-
...as Alison-Madueke descends on journalist
COUNTDOWN TO
ONDO GUBER POLL
DAYS TO GO11
October 20, 2012
Vol. 1 N0. 115 Tuesday, June 7, 2011 N150 Vol. 2 N0. 465
Tuesday, October 9, 2012 N150
CONTINUED ON PAGE 6>>
P.11
P.5
Abductors of Delta commissioner demand N100m ransom
CONTINUED ON PAGE 5>>
ROTIMI FADEYI AND INUSA NDAHI
It was tragic yesterday in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital,
as bomb blasts ripped through the metropolis, killing an Army
Lieutenant and 40 ci-vilians in the process.
Several other people also sustained serious injuries in the
first incident target-ed at the Hilux patrol vehi-cle of the Joint
Task Force, JTF, by some suspected ter-rorists on Lagos Street
in
100 houses, shops razed, 70-year-old burnt aliveJonathan charges
new service chiefs on terrorism
Soldier, 40 others die in bomb blasts
UNIPORT 4: Varsity declares seven-day mourning
CHINEDUM EMEANA AND JAMES ABRAHAM The University of Port
Harcourt yes-terday declared
seven days of mourning
for three of its students brutally murdered by a mob at Aluu
community
VC identifi es slain students
P.52
P.7
Our staff have been compromised, INEC admits
Bakassi: Im waiting for Presidents fi nal directive...as
Jonathan addresses nation today
Voters cards: LP chieftain remanded
Saudi Arabia to re-admit deported pilgrims
P.44
L-R: Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh; Chief of Army
Staff, Lt.-Gen Azubuike Ihejirika; Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral
Ola Ibrahim; Vice-President Namadi Sambo; President Goodluck
Jonathan; Minister of State for Defence, Erelu Olusola Obada and
the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice-Admiral Dele Ezeoba, at the
decoration of newly-appointed service chiefs in Abuja,
yesterday.
Tambuwal
Repairs of 3 refi neries to gulp $1.6bn Minister
Ugonna
Lloyd
Adoke
Chidiaka
Tekena
-
Flood at Patani community
A displaced person calling for help at Abari.
Deeper Life Bible Church in Patani submerged.
Iwelle community of Ndokwa submerged.
...Hunger ravages victims
National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net2 Tuesday, October
9, 2012 News
Flood rage: Relocate from disaster -SOLA ADEBAYO AND EMMA
GBEMUDU
The Federal Government has pleaded with flood victims in the
affected states of the federation to relo-cate from such
disaster-prone areas.
To this end, the government admonished them to move to
re-habilitation camps established by the authorities in their
states for temporary succour.
It expressed concerns that reports made available from the
various states indicated that the victims were not prepared to move
out of their ancestral homes despite the challenges posed by the
flood to their exis-tence and survival.
The Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of
Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, gave the advice at the
resettlement camp for the flood victims in Delta State in Asaba,
the state capital.
It will be recalled that no fewer than 22 states have been
ravaged by flood, which had also led to the loss of lives and the
destruction of property in the affected states. President Goodluck
Jonathan had inau-gurated teams to visit such af-fected states.
Okonjo-Iweala, who led the presidential team to Delta State,
said the government was wor-ried that some floods victims declined
governments sincere gesture to resettle them to a se-cured location
in their states.
She said that the disposition of the victims was frustrating the
gesture of the authorities at the federal and state levels.
Her words: We will do every-thing possible to make people
comfortable but the problem is that people do not want to leave
their ancestral homes to go elsewhere. We were in Og-bolu where we
tried to persuade those whose houses had been flooded to come to
Asaba, which is just a few kilometres away and they refused that
they do not want to leave.
What they have done is that in their own community they have
created their own camp at a higher ground and the state is ready to
provide two or three buses to evacuate the people there, they must
be up to 300 but they said no. Even a pregnant woman was among and
she re-fused to move.
She said President Jonathan was bothered about their well-being,
adding that the concern of the President informed the establishment
of the presiden-tial committee on the menace.
She added: The President has been holding meetings with
governors and deputy gover-nors of the affected states. The
National Emergency Manage-ment Authority (NEMA), has been going
around and if you look at this camp, NEMA has supplied them with
bags of rice, goods.
The Commission for Refu-gees from Abuja has just ar-rived with
relief materials. The FG is working but the President feels that we
need to do and I think within the next few days, you will hear him
directly an-nouncing further measures to support those who had been
flooded and to support the af-fected states.
We are very grateful to the states and for Delta State, I am
quite impressed by what we have been able to see today. They have
really put their ef-forts into it and we are grateful. We know that
the challenge is much not just here in Delta but also in Edo,
Anambra, Imo, Bay-elsa, Kogi etc. So many states are experiencing
the flooding so the FG is on top of it.
NEMA has been going round and the President has appointed an
inter-ministerial group to go round to assess the situation and it
is based on the assessment that the President will announce further
mea-sures that will support what we are already doing.
No fewer than 1, 500 displaced flood victims currently
squat-ting at the in-door hall of the Bayelsa State Sports Complex
at Ovom, Yenagoa, yesterday complained of starvation and poor
welfare at the relief camp.
Investigation revealed that the refugees were, however, treated
medically to guide against any in-cidence of epidemic in the
camp.
Governor Seriake Dick-son, had on Saturday inaugurated a 20-man
committee of emergency flood response headed by the state Deputy
Governor, Rear Admiral John Jonah.
It was learnt that some of the primary and post-primary schools
and churches in the state capital including the Niger Delta
University (NDU) Amas-soma, have been temporarily shut down due to
the flood.
Some of the displaced per-sons are squatting in uncom-pleted
buildings located in the heart of Yenagoa.
They pleaded with the state government and the National
Emergency Management Agen-
cy, NEMA, to provide foodstuffs to the people being
accommo-dated at the camp.
The displaced persons from six local government areas of the
state claimed that they have been served with only bread since they
arrived the complex last weekend.
The flood is still ravaging communities in the state capital as
some have started relocating with their families out of
Yena-goa.
Costs of food items have in-creased due to the flood and a small
rubber container of garri now attracts N1, 500, while a bag costs
N13,000.
When National Mirror visit-ed the relief camp at the Sports
Complex yesterday, some of the victims were seen loitering in
around, as more displaced per-sons were being expected at the
camp.
As at the time of filing this report, tents were yet to be
erected in the camp, including other facilities to alleviate the
sufferings of victims.
A flood victim and mother of four, Mrs. Evelyn Oyatu, alleged
that she and her children were dying of hunger.
We have been directed to write our names on a list but nothing
has been done. We are dying of hunger; we have not been given food
since we ar-rived here. Im weak. The state government should come
to our
aid at the camp. The cold weath-er is affecting my children. We
relocated from our submerged home at Ebedebiri in Sagbama local
government, she said.
Another victim, Mrs. Gloria Ozuo amid tears said that since she
arrived the camp with her two children on Sunday, only a small
bread was served them.
The government officials are playing with us, we dont have money
to buy food. A ba-sin of garri is now N15,000, she noted.
When contacted, State Com-missioner for Information and
Orientation, Markson Fefegha, said he was in a meeting with the
State Commissioner of Po-lice.
-
The parlour of a displaced person at Abari community of Patani
Council.
Asaba-Ase taken over by flood.
Uzere road in Isoko South flooded.
Abari Community
Abari community flooded.
National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 3NewsTuesday,
October 9, 2012
- prone areas, FG tells fl ood victims
SOLA ADEBAYOWARRI
The East-West Road (Warri-Port Harcourt Road) has collapsed due
to persistent flooding on the strategic high-way.
Already, the highway has cut-off Bulu-Angiama, an Ijaw community
near Patani, the headquarters of Patani Local Government Area of
Delta State.
The state of the road has be-come a nightmare for motorists.
Findings by National Mirror yesterday showed that many commuters
were stranded at the on Saturday, when the road be-came
impassable.
Some motorists heading for Port Harcourt, Warri and other
destinations along the highway were forced to discontinue their
journey while others waited pa-tiently for alternative measures
from the contractor, RCC Con-struction Limited, working on the
highway.
Long queues of vehicles were reported at Warri and PortHar-court
end of the highway.
It was gathered that RCC was providing remedial measures at the
spot as at press time yester-day.
National Mirror learnt that the deplorable state of the road was
worsened by persisent rains in the past one week.
It will be recalled that the state of the road had generated
heated public debate recently with stakeholders asking the Federal
Government to expedite action on the construction of the
high-way.
The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe,
whose ministry supervises the construction of the road, has blamed
the slow pace of work on paucity of funds.
Orubebe, however, assured that the road would be ready by
2015.
Meanwhile, more communi-ties have been submerged by flood in
Bayelsa within the past 48 hours.
Findings by our correspon-dent yesterday revealed that many
residents of various com-munities in the two states have been
rendered homeless as flood caused havoc in the areas.
Worst hit were communities in the two states along the East/West
Road.
Specifically, some Urhobo, Ijaw and Isoko communities as well as
those in Oshimili North Local Government Area of Del-ta State and
those in Ekeremor and Yenagoa Local Government Areas of Bayelsa
State, were af-fected by the ravaging flood.
The residents have deserted the communities.
The flood has also submerged Asaba/Ugbolu Road and 10
com-munities, especially Ebu com-munities in Oshimili North LGA of
Delta State, where a middle-aged farmer committed suicide.
It was gathered that the farmer, simply identified as Friday,
killed himself shortly after his farmland was swept away by flood.
He was report-ed to have obtained a bank loan to commence a farming
business. He hung himself on a mango tree.
...Communities cut off as road collapses
-
Robbers kill three police offi cers, injure others in Lagos the
armed robbers, who opened fire on them and riddled the patrol van
with bullets.
It was said that the po-lice team was reacting to a distress
call that a gang of armed robbers were in the neighborhood when the
incident happened.
The armed robbers
came in a convoy of three vehicles two Toyota Si-ena buses and a
Sport Util-ity vehicle.
The policemen had reportedly parked their vehicle to closely
watch the occupants of the ve-hicles when the robbers approached
them and opened fire on them.
The leader of the po-lice team, an Assistant Superintendent of
Po-lice, was the first to be hit by the bullet. He died on the
spot.
Haruna died a few min-utes after he was shot.
The driver of the van and two others escaped with injuries.
STANLEY IHEDIGBO
The Federal Govern-ment and the Unit-ed Kingdom yes-terday said
that they had reached the final stages in their plan to double
in-ternational trade between them by the year 2014.
Addressing a joint press, the Minister of Trade and Investment,
Mr. Olusegun Aganga, and the Secretary, Department for Business,
Innovation and Skills, United King-dom, Dr. Vince Cable, said that
the factors militating against effective trade be-tween the two
countries had been identified and were now being addressed
to ensure the actualisa-tion of the 2014 deadline.
The current value of trade between the two na-tions stands at 4
billion (about N960 billion). Steps are being taken to raise the
figure to 8 billion (N1.9 trillion) by 2014.
Identifying the areas being worked on by the two countries,
Aganga ex-plained that issues of bar-riers to trade were being
looked into, in addition to the strategies aimed at the Small and
Medium Enter-prises sector as well as the Diaspora.
He said the meeting between the Ministry of Trade and Investment
and its counterpart in the United Kingdom was
a follow up to an earlier discussion between the leaders of the
two coun-tries, President Goodluck Jonathan and David Cam-eron,
where they agreed to increase the volume of trade by 100 per
cent.
Aganga said, We have had a useful business to business
roundtable, which is a follow up to the meeting between President
Goodluck Jon-athan and David Camer-on, where they both set a target
to double trade in the two countries by the year 2014.
There is no shortage of interest in investment in Nigeria. We
have all it takes to attract invest-ment. We are making
the environment friend-lier. We have fertile land, good whether
condition, 34 solid minerals in com-mercial quantity, all of which
make Nigeria an investment destination of choice.
Prior to the press brief-ing, the two ministers had an
interactive ses-sion with leading compa-nies (in the construction,
fashion and textile, edu-cation and creative sec-tors, among
others), both from the United Kingdom and Nigeria on the right
collaboration that will in-crease trade between both countries and
empower Nigerians.
Responding to ques-tions from the media, the
L-R: Representative of Lagos State, Rev. Sam Ogedengbe; Pastor
Wale Adefarasin; Vice-Chancellor, Bowen University, Prof. Timothy
Olagbemiro; wife of Lagos State Governor, Dame Abimbola Fashola;
Mr. Remi Olowude and Rev. Gabriel Adebayo, during the fund raising
for the building of a multi-purpose edifice at Yaba Baptist Church
in Lagos, at the weekend.
L-R: Akwa Ibom State Deputy Governor, Mr. Nsima Ekere; Governor
Godswill Akpabio and the state Chief Judge, Justice Ntem Isua,
during the 2012 Legal Year church service held in Uyo.
L-R: Executive Director of Citi Bank, Mr. Omar Hafeez;
President, Africa Export Import Bank, Mr. Jean Loius Ekra; Chief
Executive Officer of Skye Bank, Mr. Kehinde Durosinmi-Etti and
Chief Executive Officer, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Mrs. Sola David-Borha,
during the signing ceremony of a loan facility for Skye Bank in
Lagos, at the weekend.
L-R: Director of Culture, Ministry of Tourism and Culture Mr.
George Ofut; Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation,
Chief Edem Duke and Executive Director, National Council for Arts
and Culture, Mr. Malgwi Maidugu, during the press briefing on 2012
National Festival of Arts and Culture in Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO:
ROTIMI OSASONA
A resident of New Oko Oba community, who did not want his name
men-tioned, said the incident caused panic among resi-dents, adding
that they thought the robbers were on a mission to wipe out the
community.
He said: We heard se-rious gun shots around
2am and we also heard some noises in the neigh-bourhood.
Efforts to get the reac-tion of the state police command were
futile as the Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide, was
said to be attending a sem-inar at the time of filling in this
report.
minister noted that the trade between Nigeria and United Kingdom
was not one sided, adding that sometimes it is on Nige-rian side
and sometime on United Kingdom side. We intend to leverage on
Ni-gerians in the Diaspora in the United Kingdom, most of who are
SMEs involved in trade.
He reiterated that the Government was passion-ate about creating
the enabling environment for trade and investment to thrive, noting
that the positive results of the In-vestment Climate Reform
Programme were already reflecting in the improve-ment in the
nations com-petitiveness.
Nigeria, UK target N2 trillion trade
FRANCIS SUBERU
Some suspected armed robbers killed three policemen and injured
three other offi-cers at Oko Oba area of Lagos yesterday
morning.
Reminiscent of the September 9, commando robbery in Lagos, the
in-cident, which occurred around 2am, threw the entire Oko Oba area
in commotion, even as the robbers reportedly es-caped with the
police-mens riffles.
Two of the slain police-men were attached to New Oko Oba Police
Division and were on routine patrol at the time of the incident.
The third officer, a corpo-ral, was attached to Oke Odo
Division.
The two slain police officers were simply identified as
Assistant Superintendent of Police Funminiyi and Inspector Haruna,
while the injured officers were a sergeant and two corporals.
It was gathered that the slain and the injured policemen were on
patrol when they rammed into
National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netTuesday, October 9,
20124 Photo News
National News
-
National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 5Tuesday, October 9,
2012 News
Soldier, 40 others die in bomb blasts CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Repairs of 3 refi neries to gulp $1.6bn Ministerprice of the
product re-mained N45 per litre and that NNPC sells the prod-uct at
N50, noting that in the open market, the prod-uct costs as much as
N85 be-cause of bridging costs.
Meanwhile, major oil marketers and independent oil marketers as
well as offi-cials of the Petroleum Pric-ing Marketing Company,
PPMC, have given reasons why many filling stations across the
country are now violating the official N97 per litre pump price of
fuel set by the Federal Government.
In his presentation before
the committee yesterday, the Executive Secretary of the Major
Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, MO-MAN, Mr. Obafemi Olawore,
said marketers were being compelled to sell above the official fuel
price in order to defray the cost of hidden charges they incur in
the process of obtaining the products from the PPMC.
He admitted that mar-keters were buying the products at the
official price of N87.6K but that be-fore they took delivery of it
from the depots, they would part with kickbacks from
security agents and other officials at the depots.
PPMC Managing Direc-tor, Mr. Haruna Momoh, lamented the degree
of vandalisation of the com-panys pipelines, which he blamed for
the current shortage of petrol across the country.
He disclosed that be-tween Aba and Enugu alone, NNPC pipeline
has been punctured in 774 places.
Momoh appealed to state governments and security agents to
cooperate with NNPC to ensure the safety of the pipelines.
He maintained that if the vandals refused to keep off the
pipelines, there is no way the price of petrol will be uniform.
According to him, pipe-line remains the cheapest, safest,
freest, convenient means of transporting pe-troleum products across
the country.
Also yesterday the min-ister almost lost her cool in the middle
of her presenta-tion before the committee when she threw away a
re-porters recorder to osten-sibly stop her presentation from being
recorded.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 6>>
GEORGE OJI AND EMMANUEL ONANI
Minister of Petro-leum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Al-ison-Madueke,
has put the cost of Turn Around Main-tenance, TAM, of the three
refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna at $1.6bn.
She was speaking at an interactive session organised by the
Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream) to review the current
situation in the downstream sector, es-pecially the status of the
refineries.
The minister explained that her ministry had to reschedule the
initial time-line for the TAM because of some unanticipated
chal-lenges encountered as a re-sult of continuing damage of
pipelines, the fuel sub-sidy crisis and other chal-lenges.
Alison-Madueke said so far about 75 per cent of the equipment
required for the TAM had been imported from the original
contrac-tors that constructed the re-fineries and expressed
opti-mism that before the end of the year the contract would be
awarded.
She said that all things being equal, the TAM would commence
fully by the first quarter of 2013 beginning with the Port Harcourt
re-finery.
Responding to the issue of persistent fuel shortages in Abuja
and other parts of the country, the minister explained that in the
case of Abuja, the initial problem was caused by the strike called
by oil workers over the fuel subsidy issue, which made the union
members to bar the products from enter-ing the FCT.
She stated that the recent fuel shortages, which had affected
other parts of the country, including Lagos and its environs, was
as a result of the pipeline van-dalism at the Arepo, Ogun State,
where three officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation, NNPC, who were involved in the repair of the
pipe-lines were killed.
The minister stated that as a stop gap measure, her ministry had
embarked on bridging of the prod-ucts from Lagos to the
hin-terland, while supplies to Abuja originate from Niger
State.
On kerosene, the minis-ter insisted that the depot
L-R: Nigerian High Commissioner to Canada, Ambassador Ojo
Maduekwe; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Olugbenga Ashiru;
his Canadian counterpart, Ambassador John Baird and Canadian High
Commissioner to Nigeria, Ambassador Chris Cooter, during the
Nigeria-Canada Bi-National Commission meeting in Abuja,
yesterday.
the metropolis.An unconfirmed report
said that five minutes after the first blast, another ex-plosion
went off in a house a few metres away from the scene, which killed
some of the occupants. The build-ing is suspected to belong to one
of the Boko Haram Islamic sect members.
Also razed down in the blast were over 50 vehicles parked on the
street.
It will be recalled that on Sunday, a similar incident happened
along Gwange Lagos Street when some suspected terrorists deto-nated
an IED targetted at a patrol vehicle of the JTF, killing two
soldiers and a lieutenant-colonel who lat-er died in a
hospital.
Yesterdays blast, which happened about 7:15a.m., was later
followed by heavy gunshots from the JTF, leading to the killing of
some people on the busiest road linking the Univer-sity of
Maiduguri and the
Teaching Hospital.Our correspondent gath-
ered that some suspected terrorists were killed while others
were arrested in con-nection with the blast.
An eyewitness, who did not want his name mentioned, told our
corre-spondents that more than 50 people, including some suspected
terrorists were killed, while hundreds of houses and shops
belonging to residents of Gwange were razed down in the
incident.
A victim, Mrs. Ya Haj-ja Usman, said that his 70-year-old father
who had an eye problem and always remained indoors for the past one
year was trapped in the house which was completely burnt down.
It is so sad that my fa-ther of about 70 years old died in this
unfortunate incident. What have I done to Allah and what has my
aged father done that he met his untimely death mysteriously in
fire, she said.
A visit to the scene with the Deputy Governor, Al-haji Zannah
Umar Musta-pha, amidst tight security revealed that more than 40
people were killed, while over 100 houses and shops, including that
of the Nige-rian Union of Journalists, NUJ, were all razed by fire
with some people trapped inside their houses and were burnt beyond
recogni-tion.
The deputy governor ap-pealed to the terrorists to embrace
peace
Confirming the incident, JTF spokesman, Lt.- Col. Sagir Musa,
said that some Boko Haram Islamic sect members detonated an IED
targeting at Hilux Patrol vehicle of the JTF which injured two
soldiers.
Sagir, however, denied killing of any army person-nel in the
blast, insisting that only two of his men were seriously injured
and were taken to University of Maiduguri for treatment.
Meanwhile, President
Goodluck Jonathan yes-terday charged the newly-appointed service
chiefs to tackle the increasing rate of insecurity in the
country.
He also tasked them on the spate of oil theft within the nations
territorial wa-ters.
President Jonathan gave the charge when he deco-rated the
newly-appointed service chiefs with their new ranks in Abuja.
The new Chief of De-fence Staff, Vice-Admiral Ola Saad Ibrahim
from Kwara State was decorated with the rank of Admiral; the new
Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Dele Joseph Ezeoba from Delta
State was decorated with the rank of Vice-Admiral, while the Chief
of Air Staff, Alex Sabundu Badeh from Adamawa State was deco-rated
with the new rank of Air Marshal.
The President told the service chiefs, particularly the Chief of
Naval Staff, Ezeoba to move into action
and urgently bring the is-sue of crude oil theft to an end,
considering its adverse effect on the economy.
I will like to use this fo-rum to specifically charge you to
tackle the security challenges confronting our country today. Most
espe-cially, the Chief of Naval Staff and officers and men have the
onerous responsi-bility of upscaling security in our territorial
waters.
The unacceptable ris-ing incident of crude oil theft must be
tackled fron-tally. Given the direct ad-verse implications of the
activities of crude oil theft on our national economy, I expect the
Chief of Na-val Staff and other service chiefs to immediately go to
work to urgently bring the issue of crude oil theft to an end,
President Jonathan said.
The President also charged the service chiefs to join forces
with other se-curity agencies and bring fresh impetus into the
new
security architecture to combat the menace of ter-rorism in the
country.
He said: May I further reiterate that the security of life and
properties in all parts of this country is a sacred obligation
which our administration will do everything in its power to live up
to.
We cannot allow threat to national security to com-promise our
national trans-formation efforts. While we remain repositioning
Ni-geria for sustained growth and development, we shall proactively
prosecute the fight against terrorism with total commitment and
effectively check the ac-tivities of all criminal ele-ments in our
dear land.
In this regard, we will step initiatives aimed at strengthening
and reposi-tioning our security agen-cies for greater efficiency to
discharge their constitu-tional responsibilities.
He expressed confidence
-
Soldier, 40 others die in bomb blasts
National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net6 Tuesday, October
9, 2012News
UNIPORT 4: Varsity declares seven-day mourning
Sambo inaugurates committee on demographic data
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
One of the houses affected by the bomb blast in Maiduguri, Borno
State, yesterday.
last Friday morning.This is coming just as
the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Joseph Ajienka,
condemned the killing, describing it as an atrocious crime.
The mourning period will end on Sunday.
The VC, who was flanked by principal of-ficers of the university
while addressing journal-ists, called on security operatives to
smoke out those behind the brutal killing.
A one-minute silence was later observed for the deceased
students.
Ajienka stressed that the university would not tolerate any act
of jungle justice and commiserated with the bereaved fami-lies.
The students union
week of the university, which was supposed to have started
yesterday, has been suspended in honour of the deceased
students.
The vice-chancellor explained that three of the deceased had
been confirmed to be students of the university while the identity
of the fourth person was yet to be ascer-tained.
Those identified as UNIPORT students are Bi-ringa Chidiaka
Lordson, a 200 level theatre arts stu-dent with matriculation
number U2010/1805036; Ugonna Kelechi Obuzor, year two geology
student with matriculation num-ber U2010/5565149 and Mike Lloyd
Toku, a year- two civil engineering stu-dent with matriculation
number U2010/3010094.
The VC said that ef-forts were still being made to confirm if
the fourth victim, Tekena Tamuno Erikena, was a student of the
university. Despite the declared seven days of mourning, Ajienka
stressed that the school was still in session.
He dismissed sugges-tions that students of the university were
mobilis-ing to take vengeance on the Omokere-Aluu com-munity.
The Rivers State chap-ter of the Action Con-gress of Nigeria,
ACN, said that it was dismayed by the zero level to which the
sanctity of human life had been reduced in the country.
The party expressed this in a statement signed by its Publicity
Secretary, Jerry Needam, while re-
acting to brutal killing of the students.
The ACN spokesman said that it was unfor-tunate that the killing
happened in Rivers State whose people were in the forefront of the
condemna-tion of similar massacre of hapless innocent people in
northern Nigeria by the Boko Haram insurgents.
Meanwhile, the Na-tional Association of Ni-gerian Students,
NANS, yesterday expressed dis-appointment over what it called the
inability of the security agents to fish out killers of 40 students
of the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi in Adamawa State, two weeks after
the deadly act occurred.
In a statement issued in Jos yesterday and signed by NANS
President, Com-rade Dauda Mohammed,
the students body said: We want to express our disappointment at
the se-curity agencies over their seeming non-commitment into
bringing the perpe-trators to justice.
The statement also called on security agents to redouble their
efforts towards finding the perpe-trators.
It also reiterated NANS directive to students of tertiary
institutions in Adamawa State to boycott academic activities until
their demands for safety were met.
Before we allow the reopening of the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi,
and re-view our call for a boycott of academic activities on other
institutions in the state, it is imperative for security agents to
launch full investigations into
what led to the killing of the innocent students.
NANS also condemned the extra-judicial killing of four UNIPORT
students alleged to have stolen some properties, describ-ing the
act as barbaric.
It is barbaric to imag-ine this happening in a sane clime where
the rule of law is being advocat-ed, it said
The students body, therefore, urged Rivers State government to
en-sure that those behind the act were properly pun-ished.
We hereby call on the Rivers State Government to immediately
bring the perpetrators to justice and enjoin the security agencies
to ensure that all those involved are ar-rested and made to face
the law.
in the ability of the new ser-vice chiefs to live up to
ex-pectation, saying that they were appointed in recogni-tion of
their patriotism, ex-cellence, loyalty, dedication, courage and
unwavering faith in the country.
The President assured of his administrations com-mitment to
provide neces-sary support in ensuring the optimal operational
readi-ness of the armed forces.
While placing the high-est premium possible on the welfare and
well-being of our men and women in uniform, they have demon-strated
unalloyed respect for the institution and structures of democratic
governance, in remaining steadfast and dedicated to their
constitutional obliga-tions, Jonathan said.
The President also paid glowing tribute to officers and men of
the armed forces and security services who paid the supreme
sac-rifice in the service of the nation.
While praying for the repose of the fallen heroes, President
Jonathan noted
that the country would miti-gate the pain of their losses.
The new CDS in his re-sponse on behalf of other service chiefs
pledged their unalloyed loyalty to the President and commitment to
the service of the nation.
He also pledged that they would work hard to tackle the security
situation in the country.
I reassure Mr. President of our resolve to live up to his
expectation and the con-fidence reposed in us.
I categorically pledge the continued and unal-loyed loyalty of
the armed forces to the President and Commander in Chief.
The armed forces under the collective leadership of the services
chiefs and me, will sustain the extant high standards of
discipline, pa-triotism and professional-ism, Ibrahim said.
Jonathan had last Thurs-day appointed the former Chief of Naval
Staff, Ibra-him, as the CDS to replace Air Marshal Oluseyi
Petin-rin who had retired.
The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Azubike Ihejirika retained his
position.
ROTIMI FADEYIABUJA
Vice-President Na-madi Sambo yester-day inaugurated the
Presidential Committee set up by President Goodluck Jonathan to
midwife the streamlining of a central-ised demographic database for
the country.
Inaugurating the com-mittee yesterday at the State House in
Abuja, Sambo stated its terms of reference to include determining
the Agency that has the constitu-
tional responsibility to host the centralised database;
streamlining the efforts al-ready being made by various agencies in
this regard in or-der to synergize these efforts in the proposed
centralised sys-tem; examine and make rec-ommendations on the
impera-tives of the centralised system on security, funding,
manage-ment, authenticity and sus-tainability of data collection
and applications, and examine and make recommendations on all
issues incidental to the efficient application of data in the
management of our na-
tional affairs. The Committee has the
Vice President as chairman, while other members are
At-torney-General of the Feder-ation, Ministers of Finance,
National Planning, Commu-nication Technology, Health, Education,
Agriculture and Rural Development, Science and Technology,
Inspector General of Police, Comptrol-ler General of Immigration
Service, Director General of National Population Com-mission and
Director Gen-eral of National Bureau of Statistics.
Also listed as members are Director General, Na-tional Identity
Management Commission, Executive Secretary, National Health
Insurance Scheme, Corps Marshall, Federal Road Safety Corps,
Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Managing Director, Galaxy
Backbone, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Millennium
Develop-ment Goal, MDG, Executive Director, United Nations
Population Fund and three representatives of the pri-vate sector,
which include
the Bankers Committee, Mr. Jim Ovia, Alhaji Aliko Dan-gote,
while the Permanent Secretary (GSO) Office of the OSGF is to serve
as Secretary.
The Vice President fur-ther set up three sub-com-
mittees and charged them to work on the term of refer-ence
provided to realise Mr. Presidents objective which was to provide a
centralised database for the country within four weeks.
-
National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 7Tuesday, October 9,
2012 News
ISE-OLUWA IGEABUJA
The Office of the At-torney-General of the Federation, AGF,
yesterday said that no clear di-rective had come from Presi-dent
Goodluck Jonathan on whether or not to appeal the International
Court of Jus-tice, ICJ, which ceded Bakassi Peninsula to the
Republic of Cameroun.
This came as the 10-year window gap available to Nige-ria to
appeal the controversial judgment expires today.
A senior media aide to the
minister of justice said yes-terday in Abuja that the deci-sion
to pursue an appeal in the matter was not that of the AGF but the
Presidents.
The Presidential Advi-sory Committee set up by President
Goodluck Jonathan is yet to submit its report as I am talking.
Although the re-port may be submitted today to President Jonathan,
it is the President who has the final say.
The appeal cannot be filed by the Office of the Attorney-General
until a go ahead comes from Mr. President.
The Attorney-General of
the Federation himself will address the press shortly over this
matter as soon as the position of the President is made known, the
aide said.
Should the go-ahead to file the appeal be received, the
At-torney General, Mr. Moham-med Bello Adoke (SAN), is to lead
Nigerias team of legal experts in international ju-risprudence to
the ICJ at the Hague to set aside the 2002 ver-dict on Bakassi.
President Jonathan had last week raised an advisory team to
scrutinise the ICJ judgement, with a view to ex-
ploring possible areas of ap-peal.
The decision was sequel to a resolution made by the Sen-ate
through a motion spon-sored by the Deputy Majority Leader, Abdul
Ningi
Meanwhile, President Jon-athan is billed to address the nation
at 7am today.
Although details of the ad-dress are not known, all televi-sion
and radio stations have been directed to hook up to the network
services of the Nigerian Television Author-ity, NTA, and the
Federal Ra-dio Corporation of Nigeria, FRCN, for the broadcast.
Im not a victim of Mubi massacre Ishaku Joshua FEMI
OYEWESOABEOKUTA
Mr. Ishaku Joshua, who was alleg-edly shot dead in the massacre
of some stu-dents of the Federal Poly-technic, Mubi, Adamawa State,
yesterday denied being one of the victims as erroneously
reported.
Joshua, whose name was number two on the list of the supposed
victims of the massacre, said he had not been to Adamawa State in
the last six months.
Speaking with our corre-spondent in Abeokuta, the Ogun State
capital, Joshua said he had been on the em-ploy of the National
Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, since 2005 when he got
enlisted.
Joshua, who described the report which published his name and
picture as very embarrassing, ex-plained that he had been receiving
calls from across the country from friends, old school mates as
well as his colleagues at the NDLEA with whom he had served in
various capacities over the report of his death.
He also said that the calls were from other well-wishers who had
been part of the planning for his wed-ding scheduled for Decem-ber
29.
The 33-year-old narcotic officer explained that he is a native
of Madagali Local Government Area of Ad-
amawa State, adding that he studied at the Federal Polytechnic,
Mubi where he obtained his Ordinary National Diploma in Busi-ness
Administration and Management between 2000 and 2002.
Joshua said he returned to the same institution for his Higher
National Diplo-ma in 2005 but had to drop the course because of the
job offer he received from the NDLEA.
When asked of the pos-sibility of another person bearing his
name, Joshua said maybe somebody is bearing my name; but the issue
of bearing my name shouldnt have come with my picture.
Confirming his story, the NDLEA Assistant Com-mander in charge
of Opera-tions, Isaac Oludare Aloye, under whose direct
super-vision Joshua has been for a couple of months, also
ex-plained that the Adamawa-born officer had been the Acting Chief
Security Offi-cer, CSO, of the Ogun State Command in the last six
weeks.
EMMANUEL ONANIABUJA
Justice Abubakar Sadiq Umar of a Federal Capital Ter-ritory,
FCT, High Court yesterday adjourned pro-ceedings in the trial of
the suspended Chairman of the House of Repre-sentatives Committee
on Capital Market, Hon. Herman Hembe and his deputy, Hon. Azubuogu
Ifeanyi, till November 26 to adopt their written addresses in
support of their no case submis-sion.
The no case submis-sion is in response to the allegation by the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC that Hembe and
If-eanyi abused their privi-leges as chairman and deputy chairman
respec-tively, when they alleg-edly converted into per-
sonal use about N600,000 being money allegedly released by the
Security and Exchange Commis-sion, SEC, for them to travel to the
Dominican Republic for a refresher conference in October 2011.
When the matter came up for continuation of trial yesterday,
counsel to the accused, Mr. Ji-brin Okutepa (SAN) and Linda
Ikpeazu, told the court that they had ap-plications for extension
of time.
They argued that the extension would enable them file and
exchange written addresses in sup-port of their no case
submission.
The oral applications for extension of time were not opposed by
counsel to the EFCC, On-jefu Obe.
In his no case submis-sion, Okutepa contended
that there was only one issue for determination.
The issue, according to him, is whether from the totality of the
evi-dence before this honour-able court, the complain-ant has made
out a prima facie case against the ac-cused persons to answer.
He submitted that to ask the 1st accused person to enter into
his defence will require him to prove his innocence adding that
this is contrary to the presumption of innocence enshrined in
Section 36 (5) of the 1999 Constitution as amended.
Accordingly, Okutepa urged the court to rule in favour of the
1st accused person by upholding the no case submission as the
prosecution has failed to establish a case against the 1st
accused.
Hembe and Ifeanyi are facing a two-count charge of dishonestly
convert-
ing public funds into pri-vate use, an offence con-trary to
Section 308 of the Penal Code Act, Laws of the Federation of
Nigeria, 2004.
The separate counts filed against the accused read thus: That
you Hon. Iorwase Herman Hembe sometime in October 2011 in Abuja
within the Judicial Division of the High Court of the Fed-eral
Capital Territory dishonestly converted to your own use the sum of
$4095 being money given to you by the Securities and Exchange
Commission as your travelling allow-ance to PUNCTA CANA, Dominican
Republic to at-tend a conference which you did not attend and
thereby committed an of-fence contrary to Section 308 of the Penal
Code Act, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (Abuja) 2004 and
punishable under Section 309 of the same code.
IJEOMA EZEIKEABUJA
The Federal Govern-ment has awarded foreign scholarships to 101
first class students of government recognised and approved
universities in Sciences, Basic Medical Sciences, Special Aspects
of Biology, Economics, Engi-neering and Technology, as well as
Medicine.
The Minister of Edu-cation, Prof. Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufai, who
an-nounced this yesterday, said the Presidential Special
Scholarship Scheme for In-novation and Development, PRESSID, plans
to develop a critical mass of profession-als who would serve as
cata-lysts of change and agents of scientific and technologi-cal
advancement, as well as
sustainable economic devel-opment.
The awardees, expected to study in the 25 best universi-ties of
the world up to Mas-ters and PhD levels, are be-tween 21 and 30
years of age, 20 female and 81 male among them is one
physically-chal-lenged candidate.
It is important to note that all the 449 short-listed candidates
performed very well but it is unfortunate that in this maiden
edition of the presidential scholar-ship scheme, there are limit-ed
spaces, the minister said.
She also disclosed that 1,300 applicants registered on the
electronic portal for the scholarship scheme but 449 were invited
for a computer-based test and the results released instantly to
prevent any form of manip-ulation.
Bakassi: Im waiting for Presidents fi nal directive Adoke
Alleged N44m fraud: Hembe, Ifeanyi to address court Nov 26101 fi
rst class students get FGs foreign scholarship
L-R: Chairman, House Committee on Human Rights, Hon. Beni Lar;
Executive Secretary, National Human Rights Commission, Prof. Bem
Angwe and Chairman, Senate Committee on Judiciary, Legal Matters
and Human Rights, Sen. Umar Tambuwal, at the launch of 2012 Prison
Audit in Kuje, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN
Joshua
Jonathan addresses the nation today
-
Osun CJ succession row deepens
ABIODUN NEJOADO-EKITI
The Peoples Demo-cratic Party, PDP, has called on Presi-dent
Goodluck Jonathan to suspend further federal allocations to local
gov-ernments in Ekiti State following the indefinite industrial
action em-barked upon by the coun-cil workers.
The state Director-Gen-eral of Information and Strategy of the
PDP, Chief Gboyega Aribisogan, made the call yesterday in Ado-Ekiti
while address-ing journalists.
The workers, under the aegis of the Nigeria Union of Local
Government Em-ployees, NULGE, three
weeks ago embarked on strike over the inability of the state
government to meet their demands con-cerning the payment of new
minimum wage and special allowances, CON-HESS and CONMESS, to
health workers in the local governments.
The PDP said that re-leasing further funds to the councils would
only give Governor Kayode Fayemi the opportunity to do whatever he
liked with the money.
Aribisogan accused Fayemi of crippling local governments in the
state, pointing to the allegation raised by NULGE that the governor
was deducting N1bn monthly from the allocations of the 16 coun-
cils.Asked whether sus-
pending allocations would not further compound the hardship
being experi-enced by council workers, Aribisogan explained that
since there were cases in court, it would naturally be expected
that those cases were disposed off before any headway could be
made.
However, the state Commissioner for Infor-mation, Mr. Funminiyi
Afuye, described the PDP call as laughable.
Afuye wondered when it became the practice for the President to
dabble into labour matter and because of that stop statu-tory
allocations of states or councils.
Alleged theft: Film producer asks court to dismiss suit
NULGE strike: Suspend Ekiti LGs allocations, PDP tells
Jonathan
KAYODE KETEFE
A L a g o s - b a s e d movie producer, Ifeanyi Onyeabor,
yesterday prayed a Lagos High Court presided over by Justice Habeeb
Abiru to strike out the charge of stealing preferred against him by
the Economic and Financial Crimes Com-mission, EFCC.
Onyeabor, who is the Managing Director of Igo Motion Pictures
Interna-tional, was charged by the anti-fraud agency after its
investigation allegedly linked him with fraudu-lent activities.
He was alleged to have swindled one Mr. Steven Okomah of N8.8m
under the guise of helping him
to produce two movies.At the proceedings yes-
terday, Onyeabors lawyer, Mr. F. H. Awalah, told the court that
his client and the complainant, Okomah, had resolved the issue
amicably.
He said: The complain-ant (Okomah) says he is no longer
interested in the case and that the EFCC should discontinue the
prosecution.
There was a mistake based on misinformation and the parties have
re-sumed their cordial busi-ness relationship.
The production of the two movies which led to the dispute has
almost been completed in Ghana.
Awalahs position was supported by Okomahs counsel, Mr. Louis
Mgbolu, who also urged the court to dismiss the matter.
WALE FOLARINOSOGBO
The crisis over the appointment of a new Chief Judge of Osun
State to succeed Jus-tice Olaniyi Ojo, who is re-tiring next month,
has po-larised the state judiciary.
The crisis has con-tinued to fester though Governor Rauf
Aregbe-sola has sent the names of three qualified justices to the
National Judicial Council, NJC, for consid-eration as the next
Chief Judge of the state.
However, the state Attor-ney-General, AG, Mr. Wale Afolabi, has
justified the
steps taken by Aregbesola in recommending the names of three
justices to the NJC.
Afolabi, who said this in an interview with our cor-respondent,
said the gov-ernor acted in compliance with the powers conferred on
him by Section 271(1) of the 1999 Constitution.
The AG spoke against the backdrop of the CJ succession row which
has enveloped the judicial arm of the state government.
The development, par-ticularly the issue of Ojos successor, has
continued to send tongues wagging.
What ordinarily should have been a simple pro-cess is now
causing rip-
ples, even as active par-ticipants appeared to have introduced
politics and sentiments into it.
It was gathered that if some lawyers in Osun State have their
way, they would do everything pos-sible to ensure the amend-ment of
Section 271 (1) of the 1999 Constitution.
The section reads: The appointment of a per-son to the office of
Chief Judge of a state shall be made by the governor of the state
on the recom-mendation of the Nation-al Judicial Council subject to
confirmation of the ap-pointment by the House of Assembly of the
state.
L-R: Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun; the state Chief Judge,
Justice Olatokunbo Olopade; Deputy Governor, Mr. Segun Adesegun;
the state House of Assembly Speaker, Hon. Suraj Adekunbi and
Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Wemimo Ogunde, at the thanksgiving
service to commemorate the new Legal Year in Abeokuta,
yesterday.
same day and are serving in courts of coordinate ju-risdiction,
but Ojo is said to be the senior at the Bar, which gives her an
edge.
While Ojo is an indi-gene of the state, Olagoke is from Delta
State but married to an indigene of the state.
This has been one strong weapon that those kicking against
Olagokes appointment have been using in favour of Ojo.
Although Oyewole is said to be an indigene of the state, those
who are opposed to his nomination have ar-gued that he is a total
strang-er to Osun State judiciary because he had been on the Bench
outside the state.
Despite the opposition against Oyewoles choice, Aregbesola has
forward-ed his name to the NJC along with those of Ojo and
Olagoke.
Confirming the devel-opment, Afolabi said the governor acted in
line with the constitution.
He said: It is a simple and straightforward pro-cedure. The
governor has forwarded Justice Oye-woles name along with other
names to the Judi-cial Service Commission, JSC, and the National
Ju-dicial Council, NJC, after which their recommenda-tion will come
to the gov-ernor who will forward it to the state House of
As-sembly. It is a judicial af-fair now and we will know the
outcome at the conclu-sion of the process.
KEMI OLAITANIBADAN
The Senate Commit-tee on Education yesterday gave the management
of the Uni-versity of Ibadan, UI, a two-week ultimatum to explain
the financial ac-tivities and budgetary implementation of the
institution in the last one year.
The committee led by Senator Uche Chuk-wumerije gave the order
during an oversight func-tion visit to the university.
Chukwumerije said there were grey areas in the presentation of
finan-cial activities of the insti-tution, adding that
clari-fication was necessary to help the committee in the discharge
of its duty.
The senator, who led other members that in-clude Professor
Olusola Adeyeye, Atiku Abuba-kar Bagudu, Oluremi Ti-nubu and Pius
Ewhemdo, cited inconsistencies in the recurrent expen-diture
submitted to the committee by the univer-sity authorities.
He said: A review of the recurrent expen-diture shows that
tele-phone charges have no provision in 2011 budget. We require
detailed ex-planation in writing to the committee within the
stipulated period of two weeks.
The committee also raised questions on so-cial responsibility
proj-ects that the institution had embarked upon with Senators
Tinubu and Ba-gudu insisting that the university should shed light
on its Internally Generated Revenue, IGR.
But in defending the institution, the Acting Vice-Chancellor,
Prof. Arinola Sanya, said: The details of the telephone bills,
stationery etc, shall be transmitted to you as requested. The zoo
is supposed to be a huge source of revenue but we dont have many
animals. Many people are donat-ing animals to us after the flood
disaster in the state. During the August 26 last year flood in the
state, some animals were washed away.
Senate gives UI 14-day ultimatum to submit budgetary
implementation
Sparked off by the ru-moured subterranean moves by Aregbesola to
appoint Justice Olubunmi Oyewole of the Lagos State judiciary as
the next CJ, the succession row has polar-ised the state
judiciary.
While some judicial of-ficers and officials of the state
government are said to have supported Oye-wole, others have queued
behind the two most se-nior judges in the state - Justices Gloria
Erhiey-ovwe Olagoke and Oyebo-la Adepele Ojo.
Both Olagoke and Ojo seem to have a common en-emy in the
succession saga.
Olagoke and Ojo were said to have been ap-pointed to the state
Bench
National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netTuesday, October 9,
20128 South West
As Aregbesola sends three names to NJC
-
MURITALA AYINLA
The face-off between the Lagos State Government and the
commercial motorcy-clists over the restriction of the latters
operations in the state metropolis yesterday assumed an-other
dimension as they protested, challenging the government for
prohibit-ing them from operating on 475 roads and bridges.
For hours, motorists groaned in traffic gridlock caused by
protesting motor-cyclists otherwise known as Okada riders.
They barricaded the ma-jor highways, particularly, Awolowo Road
and other ad-journing roads connecting the state secretariat and
the Governors Office.
They defied the early morning downpour and matched through the
roads, chanting solidarity songs.
Armed with banners of
varying sizes, the motor-cyclists, who trooped out in their
hundreds, insisted that the government should not ban their
activities.
The Okada riders claimed that prohibiting their operations on
475 ma-jor highways and bridges is tantamount to complete ban on
their activities.
Some of the inscription on their placards read: The wicked shall
not go unpun-ished, Now, Opeifa don become anti-human rights
activist, United Okada Riders Stakeholders of La-gos State, in
conjunction with Civil Society and Hu-man Rights Group say no to
banning of Okada in 475 roads in Lagos.
But the government in-sisted that no going back on the section
of the traffic law that restricts their op-erations in all the 475
roads and bridges in the 57 Local Government Areas and Lo-cal
Council Development Areas.
KEMI OLAITAN IBADAN
The Oyo State Gov-ernment has ex-plained why it is planning to
seek N50 bil-lion from the capital mar-ket, saying it was meant to
execute some development projects.
In a statement made available to journalists yesterday in
Ibadan, the state capital, Commis-sioner for Finance, Mr. Zachaeus
Adelabu, listed the capital projects to be executed with the bond
to include the Urban Mass Transit scheme, develop-ment of
agricultural silos
of 10,000MT in each of the three senatorial districts and
construction of ultra-modern markets.
Others, he said, includ-ed the building of agricul-tural
processing plants in each senatorial district, construction of
Ibadan Circular Road, construc-tion of a five-star hotel,
canning/agro-processing factory, housing estate, as well as
construction of lo-gistics centres/industrial parks across the
state.
Adelabu explained that the $56.24 million African Development
Bank (ADB) loan was meant to fund the Urban Water Supply and
Sanitation Improvement
Project in Ibadan, with the state paying its own coun-terpart
funding.
The commissioner noted that all previous interven-tions in the
water sector in Ibadan had always been limited to the
rehabilitation or expansion of water treat-ment facilities without
cor-responding attention to the reticulation system.
He said the bond had been approved by the Secu-rities Exchange
Commis-sion (SEC) after verifying the specific projects, all of
which would be self-financ-ing, adding that it had also been
guaranteed by the Federal Government.
Adelabu said in the long
run, the bond option would be cheaper for the state government
than commer-cial loans granted by finan-cial institutions.
He said: The regulatory requirements for bond fi-nancing will
force the state to utilize the proceeds for
developmental/commer-cial projects specifically identified during
the bond issue planning phase and strengthen our resolve for
improved transparency and accountability.
The commissioner add-ed that the bond would be in two tranches,
with the first tranche of N30 billion to be finalised this year and
the second in 2013.
L-R: Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Motor Vehicle
Administration Agency, Mr. Akin Hanson; Commissioner for
Transportation, Mr. Kayode Opeifa and his Information and Strategy
counterpart, Mr. Aderemi Ibirogba, during the Ministry of
Transportations Vehicle In-spection Safety Campaign Week and the
launch of a docu-drama video on motorcyclists in Lagos,
yesterday.
Again, Okada riders protest, says Lagos cant ban them
Why we opted for N50bn bond, ADB loan Oyo
ABIODUN NEJO ADO EKITI
Low turnout was re-corded yesterday at the venues of the
Teachers Develop-ment Needs Assessment (TDNA) otherwise known as
Competency Test or-ganised by the Ekiti State Government.
While some secondary school teachers billed to write the test
yesterday showed up at the centres, others stayed away in
dis-agreement with the lead-
ership of the Academic Staff Union of Secon-adary Schools
(ASUSS) that directed them to par-ticipate.
The teachers along-side their primary school counterparts had
some months back shunned the examination, saying they did not trust
its conduct as necessary things were not put in place first.
But last weekend, while primary school teachers still stuck to
their guns
not to participate in their test scheduled for yester-day, ASUSS
leadership di-rected its members to par-ticipate in the
exercise.
However, at Olaolu-wa Muslims Grammar School, Ado-Ekiti, where
over 3,000 secondary school teachers were to converge for the
exami-nation, only 35 were pres-ent, while only 28 teachers wrote
the TDNA at Afri-can Church Comprehen-sive High School, Ikere-
Ekiti where about 3, 000 were billed to write.
This was as the Com-missioner for Education, Dr Eniola Ajayi,
said defi-ant teachers would regret their action, saying the fact
that some participat-ed was enough to break new grounds.
Ajayi told journalists in Ikere-Ekiti that it was quite
unfortunate that teachers still abstained from the TDNA despite
efforts and series of in-
formation from the gov-ernment that it was not targeted at
sacking any of them.
The commissioner, who reiterated the gov-ernments plan to
develop the teachers with the as-sessment, lamented: You could see
the level of failure recorded in West African Examination Council
and National Ex-amination Council this year. This is to tell you
the level of rot in the sys-tem and how far we have gone in
clamping down on examination malprac-
tices.But the state Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) Media and Information Director, Chief
Gboyega Aribisogan, said yester-day that the standoff be-tween the
government and the teachers was ad-versely affecting educa-tion
development and the future of the state.
The Senior Special As-sistant to the Governor on Labour Matter,
Mr Ojo Arogundade, said the po-lice presence at the cen-tres was to
prevent break-down of law and order.
FEMI OYEWESO ABEOKUTA
Hundreds of Ogun State workers were yesterday locked out by the
Head of Service for resuming to work late.
This is the second the administration of Gover-nor Ibikunle
Amosun will lock out workers since its inception.
National Mirror learnt that the two gates leading to the
secretariat at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, the state capital, were locked
as at exactly 7: 45am on the order of the Head of Ser-vice (HOS),
Mrs. Modupe Adekunle.
It was learnt that the Head of Service, who re-sumed for work as
early as 7:00am, was uncomfort-able when found that a larger
percentage of the workforce were yet to re-
sume. Governor Amosun was
said to have also ordered the locking of the main entry gate
leading to his office.
As at the time National Mirror visited the state secretariat
complex, scores of the stranded workers were seen loitering.
A statement issued by the Press Officer in the Office of the
Head of Service, Damola Falaju, quoted the HOS ad as de-scribing
the attitude of the civil servants as most distressing.
Mrs. Adekunle, who said the workers had ad-justed to the 7: 30
resump-tion time after Governor Amosuns clampdown on them in June,
explained that penalty for the affect-ed civil servants would be
decided later owing to their larger number.
Assuring that the gov-
Low turnout mars Ekiti competency test
Ogun HOS lock out workers for late-coming
Govt vows to punish adamant teachers
ernment would block the jungle serving as the es-cape route for
the habitual latecomers, the HOS said that the state would pro-
vide more transit buses to ease the transporta-tion problems
often expe-rienced by the civil ser-vants.
National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 9Tuesday, October 9,
2012 South-West
-
National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net
judiciary, he would con-tinue to challenge Umezu-likes actions
on the matter.
He said: What you wit-nessed in court this morn-ing (yesterday)
is travesty of justice... You will recall that on 25th of July, he
made an ex-parte order against me and against APGA that was not a
party in the suit. On July 31st against clear provisions of Enugu
State High Court rules, he ex-tended the order without any
application by parties and adjourned the matter
to September 17.You will also recall
that on the same July 31, we took two arguments on our notice of
prelimi-nary objection to the suit and the Chief Judge stated that
if objection succeeds, the matter will end. He adjourned the matter
to September 17 to rule on the preliminary objection.
On September 17, he made a volt face and re-fused to deliver
ruling on challenge of jurisdiction, which was fully argued on
July 31.Instead, he made a volt
face and overruled himself and now declared that he will hear
the substantive suit and deliver judgment on both the preliminary
ob-jection and the substantive suit. Procedurally, he was bound to
deliver his ruling on preliminary objection on September 17. On
that same date he refused to vacate the ex-parte order made on July
25th, saying it is a matter left for Court of Appeal to decide.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012 10 South East
DENNIS AGBOENUGU
The National Chair-man of All Pro-gressives Grand Alliance,
APGA, Chief Victor Umeh, has asked the Chief Justice of Ni-geria,
CJN, Justice Aloma Muktar, to call the Chief Judge of Enugu State,
Justice Innocent Umezu-like, to order.
His call came on the heels of Umezulikes in-terlocutory
injunction yes-terday, restraining Umeh from parading himself as
the national chairman of APGA.
Umeh reminded the CJN of his recent petition to her where he
expressed worry over his case before Umezulike in Enugu, add-ing
that with yesterdays ruling, the CJ confirmed his allegation of
bias.
He said: Whatever he has done will remain temporary as they
cannot stand the test of unbiased judicial adjudication. I hereby
call on the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, to quickly intervene in
this matter to prevent Justice Umezulike from further ridiculing
Nigerian judi-ciary.
Justice is not for the highest bidder. I hereby call on the CJN,
Hon. Justice Aloma Muktar, to quickly intervene in this matter, as
a petition has been lodged in her office against Jus-tice
Umezulike.
Umeh said that as a be-liever in the rule of law and
APGA: Umeh rejects Enugu CJs ruling, seeks CJNs intervention
L-R: Enugu State Acting Governor, Mr. Sunday Onyebuchi,
Governors Martin Elechi of Ebonyi State, Peter Obi (Anambra) and
Theodore Orji (Abia) at the South-East Political Elders Forum in
Enugu, at the weekend.
The Federal Govern-ment has begun emergency repair works on some
failed sec-tions of the Port Harcourt -Enugu Highway, two weeks
after the Abia State
House of Assembly con-demned the deplorable state of the
road.
A visit to the work sites on Sunday showed that of-ficials of
the Federal Emer-gency Roads Maintenance
FERMA begins repair of Port Harcourt -Enugu road
GEORGE OPARAABIA
Teachers in Abia State-owned sec-ondary schools have decried the
inability of the state government to pay the arrears of their
minimum wage.
Similarly, primary school teachers are com-plaining over the
non-implementation of their 2009/2010 promotion un-like their
counterparts in the state ministries.
The state Chairman of the Nigeria Union of
Teachers angry with Abia over unfair treatment
Teachers, NUT, Chief E. O. Omeoga, disclosed this yesterday
while fielding questions from journal-ists in Umuahia, the state
capital.
Apart from the unpaid entitlements and delay in payment of
promotion benefits, teachers in the state have not been paid the
27.5 per cent enhance-ment allowance.
Also, the state leader-ship of NUT expressed worries over the
handover of schools to former own-ers, saying that the propri-etors
were going about the handover contrary to the laid down
conditions.
Although Omeoga did not disclose the breached conditions in the
hando-ver of 19 schools to the missions, he advised that in the
interest of peace, all teachers in those schools should be
transferred to public schools in line with the agreed
conditions.
However, the Commis-sioner for Education, Mrs. Monica Phillips,
said the government would do all within its capacity to see that
the perceived imbal-ances were properly ad-dressed.
GEORGE OPARAABIA
The Allied Congress Party of Nigeria, ACPN, has prom-ised to
restore the lost confidence of the resi-dents of Abia State in
governance if it was able to wrest power from the Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP, in 2015.
The party also promised to strengthen the spirit of brotherhood
and produce meaningful development in all the senatorial zones of
the state.
The state Chairman of ACPN, Pastor Linus O. Nwachukwu, said this
in his address at the inau-guration of the party in Umuahia, the
state capital.
He said the state had ex-perienced numerous ups and downs
politically and that the birth of ACPN would bring stability to the
state.
ACPNll restore confidence in governance ChairAgency, FERMA, and
a private construction firm
were busy effecting repairs on the road.
Heaps of crushed stones were dumped along the road side at
Okigwe, even as work had commenced at the Alaoji and Osisioma
sections of the highway.
The Federal Controller of Works in Abia, Mr. Na-siru Bello, told
the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, yesterday in Umuahia that the
Federal Govern-ment was determined to repair all the failed
por-tions of the highway be-fore the commencement of Christmas and
New Year festivities.
Bello said that all the damaged portions of the road would be
repaired, adding that other federal roads in the state would also
receive attention.
He said: Rehabilitation of Umuahia - Ohafia Road was recently
completed. Works are ongoing on Olo-koro - Ikwuano, Calabar
- Aba, Umuahia - Ubakala and Nkporo - Ohafia roads, among
others.
Bello said there was no dull moment on the current repair of
federal roads in Abia State, add-ing that the slow pace of work
noticed was due to the persistent rainfall in the area.
He denied that the former contractor, who handled the project,
aban-doned the site following the spate of kidnappings in the
state, adding that there were no issues to be resolved with the
contrac-tor.
I am about one year old in Abia State, and I can firmly account
for things that happened while I pi-loted the affairs of the
of-fice.
My assurance to Abia State people is that all roads that are
currently being executed would be done to the highest stan-dard of
Federal Ministry of Works.
FELIX NWANERI
In line with efforts to save the Igbo language from extinction,
the Igbo in the Diaspora have concluded plans to estab-lish an Igbo
Learning Cen-tre in Accra, Ghana.
The leader of the Igbo community in Ghana, Eze Chukwudi Ihenetu,
who disclosed this while speak-ing with journalists in La-gos at
the weekend, said the centre was part of plans by Ndigbo in the
Diaspora to resuscitate the Igbo lan-guage through teaching of the
tongue to children born outside the South-East.
The United Nations Edu-cational, Scientific and Cul-tural
Organisation, UNESCO, recently predicted that the Igbo language
might become extinct in the next 50 years if concerted efforts were
not made to resuscitate it.
But the Eze Igbo of Ghana, who allayed such fear, said: We are
working towards setting up an Igbo Learning Centre in Ghana and we
have already ac-quired land in Accra for the project. It will be a
second home for Ndigbo in Ghana when it takes off and will provide
a platform for the teaching of Igbo language and culture to our
children born in the Diaspora.
On the recent face-off between the Ghanaian government and
Nigerian traders in that country over the $300,000 Trade Fee,
Ihenetu disclosed that steps were being taken by both sides to
resolve the issue, especially now that the over five million Igbo,
mostly traders, living across the 10 regions of Ghana had come
together under a central leadership.
Ihenetu, however, ad-vised his kinsmen to al-ways think home by
invest-ing in Nigeria, as that was the only way they could
contribute to the develop-ment of their respective communities.
Ndigbo plan learning centre in Ghana
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National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 11Tuesday, October
9, 2012 South-South
TONY ANICHEBEUYO
Akwa Ibom State Governor, God-swill Akpabio, has berated law
officers for perpetrating unethical standard in the law profes-sion
even as he said that government has provided essential motivation
and encouragement to them.
Consequently, the gov-ernor said that the legal profession in
the country was facing serious danger as editorial comments of
newspapers and opinion moulders seem to have pass a vote of no
confi-dence on the judiciary.
He stated this yesterday in his address at the open-ing of
2012/2013 legal year that was held at the Cathe-dral of All Saints
(Angli-can Communion) in Uyo, the state capital.
The governor regretted that despite the encourage-ment by
government, a few negligible law officers are lacking in the
ethical com-mitment to the discharge of their duties, and noted
that no matter how intan-gible the activities of such law officers
may be, it is susceptible to adversely affect the dispensation of
justice.
He said his government
has released vehicles to justices of the Court of Appeal,
federal high court, newly appointed judges and magistrates from the
state including 103 vehicles to law officers in the em-ploy of the
state.
Decrying the poor ethi-cal standard in the profes-sion, Akpabio
said such action was inimical to the judiciary and the
dispensa-tion of justice.
According to him, the judiciary being the last hope of the down
trodden should be held in integ-rity, stressing that, such
confidence could only be strengthened, when justice is speedily
dispensed and undiluted.
The governor further warned legal officers to note that, once
this con-fidence is eroded, the resultant effect would be anarchy
and mob jus-tice, hoping that, as the new legal year began, the
Bench and Bar would have no reason to betray the confidence reposed
in them.
Government, he as-sured, would not reneged in its earlier
promise of constructing an ultra mod-ern high court complex, adding
that, details for the award of contract was be-ing worked out.
L-R: Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole; Chief Niyi Akintola
(SAN) and Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), at the resumed hearing of the
state election petitions at the tribunal in Benin City,
yesterday.
Akpabio decries unethical standard in legal profession
SOLA ADEBAYOWARRI
The fate of the ab-ducted Delta State Commissioner for Higher
Education, Prof. Hope Eghagha, remains uncertain yesterday even as
the state government commenced negotiation with his abductors.
Eghagha was abducted at Abavo, along the Effu-run-Agbor highway
on Sunday, September 30, on his way to Asaba, the state
capital.
The commissioner, whose police orderly was killed in the deadly
en-counter, was yet to regain his freedom, one week after the
incident hap-pened.
Findings, however, revealed that the kid-nappers had established
contacts with the top hierarchy of the state government. National
Mirror learnt that the hoodlums are demanding N100 million ransom
to free the embattled com-missioner.
It was learnt that the government was keep-
ing the deal under wraps as members of the fam-ily and
associates of the commissioner were not involved in the
negotia-tion.
It was not clear as at press time yesterday how much the
government was prepared to offer to ensure freedom for the
commissioner.
A younger brother
SEBASTINE EBHUOMHANBENIN
Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, yesterday urged the state
Governorship Elec-tion Petition Tribunal sit-ting in Benin City to
throw out an application filed by the defeated candidate of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Major-Gen-eral Charles Airhiavbere
(retired).
The tribunal has set aside yesterday and today to rule on the
petitioners application that has been countered by the respon-dents
counter application seeking to add to the list of witnesses to
testify for the petitioner.
At the resumed hearing, Airhiavberes counsel, Mr. P.O. Ituah
urged the tribu-nal to allow him to bring in additional witnesses,
argu-
ing that it would help him to prove his case beyond reasonable
doubts. How-ever, the 1st respondents opposition was supported by
the 2nd and 3rd respon-dents, who are all seeking the leave of the
court to strike out the petitioners application.
But counsel to Gover-nor Oshiomhole, the 1st respondent, Chief
Adeniyi Akintola (SAN), urged the tribunal to dismiss the
ap-plication as it would serve no useful purpose in view of the
ruling of the tribu-nal on September 27, which dismissed the
application of the petitioner in respect of the academic
qualifica-tion of the governor.
Chief Akintola submit-ted that the argument of the petitioner
was merely academic as the applica-tion was not a live motion
before the tribunal. But-
tressing his argument with relevant facts and authori-ties, the
1st respondents counsel urged the tribunal to dismiss the
application as it does not serve any use-ful purpose.
Counsel to the Action Congress of Nigeria (2nd respondent) and
the Inde-pendent Electoral Commis-sion, INEC, (3rd respon-dent)
allied themselves with Akintolas argument while describing the
ap-plication as an exercise in futility.
In his remark, Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Su-leiman
Ambrusa, reserved ruling on the application and counter-application
for today, October 9.
It will be recalled that the tribunal had on Sep-tember 27
struck out the Edo PDP candidates peti-tion contesting the
aca-demic qualifications of
Governor Oshiomhole on the basis that it was a pre-election
matter that should have been addressed at the Federal High Court
before the election with the tri-bunal chairman describ-ing the
petitioner as em-barking on a wild goose chase.
Meanwhile, the 3rd re-spondent, Independent National Electoral
Com-mission on Monday pro-duced at the tribunal, some of the
electoral documents requested by the petitioner.
INEC said it had to bring the documents to the prem-ises of the
tribunal after attempts to contact the pe-titioner failed.
Oshiomhole and many top officials of the Edo State government
wit-nessed the sitting even as Airhiavbere continued to absent
himself from the tribunal.
Uncertainty as Eghaghas abductors commence negotiation with
govt
Strike out Airhiavberes application, Oshiomhole urges
tribunal
Demand N100 million ransomto the commissioner, Mr. Ejiro
Eghagha, who spoke on telephone with our correspondent, con-firmed
that the hoodlums had established contacts with the government, but
said he could not provide details about the negotia-tion. He also
claimed ig-norance of the N100 mil-lion ransom.
The younger Eghagha said the experience of the family,
especially the commissioners wife, was traumatising, adding that
she was in deep sorrow.
He said the commis-sioner had not spoken to any member of the
fam-ily since he was abducted last week.
The kidnappers have contacted the state gov-ernment. I dont have
any information about the negotiation, the state government should
know
better. I cannot confirm if the kidnappers have demanded ransom.
All members of his (commis-sioner) family are very sad, especially
the wife, who is in deep sorrow.
For eight days, there has been no communi-cation with him but we
trust that with time God will touch their (kidnap-pers) hearts to
release our brother, he added in an emotion laden voice.
Also, the Police Public Relation Officer (PPRO), State Command,
Mr. Charles Muka, assured that the police was on the trail of the
kidnap-pers.
We are on the matter and we are working on some information that
would lead to the arrest of the hoodlums and freedom for the
victim, Muka added.
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National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net12 Tuesday, October
9, 2012 North
HENRY IYORKASE MAKURDI
Majority Leader of the Benue State House of As-sembly, Hon. Paul
Biam, is praising God for saving his life from the gunmen that
opened fire at him re-cently.
Biam told journalists
yesterday in Markudi, the state capital, that he nar-rowly
escaped death by a whisker at Ankya in Ukum Local government Area
of the state.
He said the attack took place after he and others, including the
local gov-ernment chairman, Hon. Terfa Bossua; the Chief of Staff
to the Governor, Saint
Gbilekaa and the state Com-missioner for Works and Transport,
Hon. Benjamin Ashaver, had finished a stakeholders meeting.
The Majority Leader said: During the meet-ing, I noticed some
strange persons wielding weapons who banged into the chair-mans
house and I fled for my dear life. It was on my
way back to Makurdi that a well known deadly organi-sation Mgnav
Youths shot at my car three times, but I escaped.
Attributing the attack to political struggle ahead of the 2015
general elec-tions, Biam recalled that his younger brother, Felix,
who just graduated from the Benue State University
was attacked in July by un-known persons and is still been
treated for several gun-shot injuries he sustained.
He stressed that the inci-dent occurred shortly after the
governor dissolved the then transition local govern-ment chairmen,
adding that he vehemently opposed to retention of Hon. David Sev Av
as well as the nomination
of the present council chair-man Hon. Terfa Bossua.
Frankly speaking, there had been no noticeable dis-agreement in
Ukum politics, but since the emergence of this deadly group, there
are have been violence in the area. Even as this inci-dent
happened, the council chairman has not said any-thing, Biam
said
Benue Assembly Majority Leader escapes death
OBIORA IFOHABUJA
Many members of the Adamawa State chapter of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday threatened defection if the
national leaders of the party did not intervene in the crisis
rocking it.
It will be recalled that the state chapter of the party has been
faction-alised over leadership cri-sis.
While one of the fac-tions is led by Mejejiwa Kagama, the other
is led by Chief Medan Teneke.
The faction headed by Chief Teneke and led by Senator Paul
Wampana has, however, visited the National Working Commit-tee (NWC)
members at the PDP national secretariat to complain of the alleged
injustice being perpetrated by the administration of
Governor Murtala Nyako.Wampana said PDP in
Adawama State would not support illegality, but urged NWC
members to stop the injustice.
He praised the national leadership of the PDP for the bold
decision it took in canceling the primaries held in the 226 wards
of the state.
Wapana said: We did not come here to argue cas-es, but we are
here because of the decision of the lead-ership of the party. We
are in support of the decision. You (Alhaji BamangaTu-kur) are our
own, we will be loyal to the party on one condition - on the
condition that illegality is removed from the party, we will not be
party to illegality.
We brought ourselves here, you did not invite us, we have come
to support you, we hope the NWC will not let us down and we will
not let you down.
L-R: Minister of Sports and Chairman of National Sports
Commissions, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi; Minister of Labour and
Productivity, Chief Emeka Nwogu; Minister of Information and
Communications, Mr. Labaran Maku and Kwara State Governor
Abdulfatah Ahmed during a visit of the National Good Governance
Committee to the governor in Ilorin, yesterday.
Crisis: Adamawa PDP members threaten to dump party in droves
The Kogi State Gov-ernment said yes-terday that about 600, 000,
with women and children in the majority, were displaced by floods
in the state.
The state Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Abdulrahaman
Wuya, said in Lokoja that the number of resettlement camps for the
victims had also risen from the initial nine to 87.
Wuya said the camps were mostly public prima-ry and secondary
schools and some health centres, adding that the flood affect-ed
457 communities across nine local government ar-eas.
He said the state govern-ment had set up medical
stands in the camps, while the referral centre in Idah had been
directed to com-plement the medical stands in the town because of
the high number of displaced people from Ibaji Local Government
Area.
Wuya said a committee, under the chairmanship of the state
Deputy Gover-nor, Mr Yomi Awoniyi, had been set up to evolve
mea-sures of addressing all sec-tors affected by the floods.
According to him, edu-cation, agriculture, health and roads are
some of the sectors already identified to have been badly
affected.
He said that government had, in the interim, decided to merge 87
public primary and secondary schools cur-
rently being used as reset-tlement camps with nearby government
schools.
The commissioner said that children could not con-tinue to stay
at home until the first week of December when experts said the
wa-ter would finally recede.
He said the merged schools would run two shifts in the morning
and afternoon.
Wuya expressed regrets that communities ravaged by the flood
were the food basket of the state, saying that the situation
constitut-ed a threat to food security and health of the
people.
He said government was thinking of how it could as-sist farmers
in the remain-ing 12 Local Government
areas not affected by the flood to expand their farm-lands,
using mechanised farming techniques.
Apart from this, he said that government also planned to provide
the farm-ers with improved seeds and high yielding seedlings to
boost production.
The commissioner said government had also sensed that the
protein in-take of the people was like-ly to be badly affected as
many fish ponds and live-stock farms were washed away in the
flood.
He said government would give fish farmers free nets, hooks and
other tools to enhance fishing ac-tivities in the riverine
com-munities.
600,000 displaced in Kogi flood
PRISCILLA DENNIS MINNA
Lawmakers are not happy with the slow pace of this years budget
implementation.
They have, therefore, stressed the need to sanc-tion all
ministries, depart-ments and agencies that failed to adequately
imple-ment the 2012 appropria-tion bill.
The lawmakers ex-
pressed the concern yester-day when the House of
Rep-resentatives Committee on Power visited the Shiroro Hydro Power
Station in Ni-ger State.
The committee, led by its chairman, Hon. Ibrahim Abdul Ebbo,
said: With the year almost drawing to a close, implementation of
budget is between 30 and 40 per cent in most institu-tions.
He said the affected in-
stitutions may be asked to explain why they failed to implement
the funds appro-priated to them.
According to him, inves-tigation revealed that the 2012
appropriation bill have not been implemented up to 50 per cent.
The committee chairman said: My appraisal on the implementation
of the 2012 is a very sad. While hun-dreds of billions of naira is
being approved, the imple-
mentation is still stands at 34 to 40 per cent. To us, that is
not acceptable at all. In fact, if I have my way, I will say there
is no implementa-tion of the 2012 budget.
Ebbo said out of the N734.7 million allocated to the Hydro-
Power Station, only N366 million was re-leased to the station,
adding that similar visits to other power stations and agen-cies
showed poor release of funds.
Reps decry poor implementation of 2012 budget
No fewer than 11 students of Akwa Ibom origin study-ing at the
Federal Polytech-nic, Mubi, Adamawa State, were arrested yesterday
at the Government House in Uyo.
The News Agency of Ni-geria (NAN) reports that the students,
numbering more 50 had gathered at the entrance of Government House
with placards.
They wanted to draw the attention of the state gover-nor to the
plight of their col-leagues in Adamawa State, following last weeks
vio-lence at Mubi Polytechnic.
Some of the placards read: Our Dear Governor
Godswill Akpabio, come to our aid. Akwa Ibom Gov-ernment,
provide us with admission, Please, send rescue team to bring our
students, We cant go back to Mubi.
In attempt to disperse the students, security opera-tives
attached to the Akwa Ibom State Government House, used tear gas on
them, bruised some with whips and arrested 11 of them while the
rest ran away.
Police arrest 11 Mubi Poly students in Uyo
-
Except for Senator Uche Chuk-wumerije, who held a contrary view,
all the senators who contributed to the motion were all united on
the fact that even though the country is not yet on the so-cio,
political and economic pedestal where it ought to be, there are
nonetheless, silver linings on the nations path to development.
The lawmakers expressed these views while contributing
separately on the mo-tion entitled, Congratulations to Nigeria and
Nigerians on the 52nd independence anniversary, which was sponsored
by Sen-ator Ita Enang.
Chukwumerije, who was the last person to contribute to the
motion started straight by disagreeing with the previous
contribu-tors to the motion that at 52, Nigeria and Nigerians have
so much to celebrate. He de-scribed such assertion as being too
gener-ous with the country. Indeed, he was of the view that his
colleague-senators in their assessment of the country were
celebrat-ing failure. To drive home his position, the lawmaker
started by citing instances from other countries of the world who
through sheer collective determination