₦airaland Forum

Minister of Labour and Employment Chris Ngige has said the government directed the banks to stop terminating the appointment of their staff to ensure industrial peace in the sector. The minister dismissed the impression that the government was interfering in the running of private businesses in the country, adding that the nation’s constitution and labour laws allow the him to intervene in such disputes to ensure harmony in the system. Speaking at a public hearing organised by the Senate Committee on Banking and Finance, the minister said denied claims that he threatened to withdraw the licenses of banks, pointing out that what he only did was to direct all parties in the emerging disputes to maintain statuesque, while opting for dialogue. He said the government was in receipt of petitions from the unions in the Financial sector which border on unwholesome practices, the height of which was mindless retrenchment as the immediate reason for his intervention, directing all the parties; the bank employers and the unions to maintain the statuesque ante- bellum. He said: “We are not interfering in their business. They are there to make money and protect their investments and nobody is against this. But don’t forget that individual Nigerians are also investors in these banks. So they are not the only investors. I have my own shares in these banks and they pay me dividends, which I am pleased with. “However, I will not be party to drawing dividends on the blood of helpless Nigerians. The banks can save some of these low cadre jobs by re-adjusting the heavy perks at its top management cadre. We pleaded same with the major oil companies and it worked. “We intervened in the spirit of collective bargaining. We got petitions from NUBIFE on casualization, contract staffing, poor remunerations which is not in conformity with equal work, equal pay in our constitution, ill human conditions of service, rampant termination without due compensation and resistance to unionization contrary to section 40 of the constitution. “We investigated these claims and found them to be true in some banks. We invited the concerned banks; they gave excuses on why they won’t honour the invitation while they continued with retrenchments. “I know my rights as Minister of labour and I will exercise those rights for the benefits of Nigerians, high and low. It is within my power to declare a truce in any industrial crisis. That was why I asked the banks; don’t retrench further and the unions; don’t picket the banks so we can sit down to resolve the issues. The labour law on redundancy says in article 20 that if you negotiate redundancy and a party is dissatisfied, the Minister has the right to intervene. “The law makes provision for the employer to disengage a worker if he cannot actually run his enterprise efficiently and effectively with a big load of staff in which case, he will declare redundancy. “But it also states clearly the process for doing this. It says you must engage the labour unions in that industry and if it gets out of hand, the local unions will report to their national union. If they can’t resolve this, the parties, unions or the banks will refer it to the Minister of labour for conciliation.” He said the constitution and the labour laws as well as to safeguard the interests of all parties while ensuring peaceful industrial milieu for enhanced productivity in the sector. “The constitution is the supreme law of the land. The constitution is aware that we are in a society where all of us will not be equal and that everybody must be protected – big and small. That is why in sections 14, 15 and 16 and even 17, it protects the employer, the economy and the workers. “It is from these provisions that the National Assembly enacted the labour laws to guide all of us on how to deal with the issues of employment. So, all that my ministry has done is to execute and protect these laws from infractions. I acted in good faith to protect the interest of all.” Speaking on unionization in the banks, the Minister said the only institution in the Financial sector where staff are exempted from unionization is the Central Bank and that no other bank in the country had the right to prevent its staff from forming a union. “Unionization according to the constitution and labour laws is the right of workers. There are exemptions and the institutions that are exempted are clearly listed. Here, it is only the Central Bank that is exempted in the banking sector. And the law says again that the Minister of labour in his wisdom can grant a waiver to any institution. I have not granted waver to any bank and I will not grant such”. The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking and Finance, Senator Rafiu Ibrahim, hailed the minister for his proactive intervention and gave firm support to his decision on dialogue with all social partners as the only option to the peaceful resolution of the industrial disagreement in the sector. “I sincerely commend the federal government for being willing to work with the banks to find a common solution to this issue of retrenchment, which affects almost every family in Nigeria. I am grateful that all of us have all agreed to dialogue and I implore you to do justice to all issues before the stakeholders’ summit is convened in July. I therefore appeal to everybody to be humble and to be open in our different positions at the talks”. “I am happy with the explanation of the Hon. Minister on the issue of bank licences, that he did not threaten that the Federal Government would withdraw their licenses; that it was a case of misrepresentation. That gives a convivial atmosphere for all the social partners to freely dialogue and peacefully resolve all issues.”

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Mr. Babachir David Lawal has declared that President Muhammadu Buhari is empowered by the constitution to nominate ambassadors anyway he deems fit.
The Senate had suspended the screening and confirmation of the 47 nominees by the President, noting that the list did not reflect the Federal Character principle as some states were left out.

The Upper Chamber further summoned the SGF and the Minister of Foreign Affairs to explain the criteria used in the nomination of the 47 ambassadorial list that had no representation for Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Ondo and Plateau states.


But addressing journalists in Abuja at the weekend, the SGF said he was ready to appear before the Senate, stressing that the President is not bound by any law to adopt any particular criteria while nominating ambassadors.

He stated that while the constitution prescribed nomination of at least one Minister from each state, the President has no such restriction in ambassadorial nominations.

Lawal maintained that the matter would have been resolved with just a phone call, rather than suspending deliberation on the list, asserting that delaying the screening of ambassadors even by one day is inimical to the country.

According to him, “Certainly, we will appear, we are law abiding, we respect the National Assembly and we respect the laws of the land. One thing however is clear, the constitution makes it clear that it is the prerogative of the president to nominate Ambassadors and the criteria he will use to do so is also the constitutional right of the President. Whatever criteria he chooses to use is constitutional. We acknowledge also that it is also the prerogative of the Senate to approve or not to approve that nomination.


“Be that as it may, I must say that we are disappointed that the National Assembly took the decision it did but again we believe that the Senate is made up of very responsible and patriotic Nigerians and the Senate is made up of great people including governors who have governed and known the constitution regarding separation of powers.

“We believe that the Senate will not do anything that will bring the country to disrepute because right now Nigeria enjoys tremendous goodwill all over the globe. Countries now have high regard and respect for our president, our ministers and all other representatives of government are treated very well and with respect wherever they go. It is important to have ambassadors to sustain this goodwill,” he added

The SGF also pointed out that having ambassadors in foreign countries have a long way to go in seeking foreign investment into the country.

His words, “Again, a lot of the travels by the president and government representatives is to attract direct foreign investment into the country and ambassadors are key to sustaining this and ensuring that the goals for these trips are achieved.

“A third reason why we think these ambassadors are key is because of the phenomenal of global terrorism; almost every country around the world is facing it and all nations of the world are now collaborating with each other to fight this international terrorism. It is important that Nigerians have representatives on the ground who will represent its interest and defend it.”

He however said: “We believe that senators being patriotic Nigerians will not want to cause undue hardship and put Nigeria at an undue disadvantage in any regard. While we respect their rights and their views on the issues of ambassadorial nominees, we expect that in coming to whatever decision, they will consider patriotism and put into cognizance the interest of their own country and not probably political considerations or even personal considerations to bring undue hardship and disadvantage to their own country.



On the Federal Character principle, Lawal said: “Of course we have read in the newspapers some of their concerns such as federal character and so on. At the last count my recollection is that out of the 47 diplomat nominees, …. Out of 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, 32 states were represented. While the constitution preaches federal character, it does not say that every state must be represented in any appointment, except of course in the case of ministers. Not in all other appointments, so the spirit of the constitution has been fully satisfied by having 32 ambassadors out of 36 plus one. I believe that every objective analyst will agree with this.”

Listing some of the criteria adopted in the nomination of the ambassadors, apart from merit and qualifications, he said that it was important not to appoint someone an ambassador that will soon retire.

According to him, “So one of the criteria the person must have is that he must not be less than 30 months to retirement.

“If you know the processes of nominating and deploying ambassadors you will know that for example, it is highly unlikely that the Senate will be done with it within the next two, three weeks. These ambassadors will need to be presented to the countries where they are going to be posted for checks and confirmation by those countries.

“We cannot dictate the speed at which they will do it, so it could take in all honesty probably six to seven months for an ambassador to fully be cleared and assume his new post. It will take longer still for him to acclimatise and settle down in his work. There have been a subsisting policy not by this regime alone that it will be good for someone who has 30 months to retire not be be posted because then he will just be settling down before retiring, it doesn’t make sense.”

He said that another criteria considered was the accelerating level of the nominee, which must be grade level 16 or 17.

“Due to no fault of this government, not all states have people in the ministry of foreign affairs, in the foreign service department that met this criteria,” he stated

The SGF also said that the criteria included consideration for specialist areas, satisfying requirement of gender sensitivity, while the nominee must also be change compatible.

He disclosed that other ambassadorial appointments will come from outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or related agencies that will provide opportunity for the states that didn’t make the list.

he Federal Government and 10 other states lost over N538bn to thousands of ghost workers in the last five years, investigations by our source have revealed. Of the amount, the Federal Government paid N220bn to 103,000 ghost workers between September 2013 and May 2015. The remaining N318bn was paid by 10 states of the federation. The states are Katisna, N30bn; Kano, N17bn; Rivers, N60; Benue, N10.2bn; Oyo, N18bn; Abia, N26.5bn; Adamawa, N20.4bn; Akwa-Ibom, N15bn; Bayelsa, N120bn and Ekiti, N1.2bn. A breakdown of the amount showed that the sum of N170bn involving 60,000 ghost workers was saved during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, while the balance of N50bn, involving 43,000 ghost workers, was saved between February and May this year. The sum of N45bn was saved between September 2013 and May 2015 when Jonathan’s administration implemented the Integrated Personnel Payroll and Information System. The IPPIS scheme is one of the Federal Government’s initiatives designed to undertake human resource management activities from recruitment to separation, including payroll and pension processing. It also facilitates planning, aids budgeting, monitors monthly payment of staff emoluments against what was provided for in the budget; ensures database integrity; facilitates easy storage; updating and retrieval of personnel records for administrative and pension processes. The immediate past Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had said that those using ghost workers to steal from the government payroll had been referred to the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission for further investigation and possible prosecution. She had said, “60,000 ghost workers were weeded out, which saved government about N170bn. “The ministry wrote to ICPC to trace those that needed to be held accountable and we are ready to assist ICPC on any issue that borders on transparency.” In the same vein, the current Finance Minister recently constituted a Continuous Audit Team headed by Mr. Mohammed Dikwa to audit the payroll of the government. Few months into the assignment, Dikwa told the finance minister that 43,000 ghost workers had been removed from government payroll. Dikwa had said, “Let me say that since we started the continuous audit programme, we have saved about N50bn and over 43,000 ghost workers have been removed from the payroll of the federal government.” The Rivers State Government has said that some of the ghost workers recently discovered in the state have begun to return funds illegally collected as salaries. The action by the ghost workers, according to a source, was aimed at avoiding being prosecuted by the state government. The Commissioner for Information and Communications, Dr. Austin Tam-George, said the state government had recovered over N1bn per month through its renewed campaign against ghost workers. Tam-George told our source that about 2,000 ghost workers had also been identified. He explained that the state Governor, Nyesom Wike, through the identification of Bank Verification Numbers of civil servants, fished out the ghost workers. our source also learnt that the Oyo State Government saved about N300m after workers’ verification exercise. A senior government official said the panel set up to investigate workers allegedly collecting multiple salaries were still working. The state Governor, Abiola Ajimobi, had said on a radio programme that those involved in the fraudulent practice would be charged to court. The source told our correspondent that one of the workers involved was drawing nine salaries, while another was receiving 11 salaries. He said arrests had already been made, but details had yet to be made public. On May 11, the media team of the state government released a statement claiming that the state had temporarily expunged the names of 16,532 workers and pensioners from its payroll following their alleged involvement in collection of multiple salaries, falsification of retirement age and other infractions. The Bayelsa State Governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson, said on May 17, 2016 on a television programme that the state lost about N24bn yearly to the activities of payroll frauds. The payroll frauds, Dickson claimed, connived with some financial institutions to defraud the government. Ekiti State Government also discovered it had been losing over N17m monthly to ghost workers after a verification of the state civil servants was carried out last year. A top government official told our source on Friday that about 307 ghost workers were discovered during the exercise. This means that Ekiti State lost N204m in a year and N1.02bn in five years to ghost workers. This figure is aside from the N155.7m the state lost in two years to 1,154 civil servants collecting more than their actual salaries, according to an interim report by the state’s Teaching Service Commission. The Katsina State Governor, Aminu Masari, said recently that his government detected names of children and wives of some prominent persons on the payroll of local government areas in the state. He added the state could now save about N500m monthly after flushing out the ghost workers. Katsina State loses N6bn annually and lost N30bn in the past five years to ghost workers. The Kano State Government also discovered 7,629 ghost workers after a biometric verification of its workforce. The state Head of Service, Muhammad Na’iya, said following the discovery, the state would now save over N283.5m monthly from paying the ghost workers. In Benue State, Governor Samuel Ortom said a report by a biometric audit consultant showed that over N170m was being spent by the state government as salaries to 14,000 ghost workers every month. This means the state government has been spending over N2.04bn monthly on the ghost workers and N10.2bn in the last five years. On June 13, 2016, the Abia State Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Obinna Oriaku, revealed that the state uncovered no fewer than 1,800 ghost workers after a biometric verification exercise. He said with the exercise, the state had succeeded in reducing its monthly wage bill from N1.5bn to N1.0 57bn. The Adamawa State Government uncovered 12,609 ghost workers in the state’s local government payroll. The Chairman of the Local Government Staff Verification Committee in the state, Mr. Maurice Vunobolki, disclosed that 12,609 ghost workers had cost the state a monthly wage bill of N341m N4.1bn annually. In March 2016, the Akwa Ibom State Government embarked on a programme to identify and eliminate ghost workers from its civil service. The Commissioner for Finance in the state, Mr. Akan Okon, said the government was conducting staff audit to ensure the success of the exercise. “We are tying our payroll system to the BVN and the outcome is certainly going to help to reduce the issue of ghost workers in the state,” he said. Many governors have initiated moves to weed out ghost workers from their payrolls to reduce the heavy wage bill burden on them. Most states owe their workers several months of salary arrears as a result of the dwindling Federal allocations caused by the global oil slump. While some states have concluded biometric verification exercises and have identified ghost workers in their thousands, civil servants are currently undergoing verification in many other states. The Niger State Government said the screening exercise it initiated was ongoing and that it would go a long way to fish out ghost workers at the state and local government levels. The Senior Special Assistant on Media to the Governor, Mr. Jide Orintunsin, told our source that it would be difficult to give the exact figure of ghost workers in the state until the exercise was completed Orintunsin confirmed that some amount had been saved from the verification exercise. He said, “No doubt some amount must have been saved from the exercise. The amount of the money saved will be made known to the public.” Civil servants in Imo and Enugu states are also undergoing verification in a bid to fish out ghost workers among them. The Imo State Head of Service, Mr. Callistus Ekenze, told one of our correspondents that the state government would announce the amount of the money saved after the verification. Ekenze said, “It (verification) is on course and has not been concluded. It is when we discover the number of ghost workers that we will know the amount of money the government has saved.” In Enugu State, our source learnt that workers and political appointees were required to appear before the verification team at the Old Governor’s Lodge in the state capital for verification. The Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, in an interview with one of our correspondents, explained why his state embarked on the verification exercise. When asked what informed his decision to carry out verification before salaries are paid? Ahmed said, “Naturally, when you are faced with the kind of challenges we are facing as a country and as a state whereby your revenue is seriously reduced, the first thing you do is to cut your cost and what cost are we looking at? “The cost of running governance, overhead cost and personal cost and we are all aware that we have had series of over bloated database for our various workforces. So, it is only normal for us to come up with a data that will suit the desired database. “Those who have been verified have been asked to be paid. If anyone has any outstanding remittance, it is probably there are one or two areas required to ensure that you are duly desired to be enumerated. We are still working on it because it is more than just going through the biometrics. You see, this abnormality has been going on for a period of 15, 20, 30 years. So, you can’t just get it cleared up in one fell swoop programme. “Verification will eliminate the first level then, you still have to go into document verification, which is the next level and it is not something to be done almost immediately. You will be carrying it on as the programme is moving on.”

The Rivers State Government has disowned one
“Mr Kinsgsely Fubara”, who is said to be a
Director of Finance and Administration, in the
State Government.
Report had emerged that Fubara made repeated
financial withdrawals from the Central Bank of
Nigeria and Zenith Bank to the tune of 11 billion
Naira.
But in a statement by Dr. Austin Tam-George,
Commissioner for Information and
Communication, Rivers State, he denied the
claims.
According to him, “The Rivers State Government
never conducted such financial transactions and
the report is patently false.
“The Rivers State Government has no record of
any staff known as Kingsely Fubara. This must be
a fictional character created by the All
Progressives Congress (APC)) and the Punch
newspaper to embarrass the State Government
and deceive the public.
“The report also indicated that the Attorney
General of the Federation (AGF) has directed the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC) to probe these so-called withdrawals. Such
a directive, if true, would be a manifestly illegal
and ridiculous proposition.
“By law, the Rivers State Government is
accountable to the Rivers State House of
Assembly and the people of Rivers State, not to
the Attorney General of the Federation.
“This is a totally fictitious report typically
orchestrated by the APC and its media allies.
But the story raises fundamental questions about
the moral horror of an anti-graft agency that is
now openly partisan in all its intentions and
actions.
“There is universal concern that the EFCC is
playing an extremely corrosive role in the current
political dispensation. Rather than fight
corruption in a professional and dispassionate
manner, the EFCC behaves shamelessly like an
integral organ of the APC.
“An anti-graft commission that targets only
opposition politicians and critics of the failed
policies of the APC government is a national
embarrassment.
“Has the EFCC ever heard of one Mr. Rotimi
Amaechi, the former governor of Rivers State and
current Minister of Transport? Despite receiving
over three trillion Naira in eight years as governor,
Amaechi left the most abandoned projects in the
history of Rivers State, since 1967.
“Several petitions against Amaechi, supported by
sworn affidavits, have all been summarily ignored
by the EFCC.
“Even chieftains of the APC have publicly
acknowledged Rotimi Amaechi’s stupendous
financial contributions to the party’s presidential
campaign in 2015. These financial contributions,
estimated at billions of Naira, constitute serious
financial crime against the people of Rivers State.
“The Government and people of Rivers State will
resist any politically-motivated targeting of its
leaders by any agency of the Federal
Government, by whatever name it is called.”

The Bayelsa State Government has claimed that
the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress,
APC, is instigating youths to embark on a violent
street protest today, Friday, in Yenagoa, the state
capital.
A statement by the Special Adviser to the
Governor on Security Matters, Dr. Boma Spero-
Jack, said that part of the plan was for the youths
to violently disrupt business activities and cause a
breakdown of peace and order in the state
capital.
He warned youths in the state not to be used, as
the state government would hold them
responsible for any death, injury or act of
lawlessness that the planned protest would result
to.
He added that the various security agencies had
been informed to deal decisively with any acts of
violence, no matter, who was involved.
He also called on residents of the state to be
vigilant, especially parents and guardians, to
ensure that, their children and wards were not
used to breach the existing peace in the state.
The statement added that the state government
would not hesitate to apply the full weight of the
law on any group of youths, who may decide to
take to the streets, under whatever guise.

Assets Management Company
of Nigeria, AMCON, has just
taken over all assets owned
by Silverbird Group.
Silverbird Group is accused
of owing the government
agency about N11billion.
Policemen have barricaded
all properties belonging to
Silverbird Group owned by
Senator Ben Murray Bruce.
Silverbird TV station has
stopped live transmission of
its programmes, showing
only recorded programmes.
As at 9:25AM on Wednesday
when our correspondent
tuned in to the channel, the
screen was blank with
nothing being transmitted.It
remained so until the time of
filing this report.
Guests and staff have also
been asked to vacate all
premises of the Silverbird
TV stations and Cinemas.
Details later…

https://media.premiumtimesng.com/wp-content/files/2016/06/Aisha-Buhari.jpg

The Wife of the President, Aisha Buhari on Wednesday demanded a full retraction of a widely-circulated material distributed by Ekiti State governor, Ayo Fayose, in which he claimed to have uncovered how Mrs. Buhari was allegedly mentioned as having transferred funds to a convicted former U.S. lawmaker, Williams Jefferson.
In a warning letter dispatched through her legal representatives, Mrs. Buhari said Mr. Fayose’s action was directly responsible for the publication of the “very wild and unfounded” allegations in the media.
A copy of the letter, sent to Mr. Fayose via courier on Wednesday, was exclusively made available to PREMIUM TIMES.
Through the letter, titled: “Demand for unqualified retraction of the false statement published by you in various media on the 20th of June, 2016, and subsequent dates regarding our client, Her Excellency, Mrs. Aisha Buhari the wife of President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR,” the president’s wife gave Mr. Fayose five working days to retract the statement or face legal action.
“Our client has referred to us statement made by you and published on the 20th of June, 2016 (and other subsequent days) concerning and pertaining to her person for necessary action.
“The said statement which was caused by you and your agents to be widely circulated and published in various media platforms: print, electronic and online such as PREMIUM TIMES www.premiumtimesng.com on 20th of June, 2016, contains very wild, unfounded and false allegations and imputations against the person of our client.
“Specifically, in the said statement credited to you and signed by your Chief Press Secretary, Idowu Adelusi, you, inter alia, false stated as follows:
“”Even the president cannot claim to be an angel. The estate he built in Abuja is known to us. His wife was indicted over the Halliburton Scandal (sic). When that American, Jeferson, was being sentenced, the President’s wife was mentioned as having wired $170,000 to Jefferson. Her name was on page 25 of the sentencing of Jefferson. We can serialise the judgement for people to see and read,” Ismaila Alasa and Mary Ekpene, who signed the letter on behalf of the law firm, said.


“Take notice that unless you and your agents meet our humble demands within 5 (five) working days of the receipt of this letter, we shall take all necessary steps within the contemplation of the law to seek redress for our client.”
Presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, could not immediately confirm or deny if Mary Ekpere & Co. is indeed the solicitors to Mr. Buhari.
Mr. Fayose had on Monday evening distributed a statement which contained excerpts of court documents sourced from the United States Department of Justice Website.
In the statement, Mr. Fayose said Mrs. Buhari was an accomplice in the bribery scandal that landed Mr. Jefferson in jail, saying he added the link as a proof.
Although an Aisha Buhari was mentioned in the case files, those who investigated the matter have, however, said that Aisha Buhari is an impostor and not the wife of Mr. Buhari.
Two former chairman of Nigeria’s anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, have come out within the past two days say Mrs. Buhari had no connection with the Jefferson bribery scandal.
In separate interviews with PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, Ibrahim Lamorde, the immediate past chairman of the EFCC, and Nuhu Ribadu, the pioneer head of the agency, said they carried out extensive investigation into the case during their respective tenures and established that the woman named in the scandal was an impostor of the president’s wife.
Mr. Buhari himself had in the past stated, categorically, that he had no connection with the Aisha Buhari in the Jefferson scandal, who is also said to be based in the United States.

The All Progressives Congress has asked senators of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party to face their legislative business and come to terms with the reality that they cannot determine how the Buhari administration fights corruption.
The APC, via a statement signed by its National Secretary, Mala Buni on Wednesday, said this in response to the PDP Senators’ declaration of suspension of support for President Muhammadu Buhari’s government.
The PDP senate caucus, earlier on Wednesday, said its position followed “belligerent attitude” of the APC government towards the opposition members, alleging bias in Mr. Buhari’s anti-corruption campaign.
But APC said PDP lawmakers should rather face their lawmaking business in the interest of the nation.
“The attention of the National Secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been drawn to a statement credited to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Senate Caucus stating that the Caucus has withdrawn its support for the government of President Muhammadu Buhari over the administration’s hugely successful war against corruption,” the statement said.
“The PDP Caucus must be reminded of their primary responsibility of lawmaking and representation of their constituents at the National Assembly. The APC advises the PDP Senate Caucus not to allow political shenanigans to becloud overall national interest.
“For the umpteenth time, the PDP and their agents do not have the luxury of dictating how the current administration and anti-corruption agencies carries out its legitimate duty of investigating and prosecuting cases of corruption, as long as it conforms to the rule of law.”
On allegations of selective prosecution of the anti-corruption war, the APC asked the PDP to approach anti-graft agencies with petitions against anybody suspected to have indulged in corrupt practices.
“The PDP Caucus allegations of a selective anti-corruption fight and “belligerent” stance of the current administration is hogwash and baseless,” Mr. Buni said. “If the PDP and its agents have proof of corruption against anybody, the APC advises that they approach anti-graft agencies constitutionally mandated to handle such cases instead of declaring innocence on newspaper pages and other media outlets.”
Further, the ruling party urged anti-corruption agencies “not to be stampeded and blackmailed by this new plot and continue to employ all legitimate avenues in investigating and prosecuting ongoing corruption cases.”
The statement added that, “The generality of Nigerians clamour for all looters of public funds to be brought to book. The APC assures Nigerians that the political will and sincerity of purpose of the current administration to tackle corruption remains resolute.”

The Joint Health Sector Unions has directed its members nationwide, particularly those in federal tertiary health institutions, to proceed on a seven- days warning strike. The union in a communiqué issued on Wednesday evening by its President, Biobelemoye Josiah, at the end of its meeting with the Federal Government at the Ministry of Labour and Employment, said embarking on the warning strike was to press home their demands. The communiqué indicated that the strike began on Wednesday at 12:01am. JOHESU urged its members not to be bothered by the threat that they would be fired. That, it said, was because they were duly employed and all necessary procedures were followed for the strike. ‘Lack of seriousness’ JOHESU said, “Having consulted widely with members nationwide and having shown consistent understanding since February 2015, the leadership of JOHESU hereby directs that all members in Federal Tertiary Health Institutions should proceed on a seven-day warning strike from 12:01am of Wednesday June 22 2016. “We hereby appeal to the general public to please bear with us and impress it on the Federal Government to meet the demands of the unions to prevent the warning strike from becoming a full blown indefinite strike. “Sack, because we are going on strike? That will be laughable, especially as employed people are not students. We are employed. There is a procedure on how you employ people. And, as registered trade union, there is a procedure that would be followed before we embark on strike action.” “We have given notice to government up to 92 days; government came up to tell us something they should have told us long time ago, trying to deny what happened that there wasn’t an agreement to adjust CONHESS. The question is: if there wasn’t, was the Secretary to the Government of the Federation at that time, his Anyim Pius Anyim, lying to us? “If that wasn’t (the case), on what basis did they make the calculation for financial implications? So I don’t think sack is the issue, is not that easy as that. If we are sacked wrongly as people that are established in employment, we will take the matter as it is.” JOHESU explained that despite repeated ultimatums and meetings, the Federal Government insisted during a meeting on Tuesday that there was no agreement in place. “Other issues upon which previous submissions had been made were equally pushed to the unions to make fresh submission showing lack of seriousness on the part of the Federal Government,” it said.

Soldiers suspected to be
from the 4th Brigade of the
Nigerian Army, Benin, Edo
State Capital, have arrested
an ex-militant leader, Aboy
Francis Muturu, at his
residence in Bomadi Town of
Delta State.
The former militant, sources
said, was arrested in the
presence of his
breastfeeding wife in the
early hours of Friday last
week.
It was not clear if he was
arrested in connection with
the activities of the new
militant group, Niger Delta
Avengers, responsible for
the series of attacks on oil
facilities in the region in
recent times.
Findings by our
correspondent reveal that
the ex-militant kingpin was
among those to have
voluntarily embraced the
amnesty programme initiated
by the erstwhile President
Musa Yar’Adua.
It was gathered that General
Aboy as he is fondly called
was immediately whisked to
an unknown destination and
has been kept incommunicado
from family members Ijaw
leaders.
The former militant’s wife,
Mrs. Beauty Aboy Muturu,
confirmed the arrest to our
correspondent when
contacted on the telephone.
Meanwhile, a prominent Warri
lawyer and National
coordinator, Conference for
the actualisation of Human
Right, Mr Omes Ogedegbe, on
Monday threatened legal
action against the Nigerian
Army over the arrest.
Ogedegbe, who claimed to be
lawyer to the ex-militant, in
an open letter to the Army
Chief of Staff, described the
arrest as provocative and
illegal.
The arrested ex-militant’s
lawyer said, “That upon the
embrace of the amnesty
programme, our client has
long denounced militancy as
he is currently the managing
director of Vicmut Hotels
Limited located in Bomadi main
town with a laudable staff
strength.
“That since the abduction of
Ex-Militant General Aboy
Francis Muturu on the 7th of
June, 2016, the whereabouts
of ex-General Aboy Francis
Muturu has remained
unknown neither has the
family any clue as to his
whereabouts save for the
fact that Capt. Robert of the
222 battalion was part of the
team.”
Ogedegbe noted should the
Nigerian Army fail to release
the ex-militant leader within
the next 48 hours counting
from Monday it would
institute a legal action to
enforce the fundamental
human rights of the former
warlord.
When contacted on the
development, Capt. Jonah
Unuakhalu, Assistant
Director, Public Relations Unit
of the 4 Brigade Benin,
denied knowledge of the
incident but promised to
investigate and get back to
our correspondent.

THE Federal
Government has ignored the
threat of the Niger Delta
Avengers, NDA, not to repair
oil facilities blown up by the
militant group during the
period of conciliation for
dialogue or risk resumption
of hostilities.
“We are going to redirect
and reactivate all our
activities if the government,
oil companies and their
services firms do not heed
these modest warnings of
not carrying out repair
works and suspend the
buying of crude oil from our
region, as we await the right
atmosphere that will
engender genuine dialogue,”
the militant group had
warned on June 13.
Vanguard gathered on good
authority that government
was carrying out repairs on
the Nigeria Gas Company,
NGC, pipeline recently
destroyed by militants at
Ubefan Creek in Gbaramatu
Kingdom, Warri South-West
Local Government Area, Delta
State with heavy military
presence.
Niger Delta Avengers
bombed the said pipeline on
Wednesday, May 26. It
confirmed in a tweet, May 27:
“At 11.45 on Thursday, @
Niger Delta Avengers blew up other
NNPC Gas and Crude trunk
line close to Warri pipeline
that was heavily guarded by
military.
More details soon

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has rearrested oil magnate, Jide Omokore, and will most likely slam money laundering charges on him today (Monday).
An official briefed on the matter said the businessman would be arraigned alongside Andrew Yakubu, a former Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, who has also been picked up.
Our sources said the duo would be charged before Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court, Abuja on a four-count charge of money laundering.
According to EFCC insiders, other defendants in the case are Victor Briggs, Abiye Memnere, David Mbanefo, Atlantic Energy Brass Development Limited and Atlantic Energy Drilling Concepts Limited.
Background
In 2011 during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Atlantic Energy Limited, Mr Omokore’s company, alongside other companies were allegedly given multibillion dollar worth of public assets without due process.
As at the time, the company, which was barely a year old and had no history of producing a droplet of oil, was awarded controlling stakes in two lucrative oil blocks – OML 30 and 34 – for just over $50 million each.
The deal, which was signed by the immediate past minister of petroleum, Diezani Alison-Madueke, gave Atlantic Energy Limited a controlling 55 percent stake in the oil block.
Interestingly, Shell, which owned the remaining 45 per cent stake, fetched $1.3 billion for a single field after an open and competitive bidding process.
Incorporated as Atlantic Drilling Energy Concept Limited on July 19, 2010, it signed a Strategic Alliance Agreement with the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) shortly afterwards.
The NPDC is the upstream production subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
Under the agreement, Atlantic took charge of four oil blocks- OML 26 FHN, OML 30 Shoreline, OML 34 Niger-Delta Oil and OML 42 Neconde. It was to provide funds, technical services, drill and sell crude oil.
The company was also accused of lifting crude oil, but remitting only a fraction of its worth to government.
In 2012, according to NNPC insiders, Atlantic Energy paid $168m into government account, but lifted about three million barrels – valued at over $350 million.
In 2013, it also lifted about two million barrels of crude valued at about $240million, but paid only $68million.
Similarly, in 2014, Atlantic Energy paid zero cash-call, but lifted about 500,000 barrels of crude oil, valued at $54 million.
Mr. Yakubu was the GMD of the NNPC between 2012 and 2014 when Atlantic Energy lifted oil without remitting what was due to government.
The EFCC recently raided the business premises of Mr. Omokore, making away with documents and computers.
Last February, high-ranking federal officials told PREMIUM TIMES that the Nigerian government forced Mr Omokore to pay $14 million royalty on oil that his company should have paid between 2011 and 2012.
Our sources said the money was paid into the Federal Government’s account with JP Morgan Chase on January 29, after the EFCC waded into the matter of recovering taxes due to the Federal Government.
“The investigation of tax defaulters in the dollar-soaked oil industry is continuing,” a source at the EFCC said Wednesday. “Those who failed to willingly pay up stand the risk of arrest and prosecution for tax fraud.”
Operatives of the EFCC questioned Mr Omokore on January 27 in connection with the controversial multi-billion dollar crude export deals.
Last week, the federal government commenced processes that would enable it freeze local and foreign assets of Mr. Omokore, and Kola Aluko, another ally of former Petroleum Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, and ex-President Goodluck Jonathan.
The government sought an order to freeze several local and international luxury properties owned by the defendants, including the Galatica Star, a $50 million “Super yatch” owned by Mr. Aluko and three private jets.

Other properties owned by the duo and their companies the government asked a federal high court in Lagos for an order to freeze include all sums of money and negotiable instruments of credit of the defendants’ domestic accounts held in 19 domestic banks. The government estimated the total sum held by the defendant to be $1.76 billion.
The government also prayed the court for an order for a freeze on sale or mortgage on the following properties in Nigeria and abroad: Houses on 755 Sarbonne Road, Los Angeles, 952 North Alphine Drive, Los Angeles, 815 Cima Del Mondo, Los Angeles, 1049 Fifth Avenue, New York, 1948 and 1952 Tollis Avenue, Santa Barbara, 157 West 57thStreet, New York, and 4100 Le Reve Dubai.
Other Houses include, Avenue Towers, Lagos, Colina D’Oro Montagnola, Switzerland, Block A consisting of 26 Flats at No 46, Gerrard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, Mason apartments situated at No6 Gerrard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, Marion Apartment located at 4 and 5 Onikoyi Estate, Banana Island, Ikoyi, 33A Cooper Road Ikoyi, Lagos, 8 Gerrard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, Griove End Road, London, Land, 807 Cima Del Mundo, Mont Tremblant, Canada.
Other assets the government wants to seize are the Galatica Star yatch, a 20-year Berth Lease in Barcelona, Watch collection, a collection of 58 vehicles, a Global Express S5-GMG jet, a Bombadier Global 600 9H-OPE, Bombardier.

Considering the dwindling revenue and huge financial burden being faced by the state, Akwa Ibom State Government at the weekend confirmed its interest to key in to the second round of bailout facility or fund provided by the Federal Government.

The State Commissioner for Finance, Mr Akan Okon, dropped the hint in his office at a briefing jointly held by the State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr Victor Antai, on the state economy.

He said the state has all the requirements to take the loan.

The Commissioner stressed that the facility was very timely, hence the state government’s readiness to avail itself of the window being offered by the new loan to meet the needs of the state.

He disclosed that the state received N5. 3 billion as allocation from the federation account in the month of May, while its wage bill stood at N4.8 billion, making it difficult for the state to meet its financial obligations.

“I want to state that in the month of May, we received N5.3 billion and the wage bill was N4.8 billion. With this you can see that government is in a very tight situation.

“With the dwindling finances experienced in the state, the state government has to key into the window of the new loan facility being offered by the Federal Government,” the Finance Commissioner said.

Further details later

The Imushin community in the Ogijo area of Ogun State has been thrown into mourning after no fewer than 15 residents were reportedly killed on Friday evening by armed men suspected to be militants. SUNDAY PUNCH learnt that about 100 militants, armed with guns and cutlasses, stormed the community around 11pm on Friday and embarked on a killing spree, killing every resident in sight. When our correspondent visited the community on Saturday, he saw a few of the corpses which their families were preparing for burial in accordance with Islamic rites. Among the 15 killed was a technician, Waheed Buhari, aka Yah Alau, who was shot dead in front of his room. One of his children, Mariam, sustained bullet wounds. A travel agent, Mr. Oladele Ogundare, was said to be returning home in his car, when the rampaging militants opened fire on his car and killed him. Another resident, Umoru, who was said to be eating noodles, was chased, hacked and shot to death, along with a friend, Danladi. A mosque in the community, was reportedly attacked and a Muslim cleric killed. Two hotels were said to have also been raided and their customers robbed and injured. More than 25 shops in the community were looted by the militants. Many of the residents, who spoke with SUNDAY PUNCH, begged not to be identified as the militants had threatened to return to continue the killing. A resident told our correspondent the militants were suspected to be Ijaw youths involved in pipeline vandalism. She explained that they were on a revenge mission as some operatives of the State Anti- Robbery Squad had killed two of the vandals earlier on Friday. She said, “The whole thing began around 4pm on Friday. I was at the backyard of the hotel, cutting some weed when some SARS officers came in. They were shooting and ordering people to stop moving. There was confusion in the hotel. “The SARS officials did not leave until after three hours. They killed two of the vandals and took away the owner of the hotel, a woman. “Around 10pm, I went to urinate when I saw so many hoodlums coming from the waterside down the road. They carried sophisticated weapons and when they got here, they started shooting. They blew off the hotel windows and shot people dead. They killed two men here in Lapete village.” A friend of Waheed, the electrician killed in Oke Muti, said the Ilorin, Kwara State indigene had tried to shut his door when the militants killed him. Waheed’s corpse was still lying in a room and being prepared for burial when SUNDAY PUNCH visited. His friend said, “He was going to urinate when the militants started firing. He tried to quickly shut his door, but it did not jam. They opened fire on him at the door step and did not stop until he dropped dead. “Not satisfied, they entered his room and sprayed everywhere with bullets. Waheed’s child, Mariam, that was in the room was hit. She is still at the hospital.” He added that the police recovered 15 corpses in the community. The widow of the travel agent killed in the Ereko area of the community said her husband, Oladele, who worked on Victoria Island, Lagos State, had left for work in his car on Friday morning without any foreboding. She said, “He gave me money for foodstuffs after dropping me off in front of a bank where I wanted to do a transaction. By 6pm, we spoke and he asked me to prepare rice for him that night. “By 10pm, I called his line; it rang and he didn’t pick. I tried it again at 12am, still no response. I called his mother by 6am that I had not been able to reach him on his two telephone lines and she promised to call as well. She also couldn’t get to him. “It was this morning (Saturday) that I saw a crowd of people in my house. They said he was a short distance from home when he was shot dead. I can’t believe this because we have barely spent a year in this community and this has never happened before.” Some customers at the Catcher Hotel were lucky to have escaped with their lives. However, the hoodlums carted away all the valuables in the hotel and vandalised all the electronic gadgets. A soldier, who was not in uniform at the time of the attack, said the vandals cut him with a cutlass and smashed bottles on his head. He said, “I had entered the beer parlour in the hotel when the militants came in. They were about 200. At first, I thought they were having a festival until they ordered all of us to lie flat on the ground. “They asked for my two phones and when I gave them one, they became angry. One of them cut my head with a machete and followed it with a bottle. I was drenched in blood. The militants had sophisticated weapons that I had never seen before. “They never asked for money from me and they didn’t search my pocket. If they did, they could have found my ID card and I would have been dead. I wore just a white shirt.” A disc jockey at the hotel said one of the militants wanted to shoot him dead, but one of them persuaded him against it. “They were arguing among themselves whether or not to kill me. One said, ‘If you don’t want me to kill him, then let me cut off his leg.’ But his colleague asked him not to. Before I knew it, he had smashed three bottles on my head. “They went away with my laptop, phones, money and everything I had. They refused to carry away the beers in the hotel. They took only the hard drinks,” he said. Women in the hotel, who claimed that the militants spent about 30 minutes, said they tortured them with cutlasses and guns. Efforts to speak with community leaders were abortive as they declined comment. It was gathered that a community leader had been abducted by the militants a few months ago, after reporting a case against them at a station. A source said, “The man was in the creek for 40 days. The militants collected N10m from the community before he was released. That is why everybody is afraid to talk. People have started fleeing the community. Two Hausas were killed during this attack and the Hausa community has vowed to fight back.” A man, who spoke for the Imushin community, pleaded with the government to intervene before the community was completely deserted. He said, “These people are militants and even the police cannot withstand their firepower. We need help from the government. We will appreciate anything they can do for us.” The Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, confirmed the attack, but said only three people were killed. He said, “Around 11pm at Ereko Community, Ogijo, some hoodlums numbering about 100 invaded the community and started shooting sporadically. Bullets hit one Waheed Buhari and his daughter, Mariam. While Buhari died, the daughter is still at the hospital. Two other unidentified corpses were found, making a total of three deaths. “Information from eyewitnesses showed that the hoodlums were militants and they came from the riverine area. But we have not confirmed this, as investigations are ongoing. We are particularly interested in why they came in such a large number.”

There were strong indications over the weekend that the police might arrest the Deputy Senate President, Senator lke Ekweremadu, and some former principal officers of the 7th Senate this week. The senators might be arrested for snubbing a police invitation to answer questions on their roles in the alleged forgery of the rules of the Senate in 2015. SUNDAY PUNCH reliably gathered on Saturday that the Force Criminal Intelligence and Investigations Department, Garki Abuja, which is investigating the alleged forgery, was waiting for the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, to approve the arrest of the principal officers. A reliable source at the Force Headquarters confided in one of our correspondents that some senior police officers would meet over the issue at the beginning of the week. After the meeting, the investigation department would be asked to arrest the affected principal officers before the end of the week. In July 2015, the police had invited some principal officers of the Senate over the alleged forgery of rules used for the election of Saraki, his deputy and the inauguration of the 8th Senate. The police, in another letter dated June 7, 2016 and signed by Assistant Inspector General of Police, James Caulcrick, had requested the officials of the 7th Senate to report to the Force Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department, Garki, Abuja, for the purpose of conducting further investigations on the fraudulent use of the Senate Standing Order 2015 (as amended) by the Senate. In the letter, Caulcrick noted that none of the officials on the 7th Senate list had honoured an earlier invitation to respond to the allegations against them, except the Clerk of the National Assembly and that of the Senate. Sunday PUNCH gathered that the planned arrest of the principal officers would be a prelude to the hearing of the forgery suit filed against some of them at a Federal High Court, Abuja. The source told Sunday PUNCH that the police leadership had come to the realisation that they might have to apply “lawful force to compel obedience and cooperation” from the suspects. He stated, “Since the suit has been filed, we will arrest the men if they fail to honour our invitation. We are only waiting for the go-ahead from the IGP. We are hoping to pick them up this week or before the hearing of the suit begins.” Following a directive by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, to the IGP the police had submitted the final report of their investigation to the Ministry of Justice for the prosecution of the affected officers. The Force Public Relations Officer, Bisi Kolawole, could not be reached for comment as she did not respond to calls to her phone. She had yet to reply an SMS that was sent to her as of the time of filing this report But Kolawole had, a few weeks ago, confirmed to one of our correspondents that the police had returned the case file to the AGF. “I understand that the case file is in the AGF’s office that they are to charge the case to court from their end,” she had said in an SMS.

We have not received court papers — Saraki, Ekweremadu When contacted, aides of the President of the Senate and his deputy said their bosses had yet to be served with the court process on the suit instituted against them by the Federal Government over the alleged forgery of the order used for their inauguration as presiding officers of the 8th Senate. The Senate President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, and his counterpart in the Deputy Senate President’s office, Uche Anichukwu, who spoke in separate telephone interviews with our correspondent on Saturday, said their principals read the news in the media, like other Nigerians. Olaniyonu, in his reaction, said, “We read the story just like any other Nigerian. We have not been served with any court documents so we don’t have the details. Whatever action that would be taken would be after studying the court papers on the suit. “We cannot make comments on the issue at the moment but we are watching events as they unfold. We read newspaper reports about police inviting officers of the 7th Senate yesterday for questioning on the issue and today the story is different. Our reaction will come later.” Anichukwu, the media aide to Ekweremadu, also said, “The deputy president of the senate read the story in the newspapers; we are waiting for details from those who filed the suit before we can react.” However, a source in the office of Ekweremadu told our correspondent in confidence that some people who were under pressure from “some powerful people in the President Muhammadu Buhari government” were behind the suit. The source said, “The police told reporters last year that Ekweremadu was not invited by the police over the forgery saga. However, a year after, the police wrote a letter claiming that Ekweremadu and others failed to honour their invitation for investigation since last year.” In Charge No. CR/219/16 filed by the office of the Attorney General of Federation on 10th June, 2016, the Federal Government of Nigeria (complainant) slammed a two-count charge of “criminal conspiracy, contrary to Section 97 of the Penal Code Law” and “Forgery contrary to 362 of the Penal Code Law” against Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu. Also charged to court were the immediate past Clerk to the National Assembly, Abubakar Maikasuwa, and the Deputy Clerk to the National Assembly, Benedict Efeturi. Former senate president, Senator David Mark, and former Majority Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba were not charged.

•Urhobo, Isoko leaders accuse FG of succumbing to Ijaw blackmail
•I wish government good luck—Kokori
•Negotiation is encouraging criminality in Niger Delta—Idiovwa
•Delta govt calls emergency security meeting over fresh threats


A large number of Niger Delta stakeholders are not impressed by federal government’s ongoing negotiation with Ijaw militants from which other ethnic groups in the geo-political zone are excluded.
The talks are aimed at ending the continuous destruction of oil/gas installations by the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) which has brought oil production to about 1.2million barrels per day with severe consequences for the economy.

Notable Urhobo and Isoko leaders in Delta State, say the one-sided negotiation will only create more problems than it is seeking to solve.
They are of the view that government should treat the Avengers and others damaging the economy as criminals and not negotiate with them.

The negotiation, it is feared, largely fueled the recent emergence of a militant group in Delta -Utorogu Liberation Movement – which threatened to blow up the strategic Utorogu Gas Plant and other assets under Oil Mining Lease, OML 34 in the state.

Frontline activist and one-time Secretary-General of the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Chief Frank Kokori, said he expected those involved in the destruction of the nation’s assets to be treated as criminals.

The Urhobo and Isoko, speaking through the chairman of OML 30 Community Development Board (CBD), Morris Idiovwa, warned the federal government against dialoguing with those destroying oil and gas assets in the name of the Niger Delta as doing so could only degenerate into a fresh round of ethnic wars in the region.
Some ex-militants, under the third phase of the federal government amnesty programme, who are of Urhobo stock threatened to also destroy critical oil and gas assets in their area if that is what would get them federal government’s attention as the Ijaw groups have done.
The Delta State government, reacting to the threat to blow up the Utorogu Gas Plant, convened an emergency security meeting in Jeremi, the headquarters of Ughelli South council area of the state on Thursday.
Asked to comment on the reported negotiation between the federal government and some Ijaw militants, Chief Kokori, who is also a leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta State said: “Have they started negotiating with them? I wish them well if they have identified the right people, but to me I regard people who damage federal infrastructure as criminals.
“I don’t know who they are discussing with and I don’t know the type of negotiation they are holding, but I wish them good luck.”
For his part, Idiovwa, said the Urhobo who are the largest ethnic group, and the Isoko have more critical facilities in their localities than the Ijaw, who he said seemed to have blackmailed the federal government to talk to them by destroying the few assets in their own part of the state.
He said:”What we have been seeing in Delta State is terrifying; especially in the way a single ethnic nationality is taking over the identity of the entire Niger Delta. What is happening is outright criminality and we, as the largest ethnic group in Delta state, are not in support of this.
“We have never been criminals and we don’t want to be criminals. We believe the best way to approach issues is dialogue. But with what we are seeing now, the intelligence we are gathering and what is in the media, a set of people decided to take up arms and disrupt the existing peace in the Niger Delta region because of their selfish interest.
“The federal government has already started inciting an ethnic crisis in Delta state because as we speak now, we have been receiving series of mails, SMS and calls from different regions and groups in Urhobo and Isoko.
“My office is responsible for ensuring safety of life and property here and if the people are aware that the same advantage they have, in terms of assets and production, is what some people in another part are using to get the federal government to come to negotiate with them, because those people have taken to arms struggle and are destroying the assets in their areas, what would you expect from those who have been law abiding, calm and watched over the facilities in their domain?
“So you want to disregard them because they have not taken up arms. This is one move we will resist.
“Government should tread carefully. We are not in support of any criminality by any set of people. We have not mandated Egbesu to negotiate for us, we have not mandated the Avengers, MEND, JNDLF or IYC to negotiate for us. We have not mandated any group to negotiate for the Urhobo or Isoko.
“We are standing on our own and we are telling the federal government that whatever is done for any group should be replicated across the entire Niger Delta states or host communities that are producing, otherwise the outcome will be disastrous.”
Also speaking in Ughelli for members of the third phase of the Amnesty Programme in Urhobo, ‘General’ Gabriel Ogbuge said: “We have been shortchanged and sidelined. What the federal government is doing is very bad. We have all those facilities here, but government has never thought of coming here to hear from us.


“We have been peaceful only because of the efforts of some of our leaders. If not we know what we need to do to get their attention; we have the capacity to inflict the kind of damage the Avengers are inflicting, and remember that more facilities are here.”We see dialogue as a better option and that’s why we have been listening to our leaders. If the federal government wants peace they should do the right thing, and not force us to do what the Avengers are now doing.”
To forestall the festering security crisis in Delta State, the state government convened a security council meeting on Thursday to discuss the new threats surfacing in the Urhobo areas of the state.
Chairman, Ughelli South Council, Paul Etaga, presided at the meeting.
In attendance were oil host community heads and security operatives.

Reviewing the meeting, Etaga said: “From preliminary intelligence report, the group raising the threat are external forces working with some internal collaborators. They gave OML 34 stakeholders, especially community people 14 days to leave the operating environment so that when they come for the attack they won’t be hurt; that they want to come and destroy the gas plant. With that information, the governor immediately directed that I should call an emergency security meeting. The governor is aware and they are putting up measures in place for protection of life and property.”

RevDesm0ndJuju:
[img]hlttp://www.nass.gov.ng/images/mps/663.jpg[/img]

See the bauchi goat

[img]http://www.nass.gov.ng/images/mps/663.jp[/img]

jamesibor:
Pharaoh has bowed.

989900:
Amnesty will only breed more militants -- that is as sure as daylight!

kuuljay:
I thought Sahara reporters is owned by Tinubu? There is something not right here can a wailer help me out before I talk my mind