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‘Eagle-eyed’ troops ‘kill’ Don Wanni, ‘mastermind’ of Rivers New Year’s Day slaughter

The Nigerian Army says it has killed Prince Idibia, also known as Don Wanni, who is believed to be behind the New Year’s Day attack in Omoku, Rivers State, where at least 23 were killed.

Aminu Ilyasu, spokesman of the 6 Division Nigerian Army, Port Harcourt, made this known in a statement on Sunday, narrating how Don Wanni had relocated to Enugu after the attack.

Ilyasu recalled that security operatives had raided Don Wanni’s Port Harcourt residence in November, but he managed to escape, leaving behind several arms, ammunition and charms, which were recovered by the authorities.

Following intelligence information, a combined team of soldiers and operatives of the Department of State Security (DSS) traced the suspect to the neighbourhood in Enugu where he had settled among unsuspecting citizens.

According to the statement, Don Wanni was already planning another attack in Omoku, from his new base in Enugu, before luck ran out on him.

“Don Wanni masterminded the despicable New Year Day’s mayhem in Omoku in which he led his notorious gang of criminals to murder 23 peace-loving citizens of Omoku when they were returning from Cross Over Service at about 1:30am on Monday 1st January 2018,” the army statement read in part.

“Intense surveillance activities on him and his gang by the Department of State Services (DSS) Rivers State Command revealed that after committing these atrocities he relocated to a neighbourhood within Enugu Town in Enugu State where he rented an apartment and started living among unsuspecting neighbours within the community.

“From the relative safety of his newly-rented apartment, Don Wanni was already perfecting plans to wrought another mayhem in Omoku, in which he was to attack churches, schools, Army and Police locations and the residences of the generality of the already traumatized people of Omoku.

“However, following his successful geo-location to his new Enugu neighbourhood hideout by the DSS Rivers State Command, a combined team of troops of 82 Division Nigerian Army Enugu and personnel of DSS Rivers State Command raided the hideout to arrest him and his other accomplices.

“Incidentally, on sensing that the combined team was closing in on his residence, Don Wanni, his second-in-Command (Ikechukwu Adiele) and another gang member (Lucky Ode) attempted to escape through the back exit of the apartment and were shot down by the eagle-eyed troops in the process.

“One of them died on the spot while the other 2 who sustained gunshot wounds eventually died while being evacuated for medical attention.”

The statement added that their bodies were brought back to Port Harcourt and handed over to the Rivers State Police Command for further action.

When the police raided Don Wanni’s home in November, items found there included 10 human skulls and decomposing bodies.

In June 2016, Don Wanni, and his cult group laid down their arms and accepted the amnesty declared by Nyesom Wike, the Rivers State Governor, but they later reneged and went back to crime.

Also in November, there were rumours that Don Wanni was killed in a shootout between his gang and members of the local vigilante group known as OSPAC, but it turned out to be a mere farce.

Jonathan, Buhari, or Obasanjo — who initiated Abuja-Kaduna rail project?

 

There has been a brouhaha of sorts over the initiator of the Abuja-Kaduna rail project that was commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari in July 2016.

This recent round of controversy followed Buhari’s train ride from Rigasa to Kakuri, on the outskirts of Kaduna, where he commissioned Nigeria’s first inland dry port on Thursday.

Before the train trip to Kakuri, Buhari had commissioned additional rail vehicles acquired for the Abuja-Kaduna rail route.

Ben Murray-Bruce, a serving senator belonging to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), tweeted that Buhari should thank former President, Goodluck Jonathan, for putting the rail project in place.

“I hope President Buhari remembers to say thank you to former President Jonathan for the train ride he enjoyed in Kaduna. Some of us haven’t forgotten that that achievement was ENTIRELY the handiwork of the Jonathan government. Nigeria should give honour to whom honour is due,” Bruce wrote.

But Nasir El-Rufai, Governor of Kaduna State, fired back almost immediately, saying that it was former President Olusegun Obasanjo, not Jonathan, that conceived and began the project.

El-Rufai went a step further by saying that at the time the Abuja-Kaduna rail project was commencing, Bruce was busy “organising beauty contests”, while Jonathan was just a Deputy Governor.

“Wrong Distinuguisnhed Senator! The Obasanjo administration which Jonathan was not part of, designed, raised the financing and started the EPC of the Lagos-Kano dual track-standard gauge rail system, and the Abuja Light Rail. Yar’Adua-Jonathan stalled both projects for two years!

“There is nothing to debate. Facts cannot be debated. Opinions are free. While the Obasanjo administration was conceiving the rail modernization programme, Sen Ben-Bruce was organizing beauty contests and Jonathan was a deputy governor. I am not cluelessly common-sensical!”

However, Shehu Sani, senator representing Kaduna Central, said there had never been any rail project begun by any President, leading to or from Kaduna, except the one initiated by Jonathan.

“I was born in Kaduna,I live in Kaduna, I represent Kaduna. There was never any modern rail project in Kaduna or from Kaduna except the one started ‘to near completion’ under GEJ (Goodluck Ebele Jonathan) and now completed by the PMB (President Muhammadu Buhari) Government. If there was any under any other Government, perhaps it was invisible.”

Though Sani is a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), as is El-Rufai, it is common knowledge that both men are sworn political foes.

SO WHAT IS THE TRUTH?

In February 2016, when the senate committee on the FCT, led by Dino Melaye, the committee Chairman, went on an oversight function to the site of the Abuja-Kaduna rail project, contractors handling the project told the committee that it was the Obasanjo administration that awarded the contract in 2007.

However, Etim Abak, Project Manager of the Chinese company handling the construction, said the contract was awarded without any structural design or memorandum of understanding between the two parties.

Abak told the lawmakers that the $841.645,898 million contract was signed by El-Rufai, who was the then FCT Minister, and that the completion period was 48 months.

“The contract was awarded based on conceptual design and estimates were not properly done. There was no formal design submitted and rail bridges and crossover bridges were not captured in the contract,” Abak was quoted as saying.

However, it was Jonathan’s government that almost completed the rail project, as he took train ride himself in May 2015, days before his handover to Buhari, during an inspection tour where he expressed optimism that the Buhari administration would complete it.

“I emphasised the need for train system in terms of developing an effective mass transit in any nation. Of course, this government is leaving on the 29th. The incoming government will definitely continue because this is a noble project to Nigerians especially residents of the FCT,” Jonathan said at the time.

It is now left for Nigerians to decide who is right between Murray-Bruce, El-Rufai and Shehu Sani.

Cattle-ranching is an attack on Fulani culture

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By Fredrick Nwabufo

I am as angry as everyone else regarding the killing of innocents in Benue state by herdsmen. In fact, days ago, I expressed my disappointment in the government owing to its reluctance and silence in the face of the killings, in a social media piece.

I wrote: “In Nigeria, national security is often supplanted by ethnic security. What is considered as a security threat by one administration may be treated with levity by another administration.

“The ethnic and religious background of the leadership determines to a large extent its response to any caustic issue. This is why the Jonathan administration played possum with the Boko Haram crisis because it believed the insurgency was a problem created by the north to make the country ungovernable for him.

“Now, herdsmen have been on a resolute killing campaign since the Buhari administration came on board. But the government has done nothing, absolutely nothing to check them, except for occasional appeals to families of victims not to carry out reprisal attacks.

“In fact, this government has refused to name the killers. At best, it will call the killings a farmer-herder clash. And you wonder how the killing of 50 innocents in Benue by herdsmen is a clash.

“I understand that the thinking of the government is that herdsmen are being labelled as killers (by opposition elements and those who hate Buhari) because the president is Fulani.

“The fact is President Buhari’s deodorisation of the herdsmen menace gives vent to the suggestion that it is all a family affair.”

However, I ask for the thawing of citizens’ animus against Fulani pastoralists. The recent attacks have spawned trenchant calls for cattle-ranching and for an end to nomadic herding. I will explain briefly why we must proceed with caution.

Not all herdsmen are Fulani, but nomadic herding is an “eternal” heritage of the group. It is not just an occupation for the Fulani, but a tradition steeped in a long history and culture. This is the reason suggestions of cattle-ranching will always be rejected by them.

We must realise that, for the Fulani, nomadic herding is not an economic alternative, but a sacerdotal pursuit. Compelling them to set up ranches without understanding that the idea itself is a “culture shock” will not do any good.

Tradition dies hard, but it dies anyway. The Fulani could switch to cattle-ranching in the future, but I doubt it will be by compulsion or by heavy mental and verbal bombardment.

If the Fulani will ranch cattle; they must be educated as to the whys and wherefores of it, and not coerced. They must also be given time to shed the old tradition and to assimilate a new one.

As it is, herdsmen have become pariahs in the country. Some ethnic groups would want them far removed from their area. This should not be the case. In fact, demonising them will only escalate the current crisis. We should condemn the attacks, but we must not make an enemy of Fulani herdsmen.

Fredrick is a journalist. You can reach him on Twitter: @FredrickNwabufo; Facebook: Fredrick Nwabufo

Nigeria ‘secretly signs’ $20bn nuclear power contract with Russian company

 

The Nigerian government has signed a multi-billion dollar contract with Rosatom, a Russian nuclear company, to establish four nuclear plants in the country.

If completed, the power plants are expected to contribute a combined 4,800 megawatts to Nigeria’s electricity generation by the year 2035.

According to a special report by Premium Times, the $20 billion (about N6 trillion) contract was signed at a meeting between officials of Rosatum and the Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission, NAEC, which held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in October 2017.

“Anton Moskvin, Vice President for Marketing and Business Development, Rosatom Overseas (a subsidiary of Rosatom), and Simon Mallam, Chairman of NAEC, signed the agreement on behalf of Rosatom and Nigeria respectively,” the report read.

“The development of nuclear technologies will allow Nigeria to strengthen its position as one of the leading countries of the African continent,” Moskvin was quoted as saying.

“These are the projects of a large scale and strategic importance, that will determine the relationship between our two countries in the long term.”

HOW SAFE IS NUCLEAR POWER

Experts say Nuclear Power exploration has been problematic all over the world, much less in an under-developed country like Nigeria.

“First thing that comes to mind when nuclear is mentioned is radioactive wastes, our concern is, judging by the experience in fossil fuels, that we might be heading towards an environmental disaster,” said Akinbode Oluwafemi, Deputy Director of the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN).

“We don’t have confidence in using nuclear energy to solve our energy needs, there are safer alternatives like solar and wind.”

Similarly, Lia Simes, a Finnish journalist, is of the opinion that Nigeria’s electricity is very unstable to support a nuclear reactor.

“Nuclear power plants need good electricity grid – they cannot use the electricity they produce, but they need a lot of external electricity and so you have to constantly – non-stop – feed electricity to the reactor,” Simes said.

“It is risky, dirty and expensive. Nobody knows how the wastes will be managed in the future.”

The most recent nuclear power accident took place in 2011 in Fukushima, Japan. Following the disaster, Japanese authorities shut down the country’s 54 nuclear power plants.

As of 2013, the Fukushima site remains highly radioactive, with about 160,000 people forced to evacuate from their homes; they still living in temporary housing, and some land will be unfarmable for centuries.

Experts say the difficult cleanup job will take 40 or more years, and cost tens of billions of dollars.

Another cause for concern is the secrecy that surrounds the signing of the contract agreement, as those who should know say the Nigerian government has intentionally withheld necessary information about the issue.

“How was the choice of Rosatom arrived at?” queried Philip Jakpor, Spokesperson of the ERA/FoEN.

“Where will the funds to build the $20 billion nuclear plant come from?”

“No media or civil society consultation on this project. From the little research we have done, even Rosatom have a very bad safety record,” added Oluwafemi

NAEC SAYS NO SAFETY CONCERNS

When Premium Times contacted Simon Mallam, Chairman of NAEC, he said there were no safety concerns regarding the nuclear project, explaining that the only challenge facing the agency was paucity of funds.

“The issue is not that they (radiation) are dangerous to workers or people living there, radiation sources will not fly, but the key thing is to keep the source in its particular condition,” Mallam said.

“We are gradually improving and we are hoping that with releases of more funds, we’ll be able to do one or two things.”

He added that “our overhead cost in the last two, three years is less than N12 million monthly, for all the headquarters and all these (nuclear) centres, you have to manage it”.

“Last year (2016) we had an overhead of only eight months, this year (2017) we have had only six months. So there is no magic we can do.”

Mallam also said Nigeria recently signed a similar nuclear power contract with a Chinese company and that NAEC will study both contracts to know which of them would be more beneficial to the country.

Read the complete report here.

Atiku accused of being ‘biggest financier’ of association of Fulani herdsmen

 

Paul Unongo, Chairman of the Northern Elders Forum, says Abubakar Atiku, former Vice President, is the biggest financier of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) — a group of “very rich Nigerians” who hire and arm herdsmen to take care of their cattle.

Unongo is of the opinion that Atiku should be able to call the rampaging herdsmen to order, especially given that he (Atiku) is a title holder in Tiv land — the most dominant ethnic group in Benue State.

Speaking during an interview with The Punch, Unongo said he was sure of his claims, as Atiku had told him personally when they were still in talking terms.

“I am aware that the most powerful person in Miyetti Allah is Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who wants to be the next President,” Unongo said.

“If they are fighting for power and Atiku wants to create problems for Buhari, I don’t know. There are so many possibilities.

“The most powerful person who finances the Miyetti Allah is Abubakar Atiku and he is a prince of the Tiv Court.

“The Tivs gave him a traditional title, meaning ‘the biggest shade of  the Tiv people’. This implies that the Tiv people should be able to run to Atiku who will protect them.

“This is the man who heads Miyetti Allah and is the greatest financier of this organisation. He has more cattle than anybody in Miyetti Allah.

“It is an establishment of the big people, a very rich group of Nigerians and they pack small boys to take their cattle all over the place and then buy all these arms to give herdsmen to go and kill people, and the government is doing  nothing!

“I know, I got my facts partially from him regarding Miyetti Allah, when I used to talk to him.”

Unongo said that he had tried to meet Atiku face to face to discuss the issue but the ex-VP has proven difficult to reach.

“Have you tried to see a ‘big man’ before?” Unongo queried the reporter. “I don’t like to wait at people’s doors.

“If you’re in government, yes, but when you’re not in government, it  shouldn’t be so hard to see you. Atiku is my younger brother and he should come to me.

“Anytime you go to his place, the people around him think you are there to collect money that they are sharing. So, I decided that I would not disgrace the NEF. I am not belittling him, but he is no longer in power and I deserve some respect.”

ATIKU DENIES

However, when contacted, Paul Ibe, Atiku’s media aide, said his Principal never belonged to MACBAN even though he is a “proud” Fulani man.

Ibe added that Unongo was merely trying to please the powers at the centre who made him a board Chairman in 2017.

“Yes, Waziri Atiku Abubakar is a Fulani and is proud to be one as he has never hidden that fact. However, the Waziri is a thoroughly detribalized Nigerian who would never favour one ethnic group over another,” Ibe said.

“Let it be known that though Waziri Adamawa is Fulani, he is not a member of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria nor has he ever been a member. He has also never discussed about that group with Chief Paul Unongo.

“Having said that, it has not escaped our notice that Chief Paul Unongo is the Chairman, Governing Board of Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council, a position he was appointed to in April of last year.

“Understandably, Chief Unongo would be very grateful to those who gave him such a position and may feel it is his duty to attack and sully those in their bad books.”

Ibe added that Atiku wants the government to carry out a thorough investigation into the killings in Benue, “and that anyone found culpable be made to bear the full weight of the law”.

Six herdsmen arraigned in court for ‘killing’ 20 farmers in Benue

 

The Benue State Police Command has arraigned six Fulani herdsmen over alleged involvement in the killing of 20 farmers in Akor village, Guma Local Government Area of Benue State.

The suspects were arraigned before Isaac Ajim, presiding Magistrate of the Makurdi Chief Magistrate Court 1, in the state capital.

Also, the police arraigned one Ibrahim Adamu, another herdsman who allegedly violated the Open Grazing Prohibition Law, which had already taken effect in the state.

Adamu was arrested on December 28 while grazing openly with about 70 cows along Naka road in Makurdi, alongside one Hassam Musa, who was said to have fled the scene.

Soon after the herdsmen attack of January 2, the police said about 17 persons had been killed. However, the death toll rose to 20 after three more persons died at the Benue State University Teaching Hospital.

Samuel Ortom, Governor of Benue State, blamed the attacks on the inability of security agencies to live up to their responsibilities.

“This is unfortunate. The security agencies of this country are aware of what is happening in Benue,” Ortom lamented.

“We must rise up; Nigerians must rise up; the Federal Government must rise up to protect us because this is not right.

“They [FG] own the security apparatus. The ones that are here are doing their best but there should be more and that is what we are calling for.”

There had been mass killings in Benue, Rivers, Kaduna and Kwara States, less than five days into 2018, highlighting the rising insecurity in the country.

NNPC loses N900m daily selling fuel at N145, reveals Kachikwu

 

Ibe Kachikwu, Minister of State For Petroleum Resources, says between October 2017 and now, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has lost about of N85.5 billion (between N800 million and N900 million daily) selling Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) at the current retail price of N145 per litre.

Kachikwu made this known on Thursday during a joint hearing of the National Assembly Committees on Petroleum Resources (Downstream).

He explained that as of the first quarter of 2016 when the current petrol pump price was fixed, the price of crude oil in the international market was $49 per barrel, and the landing cost for PMS was about N133.28.

However, crude oil price has since risen to $67, raising the landing cost of petrol to N171 per litre, thereby making it impossible for independent marketers to continue importing the product and selling at the government-approved price of N145.

As, a result, Kachikwu explained, the NNPC has been the sole importer of petroleum products, bringing in about 25 million litres every day since October 2017.

Kachikwu said the NNPC records a N26 loss on every litre of petrol it sells at N145, and has therefore incurred a daily loss of between N800 and N900 million, translating to N85.5 billion in just over three months.

On the possible solutions to the incessant challenges associated with the Nigerian petroleum industry, Kachikwu said government is considering three steps.

“One; is for the Central bank of Nigeria (CBN) to allow the marketers access forex at the rate of N204 to a dollar as against the official rate of N305 to keep the pump price of fuel per litre at N145,” he said.

“Two, to give room for modulated deregulation where NNPC would be allowed to continue selling at N145 per litre in all its mega stations across the country, while the independent marketers should be allowed to sell at whatever price is profitable to them in all their outlets.

“Three, to look at the direction of blanket subsidy for all the importers in bridging the gap which would be like going back to a problem that had earlier been solved.”

He added that the ultimate solution would be for Nigeria to be able to put its refineries in good shape, so that at least 80% of petroleum products consumed in the country are refined locally.

 

Shehu: One more person died after Buhari’s appointments were made public

 

Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, says one other presidential nominee died after the list as published on December 30, 2017.

Shehu said this during an interview with journalists, adding that the process to replace the names of deceased persons in the list hade gone a long way.

Also, names of persons who have left the All Progressives Congress (APC) would be expunged from the list, he added.

“Yes, I can confirm to you that the process to replace the dead ones has started. We have listened to the concerns raised,” Shehu said.

“The entire list is being scrutinised all over again. They have gone very far and they will be reporting to the President very soon.

“Even after the list was published, one nominee died. They need to take a second look at the entire list.

“There were also complaints about some persons who had left the party but made the list. We are looking at those ones too with a view to replacing them.”

After the original list was announced by Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, it was discovered that eight persons whose names made the shortlist were dead.

But Shehu explained that the list was compiled in 2015 but was not made public due to President Muhammadu Buhari’s frequent medical trips abroad.

He said there was nothing scandalous about the list, as nobody could have prevented anybody from dying between then and now.

““This list is a historical list. It dates back to 2015… If a list was compiled like over two years ago, obviously some people would have died. Nobody can stop that from happening,” he said

“Whoever is dead will be replaced. There is nothing extraordinary about it.”

Aside persons that had died, the list contained names of persons with questionable integrity who were appointed as Board Chairmen and members of several government agencies.

One of them is Herman Hembe, who represented Vandeikya/Konshisha federal constituency of Benue State, but was sacked by the Supreme Court and was replaced by Dorathy Mato.

Hembe was appointed the Board Chairman of the Michael Imoudo National Institute for Labour Studies (MINLS).

‘Get your 2019 votes in UAE’ — Nigerians bash Osinbajo for holidaying abroad

 

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is currently on his annual leave in the United Arab Emirates but many Nigerians are unimpressed that the Number 2 citizen of the country is enjoying his leave in a foreign country at a time some states in the country are witnessing mass killings.

After Laolu Akande, Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Publicity, tweeted about the Osinbajo’s leave, the information was greeted with criticism, many accusing the Vice President of insensitivity.

Others also attacked Osinbajo for traveling all the way to Dubai to observe his annual leave, and not anywhere in Nigeria, contrary to the current administration’s gospel of patronising made-in-Nigeria products.

Here are a few of the reactions from Twitter:

However, not many were critical of the development as some believe Osinbajo’s leave is well deserved.

Ezekwesili: My political agenda in 2018 is to work against APC and PDP

 

Oby Ezekwesili, former Minister of Education, says her political agenda for 2018 is clear and it is to work against the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Ezekwesili, who is also the Co-convener of the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) movement campaigning for the release of abducted Chibok schoolgirls, said working against the two parties is the “agenda of an ordinary citizen of this country”.

“I hope that my Political Agenda for 2018 is CLEAR ENOUGH to the twin parties of APC & PDP and their allies. It is the Agenda of an ordinary citizen of this country. Mock it. Attack it. Disdain it. Do whatever. YET IT SHALL PREVAIL. Why? The UNIVERSE IS TIRED OF YOU,” she said in a string of tweets on Twitter.

She lamented that both APC and PDP had failed to meet the yearnings of Nigerians, describing them as two faces of same coin.

Ezekwesili also berated the subtle launch of President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election bid at a time the nation is witnessing avoidable killings in several parts of the country.

She said: “Of all days that APC and its stalwarts could assault our sensibilities with announcement of launch of 2019 re-election bid for President @MBuhari, they chose yesterday!

“Same day that citizens were traumatised by the images of butchered bodies of our fellow citizens?  Enough!!

“Whether many other citizens feel the way one feels about our political status quo does not matter. Standing up for what I believe is what one was raised to epitomize.”

While saying that it is a shame to see APC tow the same leadership style of PDP, Ezekwesili said she would not be deterred in waging political war against the two parties in the 2019 election, irrespective of the cost.

“It is sickening to watch the repetition of similar pattern of bad behaviour by our political class,” she said.

“My individual effort to campaign against APC and PDP in the 2019 elections may not amount to much, but it is at least a definite expression of my personal conviction.

“I shall actively campaign against APC and PDP in the 2019 Elections except in rare cases where they field new minds with strong record of public Interest.

“I am committed to this Political Agenda because we must disrupt and end the Political and Governance stagnation and retrogression that our cyclical Low Equilibrium Political Russian Roulette has cost our country and people.

“It is that neither APC nor its twin brother (yes, how does 6 differ from half a dozen?) PDP should win the 2019 State and Federal legislative and executive elections. I am totally committed to this agenda.”