NEWS UPDATE 25th NOVEMBER 2014

100 lawmakers ready to be arrested with Tambuwal – Rep

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal

The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Justice, Dr. Ali Ahmad, on Sunday warned the police against any attempt to arrest the Speaker of the House, Aminu Tambuwal.

Ahmad said 100 members of the House would be ready to be arrested alongside Tambuwal.

He said, “If anybody is planning to arrest Mr. Speaker, they should be ready to arrest over 100 legislators. We would follow him to the prison. If they won’t open the prison door, we would break it and go inside.

“If they are arresting the Speaker, they should be prepared; we would all go in there. If they have shackles, they should go and buy more.

The lawmaker representing Ilorin East and South Federal Constituency said the invasion of the National Assembly complex by the police last Thursday was illegal and urged the police to follow the Constitution in the discharge of their functions and avoid being manipulated by the executive.

He spoke in an interview with journalists in Ilorin, Kwara State, while inaugurating the vocational centre of the University of Ilorin Students’ Union, equipped by him.

He also said the police should be careful and avoid being used to perpetrate unconstitutional acts in the crisis in the Ekiti State House of Assembly.

He said the rating of President Goodluck Jonathan had dipped as a result of the victimisation of Tambuwal, the police onslaught on the National Assembly and the crisis in the Ekiti legislature.

He stressed, “We would do anything for Nigeria’s democracy not to be sacrificed on the altar of somebody’s personal ego. Nigeria is a constitutional country and is a government that is being governed by constitution.

“It’s not a kingdom; you cannot just wake up and say you want somebody to disappear. No, you are there because of the constitution; you will continue to be there because of the constitution and when you leave, you leave because of the constitution.

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Court frees suspected Nyanya bomber, cites shoddy prosecution

   

Suspected mastermind of the April 14, 2014 Nyanya explosion, Aminu Ogwuche (middle), after his discharge by a Federal High Court in Abuja... on Monday.
| credits: NAN.

A Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday struck out the terrorism charges instituted against Aminu Ogwuche, the alleged mastermind of the April 14 blast, which killed over 75 persons in Nyanya, a suburb of Abuja.

Justice Adeniyi Ademola struck out the charges filed by the Inspector General of Police on the grounds of want of diligent prosecution.

The case had suffered many adjournments due to failure of the police to produce the accused, who had been in the custody of the Department of State Services since he was repatriated from Sudan to Nigeria.

The police and the DSS, through their respective lawyers, had also during court proceedings jostled for the prosecution of the accused persons.

At the Monday’s proceedings, Justice Ademola struck out the suit due to the absence of the legal representative of the IGP in court.

“This criminal charge is hereby struck out for want of diligent prosecution by the complainant, Inspector General of Police, and his prosecutor,” the judge ruled.

In a related development, the judge in a fundamental rights suit filed by Ogwuche, granted an oral application sought by his counsel, Mr. Ahmed Raji (SAN), for family members to have access to him.

The court ordered that three lawyers from Ahmed Raji’s law firm and two of Ogwuche’s family members be allowed access to the suspect who has been in DSS custody.

The DSS counsel, Mr. Clifford Osagie, and the lawyer representing the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Taiwo Abidogun, both appearing in the suit filed by Ogwuche did not oppose the oral application.

Justice Ademola then ruled, “Three lawyers from the complainant’s counsel as well as the complainant’s wife and another family member be given access to the applicant.

“Applicant (Ogwuche) be given medical care in the respondent’s custody and referred to the National Hospital, Abuja, if need be.”

The judge has adjourned the matter till December 5 for hearing of the originating motion.

Ogwuche’s counsel, Raji, had asked the court to grant his client bail through the fundamental human rights suit.

He alleged that the AGF and the DSS were breaching the fundamental rights of the applicant by holding him endlessly against the provision of the law.

Raji had argued that when a suspect was arrested by security agents (the respondents), the suspect should be charged before a competent court within the time allowed by law and should be allowed access to his family and lawyers.

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Again, Jonathan meets Chadian President over insurgency

November 25, 2014 by Olalekan Adetayo 113 Comments

   

Deby and Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday in N’Djamena, the Chadian capital reiterated the need for Nigeria and her neighbours to intensify joint actions and cooperation to win the war against terrorism and insurgency.

A statement by the his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, quoted the President as speaking to reporters at the Presidential Palace in N’Djamena after a closed-door meeting with his Chadian counterpart, President Idris Deby.

Abati further quoted the President as saying that their talks focused mainly on security and economic cooperation.

He reportedly told the journalists that the Boko Haram sect had a lot of external influence from outside Africa and it had become more imperative for all countries in the region to work together to overcome terrorism and other criminal activities across their borders.

“If you look at the economies of Nigeria and Chad both are linked. The Boko Haram people don’t take permission to move from Chad, Niger, Cameroon and Nigeria.

“If the countries do not cooperate, we will not find it easy to win the war, because when the heat is strong in one country, the criminals and terrorists will go to another one and hide.

“So, we must work together and we are discussing along that line,” Jonathan reportedly told reporters.

He also recalled that his visit to Chad was the second in the last one month, noted that it underscored the importance of building a “robust relationship” between both countries to improve trade, economic and security ties.

He said that discussions between both countries on cooperation in the ICT sector were ongoing and expressed optimism that more proficient use of modern technology would help greatly to address economic and security challenges in the region.

Jonathan, who was accompanied on the one-day official visit by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Aminu Wali, and the Director-General the National Intelligence Agency, Ambassador Ayodele Oke had returned to Abuja.

It will be recalled that Jonathan had, on September 8, held a closed-door security meeting with Deby to discuss ways of ending the Boko Haram menace.

The meeting between both leaders was a follow-up to their discussions in Nairobi, Kenya, about a week earlier on the sidelines of the African Union Peace and Security Council summit.

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Another Borno Town Captured by Boko Haram

•   Military clarifies involvement of hunters, vigilantes, says they provide intelligence
•    Jonathan: Nigeria, neighbours must cooperate to win war against terrorism

Michael Olugbode in Maiduguri, Senator Iroegbu and Jaiyeola Andrews in Abuja   


Another Borno town, Damasak, fell into the hands of the terrorist sect, Boko Haram tuesday when 300 soldiers were chased away from the town.

A military source revealed to THISDAY in Maiduguri that the insurgents had earlier attacked the town in the northern part of the state on Friday but lost five men and came back yesterday morning in a reprisal.

The military source, who was not authorised to speak, said the insurgents came in large numbers, attacking Damasak at about 5 am.
He said: “When they attacked on Friday we saw them from afar and shot a mortar at them which hit their vehicle killing five persons instantly and they had to beat a retreat.

“We were also able to capture one of their buffalo vehicles as they did not know what hit them.”
But with yesterday’s reprisal, the military source said the small victory they recorded last week had been wiped out, “as my colleague who was among the 300 in the company at the Damasak camp called me from Gubio that the insurgents attacked today (Monday) at about 5am and overran the camp”.

He said: “No one is sure of the casualties on both sides but it was considerable. The residents did not go unaffected either, as the insurgents killed so many people in the town and equally sent many fleeing.”

When asked if the town had been captured, he said: “I do not know how to answer your question when 300 soldiers have fled a town and there is presently no military presence. What other language can be used to describe the situation other than capture?
“But if you are asking me if they have hoisted their flag, I cannot offer a reply for everyone fled the town.

“As I speak to you, the insurgents are still in the town and people have all deserted, fleeing in differs directions.”
A resident of the town, Abba Lawan, who spoke to THISDAY on the phone, said: “Right now, I am on the run with many other people. Our town was attacked today (yesterday) and we have all fled for our lives, some of us are moving towards Niger.”

But as Nigerian troops were forced to flee from another community in the North-east, the military was more concerned about information on the involvement of local hunters and the Civilian JTF in the war against Boko Haram, stating that the group mostly provides local intelligence for the armed forces in the combat zones.

Responding to THISDAY inquiries yesterday, the Director of Defence Information (DDI), Maj-Gen. Chris Olukolade, expressed dismay in the way totally unfounded combat exploits were being attributed to the hunters in a bid to undermine the military.
Olukolade stressed that while the military has not abdicated its combat duties, the hunters and vigilante groups have been very useful at assisting with surveillance and information.

“They mainly assist in survellance and information but are never at the forefront of the operations,” he clarified.
According to him, all the flimsy and exaggerated claims of hunters’ exploits in the ongoing operations are simply intended to foster a mischievous campaign aimed at disparaging and depreciating the professional efforts of the Nigerian military at containing the terrorists especially in Adamawa.

It is obvious, he said, that the intention is to ridicule and discourage the military, adding that the troops are not moved.
“While appreciating the efforts of the hunters and citizens who have been supporting our troops in the onslaught, the military still remains in the vanguard of the mission to rid the nation of terrorists and their activities.

“We will remain focused and utilise only well-meaning support and advice in the ongoing campaign to wipe out terrorists,” he said.
The Defence spokesman also alluded to the fact that some politicians were exploiting the security situation in the North-east to further their personal ambitions to the detriment of the nation's territorial integrity.

Olukolade however assured Nigerians that the military was still on course in its renewed “Operation No Mercy” campaign, saying that the result would soon be manifested for the whole world to see.

He said: “As much as we are aware of the politicians who are promoting these campaigns for whatever reasons, we will not be distracted by their antics.

“The result of present efforts will soon manifest for the whole world to see and Nigerians and the military will not be diminished as intended by those engaging in the campaign of calumny against the Nigerian military.”

Olukolade further cautioned Nigerians not to allow themselves to be hoodwinked by some false reports on the so-called liberation of certain areas by hunters, adding: “We can only vouch for areas where the military has reported have been cleared of terrorists.”
In the same vein, a senior military officer speaking on the condition of anonymity wondered why members of the public believed reports that it was the hunters who liberated Mubi and other towns.

“Yes, we collaborate with hunters and other vigilante groups but mostly for information. So people have wondered how the hunters with dane guns could engage the same terrorists they claimed have sophisticated weapons that our military could not match?” the source said.

The officer continued: “Now do you see that the same Mubi they claimed was liberated by hunters for over a week now is still being contested. There are on-going operations there and military will officially confirm and communicate to the members of the public after the total liberation of the town.

“How can people start spreading the rumours that Mubi and other areas were liberated by local hunters, when operations are still on-going by our troops?”

Meanwhile, President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday in N'Djamena, the Chadian capital, reiterated the need for Nigeria and her neighbours to intensify joint actions and cooperation to win the war against  terrorism.

Speaking to reporters at the Presidential Palace in N'Djamena  after a closed-door meeting with his Chadian counterpart,   President Idriss Deby Itno, Jonathan said their talks focused mainly on security and economic cooperation.

The president said Boko Haram has a lot of external influence from outside Africa and it had become even more imperative for all countries in the region to work together to overcome terrorism and other criminal activities across their borders.

“If you look at the economies of Nigeria and Chad both are linked. Boko Haram does not take permission to move from Chad, Niger, Cameroun and Nigeria.

“If the countries do not cooperate, we will not find it easy to win the war, because when the heat is strong in one country, the criminals and terrorists will go to another one and hide.

“So we must work together and we are discussing along that line," Jonathan told reporters.

He recalled that his visit to Chad was the second in the last one month, noting that it underscored the importance of building a “robust relationship” between both countries to improve trade, economic and security ties.

According to Jonathan, discussions between both countries on cooperation in the ICT sector were ongoing and expressed optimism that more proficient use of modern technology would help greatly to address economic and security challenges in the region.

Jonathan was accompanied on the one-day official visit by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Aminu Wali, and the Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, Ambassador Ayodele Oke, and has since returned to Abuja.

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Oil, Gas Industry Operators Differ on Measurement of Nigerian Content

Oil and gas industry operators have differed on the acceptable metrics to measure the progress of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act of 2010 in the oil and gas sector.

While some of these industry operators, who gathered at the just-concluded 2014 Practical Nigerian Content in Yenegoa, Bayelsa State, said the progress of the implementation of the Act should be measured in terms of the quantum of people trained in the industry, others said it should be measured in terms of the quantum of entrepreneurship created.

Presiding over a special session at the event, the Manager in charge of Nigerian Content and Training at Kaztec Engineering Limited, Prof. Otokpa Chris Agada said there was need for adequate measurement of the progress of the Act, “otherwise the organisation, the regulator, the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), the driver of the programme, is at the risk of becoming self-congratulatory and in fact, becoming justified in its own way.”

Agada further stated that it was a collective responsibility of the various stakeholders to offer the information that would keep the NCDMB driving.

The Chairman of the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN), Mr. Emeka Ene insisted that the Nigerian Content should be measured by the number of entrepreneurs empowered to create jobs that would drive the Nigerian economy.

According to him, the Nigerian Content should not be measured by just the quantum of people trained, and the quantum of materials and equipment that evolve in the economy.

“I will like to propose that in terms of measuring local content, we need to take it one step further; that beyond looking at local content as just a quantum of people trained; quantum of materials and equipment that evolve in the economy; we need to go one step further and look at the quantum of entrepreneurship that has been created,” he said.

“When we talk about local content, we spend time on training and training. We all know that a hungry man is an angry man. After training the hypo, who is going to employ him?” he added.

Ene stated that between 1960 and 1999, the impact of the country’s oil and gas sector to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was virtually zero, adding that the manufacturing output of all other countries producing oil and gas as a percentage of GDP was higher than Nigeria.

The Country Director of Africa Energy Association, Mr. Tosin Yusuff said the performance of the local content should be the basis for the estimation of the GDP.
He said Nigerian Content was not a wish or policy but a law that gave all the stakeholders the blanket cheque to participate in the industry.

Speaking further on the measurement of the Nigerian Content, Yusuff said: “NCDMB should open a desk and collect data from the operators, so that at the end of every year, they will know what the trends are.”

“I am trying to refrain from the metrics that we are using to measure local content presently because truly, if we look at the schedule of the Nigerian Content Act, all we can get from it is just the trend in the industry. Now, the trend can show us the apparent pattern or culture but without entrepreneurial encouragement or enablement to participate in the industry, we will be beating around the bush,” he added.

General Manager in charge of Nigerian Content at the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC), Mrs. Callista Azoka, however, said the Nigerian Content was a journey replete with its unique victories, challenges and ups and downs, adding that its progress should be measured in terms of some milestones or signposts encountered in the highway of success.

She listed the milestones to include industry-wide awareness, optimal compliance, in-country sufficiency and internationalisation.

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Gunmen Kidnap Rivers Chief Registrar

The crisis rocking the Rivers State High Court took a new dimension Sunday as unknown gunmen abducted the Chief Registrar of the state High Court, Mr. Leonard Adoki. 

Adoki was kidnapped in his community, Amalem in Abua/Odual Local Government Area of the state.
THISDAY gathered that the bandits struck while he was returning from church and whisked him to an unknown destination.
Although details of the incident were still sketchy as at press time, the Chairman of the Abua-Odual chapter of the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), Mr. Lucky Ottos, said the kidnappers were chased by some youths from Abua and one of them was arrested.

According to him, the arrested member of the gang, who is said to hail from Nembe, a community in the neighbouring Bayelsa State, is currently in police custody. 

The police in the state have confirmed the incident and said two persons had been arrested in connection with the kidnap.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Ahmad Muhammad (DSP), said the police were already investigating the incident and that the culprits would be brought to book. 

According to him, “Efforts are on to rescue him as two suspects involved in the abduction have been arrested.”
Meanwhile, the Port Harcourt branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), has condemned the abduction of the chief registrar.
The spokesman of the branch, Angus Chukwuka, described the act as an aberration, and urged the perpetrators to release him unconditionally. 

But in a related development, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, has raised the alarm that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was bent on forcibly reopening the state High Courts with the intention to impeach Amaechi.

In a statement issued in Port Harcourt yesterday by the state Chairman of the APC, Dr. Davies Ikanya, congratulating the new Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mahmud Mohammed on his appointment, the party said it was worried at the performance of the immediate past CJN whom it accused of escalating the crisis in the state judiciary. 

The party drew the attention of the new CJN to the Rivers judiciary crisis that has resulted in the closure of all the courts in the State based on the directive of the state’s Judicial Service Commission (SJSC) due to the dispute over the appointment of a new substantive Chief Judge for the state. 

The party said: “We, as a political party, are saddened by this unfortunate stalemate which resulted from the attempt of immediate past Chief Justice, Aloma Mukhtar, and the NJC to impose Justice Daisy Okocha as the Chief Judge of Rivers State without any input from the Governor of Rivers State as enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution. All this is aimed at foisting an unpopular Chief Judge on Rivers State so as to clear the way for our duly and popularly elected Governor Amaechi to be impeached using some misguided six lawmakers in a House of 28 lawmakers.”

It also said: “To the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its promoters, impunity is a way of life. They have attempted it in the past and they are not relenting to ensure that Governor Amaechi is ousted from office using any undemocratic means possible to achieve this. In this regard, the PDP leadership has concluded a plot to cause unrest in Port Harcourt, to be aided by the police, to force our courts open by this week just to oust the Governor and impose a State of emergency in the State. Look at what is happening at Ekiti State House of Assembly, where seven uninformed lawmakers sat without authorisation to impeach the Speaker and his Deputy in a House of 26 members!  

“Sir, it is in this regard that we are appealing to you to use your good offices as CJN to stop this impasse and act immediately and allow the Rivers State Governor recommend a properly qualified person to the office of the Chief Judge of Rivers State as enshrined in the Constitution to enable the courts to be opened for normal business in the State and save the State from the envisaged state of anarchy by PDP and its agents and most importantly to save the families relying on the courts for their livelihood from further hardship.” 

He said indigenes of the state and the entire nation should “prepare to safeguard our collective being and resist any attempt by the ungodly PDP to remove our duly elected governor and cause unrest in the state.”

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