Adamawa on fire: Boko Haram sacks police station, prison

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <h1 class="entry-title" style="background: url(http://punch.cdn.ng/wp-content/themes/punch/images/dots-horizontal.gif) 0% 100% repeat-x scroll rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-color: rgb(255, 1, 1); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 1.17em; line-height: 1.25em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 9px 4px;"> <span class="date published time" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 19.5px; text-transform: uppercase;" title="2014-10-30T00:02:33+00:00">OCTOBER 30, 2014</span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 19.5px; text-transform: uppercase;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 19.5px; text-transform: uppercase;">BY JOHN ALECHENU, FIDELIS SORIWEI, JUDE OWUAMANAM AND KAYODE IDOWU</span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 19.5px; text-transform: uppercase;"> </span></h1> <br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px;" /> <div class="entry-content" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; overflow: hidden;"> <div class="story-featured-image" style="border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); float: left; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-right: 15px; min-width: 378px !important; width: 368px;"> <img alt="Mr. Bala Ngilari" class="attachment-bigstoryimage" height="225" src="http://punch.cdn.ng/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Mr.-Bala-Ngilari-360x225.jpg" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border: none; float: left; margin-right: 10px; padding: 4px;" width="360" /></div> <div style="float: left; padding: 10px 18px 5px 0px; width: 370px;"> <ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7167863529667065" data-ad-slot="6184555097" data-adsbygoogle-status="done" style="display: inline-block; height: 140px; width: 370px;"><ins id="aswift_0_expand" style="background-color: transparent; border: none; display: inline-table; height: 140px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; visibility: visible; width: 370px;"><ins id="aswift_0_anchor" style="background-color: transparent; border: none; display: block; height: 140px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; visibility: visible; width: 370px;"><iframe allowfullscreen="true" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="140" hspace="0" id="aswift_0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="aswift_0" scrolling="no" style="left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px;" vspace="0" width="370"></iframe></ins></ins></ins></div> <div id="nrelate_flyout_placeholder"> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> Fighting between Nigerian troops and Boko Haram insurgents escalated in Mubi, Mararaba Mubi and Uba in Adamawa State on Wednesday.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> Casualty figures could not be obtained as of 8pm but the development forced the state government to impose 24-hour curfew on the affected communities.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> Our correspondents gathered that   Mubi, the second largest town in the state and host of two high institutions, was the worst hit.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> A parent, Ahmad Sajoh, whose   daughter is studying at the Adamawa State University, said that as of 2pm on Wednesday, the police barracks in the Government Reservation Area was overrun by the insurgents while the prison in the town was blown open.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> He added that   fighting which was ongoing at the army barracks caused confusion at the IDP camp in the Lamorde area of the town.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> However, an online newspaper, <em>SaharaReporters</em> reported that Boko Haram insurgents took over the headquarters of the 234 battalion in the town.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> Our correspondents gathered that the development made banks to move their cash to Yola, the state capital.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> Sources told <em>The PUNCH</em> that insurgents   launched an attack on Uba   in the Michika-Madagali area of the state in response to sustained aerial bombardment of their hideouts by security forces.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> Residents said they saw a large number of insurgents at Mararaba, a town about seven kilometres from Mubi.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> Sajoh told one of our correspondents that his daughter called to inform him about the development in Mubi.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> He said, “This morning, I got a call from my daughter who is a 200-level student. She was hysterical. I was in Abuja for a meeting, but her information forced me to head back to Yola immediately.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> “I ordered her to leave the hostel and join her cousins to escape the town. I called my father who confirmed the story. By the time I arrived at Yola airport, the town had fallen to the insurgents.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> “My parents are trapped while my daughter and her cousins are missing. We have lost contact for   six hours.”</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> Sajoh, who is the director of Press and Public Affairs to the former Governor Murtala Nyako, added, “Mallam Iliyasu of the Bursary Department of the state university, who is trapped in the town said by 2pm, the Police Barracks in the GRA was overrun by the insurgents, the prison was blown open while fighting was going on at the army barracks. The IDP camp at Lamorde area was thrown into confusion.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> “The new rulers of the town had issued a decree banning   entry and exit to the town. Students who trooped to the motor park were stranded with most taking refuge in any house that could welcome them.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> “The barracks are the least safe locations in the town. So far, there are no reported cases of killings or abductions. But fear and apprehension have taken over.”</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> Another source said that Mubi was currently deserted by residents after the incident, the second in three months.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> The   higher institutions in the   town were forced to close down again.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> There are fears of   humanitarian crisis should the town fall into the hands of the insurgents.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> A fleeing resident, Joshua Gajere, said   several people might have been killed during the shootings that lasted for almost two hours in Uba and other villages.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> He said, ‘‘We are in serious trouble as these boys (Boko Haram) have taken over our towns, splitting into groups and advancing towards Mararaba, Mubi and Vintim, the home town of the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh. They made the   Nigerian troops to retreat to Mubi’’.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> Gajere added, “As I am talking to you now, residents are scampering for safety.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> ‘‘Mubi has now become a ghost of itself as people in their hundreds are fleeing for their lives.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> ‘‘Even here in Maiha, we saw military vehicles zooming off towards Yola, the state capital.’’</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> However, a resident from Michika, Mr. Siva Zira, told one of our correspondents that the   military was having an upper   hand as they were able to dislodge the insurgents in Michika and Uba.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> Meanwhile,   Governor James Ngillari has asked the people of the state, particularly those in the affected areas to remain calm as security agents were on the top of the situation.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> His Director of Press and Public Affairs,   P.P. Elisha, said   the governor met with security heads in the state to assess the situation.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> He said, “It’s unfortunate with this development, His Excellency, has met with security chiefs in the state on Wednesday to assess the situation.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> “People should remain calm, security agents are on the top of situation.’’</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> It was further gathered banks in Mubi have taken the pre-emptive steps to move out large volume of cash to the Central Bank of Nigeria in Yola.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> Our correspondents could not get the Director, Defence Information, Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade, to comment on the   hostilities as the calls to his mobile telephone line did not connect.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> The government has imposed a 24-hour curfew on Mubi, Mararaba Mubi and Uba.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> The Secretary to the State Government, Mr Andrew Weyle, who announced this, advised the people to stay away from the roads and other public places.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> He said,“Following the escalation of violence by the insurgents, his Excellency the Governor of Adamawa State, Mr. Bala James Ngillari, has approved the imposition of 24 hours curfew on Mubi, Mararaba Mubi and Uba, with immediate effect.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> “People are advised to stay off the roads and public places except those on essential services.”</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> It was further gathered that the insurgents   killed the son of a prominent traditional ruler in the area.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> A resident, who identified himself as Kwahir Sani, said, “We fled to a village called Wuro Gude near Mubi when the violence erupted and I have lost contact with some of my children.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> “As I am talking to you now, we are hearing gunshots by military in Mubi.”</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> It was gathered that the insurgents also attacked Askira Uba and Kukawa in Borno State for over six hours.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> A fleeing resident said the terrorists killed many people, burnt many houses and carted away food stuffs.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> Agence France Presse<em> reported that the heavily armed terrorists, on arrival in Kukawa, opened fire on a police station and market, sending many fleeing</em></div> </div> </div> </div>

Adamawa on fire: Boko Haram sacks police station, prison

OCTOBER 30, 2014   BY JOHN ALECHENU, FIDELIS SORIWEI, JUDE OWUAMANAM AND KAYODE IDOWU   Fighting between Nigerian troops and Boko...

Read more »

Tambuwal: Jonathan calls emergency PDP meeting

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <h1 class="entry-title" style="background: url(http://punch.cdn.ng/wp-content/themes/punch/images/dots-horizontal.gif) 0% 100% repeat-x scroll rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top-color: rgb(255, 1, 1); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 1.17em; line-height: 1.25em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 9px 4px;"> <span class="date published time" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 19.5px; text-transform: uppercase;" title="2014-10-30T00:01:59+00:00">OCTOBER 30, 2014</span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 19.5px; text-transform: uppercase;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 19.5px; text-transform: uppercase;">BY JOHN AMEH, OLUSOLA FABIYI AND OLALEKAN ADETAYO, ABUJA</span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; text-transform: uppercase;"> </span></h1> <div id="print-page-link" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; left: 5px; line-height: 19.5px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; position: relative; top: 5px;"> </div> <span class="st_plusone_buttons" displaytext="plusone" st_processed="yes" st_title="Tambuwal: Jonathan calls emergency PDP meeting" st_url="http://www.punchng.com/news/tambuwal-jonathan-calls-emergency-pdp-meeting/" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px;" /> <div class="entry-content" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; overflow: hidden;"> <div class="story-featured-image" style="border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); float: left; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-right: 15px; min-width: 378px !important; width: 368px;"> <img alt="Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal" class="attachment-bigstoryimage" height="225" src="http://punch.cdn.ng/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Aminu-Tambuwal-360x225.jpg" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border: none; float: left; margin-right: 10px; padding: 4px;" width="360" /><div class="featured-image-caption" style="clear: both; color: #dd0000; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 5px; padding: 5px 10px 0px;"> Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal</div> </div> <div style="float: left; padding: 10px 18px 5px 0px; width: 370px;"> <ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7167863529667065" data-ad-slot="6184555097" data-adsbygoogle-status="done" style="display: inline-block; height: 140px; width: 370px;"><ins id="aswift_0_expand" style="background-color: transparent; border: none; display: inline-table; height: 140px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; visibility: visible; width: 370px;"><ins id="aswift_0_anchor" style="background-color: transparent; border: none; display: block; height: 140px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; visibility: visible; width: 370px;"><iframe allowfullscreen="true" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="140" hspace="0" id="aswift_0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="aswift_0" scrolling="no" style="left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px;" vspace="0" width="370"></iframe></ins></ins></ins></div> <div id="nrelate_flyout_placeholder"> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday engaged some leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party in a meeting aimed at taking a common position on the Tuesday defection of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> The meeting took place hours after the House said the PDP, individuals and groups condemning the defection of   the speaker to the All Progressives Congress should not dictate to it on how to conduct its affairs.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> Tambuwal had announced his defection from the PDP before he adjourned sitting till December 3.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> The situation made the President to summon the National Chairman of the PDP,   Adamu Mu’azu, to the meeting which had the Deputy Speaker of the House, Emeka Ihedioha; the Deputy Leader of the House, Mr. Leo Ogor; and a member from Delta State, Ndudi Elumelu, in attendance.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> Some PDP governors such as Gabriel Suswam (Benue); Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom); Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa): Ibrahim Dankwabo (Gombe) and Sullivan Chime (Enugu) were also part of the meeting.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> Top government officials who attended the parley   included the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim; the National Security Adviser,   Sambo Dasuki; and the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Muhammed Adoke (SAN).</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> One of those in attendance told one of our correspondents on the condition of anonymity that the meeting centered on how to make Tambuwal vacate his seat as speaker.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> “The issue of the Speaker and his exit was one of the fundamental issues discussed at the meeting,” he   said.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> The source however did not disclose the decision reached at the meeting.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> Another source said that Ihedioha “took the heat at the meeting.”</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> He did not explain further.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> The presence of Adoke and Dasuki at the meeting suggested that they might have reviewed the legal and security implications of the options available to them with the two government officials.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> Earlier, Mu’azu had at another meeting   the President had   with a delegation of the Federal Capital Territory Council of Chiefs,   dropped the hint that Jonathan summoned him.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> “The President had summoned me for a meeting. I was with him when he wanted to come and receive you and he told me to follow you. I only did follow follow,” he had told members of the delegation.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> The PDP had shortly after Tambuwal announced his defection called on him to do the needful by resigning as speaker.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> The party, argued through its National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, that since Tambuwal became the speaker on the ticket of the “majority party (PDP), he had no right to continue to occupy the seat.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> But the House said on Tuesday that   the PDP and most of the commentators on the issue were “ignorant” of the provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the House Standing Orders.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> The   Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs,   Victor Ogene, who spoke on behalf of his colleagues,   said Tambuwal did not breach any law in defecting to the APC.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> He also noted that there was no provision in the constitution prescribing that the speaker must be elected from among the majority party members.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> Ogene cited Section 50 (1)(b) of the constitution to buttress his argument.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> He said, “The clear provisions of Section 50(1) (b) of the Nigerian Constitution easily settle the worries regarding the continued speakership of Tambuwal – ‘There shall be a Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives who shall be elected by the members of that House from among themselves.’’’</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> He also noted that the speaker was elected as the representative of the “generality of Nigerians” and not necessarily because he belonged to a particular political party.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> On the views of some “commentators” that Tambuwal should have vacated his office by virtue of the provision of Section 68(1)(g) of the constitution, he replied that the matter was still awaiting judicial decision.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> Ogene added, “It is common knowledge that following the defection of 37 members of the House in December 2013, from the PDP to APC, there has been multiple court cases on the matter, thus rendering it subjudice to discuss any likely outcome.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> “Everyone is thus enjoined to await the final judicial pronouncement on the issue of defection, which has afflicted virtually all political parties in the land.”</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> He warned the PDP   against interfering with the lawmakers’ “privilege” and constitutionally-guaranteed freedom to choose their leaders.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> Ogene stated, “Additionally, Order 1, Rule 1 (2) of the Standing Orders of the House of Representatives states: ‘ In all cases not provided for hereinafter, or by sectional or other Orders, precedents or practices of the House, the House shall by resolution regulate its procedure.’</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> “It is in the light of the foregoing that the House wishes to appeal to those who seek to regulate its procedure from outside its hallowed chambers to have a rethink, as the nation’s Constitution, the Standing Orders of the House and precedent – as in the Speakership of the late Edwin Ume-Ezeoke in the Second Republic on a minority platform – have all provided answers to what would have otherwise been a knotty political issue.”</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> But as Ogene spoke, the PDP through its National Vice-Chairman of the party in the South-South, Dr. Cairo Ojougboh,   vowed to do everything within its powers to regain   the speakership of the House.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> Ojougboh told journalists at the national headquarters of the party in Abuja that there was no way Tambuwal and other defectors from the party would be allowed to go away with the party’s mandate.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> He said, “PDP is a very disciplined party. If you come and steal in the PDP and use the PDP to elevate yourself and get into office when the time comes, God will get you out like the issue of Tambuwal.</div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: justify;"> “You can see how God has exposed him. PDP will do everything within the law to regain its seat and that is what we are going to do in Edo and Rivers states as well. We are going back to the South-South to regain our seats.”</div> </div> </div> </div>

Tambuwal: Jonathan calls emergency PDP meeting

OCTOBER 30, 2014   BY JOHN AMEH, OLUSOLA FABIYI AND OLALEKAN ADETAYO, ABUJA   Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Aminu Ta...

Read more »

About that New Boko Haram Video: Experts Reveal Abubakar Shekau's Intentions

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">                                   <img alt="shekau_new_video1.jpg" class="alignnone wp-image-267474" height="314" src="http://cdn-01.naij.com/o/tBQ2HTgFqZkuw9rylrR9dkMS.jpg" width="400" /></span></div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <em style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Abubakar Shekau</em></div> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br />Experts comment on the recent video released by Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau where he declares caliphate in Nigeria and express their opinion on the the terrorist’s current intentions.In the fresh Boko Haram video obtained by AFP August 24, the group <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" rel="prev" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">announced that the captured town of Gwoza was now under an Islamic caliphate</a>, which claim triggered a lot of talks about the actual meaning of the phrase.<br />On numerous occasions analysts have spolen about the similarity between the Nigerian terrorist group and Islamic State (IS) operating in Iraq, and now  they suggest that the pronouncement might be connected with Shekau’s desire to get more media attention like IS.<br />It is believed that IS might have inspired his scandalous claim made in the new video after the IS had recently attracted the international attention by seizing parts of Iraq and Syria in a brutal onslaught.<br /><br />David Cook, a religious studies professor from the United States said:<br /><em>“I think right now Shekau’s moves are coming from a desire to emulate IS”,</em> adding that the terrorist is<br /><a href="" name="more"></a>“<em>trying to get more media attention”</em> after the international focus shifted from the abduction of Chibok girls to the territorial claims of  IS.<br />An expert on the situation in northern Nigeria Shehu Sani supported his colleague’s point of view saying that Shekau’s move was dictated by the IS example. While Boko Haram had many times expressed their intention to created a strict Islamic state in the country, they did not have a direct plan of how to do it, before now:<br /><em>“What is happening in Iraq has given them direction”</em> Sani told AFP adding that previously Boko Haram thought they should <em>“overrun the whole country before they declare their (jihadist) republic”</em>, however now they <em>“they have taken a more gradualist approach”.</em><br /><br />Meanwhile the <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" rel="prev" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Nigerian Defence insist the territory of the country is intact and call Shekau’s claim “empty”</a>. The declaration was also critically estimated by the group Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC). The group’s statement read that they “totally and unequivocally reject this declaration. We reaffirm our faith in the unity and indissolubility of Nigeria.”</span></div>

About that New Boko Haram Video: Experts Reveal Abubakar Shekau's Intentions

                                    Abubakar Shekau Experts comment on the recent video released by Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau w...

Read more »

FG, Brazil build N144b power plant in Bayelsa

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <h1 class="entry-title posttitle" itemprop="name headline" style="border: 0px; margin: 10px 0px 30px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 1710px;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">FG, Brazil build N144b power plant in Bayelsa</span></span></h1> <div class="metaStuff" style="background-image: none; border: none; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: -23px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">BY CHRIS OCHAYI</span></div> <div id="entryContainer" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <div class="entry entry-content" itemprop="articleBody" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 6px 0px 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;"> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">ABUJA – The Federal Government and Benco Energy Limited of Brazil yesterday signed a N144 billion Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, to construct a 700 megawatts power plant in Nigeria.</span></div> <br /> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The President of Benco Energy Limited, Brazil, Mr. Rodrigo Badew, said at the MoU signing ceremony that the plant which will be gas and vapour fired will be built in Bayelsa State.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">He added that the plant will have a construction period of three years.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">According to him, “it is a 700MW plant although it can reduce to 688MW because this depends on location and environmental conditions. The investment is around $800 to $900m.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“Of course all these will be confirmed as soon as we have all the necessary investigations and have them more defined. The time schedule is supposed to be around three years to three and half years for the construction of the project.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“The location is Bayelsa because it is a terrain which is close to gas supply, transmission line and a river. So we have all the right infrastructure that we need there and this location is perfect for our investment,” he said.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Badew added that the power plant would basically consist of two turbines that run on gas and two others that will run on vapour, noting,“that is the power module of the plant that we are going to be implementing”.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, said in his address that a couple of years ago, Electrobras of Brazil and the Nigerian government signed an MoU which was aimed at bringing into Nigeria Electrobras to help the country develop as much as 10,000MW of power</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">According to him, “what we are seeing today is the very first takeoff of the implementation of that MoU bringing Benco to work with the Federal Ministry of Power for their plant. We want to assure Benco that the terms of the MoU that we have signed today, we will do our best to implement them.”</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The minister also noted that Nigeria now generates and distributes an average of 4,500MW of power.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">He said, “I am very sure that some of you if not all of you would have noticed that within the past few weeks we have averaged about 4,500MW of power delivery and it has been stable.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“And that means that most of you are now getting better power supply than you have had in the recent past. Gas is now coming in and we are expecting even a lot more of gas.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“The transmission facilities are being beefed up to strengthen and make more reliable and stable the national grid to be able to wheel out more power,” he said.</span></div> </div> </div> </div>

FG, Brazil build N144b power plant in Bayelsa

FG, Brazil build N144b power plant in Bayelsa BY CHRIS OCHAYI ABUJA – The Federal Government and Benco Energy Limited of Brazil yest...

Read more »

FG recalls 16,000 resident doctors

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name" style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; position: relative;"> <br /></h3> <div class="post-header" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em;"> <div class="post-header-line-1"> </div> </div> <div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-736069983419390153" itemprop="description articleBody" style="position: relative; width: 616px;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); color: black; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;">                         <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDkSW2BRt8K4kWBxbUfXatO_bCqzK4yQSKKs_-1aOhBdgVxu8HcxZ2WM0-LepEkvtl347MefA7iG-77kdr4IouJqvwNptXkeX0My8d-n3fL9IBxYfjpORO_C_B17ZqJcnvVz5fBK4Fq4p_/s1600/02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDkSW2BRt8K4kWBxbUfXatO_bCqzK4yQSKKs_-1aOhBdgVxu8HcxZ2WM0-LepEkvtl347MefA7iG-77kdr4IouJqvwNptXkeX0My8d-n3fL9IBxYfjpORO_C_B17ZqJcnvVz5fBK4Fq4p_/s1600/02.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 0px 0px; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: 1px solid rgb(153, 0, 0); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 8px; position: relative;" width="400" /></a></span></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); color: black; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;">                         </span></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); color: black; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;">                         <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgny6-BGOMbTKV63MWifTqOtmSvRS83S6WALOg9pYasWez_ExwzpWqE_6XlkBBPoj9vOOf4je-auQ6ZxTNnnzi4aMqaKw-V-fUPRn1b1l3ILU4KUvd00Mo3H8askn6NqCJ3v7-ru4kYzRyH/s1600/unnamed.png" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgny6-BGOMbTKV63MWifTqOtmSvRS83S6WALOg9pYasWez_ExwzpWqE_6XlkBBPoj9vOOf4je-auQ6ZxTNnnzi4aMqaKw-V-fUPRn1b1l3ILU4KUvd00Mo3H8askn6NqCJ3v7-ru4kYzRyH/s1600/unnamed.png" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 0px 0px; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: 1px solid rgb(153, 0, 0); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 8px; position: relative;" width="400" /></a></span></div> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-736069983419390153" itemprop="description articleBody" style="position: relative; width: 616px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></div> The Federal Government has reinstated the 16,000 resident doctors it sacked on August 13th. Announcing their reinstatement today August 29th in Abuja, spokesman for the Minister of Health, Dan Nwomeh said the reinstatement became effective Thursday August 28th.</span></div> <div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-736069983419390153" itemprop="description articleBody" style="position: relative; width: 616px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></div> </div>

FG recalls 16,000 resident doctors

                                                                              The Federal Government has reinstated the 16,0...

Read more »

Coach, Stephen Keshi agrees N6 million monthly salary -Sports Minister

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-8119766832811475457" itemprop="description articleBody" style="position: relative; width: 660px;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); color: black; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: 19px;">                      </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQGL0Ars7qC6J9tlXL_jV92v0zXv1bW6Z7W3Vk0HEFCDAZaDe2yjAK4RMeXkK5_4SOlqRpvZHlaX4j0COY2X9hQYLM5KudgFNAoDW0Z0OxsA64LIyxNreVoS9J5AtrBUIXuh56d8kyIw4/s1600/=%3Futf-8%3FB%3FS2VzaGkuanBn%3F=-730908.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQGL0Ars7qC6J9tlXL_jV92v0zXv1bW6Z7W3Vk0HEFCDAZaDe2yjAK4RMeXkK5_4SOlqRpvZHlaX4j0COY2X9hQYLM5KudgFNAoDW0Z0OxsA64LIyxNreVoS9J5AtrBUIXuh56d8kyIw4/s1600/=%3Futf-8%3FB%3FS2VzaGkuanBn%3F=-730908.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 1px 1px 5px; border: 1px solid rgb(255, 255, 255); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 8px; position: relative;" width="400" /></a></span></div> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Super Eagles' Coach, Stephen Keshi, has agreed to return to his position on a N6 million monthly salary, Sports Minister, Tammy Danagogo.<br /><br />The new deal is a N1 million improvement on his previous deal worth N5 million monthly, which expired at the end of the 2014 World Cup.<br /><br />Keshi had demanded a N15 million monthly salary with the NFF offering the same N5m he earned in his previous contract, which stalled talks over an extension.<br /><br />But Danagogo has hinted that Keshi has agreed to work with a slight increment of N1m, which if agreed to, will see Keshi earn N6m monthly.</span><blockquote class="tr_bq"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"The difference between what he is asking for right now and what the NFF are offering is not really much because it is not more than N1million, something within that range.</span></blockquote> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"I spoke to him about it and he showed the zeal and patriotism to continue and I assured him that he will get back on the negotiation table once the NFF is settled," Danagogo said.</span></blockquote> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Danagogo said that he intervened when it became obvious that the NFF was not able to reach any agreement with the Eagles' coach, a situation, which, he said, would have led to the Nigeria facing two formidable opponents without a good technical bench.<br /><br />Keshi is expected back to Nigeria this weekend, as he takes charge of the Eagles once again for the double header against Congo and South Africa.<br /><br />Also speaking on the Keshi issue, newly elected President of the NFF, Chris Giwa, assured that efforts would be made to ensure the coach continues in his job.</span><blockquote class="tr_bq"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Keshi has done well for Nigeria and the least we can do is let him continue and that is what we will work toward.</span></blockquote> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"We are certainly expecting Keshi to arrive the country by this weekend and we will go fully into the preparation by next week and I am optimistic we are going to have a good match."</span></blockquote> <div style="clear: both;"> </div> </div> <div class="post-footer" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 0, 0); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; margin: 20px -2px 0px; padding: 5px 10px;"> </div> </div>

Coach, Stephen Keshi agrees N6 million monthly salary -Sports Minister

                       Super Eagles' Coach, Stephen Keshi, has agreed to return to his position on a N6 million monthly salary, Spor...

Read more »

ID project: Jonathan orders SGF, AGF, others to harmonise biometric schemes

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <header class="post-header cf" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="featured" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 14px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <a href="http://sunnewsonline.com/new/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/president-goodluck-jonathan1-360x225000.jpg" itemprop="image" rel="prettyPhoto" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="ID project: Jonathan orders SGF, AGF, others to harmonise biometric schemes"><span style="color: black;"><img alt="president-goodluck-jonathan1-360x225000" class="attachment-main-slider wp-post-image no-display appear" height="336" src="http://sunnewsonline.com/new/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/president-goodluck-jonathan1-360x225000-702x336.jpg" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.4s ease-in-out; border: 0px; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.8; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.4s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;" title="ID project: Jonathan orders SGF, AGF, others to harmonise biometric schemes" width="702" /></span></a></div> <h1 class="post-title" itemprop="name" style="border: 0px; float: left; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 35px 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 18px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">ID project: Jonathan orders SGF, AGF, others to harmonize biometric schemes</span></span></h1> </header><div class="post-container cf" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <div class="post-content-right" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <div class="post-content description" itemprop="articleBody" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px -1.857em; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.857em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday directed the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, as well as the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), to harmonise the various biometric projects, including other ongoing projects in other Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) with the e-ID card scheme.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.857em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In the same vein, he told Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) to ensure immediate compliance with the directive. “The regime of duplication of biometric data bases must now have to give way to harmonization and unification with the e-ID scheme, which shall be the primary data base” he said.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.857em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Speaking during the launch of National Identity (e-ID) Card in Abuja, Jonathan condemned the proliferation and duplication of efforts saying that it was neither cost effective, nor security-smart.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.857em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">According to him, it was important to remove obstacles that may impede the NIMC from the discharge of its constitutional functions and statutory obligations.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.857em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">He enjoined NIMC to focus its energy on ensuring that the remaining two components of the NIMC roll out – Identity Authentication and Verification and the Alignment and in particular, Switching Over by the MDAs through the harmonization and integration framework – are deployed without fail.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.857em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">On the logistics and speed of data collection, he insisted that it must be improved upon as this will reduce the justifications given by MDAs, as reasons for duplicated biometric options.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.857em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The President, however, expressed hope that the harmonisation programme will help to achieve vital data integrity, especially, by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) while urging MDAs to switch or at least align their existing infrastructure, as data collection agents to the NIMC System.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.857em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“This should be the primary reason for expediting the harmonization programme, more so, as this would conserve government’s scarce resources for significant national benefits,” he said.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.857em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">To this effect, the president said that the board of NIMC must act decisively to increase investor confidence, in a very professional way, so that the various opportunities can be rapidly identified and exploited for the good of our economy.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.857em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">He commended President Obasanjo who, signed the NIMC Act into law during his tenure. “Even though the programme dragged for sometime, but today it is a good story we are telling the world.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.857em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I’m particularly pleased about NIMC because a number of things we are supposed to do well as a nation, we are not doing well.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.857em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Finance Minister did mention about our commitment to see how ordinary Nigerians benefit in a number of ways. But how do you know the people to benefit when we don’t have statistics of our people. And that is why we are advising that every Nigerian must get this card.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.857em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">If you take the issue of subsidy on transport, what we do is subsidising hydrocarbon. It does not go to the ordinary people. Government spends a huge sum of money – hundreds of billions of naira every year in the budget.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.857em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Ask the National Assembly. Sometimes it is controversial subsidising kerosene. Yet it is going very high in the market.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.857em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">We are thinking about how do we subsidise transport of the person going to school, the person going to the market, the person moving from Lagos to Enugu or Lagos to Kano. Not paying subsidy that 60 per cent of that will be smuggled out of the country. And those who make the money will come and use that money to induce the people suffering to even riot against government.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.857em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">When the issue of the crisis in the north came up, some people came up with the idea of how we could replicate amnesty programme in the Niger Delta in the North. And I said, look, we must not wait for people to carry arms against the state before we help them. I said let us as a government identify those without jobs. I asked those in finance to see our resources and how we can accommodate them. Not to wait for youths to carry weapons against the state in the south east, south south, north east before you can think of how to address their needs. I then asked the then Minister of National Planning, Shamsudeen Usman, to come up with a blueprint because we must know the figures, we must know what we have. We cannot venture into what we cannot conclude. It is difficult because we don’t know ourselves, and up to this time is still paper work” he said.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.857em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Earlier, the Director General of NIMC, Barrister Chris Onyemenam said that the new national e-ID card was a fallout of several attempts to identify Nigerians. After several false starts , on October 17, 2013, the Federal Government launched the National Identity Number (NIM). This also did not solve the problem. Consequently, they came up with the National e-ID Card which can be used for bank transaction, pension payment, insurance transaction.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.857em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Co-ordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr Okonjo-Iweala disclosed that the government is targeting a social programme but the dream has not been achieved because of identity issue. </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">She said that with the e-ID card, the special subsidy planned by the government would be easy.</span></div> </div> </div> </div> </div>

ID project: Jonathan orders SGF, AGF, others to harmonise biometric schemes

ID project: Jonathan orders SGF, AGF, others to harmonize biometric schemes President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday directed the Secr...

Read more »

NIGERIA SITTING ON A TIME BOMB

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="main-col" style="border-right-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; box-sizing: border-box; float: left; padding: 20px 20px 0px; width: 679px;"> <div class="breadcrumb clearfix" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-width: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 8px; zoom: 1;"> <img alt="school-students_11" class="attachment-medium wp-post-image" height="225" scale="0" src="http://leadership.ng/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/school-students_11-300x225.gif" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle; width: 300px;" width="300" /></div> <div class="post-382400 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-cover-stories category-news tag-slider entry-box clearfix" id="post-382400" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 20px; zoom: 1;"> <div class="entry-thumb" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-right: 20px; position: relative;"> <div class="banner-ad" id="with-photo" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding-top: 10px;"> <div class="widget with-photo widget_text" id="text-24" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px;"> <div class="textwidget" style="box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 100%;"> <ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-5228780540891921" data-ad-slot="9470516493" data-adsbygoogle-status="done" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 140px; max-width: 100% !important; width: 300px;"><ins id="aswift_0_expand" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-table; height: 140px; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; position: relative; visibility: visible; width: 300px;"><ins id="aswift_0_anchor" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); border: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; height: 140px; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; position: relative; visibility: visible; width: 300px;"><iframe allowfullscreen="true" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="140" hspace="0" id="aswift_0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="aswift_0" scrolling="no" style="box-sizing: border-box; left: 0px; max-width: 100%; position: absolute; top: 0px;" vspace="0" width="300"></iframe><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Nigeria Sitting On A Time Bomb</span></ins></ins></ins></div> </div> </div> </div> <br /> <header style="box-sizing: border-box; padding-bottom: 8px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="comments-link" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span></span></header><br /> <div class="elements-box" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 20px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) released the results of the May/June West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) 2014, in which approximately 70% failure was recorded. 145,975 out of 1,750,976 candidates’ results are being withheld on the grounds of examination malpractice. These malpractices were reported during both the conduct and the marking of the exams.</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 20px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The percentages of failure recorded in the past four years range from 75.06% in 2010, 44.66% in 2011, 61.19% in 2012 and 35.74% in 2013, up to a whopping 70% in 2014.</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 20px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">According to the result statistics for WASSCE 2014 summary, Anambra, Abia and Edo states have the highest percentages of 65.92%, 58.52% and 57.82% respectively.</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 20px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In Anambra State, students who scored five credits and above including Maths and English were 34,094, with 19,109 female students and 14,985 male students. In Abia State, a total of 32,947 students made five credits and above including Maths and English, with 15,347 male students and 17,600 female students. In Bayelsa State, 37,242 students scored five credits and above including Maths and English. 18,479 were male students, 18,763 were female students.</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 20px;"> <a href="http://leadership.ng/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/WAEC-RESULT.jpg" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; line-height: normal; text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out;"><span style="color: black;"><img alt="WAEC-RESULT" class="aligncenter wp-image-382402" height="795" scale="0" src="http://leadership.ng/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/WAEC-RESULT-260x300.jpg" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; height: auto; margin: 5px auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" width="689" /></span></a></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 20px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">However, eight out of the 36 states in Nigeria recorded a score less than 10%. These states include Adamawa, Jigawa, Sokoto, Zamfara and Kebbi. Others are Gombe, Bauchi and Yobe.</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 20px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">While Adamawa State recorded 8.75% for those who made five credits and above including Maths and English, Jigawa, Sokoto, Zamfara and Kebbi recorded 7.47%, 7.12%, 6.65% and 6.30% respectively. Gombe State recorded 5.68%, Bauchi 5.28% and Yobe, 4.85%.</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 20px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In Adamawa State, out of the 30,235 candidates who sat for the examinations, 1,510 males and 1,136 females made five credits and above, including Maths and English. Out of the 17,793 candidates who sat for the national examination and made five credits and above including Maths and English in Jigawa, 944 were males and 386 were females. In Sokoto, 25,391 candidates sat for the examinations. 1,193 males and 616 females scored five credits and above, including Maths and English.</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 20px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In Zamfara, Kebbi, Gombe, Bauchi and Yobe, students who scored five credits and above including Maths and English, male and female, were 1,954, 1,676, 1,107, 1,548 and 743 respectively.</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 20px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Meanwhile, the scores for Borno, Taraba, Niger, Nasarawa and Oyo states fell within the 15-24% range. Others within this bracket are Plateau, Osun, Cross River and Kogi states.</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 20px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Scores for Benue, Ogun, Kano, Kwara and the FCT fell within 26-45%. Within this bracket also are Akwa Ibom, Ondo, Ekiti and Ebonyi, Kaduna, Delta, Imo and Lagos states.</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 20px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Proffering reasons for this mass failure, the deputy vice chancellor of the Tai Solarin University of Education, Professor Joseph Olusanya said that there were many factors responsible for the decline. He said, “Students’ nonchalant attitude towards school is very appalling. We also have a vicious circle of teachers, which means that most teachers at the primary and secondary school levels are half-baked.”</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 20px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">He went on to say, “The level of unseriousness (sic) of students is on the high increase, because the introduction of modern technology has taken their time. Due to low remuneration of teachers, they combine business with teaching, which also affects the output.”</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 20px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The president of the American University of Nigeria, Professor Margee Ensign, reacting to the mass failure said, “Nigeria as a fast growing country must invest in the training of teachers as already, there is a population explosion, which has led to 11 million out-of-school children. The training of teachers must be done consistently, as 200,000 are needed this year and by next year, an additional 500,000 will be needed to curb the menace of mass failure.”</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 20px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">While many have said that this is not the time to find fault or apportion blame, causes of unacceptable performance in exams can be attributed to bad or inappropriate legislation and leadership, bad parenting, over-burdened curricula and the negative influence ‘texting’ and ‘chatting’ has on students’ command of the English language. Inadequate infrastructure such as classrooms, learning and teaching resources, insufficient teachers of Mathematics, English and other core subjects can also be blamed.</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 20px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Then there’s the issue of teachers’ apathy. A student, Carmella, speaking for herself and her schoolmates said, “I feel that my teachers are no longer motivated to teach us. They usually come to class angry and are always on their BlackBerrys. They always seem distracted and give half-answers to questions asked in class.”</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 20px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In an interview with LEADERSHIP Friday, Dr Irene Osemeka, a renowned educationist said, “Of course the poor quality of our students manifests in many ways. The commonest is the poor grammatical expression in the use of tenses. Most students begin their sentences with ‘As in’, without necessarily making a comparison between two subjects or issues.</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 20px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“There is also poor examination conduct. Cheating during examination has become the norm and regrettably, with connivance of parents and teachers. There is no doubt that the quality of education is failing drastically despite the effort of government and the major stakeholders in the sector.”</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 20px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Osemeka also noted that the failing standard of education hinders the nation’s graduates from securing good jobs. “Most graduates are unable to scale through the first leg of an interview, even though they have graduated with honours. As a result of this, it has become fashionable for parents to send their children to schools outside the country. The phenomenon also comes with the Age of Information; an age where there is unprecedented access to information via the various electronic devices,” she said.</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 20px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Osemeka explained that students can make use of ICT in a way that would increase their knowledge and also assist them in their education.</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 20px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">On the puzzle over why then the revolution in the telecommunication sector, for example, has not had a commensurate and positive effect on the quality of the Nigerian student, she averred that the telecom devices were being used more as a source of entertainment than as a tool to complement class work.</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 20px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Dr Mohammed Khalid Othman, a lecturer in the Department of Agric Engineering, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, speaking on the issue however said, “I feel that the result should be investigated. It is off the shores of normal. I know several good schools whose students didn’t make the five credits and above including Maths and English.”</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 20px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In a more cheering development, though WAEC has not released all the results for public schools in Borno State because the state government allegedly has not paid its bills for the students of public schools, the results of some candidates from public schools are very encouraging.</span></div> </div> </div> </div> </div>

NIGERIA SITTING ON A TIME BOMB

Nigeria Sitting On A Time Bomb The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) released the results of the May/June West Afric...

Read more »

MINT Board Sacks MD, EDs, Appoints New Boss

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <header style="box-sizing: border-box; padding-bottom: 8px;"><div class="byline" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 5px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The long-expected shakeup at Nigeria’s currency printer, the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc (the MINT) occurred yesterday as the company’s board, chaired by the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emiefele, dissolved the MINT’s executive management committee and named Mr. Joseph Ugbo as new substantive managing director.</span></div> </header><div class="elements-box" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 20px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A statement by company secretary/legal adviser of the MINT, Lawal Adamu, said the board directed the erstwhile acting managing director/chief executive officer, Alhaji Ahmed Nuhu Bamali; director of finance, Alhaji Ibrahim Babayo and director of operations, Alhaji Muhammodu Gambo, to retire with effect from September 1, 2014. The statement also announced the appointment of an executive director in charge of finance and strategy, Alhaji Abbas Umar Masanawa, a former special assistant to Emefiele and a former deputy general manager of Zenith Bank.</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 20px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“These changes are in line with the new strategic direction of the company aimed at repositioning the NSPM Plc as an efficient and profit-oriented company that would serve, not only the banknote and security printing needs of our country but also those of the West African sub-region”, the statement read.</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 20px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">LEADERSHIP had reported on July 7, 2014, that the planned shake-up at the MINT was predicated on alarming records of dwindling performance confirmed by an 85 per cent decline in profit after tax between 2009 and 2012.</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 20px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Audited accounts obtained by LEADERSHIP confirmed that profit dropped from N3.711billion in 2009 to N1.562billion in 2010. The figure increased to N2.128billion in 2011 but declined again in 2012 to NN1.040billion. The company made a loss of N215million in 2013.</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 20px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Also, since 2009, turnover at the MINT has nose-dived from N32.6billion in 2009 to less than N20billion in 2013.</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 20px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">LEADERSHIP learnt that the MINT’s woes stem partly from bloated overheads following introduction of a new corporate structure in 2009. The new organogram featured one managing director/chief executive officer, four executive directors, seven general managers and 17 assistant general managers.</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 20px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">This contrasts with one managing director/chief executive, four general managers and 13 assistant general managers before the new corporate structure.</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 20px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Also, there was bickering among directors as they tried to outdo each other to grab the job of managing director as Alhaji Ahmed Nuhu Bamali had served in acting capacity for 18 months without being confirmed. Also, LEADERSHIP reported that the MINT’s board had not been properly constituted for years.</span></div> <div> <br /></div> </div> </div>

MINT Board Sacks MD, EDs, Appoints New Boss

The long-expected shakeup at Nigeria’s currency printer, the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc (the MINT) occurred yesterday as t...

Read more »

Gunmen attack army camp in Bauchi, Commander killed

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3OVBRV_dzXGF7njDg5qqw6AUgI6GeAI2dN1SBxYzRKRah4pgh9pIEiNGLJQXjESknt5QjV52vTVMIV0HKqotVnOXxTtiixk0zBSEUm0o12hg4y19FgWVlir9M1f8igpakGn7zYgRi5W_o/s1600/boko-haram1.jpg" width="400" /></span></div> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br />Unknown gunmen at about 5:20am this morning August 28th attacked an Army camp manned by six armed soldiers at Wunti -Dada, a suburb of Bauchi state, killing the commander of the camp and a soldier.<br /><br />According to reports by The Nation, the unknown gunmen arrived the camp in two motorcycles immediately after the early morning Muslim prayers and opened fire, killing the commander and the soldier.<br /><br />Wunti-Dada has been one of the known security challenge points within the state capital with a lot of unusual incidents. Both the Bauchi state Police Public relations officer and the the 33 Artillery Brigade spokesman have refused to comment on the development.</span></div>

Gunmen attack army camp in Bauchi, Commander killed

Unknown gunmen at about 5:20am this morning August 28th attacked an Army camp manned by six armed soldiers at Wunti -Dada, a suburb of Ba...

Read more »

El-Rufai is an Executive Commander in Boko Haram Terrorist Group

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Former Chief of Army Staff, General Onyeabor Azubuike Ihejirika on Thursday opened a can of worms by declaring that the former minister of the Federal Capital Territory and APC Chieftain, Mallam Nasir El-Rufia is one of the frontline Commanders of the Boko Haram terrorist group.</span><br /> <div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></div> <div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <a href="http://dvsl3w2q45hb8.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/ihejirika-elrufai.gif" style="-webkit-transition: background-color 0.2s linear, border-top-color; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: background-color 0.2s linear, border-top-color; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;"><img alt="ihejirika-elrufai" class="alignnone wp-image-461675" height="185" src="http://dvsl3w2q45hb8.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/ihejirika-elrufai-300x170.gif" style="-webkit-transition: margin 0.2s linear, box-shadow; border: none; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; transition: margin 0.2s linear, box-shadow;" width="326" /></span></a></div> <div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></div> <div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Speaking with Vanguard over allegation by the former minister that he (Ihejirika) and former Governor Modu Sheriff of Borno State were fingered as terrorists sponsors, General Ihejirika said he is not surprised that this unimaginable allegation is coming from ‘one of the Boko Haram Commanders’.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“The (Commanders) including El-Rufai know where the problem is. He should stop deceiving Nigerians by trying to divert attention”.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">According to Ihejirika, “When the Boko Haram operation started, supporters of the sect like El-Rufai said that there was nothing like Boko Haram and that the army was just killing innocent youths”.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“If you also remember, not too long ago, some of their supporters including El-Rufai said that I was re-inventing the killing of the Ibos during the Biafra war following government’s determination to rid the country of terrorism.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Ihejirika who was obviously angry while speaking on phone, also said, “The likes of El-Rufai started the campaign of human right abuses, in order to divert the international attention of the heinous crime being committed by the Boko Haram terrorists”.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Gen. Ihejirika then recalled recent allegations against his person indicating that that he took away N48 billion, an amount of money which is still in the coffers of the Ministry of Defence, which can be verified by anybody adding that he was not surprised that these allegation is coming from the likes of El-Rufai who started the campaign.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Continuing the former Army Chief said, “The likes of El-Rufai have been supporting Boko Haram. In fact, El-Rufai and his likes are the same group of people that ensured the army did not to get the requested equipment to deal with this menace once and for all, as they used their cohorts to tell the government that procuring modern equipment were not necessary”.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Recalling that the same El-Rufai went to Thisday Newspaper premises to grant interview to condemn security forces for the efforts at ridding the country of these senseless mayhem by the terrorists, Ihejirika said, “At the onset of this crisis, I was the first person to declare that the country was at war but group of sponsors led by El-Rufai disagreed, that it was not true”.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“It is the same group of El-Rufai that started the human right abuses campaign. It was done in order to block any international assistance after the state of emergency was declared and the sect was initially tamed. That gave Boko Haram time and respite to build up again”.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Furthermore, General Ihejirika said that when the United States was to initially declare Boko Haram a terrorist organization, the same El-Rufai and his group mounted pressure on the international community, using alleged human right abuses as campaign strategy.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The former Army Chief revealed that this same group including El-Rufai have taken further steps in support of Boko Haram, “which I cannot disclose for now”.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It will be recalled that shortly after his tenure came to an end as COAS, some Northern political elites started the crusade for General Azubuike Ihejirika to be summoned before the International criminal Court in the Hague claiming that he killed their sons and daughters innocently whereas it is on record that no other military leader but Ihejirika did a lot in helping the nation contain the rapid spread of Boko Haram insurgency in the country.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">He not only established the 7th Division of the Nigerian Army with headquarters in Maiduguri, he established new Army Brigades, Counter Terrorism Schools in Kachia and Jaji as well as the Terrorism Training School.</span></div> </div>

El-Rufai is an Executive Commander in Boko Haram Terrorist Group

Former Chief of Army Staff, General Onyeabor Azubuike Ihejirika on Thursday opened a can of worms by declaring that the former minister of ...

Read more »

Rainstorm displaces 2,000 residents in Edo

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <h1 class="entry-title" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-image: url(http://www.punchng.com/wp-content/themes/punch/images/dots-horizontal.gif); background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-top-color: rgb(255, 1, 1) !important; border-top-style: solid !important; border-top-width: 1px !important; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 9px 4px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A heavy rainstorm has left no fewer than 2,000 residents homeless and destroyed valuable property in Fugar community, Etsako Central Local Government Area of Edo State.</span></h1> <div class="entry-content" style="overflow: hidden;"> <div id="nrelate_flyout_placeholder"> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></div> <div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: left;"> PUNCH Metro gathered that the rainstorm, which occurred during a heavy downpour on Monday, destroyed homes, hundreds of livestock and displaced the residents, including women and children.</div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></div> <div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: left;"> Although no life was reportedly lost, two persons were, however, said to have been hospitalised after sustaining injuries in the storm.</div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></div> <div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: left;"> It was also gathered that the worst hit areas were Ivinone, Ulumoghie, Iviocha and Iviavia in the local government.</div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></div> <div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: left;"> During an assessment of the affected community and the victims, the Deputy Governor, Pius Odubu, while commiserating with the residents over the loss of property and their temporary displacement, decried the level of damage caused by the storm.</div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></div> <div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: left;"> Odubu, who was accompanied by other government officials, assured the victims that government, in collaboration with the federal government, would soon commence the distribution of relief materials to alleviate the plight of the affected residents.</div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></div> <div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: left;"> The Chairman of Etsako Central Local Government Area, Mr. Emmanuel Momoh, while explaining that 116 houses and essential amenities, such as electric polls, were affected by the disaster, disclosed that the council had begun the disbursement of relief materials.</div> </div> </div> </div>

Rainstorm displaces 2,000 residents in Edo

A heavy rainstorm has left no fewer than 2,000 residents homeless and destroyed valuable property in Fugar community, Etsako Central Local...

Read more »

Nigeria's Pres. Jonathan launches new national e-ID card in Abuja

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <br /> <div class="comments" id="comments" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 2em; min-height: 0px; position: relative;"> <a href="" name="comments" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.235294); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"></a><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.235294); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"></span></div> <br /> <div class="post hentry uncustomized-post-template" itemprop="blogPost" itemscope="itemscope" itemtype="http://schema.org/BlogPosting" style="min-height: 0px; position: relative;">              <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4JSffbaVCuLhOuIUdb6pHQaipKDqWO-X7xMQ12FYP3MyCwpFn_Rkaq-_UkCU6HJ6lI0rC5t_FhVoyYQ0KT8kgNnS6l2mCfXVeMdde1ScJsmjMwk_64NE_7Brwyw_KBOMsCyQuwp-ykE9c/s1600/BwIXhK7CYAEu8PI.jpg+large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #990000; line-height: 1.4; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4JSffbaVCuLhOuIUdb6pHQaipKDqWO-X7xMQ12FYP3MyCwpFn_Rkaq-_UkCU6HJ6lI0rC5t_FhVoyYQ0KT8kgNnS6l2mCfXVeMdde1ScJsmjMwk_64NE_7Brwyw_KBOMsCyQuwp-ykE9c/s1600/BwIXhK7CYAEu8PI.jpg+large.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 0px 0px; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: 1px solid rgb(153, 0, 0); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 8px; position: relative;" /></a><br /><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-136409825819062629" itemprop="description articleBody" style="line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 616px;"> President Jonathan today August 28th launched the new national e-ID card at the Villa in Abuja. The new e-ID card which is powered by MasterCard is designed to also be used to transact and receive payments. So it's two in one, ID card and ATM.<br /><br />The first phase of the project will see 13million Nigerians issued the card while the next phase will target 100million Nigerians. The project is a partnership with MasterCard, the Nigerian National Identity Management Commission and Access bank. See more photos after the cut...<br /><br /><a href="" name="more"></a><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJMcDrhd7T09im3qos15PwweToHe1ZaFESnv63-XFMEd-dW7fnTCAII2p9FGtucceNvQp6xILAuwhnjH2pngxaQbgjU5EFXv9E87buVruDStdI4avX6X4uuoI-DCXllkfH6zZ_7fyOFMSj/s1600/00.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #990000; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJMcDrhd7T09im3qos15PwweToHe1ZaFESnv63-XFMEd-dW7fnTCAII2p9FGtucceNvQp6xILAuwhnjH2pngxaQbgjU5EFXv9E87buVruDStdI4avX6X4uuoI-DCXllkfH6zZ_7fyOFMSj/s1600/00.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 0px 0px; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: 1px solid rgb(153, 0, 0); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 8px; position: relative;" /></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx7bQowxZ97nyhd01LKPH9mCyT3n3QhD8iqqSKwME1gFs5xtYz7L9-187HeSmTBLJ1es5g6FkDqeAI-6X4MX8NesotJISIOAhufS-0GSM4vwu6edIKiGbJP3U9CNrOxBHkJFrtcgL8rehn/s1600/3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #990000; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx7bQowxZ97nyhd01LKPH9mCyT3n3QhD8iqqSKwME1gFs5xtYz7L9-187HeSmTBLJ1es5g6FkDqeAI-6X4MX8NesotJISIOAhufS-0GSM4vwu6edIKiGbJP3U9CNrOxBHkJFrtcgL8rehn/s1600/3.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 0px 0px; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: 1px solid rgb(153, 0, 0); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 8px; position: relative;" /></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQfx7ll5EYErHBRQTVcFpkL2IZFysVeizzmVEYT6HAvtDaa_DZaAqQnlPH3Is4slFjYpK7rQVxaycjIR6vzqgkoso3vQh9dLiMW6KhMzfsKfLAIUZlqp4t2a5tjja86nKWMO06z3yvU9Tn/s1600/4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #990000; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQfx7ll5EYErHBRQTVcFpkL2IZFysVeizzmVEYT6HAvtDaa_DZaAqQnlPH3Is4slFjYpK7rQVxaycjIR6vzqgkoso3vQh9dLiMW6KhMzfsKfLAIUZlqp4t2a5tjja86nKWMO06z3yvU9Tn/s1600/4.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 0px 0px; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: 1px solid rgb(153, 0, 0); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 8px; position: relative;" /></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKdFNGbFaJ_yEpobDeqKWBdG9M_mNYzqW_V1pyjlWaZ80r7hVj5ZgfvfF9xy4iN8AaP7zaEZTfTFj69HEHkmAszhstyMIgAdIBuMFt9aktljafhPbI9_MwNJGN9Qbk4BXdsWwgY69jdZMV/s1600/5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #990000; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKdFNGbFaJ_yEpobDeqKWBdG9M_mNYzqW_V1pyjlWaZ80r7hVj5ZgfvfF9xy4iN8AaP7zaEZTfTFj69HEHkmAszhstyMIgAdIBuMFt9aktljafhPbI9_MwNJGN9Qbk4BXdsWwgY69jdZMV/s1600/5.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 0px 0px; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: 1px solid rgb(153, 0, 0); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 8px; position: relative;" /></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Db5bB-zOJu2cN1p0C2Jq9eHwd3T57mFM3O3twifw4SeiCvfMg0flFx7e1zTmclQneQjZHwgwSVv5uRsmFX4jcglCq4Gct9wtV6vJLePMjm_Cc4Pk9pl0pzoEiy-AQX6FgBI4PiXOix_E/s1600/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #990000; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Db5bB-zOJu2cN1p0C2Jq9eHwd3T57mFM3O3twifw4SeiCvfMg0flFx7e1zTmclQneQjZHwgwSVv5uRsmFX4jcglCq4Gct9wtV6vJLePMjm_Cc4Pk9pl0pzoEiy-AQX6FgBI4PiXOix_E/s1600/2.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 0px 0px; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: 1px solid rgb(153, 0, 0); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 8px; position: relative;" /></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYhQCXPqCc53y7sRWsionZw44is3H1fryhTn2QVcazeXnjuWj6W_GSBXf7wgX-X-tymxxF7DmtmmfkXaPFRSvMftfTIKJsygrS96wpxr1B91QCYZ8Hu8bjLajPxEJMSUxi4YzTPdnhAWyy/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #990000; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYhQCXPqCc53y7sRWsionZw44is3H1fryhTn2QVcazeXnjuWj6W_GSBXf7wgX-X-tymxxF7DmtmmfkXaPFRSvMftfTIKJsygrS96wpxr1B91QCYZ8Hu8bjLajPxEJMSUxi4YzTPdnhAWyy/s1600/1.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 0px 0px; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: 1px solid rgb(153, 0, 0); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 8px; position: relative;" /></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgopNEjVKUN6z-2JEHz_JesY9yiVp6ybvpPJMiAhyphenhyphenqqMU0xpZVdgCLMCQ2fgFvpEdQcEyhMByLlMAgwW7Jv6Gh2tlRdNmssYRPoiKzsSXJg2YS0LG0nI_QvyrJaOPVwGS5Xk-d2TVWQ8yzK/s1600/BwIYLxUIAAI8HFE.jpg+large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #990000; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgopNEjVKUN6z-2JEHz_JesY9yiVp6ybvpPJMiAhyphenhyphenqqMU0xpZVdgCLMCQ2fgFvpEdQcEyhMByLlMAgwW7Jv6Gh2tlRdNmssYRPoiKzsSXJg2YS0LG0nI_QvyrJaOPVwGS5Xk-d2TVWQ8yzK/s1600/BwIYLxUIAAI8HFE.jpg+large.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 0px 0px; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: 1px solid rgb(153, 0, 0); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 8px; position: relative;" /></a></div> </div> <div class="post-footer" style="line-height: 1.6; margin: 1.5em 0px 0px;"> <div class="post-footer-line post-footer-line-1"> <br /><div class="post-share-buttons goog-inline-block" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; position: relative; vertical-align: middle;"> </div> </div> <div class="post-footer-line post-footer-line-2"> <span class="post-labels" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px;"></span></div> <div class="post-footer-line post-footer-line-3"> <span class="post-location" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px;"></span></div> </div> </div> </div>

Nigeria's Pres. Jonathan launches new national e-ID card in Abuja

              President Jonathan today August 28th launched the new national e-ID card at the Villa in Abuja. The new e-ID card which...

Read more »

Boko Haram members increase to 50,000 in its camp says Mr. Ahmad Salkida

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-9149433587675718455" itemprop="description articleBody" style="position: relative; width: 660px;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); color: black; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: 19px;">                   </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrC3xTsyly9k_zxRnUeyT7bouN8XlOTV0695LwFTMjhzigq8aRJVtiHaV0yGCa_hZpBYCj_VjjRBPKhuTeXr8ovvFkcdbWnRTCvScKqpMebyk4RIrUlddSdNCso9rkhukEC03TZUzOh-8/s1600/Boko-Haram-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrC3xTsyly9k_zxRnUeyT7bouN8XlOTV0695LwFTMjhzigq8aRJVtiHaV0yGCa_hZpBYCj_VjjRBPKhuTeXr8ovvFkcdbWnRTCvScKqpMebyk4RIrUlddSdNCso9rkhukEC03TZUzOh-8/s1600/Boko-Haram-1.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 1px 1px 5px; border: 1px solid rgb(255, 255, 255); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 8px; position: relative;" width="400" /></a></span></div> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Nigerian terrorist group (Boko Haram) in the northern parts of country is not giving up their quest for the creation of Islamic states as the sect membership has increased up to 50,000 in its camp. According to reports released by the #bringblackourgrils group which was disclosed in Abuja, yesterday, claimed it was quoting Mr. Ahmad Salkida, a Nigerian journalist said to be close to Boko Haram</span><blockquote class="tr_bq"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">‘‘According to Mr. Ahmad Salkida, Boko Haram has up to 50,000 people in their camps, most of them are sad and willing to die–as suicide bombers. If we’re not mindful our selfishness in not standing up now will consume us all. For these reasons and others, our advocacy must continue; we must continue telling the truth and demanding for it to be told,’’ the BBOG said.</span></blockquote> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The group urged good-spirited members of the public to join the advocacy which it said must continue until the abducted girls were returned unharmed.</span><blockquote class="tr_bq"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“We must continue telling the truth and demanding for it to be told,’’ the group added</span></blockquote> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It also called on the federal government to increase its effort in tackling insurgency and  terrorism before it gets out of hands and plunge the country into unprecedented famine that would be of harm to its citizens .<br /><br />The group also raised the alarm that Nigeria stands the risk of facing food scarcity, especially beans, which Chibok is the highest producer in the country and called for urgent measures to avert the imminent danger.</span><blockquote class="tr_bq"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">‘‘Chibok for instance is the highest producer of beans in the nation; the north-east the largest producer of livestock and other produce, but due to the insurgency, there has been no farming; in due course there would be food scarcity across the nation,’’ the group said.</span></blockquote> </div> </div>

Boko Haram members increase to 50,000 in its camp says Mr. Ahmad Salkida

                    Nigerian terrorist group (Boko Haram) in the northern parts of country is not giving up their quest for the creation...

Read more »

Obasanjo agrees working with Pres Jonathan to bring an end to the security challenges facing the Country

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-6190010659096438557" itemprop="description articleBody" style="position: relative; width: 660px;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); color: black; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: 19px;">                  </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEXVvDGSYFUOym1BSL27oPmf2h8RJ69mvE3_c10D63WzZYCkz-6NrXgelIVPEbWhOAAjKehLnuEGiDjT0bgFjdOEkgp_LR5pQtKWWs4bOk2QNX5UsvvODGpEmrF5w8PJk1kekSyM8gH68/s1600/10615556_10203579181791585_4057126865975428035_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEXVvDGSYFUOym1BSL27oPmf2h8RJ69mvE3_c10D63WzZYCkz-6NrXgelIVPEbWhOAAjKehLnuEGiDjT0bgFjdOEkgp_LR5pQtKWWs4bOk2QNX5UsvvODGpEmrF5w8PJk1kekSyM8gH68/s1600/10615556_10203579181791585_4057126865975428035_n.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 1px 1px 5px; border: 1px solid rgb(255, 255, 255); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 8px; position: relative;" width="400" /></a></span></div> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">He said: “Yes, I can confirm that I met with Mr. President on his invitation. In fact, he had wanted to come down to Abeokuta, but as a sign of respect for the Office of the President, I had to go. We had discussion on the country’s security issues and that is all.”<br /><br />Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, has declared his readiness to work with President Goodluck Jonathan to ensure an immediate end to the current security challenges facing the country.<br /><br />He had met with President Jonathan in the early hours of yesterday in the Presidential Villa, Abuja. The meeting centered on the state of the nation, especially security challenges in some northern states.<br /><br />Chief Obasanjo, who returned to Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital after the parley, told journalists that his visit was at the instance of an invitation extended to him by President Jonathan.<br /><br />The meeting came a few days after Obasanjo took a swipe at Jonathan administration’s handling of the economy, drawing a parallel between it and that of the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha.<br /><br />Obasanjo explained that the meeting was purely on security matters and at the instance of President Jonathan.<br /><br />He said that President Jonathan had offered to come to Abeokuta for the meeting but for the respect he has for the President, he had to reschedule it for the seat of power in Abuja.</span><blockquote class="tr_bq"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">He said: “Yes, I can confirm that I met with Mr. President on his invitation. In fact, he had wanted to come down to Abeokuta, but as a sign of respect for the Office of the President, I had to go. We had discussion on the country’s security issues and that is all.”</span></blockquote> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Obasanjo, who appreciated President Jonathan for the invitation, promised to always make himself available to him on national issues in the interest of peace and progress of the country.<br /><br />It will be recalled that the former President whose relationship with the Jonathan has been sour in the recent times, had two months ago said he had links with Boko Haram, the group responsible for the security challenges in the nation alleging that he was yet to receive a green light from the President.<br /><br />This statement credited to Obasanjo angered top presidency officials querying the sincerity of the former president despite having unfettered access to President Jonathan.<br /><br />Also, speaking on the crises between Eggon and Fulani crisis in North-Central state of Nasarawa, Obasanjo called on the government of the neighboring Benue and Nasarawa states to ensure that peace is restored to the warring communities.<br /><br />He said the two: Eggon (who are farmers) and the Fulani, who are herders, must understand themselves over the differences and come up with amicable solution that will be acceptable to the two parties.</span><blockquote class="tr_bq"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“There is no way such will not happen, but the two state governments should come up with lasting solutions. The farmers would want their crops to be protected, while the cattlemen will also want their cattle to feed. So, the government should fashion out peaceful means to end the crisis,” Obasanjo said.</span></blockquote> <div> <br /></div> </div> </div>

Obasanjo agrees working with Pres Jonathan to bring an end to the security challenges facing the Country

                   He said: “Yes, I can confirm that I met with Mr. President on his invitation. In fact, he had wanted to come down to ...

Read more »

Boko Haram insurgents Relocate from Sambisa Forest

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="story-content"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Boko Haram members" class="size-full wp-image-281842" height="365" src="http://cdn-01.naij.com/o/JX01tLE9UZi8Zq5yKRRAOwoU.jpg" width="650" /></span></div> <div class="first"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></div> <div class="first"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Information coming in from Borno State in northern Nigeria suggest that the Boko Haram insurgents might be changing their base from the Sambisa forest moving towards southern Borno.</span></div> <div class="first"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">According to a report published by Sahara Reporters today, Wednesday, 27 August, 2014, residents living near Sambisa forest in Borno State have reported seeing a large number of Boko Haram militants leaving the thick forest Tuesday’s morning and moving towards southern Borno.</span></div> </div> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It was gathered that a security source also confirmed the account of the villagers.<br />The source informed that Nigeria’s intelligence agents were aware that members of the Islamist sect, who had been holed up in Sambisa forest, seemed to be relocating to the large territories they have captured in their recent attacks.<br /><span class="ds-1col block-story-object block-story-object-link block-story-object-link-story pull-right">He added that the insurgent</span>s’ relocation is most likely motivated by the sect’s recent successes in capturing<br /><a href="" name="more"></a>several major towns in northern Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa States.<br />According to some villagers, who claimed to witness the militants’ relocation, the insurgents had been moving their families and possibly many of their abductees to safer grounds in towns captured in recent weeks.<br />A villager in Kirawa, a town on the Cameroonian side, also said he had seen some suspected Boko Haram militants moving through Cameroonian territory to Nigeria with large amounts of cargo in tightly secured convoys.<br /><span class="ds-1col block-story-object block-story-object-link block-story-object-link-story pull-left">Many people believe t</span>he alleged relocation of the insurgents may be as a result of about 480 Nigerian soldiers who fled to neighboring Cameroon some days ago in order to escape from a fierce contingent of Boko Haram militants that attacked Gamboru-Ngala, a major town near the border with Cameroon.<br />It was reported after the incident that the militants easily seized the town, and hoisted their flags at a police station and the home of a former governor, Ali Modu Sheriff.</span><br /> <div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_281842" style="width: 660px;"> <div class="wp-caption-text"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Boko Haram members</span></div> </div> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It was reported that the fleeing soldiers, who ran away with civilians, left behind four armored personnel carriers (APCs) and a huge cache of arms that the militants have taken.<br />Only on Tuesday, the absconding soldiers were repatriated to Nigeria by the Cameroonian authorities.<br />Meanwhile,  many villagers that were displaced because of the heavy fighting Gamboru-Ngala are still trapped in Fotocol, a small town near Ngala.<br />At least, 10, 000 people have lost their lives while tens of thousands of others have been internally displaced from their communities in northeastern Nigeria due to Boko Haram insurgency since 2009.<br />The leader of the group, Abubakar Shekau, who has been blacklisted as a terrorist by the United Nations, UN, on Monday released a video where he declared Gwoza town, in Borno state as an Islamic Caliphate.<br />The Nigerian military had since dismissed Shekau’s claim, saying Nigeria remains one indivisible republic.<br /></span><br /> <div class="open-news__source"> <i style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="open-news__source_caption">Sources:</span> <a href="http://www.naij.com/" itemprop="publisher" rel="" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Naij.com news</a>, <a href="http://www.naij.com/away.php?to=http%3A%2F%2Fsaharareporters.com%2F" rel="" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Sahara Reporters</a></i></div> </div>

Boko Haram insurgents Relocate from Sambisa Forest

Information coming in from Borno State in northern Nigeria suggest that the Boko Haram insurgents might be changing their base from t...

Read more »