Hmmmm.... His manhood surely lives on...

The secret daughter ex-Biafran leader left behind was brought up by a prominent Muslim family in Kaduna. She lives among the Northern elite and detests any suggestion that links her with the former warlord. This is the extraordinary story of Ojukwu’s mystery daughter.

Even in death Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Nigeria’s best known rebel leader, seems to have retained his ability to shock. The revelation that he had a secret daughter — to whom he allocated, in his will, one of his landed properties — shocked even the other members of his family. But perhaps more shocking is the discovery — through Sunday Trust investigation — that the daughter was actually brought up by a prominent Northern Muslim as his own “child”.

 

Tenny Hamman, as Ojukwu called her, was raised in Kaduna by former Deputy Inspector General of Police Hamman Maiduguri as his own “daughter”. Although she was formally named Aisha (the name she used in school), she is also called Tani (or Aunty Tani by younger relatives). Tani is a traditional Hausa name given to a female born on Monday. Apparently the name Tenny (or Tenni) that Ojukwu called her is the corrupted version of Tani.

Late Hamman Maiduguri was a top police officer who spent a significant part of his life in Kaduna. He hailed from the north-eastern city of Maiduguri, Borno State capital. He was appointed Northern Region’s commissioner of police after the death of the region’s Premier Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto. He later became the Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) during the regime of General Yakubu Gowon, the man who led the crushing of Ojukwu’s Republic of Biafra.


mystery child

The story of how Hamman Maiduguri became “the father” of Ojukwu’s daughter appears to be as mysterious to even a section of his own family as it is to the other members of Ojukwu’s family.

Much of it is still shrouded in deep secrecy but Sunday Trust investigation reveals that the late police officer did raise Tenny as his own daughter.

There are conflicting versions of how she came to be late Hamman’s daughter. Some sources told Sunday Trust that she was the daughter of his wife, Mary Theresa (a Christian who later converted to Islam and is now called Inna or simply Hajia); others said Tenny was a daughter of Mary Theresa’s sister and that the family adopted her as their own.

One of the sources said Tenny’s mother gave birth to her before she married Hamman. “He accepted her with her baby and since then she has been bearing the name Tenny Hamman,” he said.

Whichever version is accurate, most sources said she was indeed brought up like a biological daughter of Hamman. Many residents of the area still believe that she is Hamman’s biological daughter. One source said she was among the people who inherited what he left behind when he died.

“It will be very difficult for you to unravel her true story because many knew her as Hamman’s biological daughter,” said the source. “She inherited part of his properties. This story you are trying to open is seen by some as mere tale because they grew up and know her as one of Hamman’s children,” he added.


“i will call the police”

Indeed, due to the cloud of secrecy surrounding the whole issue, details are hard to come by. When a hint of the story began to emerge following the announcement of Ojukwu’s will, the family mounted a formidable firewall to block any leakage from any possible source. Sunday Trust’s investigation was blocked from many angles and some of its staffers were even threatened with arrest and litigation.

When the leak first came that the woman Ojukwu spoke of as his daughter was a lady living in Kaduna, Sunday Trust search team spent considerable time trying to locate her.

Our correspondents who eventually located her at the house of late Hamman in Kaduna said Tenny is a woman approaching the age of 50. She is living with her aged mother, they said. One of them noted that she is Ojukwu’s “carbon copy”.

Apparently, she got a premonition that journalists, having heard of the will, might be looking for her. So when one of our correspondents knocked on the door to the house to seek an audience with her, she was ready for him.

As soon as he entered the house, she chased him away. “Who are you and why are you here?” she shouted. When he tried to introduce himself, she refused to listen to him.

“Leave here before I call the police,” she said angrily.

Many other family relations approached responded with hostility too. One of them threatened litigation. “If you mention anything about us, we’ll sue,” he warned.

Sources told Sunday Trust that Ojukwu met Tenny’s mother when he was a military officer in the North. He was in charge of 5th Battalion of the Nigerian Army in Kano, where he was also friends with the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero, before he was appointed the Governor of the Eastern Region following the first military coup in 1966.

Apparently, throughout the crisis surrounding the coup and counter-coup of July 1966 and the subsequent civil war that followed them as a result of Ojukwu’s declaration of Biafran independence, Ojukwu and his ex-lover kept the issue of their love child secret.

But as little Tenny grew up, there appeared to be some people who had suspected a link between her mother and Ojukwu.

Sources told Sunday Trust that there was a time when Tenny’s school mates at Queen’s Amina College, Kaduna, spread “gossips” that she was Ojukwu’s daughter. At the college, Tenny was said to be a tough girl and a bully. But when one slim girl called her Ojukwu’s daughter, she broke down in tears.

“Her mates were surprised that she could also be very weak,” the source said.

One of her classmates also told Sunday Trust that Tenny — known in the college as Aisha Hamman — was always uncomfortable with claims that she was Ojukwu’s daughter.

Another said, although she could be nice, she doesn’t tolerate nonsense. “We once fought in the school,” she told Sunday Trust in confidence. “Since then I have not been close to her. She didn’t even attend my marriage”.

They were 30 in their Queen’s Amina College class and they finished in 1978. It is unclear what other academic attainments Tenny got, but her college classmates said she at one time lived in the United States.

Another source also said she had worked at the presidency during General Sani Abacha’s regime.

“She got married and has a daughter, who should be in her 20s by now,” another source said. “But she has since parted ways with the husband”.


The will that outs Tenny

The revelation of Tenny as Ojukwu’s daughter came from the former Biafra leader’s will which was read at the Enugu State High Court penultimate Friday. It was presented to a section of the family by the chief registrar of the court Mr Dennis Ekoh.

The will listed Ojukwu’s children as follows: Tenny Hamman (daughter), Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu Jnr (son), Mmegha (Mimi) (daughter), Okigbo (son), Ebele (daughter), Chineme (daughter), Afam (son) and Nwachukwu (son).

Ojukwu’s widow, former beauty pageant Bianca Onoh but now Nigeria’s Ambassador to Spain, was there, ostensibly to represent both herself and the three children she had with Ojukwu: Chineme, Afam and Nwachukwu.

She reportedly expressed shock over the appearance of Tenny’s name in the will. She said her husband had never told her about Tenny when he was alive.

Apart from Bianca, Ojukwu’s first cousin, Mr Val Nwosu, and another relative, Mr Mike Ejemba, were at the court to witness the presentation. But Ojukwu’s other children were not there nor were they represented by anyone.

Based on the will, Bianca emerged as the biggest beneficiary of Ojukwu’s wealth. She is allocated his Casablanca Lodge located at No 7, Forest Crescent, GRA, Enugu; two of his properties at Jabi and Kuje in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja; and all his money and personal effects.

She is also to replace him as the trustee in the family company, Ojukwu Transport Limited. She was also given two plots of land in Nnewi. But Ojukwu put a strong caveat that Bianca should forfeit the land if she remarries.

His eldest son, Emeka Jnr., got the family house at Nnewi.

Tenny, who is apparently his eldest daughter, got Jubilee Hotel, located in Zaria, Kaduna State. Other children too have their own shares.


The hotel Ojukwu gave Tenny

Sunday Trust investigation traced the hotel Ojukwu allocated to his daughter to a lively area in Zaria. The investigation revealed that late warlord does indeed own a house and a hotel located on Hospital Road in Sabon Gari, Zaria.

The hotel used to be a very popular inn where people visited mainly to have drinks.

It is a one-storey building where the top floor is left open with burglars surrounding it perhaps for the safety of the customers.

However, when Sunday Trust’s correspondent visited the place, he observed that it is no longer functioning as a hotel: it has been turned into a warehouse.

A 65-year-old resident of the area confided to Sunday Trust that recently a son of Ojukwu, who resides in Germany, had visited the place and probably ordered for the change.

“It was after the visit of Ojukwu’s son to the area that the status of the hotel changed to a warehouse. What we learnt was that the place has been sold but I don’t know the details of the transaction.

“Of course, the hotel belonged to Ojukwu before he died. I can authoritatively confirm this to you because I know virtually all the owners of the properties in most areas of Sabon Gari,” he added.

“The place was very popular before the recent change of status. But as you can see, the place has now turned to a warehouse where provision items are stored,” he said.

Hospital Road, where Ojukwu’s house and the former hotel are located in Zaria, is predominantly occupied by people from southern part of Nigeria.

The hotel was located at the heart of the street while Hospital Road is one of the famous streets in Sabon Gari area. The hotel’s location, observers said, added to its popularity.

Apart from that, according to those interviewed by Sunday Trust, Sabon Gari houses most of the hotels that exist in Zaria.

Despite the popularity of Jubilee Hotel, though, some residents told Sunday Trust that they were not aware that it belonged to Ojukwu.

“Honestly, I heard it recently that Ojukwu owned the hotel. Of course, I know Jubilee Hotel for quite some time now but I never knew that it belonged to Ojukwu.

“When pub activities stopped taking place at the hotel, somebody told me that the place belonged to Ojukwu and his children have decided to change the status of the place.

“I learnt that before the demise of Ojukwu, the hotel was run by his brother but after his death, according to what I learnt, Ojukwu’s children took over,” another resident, Idris Tijjani, told Sunday Trust.


The controversy over the will

It is unclear whether Tenny will claim the hotel Ojukwu allocated to her. If she plans to do so, she may not face much trouble, despite the controversy that trails the presentation of the will.

Although the will itself has deepened the conflict among other members of Ojukwu’s family, the contending sides appeared to have accepted the allocation of the hotel to Tenny.

Bianca did not reject it and the first son, Emeka Jnr, too, said his father did have a will that mentions Tenny as his daughter and has awarded her landed property.

Emeka Jnr had rejected the will presented at the Enugu State High Court and claimed that the genuine will of his father has not yet been presented. But he admitted that in the genuine will, Tenny has her share.

The other controversy about the will is the omission of Ojukwu’s look-a-like son, Debechukwu Odumegwu-Ojukwu.

Debe has persistently claimed to be Ojukwu’s eldest child and is currently engaged in legal battle with other members of the family.

But his name did not feature in the will.

Ojukwu’s lawyer said that the former Biafran leader did not include Dede because the latter failed to prove that he was indeed his son.


Ojukwu’s randy past

The emergence of Tenny in Ojukwu’s will has once again brought to the fore his playboy lifestyle.

Although his admirers tend to play down such aspect, it keeps reverberating. At an event held last year ahead of his burial, majority of the speakers focused mainly on Ojukwu’s heroic deeds and boldness as a soldier.

But Nollywood actor and ace broadcaster, Chief Pete Edochie, surprised the huge audience when he talked about Ojukwu’s randy past.

“Ojukwu was a human being; Ojukwu loved women. As a matter of fact, I would describe him as H. G. Wells described Mr. Paully.

“H.G Wells said that Mr Paully was congenitally disposed to the worship of women. Well, those words may sound harsh but I will describe Ojukwu like that. Ojukwu loved women with a passion,” Edochie told the gathering.

When Sunday Trust contacted Edochie over Ojukwu’s revelation of Tenny as his love child and the property he reserved for her, he said he had no doubt about it.

“Ojukwu knows the number of children he had when he lived. If he had written such thing in his will, there is no point questioning the wish of the dead,” he said.


http://www.sundaytrust.com.ng/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12292:ojukwus-secret-daughter-traced-she-lives-in-kaduna&catid=54:lead-stories&Itemid=127

Written by Muideen Olaniyi, Adie Vanessa Offiong (Abuja) and Isa Sa’idu (Zaria)  



The Nigeria’s rich list is growing rapidly even as the country’s poverty rate escalates. In this year’s list of 40 African billionaires by Forbes magazine, 11 Nigerians were mentioned. This is even as many Nigerians blame government’s pro-rich policies and anti-poor moves for the widening disparity between the rich and the poor. Weekly Trust reports

In the 2012 list of Africa’s 40 billionaires compiled by the Forbes Magazine, Nigeria made a strong showing with more than one fourth of the names contained in the role, which had 12 South Africans. Nigeria was ahead of Egypt which had eight billionaires on the list and Morocco which had five. Angola, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda had one each.

 

In a symbolic showing, the Africa billionaire list, a Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote came first just as his compatriot Hakeem Belo-Osagie closed the list. The only snag is that this is coming on the heel of rising poverty among Nigerians as indicated in the National Poverty Profile released by the National Bureau of Statistics.

But as the world celebrates the billionaires, the reactions in Nigeria is mixed, with many observers blaming the government of coming up with policies that make the rich richer just as they make the poor poorer. Instructively, six out of the 11 billionaires produced by Nigerians - Mike Adenuga, Folorunsho Alakija, Theophilus Danjuma, Mohammed Indimi, O.B. Lulu-Briggs and Sani Bello – have oil as one of their sources of income, while come combine oil and telecommunications as well as other self initiatives as the Forbes list shows.

Dangote, according to the Forbes list, made his billions mainly from businesses in cement, sugar and flour; so also is Abdulsamad Rabiu. Jim Ovia (banking), while Oba Otudeko (who has stakes in Airtel Nigeria) and Hakeem Belo-Osagie (Etisalat) have telecoms as their sources of billions.

Many observers however say that government policies favour the rich, just as they make the poor poorer. They say though oil accounts for majority of Nigeria’s foreign earnings, a lot of billions are being lost to favoured businessmen who “cut corners and shortchange” the government with impunity.

Recently, the Nuhu Ribadu-led Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force (PRST) submitted its report to President Goodluck Jonathan where it said that Nigeria is losing billions of dollars every year through the use of “briefcase traders” in exporting crude oil and importation of refined petroleum products. Other probe committees have also exposed rot in the oil sector.

Government favouring the rich

In the words of Dr Bashir Kurfi, one of the most senior lecturers in the Department of Business Administration of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, “Ordinarily, in a normal economy, there is no way where over 60 per cent of people in a given country are living at below poverty level and at the same time very few are among the richest in the continent and also to be among the first 100 or 200 hundred in the world.”

He said what the domination of Nigerians on the Forbes list shows “is the level of monumental corruption in government,” adding that “in a global economy, some of the richest people like Rupert Murdoch, he is into communication and everybody knows him in the news satellite channel like the CNN and others. This person in Mexico that is among the richest in the world he is also into telecommunication business. If you take Bill Gates, he is into computer business.”

Dr Kurfi however said that in the case of Nigeria, “anyone that tells you he is one of the richest in the world; when you look at the source of his wealth you would find that it is linked with government. They have access to government resources like the case of Alakija who has an oil block. Even Dangote, he enjoys a lot of wavers from government and does a lot of deals with government.

“In the case of Malabo oil whereby an individual sold a hectare of a government oil plot at the cost of $1.1billion and the money credited to his account is something that is not done anywhere in the world. Nowhere in the world you do such a thing where a government property would be sold by an individual and the money goes to him, nowhere in the world that is done including Saudi Arabia. The entire oil wealth of Saudi Arabia belongs to the government of Saudi Arabia and by implication to the Saudi people.”

He said “You know the recent saga of the fuel subsidy where it was discovered that different people have pocketed several billions. Before in Nigerian tradition, no individual can own an oil block. That was how many got their money.”

Speaking with Weekly Trust, Mr Osita Okechukwu, who is the National Publicity Secretary of the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP), decried the wide gap between the rich and the poor in Nigeria, blaming it on Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) alleged philosophy and motto of ‘food-is-ready and ‘share-the-money’ respectively.

Okechukwu says “less than .5 per cent rich people and 99.5 very poor Nigerians’ are direct consequence of actions and inactions of PDP-led government over the last 13 years.

“Aliko Dangote was not worth $500 million in 1999. Again, most of those who are billionaires today made it to the top through true waivers and undue patronage of government. All of them claimed to be captains of industry, 19 per cent of them have no pure water factory. So the essence of calling themselves captains of industry is to struggle in the foreign exchange market of Nigeria.”

“When Obasanjo left office in 2007, he left $27 billion in excess crude account. That money could have been used to give us critical infrastructure. If you engage $2 billion to extract electricity from Mambilla water, you will employ not less than a million people, both direct and part-time employment. If Obasanjo has used $10 billion for modern rail-line, it could have engaged over 10 million Nigerians in the rail-line construction only. When it starts running, it will engage a lot of people because each railway station is a new town.

“If they have used one billion to develop coal deposit in Enugu, Benue, Kogi and Gombe, it will not only produce electricity but it will engage over a million people.

Also speaking, an activist Odoh Diego Okenyodo says it was not surprising that Nigerians were named in the list of top forty billionaires in Africa. “It has not come as a surprise at all because government policies visions have been geared towards that. They want to create wealth but not eradicate poverty. Government has a clear agenda on its wealth creation but not poverty eradication. This is the reason wealth is concentrated on a select few and reflects on an increase in the GDP indicating that there is growth in the economy. But as the GDP increases so does poverty because you are taking money away from the bulk of the people.

The development communication practitioner said, “Also if you take an in-depth analysis of the situation you will find that the economic growth is poor. Nobody knew the Mrs. Alakija who is now the richest black woman or her fashion label as much as Remi Lagos’ was known and successful. All we heard is that Alakija used to be a fashion designer and later became an oil magnet. There is hardly any widely known history of her business and her rise to the top.”

For Yakubu Aliyu, a public affairs commentator based in Abuja, however, it would be wrong to blame government for the increase the nation is seeing in its billionaires. “Go to the records and read how Dangote made his money. He was very meticulous right from his early days. The last time, he was able to get a record loan from many Nigerian banks and they obliged him because they believed in his ability to repay. So instead of just sitting down in the comfort of our rooms castigating this people, let’s use the chance we have to aspire to be like them if not surpass them.”

What is the way out?

Kurfi said “The way out for Nigeria is for us Nigerians to rise up and ensure that those that have shortchanged government have returned their stolen wealth. That is when the poor would not be becoming poorer. When those stolen wealth are recovered, it is then that we can see if these so called rich people would compete to be among the richest in the world.”

The All Africa Students Union (AASU) has disowned a former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Party, Olabode George, saying it has no plan to confer any award on him.

Speaking with PREMIUM TIMES from AASU headquarters in Accra, Ghana, the Secretary General of the organization, Fred Awah, said reports of the award on Mr. George, an ex-convict, who recently served jail terms for corruption, was “absolutely untrue, misleading and fraudulent.”

“It is clear there are elements dragging the name of our organization in the mud,” Mr. Awah said. “The Kwame Nkrumah African Leadership Award is a prestigious one and there are criteria for awarding it. At no time did we consider him (Bode George) for any award.”

Mr. Awah, who sounded livid on the telephone, said he was already planning to travel to Nigeria to meet with officials of the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, with a view to identifying “the fraudulent elements” using AASU’s name to offer dubious awards to individuals for percuniary gains.

“What they have done is criminal,” he said. “We must expose and disgrace them so that others will learn.”

There have been reports in the media (not PREMIUM TIMES) that AASU, on the recommendation of NANS, had nominated the PDP chieftain as winner of its 15th edition of the Africa Leadership Award.

A certain Olufemi Lawson, described as the Nigerian representative at AASU and Project Co-ordinator of the award, reportedly announced Mr. Bode’s selection, saying the award would be conferred on him on December 12 at an elaborate ceremony that would feature “a distinguished leadership lecture”.

He was quoted as saying Mr. George was selected from among the many nominees for the 2012 award based on his commitment to youth development and his defence of democratic institutions.

AASU is a regional students organisation, headquartered in Accra, Ghana with over 54 African countries as members.

When contacted by PREMIUM TIMES Friday, Mr. Lawson insisted there was no going back on the conferment of the award on Mr. George. He said the award ceremony would hold in Lagos as planned.

Mr. Lawson said the President of AASU, Mohammed Bashir, a Sudanese, is aware of the arrangement, and that the organisation’s secretary general, Mr. Awah, was not in the loop because he had been busy with the Ghanaian elections.

Mr. Lawson said in selecting Mr. George for the award, he and his group “looked beyond the politics of Nigeria” and were impressed by his effort in youth development and education.

“This is a man who has awarded over 1000 scholarships and grants to indigent students,” Mr. Lawson said. “He deserves to be honoured.”

But shortly after Mr. Lawson spoke to us, we called Secretary General Amah again who insisted “there is no such award for Bode George from AASU.”

“Lawson  is not an official of AASU,” Mr. Amah said. “He contested for the position of deputy secretary general and lost. He was defeated by a Liberian. Since then, he has been pursuing a fraudulent scheme, using the name of the organization to hand out dubious awards.”

A former President of AASU, Oludare Ogunlana, also explained that his investigation indicated the organization and its secretariat had no knowledge of the purported award.

He said there is no Nigerian on the executive of AASU at this time, meaning Mr. Lawson could not be speaking for the organization.

Many Nigerians have widely criticized the plan to honour Mr. George, who was imprisoned for mismanaging public funds.

The PDP chieftain could not be reached for comments Friday morning. He did not answer or return calls made to his telephone.

Past recipients of the AASU bi-annual Africa Leadership Award include former Secretary General of the United Nations (UN), Kofi Anan, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Afe Babalola, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, late Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai among others

http://premiumtimesng.com/news/110190-exclusive-aasu-disowns-bode-george-says-no-plan-to-honour-him.html

Nasri100:

Look at them Typical Nigerians! Who gives two fledgling f ucks of the amount of mb you have wasted? You call this Jargons? Can you create or report something as decent as this? slowpoke!

Abeg help me ask am...

Written by Yvonne Ndege  



My five days in Maiduguri in north eastern Nigeria - the epicentre of violence perpetrated by the armed group, Boko Haram - was fraught with danger. I had been trying to get access to report from the city for over a year.

I had been told that I needed clearance from the head of Nigeria’s armed forces to report from the ground. I’d also been told that Maiduguri was classified as a “security zone”, off-limits to journalists, according to the ministry of information.

In the end, I decided to take a chance and make the journey, hoping to come out with some reportage but prepared to get absolutely nothing too. All this was against the advice of security advisors, professional colleagues, NGOs and government contacts.

For months I had heard that Boko Haram had taken control of not just Maiduguri, the state capital, but large swathes of Borno State. I had been to Maiduguri a few times before, including in 2009 when I reported on the killing of the group’s leader, Mohammed Yusuf, while in police custody.

Before the chaos took hold, I remembered Maiduguri as a surprisingly cosmopolitan and peaceful town, with an eclectic mix of people of different faiths, ethnicities, and subcultures; as well as different types of food and music. The people of Maiduguri had struck me as ordinary people, with a somewhat royal air, steeped in their tradition - but at the same time having a somewhat modern and outward look. Borno State shares borders with the former French colonies of Niger to the north and Chad to the north-east - giving one a strange feeling of being in Francophone Africa too.

During my five days there, I found a Maiduguri under siege by Boko Haram fighters and the Joint Task Force. The colour described above had been replaced by a city enmeshed in road blocks, checkpoints, sandbags on virtually every major road and intersection. The city was patrolled by heavily armed military personnel donning ski masks, poised to fire at any moment.

A TV vehicle like our own, visibly packed with television equipment, could easily provoke suspicion. So our first priority was to unpack our kit at our hotel so we could travel light, and go out and talk to as many people as possible.

It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to film openly in Maiduguri because of the threat of violence from Boko Haram. In our time there we heard the noise of bombs exploding, and bullets being fired - followed by the screeching of JTF sirens that seemed to be coming from all directions. This happened every 2-3 hours. We later learned that Boko Haram had attacked a JTF position with rocket-propelled grenades just adjacent to our hotel.

We were stopped from filming on several occasions by JTF patrols who demanded to know whether we had military clearance to report from the city. It seemed like the only reason we were not forcibly stopped from news gathering was because the soldiers we encountered were familiar with my face and my reports on Boko Haram. This seemed to cool things down. And - it has to be said - the huge popularity of Al Jazeera English in the region helped.

The security situation in Maiduguri is so bad that tens of thousands of people from “Maiduguri-stan”, as some Nigerians nickname the city, have fled. They are unable to live a normal life, not knowing whether they may be caught up in the daily bomb explosions, suicide attacks and gunfire that rocks parts of the city. Those we spoke to who chose to remain in Maiduguri say it’s because it’s their home and they have no other place to go to, or the means to leave for elsewhere.

According to Father David Bridling, from St Patrick’s Catholic Church, half the Christian inhabitants of Borno State have left. But the “irony” of the Boko Haram insurgency is that more Muslims than people of any other faith have been killed by Boko Haram attacks - even though the group claims to want to “grow” Islam in Nigeria.

The curfew in Maiduguri is strictly enforced. No movement is allowed in Borno State between 2000GMT (8pm) and 0500GMT (5am). But inhabitants have adopted their own timetable for staying alive. People we spoke to said nobody tries to leave home before 11am and everyone gets back home by 4pm, as most of the fighting between Boko Haram and the JTF happens in the early hours of the day. If there’s no fighting, people rush out to do whatever small-scale business they can to survive, and quickly return home.

Three senior JTF personnel who were gracious enough to meet with us informally about the situation tried to explain just how bad the Boko Haram crisis is. They used the words “war zone”, “Iraq”, and “guerrilla war” to describe the battle. They explained that Boko Haram fighters are embedded in many of the communities and neighbourhoods in the city, and that it was impossible to distinguish their fighters from civilians.

Two of the JTF personnel expressed confidence that the “war” would soon be over, though another was more sceptical, explaining that Boko Haram fighters’ “jihad” in Nigeria was being inspired by conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Yemen. Worryingly for Nigeria and for the region, neighbouring Mali’s northern region - which has recently been overrun by al-Qaeda-linked groups - was mentioned as a possible place from which Boko Haram fighters may be getting weapons. This officer saw no imminent end to the crisis.

Poverty, unemployment, a lack of education, marginalisation, and endemic corruption in Nigeria are cited as some of the reasons why Boko Haram has not been stamped out in over a year of fighting with security forces. There is a feeling that the Nigerian government is not addressing these issues, focusing too heavily on a military strategy to rid the country of the group.

Whatever the case, the journey out of the Boko Haram crisis in Maiduguri, will be a complex one. Until the authorities can find a solution that quells the fighting and stops young men from being recruited to the group, Maiduguri will remain in crisis.

Yvonne Ndege is Al Jazeera’s West Africa correspondent based in Abuja, Nigeria.

God help Nigeria...

By AbdulSalam Muhammad, Kano

KANO – Two person were feared dead when an explosion rocked Plaza junction by Kanti Kori  in Kano during the morning rush hour on Monday.

Reports say that a security personnel and a passerby were killed in the blast. JTF officials have however, cordoned off the area while investigation into the attack has commenced.

Spokesman of the JTF in the city Captain Ikediche Iweha confirm the incident to Vanguard on phone, adding that he will volunteer details as soon as they available.

In his words “our men are already at the scene, and  I hope to feed you with details as soon as we have them

www.vanguardngr.com/2012/12/breaking-news-explosion-rocks-kano/

By SaharaReporters, New York

Unless the government of Nigeria takes urgent steps to arrest the menace of youth unemployment and poverty, it is a certainty that Nigeria will see a revolution soon.

This dire prediction was made at the weekend by the country’s former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, in a speech at a West African regional conference on youth employment in Senegal, sponsored by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the African Development Bank.

The former president said that the rate of youth unemployment in 1999 when he assumed office was 72 per cent, but was reduced to 52 per cent [by his government] in 2004, only to rocket up again, to 71 per cent by 2011.

Obasanjo, who left office in 2007 after eight years, declared he fears for the future of Nigeria.

“I’m afraid, and you know I am a General. When a General says he is afraid, that means the danger ahead is real and potent,” he told the conference.
He said that the unemployment menace is responsible for the social crimes being perpetrated by various categories of youth, categorizing three of them as Area Boys, Yahoo Boys and Blackberry Boys.

Obasanjo, who is himself often accused of being behind some of Nigeria’s most severe problems, including the same unemployment predicament and foisting bad successors on the country, accused the current government of lacking “serious, concrete, realistic, short and long term solution” to youth unemployment.

He drew attention to doctorate degree holders who were recently found to have applied for jobs as drivers at the Dangote Group as an example of the problem, saying the patience of the youth will soon reach its limit.  

Delving into the genesis of the crisis, he said that government officials in Nigeria talk of growth but not development, a phenomenon he said has led the rise in poverty levels.  

He urged national leaders to create incentives that will encourage entrepreneurs to flourish, particularly in agriculture, a sector in which he called for special attention to agriculture as business as opposed to mere farming.

The former president, who has been largely successful in agriculture, although Nigerians say he took advantage of his position in government, called for easy access to land and micro credit, as well as a review of school curriculum for undergraduates to spend an additional year in school to learn entrepreneurship.

Obasanjo’s remarks are guaranteed to lead to harsh criticism in Nigeria because he single-handedly put into play the machinery that put President Jonathan, whom he is criticizing, in power.   In addition to Jonathan’s incompetence, the current government is also known to be very corrupt, an ailment Obasanjo studiously avoids talking about.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) said it will end its contract with BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd in favor of Apple Inc’s iPhone, dealing a new blow to RIM just months before it launches a vital new device.
 

The agency said in a solicitation document posted last week that it intends to buy iPhones for more than 17,600 employees - a purchase worth $2.1 million.
 
The agency said it has relied on RIM for eight years, but the company “can no longer meet the mobile technology needs of the agency.”
www.dailytrust.com.ng

It also said it analyzed Apple’s iOS-based devices and Google Inc’s Android operating system and concluded that, for the near term, Apple’s iPhone services offer the best technology for the agency because of Apple’s tight controls of the hardware platform and operating system.

The agency said the iPhone will be used by a “variety of agency personnel, including, but not limited to, Homeland Security Investigations, Enforcement and Removal Operations and Office of the Principal Legal Advisor employees.

“The iPhone services will allow these individuals to leverage reliable, mobile technology on a secure and manageable platform in furtherance of the agency’s mission.”

Last week, consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton said it was dropping BlackBerry and switching to iPhone and Android smartphones for its staff of around 25,000.

Analysts said that other businesses and agencies are likely to follow suit especially in light of demand for other smartphones.

“You’re going to see this happen more and more,” said Ed Snyder, an analyst at Charter Equity Research.

Written by Hamza Idris, Maiduguri Ismail Adebayo, Abuja  

Sunday, 28 October 2012 05:03
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The political root of the insecurity in the North-East and other parts of the North became clearer following the blame game between former Governor Ali Modu Sheriff and Senator Ahmed Zanna.
On Thursday, October 18, 2012, shocking news filtered that the Joint Task Force (JTF) in Borno State had besieged the Maiduguri residence of a ‘serving Senator’ and arrested one Shuaibu Bama, an alleged top member of the Jama’atu Ahlis Sunnah Lidda’awati Wal Jihad, also known as Boko Haram sect, who had been on the wanted list of security operativese



 

The JTF did not mention the name of the senator when it issued the statement, but pundits quickly noted that the only senate member that has a house on Damboa Road is Senator Ahmed Zanna Khalifa (Borno Central).

“At about 11 am on Thursday, October 18, 2012, a high profile Boko Haram commander, one Shuaibu Muhammed Bama, who has been on the list of wanted terrorists operating between Bama and Maiduguri, was arrested by the task force troops in a serving Senator’s house along Damboa Road, GRA, Maiduguri. He is in the custody of the JTF and assisting in the investigation and has since made startling revelations,” the statement, which was signed by its spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa, said.

And sensing the veracity of the allegation, Senator Zanna granted an interview to the Hausa service of the BBC on Friday, October 19, 2012, where he stated that Bama was actually his nephew, but that he was not arrested in his house.

The senator alleged that Bama was arrested at the house of “an ex-governor” along Rabi Road, GRA, Maiduguri. The allegation put a question mark on the head of his political opponent, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff. Zanna alleged that the JTF was just acting a script to discredit him, an allegation which the JTF denied.

Senator Zanna defeated Sheriff in the Borno Central senatorial election in 2011. Zanna is from Bama Local Government Area while former Governor Sheriff is from Ngala Local Government Area. Wittingly or unwittingly, there has been an intense rivalry between the people of Bama and those from Sheriff’s native town. The rivalry was aggravated in 2010 when Governor Sheriff divided the Century old Dikwa Emirate into two and to give birth to Dikwa and Bama Emirates.  The old Dikwa Emirate comprised of four local government areas: Bama, Ngala (Sheriff’s town), Dikwa and Kala-Balge, while the palace was in Bama town.

The creation of the two emirates followed the passage of a bill sent by the then Governor Sheriff to the State House of Assembly, in which the new Dikwa Emirate got three local government areas: Ngala, Dikwa and Kala-Balge, while Bama Emirate had as its territory only one local government area - Bama.  Under the new arrangement, the new Dikwa Emirate has its palace in Dikwa town, while the present palace in Bama town has remained the palace for the new Bama Emirate. The creation of the Dikwa Emirate had surreptitiously whittled down the previously enormous influence of the Bama Emirate and this did not go down well with the people of Bama, especially politicians who developed a negative perception of the former Governor Sheriff.

During the 2011 elections, the people of Bama vehemently rejected Sheriff and his party, the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). In the senatorial election, they endorsed their son, Senator Zanna. Though a successful businessman and member of the boards of many federal establishments, he was generally seen as a novice in politics. There were even insinuations that Sheriff had a hand through the back door in the emergence of Zanna in order to chase away more formidable candidates in the likes of Senator Abba Aji. But Zanna’s allies debunked the claims, insisting that their candidate was going to give Sheriff a big fight – which he did, going by the results of the elections. The Congress for Progress Change (CPC) fielded Mohammed El-Nur Dongel as its candidate for Borno Central.  A university don, Dongel that relied on Buhari factor. Despite his newness in politics, Zanna defeated all the candidates, including Sheriff, a feat that added a new perspective to the bloody political equation in Borno State.

In the gubernatorial election, the ANPP won in 23 out of the 27 Local Government Areas of the state. The PDP won in four LGAs, including Bama. This was in the furtherance of  Bama’s revolt against Sheriff. The ANPP got a total of 531,147 votes, while the PDP got 450,140 votes. The ANPP was, therefore, ahead of PDP with 81,007 votes.  Even before the said election, Borno was embroiled in crisis occasioned by internecine Boko Haram debacle which many people said was embellished with political, religious and criminal tendencies. The political angle of the Boko Haram had played out during the election. This was due to the fact that the PDP had campaigned that it was in the race for various offices in order to end the Boko Haram insurgency, which it alleged was the creation of the ANPP. To a greater extent, the ongoing allegations and counter-allegations between Zanna and Sheriff is seen as continuation of the political rivalry between the two.

From his utterances, Zanna was angry with security agents, whom he saw as cohorts in his travails. “The JTF said they arrested the man at a house belonging to someone in the Senate. I am a member of the Senate and I am the only one living on the Damboa Road. So, the JTF didn’t arrest the man (Boko Haram commander) in my house.

“They went to my house and carried out their investigations, but they did not come up with anything. Since they did not get anything, they arrested some boys in the house and asked them out. They forced them to sit under the sun. The soldiers started start beating them. They asked them if they knew someone called Shuaibu Bama. The boys told JTF that ‘yes, they knew him.’ One of the boys then led (the) JTF to where that Shuaibu was.

“What I’m saying is that, for them to say they arrested the man in my house is a lie. And we are not going to hide anybody whom we known is a Boko Haram member. They should investigate who the owner of the house where JTF arrested the ‘Boko Haram commander’ and the owner’s connection with the supposed Boko Haram member,” Senator Zanna said. Later, Zanna declared that that house belonged to Sheriff.

But Sheriff, who is now the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the ANPP, did not take Zanna’s declaration that Bama was arrested in his (Sheriffs) house lightly and therefore fired back with a lot of invective, insisting that Zanna is a “drowning man” and that he (Zanna) had been a Boko Haram sponsor for a very long time.

Reacting to the allegation that Bama was arrested in his house, Sheriff said Zanna was economical with the truth and alleged that he (Zanna) had perpetrated many “terrorism” activities, including harbouring terrorists and also indulging in illegal arm deals.

The statement, which was signed by Comrade Umar Duhu, the Special Assistant to the ANPP B.O.T. Chairman, which was made available to newsmen in Maiduguri, reads in part, “It is also on record that State Security Service has invited Senator Zanna to clarify his involvement with the suspect and his links with Boko Haram. Senator Zanna in a comic u-turn, shortly after these developments, told journalists in a face-saving interview that while he could not deny his relationship with his nephew, he disowned his house where the JTF arrested the suspect, stressing that the house belongs to Senator Ali Modu sheriff the immediate former governor of the state.

“Given his recent political encounter with the immediate past governor, now the BOT chairman of ANPP, he appears desperate to settle scores by dragging Ali Sheriff into the controversy. It is laughable that instead of defending his obvious involvement with Boko Haram, given his past antecedence where people finger him as illegal importer of arms via his Hajj-by-road fame, Senator Zanna is desperately looking for somebody to hang for his sins.

“It is common knowledge in Borno State that Senator Zanna takes along some hapless Nigerians on a seeming religious voyage by road only to put some of them into terrorist activity and illegal arms importation. Some of the so-called pilgrims by road have been traced to terrorists’ camps in Afghanistan and Syria, and not Saudi Arabia, their preferred destination. It is very much on record that 27 of such pilgrims are still missing up till date.

“Contrary to his claims in the media that he had parted ways with the suspect, we can authoritatively confirm that his nephew, Shuaibu, was still his associate up to the time of his arrest. It is an act in futility for him to try to name Ali Sheriff as an accomplice in his nefarious activity with Boko Haram, knowing that the wild allegations being levelled by him will never amount to an acquittal of his guilt.

“The one million dollar question is why has Senator Zanna never spoken against the atrocities being committed by Boko Haram, rather he has been calling for the declaration of state of emergency or the disbandment of the JTF which he knew are antithetical to the quest for peace. Again being the second senator fingered, as having links with Boko Haram, it is a confirmation of the wildly believed theory that the PDP in Borno State is the engine room behind Boko Haram...

Observers say the Boko Haram insurgency in Borno State and by extension, in all the affected states in the north, cannot be addressed by force, rather, the root cause of the problem, which are social exclusivity, poverty and deprivation among others.

“Whether we like it or not, the Boko Haram is the creation of politicians,” Barrister Danlami Ishaq, a legal expert said. “Both Senator Zanna and Sheriff, including all politicians that are now occupying offices have used the notorious services of restive youth to win election in 2011.  In Borno in particular, politicians vowed that they would end the insecurity in the state as soon as they win elections, but up till now, we have not seen any respite. Rather, the two dominant parties - ANPP and PDP - have continued to trade blames on the troubles afflicting Borno,” the legal expert said.

Sunday Trust recalled that few months after the 2011 elections, bombings and killings continued unabated in Maiduguri and many parts of Borno State. Most of the attacks were attributed to the dreaded Boko Haram, the group which some politicians said is the creation of some politicians. The victims include politicians, clerics, and security agents among others. At the height of the crisis, the PDP in Borno State said the root of the problem was the ANPP.

Alhaji Baba Basharu, the state chairman of the PDP, said in an interview in November, 2011 with our sister publication, the Daily Trust in Abuja that the Boko Haram came to prominence in Borno State when it helped to bring Governor Ali Modu Sheriff to power in 2003 and that the current troubles began when it fell out with him. According to the PDP leader, the late Boko Haram leader, Mohammed Yusuf, was the very man who led a “Taliban” uprising in Yobe State early this decade and fled into exile after a violent clash with policemen. He said it was Sheriff’s deputy, Adamu Dibal and his Secretary to the State Government [SSG], Baba Ahmed Jidda, who negotiated for Yusuf’s return from Saudi Arabia.

Basharu alleged that when Sheriff was working to snatch Borno State from then Governor Mala Kachalla in 2003, he warmed himself into the hearts of the Yusufiyya Movement, with a promise to implement Shari’a rule in Borno State. After becoming governor, he said, Sheriff created a Ministry of Religious Affairs and appointed Alhaji Buji Foi, who was Yusufiyya’s national secretary, as its first commissioner.

The PDP chairman added that the amity between the two camps lasted for a while, until they fell out when Sheriff did not fulfill his promise to implement Shari’a rule. At that point, he said, Mohammed Yusuf ordered Fugu to resign from Sheriff’s cabinet and most other staff of the Religious Affairs Ministry brought by Fugu left as well. He said subsequently, the Yusufiyya began working to achieve Shari’a rule, through preaching. At one point, he said, there was a major clash between them and the police at Maidokiri, near the GRA in Maiduguri, and some of their members were killed.

Basharu added that when the Yusufiyya members mounted a procession to the cemetery to bury their dead members, another clash took place with the police. The police accused some of them of riding their motorbikes without crash helmets and in the ensuing clash, 19 people died, Basharu said.

According to him, Mohamed Yusuf then went to many security agencies’ offices demanding for justice for the two episodes, after which his supporters attacked prisons and police stations. This led to events of July 2009 in which Yusuf and other sect leaders were captured and killed, and the sect members dispersed, only to regroup again.

But in a rejoinder that was also published in the Daily Trust, one Bukar Alhaji Kaza, an ANPP stakeholder in Borno State, debunked Baba Basharu’s allegations, insisting that it was the PDP that created the Boko Haram. He said even prior to the 2003 elections, which brought in Senator Ali Modu Sheriff as governor, the name Mohammed Yusuf, leader of the Boko Haram sect group, was never even mentioned or heard by the Borno people, let alone being mentioned as instrumental to the emergence of the government at that time.

He said the people of Borno State, in their thousands, came out massively to vote the ANPP and Senator Ali Modu Sheriff at that time, following the suspension of the then Governor Mala Kachallah from the ANPP by its National caucus.

Kaza said Mala Kachalla later moved to the Alliance for Democracy (AD) to contest the gubernatorial election but lost.

According to Kaza, “To further proof that Baba Basharu lied in the said publication, he mentioned that a certain pact was entered into with the Yusufiyya Movement with a promise to implement Shar’iah rule.  One is sad that the PDP and its leadership in Borno State, in its desperate bid to repair its already battered image following its linkage with the Boko Haram sect that has wreaked havoc of mammoth proportions to both lives and property of innocent Nigerians, could blindly choose to go to press without verifying the facts on ground. ...For the avoidance of doubt, the late Governor Mala Kachalla started the implementation of the Shar’iah legal system in Borno State even before his successor, following the recommendation of the Shar’iah Implementation Committee, led by Professor Abubakar Mustapha, a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Maiduguri. The Shar’iah legal system was in place in Borno State before the coming of Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, so there won’t have been any reason to enter into any pact with any group on the implementation of Shar’iah. This is an established fact and the people of Borno State can testify to this,” Kaza said.

To prove its innocence, there was a time the ANPP rolled out a list of some of its members that were assassinated in the ensuing imbroglio. The list was released when the PDP stakeholder advocated for the declaration of State of Emergency in Borno State. Some 16 of the ANPP members killed, all of them in 2011 include:


The ANPP therefore said it was inconceivable to link the party, and by extension former governor Sheriff with the Boko Haram crisis.

“Having lost close family relations and political associates, it is, however, utterly preposterous to allege at this critical time that the erstwhile Governor of Borno State, Senator Dr Ali Modu Sheriff, was the mastermind of the dastardly act perpetrated by members of Jama’atul ahlul Sunna Wal-Liddawati wal Jihad. In the actual sense of it, he was the most affected and afflicted victim of the crisis,” the party said.

But Baba Basharu had during his interview insisted that the PDP has nothing to do with the Boko Haram. He also denied that the serial killing of ANPP leaders in the state indicated a PDP connection.

“Boko Haram’s grudge was against Ali Sheriff. They were against Sheriff, his government, his party and his people, including the Bulamas, as well as warders and policemen who, they said, killed their leaders.”

In spite of the arguments and counter-arguments, in its report on the insecurity in the North-East, the Ambassador Usman Galtimari panel pointed accusing fingers as politicians in Borno State as the masterminds of the unending violence. In Chapter Two of the report, it “traced the origin of private militias in Borno State in particular, of which Boko Haram is an offshoot, to politicians who set them up in the run-up to the 2003 general elections. The militias were allegedly armed and used extensively as political thugs. After the elections and having achieved their primary purpose, the politicians left the militias to their fate since they could not continue funding and keeping them employed. With no visible means of sustenance, some of the militias gravitated towards religious extremism, the type offered by Mohammed Yusuf.”

If the crisis is political, what should be the solution? A professor with the University of Maiduguri, who wouldn’t want to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue, has this to say: “Honestly, I believed we need to be more sincere in addressing the issue. Security agents have defaulted. There is need for a new approach to deal with the issue. So many innocent people have been killed; so many houses have been burnt down. The general harshness being meted out to the civilians is bringing out anger and frustration from the people. They feel that the security agents who are expected to protect them are killing them. I think the JTF needs to re-strategies. It needs to know that they are to protect the people, not to kill them or burn down their houses. Government needs to identify opinion leaders and get them to intervene in the crisis. It should not be seen as Maiduguri affair, people from other parts of the country should make inputs, to find lasting solution to the crisis.”

KANO, Nigeria, Oct. 16, 2012 (IPS/GIN) - Locals in the city of Maiduguri in the northeastern Nigerian state of Borno have intensified their calls for the military to withdraw from the town, the stronghold of the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram, after claims that they are being maltreated and abused.

   The people residing in Maiduguri have been paying a heavy price for the Islamists’ guerrilla war, as the security forces accuse them of non-cooperation and shielding the Islamists.

   “We are terribly disturbed by the wave of incessant retaliatory attacks by security forces on us,” local resident Bulama Abbagana told IPS.

   “Even if we were in a state of war with a rival country, civilians should not be killed and maimed in the way the military is doing,” Abbagana angrily told IPS over the phone.

   Boko Haram, whose name means, “western education is sin”, has for the past three years been attacking government institutions, including suicide bombings of the United Nations building in the capital, Abuja. The worst attack was the Jan. 20 assault at the ancient city of Kano that claimed over 180 lives.

   Boko Haram has adopted a Taliban style approach and is alleged to have links with Al Qaeda in North Africa. They want to impose Islamic law in a country sharply divided between a majority Muslim north and Christian south.

   One resident who does not want his name in print for fear of reprisals told IPS: “We wish to be left with Boko Haram, we would have incurred less trouble than with the military.”

   Maiduguri, the headquarters of Boko Haram activity in Nigeria and the staging point for the insurgents, appears to have become a battleground.

   The most recent attack was on Monday, Oct. 15 when sustained strikes on the city by government soldiers resulted in a number of bomb explosions and the lockdown of the city centre. On Sunday, Oct. 14 the city was rocked by a roadside blast and two separate gun attacks that killed at least four people including a local chief, residents and the military said.

   Prior to this, on Oct. 8, indiscriminate shooting allegedly committed by the members of the Joint Task Force resulted in further violence.

   It is claimed that Nigerian troops in Maiduguri went berserk after their patrol vehicle was hit with an Improvised Explosive Device, killing two soldiers, including a lieutenant, and injuring others. They were alleged to have started shooting indiscriminately in a densely populated area of Lagos Street.

   Residents say over 30 people were killed in the assault, and houses, businesses and shops were burnt down and vandalised.

   “If you see the level of damage on our burnt houses and shops, you may shed tears,” Bana Modu, whose own house suffered severe damage, told IPS.

   The feud between Nigerian security forces and residents in Maiduguri has reached its climax, with both sides pointing a finger of blame at the other.

   The security forces claim that residents are not helping in the fight against Boko Haram. In several instances, the military have complained bitterly, accusing civilians of colluding with the attackers, as Islamists have launched attacks on them from rooftops and trees.

   In turn, local residents complain that the security forces regard every person in civilian clothes as an enemy.

   “Whenever there is a bomb explosion, the security used to besiege the area and beat any one found in their way. Some are killed in the process,” banker Abubakar Mohammed told IPS over the phone.

   Businesses here have been crippled in the last three years.

   “Many people have fled the area. I don’t have anywhere to go, but I could have left to escape from the attacks from two fronts: Boko Haram and the security forces,” Msheliza Dalwa told IPS.

   The government of Borno state, where the crisis erupted in 2009, has shown no interest in withdrawing the troops, and has merely urged the security forces to respect individuals.

   “Believe me, if the federal government withdraws the Joint Task Force from Borno, all of us will be chased out of the state by insurgents,” state Governor Kashim Shettima said, addressing journalists on the topic of the recent assault.

   Shehu Sani, president of the Civil Right Congress, a local human rights group in Nigeria, told IPS: “The Nigerian security forces have been using disproportionate force which we see of equal magnitude with that of Boko Haram.”

   According to the New York-based Human Rights Watch, no fewer than 2,800 people have been killed in the attacks largely claimed by the Islamists since the violence began in 2009. A report released by the global rights watchdog last week says Boko Haram’s assaults could be described as crimes against humanity.
   “We will be happy to punish those committing wanton killings before the International Criminal Court so that those involved will not go free,” Ibarhim Badamasi, a resident in Maiduguri, told IPS.

   The Joint Task Force is accused of embarking on house-to-house searches to hunt down the insurgents, and is alleged to have engaged in secret detentions.

 “Some people arrested are dying in military cells without food, even the way people are being tortured could lead to the death of many,” a suspect arrested and subsequently released told IPS on condition of anonymity.

   The security forces have denied committing killings and torture while restoring order. In a press statement to reporters, Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa said his men did not kill or assault civilians.

   “There are no established or recorded cases of extra-judicial killings, torture, arson and arbitrary arrests by the JTF in Borno state,” Musa said in a statement.

   “Very few cases of unprofessional conduct by some personnel are documented and those concerned have been punished while others are undergoing legal processes and Court Marshal,” he added.

   The JTF has declared success in the fight against Boko Haram. It claims to have arrested over 60 members on Oct. 7 and killed a commander called Bakaka or “one-eyed man”, who is said to be close to the group’s leader, Abubakar Shekau. It also claimed to have killed the sect’s spokesman, Abu Qaqa.

   However, in a video message posted on YouTube, Shekau refuted the claims of Qaqa’s death. He only admitted that some members have been killed and their wives arrested by Nigerian forces.

   A recent report by a U.N. panel of experts highlights the connection between the recent political instability in Côte d’Ivoire and Mali, and suggests that radical Islamists with links with Al Qaeda’s North Africa branch are attempting to strengthen their presence across Africa, Boko Haram included.
Ahmad Usman....m

He’s only been in office for less than three years, but at the rate President Goodluck Jonathan is flying around the world, he is destined to become the most traveled president in history—and probably the most expensive, when it comes to travel expenditure.   The president had last year visited several countries including United States, France, Uganda, Australia, Ghana, Chad, Equatorial Guinea and Ethiopia among others, but his frequent foreign trips this year despite a pledge to reduce such overseas travels have continued to attract widespread criticisms.

Within the last nine months, President Jonathan had jetted out of the country 18 times to different destinations in Africa, Europe, Asia, North America and South America. He has already spent 45 days in office out of Nigeria in 2012 alone, costing taxpayers millions.

 

Paradoxically, the President had on January 7, 2012, during the fuel subsidy imbroglio, promised to reduce overseas travels.

While addressing the nation in a telecast, Jonathan declared: “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 ongoing 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.”

Nine months down the lane, the president does not seem to be walking his talk on foreign trips. Twenty days after making that broadcast, he boarded the presidential aircraft to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for African Union Summit with a sizeable delegation.

Reportedly, the president had muted trimming down his entourage on foreign trips in June last year before travelling to Equatorial Guinea for the 17th African Union Summit in Malabo. A Presidency source described it as “part of a cutting cost measure” to reverse the trend of travelling with large team. The source added, “Huge financial resources are committed to presidential trips. Only those whose services are essential like security, protocol and the media would henceforth be allowed to travel with the president again.” But on the contrary, most trips made by the president since January had been accompanied by a large number of aides, ministers, associates and government officials which goes against the purported directives given earlier that only people whose services would be required while on the trip will be allowed to travel with the president.

Again, when the president chooses to travel with a trimmed down delegation like the recent visit to New York, United States for the 67th Session of United Nations General Assembly, the level of profligacy was mindboggling. President Jonathan was reportedly quartered at the Pierre Hotel in a suite that cost $10,000 per night. The Nigerian delegation’s wastefulness during the trip earned the attraction of America’s conventional media. The National Broadcasting Corporation ((NBC), one of the top three television networks in the US, reported that the Nigerian delegates along with other African counterparts stayed in some of the most expensive hotels and shopped in high-priced retail stores during the UN General Assembly.

Similarly, the 2013 budget recently submitted to the National Assembly by President Jonathan suggested that N2.6 billion was voted for the president’s foreign travels for the president which was N1.69 billion more than the N951 million allocated for the same purpose in this year’s budget. Indicatively, the Presidency intends to stretch its foreign jaunts beyond the current figures.

Economic experts believe N2.6 billion is too huge for foreign trips in a nation where critical sectors such as health and education are underfunded.

Critics were also quick to point out the president’s poor sense of timing when on June 19, 2012 he left Nigeria for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the United Nations’ Earth Summit.

President Jonathan was accused of negligence for travelling to Brazil barely 24 hours after about 75 persons were killed in the bombing of three churches and consequent reprisals in Kaduna State.  Similarly, there was a fierce gunfight between operatives of the Joint Task Force and suspected terrorists, which also left about 25 dead in Damaturu, Yobe State.

In that trip, the president travelled with 116 others, including 25 personal aides; 18 aides of the First Lady; two members of the National Assembly; five ministers; two governors and 63 officials of various ministries.

Defending the Brazil jaunt, Information Minister, Labaran Maku, claimed that the president could rule the country from anywhere in the world.

He uttered: “The President can take decision from anywhere in the world; his absence will not hamper his power to act. The Vice-President effectively takes charge of affairs, once the president is out of Nigeria and he is in touch with the president on an hourly basis. There is no vacuum; the most important thing is that the president and the VP work harmoniously and are in constant touch.”

President Jonathan equally defended himself during a Presidential Media Chat broadcast nationwide on June 24.

“I have no regrets going to Brazil. Nigerians who were worried that I travelled got worried out of ignorance. One of the tactics of terrorists is to strangle government. If they heard that the president and the vice-president wanted to travel but couldn’t do so because they struck, they would celebrate it,” he said.

Five days after his arrival from Brazil, the president left Abuja again for Brussels, Belgium, for a one-day official visit to Belgium, where he addressed participants at the Summit of the World Customs Organisation.

He took along with him 57 persons for the trip. They included 26 aides, three ministers, eight members of the National Assembly and 20 other government officials.

Mrs. Jonathan left Brussels for Maryland, United States of America to attend the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s First Ladies “Youth Infusion” Summit in Annapolis, reportedly in company with 36 people, including 18 aides, four wives of governors and 14 associates.

The 2012 presidential foreign trip dossier suggests that President Jonathan travelled out of the country four times in September alone. He went to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for a two-day visit on September 1 for the burial of late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and nine days later he took a trip to Malawi and Botswana in a cumulative three-day visit for enhancement of bi-lateral relationships.  The president ended the month of September with another trip to New York, United States for the UN General Assembly.

He was also a special guest of Trinidad & Tobago Prime Minster Kamla Persad-Bissessar between July 31 and August 1. The president took with him a 70-member delegation for   Emancipation celebrations.

President Jonathan’s trips have been likened to those of former president Olusegun Obasanjo, who was said to have been one of the most travelled heads of government in the world. He had traveled out of the country 93 times within the first three years in office.

He was reported to have stayed outside the country for 340 days during his presidency and travelled 400 times between 1999 and 2007.

Critics of the president’s frequent foreign trips have argued that there are serious issues at home which require his attention rather than the jaunts he often makes to countries with less economic and political importance.

Many of the trips he had made in the past months, they submitted, should have been done by the officials of the ministry of foreign affairs so that he can sit at home and concentrate on the pressing issues facing the nation.

Civil right activist, Mr Yinka Odumakin, decried the frequent foreign travels of the president. He observed that it does not show that the president is committed to the task given to him by the people.

According to him, “the president’s frequent foreign trips are a clear indication that he does not care about us at home, we are not his priority. He does not give a damn about Nigerians and the job he was given to do by the people. As someone with limited exposure, he sees the seat of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as an excuse to go round the world shaking hands with foreign leaders and visit cities he has not been before rather than sitting down at home to tackle the challenges facing the country. The challenges caused by insecurity, floods, hunger, fuel scarcity and all sort of afflictions we are witnessing  today should be the concern of any president anywhere in the world. But the priority of the president is quite different, it’s not about Nigerians and Nigeria, it’s about the privilege of office beyond responsibility of office.

“When the Malawian president was to come to Nigeria for the African presidents submit it was Nigeria that sent the plane that brought her from Malawi because she has sold all the aircrafts that her country has to revive the country’s ailing economy. This is a leader that has heart for her people. She wants to live in the condition that is not far from the one her people are living. But our own president, despite the fact that he met several Jets in the presidential fleet, he has acquired three more jets for his foreign trips whereas today we don’t have one single plane flying Nigerian colour yet we have several planes in the presidential fleet. I think it’s a function of priority and focus of the president. What it means is that he owe no allegiance to Nigerian people or willing to do anything about the economy but going about the world to impress world leaders. Look at all the events he has gone to anywhere in the world, Nigeria always has the largest number of delegations, is this the way to improving our ailing economy. The president is feasting but asked us to fast, he asked us to tightened our belts but he is not ready to make any sacrifice for the country.”

A former deputy governor of Kebbi State and Chairman of the integrity group of the All Nigerian Peoples Party [ANPP], Alhaji Suleiman Muhammed Argungu bemoaned the president’s frequent foreign trips.

Alhaji Argungu stated that the challenges posed by insecurity, floods, power and corruption should be the priority of the president rather than his frequent foreign trips which may not yield any good thing for the country.

He said “I think the president should stop or minimize his frequent foreign trips because it’s not in the interest of the nation. He should sit at home and tackle the various problems confronting us as a nation. We have issues of corruption, fuel scarcity, insecurity and power to tackle, so he should sit at home to tackle them rather than frequently embarking on foreign trips.”

Also speaking to Sunday Trust on the issue, national publicity secretary of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) Mr Rotimi Fashakin described  as “excessive” the N2.9 billion voted for his travels in the 2013 budget at a time when Nigeria is still grappling with recession.

Fashakin noted that by his action President Jonathan does not mean what he says, stressing that his administration does not have real desire to bring about a fundamental change from the past.

“In the budget proposal for 2013, Jonathan plans to spend N2.9billion on travels. For a country still grappling with recession, that is excessive. There is no real desire by this administration to bring about a fundamental change from the horrendous past. Jonathan has become a talking but not doing president! For most of the time, the president does not mean what he says.

“The other day, he gave false statistics credited to the Transparency International about Nigeria. Why should anyone be surprised that the president continues to spend more on his big government? There is a leadership deficit in Nigeria. Is Jonathan a hostage of his deceptive schemes?,” CPC spokesperson queried.

Similarly, the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) spokesman, Mr Osita Okechukwu, said though he had no problem with foreign trips aimed at boosting Nigeria’s relations with other countries, he advised that the number of contingent should be shrunk to save money.

“I don’t have anything against the trips. I may just be worried about the enlargement of the contingent. They should try to shrink the contingent. I’m saying this because you cannot tell him not to go the United Nations. Will you tell him not to strike a balance in terms of bi-lateral relations? What is awful is the size of the contingent. The size of the contingent is more worrisome than the number of trips.

“I will advise that they should shrink the contingent to save money. There are a lot of people that have no business on the trips. Those that do not have any business on the trip should stay back,” he said.

But in a swift reaction to the issue, Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs Dr Doyin Okupe dismissed the report that the president is travelling overseas with large contingent as untrue.

Okupe, who was told that President Jonathan’s trips abroad with large contingent, was not in tune with his promise to cut cost of governance after the January 2012 fuel subsidy protests, said fuming:“What do you mean by large contingent? What do you mean by that? Like the recent trip to the United Nations, how many people follow the President?

“….The allegation is that the president said he is going to cut the cost of governance and that when he travels, he goes with large contingent. Now, if that is true. The latest travel was his trip to the UN. How many people from your own investigation did he carry?

“I will tell you point blank that it is not true that the president carries a lot of people on any trip when he is going. Number one, he is using a Gulfstream aircraft that doesn’t take more than 20 or so. A lot of Nigerians travel by regular routes to just go and give president support….

“So, where is this large crowd from? Where do you get it from? You cannot give me any exact number anywhere. The UN is the latest meeting he went. What number of people did you find out?

“You should be able to tell me that when he went to America, he went with certain number of people. When the president says he wants to cut the cost of governance, what he is trying to say is that we are going to cut the cost of overhead, the cost of bureaucracy and others.

“How many times does he travel in a month? How many times does he travel in a quarter? There is no need for us to write things for the sake of writing them. That story has no substance and cannot be proven by anything. In any case, the government has a budget for President’s travels. And there is no evidence from the National Assembly that he has overstressed that budget.”

Hope he is going to announce his resignation... Good news....If not.. All the adress na wash... Hmmmm.... Imagining Goodluck witout Patience... Lol.lol.lol

I'm not suprised.... Reatardeen will always be a retard.... I wonder what the Phd is for... Liar President......

Presidency probes alleged lie in Jonathan’s Independence speech

October 3, 2012 by Olalekan Adetayo, Abuja ⁠138 Comments

SOME of President Goodluck Jonathan’s aides may be in trouble for reportedly putting false information in the 52nd Independence anniversary speech of the President.

President Goodluck Jonathan
| credits: nigerianbulletin.com

Jonathan in his 52nd Independence Day broadcast told Nigerians that the global corruption watch body, Transparency International, rated Nigeria second after United States in anti-corruption efforts.

The claim has been found to be untrue with many accusing Jonathan of telling a lie.

In fact, TI has reportedly denied issuing such a report.

Furious at the development, the President has reportedly ordered a probe to discover the source of the misinformation.

“In its latest report, Transparency International noted that Nigeria is the second most improved country in the effort to curb corruption. We will sustain the effort in this direction with an even stronger determination to strengthen the institutions that are statutorily entrusted with the task of ending this scourge,” Jonathan had told the nation on October 1.

The President had made a similar claim at an interdenominational church service held on Sunday as part of the activities marking the nation’s 52nd Independence anniversary.

But an online publication, Premium Times, reports that TI refuted the claim when it was contacted.

“Transparency International does not have a recent rating or report that places Nigeria as the second most improved country in the fight against corruption,” Premium Times  quoted the organisation to have said in a mail.

A source said since he had based his speech on information made available to him by his aides, the President promptly ordered the probe of the source of the claim.

An insider in the Presidency told The PUNCH on Tuesday that the President’s media handlers met on the issue.

They were said to have directed one of the presidential aides, Mr. Reno Omokri, to probe the source of the false claim.

Already, Omokri had reportedly concluded his findings which showed that the piece of information was lifted from a publication in the BusinessDay of September 12, 2012 edition.

Curiously, the memo in which Omokri reported his findings to other aides had found its way to the websites of some online publications on Tuesday.

The memo was also published on the website of the Ministry of Information, http://www.fmi.gov.ng/, as a rejoinder under the headline, “Mr. President’s statement was based on notorious facts.”

In the memo, Omokri who signed simply as Reno, said the President’s claim was based on a newspaper report.

“On this issue, the media published their synopsis of the most recent Transparency International report and BusinessDay, a well respected newspaper with a bias for business reporting, in a headline on the 12th of September 2012 with the title “FG’s anti-corruption initiative impacts Nigeria’s global perception” said, ‘The survey on global corruption perceptions for 2011 versus 2001 showed that the third best improvement in the world was in Nigeria, with its score improving by 1.5 points.’

“For a section of the opposition to now cast aspersions on the integrity of the President when he relied on notorious facts (anything published in the press and which remains unchallenged is a notorious fact) is proof positive of the now obvious fact that they lack ideas on how to move Nigeria forward and would rather snipe at efforts of the President to move the nation forward for which any patriot would do.”

Official reactions normally bear the full names and designations of the authors of such documents.

Our correspondent learnt that the development had caused panic in the Presidency with fear of dismissal already gripping some top officials.

In his reaction, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, told journalists on Tuesday that Nigerians should focus more on thePresident’s message.

He said, “The President’s message is that this administration is tackling corruption. The revelations from the pension scam and the fuel subsidy scam as well as the sanitation of activities at the ports all came to be because the President sanctioned them.

“People should focus on the message, namely that a lot of progress has been made and is still being made to tackle corruption in the system.

“There are lot of people outside there who mislead Nigerians that nothing is being done. These people tackle individuals.

“What the President did was that he fired hope and promised his rededication to the service of the nation. There are those who are looking for a way to water down the message.”

Presidency probes alleged lie in Jonathan’s Independence speech

October 3, 2012 by Olalekan Adetayo, Abuja ⁠138 Comments

SOME of President Goodluck Jonathan’s aides may be in trouble for reportedly putting false information in the 52nd Independence anniversary speech of the President.

President Goodluck Jonathan
| credits: nigerianbulletin.com

Jonathan in his 52nd Independence Day broadcast told Nigerians that the global corruption watch body, Transparency International, rated Nigeria second after United States in anti-corruption efforts.

The claim has been found to be untrue with many accusing Jonathan of telling a lie.

In fact, TI has reportedly denied issuing such a report.

Furious at the development, the President has reportedly ordered a probe to discover the source of the misinformation.

“In its latest report, Transparency International noted that Nigeria is the second most improved country in the effort to curb corruption. We will sustain the effort in this direction with an even stronger determination to strengthen the institutions that are statutorily entrusted with the task of ending this scourge,” Jonathan had told the nation on October 1.

The President had made a similar claim at an interdenominational church service held on Sunday as part of the activities marking the nation’s 52nd Independence anniversary.

But an online publication, Premium Times, reports that TI refuted the claim when it was contacted.

“Transparency International does not have a recent rating or report that places Nigeria as the second most improved country in the fight against corruption,” Premium Times  quoted the organisation to have said in a mail.

A source said since he had based his speech on information made available to him by his aides, the President promptly ordered the probe of the source of the claim.

An insider in the Presidency told The PUNCH on Tuesday that the President’s media handlers met on the issue.

They were said to have directed one of the presidential aides, Mr. Reno Omokri, to probe the source of the false claim.

Already, Omokri had reportedly concluded his findings which showed that the piece of information was lifted from a publication in the BusinessDay of September 12, 2012 edition.

Curiously, the memo in which Omokri reported his findings to other aides had found its way to the websites of some online publications on Tuesday.

The memo was also published on the website of the Ministry of Information, http://www.fmi.gov.ng/, as a rejoinder under the headline, “Mr. President’s statement was based on notorious facts.”

In the memo, Omokri who signed simply as Reno, said the President’s claim was based on a newspaper report.

“On this issue, the media published their synopsis of the most recent Transparency International report and BusinessDay, a well respected newspaper with a bias for business reporting, in a headline on the 12th of September 2012 with the title “FG’s anti-corruption initiative impacts Nigeria’s global perception” said, ‘The survey on global corruption perceptions for 2011 versus 2001 showed that the third best improvement in the world was in Nigeria, with its score improving by 1.5 points.’

“For a section of the opposition to now cast aspersions on the integrity of the President when he relied on notorious facts (anything published in the press and which remains unchallenged is a notorious fact) is proof positive of the now obvious fact that they lack ideas on how to move Nigeria forward and would rather snipe at efforts of the President to move the nation forward for which any patriot would do.”

Official reactions normally bear the full names and designations of the authors of such documents.

Our correspondent learnt that the development had caused panic in the Presidency with fear of dismissal already gripping some top officials.

In his reaction, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, told journalists on Tuesday that Nigerians should focus more on thePresident’s message.

He said, “The President’s message is that this administration is tackling corruption. The revelations from the pension scam and the fuel subsidy scam as well as the sanitation of activities at the ports all came to be because the President sanctioned them.

“People should focus on the message, namely that a lot of progress has been made and is still being made to tackle corruption in the system.

“There are lot of people outside there who mislead Nigerians that nothing is being done. These people tackle individuals.

“What the President did was that he fired hope and promised his rededication to the service of the nation. There are those who are looking for a way to water down the message.”

I'm not suprised.... Odechukwu at his best... Guess abati did not edit the script well

President Goodluck Jonathan’s jet finally arrived in New York City last night after a secret stopover in Germany where he reportedly visited his ailing wife, Patience, as SaharaReporters had earlier revealed.

Mr. Jonathan’s presidential flight arrived in New York about 10 p.m. (New York time) and the president immediately headed for his five-star accommodation at Pierre Hotel, which is located on 5th Avenue overlooking Central Park in Manhattan. Mr. Jonathan is staying in a suite whose total cost per night goes between $5000 and $10000.

SaharaReporters had reported two nights ago that Mr. Goodluck was making a secret visit to Germany to visit his wife. But in an apparent ploy to deflect attention away from the secret trip, the Presidency sent out undated photos ostensibly showing the president leaving Abuja with fanfare. Our photo editors’ quick analysis of the photos revealed a number curious findings, including information that the camera used for taking the photos, a NIKON D300, was programmed to a 2011 date.
 
As reported by SaharaReporters, the president and his delegation flew to New York with two presidential jets. The other jet, which acted as a decoy, arrived in New York at 3 p.m. On that plane carried some ministers and members of the State House press detail.

If Mr. Jonathan had left Nigeria at the time claimed by the photos circulated by the State House photographers, he would have arrived in New York at least nine hours earlier. SaharaReporters received the photos at 11:20 a.m. (Nigerian time). Since it was most likely that the photographer left the airport and went back to the Presidential villa to send the photos, it meant that Mr. Jonathan’s departure from Nigeria was about 9 a.m. (Nigerian time). Direct flights from Abuja to New York take approximately 11 hours, according to expert aeronautical estimates. This would have put Mr. Goodluck in New York around 3 p.m. EST (US Eastern Standard Time).

Mr. Jonathan’s arrival in New York at 10 p.m. meant that the Nigerian president could not account for between 9 and 10 hours in transit. Several of our sources insisted that the president made a brief stopover in Europe to visit his wife who is on admission at a hospital in Wiesbaden, Germany

Topical issues that relate to national intrest shouldn't be shrouded in controversy or lip tight situations. Apart from Patience been the first lady she is also a Perm Sec... Hope they are not cabalisng aso rock again

By SaharaReporters, New York

A plane with President Goodluck Jonathan has reportedly left Nigeria's capital, Abuja, several hours before the Nigerian leader was scheduled to depart to New York to attend this year's United Nations General Assembly. SaharaReporters learnt that the secretive maneuver meant that the president was most likely headed for Germany to see his ailing wife.

“There has been a great measure of secrecy surrounding the president’s departure,” said a source close to the Presidency. “I believe that Mr. President will stop over in Germany to see the First Lady before arriving in New York.”

Mrs. Patience Jonathan is spending her fourth week in a hospital in Wiesbaden, Germany.

A Saharareporters source in Germany disclosed that German authorities cleared a Nigerian presidential jet to travel last night out of Abuja.

Earlier today, the Presidency issued a statement to the effect that Mr. Jonathan would head for New York accompanied by a delegation of several Nigerian officials including state governors and presidential aides. SaharaReporters had earlier reported that the governors of Bauchi and Akwa Ibom are included on Mr. Jonathan’s delegation.

A source in Abuja told our correspondent that presidential aide Oronto Douglas and Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State were recently added to the delegation.
 
SaharaReporters had also disclosed that German doctors ruled out the prospect of Mrs. Jonathan making the trip to New York. “Once the president heard that the First Lady cannot make it to New York, he began to plan how to make a secret trip to Germany to her,” said a source in Abuja.

In a bid to deflect attention from his stopover in Germany, Mr. Jonathan decided to travel to New York in two separate jets. The first plane, which is being used as a decoy, was to take the president to Germany on a secret mission to see his wife while the second jet will leave Nigeria and head straight to New York sometime tomorrow.
 
A source at the Presidency disclosed that it was unusual for the president to travel with two presidential jets. The only exceptions were when the First Lady insisted on traveling with a separate delegation, a major source of waste in the Presidency.

President Jonathan frequently travels either on a Boeing 737-7N6 business jet with tail number 5N-FGT or a newer jet, a Gulfstream G550 with tail number 5N-FGW. The Gulfstream was bought in April 2011.


http://saharareporters.com/news-page/president-jonathan-secret-get-away-out-abuja-see-ailing-wife

F.A.L.C.A.O = Fooled All Lovers of Chelsea And the Owner! Lol.lol.lol.lol."Ol

Published: August 27,2012



Andrew Azazi’s Aso Drive Abuja Mansions



Andrew Azazi’s Aso Drive Abuja Mansions

Based on his annual salary as National Security Adviser, Mr Azazi would have to serve for 274 years to earn N1.5 billion, the value of one his new Abuja homes.

Andrew Owoeyi Azazi, a retired military general, recently sacked by the president as National Security Adviser, has retired into posh multi billion naira Abuja homes, which cost far above his known earnings, a PREMIUM TIMES investigation has revealed.

The two exotic homes sit side by side on 19 and 21 Mambila Crescent in Aso Drive, a choice part of the nation’s capital where some of Nigeria’s men of power and means live.

Both mansion-like properties, were bought at the tail of Mr Azazi’s service at the presidency.

Property experts, who we requested to value the houses, estimate that each of the properties is worth at least N1.5 billion.

A third property, recently acquired, is yet undeveloped. It sits behind the two mansions on Mambila Crescent, sharing a fence with their swimming pools but accessible through Olumo Close, off Mambila Crescent.

The home on No. 21 is the retired general’s favourite. It is tastefully finished, shielded by high voltage security fencing fitted with sophisticated security cameras on all sides.

It is a duplex, fitted with a Barbados-shaped swimming pool at the backyard and boys quarters.

The home, now guarded by hi-tech security gadgets, tall fences and shrubs, also had a troop of soldiers guarding it, neighbours told PREMIUM TIMES.

The property on 19 is a little less busy, seldom used by the retired general and his aides. It is tastefully finished too, like the general’s favourite but not guarded as much.

It is also a duplex, fitted with a Bahama-styled rectangular swimming pool at the back side, adjacent to the boys quarters.

The undeveloped adjoining property, on No.2 Olumo close, off Mambila Crescent, was acquired at N800 million, sources familiar with the deal told PREMIUM TIMES.

The new plot is currently being developed by First Fingers Construction Limited. The site is concealed from public view, but the ongoing construction on the plot was still at its foundation stage, early August.

Before moving to the Aso Drive estate, the retired general occupied two semi-detached duplexes at 30 Mamman Nasir street in Asokoro.

The Asokoro mansion has no swimming pool and now looks deserted. Neighbours told us Mr. Azazi “no longer comes around.”



His public earnings

Mr Azazi’s highest earning was as a military general, where he earned N1.4 million monthly, N16.8 million annually. He earned this perk between 2006 and 2007.

The retired General needed to serve as a military general for 94 years to earn as much to acquire one of his estates through known legitimate earnings.

As a National Security Adviser for 21 months, the retired General earned a total of N5.471 million as annual salary, N455,940.00 monthly and N35,000.00 as duty tour allowance per night. When on official assignment outside the country, he earned a duty tour allowance of USD1000 per night.

Relying on his annual salary as the National Security Adviser, Mr Azazi would serve for 274 years to earn N1.5 billion, the value of one of his apartments.

Mr Azazi was appointed National Security Adviser just as the extremist Boko Haram sect was scaling up its deadly attacks on Nigeria.

At the time, militants in the restive Niger Delta region had just embraced amnesty and the country was battling to repair its oil-dependent economy, largely crippled by the militants.

While in office, General Azazi supervised the expenditure of not more than N304.552 billion of public funds allocated to the intelligence community to check the growing insecurity in the country.

During his tenure, he was severely criticised for presiding over the spending of several billions of naira on security while delivering little or nothing, especially with insecurity spiralling out of control.

Some critics even suggested that a huge chunk of the funds allocated for security went into private pockets of officials.

In his first year in office, Mr Azazi supervised what was left of the N75.047 billion allocated to the intelligence community after he took over from Kayode Are who acted briefly as NSA after Aliyu Gusau left.

In 2011, the security budget surged – just as the Boko Haram terrorist activities too – to N105.240 billion.  Mr Azazi supervised the spending of the funds.

In 2012, the intelligence community got even more money, a scandalous N124.263 billion – just as internal insecurity grew worse.

In the 21 months Mr Azazi served as National Security Adviser, the security budget almost doubled and he supervised the utilization of not less than half the total sum budgeted for the community in those years, 2010-12.

While the worth of Azazi’s favourite home is over 27,000 percent higher than his annual salary, it is a meagre fraction – 1.4 per cent – of the public funds he managed in 2011 alone.

Azazi reacts

When PREMIUM TIMES sought explanations from Mr. Azazi on how he acquired the exotic properties, the general flared up and asked our reporter to “go to sleep.”

“You call me on phone from PREMIUM TIMES to ask how I got money to buy a house?” he asked.

“Go to sleep!” he snapped and then dropped the call.

Later, Mr Azazi sent a text, saying, “Go look for facts my Premium man. I ran Weiboro Properties for over 2 years before I went back to government.”

Since he terminated the call before we could ask all our questions, we were unable to get his reaction to suggestions by some critics who believe that he left the NSA post far richer than when he got in.

A CPC Chieftain has disagreed with his party which today issued a statement criticizing the CBN for its decision to issue a 5000 Naira note and convert the five, ten, and a hundred Naira notes into coins. (see statement below).

PRESS RELEASE.
⁠ The planned restructuring of the Nigerian currency: Our stand!
⁠
⁠The Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) has noted, with cautious optimism, the planned restructuring of the Nigerian currency by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). In the publicized announcement by the CBN governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the Apex Bank shall introduce 5,000 Naira note to the Nigerian polity from

the beginning of 2013. In addition, N5, N10, and N20 that have hitherto been currency notes, shall thenceforth be converted to coins.
⁠
⁠ The CBN governor anchored his argument for a higher denomination on the need to complement the cashless economy policy, as it would drastically reduce the volume of currency in circulation. He opined that some countries, notably Japan, Singapore and Germany with higher denominations of currencies recorded 2.8, 1.1 and -0.7 inflation rates respectively in 2010.
⁠
⁠ We disagree with this position because, given Nigeria’s struggles with bribery and corruption, this new introduction of higher denomination is antithetical to the much-touted cashless economy. In fact, the era of ‘Ghana-must-go bags’ dwindled with the introduction of the N500 and N1000 notes in the past. It became easier to carry millions of Naira in moderately-sized brief cases and, inexorably, increasing the incidences of high-profile bribery scandals in the polity. Recently, we witnessed the allegations and counter-allegations of solicitation for and receipt of bribe money levied against certain highly influential politicians in the Country. It is axiomatic to infer that those transactions were opaque to the Banking system because of the facilitating ambience of high currency notes. We insist that the introduction of N5000 currency note shall further exacerbate the corruptive tendencies in the Nigerian polity.
⁠
⁠ Whilst we agree with the CBN that printing of notes is more expensive than minting coins, it is difficult to believe that the solution lies in converting the N5, N10 and N20 notes to coins. First, the cultural values of the Nigerian people do not favor use of coins. The question is: how did we fare with the previous conversion of 50k, N1 and N2 Naira notes to coins? In fact, those currencies tacitly went out of circulation as a result of disuse. Second, with an economy very susceptible to fragile macroeconomic distortions, the tendency is often for the price of goods and services to be at par with the currency notes in circulation. What will invariably happen is the spiraling inflation that may cause further macroeconomic distortions and unwittingly, bringing about political upheavals. Third, the existence of the foregoing scenarios may exacerbate the already polarized Nigerian polity of have’s and have-not’s, with the systematic break-down of the middle class.
⁠
⁠ The CBN governor was reported to have said that various segments of the Nigerian state shall be encouraged to create avenues for the usage of coins. As plausible as this may sound, the question is: what efforts have been made in the past to mobilize these segments of the State on the usage of coins and what has been the success rate? Furthermore, with the huge mobilization against the pasting of Naira notes on persons at get-together ceremonies, have we succeeded in stamping out this vice? Is it possible to extirpate deep seated cultural practices with hurriedly implemented policies as against allowing structured evolvement vis-à-vis modern realities?
⁠
⁠ As the enunciators of the Nation’s monetary policy, we are not unaware of the patriotic zeal of the CBN leadership in churning out this latest policy. However, we believe there is the sore need to consider different shades of opinion before making the final draft. In so doing, the matters of State shall not suffer insufficient perspicacity.
⁠
⁠ God bless Nigeria.
⁠
⁠ Rotimi Fashakin (Engr.)
⁠
⁠ National Publicity Secretary, CPC.
⁠
⁠ (Friday, August 24, 2012

When the former military governor of Borno State, Brigadier Lawan Maina, spent N3.5 million to give a "befitting reception" in honour of Prince Charles and his charming wife, late Princess Diana on March 17, 1990, the whole nation was agape in shock. Again, Maina took the nation's breath for allegedly spending N500, 000 to attend the burial ceremony of Brigadier Dan Archibong, the Principal Staff Officer of Chief of General Staff, Admiral Augustus Aikhomu. These, among others, put Maina in the cross wire of Dodan Barracks. He was relieved of his appointment posthaste.

Maina's case did not happen in the 21st century- it happened in the twilight of the last century. It did not happen under the eagle-eyed vigil of democracy- it happened during the military regime and detected through the very dark goggles of the ruling junta. 

Although the amount could have made changes in people's lives in those days, it is relatively a pittance today. In those days, the amount was enough to change the lives of millions. But today a local government chairman can squander millions on far less important jamboree. A few years ago, the then chairman of Rimin Gado local government of Kano State emptied the council's coffers into his pocket and flew to Dubai with a local soccer team to play against an equally nondescript local team in the UAE. 

Tafa Balogun, DSP Alamiseigha or James Ibori would weep for Maina for getting the boots on account of what can pass as 'pick-pocketing' today. Apart from former Inspector General of Police Tafa Balogun, Nigeria's legal system failed to find the duo of Alam and Ibori guilty. But for the long arm of British law, Ibori would now be walking free and resting in the comfort of his home.

When the federal government, through the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of Economy Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said government was negotiating with subsidy thieves who were initially dragged to court by the same government, I wondered what kind of banana republic we are living in. I think banana republic is even flattering for Nigeria. The way injustice and impunity are elevated to high heavens in Nigeria makes me avow that we are living in dialium guianense (tsamiyar biri) republic. 

Perching precariously askance on her forehead, the minister's iconic headscarf (daurin ture ka ga tsiya) reminds you of the pop culture of Layin Pam Bakwai in Fagge in the 80s. It also reminds you of the wrath you will incur for attempt to poke the gear. So any attempt to dare the cocky minister will be met with tsiya (trouble). 

"Those (subsidy racketeers) who we consider their infractions not too grievous," she fumed, "we are willing to talk to them and if they are willing to work with us, we would also be willing to settle their claims so that they can go and import.

"But to some of those who are bent on blackmailing the Federal Government even though they have committed very serious infractions in the subsidy, we are not willing to pay them when they have not cleared their case."

What does the minister mean by this statement? What brings negotiation into the matter of theft not debt? Are their "infractions not too grievous" as the pickpockets languishing in our prisons? Why can't the government allow them go on trial? What is wrong with a law that can jail a pickpocket and fail to jail a thief who stole billions? What is wrong with our law that a 'white-collar' thief (who ordinarily should have been in jail) will have the temerity to dare the government? How could the marketers that sabotaged the government be seen not in the dock but on negotiation table with top government officials?

Given the sleaze, fraud and heist that are daily happening, I couldn't but wonder which country will beat Nigeria in terms of corruption. What are the criteria of assessment by Transparency International that Nigeria is not given a permanent seat at the Security Council of the United [Corrupt] Nations? We deserve that if government will wine and dine with those who stole the billions of naira meant to cushion the effect of our hardship.

We deserve the seat if Tafa Balogun who stole over 10 billion naira will spend just a few months in prison, while a thief who stole worn-out shoes in mosque will spend years awaiting trial. We deserve the seat if the abductors of a sitting governor would walk tall, free -and even become governors and senators. We deserve the seat if a person on remand would become senator from jail. We deserve the seat if N2.5 billion cannot earn us an Olympics medal.

But prior to Okonjo-Iweala's pontification, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation Mohammed Bello Adoke had ordered for the withdrawal of charges against some of the accused subsidy thieves. Why? I don't actually know but I can hazard a guess: the government wants to strike a 50-50 deal with them.

Even on the first day of their appearance in court, some of the celebrated subsidy racketeers were wearing smiles - and shades. They looked every inch unfazed because they knew they will steal the more, negotiate their freedom, and then rest at home.

Every time I attempt to heap the blame on our weak legal system, I forgo the idea when I recall how the same "weak" laws are used to punish the less-privileged in the society. Only two weeks ago, a Senior Magistrates' Court in Osogbo sentenced a 19-year-old motorcyclist, Oyedele Tunde, to two years imprisonment with hard labour, "for riding without side mirror and valid rider's license." 

Poor Tunde had no Attorney-General of the Federation to withdraw his case. Tunde's dad is not a ruling party leader to secure nolle prosequi from the Attorney General. He will go to prison, definitely. This really makes me wonder why can't the real thieves go to jail if there is a law that can send Tundes of this world to prison?

One would think heaven would fall on an accused whenever EFCC reels out a long litany of charges against him/her. In an inexplicable twist of the law, the charges would either be slowly dropped or vitiated in the course of the trial. But Tunde was arraigned on just a four-count charge, to which he was found guilty. It is however ironical to see EFCC arraigning a suspect on about a hundred count charge, and then halfway into trial, he would be acquitted. He would go scot free, walk tall and rest in the comfort of his homes. Mtseew!

This infinitely episodic Nigerian drama brings to mind the scarily scarified face of a Yoruba woman I once knew. The woman, whose wares did not go beyond two large baby bath tubs she carried alongside her daughter, would traverse our neighbourhood in a house-to-house order in the 80s selling items. The local women, who preferred to 'buy' wares on credit from her, dubbed her 'Ci ka Kwanta,' roughly meaning "you can default in payment and rest without harassment".  Ci ka Kwanta's repayment flexibility was superb and unique to her. She wouldn't mind if you would opt to stagger a payment for a pair of infant crochet socks by as many as possible instalments stretching up to a year. 

But when the debt becomes bad, she would negotiate and propose, like the federal government, a 50-50 settlement.

And then, like the subsidy thieves, you can go and rest.

 

Jaafar Jaafar....

Pray.... Prayed.... Prayers.....

Former Military President General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida interacted with journalists as part of the activities to mark his 71st birthday at his Hilltop residence in Minna. Weekly Trust’s correspondent was there. Excerpts:

 

How do you feel at 71?

You know, all I can tell you now is that I am aging gracefully and it is also an opportunity to try at all costs to think about the best way we could go forward so that we could channelize these virtues of ours towards achieving a greater country.

Supposing you are the president now, what would you have done differently from what President Goodluck Jonathan is doing in addressing the present insurgency in the country?

You should understand that President Jonathan, Babangida, Shagari, Obasanjo, Buhari, or anybody that ran a new or developing country should know that what we are going through now, other countries went through that, but through    perseverance, hard work and ability to dialogue, these countries has passed over these problems. So, I think as long as we are ready to learn from our mistakes, we will get there. We went through a civil war and I don’t believe we will go again into a civil war despite the drums that have been beaten. I am not sure that you, the younger generations, will like to go to war that we went through. So, we learn as the mistakes are being committed.

Your government has been the most criticized in the history    of this country, how do you react when you are wrongly accused?

To be very honest with you, I don’t consider it to be a problem, because in the last 22 or 23 years since I left office, it is the same sing song either by the media or by columnists and so on. If somebody looks at me and say ‘yes, during his time he likes corruption’, now the question is, in the name of God, aren’t you capable of doing something for the last 22 years or you just fold your arms and wait until somebody does same thing? Look, there had been a lot of governments after I had left government. Or you mean you did not have people who are capable of correcting the wrong which somebody did or you just talk about it and you are satisfied? When we talked, we offered solutions. When my boss, OBJ (Olusegun Obasanjo) and I talked, we offered a solution. Is it not laziness for somebody to sit down and say ‘when they were there, what did they do?’ Ok, fine, we were there, but things were happening, we should not be deprived the right to make a contribution. We have presidents who authorized bombings of some countries, but they are not castigated because they organized this and that, but I do understand that this is Nigeria. We look at things differently, but I come to accept that for every subject you raised in this country, you have as many as 160 million opinions. And if you are hypothetical, people will still not leave you alone.

Don’t you think that the present insecurity situation in the country is capable of affecting political transition come 2015?

Not at all! When I was growing up I was involved in so many things in this country which bordered on what I will call stability of this country. From about 1963 and 1964, we faced many riots like, Tiv riots, Isaac Adaka Boro insurgency and    you name it. These are all because we are a developing country, so we went through what we had to go through, but in a different dimension. I participated  virtually in every operation from 1964 till I left office, but I was sensible    enough to know that every developing country goes through the process that we went through. I believe it is a passing phase in the life of this great country. I once told some students in a unity school that I did not have the pleasure or the luxury of going to a school where virtually everybody is there. From my own observation and reading, what you guys write (referring to media), I want to say that you have not done enough study, you have not done enough investigation to find out the causes of all these problems, not only Boko Haram but even communal strife, boundaries between one tribe or the other, it could be in Akwa Ibom State or some other places, including the problems between some Fulanis and some Gwaris and so forth. Somebody should be able to tell us or do a research of all these conflicts in parts of the country.

Recently, there were accusations that the present security challenges in the country could have been tackled, if national and northern leaders are in one way or the other not behind the insurgency?

It is a democratic society, isn’t it? Those who said northern leaders are involved in the activities of the outlawed organization or that some of us are involved, they know what to do and they should do what they ought to do to help all of us. So, I would ask them to do what needs to be done. Well I am quite comfortable that I said what needs to be said. I said that in a recent press statement, so what else?

Can you please tell us about a particular incident that you will never forget in your life?

In July 1966, when we went through the first crisis, there was a feeling that the leadership at that time, that one part of the country does not want the other and so the best thing was to discontinue, but the most important lesson which I learnt as a young officer then was the fact that despite the relationship we had established with my colleagues when we were in the Nigerian Military Training College, circumstances separated us; I was on this side while they were on the other side of the war. Honestly, what impressed me most was that when we met each other, we don’t look ourselves as enemies; we still remembered our younger days when we were cadets. Political misunderstanding brought us into this war. I have always given this as an example: I had a classmate, he was on the other side while I was on this side of the war and he knew I was there and I knew he was also there. When the war ended in January 1970, we became friends because what had happened had happened. We used to tease ourselves that ‘you were fighting me’ and vice versa. I think the ability to go back to the Nigerian society and still remain as one, I think that was the most remarkable thing we did. Hardly do you find a country that goes through the civil war and still remains the same and this has been about 42 years ago. The credit goes to Nigerians, but as a leader you have to go through certain things in life, sometimes traumatic, sometimes good, but God has been most kind to me.

How is your relationship with President Goodluck    Jonathan?

We are in very good terms with President Jonathan. We talked to him, but it is the same Nigerians that we once led and knew very well including one of your colleagues here that said I had never talked about the present insecurity and    that I had never addressed the issue because such people had never heard me. I had been accused of not talking and what we said is that the President should take an opportunity of the Ramadan period in conjunction with every other leader both current and former leaders to do something about this country. We should live in peace in the spirit of the season of fasting and prayers. And we thought it is only appropriate that what we are doing is appealing to people on behalf of the    government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Your relationship with Obasanjo has become frosty over    the last one year, but surprisingly you issued a joint statement recently, have you re-united?

People like you would say that formerly I was quarrelling with OBJ and now we are talking, but we knew who we are and there are certain things we shared in common. If there is any man in the history of this country today that does not want the country to be disunited, it is OBJ. I also share the same view with him. So, we have something that is bigger than all the tantrums in the newspapers and the rest of them. So, if we have a common thing which is for the common    good of the country, why not? We had been talking and we want to disabuse your minds that we did not sit idle and not doing anything about the insecurity situation in the country.

If truly you are friends, why did the two of you brought your differences to the media rather than resolving it privately?

If I would be honest with you, I think you heightened it and when I say ‘you’, I mean the media. It was very unnecessary. You were supposed to look at what is sensible and write and throw away the nonsense.

Your son, Mohammed, has declared his intention to vie for the number one seat in Niger state ...(interjection)

No, let me correct you, he hasn’t, because I read what he said. He said he is very grateful for the people of the state who considered him worthy of holding a new political office. He did not say he wants to be a governor. I am very critical about this, because it affects me and when big headlines stated    what you have just said, I called his attention to it and his response was that I should go and read what he said. And he was quoted well.

How can you assess the nascent democracy in the country?

I hate to talk about this, but I can always give you an example.  Well, you operate a democracy and I did not, I was a dictator, I removed a governor for N300,000 but no one can remove them now for N3 billion.

Why did you leave late General Sani Abacha behind when you stepped aside in 1993?

If you remember, we had an interim government. That government came into force in November 1993 and it was    supposed to expire in February of 1994. We needed to make sure that that government was supported by the military so that they would be able to conduct an election in February of 1994. And we can only do that, knowing the environment in which we operated. We thought then, quite rightly too, that Ernest Shonekan should be supported by a strong military so that the threat of toppling him did not arise. And they provided the stability for 82 days. That was the whole idea. And the late Abacha of course was the Chief of Defence Staff and the Minister of Defence. We felt that if anything happened, the public can be rest assured that there was somebody still there with a lot of strength and experience who would still be able to pilot when it was necessary. But whatever   happened subsequently, it was a different thing altogether. You know it as much as I do. It was not the fault of the military.

Is Nigeria ripe for the creation of state police?

When you say ripe, what do you mean? These fears manifested themselves in the 50s and part of the 60s when    you had Yan Dokas (native authority police). Why the fear we established in 1950s is it still hunting us, because we are lazy and we have not cared to ask ourselves why these have fears persisted and this is what to do to eliminate those fears in our system. I think this is the way I just looked at it. In other words, left to me, the whole purpose of government is for the security of the citizens like the security of lives and property. And you will do anything to make sure these are guaranteed. It is in order in accordance with our constitution. I don’t want to believe that because of 1959 elections, the police or the Yan Dokas were used to beat up or harass the people who were opposed to the government of the day. We are not in that sort of situation now. Yes, it happened before, why should it happen now? People should try to move forward. When we were in office, we came out with the concept, for example, the National Guards and that was the first thing that was criticized and we had to drop it, but people are coming back to talk about it. It grieves me that because something happened in 1959, why should Nigerians still think it can happen in 2012. A lot of things like the    constitutional amendments had been put in place and I am not sure a governor would use the state police to intimidate the people who are opposed to them because the people can go to court and seek redress. However I think the fear being expressed is unfounded to be very honest with you; the Federal Police takes responsibilities of all the federal laws of the country. The police in the state, they have to operate within the law and I hope you know that. So you are buttressing the federal efforts and some people seem to forget something that if you have a state police in a local    environment like in Bida in Niger State, the state police are likely to be very conversant with the local environment    because they virtually know each other persons. So, the detection of crimes is not going to be a problem. Sometimes ago there were presence of the policemen specifically about two weeks ago and it did not take time to fish out the terrorists gang in Bida, because the people knew where they were hiding. I have advocated for it in the past and I still believe it can be made to work.

Nigeria has never seen anything like it. This story explains how unscrupulous marketers fleeced the nation of N382 billion without supplying a drop of petrol.

By Idris Akinbajo

CORRECTION: This post has been updated to reflect the correct ownership of CEOTI Ltd. The error is regretted, and we sincerely apologise to those our lawyer mistakenly listed as directors of the company.

The scale is huge; the method daring and unprecedented. The plot seems like one in a James Bond movie as unscrupulous Nigerian businessmen scripted an unbelievable heist.

It was a grand deceit, never seen in Nigeria’s history. To benefit from the 2011 fuel subsidy largesse, the oil companies “manufactured” fictional oil ships (vessels) they claimed traversed seas and oceans of the world carrying imaginary petrol, with Nigeria the final destination of the product, the Technical Committee set up by the Federal Government discovered.

For supplying this phantom product to Nigeria, the seven companies involved pocketed a princely N13 billion naira from the 2011 fuel subsidy payments, the committee’s report, secured by PREMIUM TIMES, stated.

Some other companies, not wanting to create fictional vessels, decided to space- travel existing ones; such that real vessels, which were definitely in countries like China and UAE, discharged petrol into storage depots in Nigeria at the exact time they were in those other countries. The 11 companies involved in this category of fraud pocketed N21 billion from the 2011 subsidy payments, the report stated.

Sources in the oil industry reveal that these companies were able to perpetuate this crime with the help of field officers of the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory agency (PPPRA) and the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), men of the Nigerian Navy, Nigeria Custom officers, banks and others involved in the various stages of fuel importation.

These and other fraudulent acts by beneficiaries of the fuel subsidy led the committee to conclude that “all the affected oil marketing and trading companies found to have violated various aspects of the PSF guidelines … should refund the subsidy payments for a total sum of N422, 542,937,668.59 (four hundred and twenty two billion, five hundred and forty two million, nine hundred and thirty seven thousand, six hundred and sixty eight naira, fifty-nine kobo).”

To get the details of fraudulent transactions involving ships, “a review team (set up by the committee) made up of experienced bank auditors,” used methods such as tracking “the location of mother vessels with the Lloyds List intelligence.”

The list is the internationally reliable method of determining the location of any vessel at any point in time.

The committee’s report has since been reviewed by another Presidential panel headed by the same person. However, most of the findings and recommendations remain, with the indicted firms now expected to refund N382 billion

The fictional ships

On Wednesday, October 19, 2011, a vessel, MT Zhen Star, purportedly arrived in Nigerian waters. The 58,000 metric tonnes of petrol contained in the vessel was owned by two companies: Masters Energy Oil and Gas Limited; and Caades Oil and Gas Limited.

In the presence of PPPRA officials, DPR officers, naval officers, customs, and so on, Masters discharged 28,000 metric tonnes from the vessel, while Caades discharged 10, 000 metric tonnes of petrol. While the former collected N2.9 billion as subsidy for this import, the latter got N1 billion.

The irony however is that the vessel, MT Zhen Star, does not exist and no fuel was imported. The two companies, with the complicity of the stated public officials, successfully duped Nigeria of N3.9 billion.

While commenting on this fraudulent transaction, the technical committee, headed by Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, stated that “the subsidy on this transaction must have been wrongly paid since MT Zhen which was supposedly used could neither be located on the Lloyds List intelligence nor anywhere on the West African Coast.”

Other companies that created such fictional ships to get their share of the subsidy largesse are Matrix Energy Limited, Top Oil and Gas, Ocean Energy Trading and Services Ltd, Down Stream Energy Source Limited, and Ceoti Limited.

However, unlike the House of Representatives, which clearly called for the prosecution of fraudulent beneficiaries of the petrol subsidy, Mr. Aig-Imoukhuede’s committee was lenient, even in its choice of words. It only recommended that such illegal payments be recovered.

Unable to create fictional vessels, some companies space-travelled real ones.

The ship travel abracadabra

When Brilla Energy Limited submitted its subsidy claims for the last quarter of 2011, it claimed to have imported 13,000 metric tonnes of petrol. The oil was brought into Nigeria by the vessel, MT Delphina Ex MT Overseas Limar, which arrived at offshore Cotonou, Benin republic.

On October 1, a vessel, MT Dani, was used to transport the petrol, from the original vessel, into a storage depot in Nigeria, a delivery which was witnessed by the appropriate officials.

From this transaction alone, Brilla got a subsidy payment of N1 billion.

However, contrary to Brilla’s claim, the vessel, MT Delphina Ex MT Overseas Limar, was in China on October 1.

“There is no basis for the subsidy payment since the mother vessel (MT Delphina Ex MT Overseas Limar) was nowhere near the West African coast at the time of purported discharge of PMS,” the committee established.

Apart from Brilla, 10 other companies were involved in such deceit with Nigeria paying N21 billion for the phantom products. Some of the companies involved are Capital Oil Plc, Obat Oil and Gas, Matrix Energy, and A-Z Petroleum Limited.

Again, the committee failed to recommend any prosecution of culpable companies. Failure to prove the location of the importing vessels, the companies “should refund all monies received in full,” while the role of PPPRA in the deals should be investigated.

Raising the Dead

On December 20, 2011, Nasaman Oil Services Limited claimed it discharged petrol from a vessel, MT Hellenic Blue. The vessel had berthed on the waters of the Republic of Benin, offshore Cotonou, the oil company claimed.

Contrary to the company’s claim, MT Hellenic blue had been dead and unused since February 17, 2010. Four years before its death, the ship had its name changed to MT Nireus.

It was this dead and defunct vessel that Nasaman claimed delivered its petrol. Nasaman and five other companies, with similar ships miraculously raised from the dead, received N8 billion as subsidy from such transactions

Several months earlier, Nasaman made N750 million from the subsidy fund, when it claimed it received 7,500 metric tonnes of petrol from a vessel, MT Overseas Limar, off the Cotonou coast, on January 27, 2011. The ship was in the US Gulf on that day.

Bank disclaimer

Another method, discovered by the committee, used by oil companies to fleece the government include falsification of bank documents presented to the PPPRA.

PREMIUM TIMES had reported exclusively on how fake bank documents (Letters of credit, Form M, etc) were allegedly submitted to the PPPRA , by petrol importers in collaboration with bank officials, and how the agency wrote to the Central Bank of Nigeria for authentication of the documents.

The CBN refused to either verify the documents or respond to the PPPRA’s letter.

Banks disowned thirteen transactions involving eight companies. These transactions cost the Federal Government N21bn in subsidy payment.

“The disclaimer of these transactions by the banks shows that they did not exist in the first place and consequently, there was no basis for the payment of subsidy claims,” the committee stated.

Top of the companies involved in this falsification is A-Z Petroleum, which got N2.3 billion from four of such deals. Oando Plc, which prides itself as ‘sub-Saharan Africa’s leading integrated energy group’ also had one transaction of N1.3bn, disclaimed by the alleged sponsoring bank, although the company has since refuted the finding.

Again, despite the criminality involved, all the committee recommended was a refund of the subsidy collected from such payment.

Ignore the banks

Despite the alleged role of banks and bank officials in the fuel subsidy scam, and as reported exclusively by PREMIUM TIMES, the committee did not investigate the culpability of banks in the scam.

Several of its findings indicate that the banks had knowledge of some of the fraudulent transactions going on.

In one of its findings, the committee stated that “112 transactions did not have evidence of sale proceeds based on banks’ available records at the date of the verification.” The subsidy paid for these transactions was N157 billion.

In other words, the banks received the N157 billion on behalf of the companies even when there was no evidence before it that the companies sold any fuel. None of the 19 banks, which financed the 2011 fuel imports, as reported earlier by PREMIUM TIMES, complained to the CBN or the PPPRA about such transaction.

The committee had three senior bankers as members, with Mr. Aig-Imoukhuede, the Group Managing Director of Access bank, as head.

“It is like witnessing a crime. If you don’t report it appropriately, knowing that you will benefit from, then you are definitely an accomplice,” a banker involved in oil and gas banking stated.

We can’t recover everything

Although the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has already commenced prosecution of some of the indicted companies, Mr. Aig-Imoukhuede has advised Nigerians not to expect all the N382 billion to be recovered.

“It will be naïve that we can recover the whole amount,” he said. “The most important thing is that the State diligently pursues recovery to its logical conclusion

Fuel queues are back, with the government blaming it all on indicted oil marketers.

Minister of State for Finance Dr. Yerima Lawan Ngama insisted that the government has been paying fuel subsidy claims to genuine marketers as at when due.

 Ngama said despite the threats by the indicted marketers, the government will not succumb to their manoeuvres to blackmail it but will remain focused on its efforts to eliminate all forms of fraudulent practices in the fuel subsidy regime.

 He denied claims by the marketers that they embarked on the strike because the Federal Government failed to pay them for fuel imports. 

Describing the allegation as inaccurate, the Minister, who read a statement issued by the ministry, said the Federal Government was not owing any marketer whose claims had been verified by the appropriate authorities.

He said: “Between April and May 2012, Batches D/12 and E/12 involving 14 oil marketers with a claim of N17 billion were fully settled through the issuance of Sovereign Debt Notes and other relevant documentation.”

Ngama said: “Since the directive by the Coordinating Minister to the DMO to continue payments of all verified claims, N25.6 billion worth of claims have been fully settled with the issuance of Sovereign Debt Notes.”

He said between April and August, in respect of 2012 PMS claims, Sovereign Debt Notes amounting to N42.666 billion have been issued to 31 oil marketers.

He maintained that claims by marketers who have been recommended for further investigation by the Aig-Imoukhuede Presidential Committee, have not been paid, adding that payments or sanctions to this category of marketers would be determined by the outcome of investigations.

“It is clear that the strike was instigated mainly by marketers who were indicted by the Aig-Imoukhuede Committee which investigated fuel subsidy payments. Their obvious intention is to blackmail the Federal Government in order to escape sanctions for the crimes they have committed”.

“As we have communicated severally in the last few months, payment of marketers whose claims have been verified will continue to go on in a consistent and structured way which protects the best interests of the country.

“All marketers who have genuine issues to raise regarding their claims are encouraged to come forward for discussions or clarification” the minister said.



Source ... Thenationonlineng.net

Saudi Arabia-based Nigerian Islamic cleric, Sheik Ahmad Abubakar Gumi, may have been listed for attack by “terrorists.”

According to one of his relatives who did not want to be identified, in the early hours of Tuesday Gumi received a call from a top security official who advised him to be security conscious as his name prominently featured in the list of those that may be attacked.

The source said it was after that warning that a bomb blast occurred a few meters from the home of their patriarch (late Sheik Abubakar Mahmud Gumi) on Modibbo Adama Road, where the younger Gumi is also residing.

The source said, “This morning our brother received a [ phone call] advising him to be security conscious, because some terrorists are planning to attack him for reasons best known to them, he started praying for his protection and suddenly this attack. Our brother was home when the explosion occurred at the tail end of our street. We heard it and after some time he followed another route and drove straight to Sultan Bello Mosque for sermon (Tafsir).”

SaharaReporters also heard audio directly from Sheik Gumi confirming what his relative told us.  In it, Gumi said, “As I am just coming now after a long silence of these unnecessary explosions and bombings, we heard an explosion very close to our house. And in the morning today from a senior military security that they have a list of people that were targeted for a terrorist attack and that I am among them.  Now the question is the high cadre of our military intelligence know that we are target, and yet this morning I was told and there was a bomb explosion we never heard near our house just by the corner of the main road. So what I am saying is to emphasise that we have serious insecurity problem.”

As SaharaReporters reported exclusively recently, security has been tightened around Gumi.  In view of Tuesday’s attack, however, a security source says that those arrangements are being seriously reviewed, and that more security has been added to the fold of protecting the cleric and his household.

Their patriarch, late Sheik Abubakar Gumi, a former Grand Khadi of Northern Nigeria, died in a London hospital on Friday 14 Rabi’ul Auwal, 1413, that is, 11 September 1992, according to the Gregorian Calendar.

It is unclear, as we go to press, how Nigerian security operatives obtained the list upon which someone tipped off the Islamic scholar, who else is on that list, and whether such people have also been warned.

Oya 40 theives ... Or better 40 laptop crew come and defend the senseless statements of your principal.... Odechukwu Gej...