₦airaland Forum

A former governor of Bauchi State, Mallam Isah Yuguda, yesterday left Bauchi for Abuja after the police sealed his house.

The house was earlier sealed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ( EFCC) following an investigation.

Yuguda came to Bauchi earlier yesterday after an 18 months medical treatment outside the country.

A visit by our reporter showed heavy police presence as they blocked the street, turning people away.

According to Yuguda’s former information commissioner, Alhaji Salisu Barau, they woke up to realise that policemen had been deployed to the house, preventing entry and exit. He however said their security and legal teams were preparing to meet with the police high command on the issue.

Efforts to speak to the state police spokesman, SP Haruna Mohammed, failed.

Sources close to the former governor said he decide to leave after he was prevented from receiving visitors. He was escorted to Jos by security agents on his way to Abuja.

The current governor’s Special Assistant on Media and Communication, Comrade Sabo Mohammed, absolved the governor of orchestrating any move against Yuguda. “Governor Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar places high premium on security, protection of lives and property of citizens, including the former governor, Mallam Isah Yuguda,”he said.

He added that the former governor allegedly left for Abuja after an overnight altercation between his supporters in his house after which security agents intervened.

The gale of transparency in the operations of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) was sustained on Thursday with the public opening of 224 bids submitted by companies seeking to purchase and lift Nigerian crude oil grades for the period 2016/2017.

Successful companies will participate in the lifting of about 700, 000 barrels per day of crude oil on offer by the NNPC on Free on Board (FOB) basis subject to the execution of sales and purchase agreement with buyers.

The event which was broadcast live on a national television network had in attendance representatives of the bidding companies and officials of the Bureau of Public Procurement, BPP, Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, NCDMB, and some members of the civil society as observers.

Speaking at the event, Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, said that the public bid opening was in consonance with the transparency and accountability agenda of Mr. President in the oil and gas industry.

''We do everything transparently in NNPC and also ensure fairness in all the transactions that we do; there is nothing that is hidden just as you have seen today,” Baru stated.

He indicated that the exercise was targeted at getting competitive bids from refiners, and also big traders, as well as companies that have made substantial investment in the oil and gas industry particularly in the downstream sub-sector in Nigeria.

The GMD dismissed insinuation that Nigerian crude grades were receiving low patronage in the international market noting that the demand for Nigerian crude remained high because of its low sulphur content.

The 26 Nigerian crude oil grades on offer include: Bonny Light, Forcados Blend, EA Blend, Bonga, Qua Iboe Light, Yoho Blend, Erha and Escravos Light. Others are: Pennington Light, Agbami, Brass Blend, Abo, Oyo, Okono Blend, Amenam Blend, Akpo Condensate and Usan. The rest include: Atam Blend, Okwori, Okoro, Ima, Ukpokiti, Obe, Okwuibome, Ebok and Asaratoru

A former Deputy National Chairman of the PDP, Chief Bode George, has expressed delight over the outcome of the appeal which favours the Sen. Makarfi faction of the PDP.

In a chat with Daily Trust, George said the judgment was also a blow to “impostors.”

He said, “Democratic dispensation has been re-enacted. It is a rebirth for justice, it is a rebirth for equity, it is a rebirth for freedom and generations to come would remember today as the day that we now fully entrenched democracy in Nigeria.”

ABUJA – Plateau State Governor and Chairman, All Progressives Congress, APC campaign Committee for Ondo State Governorship election, Mr. Simon Lalong has stated that victory was sure for his party in the Saturday election even without the participation of most national leaders of the party at the grand finale.

He stated the absence of the National leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and others at the rally attended by President Muhammadu Buhari didn’t matter to the party.

Though, he acknowledged that their absence was on health ground and that they apologized, Lalong however said that the President’s presence was a great booster. Lalong’s remarks came on a day the governor of Ondo State, Olusegun Mimiko denied any affinity with the APC. Both men spoke to State House Correspondents after meeting separately with President Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Monday. Lalong: “We have finished our campaign. You saw what happened at the grand finale. We are not in doubt that APC will win the election in Ondo.

“It is other parties that are scared of the APC and not APC being scared of other parties. “We have come to thank the President for going to Ondo for the grand finale rally.” ​​ Asked to comment on the absence of Tinubu and some South West governors at the Saturday rally, the governor said “That was not a problem. We explained their absence. They sent in their apologies. You heard what happened there. As far as we are concerned, the President who is the leader of the party was at the rally. The national chairman was also there. As far as we are concerned, everybody was there.

“To the party, their absence did not make any difference. If a leader was not there and he has said he was not there because of ill-health, we have prayed that God will heal him.” Similarly, governor Mimiko said that his mission to the villa was to brief the president on the security situation in his state. He refused that he had in the recent time frequented the Villa.

“What is frequent? This is my second visit to the villa since this crisis in our party started. Like I said, as the chief security officer of my state, if there is any credible threat to security, I owe the responsibility to Nigerians to apprise Mr. President of what is going on in the state.

“Mr president was in my state to campaign for his party. I extended to him the courtesies of receiving him at the airport and seeing him off as president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, not as APC.

“I understand that people have speculated that this means I am going to APC. There is nothing of such. I only extended him normal courtesies that protocols demand. As a governor and security of the state, if the president is visiting, no matter the party he belongs, it is only appropriate for me to extend the courtesies to him. That was what I did in Akure. “And I have also come to brief him about the security situation in my state”, he said.

On the PDP crisis, Mimiko said “I am just concentrating on the case of my party in court”, stressing that the whole state would be happy if his candidate, Mr. Eyitoya Jegede eventually wins the election. “The whole of Ondo State will erupt in joy and it will be so self-evident”, Mimiko said.

President Mohammadu Buhari at the weekend said the clashes between herders and farmers around the country are largely due to unrest in neighbouring Libya and Mali from where weapons and militants have found their way into the country.

The President who was represented by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the graduation ceremony of Senior Executive Course (SEC) 38 of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, near Jos, said there was evidence to show the infiltration of militants into the folds of Nigerian herders, adding that militants running away with light and heavy arms from the troubled countries had settled among Nigerian herders but warned that criminal violence in whatever form would not be tolerated.

The National Institute, which was meant to graduate 67 participants during the ceremony, announced that one of its participants, Hajia Maimuna Abdullahi, a permanent secretary from Niger State, had died on Thursday.
The Acting Director-General of the Institute, Jonathan Juma who disclosed this at the graduation ceremony, said that the deceased would be awarded the ‘mni’ posthumously.

He said the theme of SEC 38, which is Strengthening Institutional Mechanism for Poverty Reduction and Inclusive Development in Nigeria, gave the participants opportunity to undertake study tours to 12 states in Nigeria and six countries within and outside Africa.

Nigeria has been hit by the misfortunes of the oil sector, but several other countries are hit much harder, President Muhammadu Buhari lamented Friday.

He spoke inside the Council Chambers of the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja on Friday while inaugurating the boards of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the Nigerian Content Development Monitoring Board (NCDMB) and the Nigeria Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NNRA).

Buhari said the new boards were coming at a time when the global petroleum industry was witnessing a downturn in purchase which, he noted, had also translated into dwindling production by most producer nations.

"Nigeria has been hit by the misfortunes of oil industry but several countries have been hit much harder," the president stated.

He expressed optimism that the NNPC board chaired by the Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu and composed of other well selected persons with the experience and knowledge would drive the corporation into harnessing its potentials and fulfilling its expectations to Nigeria "even at this challenging time in the oil and gas industry."

The president said the importance of the boards could not be over-emphasised "because oil and gas industry are the country's foreign earners."

He said the boards should ensure propriety in the management of "these most important national institutions. You should advise the minister and the corporation management on the most effective way for Nigeria to get more money from our assets.

"My expectation from the members of these boards is for them to ensure that the NNPC charts a way to face current economic challenges.

"This will involve a careful look at the ongoing reforms designed to steer the corporation to achieve better performance and efficiency. In addition, you should explore more innovative ways to resolve the joint venture funding constraints and other investment issues."

He noted that since the inception of his administration, there had been an improvement in transparency through publishing monthly operational and financial reports of the NNPC, saying

"This added to the major restructuring of the corporation and the liberalization of the downstream sector which are pointers to the determination and focus of the new NNPC under this administration."

Describing the task before the boards as enormous, Buhari expressed confidence that with the wealth of experience and knowledge of members, the desired growth, the government aspirations and those of Nigerians would be achieved within a reasonable time frame.

On behalf of others, Kachikwu thanked Buhari for their appointments and assure that "the people you've appointed are competent, experienced and nationalistic and will do their very best to reduce the burden on your shoulders."

Addressing State House correspondents later, NCDMB Executive Secretary Simbi Wabote said: "We'll come up with a clear Nigerian content blueprint, and everybody will be aware of where we want to be in the next five years."

Wabote also assured that they would do the right thing to ensure attract foreign investments into the country and manage local resources effectively.