₦airaland Forum

The embattled leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, Sheikh Ibrahim El Zakzaky, was flown out of Nigeria for treatment of gun shot injuries he suffered during the encounter between his supporters and members of the Nigerian Army last year, multiple security sources told Vanguard in Abuja yesterday.

It will be recalled that during the bloody encounter between the Shiites and the Nigerian Army, several members of the sect were killed, while many others sustained various degrees of injuries with some still on admission at Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Shika near Zaria.

The fracas occurred when members of the sect allegedly blocked the Zaria-Sokoto road and prevented the convoy of the Chief of Army staff from passing through, despite several entreaties.

Sheikh El-Zakzaky allegedly sustained several gun shot wounds, with some reports claiming that one of his eyes was affected during the encounter.

Since the clash between the sect and the military, his whereabouts have been shrouded in secrecy until Vanguard exclusively revealed that he was moved from Kaduna to a safe house in Abuja belonging to one of the security services.

Several security sources who are knowledgeable in the matter, however, revealed to Vanguard yesterday that due to the seriousness of the injuries the Shiite leader sustained, he was secretly flown to France by the Nigerian government some weeks ago for treatment before being returned to the country two weeks ago.

One of the sources said: “It is true that the federal government flew him out of the country for treatment. He was stabilized before he was brought back to Nigeria. The government did not want to take chances by keeping him in the country. We did not want a repeat of the incidenct with the late leader of the Boko Haram movement whose death in custody exacerbated the crisis in the North East.”

Another source explained that the decision to fly El Zakzaky out of the country followed intervention by highly placed Nigerians, including the .former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, and the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar, who warned that allowing the Shiite leader to die in custody would have grave implications for the security of the country.

Spokesman of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, Ibrahim Musa, confirmed to Vanguard that members of the NSCIA committee confirmed to the IMN that their leader was alive, after being treated for gun shot injuries in France and was recuperating in Abuja.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission will today arraign the National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Olisa Metuh, before the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja for charges bordering on destruction of evidence.
Metuh, who has been on remand in prison, pending when he would fulfil the bail conditions imposed on him by a Federal High Court in Abuja with respect to the charges of money laundering involving N400m, part of funds meant for procurement of arms which he allegedly collected from the office of the National Security Adviser in November 2014.
‎Metuh allegedly tore his written statement and attempted to chew it while he was being investigated for the money laundering case.
Prison authorities have produced Metuh before Justice Ishaq Bello for the arraignment to take place.

Governor Abdulazeez Yari of Zamafara State, has denied reports that
he is romantically involved with Zarah, one of the daughters of
President Muhammadu Buhari.
He also faulted media reports that he gave the president’s daughter
$200 million as gift and that he divorced one of his wives, Hadiza
Umaru Shinkafi, to accommodate Zarah.
The governor said the reports published in two weekly publications
were false.
Yari’s position was contained in his letters to the publishers of the
publications, accusing them of casting him in bad light and
requesting them to retract the publications.
The letters, dated 18 and 19 January, were written for the governor
by his lawyer, Mahmud Magaji (SAN), wherein Yari threatened to sue
the publications for defamation, in which he would demand N100
billion (in the case of the first publication) and N10 billion (against the
second publication) should they fail to retract the publication and
tender apology within seven days.
Part of the letters read: “The above publication, no doubt, is false and
defamatory, and it is intended to bring the reputation of our client to
ridicule and cause odium or malignity to our client.
“Since the above publication, our client has received countless phone
calls and text messages from family, friends, colleagues and
associates, who incessantly call to enquire about the said
publication.
“Consequent upon the above, it is our client’s instruction that we
demand from you published retraction of the said defamatory piece in
three national newspapers inclusive of your own,” Yari said.

The management of the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex said on Wednesday that laboratory test confirms that the resident doctor’s death on Monday at the hospital was caused by Lassa fever.

The chairman of a committee set up by the OAUTHC on Lassa fever, Prof. Adedeji Onayade, said this while speaking to our correspondent in Osogbo on the telephone.

He said the result of the first test carried out on the sample of the deceased tested positive.

Onayade said, “We have a report back  and the result came as positive. We were supposed to do two tests but the patient was dying when we took the first sample.

“We can’t do the second test now. So we can say it is 50 per cent but we are  going ahead to take necessary steps. We have informed all those who should know.”

He said the hospital was on top of the situation adding that there was no need for anybody to panic as a result  of this.

There is fear among the residents of the state that  the situation may be worse because doctors in government hospitals are on strike.

However, the Chairman Osun State Association of Medical and Dental Officers, Dr. Isiaka Adekunle,  had earlier told our correspondent that  the association  would suspend its strike in case of an outbreak of the disease.

He said, ” Though we are on strike, we still allow our members in surveilance, HIV, tuberculosis to be working. This is what the state government wants to use to break our ranks but it cannot work. We asked them to be working because we are not fighting against our people but the government.

“But if there is an outbreak, we will suspend our strike action and work to combat it. The state government is the one prolonging the strike, we are ready to work when our demands are met.”

BORNO State Police Command yesterday warned residents and villagers against picking strange objects whenever they sight or found them in their environment and communities, as they could be Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), which can cause havoc and deaths.

The warnings were contained in a press statement by police spokesman, Mr. Isuku Victor yesterday in Maiduguri, made available to newsmen.

Meanwhile, the state Commissioner for Water Resources, Dr. Zainab Gimba, has said that all the water sources and community water points in recently reclaimed communities of 22 councils were destroyed by Boko Haram terrorists.

She said returning Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) have no other source of water.

Zainab disclosed this yesterday while launching the distribution of 30 supervisory vehicles to zonal managers of the ministry at the Government House, Maiduguri.

She said almost all the boreholes and other water sources in all the 22 councils under the “capture and control” of Boko Haram were either vandalised or totally destroyed.

Her words: “As people will be going back or returning to their communities; the need for water will become a big problem. It is possible to live without a house or any other thin. But it will always be a big problem to live without water.

The statement from the police reads in part: “The Borno State Police Command wishes to draw the attention of the general public; particularly parents and guardians to warn their children to desist from any strange objects as it may be an explosive device (IED).”

A case in reference, according to Victor, was the incident which occurred at Monguno last year over an explosive ordinance which led to the loss of many lives as well as injuries to many civilians.

“On Friday, January 16, 2016, a staff of Federal Government College Maiduguri found an object believed to be hand grenade. While trying to pry it open with a hammer, the object exploded causing him and his daughter life-threatening injuries,” explained the spokesman yesterday.

THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday disclosed that high courts sitting across the States and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have so far nullified a total of 81 elections including Senatorial, House of Representatives and two governorship polls that would proceed to the Supreme Court.
INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu made these disclosures yesterday in Abuja during his first meeting with states’ Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs).

Yakubu said the meeting with the electoral umpires was to enable the Commission to discuss “ number of issues including the assessment of the elections conducted so far, the continuous voters registration, distribution of Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) yet to be distributed before the 2015 general elections, by-elections, and the one very dear to the commission, the welfare of our staff.”

Yakubu added, “as at last week, the High court sitting nationwide have annulled a total of 81 elections comprising senatorial, House of Representatives and two governorship elections that will proceed to the Supreme Court.”

“In 2007, after the general elections in that year, a total of 20 elections were nullified; in 2011, 34 elections were nullified, making a total of 54 elections for a period between 2007 and 2011. But for the 2015 elections so far, 81 elections have been nullified, which is more than the two previous elections put together,” he stated.

The INEC boss said further that “a number of elections was upturned at the court of appeal and ordered that a certificate of returns to be issued to rightful winners which the Commission had complied with.”

“As at the end of last week, there were 15 of such cases, which we have duly complied. So if you add the upturned elections and nullified elections so far, the number is 96. So we need to put our heads together to respond immediately the decisions of the court to conduct these elections.

“We have a maximum of 90 days to conduct the elections. This means that we have latest, the middle of March to conduct the elections. So the first quarter of this year is going to be for the commission, like a mini-general elections.

“So this meeting is to review the situation and take wide range decisions, so that free, fair and credible elections could be conducted with deployment of technology,” he said.

Former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Tony Anenih, has claimed that ex-President Goodluck Jonathan ordered a former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), to give him the sum of N260m.

The revelation is contained in a letter the former BOT chairman wrote to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission recently.

An aide to the PDP leader, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, confirmed to SUNDAY PUNCH on Saturday that Anenih made the disclosure.

The aide said, “The former BoT Chair explained to the EFCC that he gave his account details to the ex-President on request, when he requested for a refund of expenses incurred while (he was) carrying out Jonathan’s instructions. Jonathan passed it (account details) to Sambo and Anenih was paid the sum of N260m.



“The former PDP BoT chairman also explained to the anti-graft agency that apart from the N265m he gave to Chief Olu Falae, Senator Rasheed Ladoja and Alhaji Tanko Yakassai, he also gave N25m to a former Deputy Governor of Sokoto State, and another N35m to a delegation of leaders from Katsina State.”

Anenih reportedly wrote in the letter that he also incurred additional costs when he led other members of the PDP BoT on a nationwide tour to reconcile aggrieved and feuding members, following instructions given to him by the former president.

He noted that the money he spent on hiring private jets and other logistics was yet to be refunded to him.

The aide added, “Although most of the expenditure was incurred on the instructions of the former president for special political assignments, only N260m was refunded to Anenih by the former president.

“Whereas the refund of N260m was made through the office of the National Security Adviser, Anenih explained in his letter to the EFCC that he only provided his account details to the former president on request for a refund of the money spent.

“He also said in the letter that he was not in a position to ask the former president how he was going to source the fund or through which office the refund was going to be made.”

The aide said Anenih had yet to be refunded over N180m out of the N440m he spent. The PDP chieftain also reportedly argued in the letter that he was not a direct beneficiary of the sum of N260m that was a part refund of the money he spent on the president’s instructions.

The former PDP BoT chairman had earlier stated that he gave N100m each to the National Chairman of the Social Democratic Party, Chief Olu Falae, and the leader of Accord Party, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, for mobilisation purposes.

He had also said N63m was disbursed to a northern group led by Yakassai for “mobilisation and post-election peace advocacy in that part of the country.”

Yakassai, Falae and Ladoja have all confirmed that they received the stated amounts from Anenih.

The total of these three disbursements is already N3m more that the N260 million which Anenih said was refunded to him through Dasuki.

Buhari ready to meet Jonathan, says Presidency

The Presidency has said President Muhammadu Buhari will be willing to receive and listen to former President Goodluck Jonathan to make clarifications on the multi-million dollar arms procurement scandal perpetrated under his administration.

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, stated this in an interview with SUNDAY PUNCH on Saturday.

Our correspondent had asked if Buhari would be ready to grant Jonathan audience if the former President sought to make clarifications in view of the revelations coming from the EFCC’s probe of the scandal.

Adesina said because of Buhari’s belief in decency and civility, he would not shut out his predecessors, even if some people had done so in the past.

Adesina said, “A former President should always have access to a sitting one. It would be uncouth and indecent to shut out a former occupant of such lofty office. If some people did it to their predecessors in the past, it is not this President who believes in decency and civility.

“Yes, President Buhari will always grant audience to former President Jonathan, if there is any request for such. A rebuff does not come into the picture at all.”

Meanwhile, a top government official told our correspondent on the condition of anonymity that the former President had tried to reach out to the National Security Adviser, Babagana Mongunu.

The source however said he did not know if Jonathan had succeeded in establishing a contact.

“I know that the former President has been trying to reach the NSA. Whether he has succeeded, I do not know. You can ask the NSA himself,” he said.

It was the NSA, on the orders of the President, who constituted the committee that has audited the procurement of arms and equipment in the Armed Forces and Defence sector from 2007 to 2015. Most of the information in public domain on the arms scandal is from the findings of the committee, which has submitted two preliminary reports so far.

oatzeal:
[size=13pt]See What They Did To A Youth Corper[/size]
PPA Boss sent boys to break his youth corper's house,

youth corper narrated the story to his neighbours in his PPA village in Ekureku, Abi local govt of Cross River State


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS9If5yrx2U

oatzeal:
[size=13pt]See What They Did To A Youth Corper[/size]
PPA Boss sent boys to break his youth corper's house,

youth corper narrated the story to his neighbours in his PPA village in Ekureku, Abi local govt of Cross River State


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS9If5yrx2U

adenine02:
A very big wild cat have been killing my chicken for some time now. i have lost so many and just this past 2 dayz it killed 2 cock and a hen.
today it luck ran out
check the photos

Rose2014:
More like 'everyday is for propaganda'
Sane countries use achieved results when doing their own propaganda, but here, you use celebrity pictures