₦airaland Forum

The 68TH UN General Assembly is no doubt a remarkable event and the clustering point at the moment, with World Leaders converging to re-affirm, examine and evaluate the founding vision of the institution of maintaining international peace and security.

With Hassan Rouhani, Iran’s new President expressing hope that US President Barack Obama would not be swayed by “warmongering pressure groups” at home in dealing with the Iranian nuclear dispute and calling for a consistent voice from Washington on the issue, as well as the Brazil's President, Dilma Rousseff’s speech condemning a “global network of electronic espionage” -- a reference to recent allegations that the U.S. National Security Agency had intercepted her communications, hacked into the state-owned Petrobras oil company's network and spied on Brazilians over Facebook and Google, the event could be said to waoh!

Back home in Nigeria and not too long, the print and electronic media were inundated with reports on the embarrassment that greeted President Goodluck Jonathan “no show” to deliver his speech at the African Union (AU) Special assembly in Addis Ababa; Ethiopia, earlier in the year with many alleging that the President missed the speaking slot at the gathering as a result of the tussle in the Nigerian Governors forum election.

However, as rational thinkers, with President Goodluck Jonathan’s attendance, contributions and various engagements in the UN General Assembly; for instance, his bilateral meeting with his United States counterpart, Barrack Obama where both leaders discussed series of issues ranging from good governance to security, his meeting with Bill Gates where they reviewed the progress made with Brazil to boost agricultural productivity, as well as the partnership on eradication of polio which shows encouraging progress, and his speech where he articulated for the democratisation of the Security Council and the endorsement of Nigeria’s candidature, all aimed at repositioning the Country for greatness and not self-seeking.

Similarly, the honour of being the first Nigerian leader to ring the closing bell at the end of trading session at the New York Stock Exchange on Monday 23 September 2013, (even though pessimists tagged the President as a Time keeper), which is a pointer to the fact that global captains of industry are catching up with Nigeria’s efforts, which had culminated in progress being made in every sector of our economy and plus to the Country. His meeting with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki-moon at the United Nations headquarters in New York where they both discussed the security situation in Nigeria among other vital issues, and how the world body should complement the efforts of the federal government to put the activities of terrorists under control are empirical and undoubted facts that the President mean well and seeks to place the Country at its rightful pedestal as the giant of Africa.

Yet, with all these being unsung, down-played and an object of political manoeuvrings at the detriment of the common good that such schedules aims to achieve. CAN WE SAY THE PRESIDENT HAS NOT DONE WELL IN THIS REGARD, WHAT IS YOUR TAKE?

Former Nigerian Head of State, Muhammadu Buhari, who is also a major figure in the newly formed All Progressive Congress, has accused former governors of Niger Delta states of breeding militants for political reasons. Mr. Buhari made the statement in a radio program monitored by SaharaReporters.
Mr. Buhari said the governors had armed militants for political purposes, but failed to retrieve the arms, adding that the weapons enabled the militants to start kidnapping expatriates in the Niger Delta.

Pres. Goodluck Jonathan and Gen. Mohammed Buhari
Mr. Buhari said: “All Nigerians that are following events know this reality. The Niger Delta militants started it. The reality of what occurred was that, some governors wanted to win their elections and they were facing serious challenges of return. They employed these boys and armed them to fight their opponents. After their forceful victory, they could not retrieve the weapons and they stopped paying the boys for not obeying them [by returning the weapons]. The irate youths then started kidnapping and it become the order of the day. They were kidnapping oil expatriates and collecting dollars as ransom. A boy of 18 to 20 was getting almost 500 dollars in seven days, what will stop him doing it? And why will he go to school to spend 20 years and then come back to work for peanuts? That is if he will among the lucky ones that will get a job.”
On the Boko Haram sect, the former military dictator asked, “How did the sect start? We know that their head, Muhammed Yusuf, was posing as a threat and police could not clamp down on the sect and soldiers were involved. Muhammed Yusuf was captured alive by soldiers [and handed over] to the police. The right thing was to investigate and charge him to court. Instead they killed him and his in-law, and they went and destroyed their houses. Because of this, the remaining followers regrouped and are doing what they are doing.”
Some of Mr. Buhari’s political opponents have accused him of being sympathetic to Boko Haram’s terror activities.
Source: Sahara Reporters

http://www.osundefender.org/?p=103280

Chris Okotie and his former keyboardist engage in a brawl.
An upset magistrate at the Ikeja Magistrate Court, Lagos, on Thursday dispatched a former keyboardist of the Household of God Church, Dafiaghor Okiotor, to prison for contempt of court.
The magistrate, Oshodi Makanjuola, while accusing Mr. Okiotor of flouting her directives to desist from posting the court proceedings on social media; also announced that she is withdrawing from the case.
“I have two publications here,” Mrs. Makanjuola said, brandishing two pieces of paper.
“One is saying: Countdown to Reverend Okotie suit, let us find out if Okotie is too big to come to court.
“The other says: Hallelujah! Okotie Chris gets a dubious judgment…,” the magistrate read from the papers.
“You even had the effrontery to publish my picture on a Sahara Reporters newspaper
Ms. Makanjuola called in the police to take Mr. Okiotor out of the court despite the defendant’s plea that she hears his own side of the story.
“I don’t want to hear anything from you. A matter that is still subjudice before me,” said the furious magistrate.
“I hereby disengage myself from the case. The case file should be sent to the chief magistrate for re-assignment to another magistrate,” she added.
Mr. Okiotor, 40, is facing a three count charge including threatening and preventing Mr. Okotie, the General Overseer of the church, from preaching to his congregation as well as conducting himself in a manner capable of breaching public peace.
At previous sittings, Kola Dopamu, counsel to Mr. Okotie, had consistently sought to draw magistrate’s attention to media publications and Facebook posts on Mr. Okiotor’s wall.
At the last sitting, Mr. Dopamu raised the same “concerns” but the magistrate described it as mere “hearsay.”
“I’m not aware of anything being written by anybody,” Ms. Makanjuola had said.
Also, an earlier effort by Mr. Okiotor’s lawyer, Robert Igbinedion, to get the court to issue witness summons on Mr. Okotie was turned down by the magistrate.
Mr. Igbinedion had tried to convince the court to invite Mr. Okotie to come and present the church’s CCTV recordings on July 10 and 15, 2012, the days the defendant was accused of assaulting the “man of God.”

http://premiumtimesng.com/news/136957-upset-magistrate-sends-rev-okoties-former-keyboardist-to-jail-over-facebook-posts.html?utm_source=&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=upset-magistrate-sends-rev-okoties-former-keyboardist-to-jail-over-facebook-posts

Tragedy was on Wednesday averted in the commercial city of Lagos when a section of a trainreturning from Ijoko to its base at Ebutte-Metta missed its tracks at Agege.

The incident which occurred at about 12.30am was said to have been caused by defective tracks.

An employee of the National Railway Corporation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that the driver of the locomotive also shared the blame in the accident.

He said, “The rails were not aligned properly; there was a gap between them which ought not to be. It so happened that the driver who was driving the locomotive, was moving at a high speed. When he ran into the improperly laid rails, the locomotive was thrown off the rails.

“Although the driver was hurt, the injuries are not life threatening. The accident could have been avoided though if he wasn’t speeding. Both the
driver and those responsible for laying the tracks, will be sanctioned.”



It was gathered that as at 4pm on Wednesday, employees of the NRC were still at the scene battling to get the locomotive back on the rails with the aid of a crane while a few metres away, other employees worked at fixing the rails which had been damaged by the accident.

Confirming the incident, Spokesperson for the NRC in Lagos, Mr. Adekanbi said that the cause of the accident was unknown.

In his words, “I am not at the scene right now, so I cannot tell you if the cause of the accident were the rails. We have our own methods of handling such situations.

“At the moment, all we are doing is trying to get the locomotive back on the rails so that it can be moved away. The cause of the accident is unknown, and the driver is unhurt.

“It is when we are able to get the locomotive back on the rails that we can say what caused the accident. However, it is a minor accident.”

http://dailypost.com.ng/2013/05/30/tragedy-averted-as-train-derails-in-lagos/

Justice Ibrahim Saulawa of the Court of Appeal, Lagos,today withdrew from the three man judges’ charged with listening to the appeal of Major Mustapha requesting to annul the death sentence on him for the murder of Abiola .
Mr. Saulawa cited to past encounter to a similar case as reason of his withdrawal.
Mr. Al-Mustapha was judged in lagos to be involved in the killing of Mrs Abiola life partner of the popular politician and winner of the 1993 national elections Mr Moshood Abiola and was therefore sentenced to death as payment for his crime
Mr. Al-Mustapha, was during Abacha's reign chief security officer
He is hoping to annul the death sentence in the appeal court.

http://news.naij.com/35774.html

Facebook Friends Attack Elrufai For Calling President Jonathan a Pig

Normally one would expect ones friends to support them, but not so for Elrufai who retweeted a tweet calling President Jonathan a pig and posted it on his Facebook profile only for his own friends to turn on him and insult him heavily.

The retweeted tweet that was also posted on his Facebook profile said; "@elrufai: "When pigs gather to appraise themselves, no one complains about dirtiness".

As usual, NaijaPundit brings you the tweets and some of the responses that Mr. Elrufai receive from his friends below. Undoubtedly, with friends like these, one doesn't need enemies.

http://www.naijapundit.com/news/facebook-friends-attack-elrufai-for-calling-president-jonathan-a-pig

Oahray: Seriously? Smh. To think I've been itching to see how the govt and NPF would react. Was half expecting soldiers to storm the place and teach em manners.

Someone steals a governor's phone and is sentenced to 45 years. Now several policemen are murdered like chickens and the killers have been forgiven.

How much is a policeman's life worth in Naija? The N2milion given to the widows or a value less than Aregbesola's N50,000 phone? On second thought, maybe its a ruse, before they hit back hard. But if this is for real, Nigeria is a fuccking dry joke!

Clearly understood your viewpoint, however, we are in a democracy, rule of law must be upheld and you cant just go for onslaught because of human rights and the international community, so i quite understand the DGSSS position. It's just that our human rights and civil society groups are also not fair because if the reverse were to be the case, you ve have witnessed serious condemnation against the security agencies.

The Petroleum Trust Fund was inaugurated by the Abacha administration in March 1995 and General Muhammadu Buhari was appointed to head the Fund which was formed sequel to the increase in the pump price of petrol to N 11 from N 3.25. The then Head of State, Gen Abacha had said then that the Fund was to distribute the gain from the increased price on social and infrastructural projects.
The Fund started work with an initial capital of about N60b in 1996 with a mandate that included the rehabilitation of roads and waterways, educational and health institutions, providing textbooks and stationery, procuring essential drugs and vaccines, providing water supply systems, reviving crumbling agricultural sectors, connecting outlying areas to the national electricity grid, extending railways and telecommunications and ensuring consistent food supply.
Buhari often referred to as Mai Gaskiya (the honest one) was apparently considered for the job mainly because of the qualities he possessed, with the Abacha led government feeling that would douse the tension generated by the increase in fuel prices. With time however, allegations started flying that the PTF was no more than another avenue for the Abacha administration to siphon funds.
On assumption of office in 1999, Chief Obasanjo disbanded the PTF. One of the discoveries made by the administration was that between its inception and July, 1999, the funds that accrued to the PTF stood at N 181 billion. It was also found out that the Consultants appointed by the Executive Chairman of the Trust Fund, Gen Buhari constantly fleeced the country of funds running into billions.
In 2000, the Obasanjo administration set up an Interim Management Committee to take a look into the affairs of the Petroleum (Special) Trust Fund and ascertain among other things, how much has been spent by the PTF so far and what is on ground to justify the huge expenditure. The Committee the set to work and accomplished all the terms of reference by March 2000. The Interim Management Committee submitted that:
Term of Reference No 1:
The Interim Management Committee has already ascertained the total income that has accrued to PTF from its inception to date. The total amount that has accrued to PTF is N 181, 795, 000, 000 (One hundred and eighty one billion, seven hundred and ninety five million Naira). The report for the ascertainment of accrued income has been completed.
Term of Reference No 2
Independent Consultants were commissioned by the Interim Management Committee to ascertain the state of all the bank accounts operated by the Petroleum Special Trust Fund from its inception up to September, 1999.
All the assignments have been completed and all the reports submitted. An Executive Summary was prepared and a total of N 3, 642, 982, 280 (Three billion, six hundred and forty two million, nine hundred and eighty two thousand, two hundred and eighty Naira) was found to be recoverable from various banks, due to excess charges, under payment of interest on fixed term deposits and non-payment of interest on current account balances, as stipulated by Central Bank of Nigeria guidelines.
Terms of Reference No 3
The Petroleum Special Trust Fund intervened in, prepared and packaged, ready for transfer to the appropriate line ministry
(b) Food Supply Sector All the necessary verification work have been concluded for projects and programmes and reports already supplied by independent consultants. The programme is already in the process of being transferred to the appropriate ministry, as per the approval given by Mr President.
(c) Education Sector i) Educational Materials Procurement Programme: The verification of the entire programme has already been done and the process of handing over the whole programme to the appropriate beneficiaries has reached an advance stage as directed by Mr President ii) Rehabilitation of Educational Institutions: The services of various consultants have been used to carry out the technical audit of all the projects throughout the country and a comprehensive up to date report has already been completed by the co-ordinating consultants. The preparation of an Executive Summary has reached an advanced stage.
(d) Health Sector: (i) Drug Revolving Fund: The drug revolving fund programme has been thoroughly verified and all available stocks have been transferred to the various state governments. As per the directive of Mr President (ii) Rehabilitation of Health Institutions: The programme for the rehabilitation of Health Institutions throughout the country has been verified and a comprehensive up to date status report prepared. And Executive Summary for the attention of Mr President is being prepared.
(e) Water Supply Sector: All projects and programmes under this sector have been thoroughly verified in compliance with the terms of reference No 3. A comprehensive and up to date report has already been completed.
(f) Other Project Sector: The projects under the sector which were commenced have already been completed. The rest of the projects are yet to commence. The report stating the above mentioned up to date status of all projects under this sector has already been completed.
Terms Of Reference No 4
(i) The audited account of the fund as at 30th June, 1999 stating the Assets and Liabilities of the Petroleum Special Trust Fund has already been prepared by the KPMG Audit, a firm of Chartered Accountants. (ii) The Audited Accounts of the fund as at 31st December, 1999 stating the Assets and Liabilities of the fund has already been prepared by Pricewaterhouse Coopers Audit, a firm of Chartered Accountants. (iii) The Audited Accounts of the Fund for the month commencing January, 2000 to June 30th 2000 is to commence when the IMC was replaced. This would have given the asset and liabilities of the Fund at the end of the terms of the former IMC.
Terms Of Reference No 5
The present administrative structure was carefully examined and the best option is to transfer each departmental staff operating a project sector to the appropriate ministry where the projects are transferred. This will reduce hardship on the staff and also will enhance the capacity of the ministry concerned for it to cope with the additional responsibility.
Terms of Reference No 6 and 7
The former IMC has undertaken a thorough technical audit of all projects and programmes using well experienced independent consultants. In the process of the technical audit, the sanctity of all contracts agreement was upheld and all costs were evaluated to a realistic level. The value of work done up to date has been ascertained and the estimated cost of completion has also been calculated. The appropriate ministry that will be responsible for the completion of any project may further negotiate the time and cost of completion of any project.
As it has been enumerated above, all the terms of reference given to the former IMC has already been virtually completed. The handing over of projects to respective ministries has already commenced. The former IMC would have completed the winding down of the activities of the Petroleum Special Trust Fund as directed by Mr President by the end of June, 2000.
The total public funds to be recovered from various contractors, banks and consultants amounted to about Twenty five billion, seven hundred and fifty eight million five hundred and thirty two thousand four hundred and forty eight Naira.
Below is the Executive Summary of various reports of the independent consultants on verification exercise which resulted in the funds recoveries.
Members of The Interim Management Committee Are As Follows:
Dr. Haroun Adamu (Chairman), Alhaji Abdu Abdurrahim, Barrister Achana Gaius Yaro, Arc Edward Eguavoen, Mr. T. Andrew Adegboro, Engr Baba Goni Machina
Report On The Amount To Be Recovered From Some PTF Projects And Programmes
The Interim Management Committee was appointed by Mr President. One of the terms of reference of their appointment is to carry out verification exercise on all projects and programmes prior to packaging the projects and programmes for subsequent transfer to the appropriate line ministries. The recoverable exercises of the under-listed projects were completed and the various reports and the IMC recommendations forwarded to President Obasanjo for further directives.
The Listed Projects Are –
(i) Afriproject Consortium (APC) PTF Management Consultants and also Project Consultants (ii) PTF intervention in the HIV/AIDS Programme (iii) PTF Health Sector Intervention inputs (iv) PTF Prevalent cases of expiring drugs all over the country (v) PTF residential estate development on Plot 780 Cadastral Zone A8, Abuja FCT (vi) PTF Head Office extension contract at Airport Road, Abuja (vii) PTF-Bank accounts operated from inception to 31st December 1999.
AFPRI- Project Consortium (APC) Afri-Project Consortium were contracted by PTF as Management Consultants and Project Consultants. The former Chairman of PTF also delegated to them the power of Engineer in all appropriate project requiring such power. Afriproject Consortium then assumed an absolute power of initiation, approval and execution of all projects.
Three reputable management consulting firms were engaged to verify all payments made to (APC) from the inception of PTF up to 30th September, 1999. On verification it was found that they have over charged PTF for their services to the tune of N 2, 057, 550, 062 (Two billion fifty seven million five hundred and fifty thousand and sixty two Naira only).
(ii) PTF Assisted HIV/ AIDS Programmes : The intervention of PTF in the HIV/AIDS was flawed due to professional negligence by the management consultants. There was an excessive order of HIV/AIDS kits which resulted in most of the kits expiring before use. Also there was gross inflation of the purchase price. The two factors combined resulted in a loss of N 579,000,000 (Five hundred and seventy nine million Naira only).
(iii) PTF Intervention Programmes : PTF intervention in the health sector input programmes totalled to about N 9 billion Naira. The projects were executed by the management consultants and PTF in-house staff. In this sector there are three glaring areas of loss: (a) Purchase of specific frames which was done at N 1,900 each while they can be purchased locally at a price between N 80 and N 880. This resulted in total loss of N 45, 270,000 (b) Purchase of ambulances which was done at N 13,000,000 each instead of the price of N 3,000,000 each. This resulted in total loss of N 900,000,000 (Nine hundred million Naira only). (c) Purchase of drugs was done to the tune of N 3.08 billion. Price inflation and expiring of drugs resulted in a loss to PTF of about N 1, 500, 000,000 ( one billion, five hundred million Naira).
(iv) PTF Prevalence Expiring Drugs All Over The Country: A team of Pharmacists were commissioned to verify the Drugs Revolving Fund Programmes. Their findings were very depressing. A huge loss has been incurred by PTF as enumerated below:- (a) Drugs and consumables worth N 817, 831,723 (Eight hundred and seventeen million, eight and thirty one thousand seven hundred and twenty three Naira only) were found to have expired by October, 1999 (b) another quantity of drugs worth N 94, 741, 517 expired in December, 1999 (c) drugs worth N 233, 416, 829 will expire by March 2000 (d) Drugs worth N 461, 255,073 will expire by June 2000 (e) Drugs worth N 429, 117, 861 will expire by September, 2000 (f) Drugs worth N 1, 196, 276, 052 will expire by October- December, 2000.
There were many cases of deterioration of drugs as a result of faulty manufacturing, inappropriate packaging, improper storage and excess stock.
(v) PTF Residential Estate: The involvement of PTF in Residential Estate Development was out of its intervention sphere. As at now, the estate has been confiscated by government. The contract sum is N 703, 815, 416 (Seven hundred and three million, eight hundred and fifteen thousand four hundred and sixteen Naira only) while after verification, the whole project was valued at N 328, 901, 521 (Three hundred and Twenty Eight Million nine hundred and one thousand, five hundred and twenty one Naira only). There was an inflation of the contract to the tune of N 374, 913, 895 (Three hundred and seventy four million, nine hundred and thirteen thousand eight hundred and ninety five Naira only).
(vi) PTF Headquarters Extension: The IMC Commissioned Consultants to determine the current construction cost of the on-going extension at the headquarters office. The current construction cost determined by the Consultant came to N 326, 207, 861 (Three hundred and twenty six million, two hundred and seven thousand, eight hundred and sixty one Naira only) as against a contract sum of N 461, 216, 759 (Four hundred and sixty one million, two hundred and sixteen thousand, seven hundred and fifty nine Naira only) this resulted in contract sum inflation of N 135, 008, 879 (One hundred and thirty five million, eight thousand eight hundred and seventy nine Naira only).
(vii) Bank Accounts Operated By PTF From Inception To December 31, 1999: Various Consultants were commissioned to verify the Bank accounts operated by PTF from inception of the Fund up to 31st December, 1999. The Fund operated its bank accounts under three different categories viz- (a) Administration Account (b) Project Account (c) Treasury Account. Recoveries to be made from the various banks are as follow:
(a) Administration Account Total Amount recoverable is N 664, 415, 793 (Six hundred and sixty four million, four hundred and fifteen thousand seven hundred and ninety three Naira only). This is mainly due to overcharge on Cost of Turnover (COT), non-payment of interest on current account balances as stipulated by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other various discrepancies.
(b) Project Account On project Account, total amount recoverable is N 2, 467, 817, 167 (Two billion, four hundred and sixty seven million, eight hundred and seventeen thousand, one hundred and sixty seven Naira only). This is made up mainly from overcharge of Cost of Turnover (COT), non-payment of interest on Current Account balances as stipulated by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other various discrepancies.
(c) Treasury Account All the Treasury Accounts were verified and amount to be recovered is N 510, 749, 323 (Five hundred and ten million, seven hundred and forty nine thousand, three hundred and twenty three Naira only). This is mainly due to short-payment of interest on deposited funds. (See Box A).
The total sum of N 11, 658, 532, 448 (Eleven billion, six hundred and fifty eight million, five hundred and thirty two thousand four hundred and forty eight Naira only) is recoverable as per various reports completed as at now.
1.Other Potential Areas Of Fund Recovery : Road (Highways and Urban Roads) The PSTF uses about 70% of its income on highways and Urban Road Projects. In this project sector, there was total variation of contract sums of N 68,000,000,000 (Sixty eight billion Naira). These variations were not done with properly priced bills of quantities and approved civil contracts procedure as stipulated by government regulations. Taking the experience of what has been discovered after verification of previous contracts awarded by PSTF, the minimum potential recovery will be about 15%. This estimated percentage will be about N 10, 000, 000 (Ten billion Naira). The verification of this project sector was about to take off when the IMC members were replaced.
2. Rural Water Supply Programme The area of potential fund recoveries under this programme are basically two :- (i) Mobilisation paid to contractors who by now have not even commenced work (ii) Over pricing of contracts. The amount to be recovered from this project sector can be conservatively estimated at N 1,000,000,000 (One billion Naira).
The detail verification report on this programme has already been completed. The executive summary of this report was in the process of compilation when the IMC members were replaced.
3. National Health and Educational Institutions Rehabilitation Programme The detail verification exercise on this sector has already been completed by various independent Consultants. The executive summary for total amounts recoverable is now in the process of being compiled. The conservative estimate of amount recoverable due to non-performance of contractors and over-pricing of contract is about N 600,000,000 (Six hundred million Naira).
4. National Educational Material Procurement Programme This programme entails the purchase of educational materials such as text books, exercise books, chalk, dusters, pencils, biro, magazines, maps etc. The verification exercise of this programme is yet to commence. The conservative estimate of recoveries to be made due to non-performance by contractors and inflation of prices will be in the region of N 900,000,000 (Nine hundred million Naira).
5. Rural Telecommunication Programme The Rural Telecommunication Programme was supposed to be carried out in two phases viz: – (i) Pilot programme (ii) The main programme. The main programme was to commence after the pilot programme has been completed and certified as operational, but mobilisation of N 1, 600,000 (One billion, six hundred million Naira) was paid to the contractors for the main programme without any contract being signed at all.
In view of the government policy at present, the full amount of the mobilization paid can be recovered (i.e N 1,600,000,000), See Box B
The Committee recommended that the total recoverable amount can be used to offset some of the outstanding debts because some of the creditors are contractors from whom these amounts are to be recovered. It also recommended that the President may wish to set up a high powered judicial panel to recover the huge public fund and to take the necessary action against any officer, consultant or contractor whose negligence resulted in this colossal loss of public funds.
The Interim Management Committee Members who compiled this report include Dr. Haroun Adamu (Chairman), Alh. Abdu Abdurrahim, Barrister Achana Gaius Yaro, Arc. Edward Eguavoen, Mr. T Andrew Adegboro and Engr. Baba Goni Machina.

http://pointblanknews.com/pbn/exclusive/ptf-fraud-how-n25-billion-was-stolen-under-buharis-watch/

India wants increased partnership with Nigeria in education through institutional cooperation, content development, faculty exchange and joint ventures that would enhance the West African country's human resource devlopment, according to Indian High Commissioner Mahesh Sachdev.
"Bilateral cooperation in education has had a proud history and remains a priority. A generation of Nigerians have fond memories of being taught by Indian teachers and professors, thousands of whom contributed to Nigerian education system till into mid-1980s," Sachdev said at the just concluded Second Indian Education Expo in Nigeria's financial hub Lagos.
He said the "glorious bilateral past" and the vast future potential should encourage more collaboration.
Sachdev said the Indian government has put in place a programme to train 500 million young people in vocational skills over the next 10 years worldwide. "India has the passion for human resource development and would want to be a partner to achieve this."
This year's Expo held May 16-17 was the second after a similar one held in 2011 where only five India-based institutions attended. More than 12 Indian universities and institutes of higher learning took part in the event organised by M/s Chartered Exhibitions amp; Media Private Limited, Mumbai (India), with the support of the Indian High Commission.

http://www.indiagazette.com/index.php/sid/214710157/scat/701ee96610c884a6

The Plateau Assembly Speaker, Mr. John Dabwan yesterday declared that Nigeria would not break up by 2015 as being predicted.

Dabwan, who addressed a press conference on the forthcoming democracy day in Jos described Nigeria as a democratically stable nation.

He said that the predictions that the country would break up by 2015 were not founded, pointing out that the security issues were part of the challenges of democracy.

“We have been on the right track in terms of providing the people with the dividends of democracy.

“There are challenges that must evolve in the course of doing that, it does not mean the country is not doing well,” he said.

Dabwan also supported the emergency rule in three North East states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe and said it did not amount to a challenge to democracy.

“The emergency rule imposed on these states is in the interest of peace and not a challenge to democracy, it is to save the lives of the citizens.

Besides, he said, it did not in any way affect the civil structure in affected states as all political office holders were retained in their positions.

Dabwan called for autonomy for the third tier of government and also charged the states and local government legislatures to further deepen democracy in the country.

“As it stands now, none of them can fully discharge their constitutionally assigned responsibility while serving as appendage of the state government.

He described the relationship between the state assembly and the executive as cordial, but regretted the frequent workers strike in the state.

He said that the assembly had intervened in solving such strikes, but called for a more cordial relationship between labour and government to resolve issues before resulting to strike.

http://www.nigerianobservernews.com/23052013/news/news1.html

Second Repubic Governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, has expressed regrets about the decline of Nigerian youth, saying they have grown powerless, and become an instrument for the political gain of others.

“There is no evidence that the youth are revolting against the legitimate state of Nigeria,” he said of their revolutionary potential. “This used to be the case, even up the Second Republic. As it is, from the Second Republic up until today, the youth have been misused, to the extent that they have lost the urgency to protest. They have been so completely misused, they are completely powerless. Any protest by the youth is sponsored by some rich and powerful politician.”

Alhaji Musa, widely known as one of the most honest figures in Nigeria’s public life since independence, became governor of Kaduna in the Second Republic in 1979 as a member of the People’s Revolutionary Party (PRP), although the House of Assembly overwhelmingly belonged to the National Party of Nigeria (NPN). In one of the most scandalous chapters of Nigerian politics, the NPN Assembly vindictively frustrated even Musa’s efforts to constitute a cabinet, and eventually impeached him in 1981, two years into the stalemate.

Alhaji Musa became a hero of the youth and has enjoyed a tremendous following among them since then. But appearing on SaharaTV to discuss his opposition to the declaration state of emergency in three of Nigeria Northern States, he looked back with disillusionment at the declining political commitment of the Nigerian youth, saying it does not possess the heart for change.

“There is no evidence that the youth are revolting anywhere in Nigeria,” he concluded, looking at the situation in the North. “Rather they are being misused for other’s political gain.”

Describing the scenario in front of the youth, the former governor said, “The levels of corruption, stealing, and wasting of resources affects the youth more than anyone else because it is they who cannot go to school, [because] their parents are poor. A Nigerian graduate has no hope of employment within 5 years.”

Furthermore, he underlined the implication of 28 million post-secondary school graduates in Nigeria who are unemployed, and with no hope for employment in the next 20 years.

“Nigeria cannot continue like this, with this situation,” Alhaji Musa concluded.

But he supported people together like they did during Occupy Nigeria, saying that whatever other countries did to liberate themselves, Nigeria can also do. “It is just a matter of time, it is just a matter of the maturity of the current situation,” he said.

He dismissed the Jonathan administration as a disappointment. “The president doesn’t have moral legitimacy because he came to power through the misuse of incumbency. He even defied his own party to become the president. He has legal legitimacy in the sense that the Supreme Court has declared him the winner.”

Of the 2011 elections, he recalled that the Congress for Progressive Change presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, was told by the electoral commission that despite the Nigerian law which says he is entitled to election materials for examination, he could not do so for reasons of “security.” He queried, “Has the electoral body now become a security organization?”

In his view, “The Supreme Court without evidence of a winner in the election (2011) declared the President the winner.”

On the current situation in the country, although he agrees that there is insecurity, particularly in Borno and Gombe States, he disagreed that the level insecurity justified the imposition of a state of emergency even in those areas.

“The constitution makes the President the Chief Security Officer of the country, which gives him enormous power. He should be able to use that power without declaring a state of emergency,” he stressed, expressing the view that a state of emergency in the Nigerian setting has too many implications.

The challenge before Mr. Jonathan, he said, is that he has not dealt with the basic problem, which is within the security services. “What he could have use was use his position (as Chief Security Officer) to first tighten security measures in the country. It has been discovered that the security services are part and parcel of the insecurity problems of the country. That has been proved.

“So he is giving the security more power without checking, and he is certainly not capable of checking with the way things are now in Nigeria.”

Asked how Northern Nigeria came under siege, he attributed it to its leadership crisis, saying it could therefore happen in other parts of the country. He stressed that if the the present system and poor leadership continues, what is now happening in the North, including the violence, will circulate to others parts if the country.

“Even during the Second Republic the state of the nation was grossly negative,” he reflected, although the situation has now become worse.

He identified two brief periods when he said there were flickers of hope: “first with the June 1993 election, which was free, fair and transparent and capable of producing a legitimate government. The second time we had hope was surprising during the military regime when General Buhari became head of state through military coup and gave Nigeria a better image internally and externally.”

Asked about the call by Northern Elders for power to return to the North, and the insinuations that politicians there are supporting Boko Haram, Alhaji Musa said, “The power shift, which in Nigeria is called zoning, is to some extent credible because of the ethnic divisions and weakness of government in this country. Every section of the country should be given the chance of belonging. Therefore democracy must be tempered with justice and the concern for others. Zoning, even though introduced by a disgraced political party, should not make us reject zoning.”

Shouldn’t zoning go to the 250 ethnic groups of Nigeria before it [returns] to the North?

He answered: “The problem is zoning must be combined with merit and capability. The social, economic, and political system controlling all development in the country is based on self-interest first, public interest second, or even intellectual. This system and the subsequent leadership it produces is responsible for the insecurity, the criminal corruption and stealing, for economic collapse, misuse of tremendous potentiality of the country, and for the organized violence throughout the country, particularly since the Second Republic.”

He said this system must be changed to one with public interest first, but feared whether, the way things are in Nigeria, that can be achieved peacefully.
“It has to be done somehow, preferably through peaceful means. However, it must be done by any means, through social revolution,” adding that every important country in the world went through revolutionary change in its history.

On the character of Boko Haram, Alhaji Musa said he was unsatisfied that it is a legitimate Islamic movement.

“It looks more like an agent provocateur created by a number of forces including the government itself for political reasons. Even if Boko Haram is a legitimate Islamic movement, we don’t know what they stand for. Even if they stand for the complete Islamization of Nigeria, that is not practicable or even Islamic. Nigeria is a multi-religious society and it should proceed accordingly. The constitution is not a secular one, rather it organizes the multi-religious essence of Nigeria.”
http://saharareporters.com/video/nigerian-youth-have-lost-stomach-revolution-says-balarabe-musa

The Ministry of Trade and Investment has inaugurated the University Entrepreneurship Development Programme (UNEDEP) to promote self-employment among the youth, right from higher institutions of learning.
Olusegun Aganga, the minister in charge of the ministry, who inaugurated the scheme on Tuesday in Abuja, said that it was part of the government’s proactive strategies to tackle graduate unemployment.
He said UNEDEP will be implemented by the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN) in collaboration with the Ministry of Education. He added that the scheme was to provide a mentoring platform for students, reduce poverty and re-orientate the undergraduate toward the right values.
M. Aganga said that the scheme would give students the opportunity to acquire practical experience that would enable them to successfully manage their own businesses.
“UNEDEP’s mission is to ‘catch them young’. The programme focuses on entrepreneurship development of undergraduates and aims to create future entrepreneurs and encourage self-employment and reduce poverty.
“We will achieve this by using the existing Network for African Student Entrepreneurs Club structure and derive standard schedule of activities for all members across all universities,” he said.
Mr. Aganga added that the goal of the scheme was for students to receive the necessary capacity building as part of the activities of the entrepreneurship clubs.


In her speech, the Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqqayatu Rufai, stressed the need for the country to promote the culture of entrepreneurship among students to reduce unemployment.
She expressed the hope that the effort would assist the nation to achieve sustainable economic growth and development.
“All over the world, entrepreneurship has been identified as the major driver of economic growth and development.
“The success of many economies can be traced to entrepreneurs who started small and then grew to become multinationals,” she said.

http://www.informationng.com/2013/05/fg-launches-new-self-employment-scheme-for-undergraduates.html

The Defence Headquarters has said that media reports saying that Nigerian troops in Mali have been recalled to fight the Boko Haram insurgency in the country as “complete falsehood.”

This was made known by Director, Defence Information, Brigadier-General Chris Olukolade, in Abuja, on Tuesday, who assured that the Nigerian Army was capable and battle ready to take on the Boko Haram insurgents without recalling its troops from Mali.

About 1,000 troops were deployed in Mali between February and March, as part of the Africa- led International Special Mission in Mali (AFISMA) to bring peace to the country.

Olukolade said it was normal to rotate scheduled troops in various missions, which, he stressed, would continue and should not be misunderstood, saying that the times were too sensitive to engage in unnecessary speculations.

“As a matter of fact, the normal and scheduled rotation of troops in various missions will continue. This routine should not be misunderstood or misrepresented to misinform Nigerians and the international community.

“The report, therefore, in a section of the press that Nigerian troops are to be withdrawn from Mali to face the ongoing insurgency is complete falsehood,” he said.

The Defence spokesman noted that there was no need for such action now, as the human and material resources of the Armed Forces of Nigeria were being meticulously deployed to meet its present internal and external assignments.

Since the state of emergency declared by President Goodluck Jonathan in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States on Saturday, there has been massive deployment of troops and military hardware to the states as the military steps up its offensive against the insurgents, backed with air raids.

Meanwhile, it has been revealed that some of the Boko Haram insurgents fighting the military in the North-East are actually Islamist insurgents armed with sophisticated weapons from Libya.

“They have been putting up fierce resistance and they are very, very well-armed with weapons from Libya,” a senior military official told The Guardian, United Kingdom (UK), adding that most of the militants who had waged a four-year battle to create an Islamist state had scattered across the region’s semi-desert borders.

A renewed military campaign, including aerial bombardments of Boko Haram training camps in three remote states which were put under emergency rule this month had led to the capture of almost 200 militants and the death of dozens in a week, according to the military.

In one raid, a helicopter gunship was hit by anti-aircraft and anti-tank fire, a military source said.

In a sign of increasing concerns about jihadist movements jumping borders, Nigeria had also asked neighbouring Niger Republic for military support, as it seeks to police 870 miles of shared desert borders, underlining moves towards West African cooperation against jihadists seen as a cross-border threat.

There have been growing concerns particularly after Islamist militants associated with al Qaeda seized the north of Mali last year and were dislodged only after French-led military intervention.

Nurudeen Muhammed, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, delivered the request for help from President Goodluck Jonathan to his Nigerien counterpart, Mahamadou Issoufou, late on Monday, in Niamey.

“We currently have military operations underway in three states in Nigeria to combat terrorism and we would like to have Niger’s support in the common fight against these terrorists,” Muhammed told Niger State Television.

Military sources said Nigerian forces had faced stiff resistance by hardened Islamist rebels entrenched in the North and using cross-border routes to smuggle in weapons.

Nigeria and Niger Republic signed a bilateral defence pact in October 2012, that includes sharing intelligence on Islamist groups and joint military exercises. The deal stipulates that a request for military aid by one nation cannot be refused by the other.

The two West African nations share a porous frontier of more than 1,500 km (940 miles). The fighting in Nigeria has pushed more than a thousand refugees across the border into Niger in the past few weeks, according to United Nations (UN) estimates.

Soldiers from Niger and neighboring Chad participated with Nigerian forces in a joint assault on Boko Haram fighters last month in Baga, a fishing settlement on the shores of Lake Chad.


http://www.theheraldng.com/state-of-emergency-army-denies-recalling-troops-from-mali-says-it-is-battling-militants-from-libya/

Naija police and corruption......when are they going to turn a new leaf

An online new site today generated controversy by saying that the duo of Lt. Gen. Oladipo Diya and Major Gen. Andulkareem Adisa had already gotten a pardon from General Abdulsalami making the pardon granted them by the National Council of State a factual error, but NaijaPundit's investigations has shown that what they got from Abdulsalami was a clemency not a pardon.

A clemency is legally different from a pardon and frees a convicted person from prison sentence or prevent an accused from going to jail. A pardon on the other hand is a full and total clearance from any conviction and treats the conviction as though it never happened. You give clemency to a person who is serving or about to serve his sentence. You give pardons to anybody.

General Abdulsalami it would be recalled gave a clemency to Diya and his co-accused to enable his government free them after the death of Abacha. If you look at the decree he signed it specifically says 'clemency' and not pardon.

The difference in the meanings and implications if clemency and pardon is cleared up by the dictionary as follows;

clem·en·cy:
a : disposition to be merciful and especially to moderate the severity of punishment due
b : an act or instance of leniency

par·don:
: the excusing of an offense without exacting a penalty
or
a : a release from the legal penalties of an offense
b : an official warrant of remission of penalty

http://www.naijapundit.com/news/diya-others-got-clemency-not-pardon-from-abdulsalami

[quote author=]GEJ has beaten this guys to a pulp.They want to surrender without surrendering. [quote]i support d president decision and action too

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has called for stringent electoral reforms to prohibit incumbents from using public funds for partisan purposes.
Delivering a paper as part of the public lecture series of the Department of Political Science at the University of Ibadan in Ibadan on Wednesday, the former Vice President said incumbents seeking re-election must use their own resources to achieve such ambition instead of taking advantage of their access to state funds.
He also recommended a change in the manner of the appointment and tenure of the chairman and commissioners of the electoral umpire, INEC. According to him, this change might help to dilute the role and control by sitting Presidents.
On funding, he said INEC should be less dependent on the government in power. Instead, he recommended that the funding should come from consolidated revenue fund to protect INEC’s independence.
The former Vice President also called for effective monitoring of political parties by INEC to ensure they conform with the provisions of the electoral laws.
He explained that INEC should be empowered to monitor political parties “for the next 15 or 20 years to ensure they obey the laws of the land, including their own constitutions and guidelines.”
Atiku also reiterated his previous position that anyone, whose election is being challenged in courts, should not be allowed to assume office until those litigations are decisively resolved by the courts. This, he said, would be a safeguard against fraud by those being challenged in court.
To achieve free and fair election, he advised that security agencies should be reformed to make them neutral.
Also Atiku Abubakar criticized Nigeria’s existing political parties for paying lip service to internal democracy, which he described as a major component of democratic practice.
He regretted that, despite the hard struggle to push the military out of power in 1999, Nigeria is still confronted by dictatorship in democratic guise.
In true democratic practice, he said, the people should be governed by laws rather than the whims and caprices of those in power.
He particularly spotlighted the lack of internal democracy among the ruling party and the opposition parties as one of the downsides of Nigeria’s current democratic order.
He wondered why Nigeria’s political parties are either afraid or allergic to internal democratic practices which offered members the full freedom to elect their leaders.
The former Vice President said the culture of the imposition of candidates and the impunity that goes with it was a hang-over from military mentality.
Atiku said those who benefitted from the culture of imposition are less likely to fight against such undemocratic practice.
Relying on article 16 of the 1999 PDP Constitution, which recommended election as the basis of producing leaders, the former Vice President said this article appeared to have been abandoned in the election of officers of the party.
According to Atiku, “consensus”, “affirmation” or such other “election – avoiding contraption” contradict Section 223 of the Nigerian Constitution, which insists on the election of party leaders on democratic basis.
He argued that even where the courts affirmed the provisions if the constitution in this regard, party leaders conveniently ignored such court orders in favor of “affirmation or consensus” at the party conventions.
He expressed concern at a situation where a political party is left at the mercy of sitting President who enslaves every member to his will and removes any chairman who is not ready to bend to his will.
The Turaki Adamawa said while there was nothing wrong for political parties to field candidates for offices, such candidates should be allowed to emerge through transparent elective process instead of letting the interest of the man with executive power to browbeat members into submission.
Describing the imposition of candidates as a recipe for rigging, Atiku said the unpopular candidates might fight hard to subvert the will of the people to get power at all costs.
http://pointblanknews.com/pbn/exclusive/atiku-condemns-use-of-public-funds-to-pursue-personal-ambition/

Fellow Nairalandes, what is your take on the recently announced state pardon granted to ex-VIPs convicts by the national council of state presided over by president jonathan. The question therefore, is this decision right or wrong? As it has been greeted with mixed reactions from the public.

Abegi, the comrade Gov was very correct and apt, the AGF is jst trying to give an excuse that is officially not tenable and acceptable

noblezone: Tell me where there is religious crises in the world today and Islam is not involved!

Usman Dan Fodio brought "peace" to Nigeria, with the sword.

emm, was the Prophet doing with swords?

Ok, I see it. "Islam is a religion of peace, when Moslems rule and others are half citizens".

I tell you tell u vehemently that islam canvasses peace and is a religion of peace, these terrorists have been indoctrinated and their minds awash with heresies

chiover: Eventhough I lost a friend in the hands of these punks, I don't believe that killing is part and parcel of islamic religion. I have quite a good num of yoruba,awuchi,and few hausa friends who are muslims but you will never see them hurt an ant let alone humanbeing. The fulani man in my view is very hostile and agressive in nature though you may notice a kind of fragile physiology by mere looking at them but believe me, fulani man is more deadly than the devil. Pls I stand to be corrected if truely killing is embeded in the islamic teachings. But the truth is I can never believe in the words of a fulani man

This is totally anti-islam, Islam is a religion of peace and does not encourage violence, anybody that is hiding under the guise of fighting for Allah to perpetrate evil is cursed and cannot enter al-jannah.

Foreign airlines flying into Nigerian airports earned at least N158bn from ticket sales in the country last year. Figures obtained by National Mirror indicated that this was a slight improvement from the N156bn earned by the carriers in previous year.

The ticket sales figures for indigenous carriers in the same period were not immediately available but Arik Air made N4.3bn and Aero Airline, N441.4m in 2011. National Mirror gathered that British Airways, Lufthansa, Virgin Atlantic, Ethiopia Airline, Delta Airlines, Emirates and Air France/KLM led the pack among the foreign carriers in ticket sales. However, for the past 48 months, British Airways has continued to improve its revenue generation from the country with N33.5bn from tickets sold in 2012 while it earned N31.7bn in 2011. Following BA is the United Arab Emirates, which sold at least N22.4bn tickets in Nigeria in 2012, but earned N30.5bn in the previous year.

The airline’s market share dropped to 14.2 per cent in 2012 when compared to 2011. Besides, another carrier that joined the Nigerian aviation industry in 2012 from Dubai, Etihad Airline, earned N2.5bn in the same period while Qatar Airways made N8.2bn in the Nigerian market. Air France, according to the report, earned N13.9bn; Lufthansa, N12.1bn and Virgin Atlantic, N11.4bn in the year under review.

The carriers made N11.3bn, N12.9bn and N11.7bn respectively in 2011. Turkish Airlines recorded over 100 per cent increase in ticket sales between the years under review. The airline sold N3.6bn tickets in 2012, an increase from N1.7bn in 2011.

On the downward trend is Iberia Airlines, which earning fell to N629m in 2012 compared to N1bn the previous year. Also, Emirates’ sales fell by 26 per cent; Alitalia, 19 per cent; Kenya Airways, 12 per cent; KLM and Royal Air Maroc went down by eight per cent each. The Assistant Secretary- General of the Airline Operators of Nigeria, AON, Alhaji Mohammed Tukur, said that it would be difficult for the Nigerian carriers to compete with the foreign airlines, stressing that they lacked the capacity to do so.

Tukur said that the indigenous airlines had found it difficult over the years to form an alliance with the foreign carriers, even on the West Coast. At present, only Aero and Arik airlines are flying the West Coast routes. On the excuse from some stakeholders that the multiple entries given foreign carriers were responsible for their huge earnings in the country, Tukur insisted that the carriers were entitled to them, “in as much as it is spelt out in the agreements Nigeria had with them.”

http://nationalmirroronline.net/new/foreign-airlines-repatriated-n158bn-in-2012/

mamikky: Controversial former minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and now chieftain of the Buhari led Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Malam Nasir Elrufai has called on the Federal Government to give amnesty to Boko Haram and other Islamic militants. In a video released today and which appears below, the former minister is heard advocating that an amnesty for Islamic militants is the way to peace.

It will also be recalled that Elrufai had accused Christian Southerners of being behind Boko Haram in Tweets on Twitter as well as a facebook post on his facebook profile. Find the link to Elrufai's video below, you may read the post on his facebook page in the link below.

This has once again give credence to concerns that mallam el-rufai is actually one of the sympathisers of the terrorist group and anti-christain.

http://www.naijapundit.com/news/fg-should-give-amnesty-to-boko-haram-elrufaihttp
www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=C-5tjEp-aQY

https://www.facebook.com/nasirelrufai/posts/10151832787470128

This pint sized mallam should come out of his shell and let out his true intention...mtchewwww

The man is definitely hiding something about his relationship with these blood sucking mongers called boko haram,may be Nasir El-Rufai should assist the Government in identifying the Boko Haram as from the way he spoke, he knew them very well!

After their three-day warning strike ended on Wednesday night, the Health workers at the National Hospital, Abuja have embarked on an indefinite industrial action.
The health workers, made up of the Senior Staff Association, National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives and Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria are however meeting with the hospital management to resolve the crisis. Spokesman for the Hospital, Dr. Tayo Haastrup has revealed also that the striking workers will meet with representatives of the Ministry of Health led by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Ms. Fatima Bamidele.
Their demands include the full implementation of the National Hospital condition of service; that the training guidelines submitted to the hospital management in 2010 be adopted as training policy for the hospital, the re-establishment of a staff clinic to cater for the healthcare needs of staff and their dependants, and that the medical bill refund to the staff hitherto suspended should be restored.


Dr. Haastrup explained that measures are being taken to address the demands of the workers. He also added that patients in critical condition in the hospital are receiving treatment despite the industrial action.

http://www.informationng.com/2013/03/health-workers-in-national-hospital-abuja-embark-on-indefinite-strike.html

Any sensible and right thinking person clearly sees the truth about the issue now. Hmmmm i see why the comrade Governor is bent on justice for the killers of oyerinde and accusing the police of trying to murder the truth.

he cause of the Nigerian Navy helicopter that crashed late last year, which led to the death of the former national security adviser, General Patrick Owoeye Azazi (rtd), Kaduna State governor Patrick Yakowa and four others, has been traced to either human error or material failure.

Azazi and Yakowa had on December 15, 2012, boarded the ill-fated helicopter on their way to Port Harcourt from Bayelsa where they had gone to attend the final funeral rites of the father of a special adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan, Dr Oronto Douglas, when the tragedy occurred.

The Accident Investigation Board (AIB) that was constituted by the Nigerian Air Force at the instance of the Nigerian Navy to ascertain the cause of the fatal crash involving the Nigerian Navy’s Agusta helicopter has submitted an interim report to the Naval Headquarters.

According to a statement issued by the naval authority in Abuja yesterday and signed by its spokesman, Commodore Kabiru Aliyu, the cause of the disaster has been traced to human error or material failure; he ruled out sabotage as being speculated in some quarters.

The Navy spokesperson said, “The Investigation which was conducted by aviation experts in collaboration with the manufacturers – Agusta Westland -- has stated that the cause of the crash could either be human error or material failure or a combination of both.

“However, to determine the actual cause of the crash, there would be the need to tear down the engine of the helicopter in order to carry out detailed forensic analysis. This aspect of the investigation will be carried out by Turbomeca, the manufacturers of the engine.

“It is important to emphasise that an independent police report has equally ruled out sabotage as a possible cause of the crash. Further information on the investigation would be made public when available.”

The sabotage theory came up when a section of Kaduna State was caught celebrating over the death of Governor Yakowa, the first Christian to be elected into the office in the state.

But Governor Yero is said to be working round the clock to disabuse the minds of those who hold that opinion.

http://www.leadership.ng/nga/articles/49486/2013/03/08/azazi_yakowa_killed_human_error_navy.html

Three days after Kwara State Commissioner of Police, Chinweike Asadu, was killed by unknown gunmen in Enugu, the police said on Tuesday that the motive of the killers was not yet known.

But, the General Officer Commanding, 82 Division, Nigerian Army, Enugu, Major General Adebayo Olaniyi, on Tuesday declared that God will expose Asadu’s killers.

Addressing a press conference in Enugu, Commissioner of Police, Enugu State, Tonye Ebitubituwa, said it was too early to pin down the death of the former CP to assassination, kidnapping or armed robbery.

Ebitubituwa revealed that the police have arrested some suspects and they are currently undergoing interrogation in police custody.

He said since the ugly incident occurred, his command has been battling to bring the culprits together.

Ebitubituwa absolved his command of any blame, saying the command deployed guards to the home of the deceased in line with the practice in the police.

He said the police have been talking with survivors of the incident, who are hospitalised, so that they could put the pieces together and form an opinion.

He assured that the police was on top of the situation and would do everything possible to bring the killers of CP Asadu to Ebitubituwa also confirmed the death of one Corporal Marcus Amos, who was earlier killed by gunmen last week Monday at Rangers Avenue Enugu while he was escorting a VIP, and his weapon taken away like in the case of Asadu.

Olaniyi, who spoke during a courtesy visit to Ebitubituwa, described Asadu’s death as shocking and unfortunate, saying that God in his infinite mercy will expose his killers.

The Army chief said his visit was to commiserate with the command over the death of the Kwara CP in Enugu, and to register his presence as well as solicit for a more relationship between his Division and the State Police Command.

Olaniyi prayed for the repose of Asadu’s soul and pledged to support the command at all levels to ensure that perpetrators of the crime were fished out as quickly as possible and brought to book.

Responding, Ebitibituwa thanked the GOC for finding time out of his busy schedule to visit and commiserate with the command over the loss.

He assured that his command would stop at nothing in partnering with 82 Division to send crime and criminality to abyss in the state.

http://dailyindependentnig.com/2013/03/asadu-police-worries-over-killers-motive-as-army-chief-goes-spiritual

[quote author=GARRI (x7)]Sorry Bro, just thank God those BA5TARDS didn't kill you.

The lesson you should learn is‎​ that: The Police is‎​ NOT your friend, they've never been and will never be!![/quote]Na TRUE yarn be dat oooooo, but however it is a very dangerous development, that citizens can no longer entrust the force saddled with the responsibility for the security and safety of live and property

Haba!!! Haba!!! Haba!!!.. A country cannot be judged outside the perculiar attributes of socio-cultural, economic, political and religious indexes....regardless of our problems as a nation, Buhari attitude betrays that of a patriot and a nationalist, now that you ve x-rayed the countries woes in the disapora.....does he think the uk govt or western govt wish us as a nation the best.....and of what good has his speech done to the already dented international image of the country, if not worsening nigeria's international image.......and Gen. Buhari calls himself a leader.....no, i beg to disagree

chooo! naija police never seems to beat my expectations for once.... na so so fall, dem dey fall my hand...dey should go and bury dere head in shame or go hang transformer..... make i go my village go call vigilante group to come to talk FG so that dem go support dem for effective policing because even the vigilante and opc boy come dey try pass this polisch or police. see yeyenatu.... even DCP EZIKE, when appear before the house committee on oyerinde murder talk so teh, he confuse himself...come say OH MY GOD and rope himself say investigation is still on going while giving affirmative findings of the police on the case. MTCHEWWWWW