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How Nigeria is romancing terrorism, By Dele Agekameh

Posted on Wednesday 30 April 2014 No comments

Wednesday 30 April 2014









In recent times, Nigeria has been bedeviled by all sorts of vices and problems so much that when the country is trying to solve one, another one or so many other new problems tumble in. The rapidity and speed with which these problems manifest on a daily, if not on an hourly basis, has become worrisome to the extent that it appears there is a deliberate machination by some people or a group of people to shuffle the country, Nigeria, into history. And then the whole issues of Nigeria, as we now know it, may become “Once upon a time” or in the true sense of it, something akin to the late Chinua Achebe’s most controversial book, ‘There was a country’.


I am neither a Prophet of doom nor someone who does not believe in the indissolubility of Nigeria. If you ask me, I believe in one Nigeria, a country that is so richly blessed with human and natural resources capable of making the most populous country in black Africa, the envy of the whole world. Our strength lies in our diversity as a nation. However, recent events in the country, especially the ones being stage-managed by our so-called politicians, have tended to erode my confidence in the ability of this country to further carry on as one indivisible entity for too long. In short, it is like saying that the country is now being stretched beyond its elasticity and, when that happens, the possibility of breaking apart becomes very real like the dawn of another day.

In years past, our worries were about bribery and corruption, nepotism and all that, which were the fulcrum of the January 15, 1966 coup led by Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu and some other middle-level officers in the Army. That coup infuriated young army officers from a section of the country who saw the mass killing of politicians by the coup makers as a ploy to eliminate notable figures from their section of the country to pave the way for domination by another section of the country as represented by the major actors in the January 1966 coup. It was this feeling of despair that eventually crystallised in the July 29, 1966 counter-coup, which invariably set the stage for the 30-month Nigeria Civil War that followed from May 1967 to January 1970.

From what is happening now, it is as if the war was only meant to settle scores between a particular ethnic cum tribal group and another in the country. This argument is more germane because those vices, that is, bribery, corruption and nepotism, are not only still prevalent in today’s Nigeria, they have been elevated to a higher pedestal as they have now become a state religion which everybody, old and young, now worships. The worshipers are no longer the “10 percenters” as Nzeogwu puts it in his coup broadcast, they have moved far ahead to a thousand percent and even more. If we aggregate the level of stealing, pilfering, forgery, and other fraudulent activities and official corruption that pervade our system today, anybody who still has some dose of patriotism flowing in his blood stream will weep for this country. It is as if the country is on a free-fall to an irretrievable perdition.

As if the monster of corruption in our body politic is not enough to asphyxiate us from existence, from 1999, particularly since the advent of the current democratic experience, the country has become vulnerable to all manner of crimes and criminalities previously unknown in this part of the world. While endemic corruption has taken over our public and private lives, those who are not opportune to hold public offices, which are now regarded as shortcuts to affluence, have devised various ingenious methods to acquire ill-gotten wealth. Perhaps, to rub salt into our festering wounds, in the last five years, a new sinister dimension has been added to the catalogue of woes confronting the country. These are the current rapacious, debilitating and devastating acts of terrorism which have now become a national cankerworm. Many a commentator on national affairs are quick to lay the blame on the extra-judicial killing of Mohammed Yusuff, the leader of the religious sect now popularly known as Boko Haram, which means “Western education is bad”, and scores of his followers in Maiduguri in July, 2009. Not much has been written about how the sect was nurtured, the leadership structure and all that.

We have been told that the late Yusuff and his band of ragtag army actually confronted the security agents in Maiduguri in 2009, leading to several deaths. Many properties were also torched, looted or outrightly vandalised. For quite some time, we have been sentimental about the casualties and damages caused by the Boko Haram uprising that has now engulfed a large section of the country. But why will a so-called religious group turn so bloody in the propagation of their so-called religious ideology? As for me, what I see is that beyond this religious shroud is a political undertone which goes beyond fighting Jonathan’s Presidency. What is going on is a well-calculated broad-based agenda to completely take over this country by violence using religion as a veil. In the last few years, I have been talking to people within and outside this country who can see beyond the narrow prism of politics and decipher what is actually going on. One thing to note is that until late last year, no notable figure in the Northern part of the country has ever raised his or her voice to condemn, in its entirety, the brigandage being unleashed on that part of the country even though the rampaging sect had completely destroyed the little they had since 2009. Even then, what the few notable figures have done so far appears too little, too late.

Today, we talk about the impoverished North. Who are those responsible for this impoverishment of the people? Of course, it is a documented fact that in the 54 years of Nigeria’s independence, elements from the northern part of the country have ruled the country for more than two-thirds of the period under review, leaving a miserable one-third of the period to the rest of the country to grapple with. Go through the records of the Federal Civil Service, you will find out that the list is top heavy with the names of people from a certain part of the country. In the few instances where others hold sway, they are more or less like figureheads as they are ensconced among these powerful people who virtually live on government and government’s patronage all their lives. That is one aspect of our national life, and this attitude is replicated in all aspects of our existence as a nation – a situation where everybody worships at the feet of a powerful few.

Nothing quite illustrates the existential anomaly in the system more than what Bola Dada, a retired diplomat, unveiled in his recent interview in a national daily where he chronicled his experiences in international affairs as a former diplomat, especially his experience in Sudan. Titled “I was chased out of Sudan when I raised the alarm about Boko Haram,” Dada said, at a point during his stay in Sudan, a former governor of a Northern State, now a senator of the Federal Republic, “was in Sudan for two weeks and underwent indoctrination.” He also said the former governor was “exposed to all the training camps of Osama Bin Laden,” who incidentally was Dada’s neighbour. According to Dada, “Osama Bin Laden also had many firms and industries which he only used as a façade because he was actually using those firms as training camps for Al-Qaeda. Among his trainees were many Nigerians from the North. They would leave Nigeria as if they were going to study but were at the training camps of Osama Bin Laden”. He said “the former governor got back to Nigeria and the following day, he declared Sharia. And from then, they were sending students for Jihadist training… As far as I am concerned, Boko Haram is an offshoot of Sharia”.

 Dele Agekameh
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Kidnapped Girls: Nigerians should please pray for us - Military

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The military has urged Nigerians to pray for a successful outcome in their efforts to free the remaining 230 girls abducted from Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State.



Chris Olukolade, the military spokesperson, on Wednesday revealed while responding to claims that a deal is “within reach” in the release of the girls, said that the military are doing their best to rescue the students.



“The concern & anxiety from all quarters is quite understandable,” Mr. Olukolade, a Major General, said in a text message response.

“Please be assured that much as the forces may not disclose details of action being taken to secure the freedom of the girls, every information received on the subject is duly analysed & acted upon as necessary.

“No information is being ignored in the concerted effort to ensure the safety & freedom of the girls. Just pray for the successful outcome of all the efforts please,” he added.

Channel 4, a U.K. based media organization, had reported on Tuesday that a hostage negotiator, who is in direct contact with the kidnappers, disclosed that a deal for the safe release of the girls is being finalized.

“The girls, we believe, are alive but they have been moved from the location to which they were originally taken,” the negotiator, who was not named, reportedly said.

“It would not be hard to engineer a deal. It looks like they want to release them. They want a way out,” he added.

In their report, the tv station stated that it had established that the school girls are no longer being held in Boko Haram’s bush camps inside the Sambisa forest.

“Instead, the hostages have, we understand, been split into smaller separate groups, a number of whom have been taken close to – or across – Nigeria’s eastern border with Cameroon. This is an area from which Mohammed Nur, one of Boko Haram’s leading commanders is known to operate,” the report added.

About 273 girls were abducted from their school by suspected Boko Haram insurgents two weeks ago.

Of the number, about 43 had escaped from the captors unharmed and have reunited with their families.

Nigerians have largely criticized the federal government for failing to show concerted efforts – or empathy – in rescuing the abducted teenage girls.

On Tuesday, the House of Representatives summoned Alex Badeh, the Chief of Defence Staff, and other Service Chiefs over the military’s efforts to rescue the girls.

Several protests are also being held to demand for the release of the girls. One organized by the Women for Peace and Justice holds Wednesday afternoon in Abuja.
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Senator raises the alarm over Boko Haram’s Taraba base

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Senator Emmanuel Bwacha from Taraba state on Wednesday, raised a fresh alarm on the floor of the senate that a strange helicopter had been dropping strange armed personnel and equipment in the Dakar area of the state, fueling fears among the residents.


Bwacha, who stated this under a point of order during the senate plenary, therefore, urged the federal government and the military authorities to move to the area immediately to flush out the insurgents before they establish another Sambisa camp in Taraba state.

He said, “I want to say that our attention has been drawn to a suspicious movements and activities around Dakar in Taraba State and it is believed also that a helicopter is dropping materials and personnel around the place.

“We fear that this may be another Sambisa that is in the making in Taraba State.I recall that sometimes in December, our colleague, Senator Alkali Jajare drew our attention to the fact that what is happening in Yobe and Borno State could spread to other states of the federation not only in the North East.

“What has happened in my constituency appears to be a confirmation of what our colleague had drawn our attention to.”

Bwacha said members of the Taraba state House of Assembly had already passed a resolution Now, “which appears to have been an expression of lack of confidence of the capacity of the state to contain the crisis.”

He said the state lawmakers had subsequently called on the Federal Government to take over the security of the state.
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A government’s cluelessness, information blackout and our missing schoolgirls - Garba Shehu

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I am sure many of our readers still remember the story of Julie Ward, the 28-year old British wildlife photographer who was killed in Kenya in 1988.



Julie went missing on a lonely photography safari in the Masai game reserve.

The Kenyan authorities seemed at that time to be more interested in the preservation of the integrity of their country’s profitable tourism business. They went into a denial. When her burned and dismembered body was first discovered, they said that they believed that Julie was struck by lightning, or that she had been eaten by lions.

The burned remains of her leg and part of her jaw were found near a tree in the bush. Her skull and spine were found nearby. Julie’s father, John Ward put a lot pressure on the local authorities to admit that she had been murdered, to direct their investigation in that direction.

He was noted all over the world for the campaign he waged in the effort to discover what actually happened to Julie. In the course of this, the retired hotelier spent nearly two million pounds and made more than 100 visits to Kenya.

In the end what unraveled the real cause of his daughter’s death were pictures he procured from a European Satellite of the incident as it happened and NDA evidence indicting two park rangers including the head park warden. Although attempts to bring the suspects to justice were unsuccessful as all three were acquitted by Kenyan Courts, it was instructive that the failure of the case had more to do with the lack of full cooperation of the authorities.

The important thing about this case was that as far back as two decades ago, the potential has been established for the use of satellite imagery to bring to criminal trial the park wardens who, as is believed by many, were those that conspired to assault and murder the lonely photographer in thick bushes of the game reserve.

The narrative of Julie Ward comes in handy at a time when schoolgirls, not one, not two, or three but in their hundreds have been stolen from their dormitory and today being the fifteenth day since the incident, no clue has yet emerged about where they are in the Sambisa forest of the North-Eastern State of Borno, Nigeria.

Accounts by the “Civilian JTF” yesterday rendered on radio suggested that the 200 or s0 missing schoolgirls may have already been shared out in forced marriages to terrorists scattered across the vast forest spanning over 100 kilometers. An interviewee said yet some others were ferried across Lake Chad, taken to Cameroun and Chad. Grieving parents have been shedding tears, threatening to charge into the forest to obtain their daughters. Some actually have gone in there, accompanied by the Civilian JTF, following which they said they saw a lot terrorist infrastructure but no police or soldiers carrying out searches.

From every indication, the search for these Nigerian schoolgirls will probably be the most difficult search in human history, not the Malaysian Flight MH370 as cited by Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

The difference between these two is that while both Australian and Malaysian officials issue daily bulletins and addressing press gatherings to report virtually nothing new in terms of substantial information, the Nigerian federal government which controls the army and police has retreated into a cocoon in the past one week.

It is probably that the Defence Headquarters, leading the operations got their hands burnt when they made a major faux-pax by announcing the rescue of the missing schoolgirls, only to be countered by local officials including the school principal that the girls had not been found. While the damage, both local and international to the credibility of the Nigerian Armed Forces arising from this incident may never be quantified, it is easy for us to understand how much damage is being done to the government of the day, led by Dr. Jonathan Goodluck, by the prevailing sense of cluelessness and inactivity the silence of the military is creating. Instead of engaging with Nigerians, government in its usual way of politicizing every issue, has surreptitiously launched a campaign against its hate-pet, the Northern political leaders.

A sponsored group says “the disappearance of the girls is part of the Northern elders’ agenda to embarrass and distract the Goodluck Jonathan government”.

The group is also blaming the victims, saying that the school authorities “deliberately ignored the government’s directive”, that schools in that area should be closed down. This rubbish reminds many of the Abacha days when NADECO was blamed for everything, including the failure of the dictator’s toilet to flush.

Nobody benefits from silence in times of crisis. Rather, it is the time when all “gates” to news-flow are opened and everyone relishes live coverages as they are relayed by the international media, whether this is from the search for the Malaysian plane under the waters of the Indian Ocean, a bomb blast in Pakistan or earthquake in Latin America. Famous sociologist, Lucien Pye once wrote that problems of development are essentially problems of communication.

Without informing and educating the people and subsequently mobilizing them, there is no way government can succeed in pushing back this violence, including the tracking of the insurgents in their whereabouts and recovering the girls. In addition to mobilizing local support for this, government needs to talk to the international community about its successes and shortcomings. Satellite was used to partly unravel Julie’s murder in the Kenyan foreign forests because someone bid for the pictures and obtained them.

In a recent article, I wrote about the upcoming World Economic Summit in May in Abuja about which Nigerians know very little or nothing. When South Africans hosted the World Cup in 2010, taxi drivers were trained for a re-branding of their own country. Every London taxi driver is serving a government purpose. People don’t get to drive taxis mere on account of being beneficiaries of constituency projects.

The Nigerian defence establishment has started something good by pooling all the spokesmen of the various services so that they can speak with a common purpose. To regain credibility, they need to repose confidence in the people as represented by local journalists. They must carry the people along. And for the sake of their own credibility, they need a new face for their public information in order to move away from the scandalous misinformation they dished about which they had to make a painful u-turn.

Someone must make the sacrifice or be sacrificed.
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14yr old girl kills another 14yr old girl after Facebook fight over a boy

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A 14-year-old Chicago girl accused of killing another girl in a dispute over a boy tried unsuccessfully to fire a gun before someone fixed it for her and handed it back to her so she could open fire, prosecutors said Tuesday.


That detail emerged during a hearing in juvenile court on the latest incident of violence grabbing headlines in Chicago. The alleged shooter appeared at the hearing on a first-degree murder charge in Monday’s slaying of 14-year-old Endia Martin.

Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy told reporters earlier in the day that the girls were fighting over a boy. According to prosecutors, the suspect went to a residence in the Back of the Yards neighborhood on the city’s South Side around 4:30 Monday afternoon to continue a fight that began on Facebook.

A visibly upset McCarthy told reporters that the shooting illustrates a point he’s long made: It is far too easy to get a gun in Chicago. For more than a year, McCarthy has sought stiffer state penalties for gun crimes.


“What would have been, under any other circumstances, probably a fistfight between two 14-year-old girls because they were arguing over a boy turned into a murder,” he said.

According to a statement read in court and relayed later by the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, the girl pointed the gun at a group of people standing on a porch and pulled the trigger, but it would not fire.

She then “handed the gun to an individual in the group to clear the malfunction and they handed it back” to her, at which point she opened fire with what police said is a .38-caliber revolver, striking the Martin girl in the back and a 16-year-old girl in the arm.

The 14-year-old suspect’s name has not been released because she is charged as a juvenile.

Chicago police said Tuesday night that a 17-year-old boy also has been charged in connection with the shooting for allegedly hiding the gun that was used. He faces a charge of felony aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, two counts of felony unlawful use of a weapon, and a misdemeanor reckless damage charge. Police did not release his name because he’s charged as a juvenile.


SOURCE: Newsone
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Chinese PM leads 129- member delegation to Nigeria

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The Chinese Premier, Mr. Li Keqiang, will be leading a high powered 129-member delegation to Nigeria on a three day visit.


The visit is slated for May 6-8.

The Premier, who will be visiting Nigeria as part of his four- nation tour of Africa is expected to also attend the plenary session of the World Economic Forum for Africa.

While in Nigeria, Keqiang, according to a statement issued by Ministry of Foreign Affairs is expected to meet President Goodluck Jonathan.

Besides, Nigeria and China are expected to sign six major agreements/Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs)

The expected agreements are – agreement on economic and technical cooperation between the government of both countries; handover and acceptable certificate for the malaria diagnosis equipment and consumables for China-Nigeria anti-malaria centre, exchange of letters for China-aided Nigeria anti-malaria drugs programme, Bilateral Air Services agreement between both governments, Memorandum of Understanding between Food and Drug Administration of China and National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration Control (NAFDAC) on regulatory cooperation of pharmaceutical products, Medical devices and cosmetics and agreement o Special facility for the development of Africa’s SMEs with Nigeria banking sector.

Also, several agreements will be concluded by the organized private sectors of the two countries.
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Jonathan sacks Special Adviser on Politics, Ahmed Gulak

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President Goodluck Jonathan has terminated the appointment of his Special Adviser (Political), Alhaji Ahmed A. Gulak with immediate effect.



President Jonathan thanks Alhaji Gulak for his services to the present administration and wishes him success in his future endeavors.

This information was contained in a series of tweets by the President’s spokesman, Reuben Abati (@abati1990)
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#BringBackOurGirls: Tears flow as Mothers protest abduction of 234 school girls

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Aggrieved mothers and other indigenes of Chibok, Borno State, today in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, staged a protest to demand the immediate rescue or release of the more than 200 secondary school girls abducted by suspected Boko Haram insurgents on April 14.



The protesters, most of them members of the Kibaku Development Association, Chibok, converged at Eagle Square in Nigeria’s capital. From there, they marched to the National Assembly to submit a protest letter. The women were led into the premises of the national legislature by a group of senior female police officers.

Senators Barnabas Gemade and Helen Esuene received the protesters, telling them that the Senate was considering a motion in relation to the abducted girls. The two senators assured that the content of the Senate’s resolution would be communicated to the women later today. The senators appealed to the protesters to calm down and show restraint, pledging that everything would be done to secure the release of the girls in due course.

Some of the protesting women, who were all dressed in black, seemed unimpressed by the senators’ tepid words. A number of the women betrayed their emotion and wept profusely, a few of them rolling on the ground.

Some sources in the state have told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) that some of the abducted girls had been ferried across into Chad where they were being married off for 2000 naira per girl



Tears, pain, agony
more and more tears


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Kill public official who steals above N1m – TUC

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The Trade Union Congress has recommended death penalty for public officials who embezzle beyond N1m in order to reduce corruption in the country.



The President of the TUC, Bobboi Kaigama, said this during the fourth lecture series of the Faculty of Environmental Design and Management, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, on Tuesday.

While speaking on the theme, ‘Corruption and challenges in nation-building’, Kaigama noted that Nigeria needed to go tougher in its war against corruption.

He said that leaders had no reason not to declare their assets.

He said, “If the governments and legislators are truly sincere about the fight against corruption in the country, they must go tougher. Any public official, whether at the state or federal level, should be executed. Killing them after confirmation of any embezzlement allegation of more than N1m will lead us to the right path.

“I sincerely recommend an active process of legislation that would support that. It would also serve the nation well to have a law which not only provides for every public office holder to declare his assets on assuming office, but also stipulate that he must repeat the exercise each subsequent year that he is in office and not later than one month after vacating the office. Such declaration should be in at least three newspapers and not just to the Code of Conduct Bureau.”

The TUC boss also advocated that corrupt leaders should be banned from occupying public offices.

He lamented that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission as well as the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission were not strengthened.

Vice-Chancellor of OAU, Prof. Bamitale Omole, said the war against corruption required a collective effort, saying, “countries all over the world have different times along their developmental journeys stared this behemoth squarely and fought it (not to talk to it) with their might collectively.”
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BOKO HARAM: Tears, anger, pain and agony for relatives of abducted school girls

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Abuja was yesterday in a foul mood at the National Assembly and on the streets – over the April 15 abduction of school girls and the one-year-old polytechnic teachers’ strike.

Women, many of them decked in all-black dresses, demanded action on the fate of the 234 girls who were snatched away from their hostels in Chibok, Borno State.


Senators were locked in a charged session over the abduction by the fundamentalist Boko Haram sect. They unanimously voted for tougher military action against the insurgents whose activities have killed thousands.

The Senate yesterday urged the Federal Government to seek the assistance of the United Nations and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to rescue the girls.

Besides, senators are to confer with President Goodluck Jonathan to seek ways of curtailing the insurgency.

These resolution followed a motion entitled: “Abduction of School girls in Chibok, Borno State”, sponsored by Senate Leader Victor Ndoma-Egba and 107 others.

Some Senators in their contribution blamed the degenerating insurgency on sabotage and collaboration by insiders in the military.

Others wondered why the President has not deemed it fit to visit Borno State to commiserate with the people and boost the morale of the troops on ground.

A Senator from the area gave a graphic account of how the terrorists have been moving the girls from camp to camp in the forest since the day they were abducted.

He named the locations where the girls were being camped.

He lamented that the military did not act on the intelligence he placed at their disposal that could have facilitated early rescue of the girls.

In his lead debate, Ndoma-Egba urged the Senate to note with grief the inhuman abduction.

He told the Upper Chamber, which was just returned from its two-week Easter recess, the incident occurred just when the country was grieving over the rush hour bombing of a bus park in Nyanya near the nation’s capital, Abuja.

He said when the nation was was trying to come to grips with the bombing that claimed over 75 people and wounded dozens more, the country was struck yet with another devastating blow: the girls’ abduction.

He recalled that the terrorist broke into the Government Secondary School in Chibok, shot the guards and abducted the pupils, taking them away in trucks into the Sambisa forest, a known hideout of the sect.

Ndoma-Egba said prior to the abduction, the school was closed down for four weeks due to the deteriorating security situation in the state, but the pupils were recalled to take their final exams in physics.

He said that the Senate is disappointed that two weeks after their disappearance, the girls’ whereabouts remained unknown.

The senator noted that about 44 of the girls escaped by jumping from the back of the truck used to ferry them away or by sneaking out of the abductor’s camp.

According to him, besides the uncertainty, as to the whereabouts and fate of these innocent girls, whose only crime is to go to school, “is the lack of authentic information from the school authorities, the security agencies and their parents as to the exact number of girls that were abducted and the processes leading to same.”

The lawmaker called on the Senate to be hopeful that the offer of assistance by the United States and Britain to rescue the students would come with all the required technology, including the deployment of the drones which the United States had used to great positive effect in tracking/fighting terrorism elsewhere.

He, however, said that the Senate was afraid that time was fast running out as the girls’ captors may break them into various hideouts.

The Senators unanimously resolved to urge the Federal Government and all security agencies to intensify efforts at bringing back the girls.

They urged the Federal Government and the security agencies to seek assistance of the United Nations, ECOWAS and other countries to rescue the girls.

They also prayed for the safe release of all the abducted girls and urged the government at all levels to provide adequate security for all schools.

Senate President David Mark decried the “callous adoption” of the girls and called for full scale military action against the insurgents.

Mark said it was time to be proactive in attacking the terrorists so much so that it is the insurgents that would beg the nation for dialogue.

He said the insurgents had touched the “heart of the nation”, with the abduction of the girls.

Mark said: “The people we are dealing with are not just locals. They are well trained and they know what they want. They are not terrorists, they are insurgents. And all along we have been reacting. Unless we are proactive, we are not going to get anywhere.

“I have been in the forefront of saying we must go to dialogue with the insurgents, but I think we must take this battle to a level where they also will now call for dialogue.

“We cannot do this unless the locals on the ground there cooperate with the members of the armed forces. Our armed forces are doing their best.

“Those who study insurgency and terrorism know that the locals are extremely important because they must work hand-in-hand with the members of the armed forces.

“This is not a conventional warfare. My prayer is that all hands must be on deck in this war. All of us must begin to appeal to the people in our constituencies.”

The Senate President urged the Federal Government to ensure that the nation is briefed daily on efforts to rescue the girls.

He lamented that the kidnap of the 234 girls would dominate the World Economic Forum scheduled to meet in Nigeria soon.

Said Mark: “I believe that there are external connections because our local terrorists and insurgents cannot do what they are doing. They touch the heart of the nation.

“There is no nation that would sit down and fold their arms and watch women and children killed at random by any group of people. Unless the local environment is conducive, terrorism and insurgency cannot succeed.

“But once it takes root, let’s take note it’s not going to wind up tomorrow morning and my worry is that we should not allow it to get to a level where it becomes a permanent feature in this country. Unless we nip it in the bud now, it will get to that level.

“If we need foreign assistance, the nation should not be ashamed to ask, because the world is such a small global village now that getting assistance for one action or the other is not a shameful thing. It is international cooperation and if we have to, let us go for it.”

Senators mostly from the affected areas spoke on the insurgency.

Senator Ahmed Zannah (Borno Central) said even though he had constantly updated the military about the movement of the terrorists who abducted the girls, all his intelligence reports were not acted upon.

He gave a graphic account of how the insurgents had been moving the girls from one place to another since the abduction.

Zannah said: “Since the beginning of this siege, I kept mute on this issue as far as press releases and press interviews are concerned.

“I have been constantly in touch with the security agencies, telling them the developments, the movement of the girls from one place to the other and then the splitting of the girls and eventually the marriage of these girls by the insurgents.

“What bothers me most is that whenever I inform where these are, after two to three days, they will be moved from that place to another and still, I will go back and inform them that see, this is what is happening.

“I lost hope two days ago when I found out that some of them were moved to Chad and Cameroon.

“Actually, some of them move through the Mandara mountain that is in Gwoza and some of them are just a stone throw from their barracks, even now as I am talking to you, in Cameroon because it is in Kolofata, which is in Cameroon about 15 kilometers or even less to the borders because one of the insurgents called somebody in Bama and said I just got married and said I am now settling in Kolofata’.

“Then three or four days ago, some Fulani men reported that they saw some girls being taken by boats into the Island in Lake Chad and that some of them happened to be between Marte and Mungonu, maybe.

“Maybe, those ones might still be within Nigeria, but that is the current and new base of the insurgents. They just took over that place less than a week and that village is called Chikungudua. The place is the constituency of Senator Maina Mai’ji Lawan.

“But I informed the security agents about the situation and from that place, they can just go into the lake and go to either Chad or Cameroon because it is very open, there are no weeds in the lake and so they can go anywhere.

“They have snatched all the boats around that area, including the one for NNPC, and so they are free to go anywhere without being chased by anybody.

“There are about 40 islands there and they have ejected most of the occupants of the island and they have occupied the islands.

“What is most disturbing is that hitherto, Sambisa was their base and is well known to the military and Nigerian security.

The senator spoke of how he discovered that the terrorists were moving out of Sambisa forest. Even before then, I had been discussing with the military and they said they were going to attack that place, about 15 or 20 days ago, I don’t know what delayed them,” he said, adding:

“But, eventually when they launched the attack, all the insurgents had already gone out of the place. So, I don’t know what is happening.

“Even before then, I even told them about the shrubs in Northern Borno where they stayed last year till after the rainy season.

“Since rainy season is approaching, I told them that these people will leave Sambisa and other areas and go to that shrub but it seems there is no much presence of military around that area up till now and they are now much moving into those shrubs.

“And when they go in, the shrub has some canopy whereby the ground is empty and you cannot see any human or animal movement under that canopy even with aircraft.

“It is the same place where they hid last year and came out after the rainy season without any challenge, they came into the hinterland.

“I don’t know if the military can take very serious and willing action in this matter but if there is no way to fight them, I think we are wasting our time. It all depends on their willingness.

“I was interviewed by the press on whether if the state of emergency was extended, the military would succeed and I said ‘yes, if there was willingness, they will’.

He went on: “Their number is not all that much as being touted and without cooperation from certain group of people within the security agencies, there is no way these people will survive like this.

“But when we talk, they will say we are against them; we are exposing them; we are demoralising their troops. These are the facts.”

“So, unless there is spirit of seriousness on the part of our military, we have no hope of getting those girls; even if we are going to get them, we are going to get them in trickles; maybe getting two, three, four, and five. They are now scattered. So it is not possible for us to get 50, 60,100 in one particular position. This is the position as at today.”

Senator Ali Ndume, (Borno South) noted that the girls would have been rescued if the Federal Government is serious and with proper equipment for the military.

Ndume, who was apparently emotional during his contribution to the debate said: “The 53 girls we have were those that escaped. We have to speak the truth.

“I am a little bit emotional because you cannot understand what we are going through until you visit these areas. The only place there is relative peace is where there are civilian JTF.

“The military deployed there are doing their best, but I cannot ask any of them to do more than what they are doing. You need to see their equipment and there is no motivation.

“Whenever we go there, we buy food. As days go by, most of these girls are divided and forcefully married out. How they do that and where they passed remain a mystery.

“I appreciate the motion but there is no action. We speak to commanders on ground and their complaints are the same: no motivation.

“Their number is few and there is no equipment to match their opponents. Every time we budget trillions of naira for defence but I have not seen any new equipment on ground. The armoured vehicles are those of 1950s.”

Chairman, Senate Committee on Information, Media and Public Affairs, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (Abia South), noted that the situation was degenerating as a result of internal sabotage

Abaribe said: “In what way would somebody get information, give to the security and nothing happens. There must be internal sabotage; we cannot run away from that.

“While we ponder about this, I joined Nenadi Usman to think about these children and the fact that a few things have happened in the world, people have disappeared and we saw the frantic efforts by those countries to get to the root of the matter to the extent that some people resigned. What manner of ineptitude is this?

“I don’t want to add to what others have said but I want to say that no matter what happens, the buck lies on someone’s table. We are ill-equipped. Have we motivated our security agents enough?

“They are doing their best. With all due respect, has the President visited Borno? We want to see our President visit the place and restore confidence in the people. There is no how you can get information from people who feel they are neglected.”

Senator Mohammed Magoro (Kebbi South) urged the Federal Government to call up reservists to boost the manpower of the military.

He said: “For Nigeria to win the war against insurgents, we must recall the nation’s military reserves, including retired soldiers if need be. Also, neighbouring countries are aiding insurgents. I stand here to say that they are aiding and abetting what is going in the country. If it means revisiting the budgets, we will do so to ensure that we win this war.”

Senator Ehigie Uzamere (Edo South) accused local collaborators in the community of aiding and abetting the kidnap of the girls from a predominantly Christian community.

“We must renegotiate the corporate existence of Nigeria,” he said.

Senator Ayogu Eze (Enugu North) urged the Federal Government to summon the ambassadors of Chad, Cameroon and Niger to brief her on what their governments are doing in the circumstance.

Eze added: “Something has gone wrong with professionalism and unless we arrest the drift, these people are not doing enough.”
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Nigeria wants civil war averted in Ukraine

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Nigeria has warned that a civil war in Ukraine can destabilise the international community and wants all concerned parties to resort to dialogue to resolve the conflict.

Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Prof. Joy Ogwu, made this known in New York on Tuesday night at a meeting of the UN Security Council on the situation in Ukraine.


Ogwu, who is currently the president of the Security Council for the month of April, spoke in her national capacity as Nigeria’s Ambassador to the UN.

Her comments came after Pro-Russia activists were reported to have stormed several more buildings in eastern Ukraine and kidnapped international monitors in the crisis-torn country.

“The situation in Ukraine remains tense and the risk of further escalation remains a matter of grave concern to the international community.

“Utmost care needs to be taken to ensure that the crisis does not degenerate into a civil war.

“If it does, it might become an internationalised conflict, with its attendant reverberations everywhere.’’

Ogwu said that Nigeria had followed with keen interest recent talks in Geneva on Ukraine which resulted in a joint statement issued by Russia, Ukraine, the EU and the U.S.

She noted that the Geneva Statement had called for the disarmament of all illegally armed groups, the return of seized buildings and amnesty for protesters.

She said that Nigeria strongly believes that the agreement reached in Geneva would constitute the basis for the peaceful resolution of the conflict in Ukraine.

“This glimmer of hope, I’m afraid, is fast fading before our eyes as armed men continue to occupy buildings in eastern Ukraine and the level of violence is escalating.’’

Ogwu called for the immediate release of the kidnapped international monitors, and stressed that the way to lasting peace rested in dialogue by all concerned parties.

She said that the alternative of a military option would “bleed the already-open veins of Ukraine’’ and a strong surgical procedure would be needed to mend those veins.

“Dear colleagues, the clock is ticking, Ukraine is the patient and this council and the international community constitute the surgical team.

“Let us stabilise and restore the patient to health or many more might bleed. It is a collective responsibility,’’ Ogwu told the 15-member council.

Meanwhile, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the council earlier on Tuesday voted unanimously to partially lift the arms embargo on Cote d’Ivoire, differentiating between lethal and non-lethal arms.

The council, in a meeting presided over by Nigeria also lifted the ban on importing rough diamonds from Cote d’Ivoire.

Also, the council extended for another year the mandate of the UN mission tasked with monitoring the ceasefire in Western Sahara and organising a referendum on self-determination for the people of the territory.

The resolution called for greater efforts to improve human rights in Western Sahara, but stopped short of widening the mandate of its peacekeeping mission.

It will be recalled that Rights groups and the government of Western Sahara has repeatedly called for human rights monitoring to be included in the mandate of UN peacekeepers.

However, the move was fiercely opposed by Morocco.

Last week, the Saharawi Ambassador to Nigeria, Ubbi Bachir, told NAN in Abuja that the Saharawi Government had strong evidence of Morocco’s human rights abuses in the occupied Western Sahara.

NAN reports that Nigeria’s government strongly supports the liberation struggle of Saharawi people since their occupation in 1975 by Morocco after the departure of colonial power, Spain.

Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Aminu Wali, reaffirmed Africa’s support and position at a press conference on Monday in New York.

“The African position on Western Sahara has always been consistent; the OAU first recognised Western Sahara in 1982.

“That has been our position as the African Union up till today,’’ Wali said. (NAN)
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Police arrest vice-principal for raping pupil

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The police in Ekiti State have arrested a 57-year-old Vice-Principal of St. Mary Girls College, Ikole Ekiti, Mr. Ayo Ajayi, for allegedly raping a 12-year-old pupil of the school inside his office.


Our correspondent gathered that the pupil had gone to the office of the vice-principal on March 18 and she did not come out as quickly as expected. This was said to have fueled the suspicion of some teachers.

One of the teachers, who reported the case to the police, was said to have moved closer to the door to open it but discovered that the door had been locked from inside.

She was said to have knocked on the door and the pupil and the suspect allegedly hurriedly stopped what they were busy doing inside.

The demeanour of the VP and the pupil was said to have given them away and one of the teachers reported the case to the police.

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mr. Victor Babayemi, confirmed the incident in a statement on Tuesday.

He said the vice principal was arrested and investigation into the case had begun.

The statement read, “Operatives of the Command arrested one Ayo Ajayi, aged 57 years, the Vice-Principal of St. Mary Girls College, Ikole-Ekiti, for allegedly defiling a 12-year-old pupil.

“The incident, which allegedly took place on March 18, 2014, inside the vice-principal’s office, was reported to the police by a teacher in the school, who noticed the suspicious entry of the pupil into the VP’s office.

“Investigation revealed that the suspect had a similar case in the past which was not reported. The victim also admitted that the suspect laid her on his table and had carnal knowledge of her.

“The report of the medical examination confirmed that the victim’s hymen was not intact. Although, the suspect denied the allegation, but with the evidence against him, he will soon be arraigned in court for defilement.”
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Abducted school girls allegedly sold for N2000 each to Boko Haram fighters

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Nigerian parents lashed out on Tuesday at the government’s failure to rescue scores of schoolgirls kidnapped two weeks ago by Boko Haram Islamists, as a local leader claimed the hostages had been sold as wives abroad.

“May God curse every one of those who have failed to free our girls,” said Enoch Mark, whose daughter and two nieces were among the more than 234 students abducted from the Government Girls Secondary School in the Chibok area of northeastern Borno state.


The parents outrage came as Pogo Bitrus, leader of a Chibok elders group said the captured girls are being offered to Boko Haram fighters at $12 each (About N2000)

Bitrus said that locals had been tracking the movements of the hostages with the help of “various sources” across the northeast.

“From the information we received yesterday from Cameroonian border towns our abducted girls were taken… into Chad and Cameroon,” he said.

The girls were then sold as brides to Islamist fighters for 2,000 naira ($12) each, Bitrus added.

The attack was one of the most shocking in Boko Haram’s five-year uprising, which has claimed thousands of lives across northern and central Nigeria.

The outrage that followed the mass abduction has been compounded by disputes over how many girls were seized and criticism of the military’s search-and-rescue effort.

Borno officials have said that 129 girls were kidnapped when gunmen stormed the school after sundown on April 14 and forced the students — who are between 12 and 17 years old — onto a convoy of trucks. Officials said 52 have since escaped.

Locals, including the school’s principal, have rejected those numbers, insisting that 230 students were snatched and that 187 are still being held hostage.

Mark told AFP that his wife has hardly slept since the attack, lying awake at night “thinking about our daughter”.

Some of the girls who escaped have said the hostages were taken to Borno’s Sambisa Forest area, where Boko Haram has well-fortified camps.

Boko Haram’s name translates as “Western education is forbidden”, and it has repeatedly attacked schools during an insurgency aimed at creating a strict Islamic state in mainly Muslim northern Nigeria.

The Islamists have set schools on fire, massacred students in their sleep and detonated bombs at university campus churches.

President Goodluck Jonathan has faced scathing criticism over the attacks and the pressure has mounted since the Chibok kidnappings.

Locals have scoured the bushlands of the remote region, pooling money to buy fuel for motorcycles and cars to conduct their own rescue effort, saying they have no confidence in the military’s search.

“The free movement of the kidnappers in huge convoys with their captives for two weeks without being traced by the military which claims to be working diligently to free the girls is unbelievable,” Bitrus told AFP.

Nigeria deployed thousands of additional troops to the northeast last year as part of an offensive aimed at crushing Boko Haram, but security experts say the military lacks the troops needed to fully cover the region.

The defence ministry on Friday said it had killed 40 insurgents near Sambisa Forest in an operation aimed at finding the kidnappers.

An organisation called Women for Peace and Justice has called for a “million-woman protest march” in the capital Abuja on Wednesday to demand that more resources be committed to securing the girls’ release.

While the group is unlikely to rally a crowd of that size, support for the movement has been growing on Twitter under #BringBackOurGirls.

“How is it possible in the age of drones and Google Maps and aerial shots that over 200 girls will vanish without a trace,” protest organiser Hadiza Bala Usman said in a statement.

Security sources have said it is possible the Islamists are using the hostages as sexual and domestic slaves.

Amid the rumours and lack of information, Mark said he feared some of the affected families “may take the law into their own hands”, while others may decide they can no longer cope.

“It is not everyone who can absorb this grief.”
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Nigerian man pleads guilty in U.S. to aiding al Qaeda

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A Nigerian citizen pleaded guilty yesterday to U.S. charges of providing material support to an al Qaeda affiliate, and participating in its media and recruitment campaigns.

Lawal Olaniyi Babafemi, 33, appearing before a federal judge in Brooklyn, New York, pleaded guilty to providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.



The plea came ahead of a July 14 trial date and followed a Nigerian court’s decision in August to grant a U.S. request for Babafemi’s extradition.

Prosecutors said that, from January 2010 to August 2011, Babafemi traveled from Nigeria to Yemen twice to meet with leaders of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, known as AQAP.

“The defendant traveled to Yemen to put himself at the disposal of a violent terrorist organization that has repeatedly demonstrated its determination to inflict bodily and economic harm on the United States and its citizens,” Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch said in a statement.

The U.S. government said Babafemi worked on AQAP’s media operations, including the publication of its magazine, called “Inspire.”

The group’s leadership, including Anwar al-Awlaki, paid Babafemi almost $9,000 to recruit English-speaking people from Nigeria, prosecutors said. Awlaki, a U.S. citizen born in New Mexico, was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen in 2011.

An indictment unsealed in February 2013 charged Babafemi, also known as “Ayatollah Mustapha,” with four counts including conspiracy to provide material support to AQAP, and use of firearms.

U.S. District Judge John Gleeson scheduled sentencing for August 27. Babafemi faces a maximum of 30 years in prison.
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Ignore Edwin Clark's call to remove Northern governors - Femi Falana tells President Jonathan

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Human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), has asked President Goodluck Jonathan to ignore a call by a First Republic minister and prominent Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark, to remove the governors of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states, on the account of subsisting emergency rule in the states.


Falana said in a statement on Tuesday that the call was diversionary and the act of removing elected governors or suspending democratic institutions during emergency rule in a state was illegal.

Falana said such call should be taken seriously because it came from a personality like Clark “who wields enormous influence around the presidency”.

He therefore urged the President to shun such advice by “people with vested political agenda to resort to undemocratic tactics associated with military dictators”.

He said, “As Nigeria has successfully replaced autocracy with democracy all actions of the government have to be conducted in strict compliance with the tenets of the rule of law.

“In view of the clear provision of the Constitution on the vexed issue of a state of emergency I am compelled to urge the President to ignore the illegal and unconstitutional call for the removal of the governors of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.”

Clark had been quoted to have said that, “There is nothing like partial declaration of a state of emergency in the 1999 Constitution; what section 305 (c) of the Constitution contemplates is the recourse to ‘extraordinary measures to restore peace’ and security where there is a breakdown of public order and public safety.

“This in effect means that all democratic institution should be suspended to permit the military exercise full control until peace and order returns”.

But Falana said that nothing in section 305 of the constitution referred to by Clark empowered the President to suspend democratic institutions in a state under emergency rule.

Falana said, “With profound respect to the elder statesman, Section 305 of the Constitution which empowers the President to declare a state of emergency in any part of the country does not make any provision, expressly or impliedly, for the removal of elected democratic structures.

“In other words, the power of the President, to take ‘extraordinary measures to restore peace and security’ under a state of emergency does not include the removal of elected public officers or the dissolution of democratic structures.

“In any case, state governors cannot be held vicariously liable for the inability of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces to stem the rising wave of insurgency in the country.”

He pointed out that the Ijaw leader was unable to point to any law or decided court case to justify his stand in enjoining “President Jonathan to follow the bad example of President Obasanjo”.

Falana said the suspension of the then Governor of Plateau State and the Acting Governor of Ekiti State for six months by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo during his tenure as President was “in utter violation of the Constitution”.

He added, “That was an era of executive recklessness, which has been consigned to the dustbin of history.

“Assuming without conceding that President Obasanjo was right is Chief Clark suggesting, by any stretch of imagination, that if the Federation is waging a war against another country leading to the imposition of emergency rule in the entire land the President should vacate office for a retired General to take over and run the country like a Sole Administrator?”
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Los Angeles Clippers Owner Donald Sterling Banned For Life, Fined $2.5 Million!! (Video)

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Donald Sterling has been banned for life from the NBA and fined $2.5 million for his racist comments caught on tape.

Addressing the issue in a strongly worded press conference Tuesday afternoon, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said:


The man whose voice is heard on the recording and a second recording IS Mr. Sterling. And that the hateful opinions voiced by that man are by Mr. Sterling. That they came from an NBA owner only heightens the damage and my personal outrage.



Accordingly effective immediately I am banning Mr. Sterling for LIFE with any association with the Clippers association or the NBA. He may not attend any NBA games or any practices. Sterling would be barred from attending NBA board of Governor’s meetings or participating in any other league activity.”


Adam Silver also said he was financially punishing Sterling with a “$2.5 million the maximum amount allowed in the NBA constitution.” That while Sterling still owns the Clippers, Silver said he would “Urge the Board of Governor’s to force Sterling to sell the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team and will do everything in my power to ensure that happens.”

Silver ended saying “We stand together in condemning Mr. Sterling’s views. They simply have no place in the NBA.”

Los Angeles Clippers owner, Donald Sterling, had come under fire for comments in a recording attributed to him, where a man asked his girlfriend, Vanessa Stiviano, a woman of Mexican descent, not to broadcast her association with black people or bring black people to games.


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Judge denies halting Diezani's probe

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Justice Ahmed Mohammed of the Federal High Court, Abuja on Tuesday denied claims by the House of Representatives that he issued an order stopping investigations into the allegations that Petroleum Resources Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, spent N10bn to charter a private jet for her trips in the last two years.



The judge therefore summoned the House to appear before the court on May 5 to “clear the air” on the issue.

The spokesman for the House of Representatives, Zakari Mohammed, had at a news conference on Monday, announced that the House had received a court order stopping the Public Accounts Committee from going ahead with the probe.

However, when the case came up for hearing on Tuesday, the obviously angry judge expressed shock at media reports that he had issued an interim injunction stopping the investigation.

Mohammed initially blamed journalists for the ‘misinformation’ before he was informed that it emanated from Mohammed.

To set the records straight, the judge adjourned the hearing and ordered the House to appear before the court on May 5 to explain where such order came from.

The House which is the 2nd defendant in the suit was not represented by any lawyer during Tuesday’s proceedings.

But the counsel for the National Assembly, Y. C. Maikyau (SAN), was present in court, alongside Etigwe Uwa (SAN), the counsel for the plaintiffs – Alison-Madueke and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

In a short ruling after both counsel had exonerated themselves from the report on the court order, the judge said, “I have seen a press release in the media said to have been issued by the House of Representatives that this court has made an order restraining the House from continuing with the probe.

“As far as I am concerned, and as the judge presiding over this case, no such order was made.”

Mohammed also noted that he only ordered the defendants – the National Assembly and the House – to be put on notice after the plaintiffs’ counsel moved an ex parte motion praying for an order of interim injunction to restrain the House from summoning the minister.

He said, “This court in a ruling directed the defendants to appear in this court on April 17 and show cause why the interim order should not be made.

“On April 17, the plaintiffs’ counsel informed the court that processes have not been served on the defendants owing to the Nyanya bomb blast and the court adjourned till today (Tuesday, April 29).

“As the press release was issued by the House which is the 2nd defendant in this suit, and as the House is not represented in court today, the only fair thing to do is to adjourn this matter and issue the House with a hearing notice to appear before the court and clear the air on whether it had been served with a restraining order issued by this court.”

The Director, Legal Services of the House of Representatives, is expected to appear before the court on May 5 to shed light on the false court order.

Earlier, counsel for the plaintiffs had washed his hands off the development.

The judge had wondered whether the plaintiffs’ counsel was behind the misinformation but Uwa spiritedly professed his innocence, laying the blame on the House.

“The press release was circulated to media houses by the House ,” he said.

Maikyau also distanced himself from the alleged restraining order but went ahead to apologise on behalf of the Director of Legal Services.

“There is no report that it was the Director of Legal Services of the National Assembly that was behind such information – I apologise,” he said.

He noted that it was strange that the report on the order was released on Monday, several days after the court directed the defendants to appear before it to show cause why the relief sought by the plaintiffs should not be granted.

“I knew that something was wrong because that order (to appear before the court) has been subsisting since April 14 and if any other order was made on April 17, it would have been published since,” Maikyau added.

In the suit, Alison-Madueke wants the court to make an order of interim injunction restraining the National Assembly and the House “whether by themselves, their members, committees or agents from summoning or directing the appearance of the applicants before any committee particularly the Public Accounts Committee set up by the House …”

The minister also asked the court to stop the committee from asking her or any official of the ministry or the NNPC to produce any papers, notes or other documents or give any evidence in line with a letter from the House dated March 26, 2014, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.

She also asked for an order of interim injunction restraining the National Assembly and the House from issuing a warrant to compel her attendance, or the attendance of any official of the ministry or the NNPC, with regard to the investigation.

Meanwhile, the Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, has said that the House had resolved to seek a legal opinion on Madueke’s decision to sue the legislature over the investigation.

Tambuwal clarified the stance of the House shortly after the judge denied issuing the reported order.

He said when he was briefed on the issue on Monday, his first reaction was to advise the Committee on Public Accounts to tarry awhile to enable the House to get the true picture of things.

Tambuwal spoke at Tuesday’s pleanary as some members complained that the Judiciary was interfering with the work of the legislature.

They had observed that this conflicted with the provisions of Sections 88/89 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which empowers the National Assembly to investigate any official or agency of government for the purpose of exposing corruption.

Tambuwal said, “My attention was drawn to the matter that the minister, the NNPC and other stakeholders had gone to court.

“I immediately sought for consultations. The result of my consultations is to seek formal legal opinion on the status of the action, not necessarily because as a lawyer myself, I do not know the position of the law.”
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Mystery helicopter creates panic in Enugu Govt House

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Staff and occupants of the Enugu State Government House on Tuesday took to their heels when a mystery helicopter landed within the premises at about 11am.

Our correspondent learnt that the mission of the visitors was unknown to the government and it took security agencies about three hours to confront them.


After preliminary inquiries, Mr. Fidelis Ogarabe, the Chief Security Officer to Governor Sullivan Chime, handed the three occupants of the aircraft to the Enugu State Police Command for further investigation.

The occupants were two pilots and one engineer.

At the time of filing this report, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mr. Ebere Amaraizu, could not pass detailed comments on the matter.

He said, “We are trying to find out certain things from the occupants of the aircraft. We need to really find out what their mission was. I will issue a release when we must have done that.”

However, a police source who spoke to newsmen, said the occupants are indigenes of northern Nigeria.

“With the equipment they had in their possession, we suspect they had come to place a bomb at the Government House,” said the police source.

Another police source said, “The occupants have refused to give us full details of their identity. Some of us here believe it is either a planned attack by Boko Haram members, or another attack by members of the Biafra Zionist Movement.

It can be recalled that earlier in the year, about 50 BZM members, wielding matchetes, had attacked the Government House in the wee hours of the morning.
In a counter-attack, the police had killed one of the BZM members and arrested three. But subsequently, the BZM had promised to attack the Government House again if secession was not granted the old Eastern Region.

Meanwhile, by about 3pm on Tuesday, the state government had condoned off the Enugu State Government House. More so, police officers were seen taking guard in all corners of the state.
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FG declares Thursday public holiday

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The Federal Government has declared Thursday as public holiday to commemorate the 2014 Workers’ Day.

The Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, who announced this through a statement signed by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Fatima Bamidele, on Tuesday in Abuja, congratulated Nigerian workers on their resilience and commitment in the face of the present challenges of survival.



He enjoined them to support the government in its efforts to improve the work environment and their living conditions.

Moro further urged Nigerian workers to support President Goodluck Jonathan “in his desire to transform the country.”
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Court sentences hawker for threatening to bomb bus

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n Abuja Grade 1 Area Court in Kado on Tuesday sentenced a hawker, Abdul Abba, 30, to two months in prison for making a false threat to bomb a bus.


Mr. Abba of Garki village, Abuja, was arraigned on a one-count charge of attempt to commit an offence.

The presiding judge, Mohammed Sadiq, gave the convict an option of N3,000 fine after he pleaded guilty.

Mr. Sadiq said the punishment was to make the convict change his lifestyle.

“You should not have threatened anybody with that kind of threat. This is in view of the present security situation.

“The next time you make such threats, you will be in big trouble,’’ he warned Mr. Abba.

Earlier, the prosecutor, Simon Ibrahim, told the court that the convict boarded a bus driven by one Emeka Cyril, and following an argument while the bus was in motion, he joked that he would bomb the bus.

During police investigation, Mr. Abba confessed to have made the threat.

Mr. Ibrahim said that Cyril, an FCT bus driver, reported the matter at the Utako police station on April 15.

The convict pleaded with the court for leniency, saying “I was angry when I made that threat’’.

“I don’t know how a bomb looks like my Lord. I am sorry.’’

(NAN)
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Senator confirms abducted girls taken to Cameroon, Chad

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Ahmed Zana, a Senator representing Borno Central Senatorial in the Nigerian Senate disclosed in the National Assembly on Tuesday that information available to him indicated that most of the over 200 girls abducted in Chibok about three weeks ago have been moved to Chad and Cameroon.

He added that some of the girls are in Chukungidiya in Marte Local Government Area of Borno State.



The Senator spoke while contributing to a motion sponsored by Senate leader Victor Ndoma Egba and other 107 Senators to condemn the abduction of the school girls and the Nyanya bomb blast that claimed the lives of over 75 persons recently.

But Senator Zana whose constituency included the Chibok area where the girls were kidnapped also disclosed that the girls have been forcefully married by the insurgents who are currently residing in some of the 40 islands in Borno.

“I have been constantly in touch with the security agencies, telling them the developments, the movement of the girls from one place to the other and then the splitting of the girls and eventually the marriage of these girls by the insurgents.

“What bothers me most is that whenever I inform where these girls are, after two to three days, they will be moved from that place to another and still, I will go back and inform them that see, this is what is happening.

But I lost hope two days ago when I found out that some of them were moved to Chad and Cameroon.

Actually, some of them move through the Mandara Mountain, that is in Gwoza and some of them are just a stone throw from their barracks, even now as I am talking to you, in Cameroon because it is in Kolofata, which is in Cameroon about 15 kilometre or even less to the borders.

“One of the insurgents called somebody in Bama and said I just got married and said I am now settling in Kolofata and then three or four days ago, some Fulani men reported that they saw some girls being taken by boats into the island in Lake Chad and that some of them happened to be between Marte and Mungonu, maybe,” said the Senator.

While contributing to the motion, another Senator from Borno, Ali Ndume, said the military attempt to rescue the girls was hampered by lack of information when the kidnapping occurred.

While narrating how the girls were abducted, Ndume said when the insurgents arrived at Chibok, they went to the Motor Park and seized seven vehicles to add to the ones they came with.


“The commanders had alleged that their allowances were not being paid and that the number of soldiers are inadequate. There is no new equipment, all of them are old. The other time we went there, one of the armoured tanks broke down and we had to tow it with another vehicle”—Senator Ali Ndume.

He also said the military has not been able to rout Boko Haram because the troops were not well motivated and equipped for the task.

“The commanders had alleged that their allowances were not being paid and that the number of soldiers are inadequate. There is no new equipment, all of them are old. The other time we went there, one of the armoured tanks broke down and we had to tow it with another vehicle, said the Senator.

Senate president David Mark had while welcoming the Senators who were resuming after a three week break called attention of the lawmakers to the raging insurgency in North east Nigeria which he likened to war. He said only a decisive action by the government against the insurgents can save the country.

“There is no doubt that our nation is at war. The enemy has clearly and unequivocally served the nation notice of its vile intentions. Therefore, a clear, unambiguous and decisive military response from the Government, beyond the imposition of a state of emergency, is urgently required in this circumstance. This is an option we must consider now.

“It is obvious that we are dealing with insurgents and well funded nihilists who are determined to violently trample upon the secularity of the Nigerian State and destroy the country.

“A modern, vibrant, progressive, multi-ethnic, multi-religious Nigeria is an anathema to them. Because they are fired by zealotry and extremism, they are not likely to be swayed by overtures of any kind. We must henceforth shift from fighting terrorism to fighting insurgency,” Mark said while setting off the emotional debate that lasted over three hours.

Senators who contributed to the debate also identified lack of cooperation from the local communities, inferior military equipment, lack of motivation, and insufficient personnel as the major factors impeding the war against the success of the military in the war against the insurgents.

The Senators noted that the abduction of the school girls was a clear indication of the deteriorating security situation in Borno and other parts of the country.

“I had a 30 minutes chat with the traditional ruler in Chibok yesterday and the briefing he gave to me is identical with the submission of Senator Zana and the other people from Borno State,” the Senate President said while making his own contribution to the motion.

But he added the problem is not so much as to whether the girls kidnapped by Boko Haram are even in the country now or not, but that 234 girls can disappear and up till now none has been rescued. He also noted that the 53 girls who are back escaped on their own.

“The story that Ndume narrated about soldiers going in the wrong direction when they got the information is a clear indication of what we are in for. The people we are dealing with are well trained. They are not terrorists, they are insurgents. All along we have been reactive, if we are not proactive we cannot deal with it.

“I have been in the fore front of saying we must dialogue with them but I think we must take the battle to a level where they also must beg for dialogue.

“We cannot do this unless the locals on group there corporate with the members of the armed forces,” said Senator Mark.

The Senate subsequently adopted the prayers of the motion which includes urging the federal government and all security agencies to intensify efforts aimed at rescuing the abducted girls and seeking the support of the United Nations Security Council and other international organisations in the battle against Boko Haram insurgents.
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