Nigerians are voicing out their displeasure over the new police vehicle registration. Many say they were being forced to bear an unnecessary burden – even after the Police declared on their Facebook page that the registration fee of N3, 500 for vehicles and N1, 500 for tricycles and motorcycles will be paid only once.


policewahala
They say that it made no sense to bear the burden of a fresh vehicle registration exercise, whereas the data required from them had been captured in the Federal Road Safety Corps ongoing renewal of driving licences and vehicle number plates.
They described it as a misplacement of priority, being unable to figure out why the police wanted another exercise.
Tony Umaru, who visited the Facebook page of the exercise, warned that failure on the part of the Federal Government and the National Assembly to restrain the body from continuing with the exercise, other agencies connected with security and safety would adopt same and commence extortion of the populace.


As the primary agency responsible for internal security, the police should have conducted the registration exercise free of charge, he noted.
He said, “This is absolute nonsense. Very soon the Fire Brigade will launch digital fire extinguishers that will come with a bio-metric chip to capture our data. The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps may also decide to create its own data base. The same thing may apply to the Nigeria Customs Service and the Nigeria Immigration Service.
“Assuming all the processes are free of charge, is the time free? Why can’t all of them go to a central data base and retrieve whatever information they want? If it is not N30,000 for number plate, it will be N3,500 for police bio-metric registration. There is another N2,000 for VIO e-coding. Whereas we still have water, waste and electricity bills to foot. How much do I collect as salary? If I am paying government all this money, what is the government giving me in return?”

http://www.informationng.com/2013/09/protests-greet-new-police-vehicle-registration-scheme.html?utm_source=&utm_medium=twitter

Reports reaching NaijaPundit have it that River State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi who is involved in a tussle with Plateau State Governor, Jonah Jang, over who is the authentic Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) has offered to step down from the post if Jang would also step down. At this point it is not yet known how Amaechi would want a new Chairman to emerge, whether by consensus or via another election.

NaijaPundit would continue to watch out and give you updates.

http://www.naijapundit.com/news/breaking-news-amaechi-offers-to-step-down-as-ngf-chairman-if-jang-will-step-down

The FG said a concerted effort is needed to defeat terrorism.
The federal government has said it welcomes the decision by the United states of America to place a $7million (N1.1 billion) reward for the capture of the leader of the Boko Haram sect.
Speaking to State House Correspondents, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Reuben Abati, said the stand of the United States Government is a welcome development.
“It’s a positive development. we welcome any effort of the international to support Nigeria’s effort at waging war against terrorism and its perpetrators,” Mr. Abati said.
“What this proves is that terrorism is a global phenomenon that requires global effort at combating it. Nigeria believes that the international community need to come together to combat terrorism.”
The United States in an announcement on Monday officially declared the leader of the extremist Boko Haram sect, Abubakar Shekau, wanted and placed a $7m bounty on his head.
The U.S. Department of Justice’ Reward for Justice Programme said it would pay $7million to anyone with information that could lead to the arrest of the Boko Haram leader.
The Justice Department also declared four other alleged terrorists believed to be spreading terrorism in the West African sub-region wanted.
They include Mokhtar Belmokhtar, described as a one-eyed mastermind of the January deadly attack on a gas plant in Algeria, which left 37 foreigners dead. Authorities say anyone who could help facilitate his capture stands a chance of reaping $5 million (N775 million).
A $5million bounty was also placed on Yahya Abou Al-Hammam, an alleged terrorist believed to be behind the 2010 murder of an elderly French hostage in Niger.
Also being sought are Malik Abou Abdelkarim, described as a senior AQIM fighter; and Oumar Ould Hamaha, spokesman for Mali’s Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO). The U.S. said it will pay $3 million each to anyone who could help facilitate their arrests.
The U.S. had on June 21, 2012, designated Mr. Shekau, the Boko Haram leader, a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, under Executive Order 13224. His whereabouts have, however, remained unknown.
The Boko Haram leader has released several videos of the sect’s activities; the latest being the video released last week in which he claims the sect are achieving victory against Nigerian forces in Borno despite the State of Emergency declared there. He also called on other terrorists in countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq to support the struggle to enthrone an Islamic State in Nigeria.

http://premiumtimesng.com/news/137479-nigeria-welcomes-u-s-bounty-on-boko-haram-leader-shekau.html

In its latest offensive against Boko Haram, the federal government has decided to officially declare the Islamic sect a "terrorist organisation", a designation it has shied away from labelling the group since it started its attacks in the country four years ago.

The decision by the federal government coincided with the $7 million bounty offered by the United States Government for the capture of the leader of the sect, Abubakar Shekau, and the declaration by the Niger State Governor, Dr. Mu'azu Babangida Aliyu, that the time for amnesty for members of Boko Haram was not ripe.

THISDAY learnt exclusively last night that the federal government was preparing to issue a Proscription Order declaring the group a “terrorist organisation”, a designation the Nigerian government had lobbied the US government not to use when it froze the US-based assets belonging to Shekau and three other members of the sect a year ago.

Disclosing this, an official in the Ministry of Defence in Abuja said the Proscription Order would be made by the federal government before the week runs out and was intended to show its commitment to defeat Boko Haram and make Nigeria a secure country for its people.

He welcomed the bounty placed by the US on Shekau and other terrorists in West Africa, saying they constitute a clear and present danger to the future of several countries in the sub-region.

Also, in what may be regarded as a departure from the position of several leaders of northern extraction, Aliyu said that the time for amnesty for members of the terrorist group, Boko Haram was not ripe, adding that the nation was in a defining period where investigations should not be limited to the sect alone, but also to its sponsors.

Making this known yesterday in Minna, the Niger State capital, when the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in the North paid him a courtesy call, Aliyu said: “We must go deeper than simple cosmetic changes in our society. I want you to bring out the sponsors, because they don't mean well for this country.”

Aliyu added that the issues were beyond taking arms, noting that those who had not taken arms but instigated people to do so are more dangerous than those who had taken arms.

In a veiled reference to the crisis in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of which he is a member, the governor drew a parallel between the lack of internal democracy in political parties and insecurity in the country, stating that there would be no peace in the country if internal democracy is not entrenched in political parties.

According to Aliyu, a nation where people are always threatened would not bear fruits of peace, observing that Nigerians expect a difference from what had obtained in the military era.

“We keep making excuses for our military background but what attempt are we making to see that we institute and entrench democracy in our country because the political parties have no internal democracy apart from threats and what have you.
“Apart from threats, you don't hear people negotiating and I thought politics was all about negotiation. But these days, people don't want to negotiate.

“Those who think of only threat as a democratic principle should have a rethink because we need to negotiate,” he said.
Speaking earlier, the chairman of the committee and Minister of Special Duties, Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, said the committee was on a nationwide tour to interact with stakeholders that would enable it proffer solutions to the insurgency.

He debunked claims that the imposition of emergency rule on three North-eastern states may stall the activities of his committee, maintaining that the declaration had been of tremendous assistance as it had encouraged people to come out and give information to the security forces.

“Before the state of emergency, people from the affected states were not confident to come out with information but today we receive more information from the states.

“I can assure Nigerians that the emergency rule cannot and is not going to affect the committee's assignment,” Turaki said.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/fg-to-declare-sect-terrorist-organisation/149358/

Defence wants Bradley Manning, accused of providing sensitive material to WikiLeaks, rewarded for being whistleblower.
Last Modified: 04 Jun 2013 05:41









Bradley Manning, an American soldier, faces life in prison as his trial gets under way in Fort Meade, in the US state of Maryland, three years he was charged with providing highly sensitive material to anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks.

The 25-year-old army private has admitted turning over hundreds of thousands of documents to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks, pleading guilty earlier this year to charges that could bring 20 years behind bars.

Even then, the US military pressed ahead on Monday in a military courtroom outside Washington DC with a court-martial on more serious charges, including aiding the enemy, which carries a potential life sentence.

Manning's supporters gathered outside the military base and about 20 of them, including Cornel West, the Princeton University professor and civil rights activist, and Medea Benjamin, a member of protest group Code Pink, were in the courtroom.

Manning's lawyers said he was a "young, naive but good-intentioned" soldier whose struggle to fit in as a gay man in the military made him feel he "needed to do something to make a difference in this world."

Prosecutors, however, said they would present evidence that Osama bin Laden requested and obtained from another al-Qaeda member Afghanistan battlefield reports and State Department cables published by WikiLeaks.

"This is a case about a soldier who systematically harvested hundreds of thousands of documents from classified databases and then dumped that information onto the internet into the hands of the enemy," Captain Joe Morrow, prosecutor, said.

He said the case is "about what happens when arrogance meets access to sensitive information".

Manning chose to have his court-martial heard by a judge instead of a jury. It is expected to run all summer.

Slide show of statement

Wearing his dress blue uniform, the slightly built Manning peered through his small eyeglasses at a slide show of Morrow's hour-long opening statement, watching on a laptop computer at the defence table.

The slide show also was projected on three larger screens in the courtroom, which had seats for only about 50 people.

Later, almost motionless, Manning sat forward in his chair, looking towards his defence attorney, David Coombs, throughout his 25-minute opening statement.

Coombs said Manning struggled to do the right thing as "a humanist", a word engraved on his custom-made dog tags.

As an analyst in Baghdad, Manning had access to hundreds of millions of documents but selectively leaked material, Coombs said.

He mentioned an unclassified video of a 2007 attack by an Apache helicopter that mistakenly killed civilians, including two Reuters news staff, photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen and driver Saeed Chmagh.

"He believed this information showed how we value human life. He was troubled by that. He believed that if the American public saw it, they too would be troubled," Coombs said.

Coombs did not address whether bin Laden ever saw any of the material. The soldier has said he did not believe the information would harm the US.

Gender identity

Coombs said Manning struggled privately with gender identity early in his tour of duty, when gays could not openly serve in the military.

"His struggles led him to feel that he needed to do something to make a difference in this world," Coombs said.

"He needed to do something to help improve what he was seeing."

Manning apparently downloaded hundreds of thousands of classified US documents onto CDs to smuggle them out of secure military surroundings in Iraq in 2010, according to testimony heard on Monday.

He then labelled at least one CD "secret" and hid it behind a language-learning CD in a plastic case bearing the label, "Starting Out in Arabic," according to witness testimony.

Thomas Smith, an army investigator, was the first to take the stand after opening arguments from the prosecutor and defence attorney.

Smith launched the investigation into the massive leak of US secret documents in late May 2010.

After evidence had been collected and catalogued from the operations room in Iraq where Manning worked as a military analyst, Smith turned to searching Manning's room.

Smith testified how he confiscated numerous writable CDs in the room, Manning's private Apple computer and a label maker, which he said was used to print clear labels for each CD.

Pre-trial hearings

Manning appeared to have wanted to thoroughly label the purloined content he was smuggling out.

The items in the room were not locked away, but lying out in the open.

Earlier this year, in a statement Manning read to the court during pre-trial hearings, he explained why he put the stickers onto the CDs.

He said his plan was to release the information to Reuters news agency.

Later in the day, the court also heard from two army investigators and Manning's roommate in Iraq, who testified the soldier was online whenever he was in their quarters.

Much of the evidence is classified, which means large portions of the trial are likely to be closed to reporters and the public.

Federal authorities are looking into whether Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, can also be prosecuted.

Diplomatic significance

Assange, who has taken refuge in the Ecudorean embassy in London since June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden for alleged sex crimes, told Al Jazeera that the Manning case is a matter of international diplomatic significance as it "involves every country on earth".

"In order for there to be justice, there has to be public oversight," he said, adding that the prosecution for Manning's proceedings intend to call 141 witness, out of which at least 31will have their testimony kept "completely secret".

In February, Manning took the stand and read from a 35-page statement in which he said he leaked the material to expose the American military's "bloodlust" and disregard for human life in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The case is the most prominent prosecution for the Obama administration, which has been criticised for its crackdown on leakers.

The six cases brought since Obama took office are more than in all other presidencies combined.

The WikiLeaks case is by far the most voluminous release of classified material in US history, and certainly the most sensational since the 1971 publication of the Pentagon Papers, a secret Defence Department history of US involvement in Vietnam.

The material WikiLeaks began publishing in 2010 documented complaints of abuses against Iraqi detainees, a US tally of civilian deaths in Iraq, and America's weak support for the government of Tunisia - a disclosure that Manning supporters said helped set off the Middle Eastern pro-democracy uprisings known as the Arab Spring.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2013/06/2013634452548233.html

House of Representatives Speaker, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal yesterday said undemocratic trends were creeping into the nation’s democratic system just as he noted that there is no law that compels him to be at Federal Government organized events.
The Honourable Speaker made this position known during the Democracy Day celebration in Sokoto.
Information Nigeria reports that Tambuwal was conspicuously absent at the mid-term report of the President Goodluck Jonathan administration at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, as he was represented by his deputy, Emeka Ihedioha.
However, speaking through his Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Malam Imam Imam in a statement commemorating the day, Tambuwal pointed out that it is only when democracy is in place that election and re-election can take place as the nation moves towards 2015 general elections.


He urged Nigerians to nurture and protect the country’s democracy through active participation at all levels reminding all that “We should not forget so soon, the devastating effect of military rule and how past dictatorships have stunted the growth of the country and severely hampered the freedom of choice of Nigerians.”
On his absence at an event which was attended by principal officers of the National Assembly including Senate President David Mark and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, Imam said, “That is why the law provides for a deputy speaker who can attend such events in the absence of the speaker”.
He also added that contrary to insinuations that the Speaker deliberately shunned the event, Imam said that the speaker had an obligation to his constituency.

http://www.informationng.com/2013/05/mid-term-report-im-not-compelled-to-be-at-federal-functions-tambuwal.html?utm_source=&utm_medium=twitter

The authorities of Usman Dan Fodio University (UDUS) have ordered the immediate and indefinite closure of the university. The decision followed demonstrations staged last night by students at the university’s permanent campus in Dundaye. The students were protesting against incessant electric power outages at the institution. “We can’t study, we can’t rest, we relax, we can’t do anything when there is no light,” a second year political student of the university told SaharaReporters.”



Hundreds of irate students demanded that the management of the university restore electricity or face widespread destruction of buildings and other assets of the institution.

Sokoto state is one of the areas in the northern part of Nigeria hit by acute shortage of electricity for more than one week. The lack of electricity has crippled economic and social activities, said our correspondent.

The management of the university ordered all students to vacate the institution by noon today.
http://saharareporters.com/news-page/usmanu-danfodiyo-university-sokoto-shut-down-after-students-protest-over-blackout

Nigeria’s former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo said on Tuesday that the root causes of the Islamist insurgency by Boko Haram need to be understood first before the problem can be resolved.
“We have to identify our problem,” Obasanjo said, speaking on the sidelines of a conference in Rome on a European Union project against drug trafficking.
“The first thing is to identify the remote and immediate cause of that problem,” he said, adding: “I have always prescribed stick and carrot”.
Obasanjo said there was “criminality” behind the Boko Haram insurgency — particularly involvement in drug, arms and human trafficking.
But he said there were also fundamental problems with poverty and unemployment in northern Nigeria.
“This is not an issue to be solved by a stick alone… These are issues that you cannot solve overnight,” he said at a press conference.
Violence linked to Boko Haram’s insurgency in northern and central Nigeria has led to the deaths of some 3,000 people since 2009, including killings by the security forces.
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan earlier this month imposed a state of emergency in three states menaced by Boko Haram, saying the level of violence calls for “extraordinary measures”.
http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2013/05/28/boko-haram-obasanjo-urges-carrot-and-stick-policy-again/

Massive protests trailed the arrival of a British Airways’ flight from London at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, last night, as passengers aboard the flight could not retrieve their luggage, following the technical problem suffered by the airliner on touchdown.

Vanguard gathered the luggage cabin of the aircraft failed to open after the plane landed at exactly 6:15pm.

Eyewitnesses told Vanguard that what infuriated the aggrieved passengers was the failure of the crew to empathise with them.

Over 300 hundred passengers on board the flight were reportedly stranded for hours, as children cried uncontrollably due to the stuffy nature of the arrival hall, where they were cocooned, waiting for words from the crew.

The crew were said to have left the airport to avoid being manhandled by the passengers, who were getting very restive.

The eyewitness said: “The situation here right now is chaotic. Hundreds of passengers are protesting the shabby treatment of British Airways’ flight crew, who appear helpless to enable the passengers retrieve their luggage.

“The crew members are saying the aircraft suffered technical problem and it was making it impossible for them to open the luggage cabin.”

Passenger’s story

As at 9:05pm last night, the airline crew were said to have abandoned the passengers and left the airport, saying there was nothing they could do to open the luggage cabin.

One of the passengers on board, Mr. Crosby Eribo, confirmed to Vanguard that passengers, who arrived the airport on board the flight were suffering, with none of the airlines’ staff addressing them.

He said: “What is happening here is unfortunate. The airline’s officials have abandoned us here and children are here crying because of the humid nature of the arrival hall.

“Is this how we are going to run our aviation sector?”

He said efforts to get officials of the airport authorities to intervene yielded no results, as they said the problem was strictly a British Airways affair.

Efforts to reach British Airways’ officials proved abortive, as calls pull to their phones failed to sail through.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/05/ba-aircrafts-technical-hitch-raises-tension-at-lagos-airport/?utm_source=&utm_medium=twitter

Former Minister of Education, Dr Obiageli Ezekwesili, yesterday, accused state governors of using the funds meant to increase access to basic education under the Universal Basic Education (UBE) funds, in their states to hire thugs and praise singers for elections.
Ezekwesili who was lead speaker at the 3rd Lagos Education Summit organised by the State Ministry of Education, held at the Eko Hotels and Suites, which had as its theme “Qualitative Education in Lagos State: Raising the Standard” traced the fallen standards of education to some governors.
Ezekwesili, who flayed the partisan approach of some state governors, who she stressed that they channel the funds earmarked for recruiting teachers under the UBE scheme to hire thugs and praise singers.
According to her, when the UBE was launched “to increase access to basic education, there was demand for more teachers in all states of the federation. The Federal Government responded to the challenges by providing funds for recruiting more qualified teachers. At the end, some state governors used the fund to recruit praise singers and thugs during the electioneering campaign in 2007”.
She lamented the absence of analyses, data and researches, citing a case of how the Department of Research and Statistics in the Ministry of Education was turned to contract-awarding department before her appointment.
She reeled out the data of the country’s falling standard of education at the time she was appointed the education minister, and noted that enrolment “was low; quality of education below the standard; schools were not well-managed; and it displayed wide inequity in terms of gender enrolment, though differed across the states”.
The Educationist provided details about the country’s falling education profile, and said that Nigeria “accounts for six million of 36 million school girls that cannot access primary education worldwide. There are about 56 million illiterates in Nigeria. Primary school completion rate ranges between two percent to 92 percent depending on the state”.
The former Vice President of the World Bank (African Region) also described the issue of bureaucracy as a major hindrance to raising the standard of education in the country, and expressed profound concerns, for instance, about the overwhelming power of the education minister with respect to decision-making at the unity schools, which she said, was the practice before her appointment.
She explained how she found out that 96 percent of the capital expenditure appropriated for the unity schools in the federation went into the construction of fences and toilets among others.
On the way forward, she called for intensive, increased and meaningful efforts at developing public schools, and showed data that more than 65 percent of Nigerians still depended on publicly funded secondary education. About 75 percent depend on publicly funded primary education.
Also speaking , the Lagos State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola acknowledged that the state government owed itself a duty to provide better education to those who could not afford private education, and noted that the time for hard work “is now”.
http://www.osundefender.org/?p=101716

UK to divert 60% of development assistance for Nigeria to North

UNITED Kingdom (UK) government is to triple its assistance to Nigeria but will henceforth channel 60% of such assistance to developing the northern part of the country.

Before arriving at the decision, the government said it observed that the region is home to 42 million people who still live under the national poverty line - 65% of the total across Nigeria.

The decision of the government to focus much of her assistance to the north was confirmed by the British Government Minister for International Development, Lynne Featherstone who visited Kano State on Wednesday to understand development challenges in Northern Nigeria and to review progress on development projects supported by the UK Department for International Development.

The minister emphasised that the UK was committed to supporting Nigeria as it worked to reduce poverty.

According to information gathered from the UK High Commission in Abuja, the minister noted that the UK welcomed Kano Government’s work to understand the challenges impeding growth and development and the paths to addressing them.

She said, “Northern Nigeria faces enormous development challenges. The region is home to 42 million people living under the national poverty line - 65% of the total across Nigeria. This is why the UK is tripling its assistance to Nigeria - 60% of which is focused on northern Nigeria.

“The economies of the Northern states are around half the size of those in the South. The UK is working with the Kano State government to promote inclusive growth, job creation and increased incomes in Kano.

“The UK Department for International Development has been working with the Government and people of Kano State for over 10 years. I am delighted to be present at the launch of three new products of this excellent partnership.

http://www.naijapundit.com/news/uk-to-divert-60-of-development-assistance-for-nigeria-to-north

DailyPost is in possession of a leaked chat between former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode and Publisher of Ovation Magazine, Dele Momodu on the state of emergency rule imposed on Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.

President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday night made the pronouncement in an emergency nationwide broadcast.

Fani-Kayode and Momodu were however sharply divided in the conversation which they had on a Blackberry Messenger group. While the former was against Jonathan’s decision, the latter supported it.

Fani-Kayode in his argument, said that the declaration came too late and that having the State Governors and all political appointees retain their position, portrays the President as a weakling. But Momodu maintained that because Fani-Kayode’s political godfather and ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo dethroned a duly elected governor during his tenure does not mean that such act was legal.

Excerpts:

Fani-Kayode – “I am impressed and encouraged by the tough talk that our President indulged in tonight but I have never heard of a State of Emergency where the governors and other political office holders in the affected states are given the opportunity to “remain in office”. This has never happened before in the history of Nigeria. As far as I am concerned President Jonathan’s declaration of a State of Emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states is too little and too late. The governors and ALL political office holders in the affected states should have been completely removed and the whole state should have been run by a Federal Government appointed civilian Administrator who would then have the full backing of the military. That is what is meant to happen when a State of Emergency is declared. Sadly Jonathan did not have the guts to go all the way and to remove the governors and this half-measure that he has put in place will not have the desired effect. This is another lost opportunity. What a pity.”

Dele Momodu – “I wish to disagree with Chief Femi Fani-Kayode on his position against the decision of President Ebele Jonathan not to sack the State governments of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa after declaring a State of Emergency! The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria does not empower The President and Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces to arbitrarily sack a duly and constitutionally elected government in the States. The fact that President Olusegun Obasanjo did it with impunity and got away with it because we had gutless Governors does not make it right. This culture of rambunctious rascality and rabid vindictiveness cannot be allowed to continue. On this one I support President Goodluck Jonathan and salute him for not terminating the lives of elected Governments in Federalism. It is not the fault of those State Governments that Boko Haram has ravaged their States. In reality, how many States are truly immune from wanton destruction of lives and properties? Security agents were killed like rats in Bayelsa the other day. Many lives have been wasted in Plateau State. The mother of Coordinating Minister of the Economy was kidnapped and only escaped by the whiskers and after serious deals. Dead bodies were seen floating in Anambra State. The general malaise has spread even to Lagos. To sack those Governors is to also indict the Federal Government for its inability to crush the viral rebellion with all its Federal might! It is to sack the entire Nigerian State for failing to secure the lives and properties of citizens. The solution lies not in the over-militarisation of North-East Nigeria or Nigeria in general. It is for our leaders to terminate the culture of Poverty they have instituted through their reckless profligacy. The all-pervading state of insecurity in Nigeria is symptomatic of a brewing Revolution of cataclysmic proportions. Guns can never chase away hunger but politicians CAN if they are serious, sincere and determined!”



Fani-Kayode – “Which court said that the constitution does not empower the President to suspend state governors? Which court declared OBJ’s actions illegal? OBJ got the necessary approvals for his actions from the Nat. Ass. Will someone ask those that say that OBJ’s actions were not constitutional whether OBJ was there when all serving political office holders were removed in the Western Region when a state of emergency was declared there in 1964.At the end of the day only one thing matters and it is not my interpretation of the constitution or anyone else’s. What matters is whether this hitherto untested system of having a serving governor who has not been able to maintain law and order in his state still running it when emergency laws are in place. It will lead to chaos, abuse of power, the persecution of political enemies, confusion and more atrocities. It will not succeed in stopping BH but it will strengthen it and cause it to spread. The logic of allowing those that have failed to protect their people to continue for the prescribed period of six months and avoid suspension is beyond me. The fear of a state of emergency by the governors and political office holders is what makes them sit up and do their best to avoid it. It is a very heavy hammer and once wielded the consequences must be felt by all including those that have failed in their duties in the state. Once they are assured that they will be allowed to continue in office even after that hammer is wielded the deterrent is removed and there is no longer any incentive for them to ensure that there is peace in their states. In fact some of them would even want a state of emergency because it would give them awesome powers to deal with their enemies and commit all manner of human rights abuses and atrocities. There is nowhere in the constitution that says that a governor cannot be removed in a state of emergency and until a court declares it otherwise I shall deem it lawful, necessary and expedient”

Dele Momodu – “I insist that the bullying of State Governors under President Olusegun Obasanjo was unconstitutional, all gas and of no substance or significant consequence. It was this chicanery that produced the mess that we’ve all found ourselves in today. Femi should kindly tell us what Obasanjo’s sledge-hammer had achieved in the long-run. It is that realisation of monumental failure that has turned President Obasanjo to the most vociferous critic of Jonathan today. Femi should also educate us if any Governor in Nigeria has a State Police to contain insecurity. If President Jonathan can’t do it with all the soldiers, Airforce, Navy, SSS, etc, at his beck and call it would be callous to hold Governors responsible for our collective failure. Finally, may we find the courage to resist Jonathan whenever he graduates to the full-blown dictatorship of the Obasanjo era. I stand with President G. E. Jonathan on this one occasion for not sacking any Governor to serve a bloated ego”

Fani-Kayode – “A last word for Dele Momodu: The governors are described as the Chief Security Officers of their respective states in the constitution and they are charged by that same constitution and by oath before God and the people to provide security for the state. Yes we all know that the security agencies are Federal institutions and it could be better but nevertheless that is their duty and charge. I am not aware of one case where the Commissioner of Police, the Director of SSS or the Brigade Commander in any state has refused to follow the governor’s orders in his state. If a governor cannot handle security in his state with all the soldiers, SSS officers and mobile policemen at his disposal then he should resign from his position and re-apply to become governor again after the constitution allows him to have a state police force as opposed to a Federal one. Our governors surely cannot abdicate the responsibility for security for their respective states to the President alone. They also have a key role to play because they are physically present in those states and they are on the ground. The truth is that in reality the governors are like little emperors in their respective domains. They are exceptionally powerful and the power that they wield is awesome and often unchallenged. Surely even Dele Momodu knows this. If they really put their mind to it they can do far better than most of them have been doing. Over and out!”

http://dailypost.com.ng/2013/05/15/exclusive-leaked-conversation-between-fani-kayode-and-dele-momodu-on-declaration-of-state-of-emergency/

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, has rejected the 24-year jail term passed Tuesday on Henry Okah, the leader of the militant group, by Justice Neels Claaseen of the South Gauteng High Court in South Africa.
MEND in a statement signed by Comrade Azizi warned that hell would be let loose if the verdict is allowed to stand.
According to the group, “Boko Haram has killed more innocent Nigerians than any other militant group in the country and yet their spokesperson was handed a three-year sentence. This is the height of injustice to our region and people which will be resisted by all means necessary.
“Consultations are ongoing with some stakeholders and elders of the region while our position will be made known thereafter.

Henry Okah: Jailed 24 years
The gate of hell has just been let loose.”
Okah was jailed Tuesday by South African court for 24 years after he was convicted of 13 terrorism charges over twin bombings in Abuja on 1 October, 2010.
“Effectively, the accused Okah is therefore sentenced to 24 years imprisonment,” said Judge Neels Claassen.
Twelve people were killed in the bomb attacks in the Nigerian capital as the country was celebrating the 50th anniversary of its independence.
The state argued that Okah showed little remorse during the trial, and that his intentions in the bombings were to “obtain maximum casualties.”
MEND, which in 2010 was a well-equipped armed group fighting for a greater share of the Delta oil wealth, claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Okah, who has permanent residency in South Africa, has denied any involvement in the bombings, claiming the charges against him were politically motivated.
He was also found guilty of terrorism charges related to two explosions in March 2010 in the southern Nigerian city of Warri, a major hub in the oil-rich Delta region.

http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2013/03/26/mend-threatens-mayhem-over-sentencing-of-okah/

The Joint Reolutionary Council of the Niger Delta militants hae warned the goernment not to een think of acceding to the requests for amnesty from Boko Haram or it would restart the Niger Delta conflict.

Stating that tnobody is asking for the proceeds from groundnut pyramids of oil the goup warned the North not to expect compensation for Boko Haram from Niger Delta oil.

Below is the full statement.

Amnesty for Boko Haram? Tragic Mistake for Jonathan & the Nigerian State

In the past few weeks and maybe months, we have been inundated with the calls for Amnesty from key leaders and elements of Northern Nigeria. From the Sultan of Sokoto, who, as leader of Muslims and the Islamic faith in the Nigerian state, and without any shame, prefered to undermine himself and join the band of failed Northern leaders to demand for Amnesty for the blood sucking human-hating infidels who today parade Northern Nigeria under the label of Boko Haram.

The Sultan, in calling for amnesty, has shown that he has lost the leadership of the Islamic faith in the Nigerian State. He should be deposed immediately.

To strengthen that shame on Northern elites, the likes of Aminu Masari (who ate from the palms of former Governor Peter Odili, Nuhu Ribadu, Professor Ango Abdullahi ( a former University don) as well as some former members of the Nigerian Armed Forces who are now stakeholders of the Northern Elders Forum, have also lend their voices to the call for Amnesty for the Islamist extremist movement that has killed more than 400 Christians through bombing of churches, straight-faced slitting of the throats of Christian faithfuls while they attended church programs etc.

Boko Haram or whatever names they append to themselves, has killed enough men, women and children. They have murdered in cold and hot blood far more soldiers and officers of the Nigeria police than any other insurgency in the history of the Nigerian State.

There are families who will never recover from the wickedness and murderous treachery that Boko Haram has visited on them.

The blood of all those who Boko Haram has so viciously and satanically killed will be on all those who today call for Amnesty. Boko Haram represents the fullness of filthiness of the earth. If Boko Haram is given amnesty, we declared amnesty for the Niger Delta as null and void and we shall go to war first with the Nigerian state and then, all the Northern leaders who support that evil cause and then those who have acquired billions in investment in the Niger Delta. We will spare none of them.

We see the Amnesty granted to agitating elements of the Niger Delta as a big distraction from the more serious issues of developing the Niger Delta.

The East-West road is not yet completed. Nothing is being heard about the Niger Delta Coastal road whose initial design has been successfully completed by its design consultants. We hear nothing about the Lagos-Calabar rail link. We hear nothing about increased participation of the indigenous Niger Deltans in managing the oil and gas resources of the Niger Delta even while our land and waters continue to be exploited and devastated each passing day.

The Nigerian state, with or without Jonathan, will not believe what will happen when we turn the cart. What belongs to Caesar must be given to Caesar. Nothing more, Nothing less.

We do not demand for the proceeds of groundnut pyramids. Neither do we demand for the proceeds of Cattle rearing or Nomadic farming. Our demands are simple. Use the billions of dollars harvested from our lands to develop our lands.

If this is not done, YET again, we will go back to the creeks and challenge the existence of the Nigerian State.

A simple word should be good enough for the those who say they are wise.

God bless the good people of the Niger Delta. Their patience and resilience, in the midst of such much perverse provocation has kept kept Nigeria alive.

The Struggle has yet again, begun.

Cynthia Whyte
Spokesperson, Joint Revolutionary Council (JRC)


http://www.naijapundit.com/news/amnesty-to-boko-haram-would-restart-niger-delta-militancy-jrc

The Monthly salary of N15 million for a Senator and N12 monthly for a member of the House of Representatives has drawn the attention of a civil society group, the Forum for Justice and Human Rights Defence, FJHD. The National Coordinator of the group who spoke in response to the recent statement in Abuja by the Federal Government through the Minister of Information and Orientation, Mr. Labaran Maku to the effect that the nation’s economy would collapse if the deregulation of the downstream sector was not implemented wondered why a Senator earns as much as N15 million and member of the House of Representatives – about N12 monthly.

His words, “I make bold to say that it is the prohibitive cost of governance that would eventually truncate the Nigerian economy, rather than its petroleum subsidy regime.

“I am yet to come to terms with the prohibitive cost of running both the Federal Government and the National Assembly and if I may ask, why is a Nigerian Senator earning as much as N15million per month



“Or better still, why should a member of the Nigerian lower house earn as much as N12million per month in terms of salaries and allowances, outside their constituency allowances”, he asserted.

Ikimi said, “The numerous senseless overseas trips by the President with huge government delegations often transcend into billions of naira in terms of estacode and otherwise. Why on earth is the Federal Government bent on hiking the pump price of petrol when, as a matter of fact , an Abuja High Court has since declared illegal the deregulation of the down- stream sector.”

“In order words, why is the Federal Government still trying to market or promote an illegal policy to Nigerians in the face of the above court verdict, which it is yet to appeal against.

“The above, no doubt, is provocative and Nigerians would resist same. I, therefore, call on the Federal Government to reduce its cost of governance by half, while the jumbo salaries and allowances should be jettisoned in the interest of our ailing economy,” he added.

http://abusidiqu.com/?p=10576

Controversial former minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Nasir Elrufai, has sensationally come up with the accusation that the recently pardoned former governor of Bayelsa state, chief DSP Alamieyeseigha, plans to run for President in 2015. In case you don't believe it we reproduce the twitter post were Elrufai made the allegation.

http://www.naijapundit.com/news/alamieyeseigha-plans-to-run-for-president-in-2019-elrufai

All Aero Contractors flights were grounded on Wednesday and passengers were stranded nationwide, following an industrial action embarked upon by staff of the troubled airline.
Nigeria’s second biggest airline has been struggling for almost two years and was last year taken over by the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON, because of its heavy debts.
Exact demands of the staff were not known at press time, but a source told our correspondent that they bordered on unpaid salaries and poor conditions of service.
Aero Management apologised in a brief statement for “the inconvenience suffered by our highly esteemed customers due to an abrupt industrial action by our staff which has led to grounding of all our scheduled operations.” The airline said it is engaging with the unions to find a quick and amicable resolution.
“Further details will be given in due course,” the airline said.
At the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal 2, passengers moved to board other airlines such as Dana Air and IRS.
Many passengers who had booked Aero flights online were yet to be attended to.
Aero Contractors has tried to cut costs for years and stopped giving passengers free snacks on board more than three years ago. It is the only airline in Nigeria that gives nothing to air travellers during flights.
With the price of Jet A1, as aviation fuel is known, now sky high, many Nigerian airlines have been struggling. While some have been grounded over the past year, others are simply gasping for breath.

http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2013/03/13/aero-flights-grounded-nationwide/

MANY may be wondering what governments do. They have every right to do so following various failings of governments, including basics like paying salaries they prescribed for their own workers.

The role of governments is more fundamental and our Constitution states it so lucidly and succinctly that it remains a wonder that our governments do not aspire to implement the provision.

According to Section 14 2b, “The security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government”. Where governments abdicate these responsibilities, they question their very existence, since they would not realise they are in power for the benefit of the people.

Nigeria is passing through one of its most challenging phases, hardly any government seems to prime its programmes to the constitutional provision, which clearly underlines the importance of security and the well being of the people. Could things have been different if governments cared for the people? We think so.

Concerns about governments alienating themselves from the people are not new, and they are not related to governments in Nigeria alone.

John Caldwell Calhoun, former US Vice President, former Senator in a May 26, 1836 address expressed worries about government. “A power has arisen up in the government greater than the people themselves, consisting of many and various and powerful interests, combined into one mass, and held together by the cohesive power of the vast surplus in the banks.” The “Cohesive power of public plunder,” as the speech was later known, became a common reference for governments abandoning the people while pursuing the good of a few.

Could this explain why governments are more focussed on the next elections, though they are more than two years away, than in fulfilling promises their promises to make Nigeria safe and more prosperous?

Nigerians want to see governments do more with the billions of Naira voted annually for the benefit of the people. Key areas of concern remain security and basic infrastructure. When governments fail in their responsibilities to the people breach the Constitution.

What does sanctity of lives mean where governments cannot prevent illegal taking of lives? What is welfare when people are not being paid for work they have done? What is the importance of life when diseases are mauling our people to submission and nobody cares?

Ronald Reagan, former US President in his first Inaugural address (1981), said, “Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem”. Prescient as this may seem, Nigerians want to see their governments solving their problems. When this starts, governments will get more support from the people whose votes got them into office. Democratic governance is a contract with the people.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/03/what-do-governments-do/

WARRI—FORMER National Chairman of Traditional Rulers of Oil Minerals Producing Communities of Nigeria, TROMPCON, the Paramount Ruler of Siembiri Kingdom in Delta State, HRM Charles Ayemi-Botu, yesterday, said Northern leaders, who challenged President Goodluck Jonathan, weekend, to fish out Boko Haram members, who he (President) appropriately described as “ghosts” and “faceless,” were agents of the insurgents.

Speaking to Vanguard in Warri, HRM Ayemi-Botu, said: “No sane Nigerian should be challenging Jonathan to fish them out, except those people are their accomplices and working in tandem with Boko Haram to create unrest and tension in the land.

“When the youths of South-South, the likes of Tompolo, Ateke Tom and Boyloaf were fighting, was it the late President Umaru Yar’Adua or former President Olusegun Obasanjo that fished them out?

“These people, if they are really fighting a just cause, why are they faceless? They are really ghosts. They said they do not want western education and yet, they are using English in all their e-mails and utterances, why not use their Arabic language to communicate with others. So, whoever is saying that President Jonathan should fish them out, is suggesting that they are sponsors of Boko Haram, financing them to heat up the polity simply because a Southerner is ruling.”

He said Boko Haram members were within and living with people in the North and if the leaders are sincere, they should prevail on them to stop the violence, just as Niger Delta leaders went to the creeks to ask militants, some few years ago, to drop their arms and embrace peace.


http://247nigerianewsupdate.com/n-delta-monarch-blasts-northern-leaders-over-boko-haram/

how? and why? not possible for now, you dont grant amnesty to a ghost or faceless terrorist.

Lucky Lawal, the PM News reporter who had an altercation with the Lagos State Public Relations Officer, Deputy Superintendent of Police Ngozi Braide, has written to the Inspector General of Police alleging threat to life and defamation of character by Ms. Braide.

On February 28, in a story published by SaharaReporters, Ms. Lawal anonymously disclosed that the police spokesperson threatened her at the Police Command when she went there to confirm a story.

On March 2, it was learned that Ms. Braide had been queried by the police for a previous incident in which she had allegedly fought with a superior female officer, identified as Cynthia Ibeama, over a parking spot.

The Lagos Police spokeswoman, apparently angry at reports of that brawl, in which she may have been indecently exposed, reportedly told Ms. Lawal in the February 28 encounter that members of the media were peddling lies about the incident.

“Miss Braide went on to call me all sorts of names and accused me of blackmail,” she said. “She went on to order me to leave the office but I told her that

I will not leave because the Lagos State PPRO's office is a public office and does not belong to her. At this point she got up from her seat and charged towards me as if she wanted to fight me. I still stood waiting to see what she will do next. She walked towards me and she said, ‘Take your dirty body out of my office. This is my office. You and your friends can go on to say all things and blackmail me. I don't care.’ At this point some journalists held her and prevented her from fighting me."

In her complaint to the IGP, Ms. Lawal reiterated those elements, saying they were published and confirmed by people who were present when the incident took place, stressing that she had herself already left the premises.

Listing several questions she would like the IGP to ask of Ms. Braide, the reporter said, “Sir, I would be glad if you can investigate this matter promptly as I am scared for my life and that of my family because if DSP Braide can lie on the pages of newspaper about me, then one cannot say what she can do next as she is very desperate.” "

Ms. Lawal was not the only person that faced death threats from the Lagos PPRO Ms. Braide, on March 2nd 2013, a twitter handle @sexuwant believed to be used by one of her associates threatened bodily harm against the publisher of SaharaReporters as follows:

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/reporter-petitions-igp-over-threats-lagos-police-spokeswoman-ngozi-braide

It has always become a tradition with the NPF to murder the truth and to promote profligacy......and this age long decadence is eroding the confidence of the populace in the force.....as a matter of dignity, the police seriously goofed in the handling of the murder of oyerinde, and it behove the force to come out and redeem its image by admitting its impudence

Senator Modu Sheriff, the former governor of Borno state, has called on the security authorities to fully investigate the incident and Senator Zanna’s possible links with Boko Haram, insisting he is a Boko Haram kingpin.

He drew attention to Zanna’s “Hajj-by-road” activities for which, he said, the legislator was suspected to have used as a façade for the importation of arms and window for the training of terrorists.

Shuaibu Mohammed Bama, called a “high profile Boko Haram commander” by the Joint Task Force (JTF), was arrested in “a serving politician’s house,” JTF announced on Friday. Following the JTF press statement, Senator Zanna told newsmen that although Bama was his nephew, the arrest did not take place in his home. “Since he was not arrested in my house, they should go and investigate his relationship with people they arrested him in their house,” he said.

But the former governor scoffed at that account. “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.”

The former governor, who is now the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the All Nigeria People’s Party, noted that Zanna has had a “recent political encounter” with him, and now “appears desperate to settle scores by dragging Ali Sheriff into the controversy.”

Said Modu Sheriff: “Senator Zanna’s inconsistencies in trying to defend himself are clear indication of a sinking man’s desperate attempt to hang himself on anything available in order to save his neck. If not so, what would his nephew be doing in the so-called house of Senator Ali Sheriff, the man he said is his political rival?”

The ex-governor said Senator Zanna has “obvious involvement with Boko Haram, given his past antecedence where people finger him as illegal importer of arms via his Hajj-by-road fame.”

He said it was common knowledge in Borno state that Senator Zanna takes some hapless Nigerians on a seeming religious voyage by road only to put some of them into terrorist activity and illegal arms importation. While it is not clear if he had ever reported this information to the security agencies, the former governor said that 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 uptill date.”
He refuted the senator’s claims that he had parted ways with his nephew, Shuaibu Bama, saying he can “authoritatively confirm” the man was still his associate up to the time of his arrest.

He further queried why Senator Zanna never spoken against the atrocities being committed by Boko Haram, noting that instead, he has been calling for the declaration of state of emergency or the disbandment of the JTF.

The former governor also declared the People’s Democratic Party in Borno State as “the engine room behind Boko Haram,” arguing that Zanna being the second senator fingered as having links with Boko Haram confirms “the wildly believed theory.”

He wondered how the Senator who he accused of not having visited Borno or his constituency even once since his inauguration can afford to play politics with the serious issue at stake by sponsoring terrorism against his own people.

“At his age and with the position he holds as a senator of the Federal Republic we felt it is the height of un-patriotism and irresponsibility for Senator Ahmed Zanna to not only fuel the crisis in Borno, but to attempt to drag the names of descent citizens, like Ali Sheriff in Sent from my BlackBerry® Smartphone, from Etisalat. Enjoy high speed internet service with Etisalat easy net, available at all our experience centres
http://pointblanknews.com/pbn/exclusive/senator-zanna-is-a-boko-haram-kingpin-says-former-borno-governor-modu-sheriff-2/

Some US-based Nigerians are calling for a national and international probe that will uncover the sources of funding of Boko Haram, especially regarding how the terrorist group gets its deadly arms and weapons, Empowered Newswire reports.

In a chat with the news agency after addressing an international press conference in Washington DC, Dr. James Fadele, the Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigerian-Americans (CANAN), said it is now imperative for concerned governments, international agencies, global bodies and think tanks to carry out a probe on how the Boko Haram militants are able to get deadly weapons to carry out their mayhem in Nigeria.

The CANAN leader spoke just as the association, which was formed last month in New York, launched its DC/Maryland regional chapter earlier this week. The event took place at an event in Jesus House DC, located in Silver Spring, Maryland, and was attended by Nigerian religious leaders from churches such as the RCCG, Gospel Faith Missions, Jubilee Christian Church International and Christ Apostolic Church.

Speaking earlier on Tuesday at a press conference attended by officials from the US Congress Homeland Security Committee, NGOs and religious groups and leaders in the US, the CANAN leader observed that "Boko Haram is sustained by the procurement of unbelievable amounts of heavy arms and weapons, clearly transported from country to country and certainly funded by some fat pockets."

He then called for a critical investigation into the likely backers of Boko Haram both in Nigeria and outside.
CANAN also frowned at the fact that while a number of top known politicians have been linked with Boko Haram, a conclusive investigation and trial has not been done.

"Only last week, it was reported that the Nigerian security outfit, Joint Task Force, JTF, announced that it has caught a Boko Haram commander in the house of a national politician in Borno State," the CANAN leader said.

Recalling that the Nigerian President himself had described the Boko Haram menace as a form of civil war, CANAN leaders who spoke with reporters from several US media also observed that earlier "a serving Nigerian Senator was once accused of links to one of the spokespersons of the deadly group. But we are concerned that all these disclosures don't lead to effective prosecution and justice."

Said Dr. Fadele, who is also the leader of the RCCG in North America, "We are concerned that the investigations often will hit a roadblock and we don't hear anything anymore about what seems like a high-level involvement in terrorism."
Restating the need for the US to designate Boko Haram as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, FTO, CANAN leaders said with such a designation "all their top political backers will understand that the stakes are now higher, and they will face a wider net of justice. This in turn will likely curtail them from funding the terrorists.

According to Fadele, "big names and political figures known to be supporting terrorism in any form, should be made to face the music, the lives of innocent Nigerians depend on it!”

On the expressed concern that the US designating Boko Haram an FTO might amount to internationalizing the problem, the Nigerian-American Christians stated, "such a view is already overtaken by events as the group has already threatened international peace, and the problems are no longer entirely domestic or academic."

They drew attention to a report last week that Boko Haram killed a Cameroonian local government official; and another this week in which the BBC said that the Chinese government has filed a diplomatic protest against the killing of a Chinese construction worker in Maiduguri.

According to CANAN, "While we Nigerian-American Christians are the first to affirm the sovereignty of Nigeria, we recognize that Boko Haram is part of the worldwide phenomenon of terrorism and its many aftermaths set in motion after 9/11.

They explained that it was the sincere belief of their group "that the Nigerian government is no longer capable by itself alone to effectively check this group without some drastic international help including the designation of the group as an FTO by the US.
It was observed that Boko Haram is still actively causing death and mayhem in Potiskum, in northeast Nigeria.
http://saharareporters.com/news-page/us-christian-group-calls-probe-boko-haram-weapons-supply-funding

The Lagos State Government has said that despite the several ongoing harassments of commercial motorcycle operators and seizure of their motorcycles by enforcement agencies, it is yet to begin the implementation of the new traffic law which bans the cyclists from major roads in the state.

The State Government made this claim to a Lagos High Court on Wednesday, through the State’s Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice, Ade Ipaye; and his predecessor and Professor of Law, Yemi Osinbajo.

Both men, Messrs Ipaye and Osinbajo, told the court that the state has not started implementing the law banning the Okada riders from operation.

The motorcyclists, under the aegis of Incorporated Trustees of All Nigerians Autobike Commercial Owners and Workers Association, dragged the state to court to reverse the ban of their activities in most parts of the state, particularly on the federal highways.

Joined in the suit, as defendants, are the Lagos State Government, the State’s Attorney General, and the House of Assembly. Mr. Ipaye represented himself and the Lagos State Government; while Mr. Osinbajo, is standing in for the House of Assembly.

“There are no such facts as alleged by the defendants,” Mr. Ipaye said, in response to claims that they have begun enforcement.

The Attorney General insinuated that the activities of the enforcement agencies were not directly related to the Lagos Traffic Law.

“The Okada riders went on rampage on Monday…. Enforcement agencies are not parties to this matter. I can’t on their behalf say to this court that they will not do their duty,” Mr. Ipaye said.

Counsel to the motorcyclists, Bamidele Aturu, expressed his shock at the statements of the State’s counsels.

Mr. Aturu said that he was “startled” at the state’s claim that they are a separate entity from the enforcement agencies.

“The Commissioner of Police takes instruction from the governor in respect of enforcement,” he said.

The adjournment

At the court, on Wednesday, the motorcyclists filled the court room to the brim, most of them spilling into the corridor. Others, armed with placards, waited outside the high court’s premises.

“The defendants have no power whatsoever to make any law to regulate traffic on any of the federal trunk or highway roads listed in Schedule II to the Lagos State Road Traffic Law, No 4 of 2012 and in the Federal Highways Act, cap F13, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004,” the motorcyclists said in their court arguments.

Mr. Aturu prayed the court to grant an accelerated hearing of the main suit “so that we can deal with this matter.” He also withdrew an initial suit for interlocutory injunction in which he asked the court to restrain the state from enforcement of the law.

The court adjourned the hearing to November 16.
http://premiumtimesng.com/regional/104714-weve-not-started-implementing-ban-on-okada-lagos-government.html

For about five hours, the State Security Service(SSS) yesterday grilled a senator on his relationship with a suspected Boko Haram Commander, Shuaib Mohammed Bama, who was allegedly arrested last Thursday at his home in Maiduguri by the Joint Task Force(JTF).

Senator Ahmed Khalifa Zanna, who was released last night, is expected to report to the SSS headquarters by 11am today.

It was also learnt that the suspected Boko Haram Commander has confessed that he was recruited alongside others by politicians, including the Senator, for the 2011 polls.

According to sources, the Senator arrived at the SSS headquarters at about 2.05pm for interaction with the Director-General, Mr. Ekpenyong Ita.

The interrogation took about five hours.

A source spoke on what transpired at the session: “He insisted that the Boko Haram Commander is the son of his sister. But he restated that he does not know whether the suspect is a Boko Haram member or not.

“He admitted that as his nephew, the Boko Haram Commander has been coming to his house, but at a point he was uncomfortable with his behaviour; he banned him from visiting his family.

“The Senator was also asked questions on what Bama had been doing in his house during the on and off shuttles to the place. He said he had refused to tolerate him in his house.

“At a point during the grilling, the team asked the Senator if he has had any link with Boko Haram.

The source quoted the Senator as saying: “My only encounter with Boko Haram is about preparation for this forthcoming Sallah. I gave one of my aides N1.5m to buy rams. I was not around in Maiduguri but some gunmen went to my aide to demand for the money.

“The man said I only gave them N1m and that he had exhausted the money buying rams. They took my aide to his house, ransacked the place and took N250,000, being cash left with him.

“As they were going, the gunmen, suspected to be members of Boko Haram, left a message that I must give them N10m or else they will kill me. That is the only link I have with Boko Haram, I have no relationship with any of their members.”

The SSS interrogators reportedly asked the Senator “why he did not tell the press this dimension on Sunday and at the National Assembly on Monday.

“The investigators also asked if he had reported the death threats from Boko Haram to security agencies. He said ‘no’ because he was not in Maiduguri when it happened.”

On the house where Bama was arrested, the source added: “The Senator said it does not belong to him. He said the suspect was not picked up at his residence.

“But we will get a comprehensive brief from the JTF. And that is why the Senator will appear before the SSS by 11am on Tuesday for another round of questioning. There are some gaps in his statement.

“So far, we have asked him to go home. We have no reason to detain the Senator because we invited him.”

It was, however, a different story yesterday when Bama told the SSS that he and others were recruited during the 2011 general election, by some politicians, including the Senator.

The source said of Bama: “He told us that he and others worked for politicians of a particular party, including the Senator, during the 2011 poll. That was one of his confessional statements.

“The Boko Haram Commander is still undergoing interrogation. He will also tell the SSS where he was arrested.”

Following fears of reprisals from the Joint Task Force(JTF) in Maiduguri, the Senator had earlier said he might evacuate his family from his residence.

He added: “I am in the process of evacuating my family from my residence in Maiduguri because with what JTF has done, anything can happen to them. I will do that soon.

“My only offence is that I said the JTF should withdraw if they are not going to operate according to the rules of engagement.

“They are not there to kill people; they are to counter the insurgency of Boko Haram.

Zanna said he decided to speak out because of the impression already created that he is a Boko Haram member.

He added: “Of course, I have to talk because I have to redeem my image and I have to redeem the image of the Senate.

“I have bad blood with the man I defeated; he wants me to be hanged. ”http://thenationonlineng.net/new/news/sss-grills-senator-over-boko-haram-suspect/

Let d senator come and clear d air abt his complicity and why he refused to give such a sensitive info to d security agencies...knowing fully dat the BH is one of Nigeria's major security challenges.

A clear message was at the weekend sent to those who think that the activities of terrorists are capable of affecting the cohesion and unity of the nation, that the country will remain intact despite the challenges.

The Director General of the State Security Service (SSS), Mr. Ekpeyong Ita, gave the assurance while addressing members of Course No. 5 of the Institute for Security Studies in Abuja.

Ita told the graduands that the institute was set up to be a centre of academic excellence committed to expanding the professional horizon of the members of the intelligence services. 

He reminded them that they were graduating at the critical period of national development.  “It is a period the nation is facing complex security challenges like kidnapping, oil theft, piracy, violent crimes and terrorism.  I do not think this nation has ever faced a more fluid, more dynamic or more complex situations as what it is currently being faced, particularly terrorism.”

The DG quoted Robert Green saying: “Terror is the ultimate way to paralyse a people’s will to resist and destroy their ability to plan a strategic response.  Such power is gained through sporadic acts of violence that create a constant feeling of threat, incubating a fear that spreads throughout the public sphere.”According to him, “The goal in a terror campaign is not battlefield victory, but causing maximum chaos and provoking the other side into desperate over-reaction.  Melting invisibly into the population, tailoring their actions for the mass media, the strategist of terror create the illusion that they are far more powerful than they really are.

It is a war of nerves.  The victims of terror must not succumb to fear or even anger; to plot the most effective counter strategy, they must stay balanced.  In the face of terror campaign, one’s rationality is the last line of defence.”

He urged them to be prepared, stressing that “the activities of terrorists have been serious sources of strain on corporate existence, image and development of the country.
This service and other security forces with the support of government have worked assiduously to contain and reduce considerably the activities of these unscrupulous and misguided elements.”

He thanked President Goodluck Jonathan for his support to the service and emphatically declared “Let me reiterate the point that Nigeria can never be divided by the activities of some misguided, ignorant terrorists or those unscrupulous individuals whose activities and utterances kept chiselling though unsuccessfully the very foundation of those things we hold dear, particularly the unity of this country.  To this last group of people, I am saying enough is enough.”

The SSS DG said the service was determined to create enabling environment through the provision of adequate security for the sustenance of democracy and the strengthening of democratic institutions for sustainable development. 

“We do this in realisation of the fact that, it is only when there is development that you can have security, because without development there can be no security.  We also bear in mind that security is for the individual, it is when the individual is secured that the nation is secured.”



http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/sss-terrorists-cannot-divide-nigeria/128385/

The Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Sa’ad Ibrahim, has said that the current security challenges in Nigeria will soon be over.

The defence chief spoke with journalists in Ilorin on Saturday after a special prayer organised for him by the Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari.

He stated that peace was a sine qua non for national growth and development, adding that there was the need for people to support the armed forces to enhance peace and security of lives and property.

Ibrahim appealed to Nigerians to accord President Goodluck Jonathan and the Nigerian Armed Forces maximum support to effectively address the insecurity in the country.

According to him, with the ultimate realisation of improved safety and peace in the country, the armed forces would then devote their energies and expertise to their professional concerns.

“The armed forces need the support of the people to enhance their smooth operations,” he said.

The CDS said the Nigerian Armed Forces had experts and professionals who had contributed immensely to peace in West Africa.

Sulu-Gambari said it was imperative for Ibrahim to evolve new strategies and mechanism to improve safety, security and peace in Nigeria.

The Chief Imam of Ilorin, Alhaji Muhammad Bashir, who presided over the prayer, said prayer was an indispensable strategy to address problems. He prayed God to direct Ibrahim aright in his duties.
http://www.punchng.com/news/insecurityll-soon-be-over-in-nigeria-cds/

A senior police officer was among the robbers who went on a shooting spree and killed 23 people in Dogon Dawa village of Kaduna State on Sunday, Emir of Birnin Gwari Alhaji Zubairu Jibril Mai Gwari said yesterday.
The robbers launched a pre-dawn attack on the village apparently to free their four detained colleagues arrested by vigilante days earlier. They killed the village head, one of his sons, some neighbours as well as nine worshippers coming out of a mosque.

Mai Gwari spoke yesterday when he received visiting Governor Patrick Yakowa, General Officer Commanding (GOC), 1 Mechanised Division, the state Police Commissioner and the Director of State Security Service (SSS).

He said the police officer in question led the team of armed robbers to Dogon Dawa, and urged authorities to prosecute him.

Later last night, Mai Gwari also spoke to Daily Trust, vowing to ensure the police officer faced justice.

“Since I made my statement in public and before the governor and other security chiefs, I know what I am saying. The police officer who my people and the armed robbers call OC led the gang to massacre my people,” the emir said.

“He has also attempted to stop the arrest of the four suspected armed robbers when the Dogon Dawa vigilante went to arrest them. After the Dogon Dawa vigilante had arrested the four suspects, the same OC followed them in a car and attempted to rescue the four suspects.

“In the same vein, when the gang of the armed men came to Dogon Dawa, the same OC directed the gang. He showed them the places to attack. Some of my people heard the members of the gang calling his name, OC, but he cautioned them to stop calling him with his popular name, OC.

“This is why I would personally ensure that the man is investigated and prosecuted for massacre because what happened at Dogon Dawa was massacre. The issue is not an issue of transferring the officer, it is an issue of taking the officer to court and (having him) prosecuted, which I would personally ensure.”

Daily Trust learnt yesterday that the Zaria Area Command of the Police Force ordered the arrest and detention of the police officer in question.

However, the emir of Birnin Gwari said that the officer is nowhere to be found, “and nobody can sweep this case under the carpet.”

Hours after the killings on Sunday, a survivor and son of the killed village head told Daily Trust he heard the voice of a police officer among the robbers who attacked the village.

“We are suspecting that (a police officer) might have accompanied the gunmen because I heard his voice. Another reason that makes us to suspect him was that when our men went to arrest the four suspected armed robbers, (he) told them that they would see the consequences of their action,” Abdulrahman Ahmad said.

Attempts last night to get the Kaduna State Police Commissioner Olufemi

Adenaike or the command’s spokesman DSP Aminu Lawal to respond to the Birnin Gwari emir’s allegation were not successful. Their phone lines were not connecting and they did not reply to text messages sent to them.

Mr. Adenaike was present when the emir made the allegation.

Earlier in the afternoon, DSP Lawal told Daily Trust that investigation into the killings had begun and that security had been beefed up in the area.

Governor Yakowa yesterday told residents of Dogon Dawa that his government has taken the necessary steps to protect their lives and properties. He said he had to cancel his foreign trip because of the seriousness of the attack, which he added would be discussed in today’s state security council meeting.

http://dailytrust.com.ng/index.php/other-sections/lead-stories/178926-police-officer-led-kaduna-killer-gang-emir-says

Nigeria’s political heavyweights, including President Goodluck Jonathan, gathered in Abuja Tuesday to celebrate one of their own: former Vice-President Alex Ekwueme who will join the octogenarian club on Sunday.

The occasion provided them an opportunity to discuss the state of the nation and proffered solutions on what they thought was wrong with the Nigerian nation.

Discussants at the event titled “International Colloquium on ‘Nigerian Federalism: Building on the Ekwueme Legacy” and moderated by THISDAY Newspapers Chairman/Editor-in-Chief and President, Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN), Mr. Nduka  Obaigbena, expressed divergent views on whether Nigeria should retain the extant six geo-political structure or not, as well as the focus of the ongoing constitution amendment process.

Among those who spoke at the occasion were President Jonathan; Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola; Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi; Niger State Deputy Governor, Mr. Musa Ibeto, representing the governor, Dr. Babangida Aliyu; Governor of Kano State, Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso, who was represented by his deputy, Alhaji Umar Ganduja; Leader of the South-south Peoples Assembly, Chief Edwin Clark; former Minister of Finance and Chairman of the Northern Leaders Political Forum (NLPF), Alhaji Adamu Ciroma; former Minister of Police Affairs, Brig-General David Jemibewon; as well as former Vice-President of the World Bank, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili.
Jonathan, represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, described Ekwueme as one of the architects of modern Nigeria and a founding member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He said the only way forward for all Nigerians was for them to commit themselves to the cause of national integration.

“The challenge of our time is the failure of our constitution. Fifty two years of independence, it is clear to all of us that there is the need for everyone to commit to national integration,” he added.

On the debate on federalism, Jonathan said what was paramount was the people's loyalty to the nation and not the present recourse to the pursuit of zonal interests.

He urged Nigerian leaders to stay away from divisive tendencies and to collectively build the country.

Earlier, former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, who represented former President Shehu Shagari as chairman of the occasion, had set the tone for the occasion with his rejection of the call for the convocation of sovereign national conference to discuss Nigeria’s problems.

Rather, he said he would back a national constitutional conference to provide a veritable platform to redesign the way forward for the country.
Gowon, who extolled Ekwueme, said the former VP had been outstanding in his conduct and in his ceaseless pursuit of justice and equity in national affairs.

Fashola, in his paper on the colloquium’s theme, disagreed with the moves to introduce the concept of six geo-political zones into the constitution.
He said he opposed the idea, which incidentally was first proposed by Ekwueme during the last constitutional conference organised by the military, adding that the constitution does not provide for the creation of any entity without means of funding it.

According to him, with the present agitation for more funds between the existing tiers of government, the zonal structure would find it difficult to survive.

While faulting the numerous agitations for constitutional amendments, Fashola said nothing was wrong with the 1999 Constitution but for the manner of its implementation.

“Those things that frustrate our people and make them pursue a separatist agenda could not have been caused by the inadequacies of the constitution.


“We should not put the cart before the horse in our quest for national development. This means that we should first change our values before embarking on constitution amendment,” he said.

He described Ekwueme as a gentleman and one of the few good men Nigeria could boast of.

Responding to Fashola’s presentation on the constitutionality of the six geo-political zones, Obi said there was no need to amend the constitution.

“The six geo-political zones are based on injustice and inequality because some zones have seven states, whereas other zones like the South-east zone have five states.

“There is therefore the need to amend the inequality as contained in the six geo-political zones. The six geo-political zones as presently constituted are not an agreement based on equality,” he added.

Kwankwaso also rejected the geo-political zone structure, which he described as a military creation during the 1994/1995 National Constitutional Conference.
He said when the structure was introduced, the North did not oppose it so as not to create tension in the country, as the introduction of the geo-political zone structure coincided with the June 12, 1993 crisis.

He said: “The creation of the six geo-political zones was full of deceit. It was not based on land mass and population. We are deceiving ourselves; the six geo-political zones are not acceptable to the people of Kano State.”

Jemibewon, in his contribution, queried the rationale for including Kogi State within the North-central zone with core Northern states of Niger and Plateau. He called for a review of the geo-political zone structure but not to scrap it.

The governor of Niger State called for the strengthening of the zonal structure, saying: “There is nothing wrong with the six geo-political zones, what I will advocate is that the zones should be strengthened to perform. We need to strengthen the zones by providing the enabling environment.”

Ezekwesili, on her part, called for the establishment of law and order in Nigeria, saying that what happened in Port Harcourt and Mubi, where students were killed, remains a challenge to the country.

On the controversy over the six geo-political zone structure, she said what mattered most was good governance.

In his contribution, Ciroma said if the calls to abrogate the zonal structure were to succeed, the states as a federating structure would have to go.
He therefore called for the strengthening of the states so that they could perform effectively.

He also expressed doubts over the ability of the constitutional amendment to solve Nigeria’s problem and denounced what he described as the overwhelming concentration of power at the centre. 

Clark also called for equality in the composition of the six geo-political zones if they were to continue to exist.

He said some states were dependent on others and could not even initiate or generate funds on their own to guarantee their continued existence.
He called for the scrapping of such states and for them to be replaced with the six geo-political zones as the federating units.

Clark also accused the National Assembly of arrogating the powers of amending the constitution to itself alone, while calling for a national conference for the purpose of amending the constitution.

Clark, who opposed the calls for the decentralisation of the Nigerian Police Force, accused governors of behaving as if they were above the law.


According to him, “The governors are more authoritative than the military regimes,” adding “The governors use the governors’ forum to undermine everybody in the country.” 

In his contribution to the raging debate, former Akwa Ibom State Governor, Chief Victor Attah, called for a national conference to decide the future of the country.  

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/ekwueme-at-80-jonathan-eminent-nigerians-point-the-way-forward/127920/

The Integrated Energy Distribution & Marketing Limited, believed to be owned by former Head of State, Abdusalam Abubakar, has been declared the preferred bidder for four distribution companies (DISCOs).
The company won bids for the Yola Distribution Company, Ibadan Distribution Company, Eko Distribution Company, and Ikeja Distribution Company.
The Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, Tuesday, organised the formal commercial bids opening for 11 distribution companies.
Integrated defeated Honeywell Energy Resources International Limited, owned by Oba Otudeko; and Oando Consortium, headed by, Wale Tinubu, to win the bid for Eko DISCO.


http://premiumtimesng.com/news/103832-abdusalams-company-wins-bid-for-four-phcn-successor-companies.html