COLOURS THAT PAIR WELL WITH YELLOW!

14 KILLED IN EKITI, PLATEAU, BENUE MAYHEM!

FOURTEEN people were killed in separate violence that rocked Ekiti, Plateau and Benue states on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

Three of the deaths were recorded in Ado Ekiti during a clash between transport workers and Hausa traders   while six were   in Plateau State where     gunmen invaded four villages in the Barkin Ladi Local Government Area.

The third incident which was also by gunmen left five persons dead in Jooter, Ukum Local Government Area of   Benue state.

The Ado Ekiti fracas was said to have started building up on Tuesday night when   a bag belonging to the wife of a chieftain of the road transport workers was snatched by unknown persons along the ever-busy Ijigbo-Old Garage area of the city.

The victim was also allegedly raped, a development that irked the drivers who, engaged the Hausa in a fre-for-all in Erekesan Market, Oja Oba in the state capital.

An eyewitness said the victim’s husband reported the matter to his colleagues after his efforts to   identify the perpetrators failed.

He added that butchers who, are mainly Yoruba, fought on the side of the Hausa against the transport workers whom they accused of undue harassment and unprovoked attacks.

“The fighting was made worse by hoodlums who joined the transport workers. They were fighting with   guns, bottles, charms, clubs, cutlasses and knives. At least three people died. Some were also injured,” 

It was reported that the violence spread from the market – Old Garage – Mugbagba axis of the city to Atikankan area, a converging point for many Hausa traders in the state.

As of the time of filing this report,   Ajilosun, Okeyinmi, Okesha and Irona   were no-go areas .

The hoodlums vandalised many vehicles and set many shops at the Erekesan Market ablaze after looting them .

Banks and other business outlets operating in the city were forced to shut down to avoid being looted by the hoodlums.

Sunday Adigun, a cameraman with the Core TV, who was beaten to a pulp, had     his camera   smashed for trying to cover the fighting which was hijacked by hoodlums.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Alberto Adeyemi, did not confirm the deaths but he said that four persons wounded during the fracas were taken to an undisclosed hospital for treatment.

The state new Commissioner of Police, Etop James, who spoke with residents of the affected areas, expressed regrets over the incident and promised to restore normalcy in the city.

It was gathered that the attack on the four villages in Barkin LGA – Jong, Lobirin, Rabuk and Zim – was a reprisal by some armed youths for similar incidents   in some Fulani communities.

Police Public Relations Officer, Emmanuel Abu, who confirmed the attack, said no arrest had been made.

Abu added that the Commissioner of Police, Nasiru Oki, had ordered the redeployment of more policemen   in the LGA to prevent further attacks.

He urged the affected communities to remain calm and report any suspicious movement to the police.

It was gathered in Benue State that about 10 gunmen in a Toyota vehicle shot sporadically at people at a drinking spot in Jooter, Ukum LGA, killing five of them.

The gunmen were said to be looking for a target who was said to have gone to the place to have a drink.

An eyewitness who did not want his name in print said that the “target” was   among the injured.

The state Command’s Police Public Relations Officer, Austin Ezeani, who confirmed the incident,     said that   three people were killed and five critically injured.

RE-ORGANISATION OF NNPC, REMOVAL OF OIL SUBSIDY, JOB CREATION TOP AGENDA AT APC POLICY MEETING!

The direction and programmes of the incoming administration of Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) appears to be emerging with the guide being offered in the form of start-up reform marshal plan by a former British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, who urged him to carry out a complete overhaul of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and solve the problematic petroleum subsidy regime within the first 100 days of assuming office. 

The recommendation is in synch with the call by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) for the incoming Buhari administration to declare a state of emergency in the oil sector given its myriad of problems.

 Blair’s policy pep-talk came just as the Vice-President-elect, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, gave a frightening picture of the country’s economic situation, saying that Nigeria’s local and international debt burden has hit $60 billion, while the debt servicing bill for 2015 is N953.6 billion (about 21%) of our budget.

The ex-British prime minister, who was represented by Peter Benjamin Mandelson, a former Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, at a two-day All Progressives Congress (APC) Policy Dialogue holding in Abuja, yesterday advised that the government should as a matter of priority undertake the shake-up in the management of NNPC within the first 100 days of assumption of office. 

Blair said the new government should try to utilise the enormous goodwill it presently enjoys to take far-reaching economic decisions, including taking an intelligible stand on the controversial fuel subsidy policy. “You have more goodwill to do very difficult things at the beginning of your administration than later. You can crack the NNPC with the first 100 days,” he said. According to Blair, Nigeria has huge natural endowment of energy resources but could not effectively utilise such rich resources to economic advantage because of misplaced priorities.

“These issues are like this, for a country that has extraordinary resources of oil and have this amazing privilege of source of energy, yet power generation was not as good as it should. People having to wait for hours queuing to get fuel and end up buying it elsewhere. I think the resources voted for this subsidy can be better used for other things. “Where is it running away to? I think we need to recapture this oil resource and the revenues put to good use so that it can be invested for the long term good of the country, in infrastructure, human capital development, education system and skill acquisition that people need to work with in the future. “This is where the money should be going to. That is why before reorganisation and also the long reach of the law, there is the need to begin here pretty soon in order to make sure the system as whole works better for Nigeria. That is my view,” he said.

Exhibiting deep knowledge of Nigerian internal political dynamics, the Briton further advised Buhari not to turn his back on the people of the South-east and South-south based on the perception that he did not get the support of the voters from the zones. “You need to show the people who did not vote for you that you care for them and will work to solve their problems as much you will do for those that supported you. This is what is called ‘Big stake politics’,” he said. He also advised the government to tackle frontally the problem of unemployment immediately after taking over the administration of the country if it must successfully reduce youth restiveness and sectarian crisis.

He said that everything must be done to avoid allowing a return to the usual bad ways of doing things. While declaring the policy retreat open, Prof. Osinbajo, who also stood in for Buhari, said the country’s economy is currently in its worst moment in history. Apart from the figures of extreme poverty in the country, which he said had now affected 110 million Nigerians, Osinbajo said the country’s local and international debt stands at $60 billion, while the nation’s debt servicing bill for 2015 is put at N953.6 billion, 21 per cent of Nigeria’s budget. “The figures of extreme poverty in our society — 110 million by current estimates — makes it clear that our biggest national problem is the extreme poverty of the majority. Thus, no analysis is required to conclude that dealing with poverty and its implications is a priority. “We are concerned that our economy is currently in perhaps its worst moment in history.

Local and international debt stands at US$60 billion. Our debt servicing bill for 2015 is N953.6 billion, 21% of our budget. On account of severely dwindled resources, over two-thirds of the states in Nigeria owe salaries. Federal institutions are not in much better shape. Today, the nation borrows to fund recurrent expenditure,” he said. Osinbajo drew the attention of the gathering to some of the key issues raised by the party during the campaign which included addressing the challenges of economy, insecurity, corruption and job creation. Osinbajo lamented the highly unequal society in which the country had found itself, adding that “the largest chunk of the benefits of our national wealth accrues to a small percentage of our population”.

He said the APC manifesto has offered a vision of shared prosperity and socio-economic inclusion for all Nigerians, that leaves no one behind in the pursuit of a prosperous and fulfilling life. According to the vice-presidentelect, the goal of the policy dialogue is to “interrogate the various positions and propositions before a wider audience and to launch a robust public conversation on policy directions and priorities that will help inform our administration’s approach in the next four years”. “This forum exemplifies the sort of consultative and consensual approach to policymaking that our party and the new administration intend to model in office,” he said.

In his remarks, the Director of Policy, Research and Strategy in the Directorate of the APC presidential campaign, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, said the phase of policy conception is over and that the party should now be thinking of “execution, governance and of providing tangible developmental deliverables”. The policy dialogue continues today with presentations by panelists drawn from various sectors of the economy and social backgrounds.

In the same vein, citing a plethora of challenges bedevilling the Nigerian oil and gas industry, PENGASSAN has urged the incoming administration of Buhari to declare a state of emergency in the sector to address its many problems. The oil workers argued that all sub-sectors of the oil and gas industry are going through one problem or the other which are not only dwindling the fortune of the sector, but the entire Nigerian economy as the sector currently accounts for more than 80 per cent of Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings In a statement by PENGASSAN’s President, Mr. Francis Johnson, the senior oil workers said there are many issues in the oil industry requiring urgent attention from the in-coming government.

They urged Buhari to reposition the industry for efficient and effective delivery of its benefits to Nigerians. Johnson also noted in the statement that there is need for the in-coming government to call an all-inclusive stakeholders’ forum of those involved in operations in the sector to critically examine and proffer workable and enduring solutions to all the problems in the larger interest of the Nigerian nation.

Johnson said: “All the subsectors of the oil and gas industry have one challenge or the other and all these challenges are affecting the deliveries of the benefits of our God-given hydrocarbon resources to the country and the entire people of Nigeria. “These challenges are as a result of past neglects, wrong policies and policy summersault in some areas of the subsectors.

All these are inflicting pains on Nigerians who ought to be enjoying the benefits of the natural resources that God bequeathed to the country.”

JONATHAN TO HAND OVER MINISTRIES, AGENCIES BRIEFS TO BUHARI MAY 28!

President Goodluck Jonathan will on May 28 in a brief ceremony at the Presidential Villa, hand over ministries and agencies’ briefs to the president-elect, Muhammadu Buhari. Jonathan will also the same day, take Buhari on a guided tour round the villa. This is just as the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved five universities.

The council will equally hold its valedictory session next Wednesday. This was disclosed yesterday when the Information Minister, Mrs. Patricia Akwashiki, jointly briefed State House correspondents with Education Minister, Ibrahim Shekarau, at the end of the council meeting.

Akwashiki who outlined the hand over ceremony, also said there would be dinner on May 28. Shekarau, on his part, said four federal colleges of education were converted to universities. Shekarau listed the colleges of education as Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo (now Adeyemi University of Education, Ondo); Federal College of Education, Zaria (now Federal University of Education, Zaria); Federal College of Education, Kano (now Federal University of Education, Kano); and Alvan Ikoku College of Education, Owerri (now Alvan Ikoku University of Education, Owerri).

According to him, the colleges of education were part of the 21 federal colleges of education that had been awarding degree programmes in the last three decades under the close supervision of the different universities they are affiliated to. He said the conversion of the colleges of education to universities was imperative as they will churn out more graduates to enhance quality teaching. “We are heading to having more graduates in the teaching profession and hence the need for these universities to produce graduates in education. If we need quality education, we need quality teachers,” the minister added. According to him, the next step to be taken was the amendment to the laws establishing the colleges, which is to be prepared by Justice Ministry.

He stressed that administrative changes would follow suit. Shekarau also told journalists that FEC approved the establishment of the Federal University of Health Sciences in Otukpo, Benue State. The university was formally College of Medical Health Sciences under the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi. The minister disclosed that institution had been granted autonomy as part of continuous efforts to ensure quality graduates into the various fields of medicine and sciences.

Boko Haram: 579 Officers, SOLDIERS ON TRIAL IN ABUJA, LAGOS!

The Nigerian Army has disclosed that about 579 officers and soldiers are currently facing General Court-Martial (GCM) in Lagos and Abuja for various offences ranging from acts of cowardice, desertion and sabotage.

The Director of Army Public Relations (DAPR), Col. Sani Usman, confirmed this wednesday in Abuja, during the press briefing on the activities of the Nigerian Army within the period under review.

Usman said: “There are currently, two separate court martials going on in the Army Headquarters Garrison Command, Abuja, and 81 Division, Nigerian Army, Abuja with a view to ensuring quick dispensation of justice, discipline and professionalism."

He said that about 473 officers and  soldiers are facing the court martial in Army Headquarters, Garison in Abuja, while 106 officers and soldiers are standing trial in 81 Division, Lagos.
According to him, "It is a common practice in the military that anyone who runs foul of the law and the authorities felt that he could not be summarily dismissed, must go to the court martial."

Meanwhile, the soldiers are alleged to be facing trials over offences ranging from insubordination, acts of cowardice, refusal to carry out orders, indiscipline, and Absence Without Leave (AWOL), amongst others.
Usman while fielding questions from journalists, refused to speak on the fate of 66 soldiers who were sentenced to death last year for mutiny by a GCM sitting at the AHQ Garison, Abuja, urging members of the public to wait for the decision of the Army Council.

It was alleged that lawyers to the 66 soldiers are having difficulties appealing their death sentence and secure their freedom, because the processes have not been completed, which is dependent on the final decision of the Army Council on the matter.
According to the procedure, the Army Council, would have to meet and confirm the sentences where if upheld, the lawyers would be at liberty to appeal to a conventional higher court.

Considering that the GCM was already depleting the number of personnel needed for the ongoing Counter-Terrorism and Counter-Insurgency (CT COIN) in the country, Usman said the army was already adding to the personnel strength of the force in the North-east.
He said 481 personnel of the armed Forces Special Forces, which comprised personnel of the army, navy, air force and the police, have completed their training and inducted into the theatre of operations within Z Division area of responsibility.

Similarly, the Army spokesman said that one additional battalion, 151 Battalion, has completed its training and inducted into the theatre, while two  battalions, 152 and 153 Battalions are currently undergoing training and would be inducted on completion.

"Additionally, Army Headquarters Task Force Group is currently in the last phase of their training while Nigerian Army Armoured School, Bauchi, has intensified training of Tank Crew personnel. Moreover, personnel training on Improvised Explosive Devices, (IEDs) in the United Kingdom and United States is ongoing," Usman said.

He also disclosed that 2,388 members of 72 Regular Recruits Intake at the Nigerian Army Depot, Zaria, Kaduna State, would pass out on Friday May 22, which would also boost the personnel strength of the army.

Speaking further, Usman attributed recent successes recorded in operations against the terrorists in the North-east and indeed other operations within the country to the infusion of these specially-trained personnel and are manifestations of Nigerian Army’s huge investment in human and material resources within the period.

He said the Nigerian Army administrative policies and procedures which were last reviewed in 2005 has recently been reviewed to be in line with current and future realities.

“To ease the problems associated with retiring Nigerian Army officers, a one-stop documentation procedure was devised recently. An office of the Deputy Director Retirement and Documentation was established at the Army Headquarters Department of Administration with a 90-day time line of documenting and processing retiring officers’ benefits.

“Similarly, a system of annual update of Nigerian Army personnel Next-of-Kins has been devised.  This is intended to eliminate the hardship hitherto experienced by families and in particular, the Next-of-Kins of our fallen colleagues", he said.

In April, he noted, 20 next-of-kins received cheques for payment of Group Life Insurance entitled to them while a total of 235 next-of-kins benefitted from the special assistance by the office of the National Security Adviser.
Similarly, Usman revealed that over 2,000 children of deceased personnel were screened and passed for NA scholarship for 2014/2015 academic session.

Furthermore, he said, up to 20 families have also benefited from the official burial expenses within the last month in addition to the Chief of Army Staff’s token which was intended to provide immediate succour to the families.

In another development, the army spokesman said Boko Haram terrorists have reverted to using increasing number of young girls and women as suicide bombers and assured that the military are upping their game to ensure that no new territories including Marte would be lost to the terrorists again.

DANGOTE BREAKS UP WITH SYLVIA NDUKA FOR LEAKING THEIR SECRET ROMANCE!

My eyes and ears were busy minding their business and reading the word of God when a strange North East wind from the lucid grapevine blew some hot gist about Sylvia and Dangote over.

Now  lets start from the very beginning

Earlier this week, the internet was agog with reports that former beauty queen Sylvia Nduka, was gearing up to get hitched to Africa’s richest man, billionaire Aliko Dangote.

The reports are true as Sylvia was actually a share holder in Dangote's Harem. She travels to any country in the world on his luxury private jet. Gets pampered in some of the most exotic hotels and locations in the world. pricey designer labels (bags, shoes, clothes), triple measures and rolling over did Dangote make her closet.

She changed her dressing to wearing Hijabs and Burqua even though she hates covering up the Islamic way.

But becoming Mrs Dangote no be beans so she embraced hijabs and was seen sweating profusely at function yet she kept the hussle on all in a bid to con Aliko into dumping others and wifing her up. When that didnt work, she consulted her beauty queen BFF and the planning went deeper Sensing that the Oshiomhole/Iara wedding would be a good season to pressure Dangote into marriage.

The ex beauty queen acting on the catastrophic advice of her friend called Ene, went ahead and leaked the fake news of an impending marriage between them. An act that did not go down well with the very conservative Dangote who allegedly warns members of his harem against publicity.

The love struck Sylvia even went further by adding Aliko Dangote’s initials to her Instagram page, calling herself Sylvia Nduka AD. However, she deleted it after news broke about their not-so-secret whirlwind romance and Dangote became angry and would not take her calls.

An anonymous insider added:

    "She wanted to be Mrs Dangote so bad and she is willing to do anything but this latest stunt has backfired. He wont pick her call but she is trying hard and Very soon he will forgive her because they have something special and she lied to him that she was not behind the leak. The only problem is that she is just a small fish considering the calibre of women who make up the harem. She stands no chance"

NIGERIAN PACKAGED WATER INDUSTRY NOW GENERATES N8bn DAILY!

Indications emerged on Tuesday that the packaged water industry in the country now generates N8 billion turnover daily.

The Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr Paul Orhii, made the revelation at the presentation of annual report on packaged water in Abuja.

The DG explained that the “primary objective of annual packaged water monitoring exercise was to ensure that existing packaged water producers comply strictly with Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) without compromising quality and safety of consumers.

“Besides, the agency cannot afford to  toy with an industry  whose daily turnover is now estimated at N8 billion. This is due to the importance of safety of water for  consumption, the increased need to continually and proactively prevent water-borne diseases,” Orhii observed.

He explained that “the outcome of this exercise in the form of generated data would be considered as national data on packaged water quality parameters profiling that will be shared with relevant stakeholders.”

Orhii further expressed concern over quality testing laboratories in the country, warning that the inability of producers to adhere to best practices would compel the agency to wield the big stick.

“The agency will be left with the only option of closing down such erring factories if producers failed to subject their water to quality status profile analysis,”  the DG said.

While making his presentation,  the consultant for the project and Chief Executive Officer of the company, Emani Global Network Nig. Ltd, Emmanuel Osiegwu, said the report remains a very critical component of national data on water consumption in the country.

Osiegwu explained that the new report would now act as a guide to innovations and the need to revamp the water industry.

PDP national chairman, AHMED ADAMU MUAZU, HAS RESIGNED!

The crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) recorded a new twist as the party’s national chairman, Ahmed Adamu Muazu, surrendered to pressure and resigned.

And deputy national chairman of the party, Uche Secondus, has taken charge as as the party’s acting national chairman pending the election of a substantive chairman.

Muazu who has been in the  ‎United Kingdom for treatment over an undisclosed ailment sent in his resignation letter in the early hours of Wednesday.

The National Working Committee (NWC) which confirmed the resignation of ‎Muazu after its emergency meeting yesterday also disclosed through the PDP national publicity secretary, Olisa Metuh, that the party leadership was already shopping for Muazu’s replacement within the North east zone.

BIN LADEN WAS GROOMING SON AS HEIR TO JIHADITS EMPIRE!

The 22-year-old would-be-jihadist wrote to his reclusive father to say he was itching to join the fight. Hamza trained with explosives and embraced the terror network that killed 3,000 Americans in the September 11, 2001 attacks.

But young Hamza was no run-of-the-mill jihadist recruit. He was the favorite son of 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden, who was grooming him to take over as Al-Qaeda’s leader, according to US intelligence officials.

More than 100 newly declassified documents were provided to AFP by the Central Intelligence Agency, including two letters to Bin Laden from his son and one from Hamza’s mother imploring that he follow in his “father’s footsteps.”

They included Al-Qaeda correspondence noting the eagerness of Hamza, believed to have engaged in terror raids when he was a teen and propaganda videos at a younger age, to return to his father’s inner circle.

The documents are part of a trove of thousands seized during the deadly 2011 US Navy SEAL raid on Bin Laden’s hideout.

They shed light on inner workings of the terror network and the debate over its future in light of the security noose tightening around bin Laden and the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan where he met his fate.

Speculation still swirls about where Hamza, dubbed the “crown prince of terror” by a British MP, was on the night his father died, and no proof has emerged that he was at the compound.

He has not appeared publicly or made any public video statements in years, and his whereabouts remain a mystery, senior US intelligence officials said.

But the documents depict a son describing himself as “forged in steel,” ready to join his father on a journey to “victory or martyrdom,” and a concerted effort by Al-Qaeda to smuggle the young man to his father’s hideout.

“What truly makes me sad is the mujahidin legions have marched and I have not joined them,” Hamza wrote bin Laden in an eloquent letter in July 2009, when the son was under house arrest in Iran, according to an English translation provided by the CIA.

“I dread spending the rest of my young adulthood behind iron bars,” he added.

“My beloved father, I announce to you that I and everyone, God be praised, are following on the same path, the path of jihad.”

– Groomed as successor –

It was not possible to independently verify the origin of the documents or the accuracy of the CIA translation.

Officials said the seized documents showed the “enormous toll” counterterrorism operations had on Al-Qaeda, including its inability to replace leaders it had lost.

“Bin Laden at the time of his death had recognized this peril and planned to bring his son Hamza to his Abbottabad compound to groom him as a successor,” a senior intelligence analyst told AFP.

Hamza had not seen his fugitive father in eight years, and described the “pain of separation” he felt at age 13 and his hopes of a reunion as a young man of 22.

“You bid us farewell and we left, and it was as if we pulled out our livers and left them there,” he wrote.

After Hamza’s release from house arrest, top Al-Qaeda lieutenant Atiyah Abd al-Rahman wrote to bin Laden on April 5, 2011, one month before his death, detailing three possible ways to shepherd Hamza to his father.

The “least dangerous option” was sending him through Pakistan’s Baluchistan province, which borders Iran, to the teeming port city of Karachi, Abd al-Rahman said, writing under the pseudonym Mahmud.

Meanwhile, Abd al-Rahman arranged for Hamza “to attend a course on explosives,” he wrote.

As the plan emerged, Hamza’s brother Khalid wrote to say Hamza should use a fake ID and driver’s license to safely navigate Baluchistan.

Abd al-Rahman wrote Bin Laden promising to train Hamza in firing various weapons, adding that the young man was “very sweet and good.”

ORUBEBE REPORTEDLY DUMPS PDP FOR APC!

An unconfirmed report has it that a former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godsday P. Orubebe, has dumped the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, for the All Progressives Congress, APC

Orubebe is believed to have announced his decision on his twitter handle @ElderGOrubebe on Tuesday.

“I have concluded plans to join my folks in the APC to champion and sustain the movement for a better Niger Delta in the new administration,” was posted on the twitter handle that could not be independently verified.

Meanwhile, a close aide to the former Minister has denied the report. The aide who warned not to be mentioned in print said Orubebe was still in the PDP.

Similarly, an aide to the Beyelsa state government has also denied the report, saying Orubebe was still in the Peoples Democratic Party. According to the aide, who pleaded anonymity, no information of such nature has been received so far. We recall that Orubebe caused a stir during the 2015 presidential election when he attempted to disrupt proceedings at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, where election results were been collated