₦airaland Forum

Honourable Dino Melaye, a former member of Federal House of Representatives led scores of protesters to the headquarters of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN in protest against the proposed introduction of N5000 note and coinage of N5, N10 and N20 notes as recently announced by the apex bank.

Dino who led the group of protesters under the aegis of Anti Corruption Network reiterated opposition of Nigerians to the currency restructuring policy of CBN. He told Tunde Lemo, Deputy Governor of CBN who received the protesters that the introduction of a single N5000 note will result in inflation and that Nigerians were opposed to it.

Melaye who described the entire proposed currency restructuring policy as anti people said the CBN Governor must listen to the opinion of the public on the matter. The lawmaker who described the proposed N5000 note as Haram also said it is unfortunate that Sanusi Lamido Sanusi has refused to listen to calls by National Assembly that he should suspend the policy. He vowed to continue to lead protests against the proposed currency restructuring until the apex bank dropped the idea.

While speaking for CBN, Lemo said it is not true that the apex bank will use N40 billion to print the new currency as recently reported in the media. He also said even if the CBN is not introducing the new notes, it will still spend money to print currency. Lemo also said the CBN will not do anything that will not be interest of the masses, while arguing that contrary to popular opinion, the introduction of the new N5000 note will not lead to higher inflation.

The CBN chief however promised that the apex bank will listen to the opinion of the people on the issue. The protest was peaceful as the Police, led by Ade Shinababa, FCT Commissioner of Police ensured there was order.

Photos of protesters at CBN led by Dino Melaye. Photos: FEMI IPAYE
http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2012/09/04/n5000-note-protesters-storm-cbn/

Officials of the Lagos State Taskforce on Environmental and Special Offences (Enforcement) Unit has impounded a bullion van and arrested its driver in Apapa area of Lagos State, Southwest Nigeria, for driving against traffic.


Bullion Van

The bullion van driver, Seun Odukoya, faces one year jail term without an option of fine as a first offender for flouting the new Lagos State Road Traffic Law 2012 while the bullion van will be forfeited to the state government.

The new traffic law says that any bullion van driver who drove against the flow of traffic on conviction by the court will be jailed for one year as a first offender and three years as subsequent offender without an option of fine while the van will be seized by the state government.

The bullion van was arrested on Creek Road, Apapa while conveying money to a new generation bank in the area.

Officials of the warehouse had to come with another van to transfer the money from the impounded van to the new generation bank.

The arrested driver, the first casualty of the new traffic law, and the van with the money were taken to the Taskforce office in Alausa while the driver will be arraigned in court.

The bullion van, with registration number BV 171 BDG, Lagos is owned by the Banker’s Warehouse, while officials of the warehouse have been begging to get the van released but to no avail.

The driver of the bullion van, in a statement he made to the police, admitted that he drove against traffic on Creek Road, saying “I actually drove against traffic” and that he did it because the road was blocked.

When contacted, Taskforce Chairman, Bayo Sulaiman told P.M .NEWS that the new traffic law would be used to prosecute the driver in the court and that this would serve as deterrent to others who might want to toe the same line.

He said this was not the first time a bullion van had been arrested by the taskforce for driving against the traffic, saying that drivers of bullion vans belonging to the Banker’s Warehouse usually drive against traffic.

“We are telling other bullion van drivers to obey the law of the land. The law is not punitive but a corrective measure. The court will decide the fate of the driver,” he stated.

On whether pressure from the owner of the van would make the taskforce to release the vehicle, Sulaiman said it was not possible as it was only the court that could decide that.

—Kazeem Ugbodaga


http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2012/08/29/lagos-traffic-law-catches-bullion-van-driver/

Four suspects were this morning arraigned before Magistrate Aka Bashorun of Yaba Magistrate’s court in connection with the murder of the daughter of a general, Cynthia Osokogu.

The suspects are Okwumo Echezona Nwabufor, 33, Ezike Ilechukwu Olisaeloka, 23, Orji Osita, 32, and Maduakor Chukwunonso, 25.


The four suspects arraigned today in Lagos. Inset: The late Cynthia. Photo: Cyriacus Izueke.

They were slammed with an eight-count charge of murder, armed robbery, administering the late Cynthia with obnoxious substance known as Rohyenol via Ribena fruit drink, among others.

According to the charge, the suspects also had unlawful sexual intercourse with the victim without her consent.

Their plea was not taken. The court ordered that they should be remanded in prison custody and their file duplicated for DPP’s advice.

The matter was adjourned till 3 October, 2012.

Cynthia Osokogu, the only daughter of retired Major Frank Osokogu, was a post graduate student and boutique owner based in Nassarawa State.

She met the undergraduates, who later murdered her, through social networking site Facebook.

The principal suspects, Ezike Ilechukwu Olisaeloka, 23, and Okwumo Echezona Nwabufor, 33, confessed to the police that they lured her to Lagos from her base in Nassarawa State under the pretext that they are also into clothing business.

After receiving her at the Murtala Muhammed airport in Lagos, they took her to a hotel in Festac Town.

Eloka said they later put Rohyenol tablet in her Ribena drink and slept with her for about 12 hours.

After discovering that Cynthia did not have a lot of money on her as they earlier presumed, they raped her for 12 hours and later strangled her.

Following the arrest and subsequent parade of Olisaeloka and his cousin, Nwabufor, over the murder of Cynthia, three more ladies came forward, saying they were once victims of the alleged murderers.

The three women reportedly went to Festac Police Command to write a statement about how they were drugged, raped and robbed by the suspects now facing trial.

—Henry Ojelu & Cyriacus Izuekwe


http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2012/08/27/cynthia-suspected-killers-docked/

Living Faith Church a.k.a Winners Chapel

America’s Wall Street Journal today revealed the mind-boggling million dollar sums that the Nigerian government has been paying Niger Delta warlords to keep them off the oil pipelines in the past 12 months.



•Asari Dokubo
Mr. Dokubo Asari, the former warlord that first shot to national limelight collects $9million every year to keep his estimated 4000 soldiers at bay. ‘General’ Ateke Toms and ‘General‘ Ebikabowei Boyloaf Victor Ben collect $3.5million apiece while General Government Tompolo Ekpumopolo is the most priced of all: he gets $22.5 million yearly.

The newspaper said the figures were gotten from senior officials of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, which makes the payment direct to these warlords.

While Dokubo shrugged off the huge payment he receives, about N1.44 billion, as nothing unusual, there is the belief that the selective payments have bred some jealousy among other militants, not so rewarded, who in reaction continue to pillage Nigeria’s crude oil pipelines. Nigeria loses no less than 10 per cent of its crude production to oil thieves on prowl in the Niger Delta, despite the programme of pacification called the Amnesty Programme.

By Shell’s account, no less than 150,000 barrels of Nigeria’s production are stolen daily, a very low estimate in the eyes of many Niger Delta watchers.

The Wall Street Journal said in its report that government plans to spend $450 million on the amnesty programme this year alone, despite the increasing theft of crude in the region.

Said the respected journal: The gilded pacification campaign is offered up by the government as a success story. But others say the program, including a 2009 amnesty, has sent young men in Nigeria’s turbulent delta a different message: that militancy promises more rewards than risks.

For more please go to :http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304019404577420160886588518.html



http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2012/08/22/how-jonathan-spoils-niger-delta-warlords/

The Oodua People’s Congress, OPC, Iju Station unit in Lagos State, southwest Nigeria, has arrested a suspect for stealing an electric generator.


The suspected DPO’s son.

The suspect, 32-year old man is said to be a motorcycle and generator repairer who claimed to be the son of a Divisional Police Officer, DPO, in Gwasu Local Government area of Borno State, northeast Nigeria.

OPC Coordinator in Iju Station, Comrade Peters Pedro, a.k.a. Commander, told Crime Watch that the rate of generating set theft in the area had become alarming and so his men were put on alert.

He added that while his men were on surveillance, the suspect, a cart pusher went to the residence of Oladotun Ojumu and stole his portable generator popularly known as ‘I better pass my neighbour’

“Unknown to the suspect, an OPC member saw him when he hid the generator inside his cart and as he was about leaving, the house, the OPC man accosted him, he was arrested on the spot”, the OPC local leader said.

According to him, the suspect was interrogated at OPC zonal office at New Oko Oba, near Agege, Lagos before he was handed over to the police at Oko Oba Division.

When Crime Watch visited Oko Oba Police State, the DPO was said to have gone on official assignment at Area ‘G’, Ogba. A source at the police station confirmed the incident, saying that the suspect will soon be charged to court at the completion of investigation.

Because Jonathan has allowed every voice to be heard and RULE OF LAW TO PREVAIL, the lagos ACN thugs and CPC almajiris claim Jonathan is “weak”, “clueless” and “incompetent”. The Jonathan the Lagos ACN thugs and CPC almajiris claim is “weak”, “clueless” and “incompetent” has not lost any Battle till date: he DEFEATED the northern consensus candidate(Atiku) at the PDP presidential primary election; he DEFEATED their masters(Buhari and Bakare) at the presidential poll; he silently(without hurting a fly) DETHRONED former governor of Bayelsa state(Sylva); he ENTHRONED his prefered candidate(Tukur) as the PDP national chairman despite opposition from northern governors; he has rendered Justice Salami(ACN spy) to the dustbin of history thru premature retirement; he DISMANTLED the caricature Farouk subsidy probe panel(which was gang up by ACN and Tambuwai to discredit Jonathan); he succeeded in partial removal(40%) of fuel subsidy; he DEFEATED the Yar Adua cabal; he is currently BULLDOZING his way thru a HISTORIC power sector reforms; and so on and so forth. In all these SUCCESSES, some persons may not like the style of GEJ but the END JUSTIFIES the means.
If takes “weakenss”, “incompetence” and “cluelessness” to achieve all those including rising to become the president of the federal republic, pls I want to be”weak”, “clueless” and “incompetent” too

Government Ekpemupolo, a.k.a. Tompolo, a former militant has risen to become a strong ally of the federal government, and a billionaire businessman
Only three years ago, he was a fugitive. In May 2009, Brigadier-General Sarkin Yaki Bello, commander of the Joint Military Task Force, JTF, in Niger Delta, had declared Government Ekpemupolo the most wanted man in Nigeria. Bello had fingered Ekpemupolo, or Tompolo, as he is widely known, and his band of militants in the Gbaramutu creeks of the Niger Delta as executing the killing of 11 soldiers – one officer and 10 junior men. It was just one of the many instances of the militants’ atrocities.

Tompolo: Very influential ex-militant.
The militants had been running riot in the Niger Delta, perpetrating illegitimate bunkering, operating illegal refineries, vandalising oil pipelines, engaging in kidnapping and doing piracy. And Tompolo was in the thick of it as one of the leaders. The JTF was intent on doing him in. Bello’s men stormed the Okerenkoko, operations headquarters of Tompolo, desperately searching for him. They were successful all right, but not in nabbing Tompolo. What they found were numerous rifles, machine guns, Uzzi guns, Army mistin carriers, dynamite and gun boats. In the Niger Delta, Government Ekpemupolo, ruthless, invincible and taciturn, was and is indeed, a government all of his own.
Today, Tompolo is not only a free man, he is a darling of the very federal government that only three years ago, considered him an arch enemy deserving of extermination. Despite his violent past and little education, he is one of the most influential Nigerians today. There is no doubt that he is very close to President Goodluck Jonathan. To cement the romance, government has invested the Global West Vessel Specialist Limited, GWVSL, a firm widely believed to be owned by Tompolo, with a contract worth $103.4 million (over N15 billion) to supply 20 vessels for the use of the nation’s military authorities to secure the waterways. Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Ziadeke Akpobolokemi, had last year sent a memo titled, “Award of Contract for the Strategic Concessioning Partnership with NIMASA to Provide Platforms for Tracking Ships and Cargoes, Enforce Regulatory Compliance and Surveillance Of The Entire Nigerian Maritime Domain,” to President Goodluck Jonathan.
In considering the memo, President Goodluck Jonathan and Akpobolokemi chose GWVSL as the preferred company for the 10-year concession agreement. The concession is renewable for two terms of five years each. Jonathan, in a memo dated 9 November 2011, with reference number PRES/99/MT/61, approved Akpobolokemi’s memo, which the Federal Executive Council rubber-stamped on 5 January 2012. According to Akpobolokemi, GWVSL “will provide platforms for effective policing of Nigeria’s maritime domain and ensure compliance with international maritime conventions on vessels and ships voyaging the country’s waters”. NIMASA maintains that the concessionaire would help the federal government to enforce the sabotage law and collect levies on its behalf. NIMASA’s projection shows that about N124bn is expected to be generated in revenue to the federal government by GWVSL. Akpobolokemi underlines the public-private partnership with Tompolo’s company as necessary because the federal government could not bear the cost of the project.
Jonathan has sent the new memo to the National Assembly, urging it to discountenance an earlier one submitted by the late President Umaru Yar’Adua. Yar’Adua’s memo sought to create a coastal guard, comprising all security agencies, to man the country’s maritime domain.
Although the Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar had striven to explain there were no underhand dealings to the maritime contract, critics still read ethnic jingoism into it. President Jonathan, Akpobolokemi and Tompolo all hail from the Niger Delta, whose people have for many years been expressing infuriation that they are being oppressed despite the fact that the geographical area produces the oil that enriches Nigeria. Umar told journalists that contrary to speculations that the GWVSL, by the contract, would be usurping the functions of the Nigerian Navy, the company would only be providing platforms, security boats, equipment and expertise to assist in securing Nigeria’s waterways and thereby leverage on revenue generation. The company’s hands will not bear arms.
More importantly, it is GWVSL, and not government, Umar disclosed, that would be providing the entire $103.4mn fund for the exercise and it would be recouping its investment from surpassing NIMASA’s annual revenue collection profile. “Under the NIMASA Act, it is empowered to take charge of administration and the safety of our waters. And under the same Act, NIMASA has been empowered to carry out its functions, duties and responsibilities either by itself or through any institution of government or in partnership with any agency of government or through or in partnership with any natural person or limited liability company like the Global West Limited which has now entered into a partnership with NIMASA,” Umar clarified in justifying the contract.
But the critics, mostly northern leaders, accused the President of secretly pursuing an ethnic agenda and wondered why what they called a sensitive contract that borders on national security should be handed to a private company. They also wondered if the concessionaire would keep the huge accruals even if it met its target in one month of its operation. The disenchanted leaders cited the abrupt deployment of former Minister of Transport, Yusuf Suleiman to the Ministry of Sports for once querying Akpobolokemi over the Tompolo issue. Suleiman was believed to be furious with Akpobolokemi for allegedly paying N49mn weekly to Tompolo’s company to secure the waterways. But Akpobolokemi justified the payment, claiming that it was payment for five vessels hired from Tompolo’s company by the agency. The power play between Suleiman and Akpobolokemi assumed an ethnic dimension as some Niger Delta elders waded in in support of the NIMASA boss. Suleiman eventually lost his job as Transport Minister.
Sources told TheNEWS that Akpobolokemi was Tompolo’s candidate for the NIMASA job. Jonathan, it was gathered, preferred to remove the minister from his position than risk infuriating Tompolo, a man the president is very happy to have on his side.
Immediately Suleiman queried Akpobolokemi and sent a clear signal to him that he could be fired, Tompolo called Suleiman asking him to show mercy to the NIMASA boss. But Jonathan moved fast by redeploying Suleiman from the Transport Ministry to Sports.
The GWSVL contract is regarded in many quarters as merely formalising a job Tompolo has been informally performing for NIMASA for many months; and has been feeding quite fatter on. For the 43-year-old creek-wise roughneck, it has been a long, tortous road to stupendous wealth and the billionaire club. Frail of figure but so stout of courage, Tompolo balances whatever deficit he suffers in educational accomplishments with suicidal but calculatingly rewarding proclivities. Born to a royal house in Okerenkoko in Gbaramatu kingdom, Warri South-West Local Government, Delta State, little Government attended Okepopo Primary School, Warri and later, Warri Comprehensive College, leaving in 1993.
The increasingly combative restiveness of Niger Delta youths against what they perceived exploitation by the federal government cut Tompolo’s future out for him. In 1997, he began his quasi-military career as an Ijaw soldier during the bloody crisis between the Ijaw and the Itsekiri over then Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha’s relocation of a local government headquarters from the Ijaw area to Itsekiri’s. Once disclosing what prompted him into militancy, Tompolo explained he and others like Paul, Dennis, Ketson, Kingsley Otuaro, Oboko Bello, Dan and George Timinimi were furious that what they firmly believed was their land was being taken over by their Itsekiri neighbours. He narrated that in the 1980s, there was a time the Itsekiri people wanted to collect rent from those living in Okerenkoko, a town that is today an Ijaw community in Gbaramatu kingdom. “The Itsekiri people say they are the owners of Gbaramatu kingdom as a whole. From what I was told, we (Ijaw) are the original owners of the land in question, and our Itsekiri brothers came to meet us there,” he asserted.
Tompolo recalled that he was always accompanying his father’s elder brother, the late Papa Gbamido Ekpemupolo as he went from one court to another, in Benin, Warri or Abuja, over cases between the Ijaw in Gbaramatu and the Itsekiri. “So when we realised that if we didn’t stand firm we would be forced to pay rent to our neighbour, we decided to take our lives in our hands and fight out the battle. That is where the battle between us and our Itsekiri brothers started,” he stated. The face-off was compounded by the relocation of the headquarters of Warri South-West Local Government Area from Ogbe-Ijoh to Ogidigben, an Itsekiri community.
The war threw up Tompolo as a ruthless and brave soldier and a good manager of forces. After the war, threats to his life and his own ambition of playing in the bigger league compelled him to move to Oporoza within the Gbaramutu kingdom. There, two developments emerged to lend Tompolo excuses for his militancy and its underlying goal of mercantilism. Violent agitations against the oil multinational, Shell, had been growing since Abacha deployed soldiers against the Ogonis and other Niger Delta elements protesting against oil spillages, general environmental degradation and non-development of the oil-producing areas. The coup de grace was government’s hanging of Ken Saro-Wiwa, an Ogoni and environmentalist.
Tompolo arrived the Niger Delta agitation cauldron at the right time, after Abacha’s death, and keyed in efficiently into the scattering of unorganised armed groups disrupting the multinational companies’ oil prospecting and producing operations, especially Shell’s. He was particularly alleged to be a pointman in the attacks against Shell, accusing it of environmental despoilation and exploitation. Helpless against the militants’ guerilla attacks – and kidnapping of its officials, to boot – Shell quickly got the message. Tompolo’s operations turned into a protection racket, with Shell shelling payments to the young, ruthless militant and his associates to assure, at least, some measure of smooth operations.
Second, on the return to democracy, the wont of Nigeria’s political leaders to apply violence on opponents and need for private protection demanded the services of tough, fearless goons. In the Niger Delta, many of the politicians turned to the militants who already boasted heavy weapons and understood the terrain. When state governors came into power, they only boosted the artillery firepower of the militants on whom they splashed money to acquire more arms. Thus, the Niger Delta, populated by fierce, gun-toting youth, became a hotbed of both violent attacks on oil companies and oil installations, as well as violent political thuggery. In 2003, Tompolo led the Federated Niger Delta Ijaw Communities, FNDIC, in an uprising that shut down about 40 per cent of Nigeria’s oil production, targeting mostly Chevron’s installations.
Gradually, Tompolo’s fame as a vicious war general but a principled and maganimous leader to his forces spread through the creeks. He had moved back to Okerenkoko to establish Camp 5 as his headquarters. Camp 5 was originally a private property called “Abuja” in the neighbourhood from where he and his colleagues started the struggle. And gradually, the money began to flow in – from the various rackets of political and corporate protection, to illegal bunkering. He was effectively leader of the Delta State end of the Niger Delta militants’ battle against oppression. As Convener of the Ijaw Youth Leadership Forum, IYLF, the umbrella body of all Ijaw young militants, Tompolo was, and is said to still be, providing mentorship and logistic support for all members. Across Delta State, he contributed to strengthening other militant groups. One example was Mujahid Dokubo Asari’s Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force, NDPVF, to which Tompolo not only provided field fighters but also supplied the necessary arms and ammunition that ensured Asari’s successful commencement of his military campaign against oil installations.
Tompolo’s intervention also helped to check the rampaging influence of Ateke Tom’s Icelander Group, which was on the verge of overrunning Buguma, Asari’s hometown in Rivers State. As admitted by Asari himself: “Tompolo decided on his own volition to give me 50 AK47s which I used to launch the first series of attacks on the stronghold of the Icelanders. All my attacks were successful.”
Tompolo’s profile and stature soared in 2006 when he gathered his fellow group leaders from across the Niger Delta at Camp 5 to accord their struggle a definite name and platform. Besides, the new platform was meant to be immediately used to press for the release of Asari and Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, the former Bayelsa State governor, both of who were incarcerated by the federal government. So it was at Camp 5, Tompolo’s headquarters, that the Movement of the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, was formed. MEND was, however, not formed as an umbrella organisation of all the militant groups but as an organ to issue unified, rather than discordant, statements for them. So if any of the groups attacked any oil installation or kidnapped any figure, it was MEND that would admit responsibility for the act.
Tompolo had maintained in a rare interview that it is not an issue in dispute that he was the founder of MEND. “I did not go to school, so anything concerning paper work, there are people who handle it. I am not the only person; there are others. If you are doing something, you have to put heads together with others because the idea is to cut across our nine states. That was how MEND was formed and that was the reason the last time that all the ex-militant leaders went to Abuja. In the presence of everybody, I told them that I am the owner of MEND. It was formed in Camp 5. I said it in the presence of everybody and nobody can contest it with me,” he declared. Names Tompolo was referring to as the intellectual minds behind his operations then included Oboko Bello, who studied Mathematics up to the doctoral level and Henry Okah, who was appointed in Camp 5 as the propangadist for MEND though he was not in the country. Okah has since been arrested in South Africa for gun-running and the 1 0ctober 2011 (Independence Day) bombing in Abuja.
Tompolo boasted that, apart from Dokubo-Asari and Ateke Tom, every other militant general had his tutelage at Camp 5. “Henry Okah was one of us. That is the truth and he is somebody that if not for greed and his trying to say that I want to be all and all, he is one person that all of us respect. He is one of us,” he said. Based in South Africa, Okah was the brains behind the e-mail and text messages to media establishments on MEND’s activities.
MEND announced its first signature statement with the abduction of nine foreign staff – three Americans, two Egyptians, two Thais, one Briton and one Filipino – of Wilbros, an American oilfield services company based in Panama but with a major office and company executives in Houston. Its Nigerian operational base is Choba, Port Harcourt. Wilbros has since been acquired by Nigerians; it is widely believed that former governor of Delta State, James Ibori, now serving term in an English jail is behind the acquisition. MEND, which claimed to be fighting for a greater share of Nigeria’s oil wealth, claimed responsibility for the Saturday 17 February 2006 abduction. There followed a series of raids which consequently cut Nigeria’s crude oil exports drastically and negatively impacted on the economy.
Until the JTF fell out with Tompolo’s militant group, he was the Task Force’s favoured boy. The JTF was always turning to him for information and assistance to nail pirates and kidnappers, and as one unconfirmed source said, his magnanimity was always rubbing off in some forms on the men and officers of the Force. In July 2004, Tompolo was said to have assisted the JTF, then under the command of Brig-General Elias Zamani to capture John Togo, a notorious sea pirate and his gang that included Perembowe Ebinimie, Felis Dissi and Peter Dolobowei. The JTF and the Delta State government were also said to be employing Tompolo’s structures to provide security for the troubled waterways in the state. The source alleged that Tompolo was earning as much as N100mn every month to maintain peace, on behalf of government, on the waterways.
By 2009, Tompolo had amassed so much influence in Niger Delta affairs that even powerful figures in the zone looked up to him for economic and political empowerment. Reliable Niger Delta sources affirmed that his influence sustained his kinsman, Chief Wellington Okrika as Executive Chairman of the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC, for so long. Tompolo was also said to have virtually single-handedly enthroned Godwin Bebenimibo, a retired Superintendent of Police, as Gbaran III Agadagba, the traditional ruler of the Gbaramatu kingdom.
So when in June 2009, the President Yar’Adua administration embarked on implementing its Amnesty programme for Niger Delta militants, it could not but court Tompolo as the arrowhead of the programme. The federal government could not afford not to patronise him; his acceptance of the amnesty programme largely influenced other militant leaders to embrace peace. His embrace of the peace overtures largely crumbled MEND, the structure that wrought havoc and nearly crippled the economy of the nation. Newspaper reports painted how Tompolo received a hero’s attention on the day he led more than 1,500 militants to surrender their weapons in Oporoza village. Received by then Minister of Defence, retired General Godwin Abbe and cheered on by hundreds of people wearing vests with the inscription Tompolo Is Our Hero, the militant surrendered a large cache of arms that included general purpose machine guns, rifles, rocket launchers, explosives and countless numbers of various ammunition.
Tompolo was reported to have shed tears at the occasion while remembering close friends, associates and relatives who had died while the militants were waging what he called a fight to free the people of the Niger Delta from bondage. He promised that since the militants have embraced amnesty, the issue of MEND and the reason to shed blood was over. The warlord insisted that anybody using MEND for any liberation cause for the Niger Delta would be doing so for his personal interest. He, however, warned that if the federal government reneges on its promises to develop the Niger Delta, militants in the area would have no choice but to go back to taking up arms.
Tompolo always cites Isaac Adaka Boro, the late Ijaw militant who was killed during the Nigerian civil war, as his hero and the main inspirational figure for his daring struggle against the federal government. He strongly believes in the Egbesu deity, the god that many Ijaw worship, and sees it as directing his survival so far. He explained that the deity helped him to achieve his aims and objectives, since he was pursuing what he insisted was “a genuine struggle”.
Now a High Chief in his Gbaramatu kingdom, Tompolo’s frail physique belies the daring spirit within. At his Camp 5 headquarters, he determines the rules of engagement. On one occasion in 2007, when Jonathan, then Vice-President, visited the camp for talks with Tompolo, his convoy and guards were strictly denied entry into the camp. Only Jonathan was said to have been allowed in. Throughout the struggle, Tompolo gave the JTF the fiercest, combative resistance. But away from the struggle, he is described as so unassuming; even till now that he is a billionaire, he relates freely with his Ijaw kinsmen and the larger Niger Delta people. He constantly denies he was, and is, involved in illegal bunkering. “My name became associated with oil business when I was in Camp 5. When people were doing illegal business in my area (front of Camp 5), I had people with me and would ask them to go and ask these people to give them some money so that we could feed with it. But I would never do it myself,” he said. “Everybody knows that I am not a bunkerer and that is the more reason why I am surviving up till date,” he once told a national daily.
Talking about illegality, Tompolo, typical of him, has not been heard to say a word on the raging GWVSL contract that some critics have been lampooning. So what is illegal about it? Nothing, absolutely nothing, insisted Akpobolokemi. The NIMASA Director-General queried: “If it is Tompolo that the contract was awarded to, is he not a citizen of Nigeria? Is he an ex-convict? Is he not more than 18 years old to own a company? We have hundreds of vessels which in the past 10 years and up till this moment, including patrol boats supplied by private individuals to oil multinational companies, that are working in conjunction with the Nigeria Navy. Has there been any complaint anywhere? Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company and Agip, among other international oil companies, and the Nigerian Navy, up till this moment, engage people, including those who are grumbling now, to supply them patrol boats. Who has raised any dust? If anybody has a reason to partner with us and we feel he is qualified, who are we not to give him jobs?”
Akpobolokemi said many people kicking against the contract are afraid they would be exposed. “The illegal activities they are conducting in the maritime domain are all going to be exposed, including illegal bunkering, illegal ship-to-ship transfer and mystery discharges that are not authorised. These are things people are afraid of.” He explained that the contract was not awarded to Tompolo as an individual, but to GWVSA, in which the NIMASA boss admitted the ex-militant has interest, but which, he said, had been verified to have the capability to render the required service. “The contract awarded to GWVSA is a fair deal to Nigerians,” he maintained.
—Temitayo Odunlami



http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2012/08/14/tompolo-the-billionaire-militant/

The Federal Government has signed Heads of Agreement (HOA) with reputable international contractors for a comprehensive maintenance of Kaduna and Port Harcourt Refineries.


Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Andrew Yakubu, who stated this at a recent oil and gas conference in Lagos, added that the government was concluding the terms contract for the Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of the Port Harcourt Refinery.


Yakubu noted that the maintenance programmes for Kaduna and Warri refineries were underway.
“The Federal Government is keeping faith with that. As we speak, discussions are almost being concluded for the Port Harcourt Refinery with the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) of that refinery. We are at the point of concluding the terms of the contract and that will roll out very soon and Nigerians will start seeing results. We have also gone into heads of agreement with others for Kaduna and Warri,” he said.


The federal government had earlier set a 24-month target for complete turnaround maintenance of the four refineries, which have a capacity to process 445,000barrels of crude oil per day..


The refineries include the Port Harcourt Refining Company, with an installed capacity of 210,000 barrels of crude oil per day; Kaduna Refining and Petrochemicals Company, with a production capacity of 110,000 barrels per day and Warri Refining and Petrochemicals Company, with an installed capacity of 125,000 barrels per day.


At the completion of the turnaround of the refineries, the Federal Government would save a large chunk of the huge funds spent on payment of subsidy on imported petroleum products.


Yakubu also stated that negotiations were also ongoing with the Chinese investors for the construction of three new Greenfield refineries to be sited in Lagos, Bayelsa and Kogi States.


Following the directives from the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, the immediate past Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mr. Austen Oniwon, had begun negotiations with JGC/Tecnimont Consortium, the original contractors that built the Port Harcourt Refinery, for the rehabilitation of the refinery.


The rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refinery would be followed by Kaduna and Warri, respectively.


Tags: Business, Featured, Nigeria, Warri Refinery



http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/fg-signs-heads-of-agreement-on-kaduna-warri-refineries/122284/#.UCpw3ErL_cc.facebook

Following series of meetings with the Lagos State Ministry of Transportation, the Chairman of the Lagos Council of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, Alhaji Tajudeen Agbede has advised members of the union to continue with their operations.

He warned members to obey the state government’s directives on the transportation sector

Addressing members of the union after a meeting with government officials at Alausa secretariat, Alhaji Agbede explained that the state government did not at any point ban the activities of the union, pointing out that the directive was to stop the collection of dues from drivers at bus stops.

Alhaji Agbede explained that the union would contiue to dialogue with the state government in the next one week to iron out some grey areas in the state government’s directives.

He said the NURTW Task Force will be empowered to enforce the directives issued by the state government, especially as it relates to collection of dues on highways

Alhaji Agbede identified some of the problems facing the union as lack of adequate motor parks in the state, adding that the majority of motor parks in the state were created during Alhaji Lateef Jakande’s administration, hence they are now grossly inadequate to accommodate the large number of vehicles operating in the state.

He implored NURTW members to look out for vacant space that can be converted to motor parks to ease their operations.

“As partners in progress with the state government, we will continue to obey the laws of the state. We are in support of the ban on the sale of alcohol at motor parks to reduce accident on the highways,” he added.
http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2012/08/07/ignore-rumour-on-ban-lagos-nurtw-boss/

As part of activities to mark its second anniversary, the management of StarTimes has launched a mobile phone television for its Abuja and Lagos subscribers.

The mobile phone television is expected to give the company’s over 800,000 subscribers opportunity to watch their StarTimes television channels on their mobile phones.

The product was launched in Abuja last week by the chairman of the company, Mr Pang Xin Xing.

Senate President, David Mark; Minister of Information, Labaran Maku; Charge d’affair of the Chinese Embassy to Nigeria, Mr. He Meng and other dignitaries were at the event.

In his speech, Mr Pang noted that the mobile television launch was StarTimes’ way of helping subscribers keep up with their favourite programmes while on the move.

According to him, the signal of the mobile TV has been on trial since 2010 and has only recently been certified okay.

He said: “During the Africast in 2010, we already launched the mobile TV trial system in Abuja. With the maturity of the business model and the perfection of terminal products, right now we have officially launched the mobile TV system in Abuja and Lagos. This means the public can not only watch clear digital TV programmes on the TV set, but also with their handsets at anytime and anywhere.

“When the conditions are ready, the mobile TV system will be further expanded to other regions in Nigeria. We have various terminal products for mobile TV service, such as the dual-SIM card smart phones supporting TV function, the car TV with navigation system, MP4 which supports TV reception, radio and music playing. These products are of good quality but at affordable price. The content for the mobile TV service is also very colourful; we have the free mobile TV channel, but also the mobile pay TV bouquet which costs only 100 naira per month”

On StarTimes’ achievements since its foray into the pay TV business, Mr Pang said the company has revolutionised the pay TV industry in a very short period.

“In the past two years, with the vision of enabling every Nigerian household to afford digital TV, to watch digital TV and enjoy digital TV, NTA-STAR has already set up the DTT network in nine regions, including Abuja, Lagos, Kano, Ibadan, Port Harcourt, Benin, Kaduna, Onitsha and Asaba, offering clear and rich digital TV programmes to Nigerian people at affordable price and providing digital TV transmission service for national TV station and private TV stations.

“Up to now, we have invested near $100 million in this project, developing around 800,000 subscribers and hiring 700 local staff. We have created more than N1.3 billion of tax revenue for the country.

By Henry Ojelu


http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2012/08/07/startimes-launches-mobile-phone-tv/

There was a shocking find in Lagos, southwest Nigeria, yesterday when the Taskforce on Environmental and Special Offences (Enforcement) Unit impounded 130 commercial motorcycles, also known as okada.

A gun hidden in one of the motorcycles was found while it was being searched by the taskforce. The Taskforce arrested 51 suspected hoodlums at different parts of the state and impounded 130 okadas that violated the traffic laws of the state in a renewed massive onslaught against the operators.

The gun was found in one of the okadas when the Taskforce chairman, Bayo Sulaiman and his team search it.

After the gun was recovered by officials of the taskforce, the police refused to give the identity of the motorcycle as they had begun a manhunt for its owner.

The 51 suspected hoodlums were arrested in Ojota, Oshodi, Isolo, Ilasamaja and Cele on Tuesday by the taskforce and brought to the taskforce headquarters in Alausa in a Black Maria.

Those arrested included 14 under-aged children. The children will be taken to one of the Lagos State Correctional Centres for Boys for correction.

Taskforce Chairman, Bayo Sulaiman said the suspected hoodlums would be arraigned in court today while those found culpable would be punished according to the laws of the state.

He stated that the taskforce had stepped up enforcement against miscreants as they constituted criminal elements in the society and terrorised innocent people, saying that “we don’t want them to come back to the main roads again. We are going to charge them to court. The exercise will be continuous.”

P.M.NEWS gathered that the Commissioner of Police in Lagos State, Umar Manko had ordered the police to clampdown on okada riders who ride against traffic on the expressways and other unauthorised places.

According to Sulaiman, okadas were not expected to ply the highways, ride against traffic and breach the laws of the state and that many of them were being used for criminal purposes.
http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2012/08/01/police-find-gun-on-seized-okada/

The Lagos State Government has been stopped by the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, from imposing annual levy on all existing telecom masts in the state.

The commission is, however, seeking understanding with the state government on fresh plans by the state to regulate erection of masts and towers.

The commission also asked the state government to put a stop to the sealing off and pulling down of telecoms masts in the name of regulation.

At a stakeholders’ meeting involving the NCC, telecom operators and the Lagos State Government, represented by Urban Furniture Regulatory Unit, UFRU, the Head of Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Department, NCC, Maska Ubale, spoke on the implications of imposing annual levy on telecoms masts and the impending danger in sealing off and pulling down masts.

According to him, such action would lead to disruption in telecoms services, since a single Base Transceiver Station (BTS), was connected to over 30 other BTS installed in various locations.

He advised that sealing off and pulling down of masts should be the last resort, after all other measures must have been applied. “Cautions must be taken to avoid regulations that will discourage core investors from investing in telecoms business in the country.

“UFRU should see telecom operators as partners in business and avoid regulation that will hinder their business in the state. UFRU should return all equipment seized from telecoms sites, to enable operators provide better service quality to Nigerians,” he said.

General Manager, UFRU, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, thanked NCC for its intervention and pleaded that dialogue and constructive engagement was the way to go since dialogue is better than monologue.

He said the Lagos State Government is insisting on regulating installation of masts and towers in Lagos in order to save lives and property, saying that “lives have been lost and property worth billions destroyed in the past 12 years and no responsible government will fold its hands in the face of these tragedies. Besides, the indiscriminate installation of these structures tells a big story that there is lack of organisation.

“The Lagos State Government is aware that there are technical specifications from NCC with respect to installation of masts and towers anywhere in Nigeria but there is need for the state to regulate the installation of these structures.

“The builders need construction permit from the state. We need to check the integrity of their structures from time to time, we need to see their maintenance plans, we need to tell them that these structures are not built to last forever, they need to be told that wear and tear can bring down any of the structure, we need to tell them our approved height, we need to know the outcome of the soil test and the strength of the foundation and so on,” he stated.

The NCC, however, agreed that operators should obtain permit and right of way before installing masts in the state, but would seek to avoid the imposition of levy on existing masts and towers in the state.

Telecoms operators present at the meeting, expressed their displeasure over what they said would amount to double regulation, should UFRU insist on carrying out integrity test on all telecoms masts before installation, even after they had passed through the same test with NCC.

They demanded that UFRU should streamline its regulation with that of the Ministry of Town Planning and Local Government Authorities in the state, who are also insisting on telecoms regulation, in order to avoid double regulation.
http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2012/07/30/ncc-halts-lagos-levies-on-telecom-masts/

With only five percent of the world’s population residing in the United States of America, the country now owns 50 percent of the world’s guns, said Fareed Zakaria, Host of Fareed Zakaria GPS at CNN.

Quoting government sources, Zakaria disclosed that 88 percent of Americans or 88 out every 100 people in the U.S. own guns and one out of every three persons there knows someone who has been shot.

“We are the world’s most heavily-armed civilian population. Yemen is second at 54 (people with a gun out of hundred). Serbia and Iraq are among the other countries in the top 10,” Zakaria lamented.

He said the U.S. has three gun homicides per 100,000 people, which, according to him, is four times more than Switzerland, 10 times more than India and 20 times more than Australia and England.

“Gun homicide rates haven’t improved at all. They were at roughly the same levels in 2009 as they were in 2000.

“Meanwhile, serious but non-fatal gun injuries caused during assault have actually increased in the last decade by 20 percent, as gun laws have gotten looser and getting automatic weapons has become easier,” Zakaria lamented.

Zakaria was reflecting on the senseless killings of 20 July on moviegoers in Aurora, Colorado, by a lone gunman who easily purchased weapons and gunned down12 people and injured 58 others.

“The United States stands out from the rest of the world not because it has more nutcases – I think we can assume that those people are sprinkled throughout every society equally –but because it has more guns,” he said.

—Simon Ateba
http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2012/07/30/88-of-americans-own-guns/

Lagos State Waste Management Authority, LAWMA, have dragged five scavengers to a Lagos court where they were remanded in prison custody for allegedly making ends meet at their refuse dump site at Igando outskirt of Lagos.


The five scavengers arraigned in court.

The men include, Sunday Oyedele, 33, Waisu Ayeni, 23, Akinwumi Akintoye, 38, Fadeyi Sampson, 35, and Mathew Igene, 45.

They were arraigned before an Ikeja Magistrate’s court sitting in Abule Egba for illegal entry in the dump site.

The defendants with others had gone to the site to pick some useful items thrown away by the owners which they could sell to make some money to feed.

This did not go down well with LAWMA workers.

Their arrest followed a complaint by LAWMA officials to the police that some scavengers entered the site illegally.

But the defendants told our reporter that they had been scavenging at the site for some time before the new LAWMA workers came and started demanding money from them to enable them to enter the site.

They claimed that their inability to part with undisclosed amount of money daily caused their predicament, an allegation the workers declined to make any comment.

P. M.NEWS confronted some of the workers at the court on the issue of demanding money from them.

One of the LAWMA workers identified as Nurudeen told our reporter they would not comment, saying he was not authorized to speak on the matter.

P. M.NEWS gathered that the LAWMA workers contacted the police at Igando division who swoop on the scavengers at the site and arrested the suspects, while others escaped.

They were arraigned in the court on a four count charge of illegal entry, obstruction of LAWMA and conduct likely to cause a breach of public peace by illegally assembling at the site. The police calmed that the offence they committed was contrary to sections 44, 52, 117 and 338 of the Criminal Code Law of Lagos State of Nigeria 2011. They pleaded not guilty. The presiding Magistrate, Mr O. A. Komolafe granted them bail in the sum of N50, 000 each with two sureties in like sum.

The matter was adjourned till 13 August 2012 while the defendants were remanded in custody pending when they meet their bail condition.

Meanwhile, the residents of the defendants under a group, stormed the court singing solidarity song, condemning the action of LAWMA.

They said the victims resorted to scavenging because of the economic situation in the country, yet LAWMA went ahead to worsen their plight.

—Cyriacus Izuekwe



http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2012/07/17/lawma-sends-5-scavengers-to-prison/

All is set for the second phase of the Nigerian Kano state mass wedding for 250 couples slated for today as concerned individuals and non-governmental organizations have continued to donate in cash and kind to promote the promote the project initiated by Kano state Government in northwest Nigeria.

According to the Directior-General of Hisbah Board, Malam Abba Saa’d Sufi who spoke exclusively to P.M.NEWS this morning; the number of couples to benefit from the mass wedding has been increased from 1000 to 4000.

“I must tell you that His Excellency, Dr. Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso is impressed over the success of the mass wedding; and for this reason, he has increased the number from 1000 to 4000 couples designed to come in phases.

“Ordinary, we were suppose to wed 100 couples at a time, but because of the latest decision by His Excellency, we decided to increase the number to 250,” he said, adding that already, governments of Katsina and Sokoto states have sent emissaries, “to learn from us how we have been able to make the project a huge success.”

Sufi also added that the mass wedding is no longer restricted to widows and divorces alone, “we have decided to include spinsters; and we are choosing five couples each from all the 44 local government areas. We did this to ensure that all the local government areas benefit from the project geared towards enhancing love and peace among families and to discourage marital violence.”

The Hisbah boss said his agency has continued to receive support from private organizations and concerned individuals who are eager to ensure the sustenance of the mass wedding.

“We are partnering with the National Action Committee on Aids to ensure proper screening of prospective couples. We also have a committee in all the 44 Local Government Areas comprising of traditional rulers, local government authorities, security agencies and Hisbah representatives to ensure that those who are to benefit from the marriage are the people made for it.”

Among individuals and private organizations who have donated for the project include wife of the Vice President, Hajiya Amina Sambo who gave out 150 sewing machines, Almawash Farm promised three crates of egg each to the couples, Airtel promised to provide each couples with two handsets and two Sim Cards, while Jafa Foam, makers of Uniform has promised to donate 10 mattresses and 20 pillows.

While the state government is to provide food items and furniture including the sum of N20, 000 each to the couples, business mogul, Sheikh Ishyaku Rabiu has promised to pay the dowry of 100 couples, just as his two sons, Abdulsamad and Karami are to foot the dowries of 100 and 50 couples respectively.


http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2012/07/12/nigerian-state-set-for-another-mass-wedding/

A Lagos State High Court in Ikeja Monday discharged and acquitted Deji Abiola, son of the late acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Chief MKO Abiola, of the N35.5 million theft charge preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Deji was discharged by Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo after the EFCC decided to withdraw the case against him.

He was dragged before the court for allegedly stealing N35.5 million belonging to a Lagos-based printer, Mr Jide Jose under the pretext of helping the complainant import printing machines from Switzerland.

During Monday’s proceedings, EFCC prosecutor, Mr Omeiza Adebola informed the court that the prosecution was withdrawing its case against Abiola.

Adebola said the prosecution was discontinuing the case because Abiola and Jose had resolved the matter out of court..

The application was not opposed by Abiola’s counsel, Chief Phillip Jimoh-Lasisi (SAN), who reiterated that the matter has been resolved amicably between both parties.

The judge, in a short ruling, discharged and acquitted Abiola of the one-count charge of theft.

He said: “The accused is hereby discharged and acquitted.This is following the application filed by the prosecution (EFCC) dated July 2, 2012, notifying the court of its intention to withdraw the charge after an agreement was reached between the accused and the complainant”


http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2012/07/02/efcc-withdraws-fraud-charge-against-abiolas-son/

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo now has a new job. He is now an adviser to New World Oil and Gas plc, an AIM-listed investment company focused on investing in and operating oil and gas assets.


Olusegun Obasanjo

In an interview he granted TheGuardian of London, the paper described Obasanjo as a roving ambassador of the company, facilitating the firm’s entry into Nigeria and other African countries. The company’s initial focus is in Central America, in particular the Peten Basin, where this prospective formation straddles the Belize and Guatemalan borders, and in Eastern Canada.

Obasanjo in the interview said fighting corruption in Nigeria is not a one night affair. He told the reporter interviewing him that instead of of saying Nigerian leaders lack accountability, he should say they are corrupt.

“You are being euphemistic when you say lack of accountability. Call it corruption,” he said.

“There is no part of the world where corruption is absolutely eliminated. But [in other countries] that corruption has not been a way of life. When you are found, you are dealt with. And that’s what we need,” he added.

Obasanjo who was in the UK to promote investment in Nigeria explained further: “Fighting corruption is not a one-night affair.

“The givers of most of the corruption in Africa are from outside Africa. They do in Africa, [things] they would not do in their own countries. In my part of the world, we have a saying that the man who carries a pot of palm oil from the ceiling is not the only thief. He has an accomplice in the man who helps him to bring it down. The giver and the taker are criminals, and they should be treated as such.”

The former president said examples of business success will encourage avaricious minds to look for more legitimate routes to wealth.

“I still believe in the opportunities that Africa affords to make legitimate money,” he said. “Africa is one place I believe that if you are courageous enough, you get the money, you can invest and get 25 percent return on your investment annually. There aren’t many places in the world where you can get that return.”


http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2012/06/27/obj-has-a-new-job-in-london/

Sterling Bank Plc has sacked 400 workers in a systematic mass retrenchment aimed at reducing overhead cost, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

According to NAN, 97 per cent of the retrenched workers were former staff of Equatorial Trust Bank Ltd. acquired by Sterling.

A source close to the bank said that the mass sack, which started about three weeks ago would also affect another 150 workers because of the consolidation of the two banks.

He said that workers were thrown into the nation’s saturated labour market with only three months’ salary as severance package.

An Executive Management staff, who wants to remain anonymous said that the retrenchment was their best option toward sustainable growth and return to profitability.

He said that the workers were only victims of the economy, adding that they had to relieve them of their jobs to grow the bank.

NAN recalls that Mr Yemi Adeola, the Managing Director of Sterling Bank had at a recent annual general meeting, said that the business combination with former ETB had improved its scale and size.

Adeola said that the combination allowed the bank to leverage on the unique strengths of both banks to consolidate on overall market position.

According to him, 2012 would be another challenging operating year following current difficult global and local macro economic conditions.

“We see clear opportunities for reducing the bank’s cost-to-income ratio and increase revenues as the improved economic of scale arising from the business combination with ETB kick in,’’ Adeola said.

Meanwhile, Sterling Bank before the business combination grew its gross earnings by 49 per cent to N45.2 billion in 2011 compared with N30.4 billion in 2010.

The operating income in the period under review increased by 32 per cent to N27 billion from N20.4 billion in 2010.

Profit after tax increased by 11 per cent to N4.6 billion as against N4.2 billion in 2010.



http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2012/06/26/sterling-bank-sacks-400-with-more-to-go/

Sterling Bank Plc has sacked 400 workers in a systematic mass retrenchment aimed at reducing overhead cost, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

According to NAN, 97 per cent of the retrenched workers were former staff of Equatorial Trust Bank Ltd. acquired by Sterling.

A source close to the bank said that the mass sack, which started about three weeks ago would also affect another 150 workers because of the consolidation of the two banks.

He said that workers were thrown into the nation’s saturated labour market with only three months’ salary as severance package.

An Executive Management staff, who wants to remain anonymous said that the retrenchment was their best option toward sustainable growth and return to profitability.

He said that the workers were only victims of the economy, adding that they had to relieve them of their jobs to grow the bank.

NAN recalls that Mr Yemi Adeola, the Managing Director of Sterling Bank had at a recent annual general meeting, said that the business combination with former ETB had improved its scale and size.

Adeola said that the combination allowed the bank to leverage on the unique strengths of both banks to consolidate on overall market position.

According to him, 2012 would be another challenging operating year following current difficult global and local macro economic conditions.

“We see clear opportunities for reducing the bank’s cost-to-income ratio and increase revenues as the improved economic of scale arising from the business combination with ETB kick in,’’ Adeola said.

Meanwhile, Sterling Bank before the business combination grew its gross earnings by 49 per cent to N45.2 billion in 2011 compared with N30.4 billion in 2010.

The operating income in the period under review increased by 32 per cent to N27 billion from N20.4 billion in 2010.

Profit after tax increased by 11 per cent to N4.6 billion as against N4.2 billion in 2010.



http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2012/06/26/sterling-bank-sacks-400-with-more-to-go/

A Federal High Court on Monday restrained the Federal Government from renaming the University of Lagos to Moshood Abiola University.

Justice Stephen Adah granted the interim injunction sought by students of the institution and other aggrieved parties on the matter.

He, however, adjourned hearing on the suit till July 4.

The litigants had filed a lawsuit against the university’s governing council, the senate, office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and the National Assembly.

President Goodluck Jonathan had on May 29 renamed UNILAG after the late Chief M.K.O Abiola, the presumed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, who died in prison over a decade ago.

http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news-update/51568-court-bars-fg-from-renaming-unilag.html

Man is held accountable for his actions and inactions through the immutable laws of nature, whether he wills it or not. And so, if a man wakes up and gives to his dog the names of all the gods at once, why should the worshippers at the shrine of those gods lose sleep on the development? At a time in history, the late M.K.O. Abiola ordered the sinking of three million copies of the Bible in the high sea. The container load of the holy book was bound for Nigeria when he used his influence to seize and destroy them. The Christian world did not bat an eyelid. When on August 22, 2011 the Iranian authorities intercepted six thousand five hundred copies of the New Testament Bible and burnt three hundred of them “in order not to deviate [their] youth”, the Papacy did not raise eyebrows and the Christian community did not flare up.



http://www.businessdayonline.com/NG/index.php/analysis/commentary/35405-obamas-quran-burning-apology-matters-arising-

Chairman of the House of Representatives Probe Panel on Fuel Subsidy Mismanagement, Farouk Lawan, has admitted that he collected $600,000 (about N96 million) from billionaire businessman, Femi Otedola.


Farouk Lawan

Lawan owned up to it barely 24 hours after he denied collecting the bribe, saying he collected it as an evidence that he was bribed by Otedola.

Lawan had initially said in a statement he issued immediately the scandal was blown open: “ I wish to categorically deny that I or any member of the committee demanded and received any bribe from anybody in connection with the fuel subsidy probe and I believe this is evident from the thorough and indepth manner the investigation was carried out and the all encompassing recommendations produced therefrom and approved by the whole House.”

He went further to claim that his image in the bribe taking video recording was doctored.

In what could be a volte face, Lawan told reporters yesterday in Abuja that he actually collected $500,000 from Otedola, adding that it was the Zenon Oil & Gas boss that initiated the bribe.

Lawan, however, said he kept the police informed about it and forwarded series of letters about it to the Inspector General of Police.

He said he also informed the relevant House Committee about the development.

All this may not hold any water any longer, considering reports that it took Lawan six weeks before he informed some principal officers of the House that an oil marketer attempted to bribe him.

And as the scandal gets messier by the day, more knocks have come the way of Lawan. Speaking with P.M.NEWS this morning, constitutional lawyer, Prof. Itse Sagay said the whole idea was to cast doubt on the fuel subsidy report as the key actor in the probe has had his hand soiled.

“This is a major tragedy. Farouk Lawan represents one of the most positive faces in the Nigeria legislature. It is a tragedy for us as a country because anybody fighting corruption will be scared.

“Everybody should ensure the report (subsidy probe) is upheld. The EFCC should prosecute all involved. We can lose Lawan but not the report. The report must be implemented,” Sagay said.

Former Governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, should move in immediately and arrest Lawan and others indicted in the bribe scandal and prosecute them..

“I don’t know what the EFCC is waiting for. Now, they have no reason to wait anymore. They should act on Lawan and the subsidy report immediately,” he stated.

National Publicity Secretary, Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, Alhaji Lai Muhammed told P.M .EWS that it had been established beyond doubt that Lawan acted on his own in collecting the bribe and that this should not in any way affect the outcome of the fuel subsidy report.

Muhammed stated that the presidency might have set up the whole move in a bid to cast aspersion on the credibility of the fuel subsidy report, adding that it had been ascertained that Lawan took the money after the report had been concluded.

“Lawan should be docked. Investigations should be carried out to know the motive behind all these and the integrity of the report should not be affected at all,” he said.

Activist and lawyer, Bamidele Aturu wants a thorough investigation on Lawan and Otedola, saying that the fuel subsidy report must stay and be implemented.

He added that the ongoing scenario was a ploy by some people to ensure that the report of the fuel subsidy was not implemented.

Former Convener, United Action for Democracy, UAD, Comrade Abiodun Aremu said anybody found wanting should be punished severely, adding that Lawan’s bribe allegation had nothing to do with the integrity of the fuel subsidy report.

A lawyer, Chris Akiri faulted claims by Lawan that he took bribe to expose Otedola, saying that “you don’t take bribe to expose anybody. He has committed a criminal offence. The only way you can take something to expose an individual is through what we call agent provocateur, that is, you have to do it with the knowledge of the security agents.

“He collected N96 million for himself. He stole the money and must be prosecuted. The fuel subsidy report is now questionable. If he did that to remove some name, the report cannot stay. There is a heavy question hanging over the report and it cannot stay.”

Lagos lawyer, Festus Keyamo said Lawan has disgraced himself and his family, saying that “he said his picture was doctored but now admitting to the evidence. This is exposing himself to ridicule.

“The fuel subsidy report must be subjected to forensic analysis, that is, it must be investigated. Lawan must be prosecuted.”

Founder, Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, CACOL, Debo Adeniran said the corruption scandal should not in any way affect the fuel subsidy report, saying “it is a product of fact finding effort.

“More investigation should be carried and Lawan should face the anti-graft agency. Both Lawan and Otedola are guilty. If Otedola had reported to the security agencies that he wanted to give bribe to catch somebody, then, he should be exonerated. The same goes for Farouk. Another panel should be set up to carry out more investigation on this,” he said.

Spokesperson, Save Nigeria Group, Yinka Odumakin said the fuel subsidy report had nothing to do with the money allegedly collected by Lawan.

He stated that both Lawan and Otedola should be docked, adding that “there is no excuse for both parties. This has nothing to do with the fuel subsidy report. The two issues should be separated and both men should be prosecuted.”


http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2012/06/12/i-lied-says-shamed-farouk-lawan/

The Lagos State Government has declared tomorrow public holiday in Lagos, Southwest Nigeria to remember the late Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, MKO, who won the botched 12 June, 1993 Presidential election.

The government failed to declare 12 June last year public holiday as the day fell on a Sunday.

P.M.NEWS gathered from the Public Service Office, PSO, that tomorrow had been declared public holiday in remembrance of 12 June election won by Abiola.

The State Government in collaboration with June 12 Coalition of Democratic Formations is organising a lecture to commemorate the 19th anniversary of the botched June 12, 1993 Presidential election.

The theme of the lecture is ‘Challenges and Prospects of True Federalism, Political Legitimacy and National Security.’

The event will be held at the Lagos Television, Ikeja by 9.00 am.

The Chief Host of the event is Governor Babatunde Fashola, Chairman of the occasion, Alhaji Balarabe Musa; Father of the day, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu; Guest of Honour, Dr. Fredrick Faseun while the Guest Lecturer is Prof. Adigun Agbaje, Director General, Obafemi Awolowo Institute of Government and Public Policy.

Meanwhile, in other parts of the state, national leaders, activists will storm the residence of MKO to mark the anniversary.

Chairman, Central Organizing Committee of June 12 Movement, Olawale Okunniyi implored all democrats and change agents in the country to endeavour to be punctual at the early morning event holding at the National Democracy Centre situated at the MKO Abiola residence in Lagos.


http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2012/06/11/lagos-declares-june-12-holiday/

A Nigerian customary court in the town of Ikorodu, Lagos State on Thursday dissolved a five-year-old marriage between Tunde and Ronke Oluwadiya for having the same genotype, AS.

The Court’s President, Mrs Remilekun Adesanya, who granted the divorce, said that all efforts to reconcile the couple proved abortive.

Adesanya said that the status quo of the only child, staying with the mother, should remain, pending the final decision of the Family Court.

She directed the husband to pay N4,000 monthly for the feeding of the child and also pay the medical and educational allowances of the child.

Tunde, 32, a factory assistant, had earlier sued his wife for allegedly deserting the home because both of them have the same genotype.

Ronke, who is also 32 years and a business woman, accepted the claims of her husband, and urged the court to separate them.

“My husband lied to me that his genotype was AA, but I later discovered that he was AS, while I am also AS.

“Luckily for us we had a child that is AA. I don’t want him again because I don’t want to have a child with the genotype SS,” she said.
http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2012/06/07/court-quashes-marriage-over-genotype/

Liberian warlord Charles Taylor will be sentenced for war crimes by a special UN court on Wednesday, after being found guilty of arming Sierra Leone rebels in return for “blood diamonds”.


•Charles Taylor

The hearing at 0900 GMT before judges of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, situated just outside The Hague, will be the first time a former head of state will be sentenced by a world court since the Nazi trials at Nuremberg in 1946.

Brenda Hollis, the tribunal’s chief prosecutor, earlier this month argued for 80-year prison sentence for Taylor, once one of the most powerful men in west Africa and a driving force behind Sierra Leone’s brutal 1991-2001 civil war.

The former Liberian president was convicted on April 26 on 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity for aiding and abetting Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels and their allies during the war, in which 120,000 lives were lost.

In return, the court said, Taylor was paid in diamonds mined by slave labour in areas under the control of rebels who murdered, raped and kept sex slaves while hacking off limbs and forcing children under 15 to fight for them.

Should Taylor, 64, get jail time, it will be served in a British prison. The court’s judges cannot impose a life sentence, only a specific number of years.

“The gravity of the crimes is the litmus test” on how they should determine a sentence, Hollis told judges two weeks ago as she presented arguments ahead of the sentencing.

Taylor’s lawyer Courtenay Griffiths told the court the 80 years sought by the prosecution in effect amounted to a life sentence.

“To sentence a 64-year-old man to 80 years is a guarantee that he will die in prison,” Griffiths said at the same May 16 hearing.

He argued that Taylor, Liberia’s president from 1997 to 2003, was instrumental in efforts to bring an end to Sierra Leone’s war. In perhaps his last stand before a world audience, a bespectacled Taylor expressed his “sadness and deepest sympathy for the atrocities and crimes suffered by individuals and families in Sierra Leone.”

But he told judges he was not responsible for the crimes committed by rebel forces and blamed “politics” and the United States for his eventual removal from west Africa to face prosecution.

Both sides will have two weeks after sentencing to file an appeal.

Taylor’s trial, which lasted nearly four years, wrapped up in March 2011 at the court, based in the leafy Leidschendam suburb a few kilometres outside the city.

It saw a number of high-profile witnesses testify, including supermodel Naomi Campbell, who told of a gift of “dirty diamonds” she received at a charity ball hosted in 1997 by then-South African president Nelson Mandela.

Handing down the verdict last month, Judge Richard Lussick stressed that although Taylor had substantial influence over the RUF, including its feared leader Foday Sankoh, his role “fell short of command and control” of rebel forces.

Sankoh died in 2003 before he could face trial.

Authorities in Nigeria arrested Taylor in March 2006 as he tried to flee from exile after being forced to quit Liberia three years earlier, under international pressure to end that country’s own civil war.

He was transferred to The Hague in mid-2006 amid fears that a trial in Sierra Leone would create a security risk.

Taylor’s sentencing comes 66 years after admiral Karl Donitz was sentenced to 10 years in prison by an international military tribunal at Nuremberg for his part in Nazi crimes during World War II.

Adolf Hitler appointed Donitz his successor shortly before committing suicide in Berlin in 1945.


http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2012/05/28/un-court-to-jail-taylor-on-30-may/

As President Goodluck Jonathan marks his first year in office on May 29, his comment on the first anniversary on his Facebook has attracted varying degree of reactions from some of his friends and followers on the social media platform.

His comment on the anniversary uploaded on Monday, May 14 stated thus:

“As we approach the first anniversary of this administration and because we derive our mandate from the people by the way of free and fair election, I have instructed members of the Executive Council of the Federation to render an account of stewardship to Nigerians.

“This rendering by the way of televised live ministerial briefings are ongoing and I encourage all Nigerians to watch these briefings and give me feedback on this page.

“Feedback is the synergy that is needed to make government work better for you and as I have demonstrated from inception of this page. I take your feedback into account in formation of government policy as well as the decision making process” the president wrote.

As at the time of this report, about 2,720 comments and 922 likes have been recorded on the anniversary message. While 64 per cent of the respondents expressed their displeasure on Jonathan’s administration’s performance so far, 36 per cent gave him a pass mark but urged him to speed up his transformation agenda.

Some of the comments on the anniversary message are as follows:

Robert Akpebi: Goodluck should forget about 2015, complete your tenure and leave for more qualified person. You forgot to bring development to your home state like the abandoned East/West road.

Agare Isaac: Sir, you have failed me in the area of security, your administration has cost the death of 1,800 people, unlike our Military Heads of State. Going by this data, by 2015, about 800,000 to 1,000,000 souls would have gone.

Sufya Deen Ibrahim: Sir, you have a silver tongue like the Niger State Governor ( Talba).

Duru Vincent: One year after your Presidential pronouncement of job offer and immortalization of slain Bauchi NYSC Corp members, this promise is yet to be fulfilled.

Bisi Awoeyo: Mr. President, your anniversary gift to Nigerians like the New Year subsidy gift, is the tariff for darkness instead of light.

Opeodu Olutayo: Where is the electricity to watch the briefings?

Akan Martins: Mr. President, my regards, ministerial briefings is good, but people in the village might not be part of this.

Others include:

Ayodele David: Please, it is time you step on toes to move this country forward.

Michael Abugu: A big congratulation for job well done, we have never witness unprecedented transparency a premise upon which your government was built, your promises for renovation of refinery, railway transportation has been fulfilled. To curb insecurity, please retrain the armed forces.

Balogun Abiodun: Mr. President, it is not the numbers of years, that matter but your legacy. You may be trying but trying is not enough. Let power be your only agenda at affordable rate. I want to assure you that Nigerians will forgive your mistakes.


http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/online-special/47204-one-year-office%3A-jonathan%E2%80%99s-facebook%E2%80%99s-friends%E2%80%99-damning-verdict.html