).

Part of the reliefs sought by the shareholders include a declaration that the action of the CBN, NDIC and the AMCON in purporting to transfer the assets, businesses and operations of the nationalised banks to the new banks is a breach of their fundamental human rights to freedom from compulsory acquisition of property as guaranteed by the constitution.

They are also seeking for an order of the court for the respondents to jointly and severally pay them punitive damages to be determined by the court through their lawyer for the diminution in the value of their shares of the nationalised banks as a result of the unlawful and malicious conduct of the CBN governor.

The shareholders are equally seeking an order of perpetual injunction restraining the three new banks, the NDIC and the AMCON from offering for sale or advertising or representing to any person, any intention or offer for sale or transferring or purporting to transfer to an person any interest in the assets, businesses and operations of the three nationalised banks.

They also want the court to make an order granting the nationalised banks a period of six months or an extension of time within which to recapitalise or attain any requisite level of recapitalisation as determined by the court and free of any interference from the CBN or its governor.

The court has fixed hearing of the substantive motion for November 28, 2011.

The CBN had set September 30 deadline for all banks in the country to recapitalise but on August 5, it revoked the licences of the three banks and nationalised them.

Following its action, the NDIC had taken them over and proceeded to creating three bridge banks to take over the assets and liabilities of the affected banks in the interim.

Reacting to the ruling last night, the CBN said it was a rumour as none of its lawyers was aware of the suit in respect of the nationalised banks.

Speaking through its spokes-man, Mohammed Abdullahi, the apex bank said: "We have heard the rumours and we have spoken with our lawyers who have all confirmed that no process or processes have been served in respect of the nationalised banks. So the whole thing is a rumour as far as we are concerned.”

Gbenga Daniel's trial commences tomorrow [Thisday]

2011-11-16T00:07:00.001-08:00

Otunba Gbenga Daniel

Justice Olarenwaju Mabekoje of the Ogun State High Court, Abeokuta, will tomorrow commence hearing on the alleged 16-count charge on former governor of the state, Otunba Gbenga Daniel.

THISDAY gathered that the hearing would look into the allegations levelled against Daniel, which include among others allegation that he stole some funds from the state, which is contrary to Section 390 (4) (f) of the criminal code law, CAP 29, laws of Ogun State, 1978.

In the particulars of his offences, Daniel was said to have allegedly converted the sum of $1,000,000 belonging to the state government.

Security Forces Stop Embattled Bayelsa Governor from leaving Goverment House [Thisday]

2011-11-16T00:03:00.001-08:00

Governor Timipre Sylva

By Chuks Okocha and Segun James

Indications that Governor Timipre Sylva may face harsher times ahead emerged Monday as hundreds of security men deployed to maintain the peace in the state barred him from coming out of Creek Haven, the seat of the Bayelsa State government.

Consequently, Sylva could not participate in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ward congresses which began yesterday in the state ahead of Saturday’s governorship primary election from which he has been barred from contesting by the party’s National Working Committee (NWC).

However, he is still, statutorily, a delegate to the primary election.
Some governors, who spoke with THISDAY in the aftermath of Sylva’s disqualification, said it was capable of setting a bad precedent for other governors.

Fierce-looking policemen, in battle-gear mood, barricaded the gate to the Creek Havens and the PDP state secretariat.

Stern looking men of the Nigerian Police mobile force took over all strategic locations in and around the state capital even as men of the Joint (military) Task Force (JTF) were on high alert as the ward congresses took place at the state party secretariat. And in order to ward off any breakdown of law and order, the secretariat was condoned off and all traffic to the area diverted.

The police were armed with several Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) one of which was stationed at the entrance of the party’s secretariat.

No fewer than 200 riot policemen mounted guard at the secretariat even as newsmen were prevented from witnessing the primaries.

Also, neighbouring communities to Yenagoa metropolis such as Imiringi, Ogbia, Otuokpoti and Otuoke, Jonathan’s country home, witnessed heavy security presence.

Explaining the heavy security presence, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the Bayelsa State Police Command, Eguaveon Emokpae, said: “The development is part of our security strategy to ensure effective security of the state. We don’t want a situation whereby hoodlums would take advantage of the situation to unleash mayhem, capable of breaching the peace of Bayelsa.”

The decision of the NWC to bar Sylva may have set some PDP governors against President Goodluck Jonathan.

Some of the governors, who spoke to THISDAY last night, expressed anger over the “shabby treatment meted out to one of us (Sylva)”.

The governors, who chose not to be named, argued that the “Sylva treatment” might set a bad precedent not only in the party but also in the country’s overall democratic culture.

One of the governors said: “If it could happen to Sylva, then it could also happen to anyone of us. This is a warning signal.”

Another governor argued that the disqualification amounted to illegality, especially as the decision to stop Sylva was never discussed at the National Executive Committee (NEC), the highest decision-making organ of the party.

“They should have allowed Sylva to run and be defeated rather than bar him in this manner,” he said.
Last week, some PDP governors had interceded on behalf of Sylva when they met with Jonathan, pleading that he be allowed to run on the platform of the party.

The NWC, over the weekend, formally announced that it had disqualified Sylva, Mr. Timi Alaibe, Ben Murray Bruce and Godknows Igali from participating in the governorship primary election billed for Saturday.

The NWC also announced that it had cleared seven of the aspirants for the gubernatorial contest.

Those cleared have been invited by the NWC to collect their certificates of clearance from the Wadata Plaza, the national headquarters of the party tomorrow.

This is the first time that the NWC would be issuing certificates of clearance, rather than the governorship screening and appeal committees doing so.

In a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Prof. Ahmed Alkali, the seven governorship aspirants that would be issued with the certificates of clearance included; Orufa Justine Boloubo, Dickson Seriake Henry, Enai Christopher Fullpower, Kalango Michael Youppele, Francis Amaebi, Ekiyegha Francis Korobido and Austin Febo.

Corps members storm NYSC for redeployment from North East posting

2011-11-15T23:55:00.001-08:00

Corps members

Many young graduates from tertiary institutions who were posted to the northern States of Borno, Yobe, Bauchi and Gombe states besieged the national headquarters of the National Youth Service Corps in Abuja in search of redeployment.

This came on a day the management of the scheme released a new date and venue for the Batch ‘C’ Orientation course for corps members posted to Borno and Yobe states.

The states are known to have obvious security challenges caused by the Islamist fundamentalist group, Boko Haram.

Some of the prospective corps members, who spoke with our correspondent, did so on the condition of anonymity.

A lady from Abia State, who gave her name simply as Ijeoma, said she was rejecting her posting to Bauchi State out of concern for her aged parents.

She said, “I am the only girl and the last child in a family that has six children. Since my mother heard I was posted to Bauchi State, she has been lamenting.

“She has refused to eat; even my father has insisted that I either get reposted to another state preferably in the South or I defer my service year.

“I personally don’t want to defer; that is why I am here to change my posting if I can. If they don’t agree, I will defer it to another year. I am only 22; I dont to die in the hands of people who don’t value life.”

Another prospective corps member, who declined to give his name, said, “I did not earn a degree to be hacked down in my prime by individuals who do not value life.

“I believe in Nigeria but we are not at war, until I am convinced of my personal safety, I cannot in good conscience put my family through the harrowing experience of uncertainty by serving in Gombe State; which is also becoming another haven for Boko Haram members.”

However, the NYSC has laid down procedures for those seeking redeployments. They are to attend the orientation programme at the states of their posting. During the exercise, they will fill the necessary forms before their requests could be attended to.

A statement by the Head, Public Relations of the NYSC, Mrs. Clara Babatunde, said the mandatory orientation course for corps members posted to Borno and Yobe states would now begin on December 1 and end December 15, 2011.

The statement added, “A new date and venue has been announced for 2011 Batch “C” Orientation Course for Corps embers posted to Borno and Yobe States, who due to security reasons could not commence the exercise along with others.

“…While Nassarawa State camp at Keffi will host Corps members posted to Yobe State, the Benue state camp at Wanune, along Makurdi-Gboko Road, will host their Borno State counterparts.”

The statement added that prospective members must attend the programme in person as registration by proxy would not be allowed.

Court orders FG to pay El Rufai N1 million as damages

2011-11-15T23:50:00.001-08:00

Mallam Nasir el-Rufai

An Abuja Federal High Court on Tuesday ordered the Federal Government to pay the sum of N1m as general damages to a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, for refusing to renew his international passport in 2009.

The court also ordered the government to renew the former minister’s international passport.

While ruling on an ex-parte motion brought by El-Rufai against the Federal Government, through which he sought to enforce his fundamental rights, the presiding judge, Justice Abdul Kafarati, held that the Federal Government was unable to show any reason why it declined the former minister’s request for the renewal of his international passport.

Consequently, Kafarati ordered the Federal Government to renew El-Rufai’s passport and ordered it to pay the sum of N1m as general damages to the former Federal Capital Territory minister.

President Jonathan appoints new bosses for PPPRA and DPR [Thisday]

2011-11-15T23:46:00.001-08:00

President Goodluck Jonathan

By Ahamefula Ogbu

In a bid to rejig key parastatals in the petroleum industry ahead of the reforms, President Goodluck Jonathan Tuesday announced the appointments of Mr. Reginald Chika Stanley as the new Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) and Mr. Osten Oluyemisi Olurunsola as new head of Department for Petroleum Resources (DPR).

Both appointments, according to the Presidency, take immediate effect.

Stanley, who until his appointment was Group General Manager of the Business Development Division of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), replaces Mr. Goody Chike Egbuji while Olorunsola replaces Mr. Andre Obaje.

A statement from the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, said Olorunsola was until his appointment, Vice-President (Gas) at Shell Upstream International.

The two new appointees are said to have between 31 and 32 years of cognate experience in the oil and gas industry and are therefore considered as having requisite experience to turn the agencies around.

The statement from Abati on the changes read: “President Jonathan has also approved the appointment of Mr. Osten Oluyemisi Olorunsola to replace Mr. Andrew Obaje as the Director of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).
“Mr. Olorunsola is currently the Vice President (Gas) at Shell Upstream International.

“Both appointees have many years of experience at senior managerial levels in the petroleum industry.

“In his over 32 years in the industry, Mr. Stanley has served as Marketing Manager, NLNG; Executive Director, Duke Oil Company, UK; Executive Director (Commer-cial), PPMC; Managing Director, PPMC; and Managing Director, Hyson Limited. He hails from Abia State.

“Mr. Olorunsola who has been in the industry for 31 years has served as Strategic Business Adviser to the Minister of Petroleum Resources (2008-2009); Manager, Opportunity Delivery and Studies Centre at Shell; Reserves and Technology Manager (Africa), Shell (E&P) International, Netherlands; Business Interface Manager (Russia), Shell Technology (E&P) International, Netherlands; and Petroleum Engineering Manager, Shell Nigeria. He is an indigene of Kogi State.
“Both appointments take immediate effect."

Sylva Appeals to JEGA to stop PDP primaries in Bayelsa [ThisDay]

2011-11-15T23:40:00.001-08:00

Governor Timipre Sylva

By Davidson Iriekpen and Chuks Okocha

Bayelsa State Governor, Timipre Sylva, has appealed to the Chairman of the Indepen-dent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, to direct the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) not to conduct a fresh governorship primary in the state.

He said the primary would amount to a contravention of Section 86 of the Electoral Act, 2010

The governor in letter signed by his lawyer, Mr Femi Falana, argued that by scheduling to conduct a fresh governorship primary in the state, the party was about to change or substitute his name as its candidate for the governorship election.

Stating that he had not withdrawn his candidature to contest the governorship election on the platform of the party, Sylva contended that based on the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), once a political party has submitted the name of a candidate to INEC for a particular elective office, the political party shall not be allowed to change or substitute the name of that candidate.

The petition, dated November 15 read: “Following the publication of the time-table for 2011 general elections by your commission, the PDP duly set in motion the machinery for the conduct of governorship primaries in Bayelsa State to nominate its candidate for the governorship election in Bayelsa State that were scheduled to be held in April, 2011.

“The governorship primaries were duly held in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State on January 9, 2011 and at the end of the exercise (which was observed by officials of your commission), our client emerged the winner having scored majority of the valid votes cast.

The petition to INEC came as governors elected on the platform of the PDP also resolved to, once again, seek the intervention of President Goodluck Jonathan to ensure that Sylva got a chance to seek a second tenure.

THISDAY gathered that the PDP governors, led by the Governor of Rivers State, Chibuike Amaechi, met Monday night and resolved to plead the cause of Sylva.

Meanwhile, five out of the seven governorship aspirants qualified for the governorship primary election yesterday, protested to the national secretariat of the party claiming there was no delegate election in the state on November 14, as claimed by the Mohammed Wakil-led committee that allegedly conducted the election of ward delegates.

But one of the aspirants, Seraike Dickson, in a statement countered the allegations, saying the aggrieved aspirants were only acting out the script of Sylva.

He said: “Six PDP Local Government chairmen out of eight addressed the press and affirmed that there were were congresses in all the wards. The acting (State) chairman of (PDP) Bayelsa affirmed it to be free and fair. The congresses were meant to elect ward delegates. Party men participated. It is mischievous for any body to claim that there were no congresses.”

“In anticipation of the ward congress of our great party to be held in Bayelsa state on the 14 of November 2011, we were at the state secretariat in Yenogoa as scheduled but were taken by surprise with the unimaginable conduct of the party representatives from the national secretariat and Hon. Dickson Seraike. We consequently call your attention to the following:

*That the party representatives from the national secretariat for the conduct of the ward congress arrived at the state party secretariat at about 2pm on the 14 November 2011 and left five minutes later, stating that they were going to report their presence to the Commissioner of Police and Director of the State Security Service in Bayelsa state to enable them sign certain documents, but never returned.

*That the said representatives did not come with any materials or documents to state party secretariat at Onopa Yenogoa.
*That the Ad-hoc delegate congress scheduled for Monday 14 November 2011 in Bayelsa state did not take place in any of the 105 wards in the state.

*That this position is a collaboration of the radio and television announcement by the state party executive body to the effect that the congress did not take place in Bayelsa state.”

They asked the NWC to call to order those it sent to conduct the ward congresses and also “send a different set of unbiased officials to conduct the ward congress in Bayelsa state, postpone the date of the primaries and slate a new date for the primaries.”

They also called for the “immediate suspension of Hon. Dickson Seriake from the party and his disqualification from contesting the election on account of his false claim and misrepresentation of truth that has brought the party into disrupt in the state.”

But one of the aspirants, Seraike Dickson, in a statement countered the allegations, saying the aggrieved aspirants were only acting out the script of Sylva.

“The five aspirants who claim there were no congresses are Governor Sylva agents and they are being used by the governor to discredit the PDP and the congresses.”

Reps stop FRSC new number plates, licences [PUNCH]

2011-11-15T23:23:00.001-08:00

The House of Representatives on Tuesday asked the Federal Road Safety Commission to stop the issuance of new vehicle number plates and driving licence.

In a resolution it passed in Abuja, the House directed its Committee on FRSC to investigate the “rationale, necessity and circumstances” for the commission’s decision to replace the existing number plates and driving licence.

The House also noted that the job of the commission was to ensure safe driving on the highways and not revenue generation.

The committee was given four weeks to complete the assignment, while the FRSC was ordered to stop the implementation of the policy pending the outcome of the investigation.

The Chairman of the House Committee on Rules and Business, Mr. Sam Tsokwa, who raised the issue under matters of urgent public importance, told the House that controversies had surrounded the new policy.

Tsokwa observed that the policy was designed to “drain the pockets of Nigerians, who are already facing hard times.”

He argued that the cost of the new number plates was too high for Nigerians to bear, adding that some vehicle owners might pay as much as N95,000, depending on the grade of vehicle.

Tsokwa stated that while the official price of some of plates was N45,000, in the long run, Nigerians would have to pay more, as had always been the case with a new policy.

“The new number plates and licences planned to be introduced by the FRSC are going to cost Nigerian vehicle owners at least additional 40 per cent of the extant rate to purchase,” he said.

The Minority Leader of the House, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, observed that the commission was embarking on an illegal project as there was no law backing the new policy.

According to Gbajabiamila, any policy of government on revenue generation must have the approval of the National Assembly.

He said, “Mr. Speaker, this is a form of taxation; this is money issue and the House must be involved by way of considering the money bill.”

The Deputy Majority Leader, Mr. Leo Ogor, had tried to defend the policy by explaining why the commission introduced it, but he was shouted down.

FUEL CABAL TOO POWERFUL FOR US TO HANDLE; PETROLEUM MINISTER

2011-10-26T07:38:00.000-07:00

THE Federal Government yesterday admitted that it has lost the battle against those it said were the sole beneficiaries of fuel subsidy. Petroleum Minister, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Maduekwe, who revealed this, said all punitive measures put in place to curtail racketeering in the oil sector did not yield the desired result, hence, the planned removal of subsidy.The government says it has spent about N1.5 trillion on subsidy this year alone.

But, Mrs. Alison-Maduekwe stated that “it has become pertinent that we find other ways to utilise the vast resources that are being channelled into the subsidy, which are not reaching the masses. This time around, once we meet with the various stakeholders and agree on a formula, setting major deregulatory benefits would be put on the table. The government would not handle the implementation of these benefits, so that it would be opened and transparent”.

Besides, the minister said a list of eminent Nigerians, dubbed 'think-tank', that will manage the proceeds from the planned subsidy removal is ready, but still being kept close to President Goodluck Jonathan's chest.

Speaking to newsmen at the on-going Commonwealth Business Forum in Perth, Australia, Mrs. Alison-Maduekwe, however, declined to mention the names of members of the panel, which she says will comprise mainly non-governmental officials to ensure transparency.

She said members of the ‘think-tank’ would be saddled with the responsibility of managing the gains that will accrue from subsidy removal.

Her words: “As we speak, a committee of highly-respected Nigerians is being put together, who would monitor and advice. And there are major benefits that will cut across all major sectors of the economy. Some of them involve road works, major public maintenance works, ongoing mass transportation, schemes for skilled youths and also for unskilled youths and, of course, there will be areas for maternity and child care, among others.

"But, we shall ensure that across the board, the package is robust and monitored and advised on by Nigerians of high integrity so that it is clear that it is a credible and transparent process. In the area of public works, we shall not go through the government channels as usual, as Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) would be set up specifically to handle it so that we don’t get bogged down in the usual manner of process and procurement issues.

"We shall mobilise upfront, because in deregulation, subsidies are paid monthly and we cannot wait to collect money monthly. So, the money would be borrowed upfront from the CBN (Central Bank of Nigeria) and mobilisation will start immediately so that it would be clear that we intend to put our money where our mouth is this time around."

According to her, “Mr. President is adamant that if we remove subsidy, we must give Nigerians the full benefits and the full impact of that removal.

"We have fought hard to try to ensure that it does. I think that all Nigerians will be very happy; we cannot please all the people all the time, but I think most Nigerians will be happy with the quantum and impact of all the parameters that we are putting in place to ensure that what we are saying would actually be done.

“I think as painful as it is to us as a government, it is quite clear that the issue of subsidies has not worked in the manner in which they were intended for the Nigerian masses. The intention, of course, was to relieve the suffering of the masses across the board by ensuring that our petroleum products are subsidised to give them a comfortable level of procuring the products.
"Unfortunately, since we came into government as a continuum over a year ago, it has become quite clear that the majority of the subsidies were actually going to the middle line operators.

“Take kerosene for example, government subsidises at the tune of about N105 per litre, the landing cost is about N145 per litre, we sell to the middle line operators at N40 per litre, which means that we are subsidising at N105 per litre and we expect that it will reach the consumer or the masses at roughly N50 per litre that is our recommended price.

"But, as we all know, it reaches them at a more higher cost. On the average right now, it costs N85 per litre. There have been times, when it has been over N100 per litre. And this is very painful to us.

“We have flooded the market with the product, yet there is still some part of the country where the product remains fairly high cost wise, which means that the middle line operators are gaining both ways.

"They receive the subsidy from the government and at the same time, they are charging the consumers double and sometimes more than double the price. In other words, the masses are not gaining the benefit of this heavy subsidy."

The minister lamented that all measures put in place to arrest the situation in the past, including closing down businesses and filling stations, failed.

She said: “A lot has been done already, operators, businesses and stations have been closed down; some suspended from service as punitive measures by our regulators, the DPR (Department of Petroleum Resources).

“But, the truth of the matter is, we are not in a military regime, the market forces of supply and demand have to be allowed to a certain extent. Yes, we are tightening up operations, even as we speak, we are reforming our regulatory agencies as well.”
On the January take-off date for deregulation, the minister doubted the possibility, insisting that the government must finalise consultations with all the stakeholders before effecting subsidy removal.

Her words: “We are still in discussions with labour and other stakeholders, including the National Assembly. Until that is finished, I don’t think it is right to give any definite date for the roll out of the implementation of subsidy removal.”

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives yesterday frowned at the refusal of the Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Mrs. Alison-Madueke and the Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, among others, to attend the investigative hearing of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) over the alleged debt of N450 billion owed by the corporation to the Federation Account.

The investigative hearing, which commenced yesterday, was suspended by the ad-hoc committee set up to carry out investigation on the activities of the NNPC and the failure of the corporation to remit N450 billion to the coffer of the government.

The investigations had to be postponed for another one week due to the absence of key witnesses that would be of help to the investigation.

The Chairman of the Committee on Petroleum Upstream, Muraina Ajibola, one of the members of the ad-hoc committee, while citing Section 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution, maintained that the National Assembly and particularly the House of Representatives has the power to summon any government agencies and also has the power of arrest, therefore, those invited should not force the committee to invoke the relevant section of the Constitution against them.

In his ruling after most of the members of the committee had expressed their displeasure, the Chairman of the ad-hoc committee, Jubril Abdulmumuni, ruled that the hearing should be suspended “so that those key people who are directly connected will appear before the committee”.

Jibril had earlier gave reasons for the public hearing.

He said: “The embarrassing issue of non-remittance of N450 billion Domestic Crude revenue by the NNPC could have been avoided with transparent accounting for our revenues. More worrisome is the fact that the unremitted funds are known to be in excess of N700 billion. Our journey towards Vision 20:2020 cannot be realised with a whopping sum of N1.5 trillion being paid as subsidy on petroleum products just in one year, without empirical basis.

“Despite the enormous revenue accruing from crude oil sales everyday, we have continued to operate deficit budget simply because of our inability to track our revenues," he added.

He explained that the over $50 billion dollars of crude oil revenue is still trapped in the hands of the major lifters of Nigeria crude oil with the knowledge of NNPC officials.

“Our Excess Crude Account, which has been re-named "Sovereign Wealth Funds," has been so bastardised that over $5 billion was appropriated through the back door without parliamentary approval.

"NNPC religiously takes 445,000 barrels domestic crude per day at below commercial rate, exports petroleum products below import price, claims NPA charges as part of its cost but remains a major debtor to NPA, charges regular demurrage on petroleum products, imports as if our ports are always congested, underdeclares revenue from federation crude and still turns around to claim huge subsidy from the federation.

“As a manager of the nation's oil industry and overseer of Joint Venture arrangements, NNPC has created other arrangements such as "Carry Agreements" with IOCs which have turned out to be another drainpipe on the federation revenue as over $12 billion have been lost,” he added.

Speaker Aminu Tambuwal said that the House would take matters of financial management very seriously, particularly when it concerned the country’s resources.

He stated: “Let me state that public allegations bordering on lack of transparency against persons, agencies or corporations are grave enough and deserving of prompt action by the Representatives of the people who, by oath, are under a duty to uphold and defend this Constitution.” (Compass News)

Happy Libyans troop out to see Gaddafi's decomposing body (Graphic) [Dailymail]

2011-10-24T12:02:00.000-07:00

As family days out, it must rank as one of the more bizarre and macabre.

Men, women and children lined-up in the hot sunshine yesterday for a chance to view the corpse of Muammar Gaddafi, the dead Libyan dictator and self-styled King of Kings.

In a refrigerated store room at a shopping centre - normally used to store chickens before being stacked on the shelves - the chance to glimpse the decaying corpse of Gaddafi was the sole attraction in Misrata, once Libya's richest city and now reduced to rubble after the war.

Gruesome: Andrew Malone crouched over the body of the former self-styled King of Kings

Observers look on as Andrew Malone views the body lying in a makeshift mortuary in Misrata

After he was captured alive on Thursday, hiding in a drainpipe and begging for his life, the cadaver of Gaddafi - along with Mutassim, his son, and ex-defense minister Abu Bakr Younis - was taken by truck and deposited in the meat chilling room at the shopping centre on the outskirts of the city.

Now the country's new rulers are facing their first conundrums: what do with Gaddafi's body, now discoloured and fast decaying after four days in the chicken chill room, as well as how to deal with mounting evidence that the dictator was taunted and tortured before being shot in cold blood

With residents of Libya's major cities refusing to have the dictator buried in their midst, and calls by Gaddafi's wife for the body to be sent to be with her in exile in Algeria, the country's military chiefs are even discussing secretly disposing of the body in the Mediterranean.

'We don't want a shrine to him,' one commander told me yesterday. 'He doesn't deserve a proper burial. We need to get rid of the body the way the Americans dealt with Osama Bin Laden (who was dumped at sea in secret location.'

But any decision on what to do with the body was delayed again yesterday as a post-mortem was carried out before the first families were allowed into the shopping centre, which is now surrounded by soldiers.

And it came as calls mounted for a probe into the circumstances of Gaddafi's last hours, which overshadowed by Libya's new rulers Sunday to declare liberation and a formal end to the eight-month civil war.

Hundreds of ordinary Libyans, including women and children, queue to see the corpse of former dictator Muammar Gaddafi

Waiting in line: Libyans wait patiently to see Gaddafi's body

Cameras ready: Two women give peace signs before entering the makeshift mortuary

Stench: Libyan people cover their faces as they visit the body of their slain former leader inside a storage freezer in Misrata

Decomposing: People were keen to see Gaddafi's body, which has been lying in the room for four days, and know for themselves that the fallen strongman was dead

As the post-mortem confirmed that Gaddafi died from a gunshot to the head, Libyan officials continued to back official claims that wounded Gaddafi was killed in cross-fire following his capture.

With Britain and American both calling for a full-investigation, western leaders claimed that the revolution has been a 'little bit stained' by the circumstances of his death.

Philip Hammond, the British defence secretary, said: 'It's certainly not the way we do things. We would have liked to see Colonel Gaddafi going on trial to answer for his misdeeds.'

'TREND OF KILLINGS' SWEEPS LIBYA

A human rights groups says it has discovered 53 decomposing bodies, apparently of Moammar Gaddafi loyalists, some of whom may have been executed by revolutionary forces.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch said today that the discovery in Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte 'seems part of a trend of killings, looting and other abuses committed by anti-Gaddafi fighters who consider themselves above the law.'

The group urged Libyan authorities to rein in armed groups.

The latest discovery of the grave came to light as Libya's new leaders declared the country liberated, following a brutal eight-month civil war. The declaration was overshadowed by continued questions about whether Gaddafi was executed after capture last week.

The U.S. and Britain have called for an investigation.

But Mahmoud Jibril, the acting Libyan prime minister, insisted there is 'no reason' to doubt the credibility of an official report that the ousted leader died in cross-fire.

'Have you seen a video of somebody killing him? I haven't seen any video tape or mobile film that shows somebody is killing Gaddafi,' Jibril told reporters.

Despite these claims, new evidence emerged yesterday that Gaddafi was driven to several different locations in the back of a lorry, where he was beaten and taunted by excited crowds.

Incredibly, officials now believe that he fled to Sirte, his birthplace, within days of the capital Tripoli falling in August. Investigators believe he was holed up with around 500 loyal body-guards, whose bodies still lay strewn about the city after the dictator was captured there on Thursday.

Besieged inside the city of 150,000 as rebels backed by NATO airstrikes assumed control of the rest of the country, Gaddafi first tried to escape by sea as the fighters closed in last week.

But after his convoy came under attack, Gaddafi and his men drove back into their stronghold – only to be hit by NATO airstrikes. While Muttasim fled in one direction, Gaddafi was captured alive in a drainage pipe.

According to those present, groups of soldiers started beating him with their shoes and clubs, while others tried to tie him to the bonnet of a vehicle to be driven through the streets.

As chaos ensued, a group of rebels bundled Gaddafi into the back of a pick-up and drove away. He was taken to several locations on the way and beaten.

Grisly sight: Shell-shocked Libyans look at the bloodied body of their former leader Muammar Gaddafi and take photos

Children were among the crowds waiting to see the former dictator's remains

Playful: Children play in the street as the queue stretches back

Some rebels spat on Gaddafi – and one man even broke his foot kicking him as others pulled at his hair, determined to take away a piece of the man who had ruled with an iron fist for 42 years.

According to investigators from Human Rights Watch, Gaddafi did not have any bullet wounds to the head when he was captured and first driven a way, suggesting he was shot later after being beaten.

After being allowed to view the bodies, as well as take statements from those present, officials from the New York-based rights group privately acknowledge there is little doubt that Gaddafi was executed.

GADDAFI'S DEATH HAS 'STAINED' THE IMAGE OF THE UPRISING

Libya's transitional leader has ordered an investigation into the death of Moammar Gaddafi after the U.S. and other international powers pressed for the probe.

Mustafa Abdul-Jalil told a news conference in the eastern city of Benghazi that the National Transitional Council formed a committee to investigate the killing on Thursday, amid conflicting reports of how the dictator who ruled Libya for four decades died.

Britain's defence secretary, Philip Hammond, said the Libyan revolutionaries' image had been 'a little bit stained' by Gaddafi's violent death.

Both he and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said a full investigation is necessary.

Gaddafi's capture and the fall of his hometown of Sirte, the last loyalist stronghold, set the stage for the long-awaited declaration of liberation, delivered by the head of the National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil.

He did not mention the circumstances surrounding Gaddafi's death - mobile phone videos showed the wounded leader being taunted and beaten by a mob after his capture. But he urged his people to avoid hatred.

'The fighters we met were unapologetic - it was one mad man attempting to keep to power,' one investigator told me. 'They don't feel the need to apologise. He killed them – so they killed him.

Indeed, the manner of Gaddafi's death - now also the centre of calls for a United Nations war crime probe - was not of the remotest concern to those who queued patiently for hours in the hope of seeing the corpse yesterday.

As I joined the queue, groups of women who had lost husbands and sons in the war were the first to be let into the storage room - the size of the average living room and empty except for bundles inside blankets laid out in a line.

Amid the overpowering stench of death, I came first to the body of Muttassim, the dictator's son, who had led the onslaught against the civilian fighters who rose up to challenge his father's rule.

With gruesome rumours that Muttassim's genitals had been grossly mutiliated before he, too, was shot dead by his captors, soldiers guarding the bodies refused let anyone pull back the blankets covering the body, with only the head showing.

Muattasim's father was alongside him in the centre of the room – again, covered in rough blankets, which had been used to carry the body around while they searched for a suitable storage facility.

With his vital organs removed to try to prevent further decay, the dictator's face is now badly discoloured and still bearing spatters of blood from a single gunshot wound to the side of the head. Alongside him, in a similar state, lay Younis.

'We brought our children to see him today because this is a chance to see history,' a man called Mohammed said, holding the hands of his two sons. 'We want to see this arrogant person as a lifeless body. Let all the people see him.'

With fears that factional fighting may break out because of a power vacuum, the people here yesterday were refusing to countenance the idea of more bloodshed, preferring to wait patiently in the sun to see the King of Kings lying dead in a chicken fridge.

Public spectacle: Young children queue to see the body displayed in a meat locker in Misrata

Flying the flag: A father brought his three sons to see the fallen dictator

Historic moment: Fighters and ordinary Libyans gathered at the site

HOW GADDAFFI WAS CAUGHT...MISURATANS CELEBRATE

2011-10-21T08:49:00.000-07:00

MISURATA, Libya — They had the ultimate trophies of the revolution: the colonel’s golden gun, his satellite phone, his brown scarf and one black boot.

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Kareem Fahim/The New York Times

Fighters in Misurata surrounded the body of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, flashing the victory sign.

Violent End to an Era as Qaddafi Dies in Libya (October 21, 2011)
Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, 1942-2011: An Erratic Leader, Brutal and Defiant to the End(October 21, 2011)

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Mauricio Lima for The New York Times

Libyans took photographs of the body of Muatassim el-Qaddafi in Misurata on Thursday.

A small group of fighters from Misurata, the vanguard of the force attacking Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi ’s former hometown and final hide-out, Surt, said they had stumbled upon him hiding in a drainage pipe. He was bleeding from his head and chest, but he was well enough to speak, with his trademark indignation.

“When he saw us, he said, ‘What’s happening?’ Those were the words that he spoke,” said Omran Shaaban, a 21-year-old Misurata fighter who said he and a friend were the first men in their unit to find the colonel.

On Thursday night, Mr. Shaaban, a student wearing a brown leather jacket, and his colleagues celebrated their victory in the local council meeting room here, hugging one another and passing around the colonel’s prized last possessions. It was a windfall of spoils for the young men, who have lived only half as long as Colonel Qaddafi ruled Libya, and for Misurata, the Mediterranean port city that is their hometown.

Misurata suffered grievously under a long siege by Colonel Qaddafi’s troops in the spring. It responded with rage, sending out its battle-hardened fighters, first to capture Tripoli and, on Thursday, Surt. As the bodies of the colonel and his son Muatassim were displayed for onlookers here in private homes on Thursday night, it struck many Misuratans as a fitting end, providing a measure of comfort to a brutalized city — and a bargaining chip for its place in a post-Qaddafi Libyan government.

“Misurata will sleep very happily tonight,” said Dr. Suleiman Fortia, a member of the Transitional National Council from the city.

At the house where Muatassim Qaddafi’s body was being displayed, a man who had come to see put it more simply. “Thank God that we caught him,” he said.

It remained to be seen whether Misurata’s achievement would soothe resentments against the city that are lingering from the war. Its fighters threw their weight around in Tripoli and were enthusiastic looters of vanquished loyalist cities. Traveling to Misurata in recent weeks practically required a visa. Their neighbors in the city of Tawerga, accused of fighting in support of Colonel Qaddafi, fled their city in August having been told by the Misuratans that they should not return.

The early battles of the uprising forged a formidable fighting force. Misurata’s rebels became known for their relative skill in urban combat and their convoys of black pickup trucks with heavy weapons mounted in the back. When Tripoli fell, it was the Misurata fighters who led the storming of Bab al-Aziziya, the colonel’s fortified compound and a symbol of the regime’s power.

Misurata’s leaders have pushed for a leading role in the constellation of former rebel forces that have made rival claims to control Libya’s armed forces, and they insisted at one time that the prime minister be from Misurata.

Dr. Fortia tried on Thursday to be conciliatory. “It was teamwork,” he said. “But we deserve the cup.”

The Misurata fighters who caught Colonel Qaddafi set out at about 10 a.m. on Thursday to support the final assault on Surt, according to Munir Senussi, 21, one of the fighters. “We used the coast road,” he said. “We were told it was empty.” But instead, they found the remains of a convoy that had been hit by a NATO airstrike. “We started to hit them with heavy weapons,” he said. “We had no idea Qaddafi was there.”

Mr. Shaaban, the soldier who said he had found the colonel, said that he and the other fighters jumped on him, but he insisted that Colonel Qaddafi’s mortal wounds were already visible. The bodies of other men were near the drainage pipe, he said, but none of them were the colonel’s sons.

Colonel Qaddafi was carrying what Mr. Shaaban described as a sack of magic charms. He had a silver pistol in his hand, and in a bag, the fighters found the golden gun.

On Thursday night, Mr. Shaaban looked around at his friends, young men caked in dirt or blood but smiling, congratulating one another on a job well done. “Bring the gun!” Mr. Shaaban said.

Amid the other souvenirs of war, the big prize was Colonel Qaddafi’s body, shuttled around Misurata on Thursday, moved at least once when the crowds gathering to see it grew too large. By the late evening, the body had come to rest in the reception room of a pink villa. Scuffles broke out at the door as local military leaders came to take a look and snap pictures.

He had what appeared to be a small wound just below his chest and what looked like a gunshot wound to his left temple. His face was clean, but his arms were caked with blood. Several visitors tugged at his signature locks.

The exact circumstances of Colonel Qaddafi’s death were not known. But the fighters toyed with his body, banging the head up and down, flashing the victory sign. “This was the opportunity of my life,” said the owner of one house to which the bodies were taken, who refused to give his name. “If I die tomorrow, I’m happy.”

Ali Tarhouni, the interim government’s finance and oil minister, came to Misurata to confirm the colonel’s death on behalf of the cabinet. Mr. Tarhouni had met Colonel Qaddafi when he was a student. “He didn’t look very powerful,” he said, after seeing the body.

“I was looking at the corpse,” Mr. Tarhouni said, “and thinking of all the comrades and friends who spent decades fighting him, that didn’t live to see this day.”

Suliman Alzway contributed reporting from Misurata.

SOURCE: NEW YORK TIMES

Mama Nothing Spoil Unveiled

2011-09-09T22:36:00.000-07:00

Left: is Mama Nothing Spoil and right is Mercy Oyebo. And yes, they are one and the same.

For those who aren't familiar with her, Mama Nothing Spoil was a very popular character played by Mercy Oyebo and she had a partner - Papa Nothing Spoil - on the Charly Boy show... Remember? U cant be that old na?

Well there she is in her true self on the right. Cn't believe I thought Mama Nothing spoil was an old woman... SMH.

Oh and I looked for her on Facebook. She is on Facebook!!! Here

Sad news though: She is divorced :(

Most Beautiful girl in Nigeria USA... BEAUTIFUL!!!

2011-09-09T20:31:00.000-07:00

Miss Chinenye Ezurike, the winner of Miss Nigeria USA 2011 Pageant, will represent Nigeria in the annual Miss Africa USA Pageant, and she’ll compete with 57 representative of other African Countries for the coveted crown and title.

Chinenye plans to create and raise awareness about HIV/AIDS in Africa and USA especially among women and youths. She is a Senior at Eastern Illinois University, where she’s majoring in Family and Consumer Science and minoring in Business Administration.

Very Funny Stupid Penalty :D

2011-09-09T20:17:00.001-07:00

'Why I Do Not Wear Pants' - Tonto Dike. Via TalkOfNaija

2011-09-09T16:38:00.001-07:00

Tonto Dikeh confided in a close friend, who happens to be one of my industry moles about her dislike for wearing loose skirts or pants, she revealed that she always love to wear tight trousers because she is easily aroused when any think comes close to her waist or private area, of which pants and loose skirts are a major culprit.

Personally I think it is wrong for a lady not be well packaged, in terms of wearing the right set of underwear and gadgets to protect the necessary areas, but I guess it boils down to choice at the end of the day, to wear or not to wear.

I wonder why her body is so sensitive though? another talent perhaps

Via: talkofnaija.com

Photos of Segun Arinze when young and now....via Linda Ikeji

2011-09-05T09:10:00.001-07:00

Left: Segun Arinze before before, Right: Segun today. Can you spot the difference? *Smile*

Photos from Late Christy Igbokwe's Celebrity Match via Linda Ikeji

2011-09-05T09:09:00.001-07:00

Nollywood stars and their counterparts in the music industry gathered yesterday Saturday September 3, 2011, to honor late Christy Essien-Igbokwe at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos in a novelty football match tagged' Match of the stars'.

In the first match of the day, Team SWAN (Sport Writers Association of Nigeria) thrashed Top Entertainment Writers Team by 3goals to nothing. The second match which was the most anticipated was between Top Stars of Music versus Superstars of Nollywood. Team Nollywood paraded stars like Segun Arinze, Fred and Jeta Amata, Femi Ogedengbe, Osita Iheme, Chinedu Ikedieze, Bob-Manuel Idogwu, Emeka Enyiocha, and a host of other Nollywood stars. On team Top Stars of Music were Ikechukwu, Konga, Africa China, Kaka, Jklt, GT, Minji, Zakki Adzay, Baba Dee, Harrysong and a host of others.

Top stars of music won the penalty by 3-2 and claimed a golden trophy with #1.5m donated by the Governor of Akwa Ibom, Godswill Akpabio who was present at the occasion. Team Nollywood
stars also went home with a silver trophy and #1 million.

There were over 10,000 spectators at the stadium...more pics below...

Annie Macaulay and her daughter

Essence, Nigerian Artiste loses car to armed robbers. via Linda Ikeji

2011-09-05T09:07:00.000-07:00

The sad incident happened yesterday Sunday Sept 4 in the Egbeda area of Lagos.

The original owners of the car, three armed men, approached her as she stepped out of the car when she went to visit her parents and robbed her of everything on her, then locked her in an abandoned bus around the area and sped off with the car.

The worst part is that she got the car recently. This country sef...very insecure.

The car is a Silver/Gold Nissan Ultima with registration number CD 674 AKD, engine number - 495312GK424, chasis number IN4DLOID9YC246930. Hopefully, it will be found.

The Queensway syndicate and the Africa trade

2011-08-12T05:03:00.000-07:00

China’s oil trade with Africa is dominated by an opaque syndicate. Ordinary Africans appear to do badly out of its hugely lucrative deals.
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WHEN the man likely to become China’s next president meets an African oil executive, you would expect the dauphin to dominate the dealmaker. Not, though, with Manuel Vicente. On April 15th this year the chairman and chief executive of Sonangol, Angola’s state oil firm, strode into a room decorated with extravagant flowers in central Beijing and shook hands with Xi Jinping, the Chinese vice-president and probable next general secretary of the Communist Party. Mr Vicente holds no official rank in the Angolan government and yet, as if he were conferring with a head of state, Mr Xi reassured his guest that China wants to “strengthen mutual political trust”.

Angola—along with Saudi Arabia—is China’s largest oil supplier and that alone makes Mr Vicente an important man in Beijing. But he is also a partner in a syndicate founded by well-connected Cantonese entrepreneurs who, with their African partners, have taken control of one of China’s most important trade channels. Operating out of offices in Hong Kong’s Queensway, the syndicate calls itself China International Fund or China Sonangol. Over the past seven years it has signed contracts worth billions of dollars for oil, minerals and diamonds from Africa.

These deals are shrouded in secrecy. However, they appear to grant the Queensway syndicate remarkably profitable terms. If that is right, then they would be depriving some of the world’s poorest people of desperately needed wealth. Because the syndicate has done deals with the regimes in strife-torn places, such as Zimbabwe and Guinea, it may also have indirectly helped sustain violent conflicts.

The Economist repeatedly put these accusations to the people who feature in this article, asking for their side of the story. But—with one exception, noted below—we heard nothing. In short, it looks as if the fortunes of entire African countries depend to a significant degree on the actions of a little-known, opaque and unaccountable business syndicate. “Buccaneers are cutting themselves a large slice of Africa’s resource cake,” says Gavin Hayman of Global Witness, a watchdog that mapped the syndicate’s deals.

The Queensway rules

The syndicate is built on links forged during the cold war. It is largely the creation of a man known as Sam Pa. Though he uses several names, he was born Xu Jinghua. After attending a Soviet academy in Baku four decades ago, say people who have looked into his career, he traded with Angola during its civil war, which lasted from 1975 to 2002 and over the years was a proxy battleground for several outside powers, including China, America, Cuba, the Soviet Union and South Africa. Mr Pa is a private and rarely photographed person. His name appears in few syndicate documents. He is believed to exert control through Veronica Fung, who may be a member of his family. She controls 70% of a core company, Newbright International. The two frequently travel in Africa, using the syndicate’s fleet of Airbus jets. They are said sometimes to bypass customs.

Mr Pa has several Chinese partners, according to a 2009 American congressional report. The daughter of a Chinese general, Lo Fong Hung, married to Wang Xiangfei, a well-connected banker, controls 30% of Newbright. Mrs Lo is the public face of China International Fund and China Sonangol. She is listed as a director of dozens of interconnected companies. The business’s operations were initially entrusted to the head of a privatised engineering firm from the mainland, Wu Yang. Later, African partners took over.

Although the Queensway syndicate has sometimes been suspected of being an arm of the Chinese government, there is little evidence of that. Indeed, it has often been the butt of criticism from Chinese officials. More likely it was set up to take advantage of a new strategy by the Chinese government, known as the “going out” policy. In 2002, after decades of commercial isolation, China started encouraging entrepreneurs to venture abroad. Short of contacts, Mr Pa teamed up with Hélder Bataglia, a Portuguese trader who had grown up in Angola and had links to Latin America. Together in 2004 they visited Néstor Kirchner, the president of Argentina, and Hugo Chávez, the president of Venezuela. Mr Chávez welcomed them on his weekly television show “Aló Presidente”, where Mr Pa grandiloquently declared: “This is an historic day because we are taking part in your programme.”

The syndicate initialled several deals in Latin America but none of them came to much. The idea was to trade minerals for infrastructure—in return for commodities, Chinese contractors would build housing and highways. But Argentina and Venezuela already had a fair amount of both, so the syndicate turned to new markets.

In late 2004 Mr Pa travelled to Angola. He knew President José Eduardo dos Santos, having first met him as a student in Baku and later traded with his guerrilla army. Mr Pa’s new partner, Mr Bataglia, also knew the guerrillas from having supplied them with food during the civil war. They were joined by a third trader, Pierre Falcone, a French Algerian who has long enjoyed close links with the Angolan elite and particularly the president.

Together the men persuaded the Angolan elite to channel their fast-expanding oil exports to China through a new joint venture, called China Sonangol. Mr Vicente, boss of Angola’s Sonangol, became its chairman. Contracts, signed in 2005, gave the company the right to export Angolan oil and act as middleman between Sonangol and Sinopec, one of China’s oil majors.

China Sonangol threw itself into the business, according to Angolan oil ministry records and applications for bank loans backed by oil shipments. The official statistics are incomplete, but good sources have concluded that almost all of China’s imports of oil from Angola—worth more than $20 billion last year—come from China Sonangol. By contrast, China’s state-owned oil companies have no direct interest in Angolan oilfields, one of their two biggest sources of crude. Their names do not show up on the map of concessions.

To Guinea and Zimbabwe

By 2009 the syndicate was trading a lot of Angolan oil and decided to expand to other African countries. Mr Vicente, both head of the Angolan state oil company and of China Sonangol, flew to Guinea in 2009 to arrange a deal for the syndicate. One of the people he met was Mahmoud Thiam, Guinea’s minister of mines, whose government had come to power the same year in a coup. Mr Thiam is an American citizen who studied at Cornell University and had previously worked as a Wall Street banker at Merrill Lynch and UBS.

With Mr Thiam’s support, the syndicate won the chance to become a partner in a new national mining company. This would control the state’s share of existing projects and, much more important, gain control of future projects in what is a relatively undeveloped mineral territory. Guinea contains the world’s largest reserves of bauxite and its largest untapped reserves of high-grade iron ore. Under a contract signed by Mr Vicente, the syndicate got an 85% share in a venture called the African Development Corporation. The government received the other 15%. The venture won exclusive rights to new mineral concessions in Guinea, including the right to negotiate oil-production contracts in the Gulf of Guinea. In return, the syndicate promised to invest “up to $7 billion” in housing, transport and public utilities, according to the government of Guinea (GDP $4.5 billion).

Ultimately this deal foundered on a Guinean election, but at the time the Queensway syndicate was so pleased that it reportedly gave Guinea’s military ruler a helicopter as a present. Mr Thiam began to travel with representatives for the syndicate—though in a response to our questions (and as the only person to reply to us) he says he was representing the Guinean government’s shareholding in the joint venture and he denies ever having become one of its employees. Mr Thiam went to Madagascar for the negotiation of a deal modelled on the one he made on Guinea’s behalf. Simultaneously, he carried on as mines minister for another year.

Around the same time, Zimbabwe also caught the syndicate’s eye. Mr Pa met Happyton Bonyongwe, the head of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), the country’s notorious secret police, which helps to keep Robert Mugabe in power. Mr Pa’s plane frequently showed up at the Harare airport and he bought properties in the capital, including the 20-storey Livingstone House. His two original partners, Mrs Fong and Mrs Lo, became directors in a new company, called Sino-Zimbabwe Development Limited, which received rights to extract oil and gas, and to mine gold, platinum and chromium. In return, the company publicly promised to build railways, airports and public housing. These pledges were valued at $8 billion by Mr Mugabe’s government.

By 2009 the Queensway syndicate spanned the globe from Tanzania and Côte d’Ivoire to Russia and North Korea and on to Indonesia, Malaysia and America. It had bought the JPMorgan Chase building at 23 Wall Street in New York.

A sad, sad Songangol

Nobody should begrudge an entrepreneur commercial success. And China needs the raw materials that the Queensway syndicate can supply. However, there are three worries about the syndicate’s conduct.

The first is personal gain. The terms under which China Sonangol buys oil from Angola have never been made public. However, several informed observers say that the syndicate gets the oil from the Angolan state at a low price that was fixed in 2005 and sells it on to China at today’s market prices. The price at which the contract was fixed is confidential, but Brent crude stood at just under $55 a barrel in 2005; today it is trading above $100. In other words, the syndicate’s mark up could be substantial. Over the years, considering the volume of oil that is being sold to China, its profit could amount to tens of billions of dollars. The Economist ’s requests for comment have gone unanswered. No public statement suggests the terms have been renegotiated since 2005.

Sonangol’s skyscraping ambitions
In return for Angolan oil, the syndicate promised to build infrastructure, including low-cost housing, public water-mains, hydroelectric plants, cross-country roads and railways, according to the government. The country desperately needs such things, to be sure. But their value is unlikely to exceed several billion dollars. That looks like a poor deal for the Angolan people.

In Angola accusations of personal enrichment percolate up towards the top of the state structure. In 2006 the head of the external intelligence service, General Fernando Miala, alleged that $2 billion of Chinese money intended for infrastructure projects had disappeared. He claimed that the funds had been transferred to private accounts in Hong Kong by senior officials, though without naming people mentioned in this article. The general was swiftly sacked, tried and imprisoned (he may, however, now be about to make a comeback to government).

Parts of the Angola-China oil trade appear to be contaminated by conflicts of interest. The Angolan president’s son is said to be a director of China Sonangol, the main trading partner of the state oil company. The Economist’s requests for comment to the companies went unanswered. As well as running both the state oil company and its main customer, Mr Vicente is a director of private shell companies linked to the syndicate. Although these may exist for tax purposes, a report on foreign corruption, prepared last year by the American Senate, reveals that Sonangol was deemed so corrupt in 2003 that Citibank closed all its accounts. The report also says that Mr Vicente personally owns 5% of Sonangol’s house bank which has assets worth $8.2 billion. According to the IMF and the World Bank, billions of dollars have disappeared from Sonangol’s accounts. At one point, Sonangol awarded Mr Vicente a 1% ownership stake in the company he chairs. He was forced to give it back after a public outcry in Angola.

In Guinea criticism is focused on the former mines minister. An unpublished 2009 WikiLeaks cable quotes an American mining executive, whose company stood to lose business in Guinea because of the syndicate, complaining that Mr Thiam has “personally benefited from promoting [the] China International Fund”. Mr Thiam denies this. As a former Wall Street banker, he already had money before he returned to the country of his birth.

The deserted railway

The second complaint about the Queensway syndicate is that in Africa it has failed to meet many of the obligations it took on to win mining licences. Zimbabwe is still awaiting even a fraction of its promised infrastructure. Guinea never received the 100 public buses that were meant to arrive within 45 days of the 2009 deal.

The situation in Angola is more complicated, though also disappointing. Chinese contractors have built some housing and railway lines and the projects were at first financed by the syndicate. Signs saying “China International Fund” appeared on construction sites. But in recent years they have been replaced by those of other Chinese companies. According to Western diplomats and Chinese businessmen, the syndicate stopped paying bills for more than eight months in 2007. All work stopped, 2,000 Angolan day labourers were fired on the Benguela railway project and only a Chinese cook remained on duty. Western diplomats suspected the syndicate was banking on being bailed out by the Angolan government, which had staked its legitimacy on infrastructure development. Soon enough, the government issued treasury bonds worth $3.5 billion to finance the projects. Subcontractors are now paid directly by the Angolan state.

Angola’s wealth isn’t trickling down
Six years after the syndicate arrived more than 90% of the residents of the capital, Luanda, remain without running water. Meanwhile, the syndicate has continued to prosper.

The third complaint against the Queensway syndicate is that its cash props up certain political leaders and thereby fuels violent conflicts. For instance, in Guinea the syndicate came to the rescue of the junta. In September 2009 government men went on the rampage, raping women by the score and massacring more than 150 protesters in a sports stadium, which triggered EU and African Union sanctions. A month later, the syndicate signed its minerals deal, transferring $100m to the cash-strapped junta. Bashir Bah, a member of the opposition, condemned the deal. “First of all it is immoral, and second of all it is illegal,” he said.

The deal caused outrage even inside the government. The prime minister, Kabine Komara, a relatively powerless figure, protested about ministers’ conduct to other officials. A memo from the prime minister’s office, dated November 26th and leaked to Global Witness, declared: “The council of ministers did not discuss or bring up the question of creating a national mining company. What’s more it is not acceptable that a foreign company could become a shareholder in such a company, as it would grant the company, ipso facto, the ownership of all the current and future wealth of the country.” Mr Thiam denies any knowledge of Mr Komara’s complaint.

According to international institutions, the military leaders, who backed Mr Thiam, needed the syndicate’s money if they were to hold on to power. A World Bank official told Western diplomats the junta would “sell the country short on mining revenues and tell the international donors to get lost”. The junta eventually fell and, following elections last year, the minerals deal is now in limbo.

In Zimbabwe the situation is even more egregious. The finance minister, an opposition member of the governing coalition, has blocked extra funding for the CIO, presumably because it backs Mr Mugabe. And yet, it is suddenly flush with cash. In recent months it has reportedly doubled the salaries of agents, acquired hundreds of new off-road vehicles and trained thousands of militiamen who are now in a position to intimidate voters during next year’s elections. Several sources who have looked at the deal concluded that the money came from Mr Pa. They say he struck a side deal with the CIO that gives him access to Zimbabwe’s vast diamond wealth—controlled in part by the CIO. The diamonds were for some years banned from reaching international markets because of global industry prohibitions over violence routinely inflicted on Zimbabwean miners. Yet, Mr Pa is said to buy them and apparently makes payments directly to the CIO, bypassing government coffers.

Little is certain about China Sonangol and China International Fund. Our repeated questions to the companies and their representatives went unanswered. The documents and witnesses we tracked down around the world paint an incomplete picture. But they raise questions of immense public interest.

Who benefits?

Oversight of the Queensway syndicate’s businesses is almost non-existent. A decade ago Mr Vicente forbade foreign oil companies in Angola to publish even routine data, on threat of ejection. Since then Sonangol has published some information on its operations. But oil contracts are treated as state secrets. Revenues from deals with the syndicate go to an opaque agency controlled by the president whose accounts are off-limits even to government ministers. Although Sonangol scores reasonably for some criteria, such as revenue, in rankings by Transparency International and Revenue Watch, two lobbies for corporate openness, it still receives bottom rankings for safeguards against corruption.

The syndicate itself is even more opaque. Who ultimately benefits by how much from the lucrative deals is not clear from public records. The syndicate’s corporate structure is fiendishly complex. Individual companies are not vertically integrated—it is not a group in the usual sense. There is no holding company, though the same people keep cropping up as directors in the records of affiliated companies, which are often owned by shell companies registered in lightly regulated tax shelters. Final beneficial ownership is impossible for an outsider to establish.

All this means that the syndicate taints China’s “going out” policy, a cornerstone of the country’s rise in recent years. When the policy works, African resources are swapped for aid, commercial financing and payments in kind such as public infrastructure. But with the syndicate, billions of dollars meant for schools, roads and hospitals have apparently ended up in private accounts. Rather than fixing Africa’s lack of infrastructure, Chinese entrepreneurs and Africa’s governing elites look as if they are conspiring to use the development model as a pretext for plunder.

Divorce Certificate of Mercy Johnson's spouse's marriage

2011-08-12T03:15:00.000-07:00

Hi Linda, this is the divorce petition Odianosen sent to my father. Also they postponed the August 9th court case till next week.

Continue to see another copy of the divorce petition and marriage certificate...

Also below is the copy of the marriage certificate. AGBEBOAYE is Odianose grandfather`s name which he was using as at the time we got married. He is also known as Garza. I sent this copy for you all to know the truth. I have never lied about this whole thing from the beginning. I see no reason why a man would deny his own children and accuse his wife of infidelity all in the name of being with another woman. Thanks and God bless you all.

via Lindaikeji.blogspot.com

Al-Qaeda working on using Cartoons to Inspire Future Terrorists

2011-07-22T02:09:00.000-07:00

This image taken from the the Arabic-language al-Shamouk jihadist website shows promotional material for an animated cartoon an al-Qaida affiliate says it plans to roll out aimed at recruiting children into the terror network.

As a masked mujahideen finishes off the victim fallen flat on the back with a rifle, his eye glares a sinister white. It's not out of a bad horror movie, but from an upcoming jihadist propaganda—for kids.
The media wing of al-Qaeda plans to boost its recruiting with jihadist anime. London's Quilliam Foundation, a counter-extremist group, reported that a user named ”Abu al-Layth al-Yammani” posted the teaser art on the terrorist forum Shumukh. The user wrote in Arabic that he was putting finishing touches on the film. The released art features jihadist ninjas, looking rather youthful, shooting guns and plotting terrorism. Its caption reads: "Cartoon films for supporters of Qaida Jihad in the Arabia Peninsula, coming soon"

According to Wired's Danger Room blog, the film is a classic moral story, from the jihadist's viewpoint. The Prophet (the good guy) followers crush the western rulers (the bad guys). The plot includes "the heroic deeds of the mujahids" which are “incursions, clashes, and assassinations.” The blog quotes al-Yammani (or al-Yemen) saying it's "missionary work for us to raise our children and youth in the blessed life in the shade of the sharia of Islam."
A number of major media websites and blogs believe that a Yemen-based extremist group could have funded the production and its progress, but the information seems difficult to verify, since sources on the jihadist website are password protected.

So how concerned should we be about al-Qaeda's savvy new PR tactics? Noman Benotman, an analyst at Quilliam, says not so much.
“I think it could backfire. Families will be angry that al-Qaida is directing this at their children,” Benotman, the former jihadist and Osama-man turned anti-terrorism activist, told the AP. Other facors include the demon glare being too scary for children.
What's more, Wired suspects that the cartoon could be a rip-off of an already existing film, as the jihadists have a history of simply photoshopping faces on existing video games and claiming them as their own.

Pictures of a Flooded Lagos !!! (Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway)

2011-07-10T09:57:00.001-07:00

What Nigerians Pay the Federal Government - El Rufai

2011-07-05T08:50:00.000-07:00

by Nasir El-Rufai

This year, every Nigerian – all 162 million of us – man, woman and child will ‘pay’ the sum of N27,685 each to help run the federal government. What we cannot afford, government will borrow on our behalf to pay for its activities. That is why the federal government, on behalf of you and I will spend the sum of 4.485 trillion (over four thousand billion) naira in 2011. This is against the backdrop that our entire oil earnings for the year cannot pay the generous salaries and allowances of politicians on the one hand, and the meagre pay cheques of other public sector workers on the other, while infrastructure and unemployment are barely getting attention.

When you walk into a government office to request for a basic service, the staff you meet may not even bother to reply to your greeting and barely has time to listen to you; the policeman that should protect you on the roadblock, stops you and demands for bribes and has no qualms shooting dead any motorist that refuses to give him twenty naira; the customs officer at the border who is supposed to stop smuggling takes a bribe and actually connives with the smugglers to bring in banned products into the Nigerian market, while harassing the traveller entering Nigeria with two new pairs of shoes; the hospital staff that, contrary to every professional oath, refuses to attend to dying patients because they are on strike; the soldiers who get so bored that they occasionally go on a rampage, using policemen for target practice. With live ammunition, of course; the politician who rigs himself into office then proceeds to loot the treasury: these are all the people whose standard of living we are spending nearly 75 per cent of the 2011 budget to pay for – and borrowing some after spending all our collections from oil and taxes!

It will cost nearly 2.5 million naira this year on average to pay for the salary and upkeep of each of Nigeria’s nearly one million federal public sector workers – in the police, civil service, military and para-military services and teachers in government schools and institutions. Whether this amount justifies the service that is rendered is left for Nigerians to decide. In all, the 49 line Ministries, Departments and Agencies specifically mentioned in the 2011 Appropriations Act will each cost an average of N49.49 billion to run.

We elect a total of 360 members to the House of Representatives and 109 Senators to make laws and enhance good governance by checking and balancing the excesses of the executive arm of government. For this privilege, the 469 members of the federal legislature and their support staff at the National Assembly will spend N150 billion this year. It is worth noting that NASS only passed 8 bills as at the end of May 2011. So assuming that they manage to pass another 7 bills before the end of this year, it would cost the Nigerian citizen an average ten billion naira to pass a single bill! This implies that to pass the 2011 budget (which allocates N150 billion to NASS), Nigerians paid 10 billion naira. An even more interesting statistic is the cost of maintaining every legislator every year. It works out to princely N320 million per legislator per annum. At this rate, every four year stint at NASS works out at N1.28 billion per legislator. No wonder machetes, guns and thugs are used at will to “win” primaries and the elections. How many new businesses can achieve a turnover of N1.28 billion within four years with net tax-free profit in excess of 50 percent? Is this social justice?

For the NASS, even the amount of N150 billion above is just what we can see easily but is not broken down for further analysis or accountability. There is a bit more hidden all over the Appropriation Act – another N1.595 billion was tucked away for “In-lieu of accommodation for the Seventh Session of NASS” and another N200 million for “Funding of House Resolution Mandates.” What these two provisions mean is best explained by those that legislated them and the executive that will release the sums! What is clear is that none of these will ever be accounted for, or audited!

Last week, I wrote about the cost of justice. I got a few things wrong because I did not appreciate fully the unique role of the National Judicial Council (NJC) in the administration of the nation’s judicial system. My friend and former classmate Mrs. Maryam Wali Uwais clarified this and educated me, for which I am grateful. The NJC’s budget of N95 billion covers the salaries and allowances of all judges of superior courts of record in Nigeria – that is State High Courts and their federal equivalents, Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. The NJC also funds the overheads of all the Federal Courts only – the Federal High Court and the appellate courts, as well as the salaries and allowances of all Federal Judicial support staff. The State Governments are responsible for the salaries of all other judicial staff (magistrates, support staff, etc.) and the overhead costs of all courts within their respective jurisdictions. It is therefore slightly more complicated to compute what it costs to keep our entire judicial system running without adding up all the budgetary allocations to the Judiciary in all 36 states. We will return to this sometime soon.

An interesting observation is the fact that the government says the problem of power shortage is a priority, yet the Ministry of Power only got 91 billion naira as total appropriation in 2011, while the National Security Adviser (NSA) controls and will spend 208 billion naira (Recurrent – N51 billion, Capital N59 billion, and another N98 billion for the Amnesty Programme!). This amount does not include the Defence budget. The Defence Ministry will get N348 billion, while the Police will get 309 billion naira. In other words, though Nigerians have never felt so insecure in recent history, the NSA, Police and Defence will spend a combined 865 billion naira – more than 2 billion naira a day, weekends included! This does not include the 36 states’ so-called security votes. Even state assembly members and local government councillors now have security votes. Clearly their security is more important than ours!

The point of these statistics is to show how expensive governance has become and how little Nigerians get in return. And the unproductive portions of our national budget have been rising rapidly in the last 4 years, to the detriment of capital investments in infrastructure and human development. Four years ago in 2007, the entire federal government budget was 2.3 trillion naira; today we are spending 4.485 trillion. In 2007, statutory transfers amounted to 102 billion naira or 5% of the total budget. Today, transfers amount to 418 billion or 9% of the total.
This year, the federal government will spend 495 billion naira or 11% of the budget on debt servicing compared to 326 billion naira or 14% it spent the year we finally exited from the London Club debt. More telling is the 1.05 trillion naira or 46% for recurrent expenditure in 2007 against the 2.425 trillion or 54% government will spend this year. Just four years ago, capital expenditure accounted for 36% (830 billion naira) of the budget. This year, the amount for capital expenditure has fallen to 25% (1.147 trillion naira – out of which N1.136 trillion is the budget deficit – that is to be borrowed!).

To the uninformed eye, the figures may seem to represent increases in all aspects, but to what cost, and to what effect? Apologists would want us to believe that the astronomical increase in the cost of government services can be explained by inflation, but even taking into consideration the high inflationary trend (thanks to Jonathan’s profligate campaign year spending), statutory transfers in the budget has gone up by a whopping 310%; debt servicing has a 52% increase; recurrent expenditure has gone up by 131% while capital expenditure has increased by 39% over four years. In real terms however, and accounting for inflation, the total budget has increased by 33% with recurrent expenditure going up by 58% while capital expenditure has actually reduced by 6%.

Facts and figures do not lie. Every figure used in this analysis came from official government records. What is the justification for allocating such huge amounts to running the government when a staggering 30 million Nigerians are unemployed? Only N50 billion has been budgeted to create employment, forgetting that money by itself does not create jobs without a well thought out plan to stimulate small and medium scale enterprises and the creation of appropriate regulatory environments. What are the strategies to ensure that these funds are not diverted? How many jobs will be created this year or in the next four years? Are our priorities right?

All these come down to the questions: Will government’s 4.485 trillion naira budget make life any better or even provide security for Nigerians? Can we feel the impact of this huge spending? Is the cost of governance justified? If we do not have the courage to ask these questions, we will be doing ourselves a disservice and endangering our people’s future.

BREAKING NEWS: Nollywood Acress, Uche Jumbo Survives Auto Crash Accident

2011-06-25T05:55:00.000-07:00

News filtered in this morning that actress uche jombo just survived a fatal car crash which saw the car spining round and round like a carousel out of control and then hitting another fast coming car headlong.

On lookers who were at the scene of the accident where a lot of people converged as early as 1am this morning (saturday 25,2011)swear the other car cut open into two while the fj cruiser driven by the actress is an almost write off.

Accident happened along lekki/chevron area around 12midnight.

We contacted the actress this morning as soon as we heard the news and her sister picked up the phone telling me ''she is sleeping now,she just came back from the hospital and was given some injections to calm her.please call back''.....we called her back an hour later ,she picked the call but could not say anything other than ''thank God,thank God,thank God.....''

Thank God indeed for the lives of uche jombo,okey bakassi and kingsley ogoro.baba God we give you praise!

Abacha's bad telephone habit saved my life – Diya

2011-06-20T05:50:00.001-07:00

Former Chief of General Staff, Oladipupo Diya, the second in command to the late dictator, Sani Abacha, disclosed on Wednesday that Abacha’s bad habit of not picking telephone calls saved him from being executed in 1998.

Diya made the disclosure in Ibadan at the launch of a book titled “City on the Hill,” a biography of Bishop Emmanuel Bolanle Gbonigi.

He said it was an irony that the bad habit of Abacha of not answering his telephone calls, which many people had complained about, actually saved him from the hangman’s noose.

He recalled that the prayers of Nigerians made Abacha to ignore several telephone calls made by a General Officer Commanding (GOC) who wanted to confirm the execution order.

After some junior officers had come with the execution order, Diya recounted, the GOC insisted that he would personally confirm it from Abacha before giving a “go ahead order.”

However, according to him, several telephone calls made to Aso Rock by the GOC for nearly six hours were not answered by either Abacha or his aides.

Then the GOC ordered that Diya and others to be executed should be returned to detention.

Speaking on the role played by Yoruba leaders during his ordeal at the hand of Abacha, Diya commended Gbonigi for being courageous to be the first person to tell Abacha not to execute him.

He said before the alleged coup plot, Abacha had hated hearing anything from Gbonigi as he regarded the clergyman as a “NADECO Bishop.”

via Daily Independent

Nigerian 'Islamists' fire at card players, kill two

2011-06-20T05:34:00.000-07:00

KANO, Nigeria (AFP) – Suspected members of a radical Islamist sect which bombed Nigerian police headquarters on Sunday opened fire on a crowd of card players killing two in a northern city, a senior military officer said.

Two motorcycle-riding gunmen suspected of being members of Boko Haram pumped shots into a crowd of people playing cards outside a house in the city of Maiduguri and disappeared into alleyways, said the officer who did not want to be named.

"The group of men were playing cards under a tree outside a house when two men on a motorcycle believed to be Boko Haram members opened fire on them, killing two people and seriously injuring five others," the officer told AFP.

"The attack is a typical Boko Haram (shoot-and-run) style," the military officer said.

Boko Haram claimed Nigeria's first suicide bombing last week which killed several people at the police headquarters in the capital Abuja.

The sect has staged attacks targeting government institutions, politicians, churches and beer drinking spots in what has become a low-level insurgency since last year. Dozens of people have been killed.

Card playing among young men is a common pastime in the scorching hot Maiduguri and many other northern cities where friends hang out under trees in the afternoon and play.

Disturbing Photos of Last Weeks Bomb Blast at Force HQ. (Graphic Pics)

2011-06-20T04:53:00.000-07:00

Gallery:

SaharaReporters.com

Burnt cars and human flesh at the police hq car park after a suicide bomber targetted the police headquarter in Abuja.

wazuruike, MASSOB leader threatens: I may join Boko Haram

2011-06-20T03:28:00.001-07:00

The leader of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Chief Ralph Uwazuruike has threatened that his group may abandon its non-violent approach and toe the line of the Boko Haram since the Federal Government understands the language of violence.

Uwazuruike, in an exclusive interview with Daily Sun in Owerri at the weekend said both groups were calling for the division of the country in different ways, saying while the Boko Haram adopted violence approach to press their demands, the latter (MASSOB) engaged in non-violent method to achieve the same objective.

According to him, it had taken MASSOB over 12 years preaching the gospel of Biafra sovereignty through non-violence, government had not deemed it necessary to invite the group for discussion but regretted that within a short space of time of the Islamic group’s bomb attack across the country, government had extended olive branch to it. “I congratulate them because it has taken me more than 12 years to preach the same language that they are saying today that Nigeria needs to be divided at least between Christians and Moslems, but the Federal Government has ignored me for 12 years.”

“Now, within a very short space of time the Boko Haram people have said the same thing I was saying through non-violence, the Federal Government has invited them and of which the group, (Boko Haram) has ignored the government and continue what they are doing.” The MASSOB leader made it clear that if he had his way, the group would join the Boko Haram and the entire nation would be in flames, since it was the only language the Federal Government understood.

“I am telling you that if I have my way now, I will join the Boko Haram and the entire country will turn into crisis, since it is what the Federal Government wants. I am saying it today that, I congratulate the Boko Haram people and I wish they will continue in their efforts and if I have my way, I will join them.” He regretted that, whenever the MASSOB embarked on a peaceful demonstration, government, through its security agencies would clamp down on them, even maiming and killing them in the process.

He, however, advised the Boko Haram not to bomb the rural areas, where common people reside, but, should focus attention on those who were clamouring for oneness of the country because of what they gained from the national treasury. He dismissed the insinuations that members of the Boko Haram group were invisible, alleging that some members of the nation’s security agencies belonged to the sect. Alleging further, the MASSOB leader said the Boko Haram were being sponsored by top politicians and business tycoons in Nigeria.

Uwazuruike, who dismissed those who claimed that members of the Islamic group were invisible, said the sect were human beings made up of flesh and blood but decided to make themselves invisible because they were committing crimes. He warned: “It is not only the Boko Haram that can throw bombs and they are not the only people that are courageous to be suicide bombers, any other person who believes in whatever he is doing can be a suicide bomber, but we are considering the fact that we can still achieve the same purpose by peaceful means without anybody dying.”

via Sun Newspapers

Likely Ministers in Goodluck Jonathan's Cabinet

2011-06-20T02:31:00.000-07:00

The list of probable ministerial nominees for the federal cabinet is taking shape as President Goodluck Jonathan has submitted more names to the Department of State Security Service for screening, preparatory to their presentation to the senate for confirmation.

But their names would only be forwarded to the senate if they scale through security scrutiny.

Among those on the fresh ministerial nomination list are the acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Dr. Haliru Bello, the party’s national secretary, Alhaji Kawu Baraje and former Managing Director of Nigerian Breweries Plc, Mr. Festus Odimegwu.

Others are former African female speedster on the track and field, Mrs. Mary Onyali-Omagbemi, Michael Onolemhehe, an architect and Alhaji Bukkar Tijjani.

Bello, a former Minister of Communication under President Olusegun Obasanjo, will be representing Kebbi State in the cabinet, if he scales the security hurdle. Baraje, on the other hand, is from Kwara State.

Their nomination is in fulfilment of an agreement the president reached with the party’s NWC members when they met with him last month at the Obudu Mountain Resort, Cross River State, where he had gone for a retreat after the general elections.

At that meeting, the president had conceded to their request that some of them be appointed to the new cabinet.

It is also in keeping with the tradition of the PDP-led federal government started by its first president, Olusegun Obasanjo and sustained by his successor, the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua to reward members of the party’s National Working Committee for their contributions to the election of the president.

During his time, Obasanjo named some NWC members as ministers and special advisers. Among them were Mrs. Josephine Anenih, a former national woman leader, who was his Special Adviser on Women Affairs until 2006 and Venatius Ikem, former national publicity secretary, who was appointed special adviser in 2005.

The late Yar’Adua, on his part, named one of Baraje’s predecessors, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, as foreign minister and Mr. John Odey, former national publicity secretary, as minister of information.

Jonathan later reassigned Odey to the Ministry of Environment and Housing, in a cabinet reshuffle after Yar’Adua’s death last year.

The implication of Bello and Baraje’s nomination is that the PDP may be heading for an earlier national convention.

Its national convention is slated for March next year, but if the two of them make it to the cabinet, the party would have to hold an earlier convention to replace them.

Onolemhehe, a former Minister of State for Defence in the Obasanjo administration, hails from Edo State.

His nomination could foreclose the return of the former Minister of State for Works, Mr. Chris Ogiemwoye, who is also from the state.

He may, however, stand a narrow chance of being nominated if Jonathan decides to select the zonal nominee to represent the south-south zone in the cabinet from Edo State.

Festus Odimegwu, who vied for the party’s gubernatorial ticket in Imo State in 2007 shortly after the NB Plc eased him out over his involvement in politics, was among ministerial nominees whose name was sent for security screening on Monday.

Onyali-Omagbemi will be representing Anambra State while Tijjani will represent Borno State.

THISDAY further learnt that the name of the Managing Director of the World Bank, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who was Obasanjo’s Minister of Finance and later foreign affairs, was among those slated for screening, an indication that she might have accepted Jonathan’s offer to serve Nigeria again. She will be representing Abia State in the FEC.

It was, however, unclear Saturday if the former Minister of Finance, Dr. Olusegun Aganga, would be returning to the cabinet like some of his colleagues.

In a related development, controversy is still raging over who would represent Delta State in the cabinet.

The wife of the former PDP national chairman, Col. Ahmadu Ali (rtd), Dr. Mariam Ali, is said to be under pressure to withdraw her petition against the election of Senator Ifeanyi Okowa representing Delta North Senatorial District, as a pre-condition for her consideration as the state’s nominee.

Former Minister of State for Education, Chief Kenneth Gbagi, may also not return to the cabinet, as it was gathered that he no longer enjoys the confidence of South-south Elders Forum leader, Chief Edwin Clark. Clark is said to have nominated Dr. Cairo Ojougboh as the Delta representative.

Ojougboh’s nomination is said to have received the blessing of Clark and a former Economic Adviser to Obasanjo, Chief Philip Asiodu, and other top stakeholders from Delta State.

A presidency source confirmed that under the circumstances, Jonathan would have to pick between Ali’s wife and Ojougboh.

If this sails through, Delta State may have two ministerial nominees as Mr. Godsday Orubebe, who was Minister of the Niger Delta in the last cabinet and is believed to be returning, is said to represent the south-south geo-political zone.

The official in the presidency revealed that only Cross River State in the south-south has no nominee for now.

He disclosed that the SSS last Wednesday screened 11 former ministers ahead of their presentation to the senate for confirmation.

Some of the former ministers sighted at the SSS headquarters, otherwise known as the ‘Yellow House,’ included former Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke; former Minister for the Federal Capital Territory and the former Minister of State of the same ministry, Senator Bala Mohammed and Navy Captain Caleb Olubo-lade (rtd), respectively; former Minister of Defence, Prince Adetokunbo Kayode and Orubebe.

Others were former Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqqayatu Rufa’i; former Minister of Labour, Chief Emeka Wogu, his former Health counterpart, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu and former Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke.

The screening, however, has been delayed by Thursday’s bomb blast at the Force Headquarters, Abuja, as all security agencies have deployed their resources to fishing out the perpetrators.

The blast has also disrupted the screening of the nominees by the police, which sources said would resume next week.

So far, Jonathan has sent an estimated 20 names as nominees for security clearance.

Source: THISDay