DWJOBScom:
I hope he gets caught

I need this guy to be taught a lesson

Global Risk Insights, a human right organisation, on Wednesday raised an alert that ISIS terrorist group has started recruiting youths in Ghana.
The study says potential recruits are enticed by Islamic state’s promise of a “lavish lifestyle in Syria and Iraq’’ and better living conditions for family left behind.
The organisation attributed ISIS’ success to unemployment which remained high in Ghana, especially among the young, although it is one of the most stable nations in Africa and had a fast-growing economy.
The group quoted the example of Mohammed Alema, 25, a geography undergraduate in the prestigious Kwame Nkrumah University, who left Ghana to embrace the cause of ISIS.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Tuesday said that only 293,072 voters were accredited for the April 11 governorship election in Rivers.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that a total number of 1,029, 102 votes was declared by the returning officer for the election, Mr Faraday Osasere Oruwese, with the PDP candidate, Nyesom Wike, emerging as winner.

Mrs Abimbola Oladunjoye, an Assistant Director in the Information Communication Technology (ICT), who also doubled as the Head of Data Management Unit of INEC, gave the information while being led in evidence by Counsel to the petitioner, Mr Akinlolu Olujimi, (SAN).


Oladunjoye, who gave a brief explanation of how the card reader machine works, said that the information of every voter automatically downloaded into the INEC data base during individual accreditation.

“I am aware that the commission took a decision that the smart card reader should be used for accreditation on governorship election.

“On election day, every voter is suppose to come to the polling unit with his or her voters card. “ “The Incident Form is issued to a voter when the card reader cannot successfully accredit him or her’. .

“The server was available for the card reader data uploading throughout the period of the election and was shut down six weeks after the election,’’ she said.


When cross-examined by INEC counsel, Mr Onyechi Ikpeazu, (SAN), Oladunjoye said that the card reader machine used for the presidential election was the same used for governorship poll.

According to her, the only issue in the card reader machine is that the machine was only reconfigured before the governorship election.

She also said that if a voter card was damaged, the card reader machine might not be able to recognise it, adding that, if it was dirty, there was no problem on the issue of recognition.

“If a card is damaged, the card reader may not be able to recognise it, the card reader are RF ID card which has antenna; the card reader communicates to the antenna to enable it read.

“So if the card is dirty, I don’t think there is a problem,’’ she said.


When Mr Emmanuel Ukala, (SAN), counsel to Wike and Chris Uche, SAN, counsel to PDP cross examined the witness, she said that the card reader machine recognised information like the registration area, polling unit and serial number of the voter.

Other information recognised by the card reader machine are Local Government Area, delimitation constituency, a signal of a fail or successful accreditation and total number of accreditation made by the machine.

“We tested the card reader machine before putting it to use and we found out that there were issues that could cause the breakdown of the machine to malfunction.

A Senior Police Officer, Mr Tafa Michael, had earlier told the tribunal that he arrested more than 70 people in Seme, a satellite town in Tai local government of the state as a result of the distress call he got from his superior officers on election day.

According to Michael, the call came in at about 12: 45 p.m. and that he quickly moved into action alongside his team to the town where he was directed to go.

“On arrival at Seme, there was a compound opposite the PDP secretariat which I was informed by people living in that area that, inside the house, there were a lot of people with election materials.

“I came down with my men from our vehicle and we met the people, including some security men jubilating with election material inside the compound.

“They came there with a lorry and we evacuated them to our place after taking some shot of them with our phones,’’ the witness said.

Michael said they discovered Corps members, INEC ad-hoc staff, PDP party agents with election materials like card reader machine, thumb printed ballot papers, electoral boxes, inkpad and T-Shirt in the compound.

According to the witness, after leaving that venue, they took the people to the Criminal Investigation Department of the Police.

Michael also said that the snap shot he took with his phone was transferred to a flash drive and that he printed some pictures out from it.

NAN reports that all the respondents counsel urged the tribunal not to admit in evidence the documents produced by this witness including the flash drive.

According to the respondents counsel, all the materials brought by the police officer were not pleaded and that they did not satisfy the provision of Section 84 of the Evidence Act.

Meanwhile, Justice Suleman Ambrosa, the tribunal Chairman, declined to admit the document in evidence as prayed by Counsel to the petitioner.

Ambrosa said that all the documents, including the flash drive were not certified.

The tribunal, however, admitted in evidence the data card reader machine brought by the INEC staff and marked it as an evidence. (NAN)

The EFCC has invited former Bauchi state governor Isa Yuguda for questioning over alleged disappearance of a state owned aircraft, Daily Trust has learnt in Abuja.
The aircraft has become a subject of controversy lately after it was declared “missing” by Yuguda’s successor.
A reliable source at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja confirmed to Daily Trust that the former governor had been invited and that he was expected any moment.
The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the invitation was in relation to the controversial aircraft.
The source declined to make further comment, saying: “That’s all I can tell you.”
EFCC spokesman Wilson Iwujeran, when contacted, said he was not aware of the invitation and declined to comment further.
Yuguda’s former Commissioner of Information in the State, Alhaji Salisu Ahmad Barau, said he was not aware of any petition against Yuguda. He, however, added that he would not be surprised if the former governor was petitioned, considering the nature of Nigeria where people always petitioned against former leaders.
Barau said: “We know EFCC has their own law of operations and we believe they are to be fair to all, we know Yuguda when he was a Governor, he did his best; he was fair and just.
“We believe that if the EFCC should invite him he will answer all the question they will ask him to the best of his ability and by the grace of Allah they will be satisfied”.
Most of the officials of the Bauchi State Government declined to comment over the invitation of Yuguda by the EFCC.
State Chairman of recovery committee Air Commodore Tijjani Baba Gamawa did not answer several calls made to his phone and he didn’t reply text message.
Bauchi state governor Muhammad Abdullahi Abubakar in a state broadcast to mark his 100 days in office recently revealed that the aircraft, Embraer 145, had been traced to Morocco.
He added that it was recovered by the assets recovery committee he constituted to recover some property acquired by officials and associates of the last administration.
However, Yuguda’s former commissioner of Religious Affairs, Community Relations and Information had denied the aircraft was ever missing.
The former commissioner, Alhaji Salisu Ahmed Barau who spoke to journalists in Bauchi said the governor got his facts mixed-up.
The handing over document contains the following facts:
*The aircraft was first leased to Messrs IRS Airlines.
*Yuguda entered into a fresh lease agreement with the company and Messr Dornier Aviation AIEP as consultants.
*The lease agreement was later terminated and the aircraft was handed over to the consultants for safe keeping.
* A fresh agreement was entered with Messrs Hamsal Air Service on a monthly rental fee of N15 million while retaining Messrs Dornier Aviation as consultants.
*In October 2011, Hamsal Air Services indicated intention to withdraw from the agreement.
“Outstanding rental fees for the months of August-October, 2011 to the tune of N45 million against Hamsal Air Limited are yet to be settled.
*The aircraft was then leased to Messrs Associated Aviation Limited on a monthly fee of N17 million.
*It took the aircraft to Ogma Facility in Portugal for 5 ‘A’ Checks in March 2012 during which it became due for ‘C’ Checks but it requested the Bauchi State government to settle the cost, promising to pay at a later date.
*Associated Aviation Limited failed to refund to the state Euros 962,293.96 in respect of the 5 ‘A’ Checks and the ‘C’ Checks and other services including Insurance.
*The aircraft was leased to Messrs Overland Airways Limited to update its records and make it airworthy.
“Overland took aircraft to the Atlantic Air Industries facility in Morocco and the sum of $ 600,000 was released to the company to facilitate early completion of the work.
*The sum of $ 214,250 was also released to the company to renew the Insurance Cover of the Aircraft for one year”

Unknown gunmen have reportedly abducted the son of the newly appointed Vice Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt, Prof. Ndowa Laale.

Public Relations Officer of Uniport, William Wordi disclosed this to the media in Port Harcourt.

Wordi said the VC’s son, Ejiru Laale was kidnapped around 7pm Monday night in his father’s home at Ebubu, Eleme in Rivers State.

The Police in the state are yet to confirm the abduction.

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At least that is what am experiencing presently.

Macjoe, please release my number. I promise never to patronise you again. Am sorry for the mistake I made.

LAGOS—The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, weekend, burst a major corporate fraud when it took into custody one Alhaji Mohammed Gobir for allegedly defrauding foremost outdoor advertising company, Afromedia, huge sums of money in various currencies. The act fetched Gobir a huge fortune in both local and foreign currencies worth billions of Naira.

The suspect illegally collected $3,500,000, N514,457,151.87, $2,102,740 and 51,000 Pounds Sterling at various times. Gobir, a 55-year-old father of two, was picked by the operatives of EFCC in the early hours of Saturday in his Ikoyi residence and taken to the Lagos office of the anti-graft agency for interrogation. The suspect allegedly defrauded the advertising company through a phony investment deal.
He was allegedly introduced to Afromedia sometime in 2008 by their Private Placement Consultants, Synergy Capital Advisory Limited, as a high net-worth investor who was willing to inject N1 billion into the company through the acquisition of shares.

Based on his touted pedigree as potential investor, Gobir wormed his way into the hearts of the management and in no time, became chairman of the Business Development Committee of the board of directors of the company, a position which he would later use to defraud the company.
Having earned the trust of the company owners, Gobir started demanding large sum of money which he termed as business expenses to international consultants, Royal Exchange Bureau, in the United Kingdom in order to facilitate and secure investments from a United Kingdom-based bank.

The company gave Gobir the sum of $1,000,000 in cash and also paid for his travel expenses on a first class return ticket to UK where he would meet with the purported investors, which investigation later revealed never existed nor were the meetings ever held. On one good day after the suspect had collected huge sums of money and made several trips to the UK to meet with the purported investors, the Group Managing Director of Afromedia accompanied him to the UK for another round of meeting ostensibly to close the deal.
But as soon as they landed in the UK, Gobir made a telephone call in which his travel companion overheard him scream aloud, saying his assets were seized by UK anti- money laundering authorities. He even showed the GMD an email sent to him for the alleged seizure.

The suspect confessed to the MD of Afromedia that his money( $250,000,000) had earlier been seized by the British authorities over allegations of money laundering and that he was currently financially handicapped and needed a bailout in the sum of $3,817,000 to get the European Union Money Laundering Waiver Certificate.
The suspect later presented a “waiver certificate”, to the company and promised to pay them all the monies he had collected Up till the time of his arrest, the suspect had not paid the company a kobo. EFCC spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, who confirmed the arrest, said investigation into the scam was continuing.

The Commissioner of Police in Abia State, Mr. Joshak Habila, yesterday disclosed that the command was relying on members of the public for information on the exact location of the pirate radio station, Radio Biafra.

This was as he explained that what is keeping the police from jamming signals of the radio station is because there is an agency of the Federal Government that is responsible for blocking frequencies of illegal radio stations.

Joshak, who was speaking in Umuahia, the state capital, noted that the police alone could not track down the radio station without useful information from members of the public.


According to him, “There are those responsible for tracking down operators of unapproved radio frequencies. Police do have some roles to play but I don’t think the police are the ones that will be able to jam the frequency.


“There is an agency of government responsible for that. I think members of the public have a better role to play in volunteering information to security agencies to clamp down on the radio station.

“I think it is the duty of everyone to help trace them because if they exist they don’t exist in the blues. They exist among members of the public. Thus, it is those who reside around here that should be able to volunteer information.

“The indigenous people of Biafra are said to be the people operating the Radio Biafra. We are gathering information but you should know that they are subversive and have also spoken against constituted authorities”.


Joshak further described the activities of the guerrilla radio as “a very big issue to be decided by the Inspector General of Police,” stressing that the law was very clear about those who engaged in subversive activities to run down a nation and how they should be handled under the justice system.

Radio Biafra, which broadcasts on the FM frequency band, has continued to freely operate despite recent claims by the Nigerian Communication Commission, NCC, that the station’s frequency has been jammed.

Signals of the pirate radio station are said to be received in states of the Southeast extending to Port Harcourt in Rivers State

The gale of sacks in the Department of State Services (DSS) continued yesterday with 65 cadet officers dismissed from training, among them a lady identified as a sibling of former Director of Information, Mrs. Marilyn Ogar.

The affected cadet officers were undergoing training at the State Services Academy (SSA) in Lagos. They belonged to the Cadet Officers Basic Course 28 of 2014 codenamed COBC28/2014.

The 65 officers had been in the academy since December 2014 for a 10-month training programme, categorized into three distinct sessions.

Saturday Independent gathered that the affected officers were among 420 trainees in the academy and had gone through the three categories of their training before they were flushed out. They were due for commissioning into the service as Senior Intelligence Officers (SIO) on October 26, 2015.

The affected officers had done the basic training in the academy and the three months attachment at the DSS state commands nationwide for practical, including the essential foreign intelligence programme, which took them to various countries where they were exposed to handling of high caliber weapons, detonation of bombs and all sorts of Improvised Explosive Devices (IED).

It was gathered that some of the trainees returned in August from their foreign intelligence training in Israel, where they undertook special skill and intelligence gathering courses in counter-terrorism and insurgency.

According to our source, nobody in the academy had an inkling of the impending sack until a special squad from the national headquarters in Abuja arrived at about noon and called out the affected officers. They were handed their letters of dismissal and marched to their various quarters to pick their bags and baggage as the squad from Abuja saw that they all left the academy’s premises immediately.

Our reporter stumbled on some of the dismissed officers in Ojo, along Badagry Expressway, Lagos around 3p.m as they were leaving the academy.

Some of the trainees who spoke with Saturday Independent under anonymity said they had no idea why they were sacked. Even the letter of dismissal, sighted by our reporter, gave no reason for the mass sack of the trainees.

The letter dated 4th September, 2015, and signed by GK Mohammed on behalf of the Director-General of the State Services, Lawal Musa Daura, reads as follows:

“I am directed to inform you that the Director General, State Services (DGSS) has approved the termination of your appointment from Service with immediate effect.

“You are, however, required to hand over all Government property in your possession, including your Study Guide/Note Books to the Director of Studies, State Services Academy (SSA), Lagos, and obtain appropriate clearance before your final exit, please.

One of the trainees wondered the wisdom in sacking persons that the service had exposed to all manners of sensitive intelligence operations, including handling of offensive weapons. He said that having gone through the specialized training, government should have sent them to other security agencies in need of skilled manpower.

He made particular reference to the Nigeria Police, considering that President Muhammadu Buhari had recently directed that 10,000 personnel should be recruited to strengthen the force.

Another trainee, who lamented the nine-month stay in the academy, said it was regrettable that all the knowledge and skills acquired in the academy would come to naught after the government had wasted their time.

Meanwhile, the dismissed personnel have said that they would take their cases to the National Assembly.

The State House of Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Makurdi on Friday nullified the election of member representing Makurdi-North State Constituency, Mr Martins Aza.

Aza of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was dragged before the tribunal by Mr Avine Agbom of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the 2015 governorship/assembly elections.

Agbom challenged the election on the grounds of electoral malpractices and non compliance with the electoral laws in the conduct of the election in two council wards.


The wards where irregularities were alleged were Agan and Mbalan.

Agbom, in his petition, prayed the tribunal to invalidate the results of the two wards and order for fresh election.


Delivering judgment, the tribunal Chairman, Justice Mosumola Dipeolu, noted that the onus of proof lies with the petitioner, which he did with submissions of relevant evidence.

The Chairman, however, stated that the first respondent failed to efficiently counter the allegations in his response.


The Chairman explained that testimonies of witnesses presented by the respondents’ counsel were contradictory and unreliable.

The tribunal, therefore, ordered INEC to conduct fresh elections in 20 polling units in Agan and 14 polling units in Mbalan council wards of the constituency within 60 days from today.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the tribunal also in a separate judgment, dismissed the petition of the PDP candidate, Mrs Elizabeth Shuluwa, for lack of merit.

The tribunal, therefore, upheld the election of member representing Kastina-Ala West State Constituency, Mr Tor Aye of the Labour party. (NAN)

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), on Friday, said it had arrested a suspected notorious drug baron, Azubuike Odugwe, over importation of 1.025 kilogrammes of cocaine.
The agency's spokesman, Mitchell Ofoyeju, said in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that the arrest was made during inward screening of passengers on Emirates Airline flight from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
It said that Odugwe was found with wraps of powdery substances that tested positive for cocaine at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.
"Odugwe, who is currently on bail over several drug charges brought against him by the agency, was found with wraps of cocaine at the MMIA, Lagos.
"The wraps of cocaine were packed in duty-free polythene inside his luggage. This mode of drug concealment in duty-free bags is similar to the last drug charge involving him," it said.
The statement also said that the suspected drug kingpin told investigators during interrogation that he had made a big mistake.
It said that Odugwe had pleaded not guilty to previous charges where drugs were not found on him, alleging that his enemies were behind his trial.
It also said that Ahmadu Garba, an NDLEA commander, described the arrest as a sign of what to expect in the future and promised to make the airport difficult for drug traffickers.
"I am happy with this high-profile arrest. It is a good way to start and sign of better days ahead. The suspect travelled to Dubai on September 6 and was arrested on September 10 on arrival at the Lagos airport,” Garba said.
Ahmadu Giade, Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, was also quoted as saying that the arrest of Odugwe was rewarding for the country’s fight against drugs.
"The game is up for the suspect who has been charged to court for sponsoring several drug couriers. This latest arrest is like the icing on the outstanding charges against him. He claimed to be an importer of legitimate goods but his source of income had been exposed.
"We shall diligently prosecute and dispossess him of illegal drug proceeds," he said.
Giade also assured Nigerians that no drug baron shall escape the dragnet of justice.
NAN recalls that on May 12, 2010,Odugwe was arraigned before Justice Mohammed Liman at the Federal High Court Ikoyi, Lagos, on three count charge of conspiracy, aiding and unlawful importation of heroin.
The accused pleaded not guilty to all counts of the charge and was remanded in prison custody.
Odugwe was nabbed in a follow-up operation to the arrest of Josephine Olehi who was caught with 3.150kg of heroin at the Lagos airport on December 29, 2009 on arrival from Dubai aboard an Ethiopian Airline flight.
He had also been linked with two other cases involving heroin trafficking. He was arrested for sponsoring one Anagozie John Kennedy to Pakistan on July 26, 2007 to import 1.296 kilogrammes of substances that tested positive for heroin.
Similarly, on March 11, 2009, Odugwe was rearrested after another foiled attempt by him to take delivery of 3kg of heroin from a drug courier, Sodiq Hameed.
The drug was packed in a polythene bag and concealed inside a duty-free polythene bag similar to the mode of concealment adopted by Josephine Olehi.
The statement further said investigation conducted by the agency then pointed to the accused as the mastermind of several cases involving unlawful importation of narcotics into the country, adding that Odugwe will be charged to court soon.

Former Governor Chimaroke Nnamani of Enugu State, on Friday, accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of rigging the Enugu East senatorial election in the last general elections.
Nnamani’s counsel, Mr O. Jolaawo, told the State and National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal in Enugu that the candidate of the PDP, Senator Gilbert Nnaji, rigged the election.
Jolaawo made the allegation during the cross examination of the PDP witness, Mr Okechukwu Edeh, who was the party’s collation agent in Enugu South Local Government Area.
He said that 25,093 voters were accredited for the election but that 32,056 voted, adding that election results in some wards were mutilated without official endorsement.
“In some wards in Awkunanaw West, the number of issued ballot papers was less that the used ballot papers.
“In Ward 9, some 234 voters were accredited but 400 ballot papers were issued. In the end, both used and unused ballot papers were only 200 and the remaining could not be accounted for,” he said.
The counsel debunked the witness’s claim that the election for Enugu South Local Government was free, fair and peaceful since the missing ballot papers could not be accounted for and violence that took place in some areas.
In his reaction, counsel to the respondent, Mr Peter Eze, told the tribunal that there were also mutilations of election results at Zik Avenue and Uwani East where the petitioner won, adding that his agent, Mr Okey Ngene, signed the Enugu South collated election result.

The Federal Government has discretely released some funds to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to boost their operational capacities in a bid to step up its anti-corruption war.

President Muhammadu Buhari who approved the release of the funds to the anti-graft agencies has ordered the re- opening of some corruption cases pending in the courts since 2007.

The funds, according to New Telegraph, were meant primarily to enable the two anti-agencies to carry out diligent prosecution of cases involving some state governors who have been indicted for corruption.

Buhari, upon assumption of office three months ago, had received briefings from the antigraft agencies where the heads of ICPC and EFCC blamed paucity of funds for the slow pace of their operations and inability to secure convictions on high profile cases.


A source at the EFCC told the newspaper that the President had then ordered the anti-graft agencies to set up a special committee to review the various cases that have either been hitherto declared closed or just lying fallow.

The anti-graft agencies have beamed the searchlight on many former governors, since the inception of the Buhari administration.

“I cannot tell you how much has been released but it is true that our capacity has been boosted. The committee is already working. It is the reason you have seen some actions from us in recent times. But we have not started massive invitation of these high-profile individuals because we want to build up very tight cases against them such that it would be difficult for them to escape,” the source told the national daily.

Awka—DETAILS emerged, yesterday, on the discovery of four female dead bodies in a room in Ifite area of Awka, the Anambra State capital. The Anambra State police command discovered the dead bodies in a room occupied by a couple on Olisa Onyeka Crescent near the Commissioners’ quarters in Awka GRA.
Two of the dead bodies were said to be holding Holy Bible at the time they were discovered and they might have gone to pray with the tenant of the room when they met their death.
One of the victims and a tenant in the building, Mrs. Chinwe Obi, a Grade Level 14 officer with the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, hailed from Uruagu, Nnewi. Until her death, she was the electoral officer for Onitsha South Local Government Area.
It was also gathered, yesterday, that the husband of Mrs. Obi, who returned to Nigeria from Cotonou, Benin Republic, died about a week ago in the same room and the body is still in the mortuary.
The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Hosea Karma said that following volunteered information, he went with his men to the scene and discovered the bodies after neighbours tried Mrs. Obi’s telephone line severally without any response. According to Karma, the decomposing bodies of the women had been taken to the hospital for autopsy.
The CP said: “A report came to us that a woman was being called on phone without anybody picking it for two days and we had to mobilize to her residence. On getting there, we had to force the window open and saw the bodies lying on the floor. “The bodies found in that room were without bruises which was an indication that there was no attack from anyone.”
Karma said that the other three women, whose identities had not been known, were being suspected to be her church members who came to sympathize with her over the death of her husband.
The police commissioner said, however, that the police discovered a generating set and a remnant pot of soup suspected to be carbon monoxide or food poison respectively. The commissioner disclosed that the soup as well as their bodies had been taken to mortuary for examination.

Special Adviser to Governor Seriake Dickson on Political Matters, Fyneman Wilson, has been kidnapped barely 24 hours after his principal officially declared his re-election ambition.

Wilson was abducted in the early hours of Wednesday in Sagbama Local Government Area, Dickson’s home town of Toru- Orua.

Police Public Relations Officer for Bayelsa Command, Asinim Butswat, confirmed the report, but noted that details were still “sketchy.”

He however pledged to provide details as soon as they were available.

The Athletics Federation of Nigeria has described as outright falsehood media reports that fleet footed Africa queen of the track and field, Blessing Okagbare, has been banned by the National Sports Commission and AFN from participating in the Rio 2016 Olympics Games.
In a statement signed by Olukayode Thomas, a member of the board of AFN and head of Communication and Media, the AFN described the report as false.
“Why would a reporter report that Okagbare has been banned from the Rio Olympics and will not attribute such an important story to a staff of NSC or AFN? The story is not true.’’
Mr. Thomas said that Okagbare has not done anything that warrants the federation to ban her.
“Even if Okagbare has done something and we intend to punish her, the secretary General will first write her a letter inviting her to face disciplinary committee where she will defend herself against the allegation. After a fair hearing, the disciplinary committee will make a recommendation to the board, and the board will now decide’’.
Mr. Thomas said as of Wednesday, AFN had not queried or summoned Okagbare to appear before a disciplinary committee.
He also argued that the NSC headed by Alhassan Yakmut will not ban Okagbare without a fair hearing if she committed any offense.
“Okagbare has not done anything to warrant NSC to ban her, but even if she did, the Director General is former athlete and an astute administrator, he will follow due process,’’ said Mr. Thomas.

They left their families; social life and civilization for a prison-like environment offshore called a drilling rig where all they do is, work daily on a 12 hour basis, eat and sleep for between two weeks and four weeks depending on their rules of engagement.

At the end of their job called a “tour”, it is time to go home to their families and embrace civilization.

Unfortunately for these group of workers called a crew”, they never returned as the Helicopter conveying them to shore; Bristow Helicopter Sikorsky S-76 crashed in the Lagos Lagoon on the 12th of August, 2015 with six dead and six survivors.

Without pre-empting the report of the Accident Investigation Bureau, AIB, it is no secret that mishaps like this happen for the reasons of mechanical failure, human error and an act of God.

It is re-assuring to note that this is the first time Bristow Helicopters is recording such a loss of men and machine in the servicing of Nigeria’s Oil and Gas industry in recent memory. This column will however concentrate on the safety measures, which are standard practices in the industry, which is supposed to be in place for Helicopter and passengers and enforced by the operators which are the Oil producing companies through their contractors.

The standard procedure embraced by the industry the world over is that Helicopters flying offshore should be kitted with floaters on which the Choppers can land on water, in the case of an emergency which in turn gives the passengers ample time to launch a life raft (a rubber tent-like floater) that can accommodate all the passengers. It also allows time for the passengers to inflate their life jackets once outside the Helicopter which enables them to float on water.

These safety measures all enable each of the passengers to stay afloat on water severally or collectively until help comes. Even though these floaters cannot prevent a Helicopter that crashes nose down in the water, the question remains, WAS THE BRISTOW HELICOPTER SIKORSKY S-76 FITTED WITH FLOATERS ?

Another industry requirement is a compulsory Helicopter safety briefing mandatorily conducted on all departing passengers before embarking an offshore bound Helicopter. It is usually a 15 minute briefing detailing the procedures of escaping a Helicopter in an emergency. This column believes Bristow Helicopters has never failed in this regard.

Swimming is another compulsory safety requirement for operators in the industry. All the crew are not only required to be good swimmers as common sense dictates, they are equally required to have renewable swimming passes issued by industry recognized and certified agencies. Sometimes, a personnel is carrying an expired swimming pass, does not know how to swim or carrying a fake swimming pass.

The last safety issue is the helicopter underwater escape training, HUET program which demands for one to be a good swimmer as a requirement. The HUET program is a simulation of a Helicopter crash usually conducted in the deep section of an Olympic size swimming pool. The concerned personnel is kept in an open-ended metallic cylinder with enough inhibitors for obvious distractions and then, lowered into the deep end of the swimming pool from where he/she is expected to untangle him/her and swim to surface without any form of external help. After successfully completing the program, participants are issued a certificate which, in itself, is renewable. The question is, HOW MANY OF THESE OFFSHORE BOUND PERSONNEL HAVE ACTIVE SWIMMING PASS AND ACTIVE HUET CERTIFICATE?

As a result of the numerous aviation incidents and accidents we have had, as a country, in the past, this column wishes to point out, that in addition to the safety standards, the age of the Helicopters, frequency of maintenance in the fleet of Bristow needs to be looked at and the flight time in the ill fated trip. DID THE HELICOPTER FLY FOR MORE THAN AN HOUR BEFORE LANDING OR LESS? If more than an hour, was that an industry standard, a Nigerian standard or perhaps, a Bristow standard ?

It is recommended that an agency of government, in this case, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation that has the highest equity stake in the industry should deploy an agency, if there is none, to inspect these safety issues on men and machine at the airports and boat jetties especially as it has been gathered that some companies still ferry offshore bound personnel by Boat) in order to reduce the loss of human capital to an explainable level. May the souls of the departed rest in peace, Amen.

Good morning! Here are 10 things you need to know this morning:

1. Former President, Goodluck Jonathan has appraised his government, saying that he had the best team as a President. The appraisal was contained in separate congratulatory letters to the new President of the African Development Bank, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina; and the Vice-President of the World Bank, Ms Arunma Oteh. Jonathan said that having the aforementioned in his cabinet was a proof that he had a very good team.

2. The Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth, has faulted the reinstatement of the dismissed Commissioner of Police, Mr. Zakari Biu by the Police service Commission, saying that the action clearly showed that President Buhari was pursuing an ethnic agenda. Biu was fired after he was accused of aiding the escape of Kabiru Sokoto from detention, but has now been reinstated and statutorily retired.


3. Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai on Saturday revealed that with the adoption of the Single Treasury Account, the state had recovered N4bn stashed in 470 different accounts in 23 commercial banks by the Peoples Democratic Party administration.

4. The Immediate past Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Senator Godswill Akpabio, on Sunday, dissociated himself from the new twitter and facebook accounts created in his name, saying he never authorised anyone to create such an account, advising politicians to dissociate themselves from politicising accidents and other disasters.

5. The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has accused the APC-led government of carrying out terrorism on Nigerians, saying that the last Friday invasion of the Akwa Ibom State’s government house by the DSS under the direct command of Alhaji Lawal Daura, was a violation of the constitutional immunity of the government house.


6. Report says the Federal Government will soon commence tax-audit of all the 450,000 firms operating in the country to be able to identify companies that have been short-changing the government by not paying taxes. This was disclosed by the Federal Inland Revenue Service on Sunday.


7. Report claims that a statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu quoted a report submitted to President Muhammadu Buhari by the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Ibe Kachikwu, that efforts are on top gear by the Nigerian National Petroleum Cooperation (NNPC) to recover over $7 billion in over-deducted tax benefits from JV Partners on major capital projects.

8. Nnenna Agnes Nnamani, wife of former Governor of Enugu State, Chimaroke Nnamani is dead. The former first lady died last week Friday in Orlando, Florida, United States, following complications from sickle cell disease and cerebral aneurysm. She was 47.

9. The President has said that it’s hopeful that the Chibok girls will be rescued by the Nigerian forces battling Boko Haram insurgents in the north. According to the Senior Special Assistant to the President and Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, President Muhammadu Buhari never promised to rescue the Chibok girls on the second day of his administration. He said that while the anxiety among Nigerians was understandable, it would be better to allow the President to do a thorough job in order to rescue the girls..

10. A report by Washington post has claimed that President Muhammadu Buhari is probably the most incorruptible leader in Africa, and that having declared his asset, he had displayed some level of transparency, and had done what the immediate past government could not do.

The Bauchi State Government says it has discovered an aircraft belonging to the state in Morocco.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the state Governor, Mohammed Abubakar, who said this on Saturday night in Bauchi, in a broadcast marking 100 days of his administration, noted that the aircraft was hid in the north African nation.

He said that the recovered aircraft would be received by the state government in few days at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa International Airport, Bauchi.


The governor said that the aircraft was recovered by a committee set up by the government and headed by Air Commodore Ahmed Tijjani-Baba (retd.).

“The committee will now beam its searchlight on the ministry for local affairs and the State Basic Education Board to see how fund allocated to them was spent.


“Such example is the N2bn micro loans and others that were allocated to them, but carelessly spent leaving our pupils to study under the trees,” he said.

Abubakar assured the people that the state government would soon embark on the construction and reconstruction of some rural feeder roads to ease transportation problems.


He said that the government had refurbished five trucks belonging to the State Fire Service as part of safety measures.

Abubakar said that 420 youths had been engaged as street cleaners by the government under its youth employment scheme to curb youth restiveness.

He said that water supply, especially within Bauchi metropolis, had improved following special interventions, such as regular payment of electricity bills and upgrade of electricity gadgets at Gubi Dam.

The governor called on the people of the state to support his administration to enable it to serve them.

The Lagos State Government on Sunday restated its determination to restrict trailers and articulated vehicles from plying the metropolis between the hours of 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. to prevent accidents.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Transportation, Oluseyi Whenu, disclosed this at a meeting in Lagos with the leadership of the various transport unions in the State.
He explained that the restriction was to ensure strict enforcement of the Road Traffic Law, which, according to him, was often violated by the trailer drivers.
The meeting was prompted due to the fatal accident involving a container-laden trailer on September 2 at Ojuelega. The trailer reportedly contravened Section 2 (i) and 2 (ii) of the Road Traffic Law 2012.
Mr. Whenu said that government would henceforth go tough on any trailer and long vehicle that contravenes the law. He said such vehicle would be impounded and made to pay the stipulated fine accordingly.
The scribe, however, clarified government’s position on the new directive given to Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, LASTMA, to adopt the system of booking traffic offenders, rather than apprehending their vehicles.
He said the new directive would pay more emphasis on flawless flow of traffic, while traffic offenders would be expected to pay their fines within the stipulated period.
Mr. Whenu, therefore, solicited the co-operation and support of all transport operators in ensuring the success of this laudable initiative.
“The State Government has also directed that all commercial passenger vehicles should obey all traffic rules and regulations by stopping only at designated bus-stops and close bus doors while in motion,’’ he said.
Responding, Musa Muhammed, the State Chairman of Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), expressed the unions’ readiness to comply with the laws.
Mr. Muhammed, who spoke on behalf of other union leaders, pledged their members’ readiness to cooperate with the government in maintaining law and order as well as sanity in the transport sector.
Other union leaders at the meeting included Tajudeen Adetoro, State Chairman of the Taxi Cab Operators, and Musiliu Akinsanya, State Treasurer, National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, among others.

emperorceaser:
Nija police is a big joke

The Ogun State Police Command has commenced raids of bars across the state after it ordered all drinking joints to stop operations from 10.00 p.m.
The police said it gave the order as a way to check crime in the state.
Similarly, the Commissioner of Police, Abdulmajid Ali, warned commercial motorcyclists, popularly called okada riders, to end their daily operations by 9.00 p.m. saying many of the crimes committed are linked to them.
The command last Tuesday paraded 126 suspected cult members arrested in connection with a cult war which occurred in Elega and Ago-Odo areas of Abeokuta. The cult war resulted in the murder of three persons; while houses and vehicles were set ablaze by the warring cultists.
The Commissioner of Police also declared that all night clubs should close by midnight in the state.
He warned that anyone who breached the orders risked being arrested for breaching the security laws of the state.
“Again, we want to tell the owners of beer parlours that they must close their shops by 10 p.m. They must respect the Liquor Act,” he said indicating the directives were just an implementation of contents of a law made by the state government.
“Night club operators must shut their doors by 12 midnight and commercial motorcyclists must also stop business by 8.30 p.m. These criminals use motorcycles (Okada) to perpetrate their nefarious act,” he stated.

President Buhari’s political brand is going from being the most linguistically innovative in the run-up to the last general election to being lackluster and plagued by grammatical and creativity deficits.
In my April 26, 2015 article titled “’From Febuhari to General March for Buhari: Buharis Linguistic March to Aso Rock ” I observed that “In the battle for the hearts and minds of voters, enthusiasts of President-elect General Muhammadu Buhari on cyber space were incredibly linguistically creative. They came up with original, persuasive, catchy, memorable, and thought-provoking puns, which helped construct a rhetoric of inevitability of Buhari’s victory. President Jonathan’s supporters were caught flat-footed by the unassailable rhetorical ingenuity of Buhari’s supporters; they came up with no original puns of their own, and merely reacted with thoughtless and rhetorically impoverished comebacks to the rhetorical demolition of their candidate.”
President Buhari’s media team is reversing this gain. See below my itemization of the ways in which the president’s spokesmen are soiling his linguistic brand.
1. “Wailing Wailers”: There is probably no clearer evidence of the creativity deficit of the president’s media men than the deployment of the term “wailing wailers” to describe critics of President Buhari.
There are two things wrong with that expression. One, “Wailing Wailers” is a historically positive term. It betrays spectacular creativity deficit to insult your opponent with a term of esteem. Anyone who knows a little bit about music history knows that “Wailing Wailers” is one of the earliest names of the reggae band formed by Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer in Jamaica.
When the band was formed in the early 1960s, it was called “The Teenagers.” A few years later, the band’s name changed to “The Wailing Rudeboys.” The group again changed its name to the “Wailing Wailers.” This change of name coincided with the time it was discovered by an influential Jamaican producer, who gave it national and international prominence. After some more years, the group changed its name to simply “The Wailers.” When Peter Tosh pulled out of the band, it came to be known as “Bob Marley and the Wailers.”
I grew up on Bob Marley’s music, and one of my trivial bragging rights is that I know every single song Bob Marley sang from the late 1960s till his death in 1981. To use the name of a progressive, emancipatory, anti-imperialist, pan-Africanist musical group as a term of insult is the height of ignorance!
Let’s even assume that Adesina didn’t know of the “Wailing Wailers” (which is unlikely, given his age and the fact that Bob Marley was a sensation in Nigeria in the 1970s and 1980s when he came of age), as a grammatical category, shorn of any association with Bob Marley and his band members, “wailing wailers” is an idiotic turn of phrase. What else should wailers do but wail? Laugh? Smile? Well, they are wailers because they wail, which makes “wailing wailers” pointless and, frankly, unimaginative phraseology. It’s like saying “writing writers,” “singing singers,” “lying liars,” “fighting fighters,” etc. That’s meaningless and unintelligent waste of words.
This, of course, does not indict the original “Wailing Wailers.” It was a trademark name, and trademark names enjoy the license to break grammatical conventions in the service of creativity. Just a few examples will suffice. A well-known India-based Coca Cola company called “Thums UP” (with a thumps-up emblem) was probably so named in error, but when Coca Cola bought the company, the “error” in its name was left untouched. “Dunkin’ Donuts,” a popular American brand, misspells “doughnut” deliberately.
Brand names are also notorious for leaving out apostrophes in their names. Prominent examples are Starbucks Coffee, Barclays, Michaels, etc. Two prominent Nigerian examples are Peoples Daily, which should properly be “People’s Daily” and All Progressives Congress, which should properly be “All Progressives’ Congress.”
So brand names intentionally contort the conventions of grammar for creativity, humor, marketing, etc. Adesina’s “wailing wailers” isn’t a brand name; it’s just illiteracy. And the illiteracy he started is spreading and percolating in Nigerian cyberspace every day. Now Buhari’s army of self-appointed social media defenders habitually tag critics of the government as “wailing wailers” and imagine themselves to be saying something meaningful. No, “wailing wailers” as a historical term is a badge of honor. As a turn of phrase to insult an opponent, it’s imbecilic.
2. “Military Industrial Complex.” In an August 7, 2015 presidential news release President Buhari was quoted to have said, “The Ministry of Defence is being tasked to draw up clear and measurable outlines for development of a modest military industrial complex for Nigeria.” “Military industrial complex”? I cringed in embarrassment when I read this. Buhari most certainly didn’t say this. It was his media aides who put those words into his mouth. As a military general who went to school in the United States, he would never knowingly say he wants a military-industrial complex for Nigeria.
“Military-industrial complex” (note the hyphen between “military” and “industrial”) is a pejorative term that was first used by US president Dwight D. Eisenhower on January 17, 1961 in his exit speech. It refers to the evil, war-mongering, profit-inspired conspiracy between arms manufacturers, certain elements in the US military, and some members of the US Congress that ensures that the US Congress budgets huge sums of money to the military to fight often needless and unjust wars with countries around the world. The wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere are the consequence of the influence of the US military-industrial complex. Wars cause arms to be sold, which brings money to the pockets of arms manufacturers, the legislators who support war, and the generals who execute it.
President Eisenhower was worried about this triangular conspiracy of war-mongers. That was why he said,“we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence… by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist.” Now, the presidential media team quoted our president as advocating the development of what an American president warned against more than 40 years ago. That isn’t right. There is a (disapproving) semantic fixity to the phrase “military-industrial complex” that no Nigerian presidential media team can undo. Many Western journalists actually sniggered when they read the press release.
“Military-industrial complex” has inspired many spin-offs, such as “prison industrial-complex,” which describes the conspiracy of private prison companies, lawmakers, lobbyists, vendors of surveillance equipment, etc. that has led to the explosion of prison populations in the United States and elsewhere. My friend, Professor Pius Adesanmi, also coined the term “mercy industrial-complex” to describe the complicated concatenation of emotional and financial motivations for perpetually calling attention to the dire poverty in Africa by wily Western do-gooders. Also called poverty porn, mercy industrial-complex both plays on the philanthropic heartstrings of western donors and provides “balm for uneasy consciences,” to quote Adesanmi.
So Nigeria should not develop a “military-industrial complex,” however “modest,” except the president’s media team has a meaning of “military-industrial complex” that is exclusive to them, which would mean they aren’t communicating since communication depends on shared codes and symbols to be effective and meaningful.
3. “Honorary doctorate degree.” In the presidential news release announcing the appointment of Mr. William Babatunde Fowler as the new boss of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Femi Adesina wrote: “Fowler, who holds an Honorary Doctorate Degree [sic] of the Irish International University is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria and the Business Management Association of the United Kingdom.”
Well, “doctorate” is a noun, and it can’t qualify another noun. Only adjectives (and attributive nouns, which “doctorate” isn’t) can modify a noun. The adjective that Adesina was looking for is “doctoral.” You can say someone has “an honorary doctorate,” “an honorary doctoral degree” or, rarely, “an honorary doctor’s degree,” but not “an honorary doctorate degree.”
4. “Rake up murk.” In an August 5, 2015 news release, the president’s media team wrote: “Only those rabidly determined to find faults unnecessarily will cook up falsehood in a futile effort to rake up murk where none exists.”
Murk means fog, or anything that impairs visibility in the atmosphere. You can’t rake murk, however hard you try. But you can rake “muck,” that is, dirt. The conventional expression is “rake muck,” which was popularized by American president Theodore Roosevelt, who derisively described hard-hitting investigative American journalists as “muckrakers.” Although it was intended to be an insult, American journalists wore it as a badge of honor, and today “muckraker” is now synonymous with a fearless investigative journalist.


By Farooq A. Kperogi, Ph.D.
Twitter: @farooqkperogi

Calabar – Mr Asuquo Ekpenyong-Ekpe, the older brother to Mr Ekpenyong Ita, the immediate past Director General of the Department of State Sevices (DSS) has been abducted by unknown gunmen.
ASP Hogan Bassey, the Police Public Relations Officer in Cross River confirmed the incident which he said occurred at the victim’s residence in Creek Town, Odukpani Local Government Area on Friday..
Bassey said that the police was on top of the situation.
He said that the state police command would ensure his release without any harm and re-united with his family.
He added that the police was unaware of any ransom demand.
Ekpenyong-Ekpe was kidnapped at about 4a.m on Friday by unknown gunmen who raided his Creek Town home.
A relative of the victim, Mr Etim Edet, told NAN in an interview that the gunmen whose number could not be ascertained, gained access to the area in a boat through the creek.
Edet said “several armed men just burst into his house at about 4 a.m Friday morning and whisked him away through the narrow canal here.
“They gained access through the creek and after abducting him, they disappeared through the creeks also. Soldiers have been sent to the area as we speak,” he added. (NAN)

The 7 Division of the Nigerian Army has destroyed over 2,000 cartons of dried fish estimated at 60 million Naira seized from suspected Boko Haram terrorists in Borno State.



Spokesperson of the Division, Colonel Tukur Ceremony, On Friday showed reporters the recovered items in Maiduguri, the capital of the State.

He said that the suspected insurgents, who had resorted to robbery and cattle rustling, were believed to also be engaged in commerce to fund their activities.

The Army attributed recent victories to collaborative efforts with the Nigerian Air Force and vows to pursue and destroy all terrorists’ logistics chains and supply routes.

Weeks ago, the military had, with the aid of the Air Force, intercepted two trailers suspected to be carrying logistics support to members of the Boko Haram sect.

The Nigerian Air Force in a statement by its spokesman, Air Commodore Dele Alonge, explained that Air Force Agusta helicopter on armed reconnaissance mission around the Nigeria-Cameroon border, destroyed the trailers said to have been covered and parked at different locations in the bush around the border town of Belel.

In July, the Air Force says its patrol and surveillance activities have succeeded in blocking routes through which petroleum products and other materials are supplied to the Boko Haram sect.