CITE POST: 2013-09-22

Wednesday, 25 September 2013

Gunmen Kill Vigilante In Anambra

ONITSHA—Tension mounted, yesterday, at Okpoko Layout, Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State, near Onitsha, when an operative of Okpoko vigilance group, simply identified as Stubborn, was gunned down by a gang of armed men, suspected to be robbers, who operated in motorbikes at Mugambo Market.

ABUJA—FIFTY-TWO days to the November 16 governorship elections in Anambra State, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, yesterday, unveiled the names of 23 candidates that will do battle for the Anambra top job. In the list, there are only four female deputy governorship candidates. The rest are men.

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has vowed to defend the Naira. He said he was prepared to use the nation’s foreign reserve to ensure the currency’s stability.

Briefing the newsmen at the end of the Monetary Policy Committee meeting in Abuja, yesterday, he said that the argument of those pushing for the devaluation of the Naira did not make any valid economic sense in an import-dependent country like Nigeria.

ABUJA — THe House of Representatives, yesterday, threatened to issue a bench warrant on the Managing Director of Mainstreet Bank Plc, Mrs Faith Turduo Martins, for allegedly sacking 670 staff of the bank without due process.

Chairman of the House committee on Banking and Currency, Jones Chukwudi Onyereri, said a bench warrant awaited Turduo Martins if she failed to appear before the committee on October 2 to explain why 670 staff of the bank were sacked under anonymous circumstances.

ABUJA — CHAIRMEN of the joint committees of House of Representatives on Petroleum Upstream and Gas Resources, yesterday, warned House Committee Chairman on Finance, Rep Abdulmumin Jibrin to stop defending the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

The October 7 peace meeting between President Goodluck Jonathan and seven aggrieved governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) appears threatened following the eruption of renewed hostilities.

President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday said that Nigeria deserved to have a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.

President Jonathan made this comment while addressing the 68th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Election for who occupies the seat will take place in October, this year

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday linked the heavy demand for the United States dollars (USD) in the domestic economy to the activities of politicians who are rapidly dollarizing the economy.

The apex bank is also fast-tracking plans to adopt new regulations to fight money laundering in the bureaux des change (BDC) segment of the financial services sector of the economy.

Chairman, Senate Committee on Information, Media and Public Affairs, Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe, has said that there is no truth in the speculations that the Presidency has initiated moves to change the leadership of the upper legislative assembly because it granted audience to the leaders of the breakaway faction of the Peoples Democratic Party.

President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Dr. Nasir Fagge, said on Tuesday that the current strike by lecturers of public universities in the country was a sacrifice for better things to come.

Fagge told the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos that there would be no development unless the deficits in the education sector, especially the university system, were addressed once and for all.

THE Niger State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party on Tuesday lauded the peace moves made by elders of the party, particularly ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo and former dictator Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, describing them as “true elders of the country who want peace.”

The Independent National Electoral Commission on Tuesday in Abuja cautioned politicians against acts that were capable of overheating the polity ahead of the 2015 elections.

Chairman of INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega, gave the warning during the third quarterly consultative meeting held between the commission and political parties.

The Vice-President, Nigerian Labour Congress, Mr. Issa Aremu, has said that the NLC is opposed to the agitation for the convocation of a Sovereign National Conference because the call is diversionary and unconstitutional.

Speaking to journalists in Ilorin on Tuesday, he said SNG was no longer a global trend. He argued that since Nigeria had elected representatives, it would be unlawful to convoke the SNC.

Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has asked the Court of Appeal, Abuja, to set aside the September 19 ruling of the Abuja Federal High Court in which it discharged former Deputy Executive Secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission, Prof. Bridget Sokan, and six others standing trial in a N6.4bn fraud charge.

Delta State Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan in this interview with journalists, speaks on the need to diversify Nigeria’s economy from its current dependence on oil. JOHN ALECHENU was there. Excerpts:

Why is it that states find it difficult to pay salaries each time the Federation Account Allocation Committee fails to meet to share money?

The Senate on Tuesday asked its committees on National Security, Intelligence and Judiciary to immediately start investigations into the circumstances that led to the death of eight people in the Apo area of Abuja following an encouter they had with security operatives last week Friday.

The leadership of the New Peoples Democratic Party has said that President Goodluck Jonathan is not qualified to seek reelection in 2015.

The reasons why he cannot contest, according to the group, are: The 1999 Constitution, an agreement the President entered into and his open statement in Turkey in 2011.

Strong indications have emerged that Islamic militants from some North African countries are coordinating attacks against the Nigerian military in the North Eastern part of the country.

A military source told one of our correspondents in Abuja that security operatives came to this conclusion when they discovered that many Arabs of Shuwa descent and fair-skinned people from Mauritania, Sudan, Somalia, Algeria and Niger, were among those whose bodies were found after some of the recent encounters with the militants.

The rain that fell for almost two days in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, has claimed lives of two people and destroyed property.

The rain began on Sunday and continued till Monday night, sending panic through the flood-prone city. The Oluyole Local Government Area of the state was mostly affected by the downpour.

The crisis in the Kaduna State House of Assembly deepened on Tuesday with the impeachment of the Speaker, Mua’azu Gangara.

A new speaker, Shehu Usman Tahir, was elected.

But Gangara led 15 other members of the House, including the principal officers, to announce that he remained the Speaker. He insisted that those who impeached him did not meet the constitutional provision for their action.

$25,000 Bribery Scandal: My Story — Emodi

FORMER Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Joy Emodi, has reacted to speculations making the rounds on the reasons for her sack.

Irked by reports that her sack was not unconnected with the bribe-for-impeachment drama that allegedly rocked the House of Representatives recently, Emodi denied knowledge of anything that has to do with ‘money-sharing’ in the National Assembly.

ABUJA-The shooting by security operatives at an uncompleted building behind Apo Legislative Quarters, Abuja last Friday which claimed eight lives took a new turn yesterday as Garki Modern Market Traders Association vowed to drag the security service to court claiming those who were killed were its members and were innocent.

PORT HARCOURT — THE Police in Rivers State have halted moves by youths in the state to tour projects being executed by Governor Rotimi Amaechi’s administration in various parts of the state.

The planned projects inspection by predominantly students gathering, numbering over 500, was being facilitated by the Rotary Club in collaboration with the Rivers State Government, yesterday, when policemen stormed the state university venue, where they had converged for the tour.

President Goodluck Jonathan declared in New York, United States of America on Monday that he could contest the 2015 presidential election because the Constitution empowers him to be in office for eight years, on two term basis.

The Federal Government on Monday released fresh N46.76bn to 30 oil marketers as payment for fuel subsidy.

The amount brings the total payment made under the fuel subsidy regime in the 2013 fiscal period to N287.35bn.

The Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, confirmed the payment in a statement by her Special Adviser on Communications, Mr. Paul Nwabuikwu.

The Federal Government has proposed N273.1bn for the funding of projects expected to be executed under the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme in 2014.

It has also recommended N1.2bn as running cost for the members of the board of the intervention body.

Placard-carrying pensioners stormed the office of the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, to protest against unpaid gratuity and pension arrears on Monday.

The pensioners, who arrived the governor’s office around 9am refused to leave despite the Monday rain.

President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday held talks with United States President Barack Obama in New York ahead of the 68th session of the United Nations.

Jonathan, at the talks, called for a stronger global consensus and determination to end the scourge of terrorism as quickly as possible.

Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi on Monday dissolved the state executive council.

The action, he said, was taken to enable him to inject “fresh blood into the administration of the state.”

In a statement signed by the state’s Director of Cabinet, Mr. Dotun Omokemi, the decision was made after the executive council meeting, which lasted for just 11 minutes on Monday.

The Federal Government has declared Tuesday, October 1, 2013 as public holiday to mark Nigeria’s 53rd independence anniversary.

The Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, who made the declaration on behalf of government in Abuja on Monday, congratulated all Nigerians at home and abroad, and urged them to build a more united and virile nation that would be the pride of all.

The Federal Road Safety Corps has urged drivers to install speed limiting devices on their vehicles as a means of reducing accidents on the road.

FRSC corps Marshal, Osita Chidoka, gave the advice during a nationwide sensitisation forum for stakeholders on the negative impact of speeding on the motoring environment, according to a statement on Monday.

The Nigerian Medical Association has threatened to take “appropriate action” if the Federal Government failed to urgently address the issue of non-payment of salaries of doctors in its employment.

The NMA said the Federal Government had owed its member for several months.

The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mariam Mukhtar, has said security agencies in the country take suspects to court before looking for evidence to prosecute them.

Justice Mukhtar identified the practice as one of the reasons for undue delays in the criminal justice administration system in the country.

For the second time this month, the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee meeting, which was reconvened on Monday, ended in a stalemate.

Before Monday’s meeting, the committee, chaired by the Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Yerima Ngama, had met on September 13 to consider as well as approve the statutory distribution of revenue for the month of August.

A former Inspector-General of Police, Mike Okiro, on Monday faulted the claims by a former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Nuhu Ribadu, that he (Okiro) plotted to kill him.

Ribadu, while giving evidence in a case involving James Ibori in London, was reported as saying that he was shot at on his way to the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies.

Following the terrorist attacks on the Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi, Kenya that left scores of Kenyans and foreigners dead, shopping mall patrons in the country are apprehensive that a similar incident may happen in Nigeria because most of the plazas are not adequately secured.

The seven aggrieved governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party may be summoned to appear before the disciplinary committee of the party if they fail to attend the October 7 meeting with some selected leaders of the party, including President Goodluck Jonathan.

RIVERS State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has accused the State Police Commissioner, Mr. Mbu Joseph Mbu, of mingling with criminals in the state.

Amaechi, who spoke at the maiden edition of Rivers International Fashion Week in Port Harcourt on Sunday, said the development had worsened the security situation in the state.

President Goodluck Jonathan has berated his opponents, particularly those who handled the past privitisation exercise, saying they are now “opening their mouth wide” to attack his administration.

Jonathan, who said this while addressing Nigerian professionals in New York, United States, on Monday said the privatisation of public utilities by his administration was being done in a transparent manner.

Wednesday, 25 September 2013

Tuesday, 24 September 2013