-
Super Eagles players training ahead of the second round match
with France in Brazil today. INSET: Coach Stephen Keshi with the
players.
Vol. 4 N0. 884 Monday, June 30, 2014 N150
P.2
P.53
P.7
TOLA AKINMUTIMIABUJA
The deadline set for remittance of out-standing Value Add-ed
Taxes, VAT, deducted by power sector operators by
the Federal Inland Revenue Service , FIRS, and the Na-tional
Electricity Regula-tory Commission, NERC, expires today.
The deadline is part of the collaboration between
CONTINUED ON PAGE 5>>
Free inside
FG realises N669bnfrom privatisationRevised standards:SON gives
April 2015 deadline to fl our millers
BUSINESSTHE SECTION
Free iinsiiinsidededede
sP.A4,A5
Okonjo-Iweala P.54World Cup disaster: Ghanaian President calls
for probe
VAT remittance deadline for power fi rms expires
Newly-launched trains develop faults, disappoint commuters
Air transport workers threaten to strike
P.8
CONTINUED ON PAGE 5>>
Crisis hits Super Eagles' supporters club
Jonathan fl ays Bauchi attack, mass killing in Kaduna
Terrorists attack churches in Chibok, kill 51
About 250 mem-bers of the Nige-ria Football Sup-porters Club,
NFSC, will miss watching the match between Nigeria and France in
Brasilia today as they had to leave Bra-zil yesterday for
Nigeria
due to paucity of funds.According to some ag-
grieved members, the return ticket for most members of the club
was for June 29 and others for July 1, but the leadership did not
notify the affected
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Battle of Brasilia: Nigeria, France in do-or-die game
-
Police alert over plot to cause mayhem in Edo
Activist commends confab for recommending true federalism
OBIORA IFOH, INUSA NDAHI AND ROTIMI FADEYI
No fewer than 51 peo-ple, mostly Chris-tian worshippers, were
feared dead in Chibok and Biu communities in Borno State yesterday
as suspected Boko Haram in-surgents armed with explo-sives attacked
some church-es.
Five churches, including COCIN, EYN and Deeper Life Bible Church
in Kwada village, about 10 kilometres from Chibok Local Gov-ernment
Area, were razed during that attack, which occurred during Sunday
services.
At Chikwarkir village in Biu Local Government Area, a resident
Mallam Audu Zira, told our corre-spondent on the phone that some
terrorists came in pick- up vehicles and mo-torcycles and opened
fire on people, killing one per-son before setting houses, a
pick-up van and food stuffs ablaze.
The attackers, accord-ing to report from locals in Chibok,
targeted the time that the people were in church for the Sunday
wor-ship.
They killed and burned houses after attacking wor-shippers in
five churches in Kwada and advanced to Kautikari less than eight
kilometres to Chibok town, killing and burning down houses and
properties.
As at now, we do not know about the efforts of the security
operatives. In fact, even those who fled into the bush are being
pursued and killed by the murder-ers, Mallam Amos Bulus told our
correspondent.
The attackers went to churches with bombs and guns, Timothy
James, a Chibok resident, said.
From what I gathered, dozens of worshippers, in-cluding men,
women and children, were killed.
He said that his informa-tion came from people who fled the
affected area and through phone calls.
Enoch Mark, an outspo-ken Chibok leader since the April 14
kidnapping, gave a similar account. Presently, as we are talking
now, we are under attack. We cannot tell the number of dead bodies.
I was told the attackers burnt at least three churches to the
ground.Mark added that the mili-
tary had not responded to distress calls after the attack
began.
It was gathered from another source that people had started
fleeing Chibok, following the news of the attacks in Kwada and
Kauti-kari.
A few weeks ago, there was panic in Chibok fol-lowing a letter
purportedly written to the people by the sect members informing
them of their plans to attack the local government again.
A police officer, Peter Maina, was called out from church during
service in Maiduguri to be informed that his brother was killed at
Kwada when the insur-gents attacked the village.
Efforts to reach the spokesman of the Borno State Police
Command, Gideon Jibrin, were un-successful as his line was switched
off at the time of filling in this report.
Meanwhile, the All Pro-gressives Congress, APC, has said that
terrorist at-tacks in Abuja and Bauchi that killed at least 37
people and injured many others have portrayed the action of Boko
Haram sect as de-spicable and inhuman in its misguided terror
campaign.
In a statement in Lagos yesterday by its National Publicity
Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party repeated its earlier
state-ment that nothing could jus-tify the spilling of the blood of
innocent citizens. It called on the Federal Government to review
its strategy for the fight against terrorism, saying whatever was
being done now was definitely not working.
''Whatever strategy being used by this Federal Govern-ment is
not yielding enough positive results. Otherwise, these terrorists
would not have gone from carrying out their attacks on the
out-skirts of a city like Abuja, for example, to exploding a bomb
right in the heart of the city as was witnessed in Wuse 2 last
week,'' APC said.
The party wondered why Abuja had remained so vulnerable to such
attacks, considering the millions of naira reportedly spent on the
CCTV project that was supposed to help secure the city.
It said that instead of reaching out across partisan lines as
the opposition had
suggested several times, the Federal Government had resorted to
chasing shadows while the killing of innocent citizens
intensified.
APC also described the treatment meted out to pil-grims
travelling to Saudi Arabia for lesser Hajj from the Maiduguri
airport as an-other in a series of shadow-
chasing by the government, which would rather misuse national
institutions to flex muscles against innocent citizens than tackle
the ter-rorists headlong.
The party said forcing the pilgrims to travel by road from
Maiduguri to Kano to be airlifted was callous and
poorly-thought-out, consid-
ering the dangers they were likely to face on the road.
APC advised the Federal Government to stop wasting public funds
on image laun-dering because no good ad-vert could sell a bad
product.
Meanwhile, President Goodluck Jonathan has con-demned last
Friday's bomb-ing in the Bayan Gari area
of Bauchi State and the re-cent mass killings in South-ern
Kaduna.
In a statement yesterday by the Special Adviser on Media and
Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, the President also commiserated with
the families who lost loved ones in the heinous attacks and
Terrorists attack churches in Chibok, kill 51
CONTINUED ON PAGE 5>>
Part of the makeshift bridge at Apete in Ibadan where 10 people
were suspected to have drowned, when the bridge collapsed after a
downpour, on Saturday. PHOTO: NAN
SEBASTINE EBHUOMHANBENIN
The Nigeria Police Force, Edo State Command, yester-day raised
the alarm over plans by some people to unleash violence,
destruc-tion and death on citizens of the state following the
crisis rocking the State House of Assembly.
A statement signed by the Acting Police Public Relations
Officer, Noble Uwoh, and made avail-able to our correspondent
warned those planning mayhem in the state to de-sist or be
prepared to face the wrath of the law when caught.
The statement reads in part: It has come to the knowledge of the
Edo State Police Command that certain mischievous elements in the
state are planning to capitalise on the crisis in the Edo State
House of Assembly to car-ry out mayhem and wan-ton destruction of
lives and property on Monday, June 30, 2014 (today).
The command wishes to advice members of the Edo State House of
As-sembly to abide by the agreement entered into by all the
contending parties not to sit separately in the hallowed chambers
of the assembly.
The Edo State Police Command is using this medium to warn all
poli-ticians, party support-ers, political thugs and miscreants who
have no business in the House of Assembly to stay clear from the
premises and its
environs as such persons will be arrested and pros-ecuted.
The good people of Edo State are, therefore, encouraged to
continue to be law abiding and go about their lawful busi-nesses
without fear of any molestation.
There has been a dead-lock at the Assembly for the past two
weeks now over the suspension of four of the 24 lawmakers for
alleged misconduct, re-sulting to the creation of two lawmaking
factions.
A rights activist, Mr Alagoa Mor-ris, has hailed the National
Conference for adopting the recommen-dation of its Committee on
Politics and Gover-nance for a true federal structure in the
country.
Morris, who reacted to the adoption in Yenagoa yesterday, told
journal-ists that the recommen-dation of a true federal structure
was a welcome development.
He, however, pointed out that the adoption would be an exercise
in futility if it precluded fiscal federalism which emphasised
resource ownership and payment of tax to the central gov-ernment by
the federat-ing units.
If the states are truly going to be the federating units, then
let other fea-tures of true federalism be also allowed.
With true federal-
ism, all the states will be entitled to develop their resources
and the states will in turn recognise those on whose land and
environment the resourc-es are found and exploit-ed, he said.
The activist, who is the immediate past Secretary of the Civil
Liberty Or-ganisation in the state, said the recommendation was apt
and timely.
He said the country had been held under the
grip of a retrogressive unitary structure under the guise of
federalism.
Morris expressed the hope that a true federal structure would
also ex-punge all the vestiges of a unitary system, includ-ing the
Land Use Act and the Petroleum Act.
Let us do away with the present unitary sys-tem and go for true
fed-eralism with all the rami-fications that count, he said.
National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net2 Monday, June 30,
2014News
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3Monday, June 30, 2014National
Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net
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National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net4 Monday June 30,
2014Photo News
Olusegun KOiKi
More facts have emerged as to why President Goodluck Jonathan is
yet to forward the name of Capt. Muktar Usman as the substantive
Director-Gen-eral of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA,
to the Senate for confirma-tion.
Usman was announced as a replacement for Capt. Fola Akinkuotu in
March 2014, following the sweep-ing off of three other chief
executive directors in the agencies by the Presidency.
A source, who does not want his name mentioned, told our
correspondent that the torrents of petitions against Usman since
the announcement was made was one of the major rea-sons Jonathan
was dilly-dallying in forwarding his name for confirmation.
Also, the source told our correspondent that most of the
petitioners were Us-
tain in Chanchangi Air-lines after the liquidation of the
carrier.
When contacted on phone to comment on the delay in confirming
his appointment, Usman said that there was a process for appointing
the Director-General of NCAA, and that the Civil Aviation Act was
very clear on this.
He insisted that the pro-cess was ongoing, main-taining that
government was doing what it was sup-posed to do on the matter.
He, however, feigned ignorance on the petition written against
him by his former colleagues in the de-funct Nigeria Airways.
He replied, I am not aware of any petition.
Meanwhile, the Aviation Network International, ANI, has
castigated the leading union in the Nige-rian aviation industry,
Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Ni-geria,
ATSSSAN, over its threat to disrupt activities in the sector if a
substan-
mans colleagues in the defunct Nigeria Airways, where he spent
18 years as a supernumerary pilot.
Besides, the petitioners queried his competence as a
Director-General of NCAA, saying that for him to have spent 18
years as a supernumerary without being in command of an aircraft
called to question his capacity to manage a highly rated agency
like the NCAA.
The source further in-formed our correspondent that the Ondo
State gover-nor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, might have used his
close-ness to the Presidency to finally scuttle the approval of
Usman as he expressed displeasure with the re-moval of the former
DG NCAA, Akinkuotu, by the presidency.
Akinkuotu is an indi-gene of Ondo State and only spent five
months as the DG of the regulatory agency out of the expected five
years approved tenure.
Jonathan was said
tive Director-General was not confirmed for NCAA, within 21
days.
The President of ANI, Mr. Thompson Obafemi speaking in Lagos
over the weekend said such threat by ATSSSAN was not in the
interest of the aviation industry in particular and the nation in
general.
Rather than threaten the government, ANI chal-lenged the union
to contrib-ute meaningfully to the de-velopment of the
industry.
Obafemi insisted that the role of the unions in a civil society
was not to usurp the responsibility of any elected leaders, by
unfairly twisting govern-ments arms to dictate im-plementation of
policies or functions, stressing that ev-ery President in a
civilised world, has the prerogative of when to nominate and submit
the name of any nominee to the legislatures for confirmation.
He declared that even the legislature has the right to delay,
deny or approve
to have responded that he approved the sack of Akinkuotu, three
other CEOs and the redeploy-ment of the Commissioner of Accident
Investigation Bureau, AIB, Usman to NCAA following the
recom-mendations from the Avia-tion ministry.
There are indications that the president may eventually be
pressurised to drop him as an appoin-tee.
The source said, There are several petitions against Usman even
from his own colleagues in the former national carrier, Ni-geria
Airways who feel that he doesnt have the capacity to oversee such a
demand-ing agency in the Nigerian aviation industry. Even loyalists
of Akinkuotu are asking questions about his removal.
From all indications, he might not eventually be named as the
substantive DG of NCAA, but lets wait and see.
Usman became a Cap-
confirmation of relevant executive officers, warning that the
unions had no busi-ness in such processes.
Obafemi insisted that no vacuum had been created by having an
acting Direc-tor-General in the agency, maintaining that the
cur-rent acting Director-Gener-al, was a consummate and
accomplished professional, with vast multi-jurisdic-tional
international experi-ence of the industry.
Obafemi explained that the assertion that several legal and
vital documents and activities were being performed that might
be-come issues of contention and litigations in future, was a
disingenuous and untrue statement, stress-ing that if the union was
the protector of the Act, how come they stood silent when
Akinkuotus tenure was cut short for no just cause.
Obafemi further noted the need to address impor-tant issues like
merger in the industry.
Why NCAA is yet to get new DG
L-R: Managing Director, Asset and Resource Management Company
Ltd, Mrs Chioma Okigbo; Chief Executive Officer Mr Deji AIIi and
Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Mr Sadiq Mohammed during a
Customers Forum in Abuja, at the weekend. PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA
L-R: The Chairman, Childville Schools, Sir Kehinde Smith; Guest
Preacher, Bishop Okwudili Ossai; a parent and principal, Mr. Warren
Townsend; Proprietress, Mrs. Olugbeminiyi Smith and the Guest
Speaker, Dr. Ayo Teriba, at the 2014 graduation of the school in
Lagos, yesterday.
L-R; Chairman, Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc, Mallam
Suleiman Yahyah; Managing Director, Mr Kayode Oluwasegun-Ojo and
Vice Chairman Mr Denis Hasdenteufel, during the 33rd Annual General
Meeting of the Company in Abuja at the weekend. PHOTO: ROTIMI
OSASONA
L-R: C.E.O, Quantum Business School, Port Harcourt, Mr. Victor
Itanyo; MTN Eastern Operation Champion, Mr. Obinna Nweje; C.E.O
Swanu Creation, Mrs. Chinwe Eudora, and,M.D, Jumia Nigeria, Dr.
Jonathan Doerr, at the MTN Link Forum, Port Harcourt, at the
weekend.
National News
-
National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 5Monday, June 30,
2014 News
the organisations to ensure prompt remittance of taxes by power
sector operators in the wake of the take off of the Nigerian
Electricity Supply Industry, NESI.
At a joint workshop for stakeholders in the power
sector last week, both in-stitutions had agreed that while
discussions were on-going between stakeholders, the outstanding VAT
deduct-ed by the operators should be remitted to the Service not
later than today.
A statement by the Head,
Communications and Li-aison Department of the FIRS, Wahab
Gbadamosi, indicated that part of the ongoing discussions were that
capital items would be defined according to the standards of the
Interna-tional Financial Reporting
Standards, IFRS.Similarly, it was also
agreed that gas purchases would need to be treated under some
form of special dispensation such as input VAT suffered by power
Gen-erating Companies (GEN-COs) would be considered
under this dispensation.The Coordinating Min-
ister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala, told participants at the work-shop that VAT provided
an instant opportunity to mea-sure progress for the ongo-ing
transformation in the power sector.
Represented by the Per-manent Secretary in the Ministry, Mrs.
Anastasia Daniel-Nwaobia, the min-ister noted that the work-shop
would ensure there is a synergy between the two sectors in a manner
that enables FIRS plug into existing platforms in the in-dustry
with a view to build or deploying effecting tech-nology base system
that will enhance tax compliance and overall transactional
ef-ficiency in the sector.
The Acting Executive Chairman of FIRS, Alhaji Kabir Mashi,
remarked that the collaborative efforts were part of the anebcys
resolve to focus more on the need to grow non-oil rev-enue in order
to meet the developmental needs of the country.
He disclosed that the FIRS had earlier embarked on a similar
initiatives in the aviation industry, bank-ing sector, government`s
ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs); the
states through the Joint Tax Board ,JTB, and in the lo-cal
governments.
Mashi said there were ongoing arrangements with the Office of
the Accoun-tant General of the Federa-tion through the GIFMIS
platform and E-Tax Pay to source-deduct VAT from MDAs and remit to
the ap-propriate account.
The Ag. FIRS Chairman spoke about FIRS latest IT collection
platforms (the VAT Collect, the E-Tax Pay, and the Tax Calculator
and so on) and drew on specif-ics in the VAT Code with respect to
the power and en-ergy sector, adding that "on the other hand, we
want to get a good grasp of your pro-cess flows, your billing
sys-tem, the handling of your payments among others".
Prof. Chidi Onyia, the Chief of Staff, to the Minis-ter of
Power, Professor Chin-edu Nebo, who represented the Minister as
well as the Chairman of NERC, Mr. Patrick Umeh, assured that the
ministry was committed to ensuring transparency in the entire
process.
They also pledge to sup-port the FIRS in ensuring payment of
appropriate taxes in order to impart on the nations Internally
Generated Revenue, IGR, to lessen governments over dependence on
oil revenue.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2
Terrorists attack churches in Chibok, kill 51
Crisis hits Super Eagles' supporters club
Lawmaker canvasses improved welfare for police
VAT remittance deadline for power firms expires
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
L-R: Head, Retail Financial Services, Diamond Bank, Mrs. Aisha
Ahmad; Deputy Managing Director, Mr. Uzoma Dozie and Head,
Cor-porate Communication, Ms. Ayona Trimnel, during the DiamondXtra
Season draw in Lagos, at the weekend. PHOTO:ADEMOLA AKINLABI
extended his heartfelt sym-pathies to those who suf-fered
injuries or lost their properties during the wan-ton assaults on
Bauchi and Kaduna states.
Jonathan reassured the people that the Federal Gov-ernment would
continue to take all necessary action to apprehend the perpetrators
of the dastardly attacks and restore the fullest possible security
to all parts of the country. The President di-rected relevant
agencies to
continue to speedily make emergency medical and re-lief
assistance available to those who were injured or displaced by
recent bomb-ings and attacks.
He urged Nigerians to give maximum support and cooperation to
the armed forces and security agen-cies working to end the menace
of insecurity in the country within the shortest possible time.
The Bauchi incident oc-curred on the day Jonathan was at Emab
Plaza, Wuse
II in Abuja to assess the extent of damage after a bomb attack
at the plaza in which 24 people were con-firmed dead while others
were injured.
Jonathan had to cut short his trip to the 23rd Ordinary Session
of the Af-rican Union Heads of State and Government in Ma-labo,
Equatorial Guinea, following the Abuja bomb attack.
The President, who also visited Maitama District Hospital where
some of
the victims were receiving treatment, vowed that the
perpetrators of the crime would be brought to justice.
Jonathan described the bomb attack and terror-ism as one of the
darkest phases in the history of the country, stressing that the
nation would surely overcome the security chal-lenge.
He pleaded with Nigeri-ans to bear with the secu-rity operatives
in their ef-forts to ensure the safety of lives and property.
A Lagos lawmaker, Mr Sanai Agun-biade, yesterday canvassed
better welfare package for the police to enable them to discharge
their duty effectively.
Agunbiade, the Chair-man, Committee on Hu-man Rights and Public
Pe-titions at the State House of Assembly, told the News Agency of
Nigeria (NAN) improved welfare package would raise their
performance.
Whatever that can be done to improve the wel-fare of the
policemen is welcome.
A man that is keeping vigil to protect the people should be
encouraged in such a way that he would not see himself as a
ser-vant to whom he is pro-tecting, '' he said.
He urged authorities at all levels to take a cue
from the special fund es-tablished by the state gov-ernment in
assisting the police to discharge their duties.
Lagos State Govern-ment has tried to assist the police in
fighting crimes with the estab-lishment of the Security Trust Fund
contributed by stakeholders to equip the police," the lawmaker
said
Agunbiade (APC-Ikoro-du I) lauded the Federal Government for
renovat-ing the Police College, Ikeja, and urged the gov-ernment to
ensure that its package for policemen particularly the rank and
file got to them.
The lawmaker also called for adequate train-ing and retraining
for the police in a bid to tackle the security challenges facing
the country.
until Saturday, even as their flight was billed for 12:40am
yesterday.
Only 100 members of the club left Sao Paulo yesterday for
Brasilia, about 16 hours drive by road.
A member, who gave her name as Uju, said: We have enough funds.
Most of us paid N300, 000. I paid N300, 000 as money charged. I
spent N80, 000 as visa fee, but I was left in Nigeria and had to
spend another N350, 000 to get to Brazil.
"President Goodluck Jonathan gave the club N50m and our major
sponsors - Globacom, Guinness and even Alhaji Aliko Dangote.
Another member of the club, who gave his name simply as Oba,
said: I paid N300, 000, but since I got to Brazil I have been
feeding myself.
I have also spent my pocket money for all the trips on the road
to Cu-ritiba, Cuiaba, Porto Alegre and back to Sao Paolo. How can
the lead-ers arrange that we are
leaving after the group stage? Were they pessi-mistic about the
Super Eagles performance?
Another member, who also gave her name simply as Titilayo, said:
Even though they had made such arrangements, now that the Super
Eagles are in the Round of 16, the leaders are supposed to
reschedule our flights by extending it. When we get home, the
Pres-ident-General and the national chairman must explain to us
what they did with our money.
A member from the Lagos State chapter of the club, however,
not-ed that the crisis had resulted from what he called internal
crisis in the club.
He alleged that a fac-tion of the club had hoarded funds donated
by some multi-national organisations.
But the President-Gen-eral of the club, Dr. Rafiu Ladipo, who
admitted the crisis, said: Some mem-bers have to go for some of us
to still stay to sup-port the Super Eagles.
-
MARCUS FATUNMOLEABUJA
The Association of Medical Labora-tory Scientists of Nigeria,
AMLSN, has condemned doctors in the country for their op-position
to a recent circu-lar issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN,
au-thorising it to regulate the importation of In-Vitro
Diagnostics, IVDs, into Nigeria.
The group stated this at a briefing in Abuja at the weekend,
through its
President, Dr. Godswill Okara.
The CBN had recently issued a circular demand-ing that the
laboratory scientists take up the re-sponsibility of regulat-ing
the importation of IVDs, which hitherto had been done by the
National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Con-trol, NAFDAC,
and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, SON.
But doctors, under the aegis of the Nigerian Medical
Association, NMA, had kicked against
the CBNs directive, urg-ing the apex bank to with-draw the
circular.
The NMA, through its president, Kayode Obem-be, threatened that
doc-tors across the country would down tools, if the CBN refused to
withdraw the circular.
The planned strike might begin tomorrow, as the doctors two-week
ulti-matum on the matter and other demands from gov-ernment, ends
today.
IVDs comprise diag-nostic apparatus, namely reagent product,
reagent,
chemical calibrator, con-trolled material, kit, instrument,
apparatus equipment or system, whether used alone or in
combination, intended by the manufacturer to be used in-vitro for
the ex-amination of specimens, including blood and tissue donations
derived from the human body, solely or principally for the pur-pose
of providing infor-mation for diagnoses and treatment.
It is on record that close to 50 per cent of public health
in-vitro di-
ISE-OLUWA IGEABUJA
The Court of Appeal, sitting in Makurdi, Benue State, has ruled
that the Independent Corrupt Practices and Oth-er Related Offences
Com-mission, ICPC, has powers to investigate and prosecute cases
without receiving pe-titions.
The verdict had contra-dicted the position of the anti-graft
agency in the past that, unlike the EFCC, it could only investigate
and prosecute only contents of petitions filed before it.
Past Chairmen of ICPC, including former Supreme Court judge,
Emmanuel Ayoola, had touted this po-
sition severally in the past.But the ICPC, in the
recent past, has departed from the position.
A good instance is what it did in the instant case decided by
the Court of Ap-peal.
The ICPC had ap-proached the Court of Ap-peal, Makurdi Division,
on June 21, 2011, asking the court to set aside the rul-ing of
Nasarawa State High Court, discharging and ac-quitting the Chairman
of Toto local government and Director of Finance of the council, of
corrupt prac-tices.
Justice I. A. Ramalan, now a retired judge of the State High
Court, Lafia, Nasarawa State had, in his
ruling on May 20, 2008, dis-charged and acquitted the two
accused on 11-count charge of conspiracy to inflate prices of
stationer-ies and furnishing of false information, all contrary to
sections 26(1); 22[3]; 19; and 16 of the ICPC Act.
Counsel to ICPC, Enosa Omoghibo, in an applica-tion on June 13,
2011, asked the Court of Appeal to set aside the judgement of the
state high court.
The panel of justices of the Court of Appeal, Makurdi Division,
in a well considered judgement last Friday, ruled in favour of ICPC
on all issues submit-ted for determination.
One of the issues was whether the learned
judge did not err in law when he held that since in-flation of
items supplied to the local government was not part of the
allegations contained in the petition, investigating and
prosecut-ing the accused was an abuse of the commissions power.
The presiding judge, Obande F. Ogbuinya of the Court of Appeal,
in his judgement, citing sections 6(a) and 27(3) of ICPC Act, said:
The court noted that a petition is just a guide, and it is not
ultra vires, the powers of the com-mission to investigate and
prosecute offences outside a petition or initiate inves-tigations
and prosecutions without a petition.
ICPC can prosecute without petitions, says appeal court
Lab scientists slam doctors position on IVD importation
L-R: National Coordinator, Goodluck Initiative for
Transformation 2015, Mr. Chinedu Okpalanma; National Coordinator,
Women for Goodluck 2015, Hajia Fatima Adams and Director of
Finance, GIFT 2015, Mr Haruna Madisca, at a press conference on the
re-election bid of the president in Abuja, at the weekend.
PHOTO:ROTIMI OSASONA
agnostics, reagent test kits, chemical and equipment in the
Nigerian today are sub-standard, fake, expired or poorly stored and
distrib-uted.
It was in order to stem this ugly trend that the Medical
Laboratory Sci-ence Council of Nigeria, in
keeping with her statutory mandate and the Transfor-mation
Agenda of Mr. Pres-ident. decided to set up the ultra-modern Public
Health In-vitro Diagnostic Control Laboratory in Nigeria, the first
of such a specialised laboratory in Africa, the association
said.
A group, JOPAM Foundation for the Physically Chal-lenged,
yesterday said that the physically challenged in the country should
be given free education at all levels.
Its president, Mr. Joshua Ebubedike, stated this to the News
Agency of Nige-ria, NAN, in Lagos.
Ebubedike said that al-though primary and sec-ondary education
was free in some states, it should be extended to the tertiary
level.
The state and federal governments should look into the
challenges of edu-cating the physically-chal-lenged persons at the
ter-tiary level.
An average parent with a physically-challenged person cannot
afford the
fees of sending him or her to school because of the unfriendly
environment of mobility and unique needs, he said.
Ebubedike, who is also physically-challenged, said he was able
to acquire a degree in engineering at the university because his
parents could afford send-ing a driver to move him around.
He noted that due to the economic situation in the country, an
average parent cannot afford a pri-vate car to take their chil-dren
to the lecture halls or provide special brails for blind
persons.
It takes so much to manage a physically-challenged person from
the cradle, because we are handicapped and cannot exist without
assistance.
The Nigerian Avia-tion Handling Company, NAHCO, yesterday said
it handled 31,122 aviation ground ser-vices in 2013.
Its Head of Corporate Communications, Basil Agboarumi, made this
known in a statement in Lagos.
Agboarumi said that the company recorded an increase of 988
ground handling services in 2013, as against 30,134 flights
re-corded in 2012.
He attributed the in-crease to the companys mandate to expand
and improve services to its cli-ents.
The NAHCO spokes-man explained that the volume of passenger
flights handled by the firm stood at 27,226 in 2013, while it
handled 1,532,149 outbound and 1,455,042 in-
bound passengers during the same period.
Agboarumi said the company handled about 70 per cent of the
domes-tic and foreign airlines operating in Nigeria, add-ing that
it also recorded major breakthrough as it handled 3,600 cargo
flights in 2013.
He said that the compa-ny served about 40 of the 45
international flights that arrived daily into the country.
He added that, in 2013, the company handled 16,526 passenger
flights in both local and interna-tional wings of the Mur-tala
Muhammed Airport in Lagos.
According to him, NAHCO recorded 4,412 in Abuja; 817 in Kano;
3,389 in Port Harcourt; 479 in Kaduna; 1,525 in Uyo, and 78 in
Enugu.
NAHCO handled 31,122 ground services in 2013
NMA may begin strike tomorrow
National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netMonday June 30, 2014
6 News6
Group seeks free education for the physically challenged
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Visa regime puts Nigeria ahead of US, Europe
Air transport workers threaten to strike over welfare
In less than three weeks, not less than 140 foreign missions of
Nigeria would have begun a digi-tal visa processing regime that
will make her the first country in Africa to com-pletely digitalise
its visa acquisition procedure.
The new Visa regime, known as Nigeria Intelli-gent Visa
Administration, NIVA, would put Nigeria ahead of the United States
and the Schengen states of Europe, as the new e-visa vignette,
which is at the heart of the whole concept, though similar in
appear-ance to those used in those countries, is rated higher in
terms of installed secu-rity features.
Further information from the Interior Ministry, under which the
project was birthed and nurtured, also revealed that the new
visa administration would significantly increase the number of
genuine visi-tors, especially business people that are granted
en-try permit into the country per year from the current estimate
of over 400,000 per year. This is in view of the renewed interest
by foreign investors in the country since Nigerias economy was
rebased as the largest in Africa.
It has also been designed as a tool to prevent, track and
clampdown on for-eigners who come into the country with
unscrupu-lous motive masked in pho-ny investment portfolio.
The new visa vignette is fitted with security features that
carry the biometric data and other information of applicants that
could unveil every available information
about them prior to being granted entry permit into the country,
Nigerias Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, said when he vis-ited the
service provider in Abuja recently.
In cases where the per-son is granted a visa into the Nigeria,
he said, the NIVA visa would also help the respective authority
keep surveillance on them, e s p e c i a l l y where there is
suspicion that such a person may be engaging in activities that
compro-mise secu-rity of the country.
The visa vignette to be used in the new re-
gime is fitted with high profile tamper proof fea-tures. It is
being produced for Nigeria by a security printing firm owned by the
government of Aus-tria, Austria State Print-ing House, OSD
(Oster-reicuiche Staatddruckerei GMBH).
It was gathered that Ni-gerias minister of Interi-or earlier
made a personal
visit to Austria to vet the quality of the production, alongside
other technical staff of the ministry and gave it the nod.
Meanwhile, a NIVA air-port system has also been designed to
automate the entire visa issuing process and passenger clearance of
Nigeria Immigration Service.
To drive Visa on Arriv-
al programme, NIVA has also put in place a sophis-ticated
state-of-the-art visa on arrival lounge at our international
airport.
The lounge consists of an innovative automated, secure and
networked im-migration visa on arrival processing desk, electron-ic
passage control, and event monitoring facili-ties.
The Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria,
ATSSSAN, yesterday threatened to call out its members on an
industrial action, should the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority,
NCAA, fail to meet its de-mands.
The National Presi-dent of ATSSSAN, Ben-
jamin Okewu, issued the threat in a statement in Lagos, a copy
of which was obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN.
Okewu said the union had demanded that all pending issues on
work-ers welfare before the NCAA management should be resolved
before July 5.
It was gathered that
so many outstanding employees files on wel-fare matters,
allowances, travel claims, have been piling up on the desk of the
Director-General of the authority, Engr. Bene-dict Adeyileka, and
unat-tended to since the last 10 to 12 months, he said.
He expressed the unions displeasure with the way the
aviation
agencies were handling the 2014 staff training.
The ATSSSAN boss also demanded that the union should be
fur-nished with the staff training proposals by all agencies in the
aviation sector.
The agencies are NCAA, Nigerian Air-space Management Agency,
NAMA, Federal
Airport s Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, Accident Investigation
Bureau, AIB, and the Nigeria Col-lege of Aviation Technol-ogy.
Okewu argued that human capacity develop-ment in the sector
could not be ignored due to the expanding investment prospects and
safety chal-lenges in the industry
worldwide.He, however, called for
the full implementation of the approved condi-tions of service
for work-ers in the industry.
He said the union would move its national secretariat
temporarily to the NCAA headquar-ters until the issues of staff
welfare were re-solved.
AZA MSUEKADUNA
A political group under the auspices of PDP Southern Kaduna
Winning All, SOK-WINA, at the weekend called for an urgent end to
wanton killings in the southern part of Kaduna State.
A statement signed by the forum Chairman and Secretary, Hussaini
Dembo and Yohanna Allahmagani, respectively, said the continued
at-tacks in southern Kaduna were clear testimony that the
perpetra-tors were enemies of the state that do not want peace to
prevail in the zone and the state, despite the last peace pact
signed by warring par-ties early this year.
The statement also signed by the forums Publicity Secretary,
Mor-decai Sunday Ibrahim, advised in-dividuals to be security
conscious and should not to relent in prayers for God to expose
these attackers and their sponsors.
The statement read in part: The leadership and the entire
mem-bership of PDP Southern Kaduna Winning All forum wishes to
con-
demn in the strongest terms the recent attacks in some villages
of Sanga Local Government Area of Southern Kaduna zone of Ka-duna
State which resulted in the death and injury of many citizens
especially, women and children and the destruction of properties
worth millions of Naira.
As if the attack of June 24 was not enough, while the Kaduna
State government under the lead-ership of Governor Mukhtar Ra-malan
Yero is doing its very best to bring the situation under con-trol
by sending soldiers and po-lice to secure the area, and work
towards restoring lasting peace and prevent future reoccurrence,
fresh attacks were launched on the two villages of Paa and
Am-ber.
It is important to state here that we strongly believe that
those perpetuating these dastardly acts are clear enemies of Kaduna
State who do not want the citi-zens of the state to benefit from
the dividends of democracy, as no meaningful development can take
place in an atmosphere of crises.
PDP forum seeks end to killings in Kaduna
National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Monday June 30, 2014
National News 7News
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National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net8 Monday, June 30,
2014
Boladale BamigBolaOSOGBO
Governor Rauf Aregbesola has promised to pay N2bn as
compensation to owners who lost prop-erties to the urban re-newal
project in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, before the end of the
year.
The affected landlords and tenants were those who lost
properties along the popular MDS corridor, Fakunle-Olaiya axis,
Old-Garage-Igbona-Ayetoro, Ogbaagbaa,-Okefia-Rasco,
Ajegunle-Moshalashi Gaji to Orita Baba Onisekere, as well as
Railway Line axis in Osogbo.
While commending the peaceful manner with which the affected
people conducted themselves, while the separation exer-cise lasted,
the governor said that the pains and hardship the urban re-newal
project had brought to the people was felt by his
administration.
According him, the de-velopmental efforts of the government,
especially the urban renewal, was not an attempt to cripple peoples
businesses or in-
flict pains on their means of livelihood, but to fur-ther open
the state to the international world for desirable investment.
As at today, the admin-istration has paid about N812m as
compensation to some of the affected people. I have also ap-proved
a sum of N2bn as additional funds to those whose properties were
af-fected.
We promise that be-fore the end of the year all affected people
would have been duly compen-sated, Aregbesola said.
Speaking earlier, the Commissioner for Lands
Physical Planning and Urban Development, Mr. Muyiwa Ige,
disclosed that various sums of money had been paid to petty traders
whose shops were affected, adding that about 1,500 shops had
al-ready be allocated to own-ers of properties along the MDS
corridors.
In his remarks, the rep-resentative of the prop-erty owners, Mr.
Moshood Oladejo, appealed to the government to fulfil its promise
to the affected people, and reaffirmed their support for the
gov-ernment and the re-elec-tion bid of the governor.
L-R: Businessman, Chief Adekunle Ojora; brother to the late
Arisekola-Alao, Alhaji Abu Alao; Chief (Mrs) Ojuolape Ojora and
Minister of State for FCT, Jumoke Akinjide, during a condolence
visit to Arisekola-Alaos family in Ibadan, at the weekend.
PHOTO:NAN
BaBalola Yusuf
Less than two weeks after the Nigerian Railway Corporation, NRC,
launched two inter-city air-conditioned trains for use in Lagos,
they have started developing faults, National Mirror can
au-thoritatively report.
The trains, also referred as Diesel Multiple Engine, DME, have
started disap-pointing passengers as they frequently develop faults
while transporting passen-gers to and from their des-tinations.
The DME, launched by Vice President Namadi Sambo on the June 9,
dis-appointed passengers last Thursday evening and Fri-day morning,
as they devel-oped technical faults and were unable to move.
A commuter, Kamard-
een Agbaje, who spoke to our correspondent, said the DME
developed fault at Ito-ki, a suburb in Ogun State, on Thursday
while going to drop passengers at the Ijoko terminus in Ogun
State.
He said: On Thursday evening, while coming back from office, the
DME devel-oped fault, and it took many hours before we could get to
our destination.
Also, on Friday, the DME could not leave Kajola in Ogun State
for Lagos, as the spirited effort to make it work by engineers was
futile, forcing commuters to join the locomotive.
Another commuter, Ti-nuke Olawunmi, who spoke with our
correspondent with annoyance, said the corporation had wasted her
time as she had an appoint-ment to meet, but could not anymore due
to the break-down of the train set.
She said: This new train
set that was launched was convenient, no doubt, but it is too
early to start de-veloping faults, because I dont think there is
any explanation for a machine that is not up to two weeks it
started operation to start developing fault.
She, however, said the fault might be due to lack of routine
maintenance as prescribed by the manufac-turers, or the railway
man-agement procuring fairly-used engines for Nigerian to use.
Meanwhile, commut-ers have been casting as-persions on the newly
launched train sets, with many calling second-hand, purchased from
China.
They called on the Fed-eral Government to probe the management
of the cor-poration.
However, efforts to speak with the management of the corporation
proved
Newly-launched trains develop fault, disappoint commuters
Urban devt: Osun to pay N2bn compensation to victims
abortive as an SMS sent to the Public Relations Officer, PRO,
Lagos District of NRC, Ademuyiwa Adekanbi, was not replied.
It would be recalled that the Federal Government only recently
launched the two engines, at an elaborate ceremony where the Vice
President Namadi Sambo, the Deputy Governor of Lagos State,
Adejoke-Ade-fulure, and members of the National Assembly
commis-sioned them, amid fanfare.
Speaking during the commissioning, President Goodluck Jonathan,
who was represented by Sambo, pledged to bring the country rail
sector at par with the modern railways available in other countries
of the world.
He also disclosed his ad-ministrations readiness to bring in
more engines and air conditioned coaches for use by Nigerians.
aBiodun nejoADO EKITI
The Rector of Fed-eral Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti, Dr. Taiwo Akande,
has lamented that the protracted strike embarked upon by staff
unions in polytechnics and colleges of education across the country
has caused incalculable dam-age.
Akande said the indus-trial action had put most of the
institution on the brink of losing a whole aca-demic session which,
she observed, was very tragic.
The rector told journal-ists in Ado-Ekiti that it was important
for polytechnics to be accorded their right-ful place in the
education sector as done in United Kingdom and other coun-tries of
the world.
According to her, this is because polytechnic graduates, apart
from be-ing trained to have theo-
retical knowledge, are also groomed to have hands-on-skill and
technical knowl-edge in their chosen disci-plines.
Akande appealed to the staff unions in the poly-technics and
colleges of education sector presently at loggerheads with the
government to sheath their sword and come to a round-table
discussion.
This, she said, was to en-sure resolution of the crisis that has
led to the over one year strike in the nations polytechnic
system.
She was, however, opti-mistic that in the next five years, the
Federal Polytech-nic, Ado-Ekiti would have become a major player in
the nations education sec-tor.
The rector expressed assurance that the institu-tion would by
then be col-laborating for outstanding research with some
univer-sities, not only in Nigeria, but also across the globe.
Rector rues loss from poly, college workers strike
Kemi olaitanIBADAN
Following the loss of lives at Apete make-shift pedestrian
bridge on Saturday, angry youths, yesterday, attacked and
vandalised the work station of the contractor handling construction
of the Ijokodo-Apete road and the bridge linking the com-munities,
destroying equip-ment and property at the station.
It would be recalled that another flood incident was recorded in
Ibadan on Sat-urday, culminating in the loss of about 10 persons at
Apete area due to the sud-den collapse of make-shift bridge, which
the people in the area had been using since the collapse of the
main bridge in the August 26, 2011 incident, which claimed five
people, in-cluding three children of a woman said to be under
spiritual refuge at a church located at the Olodo river
boundary.
National Mirror learnt that the angry youths in the area stormed
the con-tractors station yesterday, destroying caterpillars,
of-fice equipment and other property belonging to the company.
While the angry youths broke into the work sta-tion and offices
within, hundreds of residents in the area were also seen at the
Apete end of the river bank waiting for rescue operation to
commence, while some of them were throwing stones and other objects
at a combine team
of security forces who stood ground at the Ijokodo end of the
road to maintain order.
One of the companys securitymen, Bassey Etum, said he had to run
for his dear life alongside five other colleagues when the irate
youths earlier came on Saturday night.
Another eyewitness, Tunde Emiola, said the youths were angered
by the slow pace of the con-struction company and in-creasing
number of deaths because of the dilapidated state of the
bridge.
He added that the riv-er was formed by many other rivers like
Ogun river, Eleyele river and so on, and that the collapsed bridge
was the only link between Ijokodo commu-nity and Apete, Ajibode,
Arula, Awotan, Olomo and other communities in the area.
Emiola added that the original bridge was swept away by a heavy
rain four years ago, and that efforts to replace it by the Oyo
State Government were still ongoing.
A policeman at the scene of the disaster said the youths were
hostile towards them, wondering why the people had to take laws
into their own hands.
A resident of Olodo area, Fatai Osuolale, said a white garment
church and some buildings built few metres away from the river bank
were submerged, result-ing in the loss of property, while five
people, including three children were carried away by the
flood.
Youths attack company over Ibadan flood
South West
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Kemi OlaitanIBADAN
The National Industri-al Court, NIC, sitting in Abuja, has
ordered Federal Ministry of Health, Federal Ministry of Labour and
Productivity and the At-torney General of the Fed-eration to
maintain the sta-tus quo in the crisis between the Medical and
Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria, MDCAN, and the Joint
Health Sector Unions, JOHESU.
The government, or its agents, were also ordered by the court
not to implement any agreements reached with any of the unions in
the health sector, until the case before the court is dis-pensed
with.
It also ordered that no party in the case before it, MDCAN or
JOHESU, shall embark on any strike until the motion, or notice,
which is already filed in the court is heard and determined.
This was part of the deci-sion of the NIC in suit no:
NICN/ABJ/177/2014 filed
by the Medical and Dental Consultant Association of Nigeria as
claimants while the Federal Ministry of Health, Ministry of Labour
and Productivity and Attor-ney General of the federa-tion were
defendants.
It will be recalled that the Federal Government had reportedly
granted conces-sions to JOHESU and As-sembly of Healthcare
Pro-fessional Association that include approval of consul-tancy
positions for support staff, abolition of Deputy Chairman, Medical
Adviso-ry Committee position and appointment of support staff as
directors.
But MDCAN while kick-ing against the concessions maintained that
politics should not be allowed to de-stroy the health sector
fur-ther, accusing JOHESU of pursuing strictly monetary rewards for
its members through their appointment as directors and consultants
and creation of autonomous departments rather than ac-tual practice
of medicine.
A copy of the NIC judg-ment which was given to
Medical workers vs FG: NIC orders stay of action
abiOdun nejOADO EKITI
Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, chief-tain and former National
Assembly mem-ber, Senator Ayo Arise, has said the decision of the
All Progressives Con-gress, APC, to go to court over the June 21
Ekiti State governorship elec-tion was borne out of its inability
to rig the poll.
This is even as the PDP is accusing the APC of plot-ting to
conspire with some Independent National Elec-toral Commission,
INEC, officials to manipulate bal-lot papers
and other materials used during the election, at the election
tribunal.
Arise said the step to approach the court, borne out of the
frustration and bitterness of APC, would amount to effort in
futility, as its rejection was shown at the poll in a transparent
manner.
The former lawmaker told journalists on phone: The defeat was so
resound-ing and the result was counted and announced in the
presence of all parties.
The reason APC mem-bers are bitter is that they were not allowed
to rig. Some of their members were apprehended with huge sums of
money with
which they intended to buy votes, he indicted.
Explaining that the APC was the architect of its own misfortune
as people no lon-ger liked to be oppressed by anyone, Arise said:
There is a new dawn in the South West and PDP is taking over.
Meanwhile, the PDP has alleged plan by the APC to conspire with
some INEC officials to manipulate bal-lot papers and other
mate-rials used during the June 21 governorship election, at the
Tribunal.
According to the State PDP Publicity Secretary, Pastor Kola
Oluwawole, in a statement in Ado-Ekiti yesterday, the APC is
not
new to what is known as ibo lehin ibo (voting after voting),
hence our decision to alert the public.
The PDP alleged that some unscrupulous INEC officials were
already being approached with millions of naira to carry out the
plan of voiding PDP votes, after which the APC would demand ballot
recount at the Tribunal.
Consequently, the party called on the INEC Chair-man, Prof
Attahiru Jega, to see to the safe-keep of the materials used during
the June 21 governorship election in Ekiti State, espe-cially the
ballot papers and voters registers on which accreditations were
done.
Ekiti: Why APC is going to court Arise
L-R: Circuit Steward (1) Wesley Cathedral, Olowogbowo Circuit,
Lagos, Chief Olaseinde Williams, presenting an award to the
representative of the National President, Nigerian Institute of
Public Relations, NIPR, Dr. Grace Achum and Mr. Nelson George, at
the 23rd Anniversary celebration of the Light Bearers of the
cathedral in Lagos, recently.
journalists in Ibadan yes-terday by the President of MDCAN, Dr
Olusegun Olu-wole, rejected the prayer of MDCAN to grant an order
of interim injunction to re-strain the defendants from carrying out
or giving effect to the decisions, resolutions and agreements that
were reached at a meeting that was held in Abuja between JOHESU and
Assembly of HealthCare Professionals Associations, AHPA, and the
Secretary to the Gov-ernment of the Federation, among others.
The court which was presided over by Justice M.N. Esowe, also
resolved to put all parties on notice and served court processes on
all parties rather than hearing the case exparte as requested by
MDCAN.
The judge, while adjourn-ing the case for hearing and
determination of the motion on notice, further ordered that no
parties shall proceed to any act in furtherance of any agree-ment
reached by the parties, which arguments form the kernel or subject
matter of
Francis suberu
Lagos State Govern-ment, at the week-end, shut down five
companies, an oil bun-kering hideout and sev-eral shops in the
Lagos metropolis, over environ-mental degradation.
Officials of the Zero Tol-erance Department of the Lagos State
Ministry of the Environment, escorted by policemen from the Lagos
State Taskforce on Envi-ronmental and Special Of-fences
(Enforcement) Unit, stormed several areas in the state to enforce
the clo-sure.
Areas where the en-forcement was carried out include Surulere,
Ijesha, Cele, Berliet, Anthony and Jibowu. The enforcement was led
by the Assistant Chief Scientific Officer, Ministry of the
Environ-ment, Ademola Adegbite.
At Anthony, Bertola Machine Tool Limited was shut down for
degrad-ing the environment with heavy duty equipment sta-tioned
along the road. The company was shut after it failed to comply with
the notice served on it by the ministry.
At Jibowu area, two trav-elling bus companies, Bon-way Motors
Nigeria Lim-ited and Ifesinachi Motor Industry Nigeria Limited were
shut for degrading the environment.
Bonway Motors was shut for parking and load-ing on walkway and
road-side, while Ifesinachi was sealed for deliberate
chan-nelisation of human faeces into drainage channel. The company
has a machine which it used in pumping the faeces right into
the
Degradation: Lagos seals five firms, others
bOladale bamigbOlaOSOGBO
Osun State Gover-nor, Rauf Aregbe-sola, has signed a Memorandum
of Under-standing, MoU, with an Australian mining firm, Andalusian
Mining In-dustry, for mining of gold deposits at Itagunmodi,
Ilesa.
Speaking during the signing of the MoU at Government House
Os-ogbo, over the weekend, Aregbesola said the Aus-tralian mining
firm had conducted a geological survey which confirmed that there
is a huge gold deposit in Ilesha.
The governor stated that the discovery has
presented the state with good opportunity to part-ner with
Andalusian in the breakdown, explora-tion and mining of gold in the
state, adding that the people would look for-ward to having maximum
advantage of the mining firms presence in the state.
He stated that govern-ment looks forward to speedy operation and
in-tervention in the prospect-ing for gold before the end of the
year and expressed hope that the state has joined the league of
non-oil mineral producing states in the country.
With your partnership in gold mining, which will in turn create
wealth for the immediate environ-
ment and the entire people of the state, you have a full partner
with us. I am joy-ous for the opportunity that our state will join
the comity of states that now mine mineral deposits, Aregbesola
said.
The governor, however, called on the company not to destroy
peoples means of livelihood and the en-vironment in the course of
prospecting for gold de-posit.
In his remarks, the Aus-tralian representative Co-lin Miller
said the summit in his nation on gold min-ing encouraged his firm
to come to Osun, adding that his company would pres-ent the first
raw gold to the people of the state before this years end.
Osun, Australian firm partner to mine gold in Ilesa
drainage channel.The companies were
closed down after failing to comply with the abatement notice
served on them.
At Berliet area along Oshodi-Apapa expressway, a car dealer
company and Transglobal Logistics Com-pany, dealing in caterpillars
and other heavy duty equip-ment were sealed. The two companies
parked their ve-hicles on the walkways and did not abate the
nuisance even after being served no-tices.
At Ijesha, three shops dealing in chemicals were also sealed as
the shops were sited on road setback. A cab-in on road setback and
some shanties at Mile 2 area were also sealed.
An illegal oil bunker-ing hideout along Lacasera Road, Alaba was
shut down for environmental degra-dation. The illegal bunker-ing
joint was alleged to have totally degraded the environment with
diesel and fuel. Over five shops behind the bunkering joint were
also sealed for not complying with the en-vironmental laws of the
state.
At Eric Moore, Surulere, a mast belonging to Glo Ni-geria
Company was shut, while in Ikate, about eight shops were sealed.
The eight shops sealed were fond of displaying their wares on the
gutter, thus, emptying their waste into the gutter.
Commissioner for the Environment, Tunji Bello, had warned that
the gov-ernment would no longer tolerate illegal activities of
people degrading the envi-ronment, even as he vowed that the
clampdown on people breaching the envi-ronmental laws of the state
would continue.
this motion before the court. Nobody or party in this case shall
embark on any strike action until the motion or notice which is
already filed in this court is heard and de-termined.
APC plots to manipulate INEC materials - PDP
National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 9South WestMonday,
June 30, 2014
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National Mirror www.nationalmir-10 South East Monday, June 30,
2014
Ihedioha worried over Imos debt profi le
L-R: Former Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika;
President-General, Ohaneze Ndigbo, Chief Gari Igariwey and
Secretary- General, Chief Joe Nwogu, at the inauguration of Ohaneze
Youth Council in Enugu, on Saturday.
DENNIS AGBOENUGU
Worried by the ru-mours of Boko Haram infiltra-tion in
South-East states, the Catholic Diocese of Enugu has banned women
from attending masses with hand bags, as a pre-ventive measure to
pos-sible bombings.
The development, ac-cording to the church, is aimed at
preventing any possible attack on churches in the diocese.
The Bishop of the dio-cese, Rt. Rev. Calistus Ona-ga, who
directed all parish priests to make an official announcement in
churches yesterday, appealed to the faithful to cooperate with the
directive.
Onaga said the exercise
was not meant to embar-rass women or anybody, but was rather was
borne from the disturbing insecurity challenges facing Nigeria.
The cleric, however, as-sured that the measure would be
implemented with a human face and in a ci-vilised manner, adding
that the church does not want to take chances.
Mixed reactions have, however, greeted the an-nouncement, with
some saying that no woman had been identified as a bomb-er,
wondering why women should be subjected to the task.
Others opined that bombs were no small ob-jects to be hidden in
wom-ens handbags, and so did not see the rationale of being
subjected to such a treatment.
Yet others contended that if the measure would avert
bomb-related trag-edies, they were ready to comply.
A parishioner, Mr. George Onu, who spoke to National Mirror,
said: I must tell you, the bishop and entire Catholic faithful in
Enugu are apprehensive, with the rumours of insur-gents
infiltrating the South-East, especially the alleged recent escape
of two buses conveying suspected Boko Haram members in Abia State,
during a security check.
I support the develop-ment that, henceforth, women will no
longer be allowed to enter Catholic churches during masses with
hand bags, apart from their purses, which will also be subjected to
thor-
ough scrutiny by church workers.
Before todays an-nouncement was made, our bishop had already
briefed all the parish priests un-der the diocese, so that they can
take the massage down to their various par-ishes. Though, we know
that if God did not guard a city, guards men would be guarding in
vain, but there is also need for us as human beings to play our own
part, while God plays His, he warned.
The bishop, however, urged members of the Catholic community in
the diocese and elsewhere to al-ways be security conscious,
stressing that the present insecurity challenges con-fronting
Nigeria remained a serious source of concern to the church.
Boko Haram: Church bars womens bags at mass
GEORGE OPARAABIA
The police at Ohuru Isimiri Division, near Aba, Abia State, over
the weekend shot dead a kidnap king-pin, whose gang was al-leged to
have been ter-rorising the city in recent times.
It was gathered that on April 9, this year, one Prince Ndubuisi
Christopher was kidnapped by a gang said to have been led by one
Chig-adi, as he was entering his compound at No. 37 Church Road,
Osusu Umuikpegh,
GEORGE OPARAABIA
The crisis rocking Independent Pe-troleum Marketers Association
of Nigeria, IPMAN, took a different dimension last week when a
court bailiff attached to the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt
was alleg-edly beaten up when he went to serve a notice of
consequence of disobedi-ence to court order, known as Form 48, to
some mem-bers of the association.
The court had, on March 20, entered judgement in fa-vour of
Chief Lawson Oba-si as the authentic national president of
IPMAN.
Based on the judgement, Chief Obasi in turn ap-pointed Chief
Lawrence Kanu, Emmanuel Ogbonna and others as Caretaker Committee
members to run IPMAN, Aba depot unit, for three months when
election would be held.
It was gathered that as the Chinedu Okoronkwo led faction led by
Sir Gil-bert Nwoke, who were the present occupiers of the of-fice
refused to vacate office and hand over to the Obasi group, an order
was given by the court for service of notice of consequence of
disobedience to court on them (the Elder Okoronkwo
Bailiff assaulted, detained in Aba over IPMAN crisis
near Aba.The kidnappers, who
took him to their hideout, were also said to have made away with
their victims Nissan Xtera SUV with reg-istration number, Abuja:
RBC 305 AA.
However, following inten-sive combing of suspected hideouts of
the hoodlums by police, led by the Divi-sional Police Officer, DPO
of Ohuru Isimiri, Titus Anayo Ugwoke, Christopher was rescued after
two days.
The kingpins death came when, over the week-end, police got
information that he and some members
group).Those who were said to
be served with the Form 48 were Nwoke, Aliche Oti, Ugochukwu
Mbakwe and Kingsley Udeonu.
Others were Chigozie Amazu, Ikechukwu Oke-oma, Austin Egelonu
and Emeka Ogalabu.
The bailiff, Abiye David, was said to have served the first set
of people the notice on Wednesday, without any problem.
Trouble, however, started brewing for him the follow-ing day,
when he came to serve the remaining people.
On getting to the Aba de-pot IPMAN office, the bai-liff was told
that the people he was looking for were in a hotel owned by one of
the IPMAN leaders at Okpulu Umuobo area of the city, holding a
meeting.
The bailiff was said to have gone to the hotel for the purpose
of conducting the service, but he got what he never bargained for
as he was said to have been beaten up mercilessly, and his identity
card seized.
His travails did not end there, soldiers were said to have been
invited by those who allegedly mastermind-ed his beating.
The soldiers reportedly took the bailiff away, on the allegation
that he was a kid-napper.
of his gang were in a hotel located within Ukwu Agbu area of the
city, planning another operation.
Acting on a tip off, the Area Commander for Aba, Peter Wagbara,
reportedly sent more policemen to Ohuru Isimiri and the DPO,
Ugwoke, led the combined police team to the hotel.
On sighting the police team, it was learnt, the hoodlums opened
fire and police responded. In the en-suing gun duel, the kingpin,
Chigadi was hit by bullet and he died on the way to hospital.
Two members of the
gang, including a woman, were said to have been ar-rested after
the gun battle, while others escaped with bullet wounds.
The same gang was re-ported to be responsible for the kidnap of
a lady at East-ern Ngwa a fortnight ago, and was only released
after family members paid an un-disclosed ransom.
While police recovered some stolen items from the house of the
arrested hood-lums, the womans car and that of Christopher, their
latest victim, had not been recovered as at the time of filing this
report.
CHRIS NJOKUOWERRI
Deputy Speaker of the House of Rep-resentatives, Hon. Emeka
Ihedioha, has ex-pressed fear over the level of indebtedness in Imo
State, saying that it would take years for the state to offset
it.
According to him, indi-genes of the state might not know the
extent of such indebtedness now, until the time the current
adminis-tration of Governor Rochas Okorocha leaves office in
2015.
Lamenting the heavy fi-nancial burden of the state, arising from
loans secured from banks and debts owed to contractors, the deputy
speaker, who represents Aboh-Mbaise/Ngor-Okpala Federal
Constituency, said any in-coming administra-tion would face a
serious
financial burden to repay.He also decried what he
called the rot going on at the Imo State University, Ower-ri,
which is frustrating Law and Medical students of the
institution.
For long time, Law stu-dents are not being admit-ted into the
Law school, following the withdrawal of the accreditation of the
faculty by the Council of Legal Education, he noted.
Ihedioha, who stated this in a chat with newsmen in Owerri, the
Imo State capi-tal, at the weekend, said he had never spoken
against any administration, includ-ing Okorochas, but that what he
had said was the clear picture of the reality on ground.
He said he was not like some politicians who heap insinuations
and baseless allegations on individuals in position of authority,
just to run them down.
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DENNIS NAKUPORT HARCOURT
A group, the Ni-ger Delta Self-D e t e r m i n a t i o n
Movement, NDSDM, has warned members of the Islamic sect, Boko
Ha-ram, to steer clear of the Niger Delta region, say-ing it would
not tolerate any attack on the lives and property of the
peo-ple.
The group also charged the sponsors of the sect to stop
harassing Presi-dent Goodluck Jonathan.
In a communiqu re-leased at the end of its one-day peoples forum
with some Niger Delta
delegates to the National Conference at the week-end in Port
Harcourt, the group declared that at-tack in any part of south-ern
Nigeria, particularly the Niger Delta, would not be taken
lightly.
The communiqu stat-ed: We warn the spon-sors and executors of
terrorism in the name of Boko Haram and their likes in Nigeria to
desist from trying to harass President Goodluck Jona-than, his
administration and the rest of Nigeria, as we shall no longer
toler-ate same should any part of Southern Nigeria, par-ticularly
the Niger Delta region, be attacked in any
manner as our lives and property means so much to us.
It was signed by Living-stone Wechie, Informa-tion Officer and
Biebele Arimie, Research Officer of NDSDM respectively.
While restating its sup-port for President Jona-than, it called
on all other zones in the country to do the same, maintaining that
it is in the collective interest of all to do so.
The group, which ad-vocated for 100 per cent ownership of land
and natural resources in a preferred regional auton-omy, also
expressed soli-darity with the original inhabitants of Abuja to
L-R: Ogun State Deputy Governor, Segun Adesegun; former Lagos
State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu; Publisher, Vanguard
Newspaper, Mr. Sam Amuka, and Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomole,
at the burial of Amukas mother in Sapele, over the weekend.
THEOPHILUS ONOJEGHENWARRI
There are fresh in-dications that the nations oil and gas sector
might be heading towards another round of strike, as the National
Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NU-PENG, is set to
cripple economic activities in five states, following the sack of
154 of its members by Chevron Nigeria Limited, CNL.
The union, while con-demning the alleged wrongful dismissal of
its members, gave a seven-day ultimatum to Chevron to recall the
sacked workers,
failure of which would cause industrial action.
At a crucial meeting at the weekend, the Warri zonal council of
NUPENG also asked the company to put to an end reported cas-es of
incessant harassment of its members.
Addressing newsmen at the end of the emergen-cy meeting, Warri
zonal council chair, Mr. Cogent Ojobor, said the ultimatum would
start counting from today.
He said that at the end of the seven-day ultimatum, if the
sacked workers were not recalled, the union would services in the
five affected states of Edo, Del-ta, Kogi, Ondo and Ekiti.
Ojobor alleged that, at
the last count, no fewer than 154 members of NU-PENG members had
been fired by CNL, threatening to proceed on strike if the company
does not rescind its earlier decision by mid-night, July 6.
We have had several meetings with Chevron. We have been meeting
at Federal Ministry of La-bour.
We have tried informal consultations, but their statement, which
I know is a lie, is that they have been told by NAPIMS and
Minis-try of Labour to downsize.
The company is treat-ing our members like slaves, and at the
last count, they have already laid off 154 of our members in
NUPENG threatens shutdown over sacked Chevron staff
Steer clear of NDelta, group warns Boko Haram
Chevron, and the number is growing.
They said they are downsizing, and I do not know at what size
they will reach before they will stop.
It may interest you to know that one oil and gas worker supports
up to seven families, the union leader said.
While explaining that it had exhausted all peace-ful measures to
resolve the looming crisis, NUPENG stressed that activities at the
Warri Refinery, filling stations, loading depots, Petroleum
Training Insti-tute, PTI, and all other oil facilities in the
affected states, would be shut down after the expiration of the
seven-day notice.
SEBASTINE EBHUOMHAN BENIN CITY
Governor Adams Os-hiomhole of Edo State has stated that the
election of Chief John Odigie-Oyegun as the National Chairman of
the All Progressives Congress, APC, is a show of confi-dence in his
ability to take the party to the next level.
Receiving the newly-elected party boss at the weekend, the
governor urged him to do everything possible, as the first elected
chairman of the party, to protect the nations democ-racy.
Speaking when Oyegun and some APC chieftains paid him a visit at
the Gov-ernment House in Benin City, Oshiomhole said: His-tory is
on your side as the first elected substantive chairman of our great
party.
You were a governor be-fore me, and you are assum-ing office at
a very delicate period in our national po-litical life, not only in
terms of the challenges of a new party seeking power at vari-ous
levels of government including federal, but also at a time when
there seems to be a lot of tension in the country and clear
frighten-ing security challenges.
Politics by its very na-
ture generates heat and my leader, God will give you the wisdom
to be able to raise the voice of APC in a way that reflects our
collec-tive consciousness about the will of the security of the
country and yet engage in robust partisan contes-tations for power,
he ob-served.
Oshiomhole added: No one appreciates the impor-tance of
democracy more than you. As a governor who laboured hard to
per-suade voters to vote for you and you got elected, your tenure
was cut short by forc-es beyond your control and not democratic
process, and so drawing from your own life experience, I am sure
APC will play its role of pro-tecting democracy.
I am happy to hear from you that you have already reached out to
people who for one reason or the other have feelings that need to
be managed.
Its something that should be sustained until everyone is
sufficiently able to accept the fact that we have had a congress
and we should put it behind us.
We have the fortune of having two out of the four contestants,
which is also a statement about the quality of leaders that we have
in our state.
Oshiomhole to Oyegun: Fight for democracy
SEBASTINE EBHUOMHANBENIN
Two persons were burnt beyond recog-nition at the Oluku end of
Benin by-pass on the Benin-Ore-Sagamu highway, when an accident
occurred at the weekend between a truck and a fuel tanker.
The accident also left four survivors with severe de-gree burns,
for which they were rushed to the Central Hospital in Benin City
for proper medical attention.
The accident reportedly occurred when an articulat-ed Mark
truck, which eye-witnesses said belonged to Dangote Group of
Compa-nies, rammed into a loaded fuel tanker with about 33,000
litres of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol), as a result of which the
tanker exploded with fire that trapped two other trailers, also on
the road at the time.
However, officials of the Federal Road Safety Com-mission, FRSC,
who de-scribed the accident as fa-tal as a result of wrongful
overtaking, quickly called the Edo State Fire Service for support,
after which nor-malcy was restored.
As a result of the chaos the accident generated, FRSC personnel
from the toll gate and Uwan Esigie command were mobilised to the
scene to control traffic and reduce difficulties for motorists.
Others took positions at the entrance of the by-pass to divert
traffic to other roads to avoid logjam.
Our correspondent learnt that the charred re-mains of the dead
victims had been deposited at the Benin Central Hospital
morgue.
FRSC zonal commander, Mr. Charles Akpabio con-firmed the
accident and ca-sualties.
Two roasted in Benin auto mishap
insist on justice over the ownership rights of their land.
NDSDM further stated that it was aware of the presence of
untapped mineral resources in the North, which are delib-erately
being reserved until the oil and gas that is currently being
ex-plored and exploited are completely exhausted.
It stated: We are aware, from available data and analysis, that
the North has reserves of untapped natural re-sources, and they
appear to be waiting for oil and gas in the south to be ex-hausted
before they leave with their resources.
National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 11Monday, June 30,
2014
South South
-
NGO tackles FG on Umrah fl ight ban
Dangote cement plant excites Cameroun
says comment unfortunate, unbelievable
National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net12 North Monday,
June 30, 2014
Bauchi State Chairman on Polio Immunisation/Emir of Dass, Alhaji
Usman Bilyaminu, immunising a child during a vaccination exercise
in Bauchi, at the weekend.
SEKINAH LAWAL
The Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC, has asked the mili-tary
authorities and Fed-eral Government for ex-planation, following the
militarys barring of a plane waiting to ferry 278 Muslims to Saudi
Arabia, from taking off.
In a statement signed by MURICs Director, Prof. Ishaq Akintola,
the group considered such action as an unnecessary flexing of
muscles. The aircraft was to take Muslims to the Holy land in order
to perform Umrah (Lesser Hajj). The militarys action also af-fected
another aircraft char-tered by a serving senator for the purpose of
ferrying Muslims sponsored by him to Saudi Arabia to perform the
lesser Hajj.
For now, we will stop short of calling it an hos-tile act
calculated to cause logistic and psychological dislocation to
innocent and harmless Muslims who were merely going to per-form a
religious duty. The militarys action has suc-
ceeded in making Nigerian soldiers unpopular in an en-vironment
where they need the goodwill of the same vic-tims of their
high-handed-ness to defeat insurgents.
According to him, many questions remain unan-swered from this
action. Exempli gratia, is the army being used as a tool for
embarrassing Muslims and truncating efforts aimed at achieving
spiritual fulfill-ment? Who gave the order to stop the plane from
taking off and why? Is it another order from above? Is Aso Rock
aware of this? Is this another anti-Muslim action and are we to
expect more of such? Did Mr. President order Nigerian soldiers to
disallow aircrafts taking Nigerian pilgrims to Saudi Arabia to
perform a reli-gious duty from flying?
The group warned that those who strangulate re-ligious freedom
were cre-ating tension, adding that it would be highly
hypo-critical to talk about peace when we commit open rape on
justice and charged the National Assembly to inves-tigate the
matter as a matter of urgency.
The African expan-sion drive of the leading cement manufacturer
in Nigeria, Dangote Cement, is paying off, with the announcement by
the management that its $150 million Cameroon plant will commence
produc-tion in August, barring any hitch.
The management ex-plained that the 1.5 million tonnes per annum
capacity plant was almost ready and would commence initial
production at one million tonnes per annum before production would
be stepped up to maximum capacity level.
Conducting journalists round the factory in Doua-la, Cameroon,
the General Manager, Abdulahi Baba, stated that the plant would
transform the cement in-dustry and help stimulate the East African
economy as Dangote Cement would be churning out its known quality
grade of 42.5 at very competitive price.
According to him, the plant was ready for test run-
ning despite need for minor engineering finishes and completion
of access roads to the plant.
Baba explained that the plant would be the most modern in
Cameroon be-cause of the latest technolo-gies used in the
construction from Germany, USA, France and put together by the
re-nowned plant engineers, Si-noma.
The Dangote Cement boss stated that the company would be
bringing in Clinker and that production would be carried out at the
most en-vironmental friendly level, pointing out that the dust
emission of the plant would be lower than the 50mm in-ternational
standard.
He noted that but for the soil test that was carried out that
showed that the en-tire plant areas needed to be piled, the factory
would be have been ready before now.
Baba said Cameroonians were eager to see Dangote Cement commence
opera-tions at the Douala plant be-cause of the exploits of the
firm in other countries.
The police in Jalingo, Taraba State, have confirmed that
gun-men, on Saturday, trailed and killed 13 Fulani herds-men, who
were returning from village markets in Garba-Chede and Maihula.
ASP Joseph Kwaji, the Police Public Relations Of-ficer of the
state command, disclosed this on Sunday in the state capital.
He said the herdsmen were waylaid and killed by unidentified
group of armed youths along a bush path in the outskirts of Maihula
in Bali local gov-ernment area of the state.
According to him, no ar-rest has been made but the command has
beefed up se-curity in the area to track
down the perpetrators.He added that it was not
clear why the incident took place but further investiga-tion
would reveal the rea-sons for the attack and the people behind
it.
The Chairman of Bali Local Government Area, Andrew Yerima, said
the herdsmen were trailed by the armed men from Gar-ba-Chede market
where they were believed to have gone to sell their cows.
Yerima called for calm and advised residents of the area not to
take the law into their hands.
He assured them that the culprits would be brought to book.
Meanwhile, the Nation-al Drugs Law Enforcement
Agency, NDLEA, yesterday said it arrested 104 sus-pects involved
in various drug related offenses in the state between January and
June.
Yusuf Kwajafa, the agency commandant in the state, told newsmen
in Jalingo that the suspects were arrested with assort-ed illicit
drugs at various locations across the state.
Kwajafa disclosed that a total of 1031.1kg of can-nabis saliva
and 55.8kg of psychotropic substances were seized during the
pe-riod.
The figures would have been higher if not for the logistic
problem. Lack of facilities for counsel-ing and lack of office
ac-
commodation were some of the factors militating against
effective perfor-mance of the agency in the state, he said.
Kwajafa appealed to rel-evant authorities to assist the command
with a reha-bilitation centre.
He said that such cen-tre would save parents of convicted drug
addict the cost and risk of travelling to Yola in Adamawa State to
visit their children and wards.
He said that the com-mand had in the last one year organised
anti-drug abuse enlightenment cam-paigns for members of the
National Union of Road Transport Workers in the state.
Taraba: Gunmen kill 13 Fulani herdsmen
PRISCILLA DENNISMINNA
The Niger State chap-ter of All Progres-sives Congress, APC, has
described the state Governor, Dr Muazu Aliyus alleged portrayal of
the council chairmen as dictators, as unbeliev-able and very
unfortunate.
The party, in a state-ment made available to National Mirror and
signed by the Public Sec-retary, Jonathan Vatsa,
dared the Niger govern-ment to make public what had accrued to
each coun-cil in the last seven years to prove the council
chair-men were dictators, so that the people could hold them
accountable.
Local government councils, especially those in Niger State, are
not properly funded; they dont collect their due, making them
shadows of what they should be, APC accused.
Explaining further, the
party stated: The coun-cils are issued cheques for salaries of
staff from the centres Joint Account like Ministries, Department
and Agencies, instead of following the statutory laws of
disbursement to the council from the Joint Account.
According to the party, at best, the local govern-ment councils
are given meager amount as over-head cost after the salaries are
released without due consideration of the sta-
tus of the councils as a tier of government.
Thus the party consid-ered the pronouncement of the governor on
the lo-cal council chairmen as his usual style and antics of saying
the opposite of what he does in reality.
It alleged that the intro-duction of programmes such as Ward
Develop-ment project by the gov-ernment was a means of utilising
council funds for political patronage of PDP members in the
wards.
.as NDLEA arrests 104, seizes 1,000kg of cannabis
-
PoliticsNational Mirror
www.nationalmirroronline.net 13Monday, June 30, 2014
One year after: Urhobo, NASS, Delta 2015 without Senator
Ewherido
Candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the August 9
governorship poll, Sena-tor Iyiola Omisore, has promised the people
of Olupona, Gbongan Araro, Ile Ogbo and Kuta, potable water and
good roads, if elected governor.
Speaking at Olupona, a town in Ayedire council area, in
continuation of his house to house campaign, Omiore assured that
the construction of Lagelu-Olu-pona-Gbongan road would be
accelerated to ease traffic problems in the areas.
He reinstated his com-mitment to creating wealth in the state by
pa-tronising indigenous con-tractors and artisans in the execution
of develop-ment projects.
Receiving the PDP gov-ernorship candidate in
their palaces, the Olupo of Olupona, Oba Oyeleso
Oye-banji-Fadare and the Olu of Ile-Ogbo, Oba Habeeb Adetoyose
Agbaje, said the major challenge facing residents in their domains
is lack of drinkable water.
The royal fathers also informed the PDP cam-paign team of their
de-sires for elevation from second class obas to a deputy
chairmanship or a permanent membership positions in the state
coun-cil of Traditional Rulers.
They also urged Omisore to accord the people of the area the
rightful position they deserve, if elected.
Responding, Omisore maintained that the road linking Ile-Ogbo
with Iwo that was constructed un-der the PDP government will be
completed to ease transportation in the area.
Members of the Peoples Democratic Party during a rally in
Oshogbo recently.
Omisore promises roads, portable water
Accountability, transparencyll form basis of my govt.
Akinbade
STORIES: BOLADALE BAMIGBOLAOSOGBO
Chairman, Gover-nor Rauf Aregbe-sola Re-election Campaign
Committee, for Boluwaduro/Ila/Ifedayo Federal Constituency, Hon.
Sunday Akere, has explained why the incum-bent governor is
execut-ing projects in all parts of the state.
Akere said the gover-nor recognises the impor-tance of rural
dwellers to the survival of the larger society and would contin-ue
to initiate projects that
for lawmakers in the state House of Assembly for their various
constituen-cies and that of Ifedayo is scheduled to cover Ayegunle
through Obasi-kin to Ajebamidele.
Akere averred that the state government under-stand the plight
of rural dwellers, who are pre-dominantly farmers, to get their
farm produce to market centres, hence, its resolve to construct
good roads in the rural areas.
He maintained that good roads enhance the price value of farm
pro-duces and reduce waste, because farmers could get
Labour Party, LP, flagbearer in the August 9 Osun State
governorship election, Al-haji Fatai Akinbade, has promised to run
an usual government that would make due process, trans-parency and
accountabil-ity its hallmark, if give