-
2015: Well push out PDP Buhari, Tinubu
SINA FADARE AND TEMITOPE OGUNBANKE
Prominent opposition party leaders yester-day vowed to wrest
power from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the 2015
elections, describ-ing the reign of the ruling party as years of
the lo-cust.
Former Head of State, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd); Asiwaju Bola
Tinubu; National Chairman, Ac-tion Congress of Nigeria, ACN, Chief
Bisi Akande; the Congress for Progres-
CONTINUED ON PAGE 5>>
EFCC arrests top Imo offi cials over N1bn contract scam
Vol. 3 N0. 603 Friday, April 19, 2013 N150
NUT threatens strike in 18 states P.8
Boko Haram: Amnesty plan suffers another setback
L-R: Former presidential candidate, Congress for Progressive
Change, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd); National Chairman, Action
Congress of Nigeria, Chief Bisi Akande; National Leader, Asiwaju
Bola Tinubu and former ACN presidential candidate, Mallam Nuhu
Ribadu, at ACN national convention in Lagos, yesterday. More photos
on page 10. PHOTO: YINKA ADEPARUSI
P.5
CONTINUED ON PAGE 6>>
Presidency descends on Amaechi as NSA quizzes commissionerSAM
OLUWALANA, OLUFEMI ADEOSUN AND GODWIN OKONKWO
Indications emerged yes-terday that the Presiden-cy might have
descended on Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi over his
op-position to President Good-
luck Jonathan.This was not unconnected
with the summons issued by the National Security Adviser, NSA,
Col Sambo
Nigerians vote forLGs autonomy, state assemblies
P.2
Kidnapped LG boss: We dont need your assistance, police warn
OPC
P.10
P.4,9
Baba Suwe: Appeal Court reserves judgement
Explosions rock Texas, 15 die, over 160 injured
16 PAGES OF ARTS, REVIEWS, LIFESTYLE AND BUZZ TO START YOUR
WEEKEND, BEGIN ON PAGE 19
FRIDAYFlavourYour P.22,23
AMAA 2013:Film world goes to Bayelsa
...say ruling partyll lose 32 statesACN holds last convention,
approves merger into APC
Obama
Jonathan Bamigbetan
ACF begs sect...Datti Ahmed joins Shehu Sani to pull out
Weve no faith in the committee, CAN insists
ur
Rita DominicRita Dominic Yvonne OkoroYvonne Okoro
FBI indentifies suspects of Boston blasts
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15 die, 160 injured in Texas fertilizer plant blastThe remains
of the plant continue to smoulder. Emergency services officials
said ammonia may have caused the explosion.
Governor declares blast city a disaster area
FBI identifi es two suspects in Boston Marathon bombing
Boston explosions: Obama vows bombers will face justice
L-R: U.S. President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle at the
interfaith memorial service for the victims of the bombing at the
Boston Marathon in Boston, Massachusetts, yesterday. PHOTO:
REUTERS
The suspects
PAUL ARHEWEWITH AGENCY REPORTS
Rescue teams searched the charred rubble of homes in a small
Texas City yesterday for survivors of a fiery ex-plosion at a
nearby fertiliz-er plant that killed as many as 15 people, injured
more than 160 and destroyed doz-ens of buildings.
Three to four volunteer firefighters were among the missing
following the blast on Wednesday night, said Sgt. William Patrick
Swan-ton of the Waco, Texas, po-
lice department.Firefighters had been
fighting a fire at the West Fertilizer Co for about 20 minutes
before the 8 p.m. blast rocked West, a town of 2,700 people about
20 miles north of Waco.
The plant had tanks of volatile anhydrous ammo-nia, including
what initial reports said was a tanker-sized container like those
hauled on freight trains, Swanton said at a news con-ference on
Thursday. How-ever, the immediate threat from fumes appeared to
have abated, he said.
Texas Governor Rick Perry yesterday an-nounced he had requested
an emergency declaration for McLennan County, where the fertilizer
plant is located. He was in area where the blast took place
monitoring develop-ments and gathering infor-mation as details
continue to emerge about the tragic incident.
Last night was truly a nightmare, Perry said. This tragedy has
most likely hit every family and touched practically every-one in
that town.
He has mobilized state
resources to help local au-thorities. They will remain in West
as long as they are needed, according to Perry, who said Texas Task
Force 1 and 2 and the Texas Na-tional Guard are still con-ducting
search and rescue in the area. Pipelines are also being monitored
close-ly.
Perry praised emergen-cy responders, the out pour-ing of
community support and courage of citizens who quickly reacted to
help victims. He also thanked President Obama who called from Air
Force One on his way to Boston.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI last night released
photos of two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings and is
asking for the publics help in identify-ing them.
Someone out there knows these individuals, FBI Special Agent
Richard DesLauriers said at a news conference.
DesLauriers said one of the suspects is believed to
have planted the devices near the finish line of the race.
The two men were pho-tographed walking togeth-er near the finish
line of the marathon before the explosions that killed three people
and wounded about 180.
One of the two men was seen setting down a back-pack at the site
of the sec-ond explosion, said Special Agent Rick DesLauriers, the
head of the FBIs Bos-
ton office.According to him, both
suspects are considered armed and extremely dan-gerous.
Within moments of the FBI releasing the images on its website,
the agencys website crashed.
The explosions Monday killed three people and in-jured more than
180.
The images were re-leased hours after President Barack Obama and
First
Lady Michelle Obama at-tended an interfaith service at a Roman
Catholic cathe-dral in Boston to remember the victims, including an
8-year-old boy.
Whoever planted the bombs picked the wrong city to attack, he
said. Ev-ery one of us stands with you. Boston may be your hometown
but we claim it, too. ... For millions of us, what happened on
Monday is personal.
President Barack Obama told a memo-rial service for the Boston
bombing victims that we will find who-ever carried out the attack
that killed three people as investigators search for two men seen
on a video of the scene shortly before the blasts.
Obama said Americans would not be intimidated by the twin
blasts, which also injured 176 people in a crowd of thousands at
the finish line of the world-famous marathon on Mon-day.
If they sought to intimi-date us, to terrorize us, to shake us
from those values ... that define us as Ameri-cans, it should be
pretty
The blast destroyed 60 to 80 houses, officials said. It reduced
a 50-unit apart-ment complex to what one local official called a
skeleton standing up and left a horrific landscape of burned-out
buildings and blackened rubble.
It looks like a war zone with all the debris, McLen-nan County
Sheriff Parnell McNamara said.
Amid such devastation, the death toll remained a rough estimate
of five to 15 people, Swanton said. He said more than 160 people
were injured and that num-
ber was likely to rise.Emergency crews were
moving from house to house in a search and res-cue operation,
Stanton said.
Thats good news to me, meaning that theyre proba-bly still
getting injured peo-ple, he said. They have not gotten to the point
of no return where they dont think that theres anybody still
alive.
The firefighters had been battling the fire and evacuating
nearby houses and a nursing home out of concern about possible
dan-gerous fumes before the ex-
clear by now that they picked the wrong city to do it to. Not
here in Boston, Obama said at the memo-rial on Thursday.
While investigators have
made no arrests yet, Obama said of the perpetrator or
perpetrators of the attack, We will find you and you will face
justice.
Homeland Security
Secretary Janet Napoli-tano earlier on Thursday in Washington
confirmed that the FBI was searching for people seen on a video
taken near the finish line.
plosion occurred, Swanton said.
Texas Public Safety De-partment spokesman D.L. Wilson said half
the town, eight to 10 blocks, had been evacuated. Officials
said
133 people were removed from the nursing home.
There are still firefight-ers missing, Swanton said. They were
actively fight-ing the fire at the time the explosion occurred.
Firefighters searching for survivors and victims in the wreckage
of an apartment building destroyed by the explosion yesterday
National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net2 Friday, April 19,
2013News
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Friday, April 19, 2013National
Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 3
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Photo News National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netFriday,
April 19, 20134
TORDUE SALEMABUJA
After a long wait, the House of Represen-tatives yesterday
submitted its report on public sessions held simul-taneously in the
360 Federal Constituencies on the 1999 Constitution.
The report was present-ed before a crowd of stake-holders from
the Nigeria Bar Association, NBA; the Nigeria Union of
Journal-ists, NUJ; the National Union of Local Govern-ment
Employees, NULGE; the Nigeria Labour Con-gress, NLC, and several
oth-ers.
The report was pre-sented to the public by the lead consultant
to the Hon. Emeka Ihedioha-led Ad-hoc Committee on Constitu-tion
Review, Mr. Clement Nwankwo, at 11.21am.
The public sessions that were held in the 360 constit-uencies,
had constituents field 43 questions.
The constituents from the collated results voted
for the removal of immuni-ty for sitting Presidents and
Governors in civil cases, 225 votes to 132, but voted
overwhelmingly against state control of the police by 307 votes
against 53.
Nigerians also voted for the creation of more states by 245 to
105 votes, and vot-ed for over 19 states to be created by 205 votes
against 133.
They, however, voted 27, 324 for financial autono-my for local
governments against 26 votes while vot-ing 295 for financial
au-tonomy for state Houses of Assembly against 62. Also, the people
voted 279 for the justifiability of Chapter 2 of the constitution
on fun-damental human rights against 78 votes.
Nigerians also voted 342 votes to six on the need for the
President and Gover-nors to present budget pro-posals to state
Houses of Assemblies and the federal
legislature three months to the end of every fiscal year, and
voted for the abolition of State Joint Local Gov-ernment Account by
295 to 62.
Nigerians also voted on November 10, 2012, against the request
for state govern-ments to create local gov-ernments and fund them,
by 276 to 78. They, however, voted for the proper recog-nition of
local government as a third-tier of govern-ment by 291 to 66
votes.
They rejected the alloca-tion of funds to care-taker executives
of local govern-ments by 277 votes to 70, defined tenure for local
gov-ernments, chairmen/coun-cillors in the constitution by 331 to
26, but rejected the request to transfer some items on the
exclusive list to the concurrent list by 180 to 181 votes.
Nigerians across con-stituencies voted against State Independent
Electoral
Commissions, by 261 votes to 95, but voted for the Na-tional
Youth Service Corps, Land Use Act, Public Com-plaints Commission
Act and the National Security Agencies Act, to remain in the
constitution by 216 votes to 139.
In his response to the presentation of the re-port, Speaker of
the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, apolo-gised for
the delay in pre-senting the report.
I would like to start by, once again, on behalf of the House of
Representatives, extend our apology to all Nigerians for the
obvious inconveniences caused by the sudden postponement of the
earlier scheduled date for the submission of this report.
As the Deputy Speaker rightly noted in his wel-come address, the
postpone-ment became inevitable in order to allow honourable
members, who were yet to verify their reports in the compiled
documents to do so. I am pleased to confirm that that has now been
done and what we have today is the true representation of what
transpired at the pub-lic session in the various
constituencies.
He said he was glad to receive the report of that endeavour from
the Ad-hoc Committee. Let me there-fore express my sincere
appreciation to all the hon-ourable members of the House of
Representatives for the successful conduct of the exercise and to
the Ad-hoc Committee for dili-gently perusing, collating and
producing the report before us. As a participant observer, I am not
in any doubt that the exercise was challenging but ultimately
fulfilling.
The Deputy Speaker, Hon. Ihedioha, was elated that the views of
all Nige-rians on various issues out-lined in the ongoing review of
the constitution have been fully reflected in the
report of the peoples pub-lic sessions presented to the House
yesterday.
In his address Hon. Ihe-dioha said; That the re-ports from the
peoples pub-lic sessions which held on November 10, 2012
through-out the country, have been painstakingly collated,
ver-ified and its integrity can be fully assured.
He noted that delibera-tions at the country-wide sessions last
year were free, robust, and participatory, stressing that Nigerians
living in the various con-stituencies in the remot-est nooks and
crannies of Nigeria spoke their minds without let or hindrance and
that the ensuing report is devoid of any tinkering or
manipulation.
He added that: This process may not be perfect, but I dare say,
that it is the first time in the history of this country that
Nigerians at the grassroots have been made part of the
Constitu-tion Review Process in a practical and transparent
manner.
Constitution Review: Nigerians vote autonomy for LGs, state
assemblies
L-R: Executive Secretary, Joint Tax Board, Mr. Abubakar Lawal;
Acting Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service, Alhaji Kabiru
Mashi and Legal Adviser, Joint Tax Board, Mr. Taiwo Ogunleye,
during the 127th meeting of the board in Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO:
ROTIMI OSASONA
L-R: Director, Centre for Space Science Education, Obafemi
Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Dr. Joseph Akinyede; Director-General,
National Space Research and Development Agency, Dr. Seidu Mohammed
and Programme Officer, Space Affairs, United Nations, Mr. Sergei
Chernikov, at the consultative meeting of the Governing Board of
the African Regional Centre for Space Science and Technology
Education in English, in Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN
L-R: Guest speaker, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin; legal practitioner,
Chief Folake Solanke, SAN, and District 18 Governor, Zonta
International, Mrs.Gloriastene Agboola, at a seminar on Vio-lence
Against Women: A Call for Action, organised by Zonta International
District 18 at the International Conference Centre, University of
Ibadan, Oyo State, yesterday.
L-R: First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan; wife of the
Vice-President, Hajiya Namadi Sambo; Minister of Aviation, Princess
Stella Oduah; Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke
and Minister of Water Resources, Mrs. Sarah Ochekpe, at the
Centenary celebration for women in Lagos, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN
National News
Support indigeneship for settlers Reject zoning, immunity for
President, Govs
-
AZA MSUEKADUNA
The Amnesty pan-el constituted on Wednesday by the Federal
Government yes-terday suffered another major setback as President
of the Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria, SCSN, Dr. Ibrahim
Datti Ahmed, turned down his appoint-ment.
His rejection brings to two the number of persons that had
pulled out of the committee.
The President of the Civ-il Rights Congress of Nige-ria, CRCN,
Mallam Shehu Sani, had on Wednesday re-jected his nomination to the
committee. Instead, he put forward the names of three persons
through which the government could reach out to the sect leaders
for dialogue.
Ahmed said he rejected the offer as a result of the bitter
experience he had with the government when he voluntarily tried to
me-diate between the authori-ties and members of the Islamic
sect.
He said in an interview with the British Broad-casting
Corporation, BBC, Hausa Service, monitored in Kaduna yesterday that
the alleged insincerity of the government led to the breakdown of
peace talks with the insurgents about one and a half years ago when
he initiated dialogue with the aggrieved sect
members.Ahmed also faulted the
composition of the amnes-ty committee, saying that its Chairman,
who is the Minister of Special Duties, Kabiru Taminu Turaki, and
the secretary, also a government official, would not feed the
government with the correct informa-tion but report only what it
wanted to hear.
He said: Previously, I made such moves twice and it wasnt the
government that asked me to do that and we had reached a stage
where, had the government agreed with what we got, what we resolved
with the sect members called Boko Haram, by now we would have
forgotten everything; Nigeria would have wit-nessed peace by
now.
When we told the gov-ernment everything we dis-cussed with them
and the agreement we had which were not difficult to do, that first
of all, if the dialogue was truly genuine, their wives and children
that were unjustly detained should be released because they had not
committed any crime.
We advised the govern-ment on that, we said even if you continue
to detain them there was no gain in doing so. The government said
they will release them but did not.
They will feed the gov-ernment with what the gov-ernment wants
to know and we would be in trouble with the ordinary Nigerians.
The minister and secretary will take lies to the govern-ment and
we would be left quarrelling with young Ni-gerians, young enough to
be our children.
He reiterated that from his previous experience with the
government, they were just telling lies be-cause during the
previous attempt, it was so successful but the government caused
everything to crumble like a pack of cards.
Ahmed added: It was just like we were going to have a peaceful
resolution the next day and what the government should have
done was not something difficult, just to release their wives
and reduce the tension in Yobe and Borno states and stop
persecuting the people there .
The government said it was going to do that but it did not. It
is the same gov-ernment, it was the same Jonathan and his
repre-sentative and we are the same people, nothing has
changed.
Meanwhile, the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, yesterday appealed
to the Islamic sect to accept the Federal Governments amnesty
committee as the
initiative faces imminent collapse.
However, the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, in 19
northern states and Abuja called on Presi-dent Goodluck Jonathan
not to use the taxpayers money for amnesty, saying it had no faith
in the com-mittee.
In a telephone interview with National Mirror, the Northern CANs
Public Relations Officer, Mr. Sun-day Oibe, said the amnesty game
being played by the government and the Boko Haram would be exposed
soon.
CAN said: Shehu Sani, who is a member of the committee, we read
in a newspaper that he rejected the offer.
We, Northern Chris-tians have no faith in that committee. We
cant sup-port Boko Haram who killed us, we know amnesty will not
work.
We are telling President Jonathan not to use Nigeria collective
money for am-nesty. We dont believe in amnesty. Our stand against
it still stands.
But ACF spokesman, Mr. Anthony Sani, expressed
sive Change, CPC; and the All Nigerian Peoples Party, ANPP, also
threatened to resist any attempt to rig the 2015 elections.
In a veiled reference to President Goodluck Jona-thans mandate
given to the PDP leadership to win at least 32 states instead of
its present 23, the opposition leaders said the reverse would be
the case in 2015, stressing that the All Pro-gressive Congress,
APC, would win 32 states in 2015.
They spoke at the ACN national convention in La-gos yesterday
where 4,761 party delegates approved the merger of the party with
other opposition par-ties ahead of the 2015 gen-eral elections.
In his solidarity mes-
sage, Buhari said that the merger would stop politi-cal
corruption in Nigeria, noting that the APC would rescue the country
from the PDP and provide good alter-native leadership.
He said that the merger was a unique opportunity for Nigerians
to vote for people with a mission and vision that can translate to
good governance that is dif-ferent from election riggers of the
past.
His words: I am here to let all Nigerians know that there would
be a transfer of power to APC by 2015 gen-eral election. Also, I
must say here that an average cit-izen of this great country is
tired of insecurity, unem-ployment among the young graduate,
epileptic power supply and unaccountable
of pension fund. I want to repeat that there will be a change in
the political his-tory of this our great nation come year 2015.
Akande described the PDPs almost 14-year rule at the federal
level as years of locust, which had drawn Nigeria backwards.
He said: In the over 13 years that the PDP has been in power,
not only has it failed to deliver on its promises, it has infected
all institutions of state with its moral infirmity, aversion to the
rule of law and en-trenched monumental cor-ruption never seen in
the history of this country.
CPC National Chair-man, Prince Tony Momoh, said that the merger
was being formed to take over power from the PDP and to
bring about change and ac-countability to Nigerians.
He also boasted that come 2015, PDP would lose 32 states to
APC.
His words: This merger talks have come to stay. I am amused by
the PDPs recent statement that they are go-ing to win 32 states
during 2015 general elections. I be-lieve that they are speaking
the opposite because I am very confident that PDP will lose 32
states in 2015.
The former governor of Lagos State said that it was very
unfortunate that peo-ple who did not have vision and solution to
the prob-lems of the country were at the helm of affairs.
This is not the way a great nation is being gov-erned when
heartless peo-ple put the interest of few
individuals to replace the collective interest of the majority,
he said.
Tinubu noted that the merger is a political storm ready to sweep
away the reign of terror, poverty, penury, hopelessness,
un-employment visionless and political stagnation created by the
ruling party.
His words: This conven-tion portends the coming of great
political change. A storm is brewing. Dont be frightened. It is a
positive storm with a positive wind.
Those things that have no roots and offer no so-lution to the
plight of the people shall be swept away. This storm will change
the political terrain forever. I am not afraid of this storm. I
welcome it because the storm is our new vision;
our new party.We must join hands
with like minds and create a larger wall that will give room for
robust politicking, internal democracy and selfless leadership that
will rescue the country from the grips of political jobbers who
find themselves at the corridors of power.
Our people have had enough of having nothing. The current
governments trademark is to throw emp-ty words and hollow action at
our problems as if do-ing nothing will cause our troubles to leave
from sheer boredom. Instead, trouble mounts. If this is the
gov-ernments idea of transfor-mation, I will have none of it. It
seems their notion of change is to go from slow
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
2015: Well push out PDP Buhari, Tinubu
Boko Haram: Amnesty plan suffers setback
CONTINUED ON PAGE 6>>
CONTINUED ON PAGE 6>>
National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net News 5Friday, April
19, 2013
L-R: Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun; Group Managing
Director, Wempco Group, Mr. Lewis Tung; President Goodluck
Jonathan; Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun
Aganga and Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Alhaji Musa
Saada, at the inauguration of Wempco Steel Mill at Ibafo, Ogun
State, yesterday. PHOTO:STATE HOUSE
-
Boko Haram: Amnesty plan suffers setback
Presidency descends on Amaechi as NSA quizzes commissioner
CONTINUED ON PAGE 9>>
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
L-R: Niger State Deputy Governor, Alhaji Musa Ibeto; Imo State
Deputy Governor, Prince Eze Madumere; Kwara State Governor, Alhaji
Abdulfatai Ahmed and Vice-President Namadi Sambo at the interim
implementation committee meeting on police reform in Abuja
yesterday. PHOTO: NAN
motion to no motion at all. If they want to stand
still, that is their right. However, they have no right to force
the whole nation to stagnate with them. We have things to
accomplish and progress to make for the good of the people.
To rescue Nigerians from the plight of the mis-governed, we must
join hands with like-minded progressives in other par-ties and
organisations. We must sacrifice our current partisan identity to
create a larger one capable of as-suming leadership at the national
level. This and only this offers the best chance for Nigeria at
this stage.
On the exit of the ACN from Nigerias political space, Tinubu
said: For us, this is not a sad ending; it is the beginning of a
great
beginning. Let us do what is right so that when history writes
its account of this day, it shall write that we lived up to our
moral duties by doing what the moment required.
Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola called on the Independent
Na-tional Electoral Commis-sion, INEC, to play the role of an
unbiased umpire to ensure that the merger is delivered.
He said playing the role of a true and unbiased umpire in the
merger plan would not only be in the in-terest of the Commission to
clear itself of any preju-dice but also in the national interest as
a result of the benefits that would accrue from a successful merger
of the parties.
On the plans of the rul-ing party for the next elec-tions,
Fashola said: We are
beginning to hear from the ruling party the number of states
that they are going to win even before the dates for the next
elections have been fixed.
I say that the most suc-cessful football club in the world does
not know how many goals it will score against it weakest opponent
unless it has reached an agreement with the referee.
As if that was not bad enough, we are already hearing also from
them that they will go back to do what they always know how to do
best. But this time, it will not happen.
Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun said the four participating
parties in the merger were deter-mined to ensure the success of the
exercise, adding that despite the pessimism ex-pressed by some
Nigerians at the possibility of the suc-
cess of the merger plans, the successful holding of the
convention had demon-strated that it was possible and that
Nigerians were also committed to change.
Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola said the successful holding
of the convention represented the death of unemployment, violence
and power failure in Nigeria, adding that the struggle to salvage
Nige-ria must not commence in 2015 with the general elec-tions but
in 2013 with the Anambra State governor-ship elections during which
the APC must take over the governorship of that state.
Imo State Governor Ro-chas Okorocha said hope had returned to
Nigeria with the successful merger plans as the countrys polit-ical
landscape would never be the same again, adding
support for the govern-ments action.
He said: The setting up of the committee on amnesty by the
Federal Government is a welcome development because it demonstrates
the commit-ment of the government to pursue the amnesty option to
its logical conclusion.
We commend the gov-ernment for such conscious-ly directed
efforts. We appeal to insurgents and all Nigeri-ans to cooperate
with the government so that Nigeria can make violence history.
Sani in rejecting his ap-pointment to the amnesty committee had
named a freelance journalist, Ahmed Salkida; one Hamza Idris and
Barrister Mus-tapha Zanna as those who could reach out to Boko
Ha-ram leaders on amnesty.
Sani said Boko Haram might also reject the com-
position of the committee.He had said: There is
every likelyhood that the insurgents will reject and condemn
this committee irrespective of whether I am part of it or not
because they were not consulted and they dont have any of their
input in the committee.
But former governor of old Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa,
called on Ni-gerians to support the gov-ernments amnesty commit-tee
for peace and stability.
Musa said: The Boko Haram committee set up by the Federal
Government is in order and commendable. We cant have a perfect
com-mittee under this condition but one thing is for peace to reign
and lets give it the benefit of doubt.
Nigerians should sup-port the committee. We should also
encourage gov-ernment, Boko Haram and the committee.
National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net6 News Friday, April
19, 2013
2015: Well push out PDP Buhari, Tinubu
Dasuki (rtd), to Rivers State Commissioner for Information and
Communication, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, to appear before him.
When contacted to con-firm the development, Se-menitari said she
was about to board the aircraft convey-ing her to Abuja to honour
the invitation.
She, however, denied knowledge of the reason be-hind her
invitation.
National Mirror, however, gathered that the invitation might not
be unconnected with a press conference she addressed on Monday
where she released details of information relating to the recently
purchased se-curity helicopters by the state government and a
pub-lic statement she made later on an Abuja courts ruling, which
sacked the Godpow-er Ake-led Rivers Peoples Democratic Party, PDP,
ex-ecutives.
National Mirror gathered that the invitation was be-ing viewed
in the state as a crackdown on Amaechi by the Presidency.
In the press conference on Monday, the commission-er had told
journalists in Port Harcourt that the state indeed bought two
security helicopters for monitoring the activities of criminals
involved in illegal oil bun-kering, kidnapping, armed
robbery and other nefarious activities in the state.
She had denied a news-paper report that Amaechi had purchased
the aircraft for his 2015 election cam-paigns, describing it as
false, targeted at smearing the personality of her boss.
She had explained that the state purchased the two Bell 412 EPI
armoured heli-copters without the knowl-edge of the Federal
Gov-ernment, which supported the venture with $15m part payment and
import duty waiver.
Semenitari also made the purchase agreement available, which
showed the exact financial cost of the helicopters.
Later in the day, speaking on behalf of the state gov-ernment,
she had rejected the court ruling that sacked the states exco of
the PDP, describing it as shameful and embarrassing.
How can the court give the leadership of the party to someone
who did not even purchase a form for the position? she had
asked.
Semenitari had insisted that the PDP congress that brought Ake
to office was well attended by over 2,000 delegates, stressing that
members of the party in the state would not sit down and fold their
arms and al-low the injustice.
I do not believe that Mr. President will lend himself
to such grave injustice. I do not believe that Mr. Presi-dent
will be part of this kind of undemocratic thing. I do not believe
that Mr. Presi-dent, who himself is a prod-uct of democracy and who
received about two million votes from Rivers State, will be part of
this travesty of justice. I do not believe Mr. President will like
to kill PDP in Rivers State. So, I dont think President Jona-than
is involved, the com-missioner had said.
Meanwhile, the Econom-ic and Financial Crimes and Commission,
EFCC, has arrested the Imo State Commissioner of Finance, Okafor
John, and the state Accountant-General, Eche George, for an alleged
com-
plicity in over N1bn con-tract scam.
An EFCC source told our correspondent that the top government
officials were picked up in Owerri, the Imo State capital, on
Wednesday night and whisked to the Abuja office of the commis-sion
where they are still be-ing interrogated by the oper-atives of the
anti-graft body.
The source said while the contractor had been grilled in
connection with the alleged scam, more per-sonalities alleged to
have a role in the contract scam would be invited for ques-tioning
as investigation progresses.
He said preliminary in-vestigation carried out by the
commissions opera-
tives had shown that due process was not followed in a contract
awarded to JPROS International Lim-ited.
Besides, it was also discov-ered that full payment for the
project was made to the con-tractor before the commence-ment of
work in flagrant dis-regard to extant rules.
The Head, Media and Publicity of the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren,
confirmed the arrest and said that the suspects were being
interrogated.
Asked about the possi-bility of admitting them to administrative
bail, Uwujaren said he could not comment on it.
He, however, said the commission was still hold-
ing them.The state Deputy Gover-
nor, Mr. Jude Agbaso, was im-peached by the state House of
Assembly over his involve-ment in the contract scam.
It was alleged that Ag-baso got a gratification of N458m from
JPROS Inter-national Limited, the con-tractor handling the
project.
He was removed from office by a majority vote of the House after
an at-tempt to stop his impeach-ment through the court had
failed.
On the possibility of in-viting Agbaso to the com-mission in
connection with the alleged contract scam, Uwujaren declined
com-ments, saying he had no de-tails about that.
-
National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 7NewsFriday, April
19, 2013
Jonathan hinges industrial revolution on growth of steel
sectorMARCUS FATUNMOLEABUJA
The Federal Govern-ment yesterday said it remained committed to
unveiling Nigerias Indus-trial Revolution Plan, IRP, to help
develop the ecosystem and boost exploration of the steel sectors
huge potentials.
President Goodluck Jona-than said this at the commis-sioning of
the multi-million naira, state-of-the-art, five-stand tandem cold
rolled steel plant by WEMPCO Steel Mill Company Limited, located on
Kilometre 8, Magboro on Lagos - Ibadan Expressway.
Jonathan also restated his administrations com-mitment to making
the steel sector the bedrock of infra-structural development in the
country.
The President said his government had achieved tremendously in
the steel sector, adding that his admin-istration raised the number
of steel rolling mills in the country from near-zero to its current
15, nationwide.
He said the three million tonnes of liquid steel being produced
would be increased to 12 million in 2020.
Jonathan urged WEMP-CO to use its current oppor-tunity to invest
in Nigeria by providing full backward inte-gration for the
citizens.
He said: Government will continue to encourage foreign investors
for the good of the country while expect-ing that they will
reciprocate by being accountable.
The President expressed faith in self-sufficiency in
steel production in Nigeria, which he declared would open
downstream sector opportunities for many ar-tisans and those
currently unemployed but had the required skills to put the
re-sources to use.
Praising the companys management for locating the cold steel
plant on 700,000 hectares of land in Ogun State, Jonathan said the
proj-ect would contribute signifi-cantly to the growth of the
countrys Gross Domestic Product, GDP, job creation and acquisition
of skills, among others.
The President also praised the infrastructural develop-ment
strides Governor Ibi-kunle Amosuns administra-tion in Ogun
State.
He said Amosuns govern-ment had done well by mak-ing the
environment condu-cive for investments.
According to him, there are obvious results which include
employment gen-eration, increased Inter-nally Generated Revenue,
IGR, which are impacting positively on the people of the state.
Responding, Amosun said the state IGR in-creased from N700,000
mil-lion to about N4 billion this year.
He said his administra-tion had repositioned the state as a
veritable indus-trial hub of the country.
In an address, the Group Managing Director of WEMPCO Group, Mr.
Lewis Tung, said the steel sector was critical to the countrys
infrastructural development.
Presidential system of govt wasteful, aids corruption Belgore,
Musdapher
GEORGE OJI AND EMMANUEL ONANI
The Steve Orosanye Committee, which looked at the
ra-tionalisation of Federal Government agencies and parastatals
recommended the scrapping of the Joint Admission and Matricu-lation
Board, JAMB, and the National Examination Council, NECO.
The Minister of State for Education, Chief Nye-som Wike, who
disclosed this yesterday, however, said the Federal Govern-ment was
still studying the proposal and had not taken any decision on the
recommendation.
Wike, who made the clarification when he ap-peared before the
Senate Committee on Education to clear the air on the
rumour concerning the policy, promised that Fed-eral Governments
even-tual decision on the matter would be in the interest of
Nigerians.
The Orosanye commit-tee had recommended the scrapping of the two
education institutions be-cause they are providing overlapping
functions.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Education, Uche
Chuk-wumerije, in his opening remarks at the parley, ex-pressed
concern over the news making the round that government had already
given its nod to the scrap-ping of the examination bodies.
Chukwumerije said the rumour was creating un-necessary tension
in the polity and therefore needed proper clarification.
In his response, Wike,
who appeared with the min-istrys Permanent Secretary, Registrar
of JAMB, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, and head of NECO, Prof. Promise
Opa-la, said there was no time the Federal Government scrapped the
bodies.
The minister said the sto-ry was being promoted by
mischief-makers, whose sole interest was to heat up the polity and
pitch the pub-lic against government.
He said: There was no time that this government scrapped NECO or
JAMB; it is unfortunate... I do not know where anybody got that
information.
What I want to assure is that whatever will be done will be done
in the in-terest of Nigerians.
The Ministry of Edu-cation supports the exis-tence of NECO and
JAMB, but what people should know is that the Oron-
saye committee said why should we have NECO when we have
WAEC?
According to Wike, no statutory body can be so scrapped, without
re-course to the National As-sembly.
He said: For govern-ment to scrap; there will be an amendment
sent to the Senate. Where all these rumours are coming from we dont
know.
These are political pe-riods and some peoples in-terest is to
heat up the pol-ity and pitch government against the public. These
are mischief-makers.
When taken to task on why government tags ev-erybody that
criticises it as mischief-maker, the minister explained that
critics that will not criticise government con-structively are
mischief-makers.
JAMB, NECOs scrapping part of Orosanyes recommendations Wike
ISE-OLUWA IGEABUJA
Two former Chief Justices of Nigeria, CJNs, Justices Da-hiru
Musdapher and Alfa Modibo Belgore yesterday advocated a quick
return to parliamentary system of government in Nigeria.
The presidential system presently being practised, according to
them, is not only expensive and waste-ful but also aids
corrup-tion.
The two jurists, who spoke at a symposium on the need for
judicial re-form and book launch, also underscored the need to
reform the countrys laws, which they said were anti-quated, to
enable the ongo-
ing reform of the judiciary effective, efficient and
meaningful.
The occasion itself was in honour of former CJN, Justice Dahiru
Musdapher, who recently retired from the Supreme Court bench upon
clocking the manda-tory retirement age of 70 years.
Belgore, who was the chairman of the occasion, set the tone of
discussion when he said there was need to reform the coun-trys
statute first before embarking on full reforma-tion of the
judiciary.
He argued that the crim-inal laws and procedures upon which
justice admin-istration in Nigeria was premised were inherited from
the colonial masters
L-R: Permanent Secretary, FCT, Engr. Obinna Chukwu; Chief of
Jiwa, Chief Emmanuel Kyauta; FCT Minister, Sen Bala Mohammed and
Vice Chairman, House Committee on FCT, Hon Raphael Igbokwe, during
the ground breaking ceremony for the development of Carraway Dallas
District in Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA
and were therefore anti-quated.
Belgore explained that the Great Britain, from whom the laws
were inher-ited, had long done away with the statutes.
The former CJN also attributed, though partly, the slow
development and massive corruption in the country to the
presidential system of government en-dorsed by the 1999
Consti-tution.
He said: The constitu-tion we used before now allows ministers
to be members of parliament and thus reduces cost of governance.
The system of government is cheaper and more efficient.
Musdapher agreed with Belgore, saying the impor-
tance of legal and judicial reform in Nigeria could not be over
emphasised and that the first thing that must be done was to review
both the countrys laws and the justice delivery system.
He said: The gap be-tween what we have today and what is
required to fos-ter a democratic and pros-perous nation is clear
for all to see.
Musdapher added that the issue must be continu-ously discussed
until ac-tion was fully taken on it.
President Goodluck Jon-athan, who agreed with the two jurists on
the need for the judiciary reform, said the reform was a sine qua
non to achieving his ad-ministrations transforma-tion agenda.
Jonathan, who spoke through the Minister of Labour and
Productiv-ity, Emeka Wogu, however, noted that the judiciary must
take the lead in the reformation agenda.
Former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Mr.
Joseph Daudu (SAN), who also spoke at the event, said it was not in
doubt that judiciary reform was necessary but that justice delivery
would be best achieved if the proper cadre of persons was
ap-pointed to the bench.
He said: This will pre-vent incompetence, indo-lence and
un-committed people from entering the bench.
Daudu, who spoke through another member
of the inner bar, Chief D. C. Demwigwe (SAN), also said that
appointment pro-cedure should not only be made more transparent but
that the National Judicial Council, NJC, should also treat
complaints against judicial affairs urgently to activate public
confidence in the judiciary.
The Solicitor General of the Federation and Perma-nent
Secretary, Ministry of Justice, Alhaji Abdullahi Yola, toed the
path of rea-soning of other speakers on judiciary reform.
He added that the case of 26 judges who were said to be under
investigation should be well handled to kick-start the said reform
in the third arm of govern-ment.
-
National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net8 News Friday, April
19, 2013
L-R: Senior Research, Fellow ,International Food Research
Institute, Prof Gyimah Brempong; Senior Advisor, Donor
Coordination, Partnership and Investment, Ministry of Agriculture
and Rural Development, Ms Barbara Noseworthy; Food and Agriculture
Project Advisor, Action Aid, Ms Constance Okeke and Director,
Policy Research and Statistic, Ministry of Agriculture, Dr. Umar
Hussaini, during the Civil Society Consultative Forum on New
Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition held in Abuja, yesterday.
PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA
NUT threatens strike in 18 states on June 1
Obasanjo tasks Nigerians on cultural identity
Lagos lifts 352 Okobaba fi re victims with N17.5m
Mark, Editors pay tributes to Oluwole Awolowo
Subsidy: Court okays Falana, Aturus requests to join suit
FEMI OYEWESO ABEOKUTA
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo advised Nigeri-ans
irrespective of their status to maintain their cultural identity in
order that they may not go into extinction.
Obasanjo spoke yes-terday in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital,
dur-ing the launch of a book entitled: A Life of Excel-lent
Service: Biography of Oba Salami Adewunmi Ajibola.
The book is a biogra-phy of the former Olowu of Owu,
Abeokuta.
Speaking at the book launch held at the Oluse-gun Obasanjo
Presidential Library (OOPL) the former President said the easiest
way to destroy a man is to snatch his cultural identity from
him.
He said: I always em-phasize this because the best way to
oppress any group of people is to make them loose their identity.
How can you take a man who is Adewunmi and call him Mr. Stone? Once
you re-
move the identity and cul-ture of a person, you have destroyed
and enslaved him. Oba Salami made sure that our identity was
in-tact. I always say that those who came after him should maintain
our identity.
The book was co-au-thored by former World Court Judge, Prince
Bola Ajibola and Mr. Oladipo Yemitan.
Obasanjo, who spoke against the backdrop of pride often
exhibited by some wealthy and highly influential citizens across
the country, stressed that Africans and Nigerians in particular
must jealously guard their cultural heri-tage in view of the
current developments and cul-tural invasion around the world.
He, however, described Prince Ajibola as one who never forgot
his roots.
Obasanjo said: I want to begin by appreciat-ing Bola Ajibola
because when some people get to the top, they forget where they
started from, but Bola Ajibola got to the top and still remembered
where he started from.
The Lagos State Government yes-terday presented a N17.5 million
cheque to 352 victims of the January 8, 2013 Oko-baba fire disaster
in Yaba Local Government Area.
The government also handed over food items to the victims.
It will be recalled that the government opened a camp for the
victims two days after the fire occurred.
General Manager of
the Lagos State Emer-gency Management Agency (LASEMA), Dr. Femi
Oke-Osanyintolu, handed over the cheque to the victims during a
disengagement ceremo-ny held at the Agbowa relief camp in
Ikosi-Eji-
rin Local Council Devel-opment Area (LCDA).
Osanyintolu added that 98 children were also accommodated by the
state government during their three months stay at the re-lief
camp.
KEMI OLAITAN IBADAN
Senate President Da-vid Mark yesterday visited Ibadan, the Oyo
State capital, to pay his last respect to the late publisher of
Tribune ti-tles, Chief Oluwole Awolo-wo, whom he described as a
courageous man who never succumbed to death until the very
moment.
Speaking during a brief commendation service and media event
held at the Imale-falafia head-quarters of Tribune news-papers,
Mark, who was ac-companied by some senior
government officials, said the late Oluwole left a leg-acy of
goodness to fellow human beings as mani-fested in his life and
times.
Mark, who said he had made a stop-over at Ikenne to commiserate
with the matriarch, Chief Mrs. H.I.D Awolowo before coming to
Ibadan, said the deceased had gone at the right time.
He said: He was a friend to me. He stood for the truth always.
At every moment, he stood for the truth and not truth from the
myopic point of view.
In its tribute, the Nigeri-an Guild of Editors (NGE)
described the deceased as a humble man, who though was born
great, chose to remain humble.
NGE President, Mr. Femi Adesina, in his trib-ute entitled: Not
even death can break the un-breakable, said: Olu-wole could have
chosen to be among the aristocrats, looking haughtily down on
lesser mortals from his lofty station in life. But rather, he chose
to be down to earth, living the life of a simple man.
In my private dis-cussion with one of the editors, he told me
when Chief Oluwole Awolowo
wanted something pub-lished in the paper, he would ask: can you
please use this for me? And after you had done it, he would say
thank you. How com-mendable, and a lesson to all of us.
The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) will on June 1 em-bark on
strike in 18 states yet to implement the 27.5 per cent Teachers
En-hance Allowance (TEA).
The decision is con-tained in a communiqu jointly signed by the
NUT National President, Mr. Michael Olukoya, the Sec-retary
General, Mr. Obong Obong and the National Publicity Secretary,
Sulei-man Gambari.
The states are: Benue, Cross River, Abia, Ebonyi, Enugu, Ekiti,
Osun, Ogun, Oyo, Edo, Nassarawa,
Zamfara, Plateau, Taraba, Borno, Kogi, Niger and Sokoto.
NUT said the decision to embark on the strike was taken after
its Nation-al Executive Council (NEC) meeting held in Asaba.
NEC expressed con-cerned on the reluctance by some state
govern-ments to pay the 27.5 per cent allowance and the
non-implementation of the N18, 000 minimum wage.
It called on the Federal Government not to imple-ment the
recommendation of the Orosanye-led panel
to scrap the Joint Admis-sion Matriculation Board (JAMB) and
National Examination Council (NECO).
It said that NECO rep-resents Nigeria and the patriotic interest
of the teachers, pupils and par-ents under the exclusive control
and determination of Federal Government and people.
The union said that NECO should remain as an alternative and
competing examination body in Nige-ria.
It reminded the Federal Government of its agree-
ment to pay the shortfall in the payment of the 2011 Millennium
Development Goals/Nigeria Teachers Institute training allow-ance to
teachers. The NEC said that it was committed toward the provisions
of the National Policy on Ed-ucation, which prescribes National
Certificate in Ed-ucation as the minimum teaching qualification in
Nigeria.
It stated that the ac-tion was discriminating against teachers,
and called on state wings of the union to embark on a stay-at-home
strike.
Awolowo
ISE-OLUWA IGE
A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja yesterday okayed two
separate re-quests by two radical Lagos lawyers, Messrs Femi Falana
(SAN) and Bamidele Aturu, to be joined as defendants in a suit
filed by one Stanley Okeke seeking an order of court compelling
Presi-dent Jonathan Goodluck to remove the subsidy be-ing paid on
fuel.
The trial judge, Justice Adetokunbo Ademola, granted the order
after all parties in the case said they had no objection to their
re-quests.
Both Falana and Aturu, who were joined yesterday, are contending
that Okekes case must fail, a similar one handled by the Abuja
Fed-eral High Court, having been dismissed on the account that
PreSident Jonathan lacked the institutional pow-ers to remove the
subsidy.
They argued that the litigant had deliberately re-fused to
disclose that a simi-
lar case had been litigated upon before the high court to guide
the trial judge in arriv-ing at a just decision in the matter.
They told the judge yester-day that should he go ahead to grant
Okekes order, the litigant would have suc-ceeded to create
confusion in the judiciary by making only one court to enter two
different decision on just one issue.
Justice Ademola, howev-er, fixed May 22 for hearing in the
case.
It will be recalled that Stanley Okeke had, late last year,
dragged President Jon-athan before a Federal High Court asking it
to compel the President to remove the sub-sidy being paid on
fuel.
The suit also sought an order compelling Jonathan to refund back
to the Fed-eration Account such sum earlier appropriated and or
approved under the sub-head of fuel subsidy funds or money because
same cannot be justified in the face of the pervasive corruption,
peren-nial fuel shortage and long queues being witnessed in the
country.
-
National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 9South WestFriday,
April 19, 2013
ABIODUN NEJOADO EKITI
The Ekiti State Gov-ernment has jerked up the cost of
con-structing the 19.3km Ado-Iworoko-Ifaki Ekiti dual carriageway
to N11 billion.
Commissioner for In-formation, Mr Tayo Ekun-dayo, who assured
that the road construction would be completed before the end of the
year, said the up-ward review was in view of the current economic
realities.
The road contract was awarded by the adminis-tration of ousted
Governor Olusegun Oni at the cost N6.379 billion to Messrs Hajaig
Nigeria Limited in 2007 before it was reviewed to N7.472
billion.
Ekundayo, while brief-ing journalists on the out-come of the
weekly State Executive Council meet-ing, said the present
ad-ministration, which had earlier reviewed the con-tract sum, had
to jerk it up to N11 billion to facilitate early completion and
qual-
ity job. He said the state govern-
ment had given marching order to the contractors to complete and
deliver the job within six months or at most before the end of the
year.
The commissioner said: The cost of doing things in 2007, when it
was award-ed has changed. The cost of a truckload of granite, the
prices of asphalt, diesel, petrol, as well as cost of labour have
changed com-pared to what was obtain-able that time.
WALE IGBINTADE
The Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal yesterday reserved
judgement in the appeal filed by the National Drug Law Enforcement
Agency (NDLEA) challenging the ruling by Justice Yetunde Idowu of a
Lagos High Court which ordered the agency to pay N25 million to a
popular comedian, Baba-tunde Omidina, alias Baba Suwe, as
compensation for detaining him for several days over allegation of
drug trafficking.
The appellate court pre-sided over by Justice C C Nweze reserved
the judge-ment after counsel to the appellant, Mr. Femi
Olorun-toba, and that of the respon-dent adopted their briefs of
argument.
Adopting NDLEAs brief of argument dated February 3, 2012,
Oloruntoba urged the
court to allow the appeal and set aside the judgement of the
lower court.
He said that the lower court judge erred in law as her judgement
was not a product of evidence present-ed before the court.
Oloruntoba said the award of N25 million damages against the
appellant was out-rageous and failed to follow laid down principles
of law.
He added that the lower court erred as the entire judgement was
faulty and that the court lacked juris-diction to entertain the
fun-damental human rights suit filed by the respondent.
While Oloruntoba ad-mitted that exhibits 1 and 2 (results of
various scan con-ducted on Baba Suwe) were public documents, he
con-tended that exhibit 3 (photo-graph of drug defecated by a drug
trafficker) was not a public document.
But the respondents law-yer, Bamidele Aturu urged the court to
dismiss the ap-peal and affirm the judge-ment of the lower
court.
Describing the appeal as unmeritorious, Aturu argued that all
the exhibits tendered by NDLEA before the lower court ought to have
been certified true copies.
Describing the exhibits presented by NDLEA as worthless, Aturu
added that up till yesterday, the agency had not filed any charge
against Baba Suwe.
NDLEA had, in its eight-page notice of appeal, stat-ed that the
trial judge erred in law when she held that NDLEA was not justified
in detaining Baba Suwe from the day of his arrest (Octo-ber 12,
2011) till October 21, 2011 when the Federal High Court order to
detain him was obtained.
The appellant further said
2015: Well push out PDP Buhari, Tinubu
Oyo moves to address irregularities in teachers salaries
Ekiti jerks up cost of Ado-Ifaki road construction to N11bn
Baba Suwe: Appeal Court reserves judgement
that the PDP should start to prepare to be in the opposition
from 2015 as the government to be formed by the APC would be
people-cen-tred.
Former governor of Kano State, Mallam Ibra-him Shekarau, said
that the merger of political parties was the best that had ever
happened to Ni-geria, adding that there was no going back until an
alternative good gov-ernment was provided to the people of
Nigeria.
In his goodwill mes-
sage, former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes
Com-mission, EFCC, and ACN presidential can-didate in 2011
elections, Nuhu Ribadu noted that the birth of a new political
system, chris-tened APC will give a new hope to Nigerians and the
era of corrup-tion which has been the hallmark of the ruling party
will be a thing of the past.
Some of the other dignitaries at the event were; Governor Adams
Oshiomole (Edo), Chair-
man of the merger committee, Chief Tom Ikimi; ACN National
Secretary, Senator Law-al Shuaibu, the partys national publicity
sec-retary, Alhaji Lai Mo-hammed; former gov-ernors Olusegun Osoba
(Ogun), Niyi Adebayo (Ekiti), Chris Ngige (Anambra), John Oye-gun
(Edo) and Achike Udenwa (Imo), Senate Minority leader, George
Akume, ACN members of National and States House of Assembly and
former PDP chairman, Chief Audu Ogbe.
The Oyo State Gov-ernment has begun moves to address the
perennial irregularities in teachers salaries and other issues
affecting the educa-tion sector.
This was part of the agreements reached at a meeting between the
state government and the lead-ership of the state chapter of the
Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT).
The meeting, presided over by the Commissioner for Education,
Mrs. Ad-etokunbo Fayokun, had in attendance the Commis-sioner for
Finance, Mr. Zacheaus Adelabu, offi-cials of the State Teaching
Service Commission (TES-COM), State Universal Edu-
cation Board (SUBEB) and Management Information Centre
(MIC).
Part of the issues ad-dressed at the meeting, according to a
statement issued in Ibadan by the Spe-cial Adviser to the Gover-nor
on Education, Dr. Festus Adedayo, was the non-pay-ment,
under-payment, over-payment and wrong credit-ing of teachers
accounts.
Others issues, accord-ing to the statement, included the need
for li-brary/resource centres in schools, the need for pro-motion
of graduate teach-ers in primary schools to Grade Level 15, fencing
of schools, recruitment of se-curity personnel for public schools,
enhanced teach-
ers vehicle and housing loan facilities and gazetting of
teachers appointment for ease of retirement.
The meeting directed TESCOM and MIC to be-gin immediate review
and reconciliation of all op-erations regarding the pay-ment of
teachers salaries in order to correct the ir-regularities.
The government also agreed to effect the out-standing 2009
promotion of primary school teach-ers with immediate effect, while
the implementation of 2010 promotion would follow thereafter.
The balance of 2012 leave grants to teachers on Grade Levels 13
and 14 would also be paid.
UPN: Whats Fasehun up to?
Iyanya moves from Tonto Dike and Yvonne Nelson to Emma Nyra?Str8
Up Hip-Hop honours Weird MC, SashaTito Da Fire returns againX
Factor storms Abuja
We the members of the UPN at that time are trying to understand
what Fasehuns UPN is all about. So, apparently, we are watching the
situation.-Director of Organisation of the defunct UPN and Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, Chief Ebenezer Babatope
He (Fasehun) is welcome to the arena. Lets see how many votes he
is going to garner. How can you start thinking that ACN will be
afraid of a party that is just coming in, when the Peoples
Democratic Party that is sponsoring it has not been able to make
headway in the South-West? We are not afraid of any political party
coming into the South-West. -Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Publicity
Secretary, ACN.
There is nothing bad for Dr. Frederick Fasehun to resuscitate
UPN. Based on the antecedents of that party, it is a good party but
the way we see things for now, we realise that we still have a lot
of challenges. -National Coordinator of OPC, Otunba Gani Adams
Adokiye
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condition not redeemable? If it is about cutting cost, are students
not paying for the exams? Can WAEC continue to shoulder all the
responsibilities without committing errors?
NECO: An exam body in its twilight?
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invitation to early death through cancer. Reason: Medical experts
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the trial judge erred in law and misdirected herself on facts
when she held that the act of the NDLEA in detain-ing Baba Suwe for
nine days were a flagrant abuse and infringement of his
funda-mental human rights.
Besides, the appellant argued that the lower court erred in law
when it ordered it (NDLEA) to pay the appli-cant N25 million as
compen-sation and that the appellant should publish a public
apol-
ogy in two widely read na-tional newspapers.
Justice Idowu had or-dered the agency to pay Ba-batunde Omidina
the sum of 25 million naira as compen-sation for detaining him for
several days over allegation of drug trafficking.
Dissatisfied, the agency in December 2011filed a motion for stay
of execution of the verdict which was refused by the court.
In a ruling on March 2, the
lower court refused the ap-plication on the ground that the
applicant was granted a conditional stay of execu-tion pending the
determina-tion of the appeal.
It added that the judge-ment sum of N25 million should be paid
to the Chief Registrar of the La-gos State High Court who will in
turn pay it into an account with any repu-table bank agreed by both
parties.
CONTINUED FROM 6
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National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net10 Friday, April 19,
2013South West
Though journalists were prevented from en-tering the house, a
team of prayer warriors was sighted living the building after
praying for about an hour for Bamigbetans re-lease.
Also at the premise yesterday were the wife of the Speaker of
Lagos State House of Assembly, Adeyimi Ikuforiji and the
immediate past chairman of Ejigbo LCDA.
Sources in the family said they were becoming more jittery and
appre-hensive.
One of them said: The more the delay, the more apprehensive the
wife and children become. People have been coming; prayers have
been offered but what is important is
that he is found. I cannot say whether the kidnap-pers are still
contacting the family but even if, it will be dangerous disclos-ing
that in the public.
Nobody will tell you that the extent of which the negotiation
with the kidnappers or what the security people are doing so as not
to jeopardise his safety and release.
Bamigbetan: We dont need your assistance, police warn OPC
Im ready to contest Ekiti guber Omoyeni, ex-WEMA MD
TUNBOSUN OGUNDARE
No fewer than 140,000 primary six students in both public and
private primary schools across Lagos State will be sitting for this
years placement test otherwise known as common entrance
exami-nation tomorrow.
The exam centres are spread across the 20 local governments and
the 37 local development council areas.
The Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye, told
National Mirror that the State Uni-versal Basic Education,
SUBE, the government agency in charge of pri-mary education, had
pre-pared very well to conduct a hitch-free examination, the result
of which would form the basis of admit-ting students into the
sec-ondary schools in the state in the next academic ses-sion.
Speaking through the ministrys spokesman, Mr. Lanre Bajulaiye,
the com-missioner said the candi-dates would be tested on such
subjects as English Language, Arithmetic, So-cial Studies and so
forth.
She urged them to get to their centres before the commencement
of the ex-aminations.
ABIODUN NEJOADO EKITI
Women in Ekiti State have said they would not allow the death of
the for-mer Deputy Governor, Mrs. Funmilayo Olayinka, to rob them
of the position.
The women, under the aegis of National Council of Women
Societies, NCWS, and International Federa-tion of Women Lawyers,
FIDA, advised men eyeing the position, which became vacant
following Olayinkas death on April 6, to forget the ambition and
rather pitch their tent with women.
Although they said they were still mourning their departed
Amazon, the
women said they would, at the appropriate time, root for a woman
of substance to emerge as replacement for the late deputy
governor.
The President of NCWS in Ekiti State, Evangelist Adenike
Obatayo, who said the office had always been a source of pride to
women in the state since inception of Governor Kayode Fay-emis
administration, said the council, an umbrella body of women
associations in the state, would do all things possible to ensure a
woman gets the position.
Obatayo, who said there were abundant virtuous and quality women
in the state who could occupy the position, advised the men
who had been indicating interest in the position to steer clear
of the office.
She said: This govern-ment and the Action Con-gress of Nigeria,
ACN, are gender-sensitive. The posi-tion is for woman and that is
what we will root for. Women in Ekiti State have always advocated
equality in terms of distribution of offices. So, men should stay
away from what belongs to us.
Likely replacement for the late deputy governor, ac-cording to
sources in ACN and the government, include the Chairman of the
State Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB, Mrs. Modupe Adelabu
(who is a professor);
former Commissioner for Tourism and now Special Ad-viser to the
governor, Alhaji Ayodele Jinadu; former Ado Council Chairman and
Fay-emis aide, Chief Bisi Egbey-emi. All of them are natives of
Ado-Ekiti, the home town of the late deputy governor.
Although Senator Baba-femi Ojudu last weekend denied eyeing the
deputy gov-ernorship position, sources have continued to mention
his name as one of the likely successors, just as some in-terests
said consideration of a woman like the Provost of College of
Education, Ikere-Ekiti, Prof. Francisca Aladejana, would be a wise
decision in view of her per-formance.
ADEOLU ADEYEMOOSOGBO
Governor Rauf Areg-besola yesterday said his administra-tion had
spent over N1 bil-lion to boost agriculture in Osun State.
Aregbesola, who dis-closed this while meeting with the 332 ward
chairmen of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, in the state, said
agriculture was the backbone of any nation, promising that his
admin-istration would do its best to make it more effective in the
state.
He said there was hardly any state in the federation with low
level of value as Osun State that could boast of the kind of
achievements the state had recorded un-der his leadership.
Aregbesola, however,
encouraged the ward chair-men to stand firm and be prepared
for
harder work to make the state a model in the country.
The governor assured them that more spectacular progress would
be evident in the coming months.
Meanwhile, the forum of the chairmen has unani-mously endorsed
Aregbe-sola for a second term in office on the partys ticket.
The ward chairmen in a communiqu issued after a special meeting
of the fo-rum in Osogbo
to access the progress of the Aregbesola administra-tion in the
last 30 months, said that the government had banished poverty and
hunger, reduced unemploy-ment, promoted healthy liv-ing, communal
peace and progress and reformed the educational system.
140,000 pupils for Lagos common entrance tomorrow Deputy govs
position, our slot Ekiti women
Osun spends N1bn on agric Aregbesola
ABIODUN NEJOADO EKITI
Former Deputy Gover-nor of Ekiti State, Mr. Bisi Omoyeni, said
his quest to contribute his quota to the development of the state
informed his deci-sion to join the race for the governorship
election com-ing next year.
Omoyeni, a former Man-aging Director/Chief Exec-utive Officer of
Wema Bank, promised that if elected, he would ensure the
develop-ment of the state.
The governorship hope-ful, who said yesterday that he would
submit his letter of intent to contest for the Peoples Democratic
Party,
PDP, ticket in the election next month, promised to provide the
needed poten-tial-actualising leadership for Ekiti State.
Also, the Director-Gen-eral of the Bisi Omoyeni for Ekiti
Revival, BOFER, Mr. Obafemi Adewale, de-scribed the former deputy
governor and bank chief as the answer to problems of Ekiti
State.
Adewale said Omoyenis decision to contest the gu-bernatorial
election was borne out of his love for his people and desire to
contrib-ute to the development of man and society in general,
having performed a similar feat in all the places he had
served.
L-R: Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola; National Chairman,
Congress for Progressive Change, Chief Tony Momoh; Ogun State
Governor Ibikunle Amosun; National Chairman, All Nigeria Peoples
Party, Chief Ogbonnaya Onu and Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola,
at the National Convention of ACN to usher in the new party, All
Progressives Congress, in Lagos, yesterday.
National leader, Action Congress of Nigeria, Chief Tom Ikimi
(left) and former Kano State Governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Shekarau, at
the convention. PHOTOS: YINKA ADEPARUSI
FRANCIS SUBERU
Police said in Lagos that they would not need the assistance of
the Oodua Peoples Con-gress, OPC, to secure the release of the
Chairman of Ejigbo Local Council Development Area, LCDA, Kehinde
Bamigbetan.
The state Deputy Police Public Relations Officer, Ozoani
Damasus, said this while addressing journal-ists yesterday.
Reacting to the state-ment credited to OPC members that they
would work with the police to en-sure Bamigbetans release, Ozoani
said OPC was an outlawed group and could not work with a
constitut-ed authority.
He said: OPC is a banned organisation and it remained banned.
So, we are not aware of them working with us to secure Bamigbetans
release. We are yet to make any arrest for now but we are on top of
the situation. We have our strategy and we can-not disclose it in
public.
Let me assure you that police are on top of the situation and
efforts are on to ensure his immedi-ate release. There will be
proper briefing after his release.
However, prayer ses-sion continued to hold at the No 21, Ono Iwa
Mimo Street, Ori-Oke, Egbe, resident of the abducted chairman.
ACN CONVENTION
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National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 11South EastFriday,
April 19, 2013
L-R: Representative of the Minster of Education, Mrs. Christiana
Ahmed; Deputy Rector, Federal Polytechnic, Oko, Anambra State, Dr.
Don Mmuo and Rector, Prof. Godwin Onu, at the Workshop on Enhancing
Effective Leadership in a Polytechnic held in Oko, on Wednesday.
PHOTO: NAN
CHRIS NJOKUOWERRI
The All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, yesterday challenged
President Good-luck Jonathan and the National Vice-Chairman (South
East) of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Col. Augustine Akobundu
(rtd), to deny their involvement in the plot to impeach Imo State
Governor Rochas Okorocha.
The party said this while
reacting to the allegation by the Speaker of the state House of
Assembly, Rt. Hon Benjamin Uwajumogu, that he was offered N3
billion by Chief Martin Agbaso, elder brother to the impeached
deputy governor, Sir Jude Agbaso and Akobundu fol-lowing alleged
presidential directive to impeach Okoro-cha.
In a statement, the Imo State Chairman of APGA, Prince Okafor
Anyanwu, challenged Jonathan to
prove his innocence by disas-sociating himself and office from
the said plot.
Anyanwu also debunked earlier claims of 2015 agree-ment between
Okorocha and Martin Agbaso.
The chairman said the agreement purportedly signed by Okorocha
to hand over power to Agbaso after his first tenure was an insult
to the people of the state.
He said: We view this claim by Chief Martin Ag-baso of entering
into agree-
ment with His Excellency, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, to hand over
governorship of the state to his family as a slap on Imo
people.
How could two men ap-propriate the governorship of a state with
a teeming population of over five mil-lion people?
While questioning Ag-basos capacity to negotiate the 2015
governorship of Imo State on behalf of Ow-erri zone, Anyanwu said
he was being economical with
Okorochas impeachment plot: Let Jonathan deny his involvement
APGA
DENNIS AGBOENUGU
There was tension in Enugu yesterday fol-lowing the brutal
murder of a cleric, Rev. Vic-tor Nnaduagwu.
The incident occurred in the early hours of the day.
Until his demise, the pas-tor resided at No 1 Ilukwe Street,
Asata in Ogui Layout.
It was gathered that some residents of the street dis-covered
the lifeless body of
the pastor when they went to fetch water from the stream.
A source, who was pres-ent while sympathisers were pulling the
victim out from the stream, told our correspondent that the
de-ceased had bruises all over his body.
She said: Those who went inside the stream while he was being
pulled out said he had bruises in parts of his body. They said it
looked as if his killers used stone or nail to hit his face.
The source expressed dis-may over the murder of the pastor,
saying until his de-mise, he was securing the en-trance of Ilukwe
Street with his dogs.
According to her, relatives of the deceased travelled when the
incident took place.
Our correspondent, who visited Ilukwe Street yes-terday,
discovered that the residents had fled the area to avoid mass
arrest by the police.
Meanwhile, the state Pub-
lic Relations Officer, Ebere Amaraizu, has confirmed the
incident.
Amaraizu said in a state-ment that the Enugu State Command of
the Nigeria Police has commenced in-vestigations into the
circum-stances surrounding the alleged killing of Rev. Victor
Nnaduagwu of no 1 Ilukwe Street, Asata Ogui in Enugu State on
18/4/13.
He disclosed that the re-mains of the victim had been deposited
in a mortuary.
Governor Sulivan Chimes admin-istration has ap-proved the
recruitment of 355 health workers for sec-ondary health facilities
in Enugu State.
Briefing newsmen at the end of the State Executive Council
meeting in Enugu on Wednesday, the Com-missioner for Information,
Mr. Chuks Ugwoke, said the health workers would be de-ployed in the
seven district hospitals, three sub-district hospitals and the 41
cottage
hospitals in the state.He explained that the
recruitment would involve medical officers, nurses, pharmacists,
radiogra-phers, laboratory scientists, security guards and clerical
officers.
According to him, the re-cruitment is in line with the
commitment of the govern-ment to ensuring improved access to
quality healthcare delivery.
Ugwoke said the council also approved the renova-tion of the
State Indepen-
dent Electoral Commission office.
The commissioner dis-closed that the project would cost N29
million, noting that it was to create a conducive working
envi-ronment.
He said: The Executive Council today approved a draft bill for a
law to estab-lish the Enugu State Tour-ism Board to improve and
control tourism activities like hotels, fast foods and recreational
parks.
The bill will be sent to
the House of Assembly for consideration and possible
passage.
Ugwoke said a contract of N69 million had been awarded to an
Italian com-pany for the renovation and repair of the state liaison
office in Abuja.
He explained that the work, which would include re-roofing of
the building and landscaping of the premises, among others, would
help restore the con-fidence of occupiers of the building.
Tension over pastors murder in Enugu
Chime plans to recruit 355 health workers
Anambra State Gov-ernor Peter Obi has expressed concern over
current poor funding of the police.
Obi, who spoke in yester-day in Abuja while fielding questions
from State House Correspondents after a meet-ing of the Interim
Imple-mentation Committee on Police Reform, regretted the inability
of government to meet the 10 per cent capital requirements of the
police.
The meeting was pre-sided over by Vice-President Namadi
Sambo.
The governor said the meeting discussed ways of raising
additional funds for the force to enable it perform its duties
diligently.
He said: The issue is that the Nigeria Police Force is
underfunded, grossly, and this committee is trying to
help it to raise money.There can never be a sit-
uation where a country can-not even foot up to 10 per cent of
the capital requirements of the police.
Security is the most im-portant issue, for us today. You cant
talk about any-thing without security, and if that is the most
important issue, you should fund it, at least, reasonably.
Obi pledged that the state governments would con-tinue to
partner with the Federal Government to en-hance the performance of
the police.
The Minister of Police Af-fairs, Navy Captain Caleb Ol-ubolade
(rtd), who also spoke to the correspondents, said N20 billion had
been ear-marked in this years budget for the police transformation
programme.
GEORGE OPARAABIA
For Nigeria to effec-tively tackle emerging security challenges,
various security agencies in the country must work in synergy.
The Abia State Commis-sioner of Police, Alhaji Us-man Abubakar,
said this when he received members of the state Vigilante Group in
his office yesterday in Umuahia, the state capital.
Abubakar said collabo-ration among security or-ganisations was
essential for successful crime fighting in addition to other
factors.
The commissioner, who expressed happiness over the visit by
members of the group, said it was a mark of readiness on the part
of the outfit to join forces with the police in tackling security
challenges in the state.
Abubakar added that he
was willing to partner with the group and any other body to
ensure the security of lives and property.
He said: Though your work is voluntary, you have demonstrated
that you are willing partners in the secu-rity of lives and
property of Abia people.
I expect that members of Abia State Vigilante Group will join
the police in night patrols so as to ensure that criminals are
checkmated.
Abubakar urged the lead-ership of Abia State Vigi-lante Group to
recruit people with good character, noting, that some bad eggs
always want to take advantage of uniform organisation to commit
crimes.
The commissioner also told the leadership of the group to
regularly monitor the activities of its men to en-sure that the
good intention of government in establishing the outfit was not
defeated.
Poor funding of police worrisome Obi
Crime fi ghting requires security agencies cooperation CP
the truth.He said: Beyond de-
manding for a cash compen-sation of N450 million from Governor
Okorocha, Chief Agbaso hijacked prominent appointments meant for
Ow-erri zone, therefore, the un-founded claim of ceding the 2015
Imo State governorship to Chief Agbaso via the so-called agreement
should be disregarded.
Efforts to get Akobundu to react to the Speakers allega-tion did
not yield fruit as he
refused to pick his calls.But the state PDP Public-
ity Secretary, Chief Byden Amajirionwu, denied any collaboration
between the Presidency and APGA on the alleged impeachment
plot.
He said: Akobundu, who has been accused of leading the
delegation, was not even present during the visit and how can we
visit a President over the impeachment of a governor, is Mr.
President the state House of Assembly?
-
National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netFriday, April 19,
2013News12
Some residents of Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, have
decried the high rent rates in the city.
The residents told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday
that they were facing a lot of hardship because of the high
rates.
They said governments intervention was necessary to tackle the
challenges of housing in the state.
NAN reports that a one-room self-contained apart-ment costs
between N150, 000 and N200, 000 per an-num, while one-bedroom
apartment costs between N250, 000 and N350, 000 per annum,
depending on the location.
A two-bedroom apart-ment is being given out at between N400, 000
and N500, 000 per annum.
Mr. Kelvin Onwuka, a civil servant, said the high rent charges
would drop if government could adequate-ly address some issues on
housing.
He said housing was a necessity to mankind and called on the
Federal Gov-
ernment to enact laws that would guide house rents across the
country.
Government should make laws to control and guide house rents and
ad-vance payments on accom-modation in this country.
Cost of accommodation in Port Harcourt is worri-some, especially
for civil servants and it increases year by year.
There should be mutual understanding between government and
landlords to address issues on hous-ing in the state, Onwuka
urged.
Mrs. Chinelo Friday, an-other resident, who is a trad-er also
frowned at the high cost of housing in the state and advised the
state govern-ment to urgently address the issue.
Friday said the rising cost was caused by activities of fake
property agents and greedy landlords.
Advanced payment for apartments in Lagos goes between six months
and one year, but here in Port Har-court, you pay either one, two
or three years, depending on
the landlord, she said.She urged state and Fed-
eral Governments to enact laws to control house rents and
specify the number of years allowed for advanced payments.
An estate agent, Mr. Ber-nard Chinda, supported the call for the
provision of a law to control rents.
The reason here is that the popular face me, I face you is no
longer in demand; most of the houses have been transformed to
modern structures.
People usually say that agents are fully responsible for the
increase in house rents, but that is not true, because we cannot
rent an apartment beyond what the landlord is demanding, Amadi
said.
NAN reports that rent charges have been on the increase in the
city as some landlords embarked on the conversion of their old
hous-es to modern ones.
Many landlords in the city have converted their old houses to
one-room self-contained, one-bedroom and two-bedroom flats.
Coordinator of Edo in Safe Hands, a non-governmental
organisation, Mr. Morris Ovia, has called on the peo-ple of Edo
State to vote for credible candidates in the April 20, local
council poll.
Ovia told the News Agen-cy of Nigeria (NAN) in Be-nin yesterday
that council election is grass-roots affairs and residents know the
ter-rain and should be able to choose the leader they trust.
Not just a leader, but the
one who will complement the efforts of Governor Ad-ams
Oshiomholes govern-ment in the area of infra-structure
development.
Ovia, however, said that members of his organisation had carried
out enlightenment campaigns across the three senatorial districts
in the state.
We campaigned on the qualities of a leader, what to look at when
making a choice and how to vote in or-der for the vote to be
valid.
He warned against those,
who would sell their votes for money, adding that the choice of
their leaders would determine the development in their
communities.
Do not vote for imported candidates, who will operate from the
cities, but some-body, who knows and feels the pains of what you
are in need of, or lacking.
Cast your vote according to your conscience, not for sentiment
and by so doing, development will extend to your door steps, he
advised.
MARCUS FATUNMOLEABUJA
Vice-President Nama-di Sambo, yesterday gave reasons why the
feud between the Nige-rian Police and the Nigerian Security and
Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, lingers.
Sambo blamed the crisis between the two agencies on the failure
of the nations constitution to state explic-itly the roles of the
NSCDC.
The vice-president made the remark at a meeting of the Interim
Implementation Committee on the Reform of the Nigeria Police, which
held in Abuja.
Responding to a question from the Inspector-General of Police,
IGP, Mr. Moham-med Abubakar, on the over-lap of functions between
the Nigerian Police and other related agencies such
as the NSCDC, Vice-Presi-dent Sambo pointed said; The NSCDC was
legally established by an Act of the National Assembly with
de-fined legal statutes but their functions are yet to be prop-erly
established.
Sambo therefore directed that the committee assist in resolving
the feud by looking into areas of conflict in roles between the
agencies and the police with a view to de-fining them
accordingly.
It will be recalled that the two security outfits recently
tackled each other over al-leged battle to rescue oil bun-kerers in
Lagos, last month, where the NSCDC lost two of its personnel and
blamed the killing on the police.
Vice-President Sambo at the meeting directed the po-lice to work
out modalities that will facilitate the con-clusion of additional
works
to enable the utilisation of the proposed Public Security
Communication Network on the 450 MHz frequency.
He emphasised the need to utilise the frequency to foster
progress in the fight against insecurity in the country. He noted
that the police should go ahead and use the fre-quency while the
Inspector-General of Police continues to discuss with the company
and the ICC to see how pend-ing issues will be resolved.
Earlier, Minister of Police Affairs, Caleb Olubolade, informed
the vice-president that the Strategic Plan for the Reform Programme
run for private sector partici-pation had been prepared. Based on a
rundown given by Messrs Accenture, the plan is about to be opened
up now to a larger body of stake-holders slated for the second
quarter of 2013, he said.
TERH AGBEDEH
Stakeholders in the Arts and Culture in-dustry have called for
the resignation of the Min-ister of Tourism, Culture and National
Orientation, Chief Edem Duke and the General Manager of the
Na-tional Theatre, Kabiru Yu-suf, asking them to tender their
resignations without further delay.
The group, under the auspices of the Artists Col-lective,
comprising the As-sociation of Nigerian Au-thors, ANA, Lagos
chapter; the Guild of Nigerian Danc-ers, GONG; Actors Guild of
Nigeria, AGN; Radio, Television and Theatre Arts Workers Union,
RATTAWU; Directors Guild of Nigeria, DGN; Society of Nigerian
Artists, SNA; the Univer-sal Studio of Artists, USA, among
others, made the call yesterday, following the Fed-eral Governments
plan to concession the premises of the National Theatre to pri-vate
profiteers.
They said the National Council for Arts and Cul-ture, NCACs
Artists Vil-lage, which is under threat as a result of the
develop-ment, is perhaps the most exciting development in the
cultural sector in Nigeria in the last