The Commander of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, in Kano, Hamza Umar , has said that over 50 Almajiris are currently in his custody for aiding and abating drug peddling in the state, just as he disclosed that the Command has arrested 200 girls who indulged in drug activities.
This is just as he noted that drug trafficking in the state has taken another worrisome dimension as drug dealers have started using Almajiris as drug carriers and distributors.
According to him, “it was also worrisome that the teenagers do not only serve as distributors, but are also initiated into the act of drug abuse by their pay masters.
Hamza however stated that his office has handed over the girls to the state Ministry of Women Affairs for counseling.
He added that “most of these young women are nursing mothers who abandon their children at home only to lodge in hotels where they do drugs and engage in other immoral activities.
His words “I have a recent case whereby a young woman locked up her two little children inside the house, flee her home and joined her friends in a red-light hotel where they engage in all kinds of illicit activities, including drug abuse.”
He noted that, “just recently, we arrested over 50 Almajiris who confessed to having engaged in the business of drug peddling for a price to the tune of N300 per day.”
“It is a known fact today that there is a phenomenal increase in the number of youths engaging in drug use and peddling. Young adolescents begin to use drug as early as when they are 10 to 20 years of age in Kano.”
The NDLEA boss, however, identified illicit drugs commonly abused in Kano to include Scorpion gas, angel breeze, Monkey tail, chasing the Dragon, flying stone, man-die-go, fire-for-fire, cough syrups, psychotropic substances, solvent and solution, gigabytes, suck-and-die, lizard dung, as well as using pipes to suck and sniff human remains from the grave.
Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Sani Usman, has declared that there were no longer camps of Boko Haram terrorists in the North-Eastern part of the country.
Usman made the declaration on Monday at the inauguration of Strategic Communication Course for senior officers at the Nigerian Army School of Public Relations and Information, Bonny Camp, Lagos.
He assured Nigerians that the military was winning the war against terrorism, insisting that there were no more terrorists clustered in a particular place in the area.
The army spokesman explained that the military operation in the North-East is hinged on three things:
“First, defeating the Boko Haram terrorists, which have been accomplished; making room to facilitate humanitarian assistance which is also ongoing” and “Then restoration of law and order for good governance to take place.
“We no longer have camps of Boko Haram terrorists and we no longer have them conveyed in the territories,’’ he said.
He said the development was the reason for the reopening of roads that were hitherto closed “to the extent that we have trans-border trade.”
“Take for instance; just recently, the important road that links Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon was just re-opened. We have come to the point that we can beat our chest and decisively say we have dealt with Boko Haram,” Usman said.
He noted that the Directorate of Army Public Relations places high premium on training of officers and soldiers in order to enhance proficiency.
“The Nigerian Army School of Public Relations and Information must remain focused in the training of officers and soldiers to meet the need of well trained and skilled manpower.
“This is the first of its kind to further enhance joint operations of the
armed forces and possibly international military engagement,’’ Usman said.
He thanked the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai for improving the Nigerian Army formations.
The Nigerian Air Force, NAF has launched a post-Service Housing Scheme targeted at providing personal housing for personnel in the Non-Commissioned Officers’ cadre.
The Scheme is part of the on-going effort by the incumbent NAF administration to enhance personnel welfare and promote service delivery.
The Standing Committee on Implementation of the pioneer phase of the Scheme, known as NAF Eagle Estate Project 1, was today inaugurated in Abuja by the Chief of the Air Staff, Sadique Abubakar.
The Project is located on a 40-hectare land at Ijah, Bwari Area of Abuja. It is composed of 905 residential houses comprising: 29 units of 3-bedroom fully-detached bungalow; 34 units of 3-bedroom semi-detached bungalow; 54 units of 3-bedroom terrace duplex; and 74 units of 2-bedroom terrace duplex.
The Estate also has provisions for commercial activities, worship centres and recreational facilities, as well as 6.1 Km of internal road networks, portable water system, electricity and perimeter fencing.
The CAS urged the members to be transparent in the execution of its assignment, adding that the Project is intended to impact positively on operational effectiveness and efficiency in the NAF.
The 10-man standing committee is headed by Mohammed Audu-Bida, a retired Aire Vice Marshal and the Abuja Phase of the Project is projected to be completed within a period of 3 years.
The Project is also expected to be replicated over time in other cities including Enugu, Kaduna and Lagos.
Former Edo State Assembly Speaker, Elizabeth Ativie
The Speaker of Edo State House of Assembly, Elizabeth Ativie, has stepped down from the role.
The speaker who was sworn in on May 3 this year decided to step down following a motion by Folly Ogedengbe, the Assembly’s majority Leader and seconded by the member representing Oredo West, Chris Okaeben.
Ogedengbe said the change was necessary in order to ensure fairness in the political system, so that the three senatorial districts would be represented.
The incumbent State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, hails from Edo North senatorial district while his deputy, Pius Odubu, and the speaker Ativie hail from Edo South.
Ativie was replaced by Justin Okonoboh, former Deputy Speaker, by 18 out of the 24 members of the House and sworn in at about 11am on Monday. Okonoboh is from Igueben constituency in Edo Central senatorial district.
It would be recalled that Ativie was sworn in on May 3 her predecessor, Victor Edoror, was impeached.
Ativie, who now takes over as Deputy Speaker of the house, expressed gratitude to the lawmakers for giving her the opportunity to serve and urged them to accord same to her successor.
She said, “Although this is a huge a difficult sacrifice to make, I believe that it should be done for the sake of the people of Edo State. No sacrifice will be too big to pay in meeting the yearning aspirations of or people, who elected us to this House.
“Today, I bury my pride and my ambition for the general good of the people and the state, through which I emerged as a legislator.”
President Buhari and ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has called for thorough investigation into the allegation of budget padding by the leadership of the Federal House of Representatives.
He expressed this opinion while speaking with journalists after a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the state house on Monday.
Obasanjo said that the allegations buttressed his statement that the National Assembly is made up of a bunch of corrupt lawmakers, and advised the President to be careful with the legislators.
“It’s not question of investigation, we should get men and women of integrity in the place and the President should be very vigilant, whatever should not pass should not pass,” the former president said.
The ex-president said he was in the villa to deliver some messages to the President.
“Not too long ago, I was in Liberia and Gambia and I have messages these two countries will want me to deliver to the president.
“Also, only yesterday, I came back from Seychelles Island where I attended this year’s Annual General meeting of Africa Export Development Bank. And there are aspects of the proceedings that I think I should update the President,” he added
Recall that former Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin had accused the House principal officers, including the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, of having hijacked the budget screening process from the appropriation committee, only to insert all manner of bogus items into the document.
The house member from kano had released a detailed statement on Sunday in which he made some startling revelations against the Speaker of the house, His Deputy Yusuf Lasun, House Whip Alhassan Doguwa and Minority Leader Leo Ogor.
The Akwa Ibom Police Command has attributed the explosion of the NNPC gas pipeline in Nsit-Ibom Local Government Area of the State to a technical fault, saying that claims by the Niger Delta Avengers militant group that it blew up the oil facility, was false.
The militants had on Monday morning, in statement, claimed responsibility for the gas pipeline explosion, saying it blew it up at about 11 pm on Sunday.
However, Murtala Mani, Akwa Ibom State Commissioner of Police confirmed the explosion, but said it was caused by a technical fault and not any militant attack.
“It is confirmed that there is an explosion in Obotim Nsit in Nsit Ibom Local Government Area of the state.
“People from the pipeline confirmed that the pipelines are old and overdue for servicing. There are technical problems in the gas pipeline,’’ Mani said.
“This is no militancy attack. Our men are on ground and the fire service had put off the fire,” he added.
The Police Commissioner said that there was no casualty and no house was destroyed as a result of the explosion, adding that his officers and men were on ground and that the area was well-cordoned.
“Our men are putting finishing touches, our people are completely on ground and the place is well cordoned and secured.
“We are waiting for the experts to give us their reports, so that we can write our report too on the incident,’’ Mani said.
A fire incident occurred at the old market in Sokoto, Sokoto State, destroying goods and properties running into several millions of Naira.
The fire outbreak was said to have started at about 10 pm Sunday and lasted for about three hours before the combined efforts of fire fighters, traders and good Samaritans brought the situation under control.
Governor Aminu Tambuwal was said to have assisted in putting out the fire.
Kasuwar Dan-Jabalu, as the market was popularly known is reputed for the sales of clothing material, foot wears and jewelries, as well as exchange of foreign currencies.
Some of the affected traders said they have accepted the situation as everything happens as God wills it.
Abdulkadir Mainniyo, one of the affected soldiers, said,”This is a tragedy from God, and we have taken it as such as Faithful Muslims. We are however soliciting for assistance from the federal and Sokoto state governments, good-spirited individual and groups.
Governor Tambuwal expressed deep sympathy with the traders and promised them the state’s assist.
In a statement released by his spokesman, Imam Imam, the government is going to set up a committee to investigate the ugly incidence and make recommendations to the state governor.
The Niger Delta Avengers said it has blown up a gas pipeline belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, located at Nsit-Ibom local government area of Akwa Ibom State.
Mudoch Agbinibo, Spokesman of the group, released a statement to journalists claiming that the attack was carried out at about 11:30pm on Sunday.
The militant group had claimed responsibility for most of the attacks on oil and gas facilities since the resurgence in militant activities in the Niger Delta region.
The group then took a swipe at the NNPC authorities, asking them to check their facility and decide whether to describe the incident as ‘system Anomaly’ the way Exxon Mobil recently did after a similar attack on their facilities before later affirming that there had been an attack.
“11:30pm on Sunday, the NDA blew up Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), gas pipeline at Nsit-Ibom L.G.A, Akwa Ibom state. NNPC should check their pipeline if it’s ‘system Anomaly’,” the statement read.
NNPC and security authorities are yet to confirm or deny the attack.
The brouhaha surrounding the removal of the Abdulmumin Jibrin as Chairman of the House of Representatives’ Committee on appropriation, by the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, is anything but over.
The Kano State lawmaker released a detailed, personal statement on Sunday, detailing the allegations he had made against the Speaker, his deputy, Yusuf Lasun, House whip Alhassan Doguwa and Minority Leader Leo Ogor.
Jibrin stated that his allegation was against the quartet and not the entire House as Nigerians were being made to believe.
He alleged that he and his committee actually had little input in the appropriation process as the whole procedure was hijacked by the speaker and “his three cohorts” who took the appropriation committee secretariat to a secret location from where they hatched their plan.
Jibrin also replied those who accused him of blowing the whistle only because he has fallen out with the Speaker. He said his relationship with Dogara had been on the downhill just few months after the house leadership election, as the speaker started carrying himself as a god to whom everyone must pay homage.
He stated that all he ask for is that he be given the chance to address the house and explain his side of things.
Here is the statement in full:
MY ALLEGATIONS ARE AGAINST THE QUARTET OF SPEAKER YAKUBU DOGARA, DEPUTY SPEAKER YUSUF LASUN, HOUSE WHIP ALHASSAN DOGUWA AND MINORITY LEADER LEO OGOR NOT THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AS AN INSTITUTION AS MR SPEAKER DESPERATELY WANTS HONOURABLE MEMBERS AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC TO BELIEVE.
I am compelled again for the purpose of emphasis to state categorically clear that my allegations are against the quartet of Speaker Yakubu Dogara, Deputy Speaker Yusuf Lasun, House Whip Alhassan Doguwa and Minority Leader Leo Ogor not the Honourable House as an institution nor other members of the body of principal officers. The other members of the body of principal officers were to the best of my knowledge completely excluded from decisions on the 2016 budget and the budget inputs inserted on their names were exclusively carried out by these QUARTET.
I have to state this very clearly because these QUARTET have resorted to desperate moves to drag the entire House of Representatives into the case of gross abuse of office I have levelled against them as individual Presiding and Principal officers of the House. This is clearly a mischievous move to set me on collision with the entire house. They have also recruited four from the VERY FEW members of their cabal to use some elements of the Nigeria police to kidnap, harass, blackmail and intimidate me into silence.
Until yesterday, the police were laying siege by my house blocking the entrance and exit shouting that they want budget documents. They embarrassed my entire family with a nursing mother and a seven-month old baby that cried all night. The game plan was to arrest me and dump me in police net while a heavy media propaganda will be carried out to mislead the world that I have been sacked and police have picked me up as a culprit in 2016 budget. Whenever I am released, an irreparable damage would have been done to my person and that will stick for life.
As God Almighty will have it, I had travelled out of town before they could execute their evil plan. God is always with the innocent. The members in the thick of this plot are Hon Jagaba Adams, Hon Jika both chairmen interior and police affairs respectively, Hon Muhammed Bago, Hon Muhammed Zakari and the last one I need not to introduce him to Nigerians, you know him better and know what he is best remembered for. He is the one who threatened my life and the police are yet to take a single action on him. He is now the Leader of the Dogara cabal. He calls the shots in the House. He makes all the decisions of Mr Speaker. He talks down on members and gets away with it. He has SUDDENLY began living such an expensive life style. Lately, a former influential principal officer of the House complained bitterly that it is only Dogara that will hand such a committee to a person like Hon Herma Hembe of this world, chairman FCT. They have been running from pillar to post looking for evidence in their wild dream to nail me. I made a huge sacrifice to leave, shouldn’t they just leave me alone?
I therefore urge my Hon. colleagues and the general public to call on Speaker Yakubu Dogara and the 3 other principal officers to stop their desperate attempt to drag the entire House of Representatives into this matter. They should also stop using the House Spokesman Hon Namdas to issue statements in respect to these allegations because it is a deliberate attempt to mislead the public into believing that they have the backing of the entire House on this matter. They should come out and defend themselves and prepare for the investigation that will be instituted by the House on this matter. At least the Minority Leader and Whip have attempted some response which are at best lame! The House of Representatives as an institution must live above board and will continue to survive beyond people who abuse public trust like Mr Speaker and his 3 cohorts.
Let me make further revelations in addition to the ones I have already made which are in public glare.
ONE: During the budget period, when they discovered that I was not the kind of a person they could use to perpetrate their illegality, Mr Speaker and the 3 other principal officers took away the entire Appropriation Committee Secretariat to a secret location where all sort of insertions were made into the budget. The blackmail has always been – “Abdul people will laugh at you if anything goes wrong between you and Dogara because of the lead role you played and the many toes you stepped on to get him elected”. It’s been a painful experience.
Again the secretariat was taken away from me on Speaker Dogara’s instruction for the second time to a location I don’t know and all sort of insertions into the budgets were made and returned to me for signature. I said over my dead body! It was a massive crisis behind the scene until the early morning of the Friday that Mr President assented the budget. It was Sen Danjuma Goje that brokered a compromise that since the Deputy Speaker leads the harmonization committee, he should also sign such that the harmonization committee will share responsibility with us. Senator Goje pleaded with me so hard all night and later shouted heavily on me reminding me that he is not talking to me as a Senator but as a father. I cried heavily all night.
TWO: When the budget harmonization committee headed by Deputy Speaker Yusuf Lasun gave out 80% concession across board to the executive demands during the harmonization negotiation, it was agreed that the remaining 20% should go to the entire NASS. The Deputy Speaker excused himself that he wanted to go and consult with Mr Speaker. He came back after few hours and in an unprecedented display of greed presented to me a hand written note distributing the remaining 20% to only principal officers. 70% of the 20% was reserved for Mr Speaker and himself while the remaining 30% of the 20% goes to other principal officers. I am sure he will recognize the hand writing when he sees it. My colleagues didn’t know all of these.
THREE: Mr Speaker also directed me to create what I advised him will be a controversial line item under service wide vote to introduce about N20 billion project using the name of NASS. He directed me to see a highly placed PDP politician which I did and collected the documents. I advised him repeatedly against it but he kept pressuring me until I bluntly told him I will not!
FOUR: When the Appropriation Committee received all the budget reports from standing committees, an analysis was conducted. We discovered that about 10 only out of the 96 Standing Committees of the House introduced about 2,000 (two thousand) projects without the knowledge of their committee members amounting to about N284, 000, 000, 000 (Two hundred and eighty-four billion naira). I was alarmed. But I was cautious because at our pre budget meeting with the committee chairmen, I was clearly warned not to touch their budgets. I reported the matter to the speaker. He did nothing about it obviously because he was working behind the scene with the committee chairmen. That was the beginning of the whole budget problem from the side of House and the whole exercise had to go through several versions before it was passed.
So, is it Abdul that introduced 2000 projects into budget worth N284billion? But I quietly bore the pain and abuses from all over the country and continued to defend the committee inputs as a show of loyalty to the institution I represent which I so much love and still have many great minds in there. Apart from Chairman Agriculture Hon Mongunu who owned up and explained his inputs at the only executive session I was allowed to attend, the other few chairmen who loaded the budget kept quiet and watched me bashed from every angle by angry Nigerians.
People have asked why did I wait this long to open up, so much was happening behind the scene. I fought the battle of my life to raise these issues internally and get Mr Speaker to address them to no avail. I pushed so hard that I got frustrated and depressed. All my attempts met brick walls. That was why some members were always raising their voice against me because they do not have the facts. I later on realized that the Speaker enjoyed that so much and colluded with his cabal to dump everything on me. I am sure not too long some members that knew what I went through will come out and testify. I also have evidence to show my internal struggles.
In any case, under circumstances like this, and for young people like us that are lucky to have accelerated career growth, the system scares you from becoming a whistle blower. They will tell you that if you do such, nobody will trust you or have confidence in you again. They will scare you that it is not good for your image and it will affect your career progression. Many young people in different sectors are faced with such frustrating situation. Even at the moment, if I take the advice of some people, I will get deeply scared and just keep quiet, so that I can grow career wise? My usual response to them is that, isn’t that selfish? Your only luck will be if a trigger occurs then you open up. This is one such trigger! In any case, I would have opened up anyway. I have written so much about these issues and more on NASS. I posted over a month ago on my Facebook page that I will release the piece as part of my 40th birthday in September. Well, I never knew it will come much earlier.
Some people are also saying I kept quiet while it was good and now I am talking because things have gone sour. Many members of the House and Nigerians will be shocked to know that there has NEVER been good times between myself and Speaker Dogara. It took few weeks after his election as Speaker for me to realize I never really knew him well. I was hasty to judge him by his innocent looking personality. We practically disagree on everything. From when he started conducting himself like a lord, wanting everybody around him to just say yes sir and go, shutting and looking down at his colleagues, playing double game between the executive and legislature, drafting of a new house rule, senseless splitting of committees which raised the numbers of committees to 96, appointment of committee chairmen, Chairmanship of NILS, issues of bills and allotment of sponsors, chairmanship of budget consultative committee, budget process and house inputs, the PIB, his divide and rule approach, his frequent dealings with heads of MDA’s as if he is a committee chairman and so many other issues. In all of these issues, there is none that has not remained controversial till date.
All these forced me to stay away from him except on official assignment. I can count how times I have been to his office or home. I stayed away completely. It was such a frustrating and depressing period for me. Who will I complain to? How do I face the world and say I got it wrong after playing such a lead role in his emergence? When you see a house you sacrificed everything to build is falling apart and the driver believes he is firmly in charge because he has 8 votes advantage, you are left with no choice than to tie your seat belt for obvious eventuality.
I must admit I made an error of judgement. I don’t know to whom and from where I will start apologising for not heeding to wise counsel. There is nothing I am saying now that I have not discussed or warned speaker Dogara on the few occasions that I sorted and got private audience with him. But he has been hijacked and surrounded himself with a small cabal of sycophants, corrupt, mediocre, money hungry, vindictive, envious, self-serving small minds who have already done an irreparable damage to his person and office.
Speaker Dogara has completely derailed, remains clueless, keeps on with an unmatched ego and surely leading the House to the biggest scandal it may ever experience. He has failed to live above the fog in public duty and private thinking, a direct opposite of what my favourite American Poet Josiah Gilbert Holland prayed Lord to grant us in leaders.
All I am asking for is my right to be heard by my colleagues which they denied me. I am calling on my colleagues to plead with Speaker Yakubu Dogara, Deputy Lasun, Whip Doguwa and Minority leader Ogor to stop obstructing justice and allow me my right to be heard by the House. It is the House that will institute a special investigation on this matter to allow me testify and provide evidence before any other external action.
I will make a more detailed statement in due course.
An official of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, has been killed by suspected pirates in the creeks of Southern Ijaw Local Government Area in Bayelsa State.
The operatives were on a surveillance duty at Ogbobiri community when they came under attack by the suspected sea pirates who had reportedly laid an ambush for them.
Desmond Agu, Bayelsa Commandant of NSCDC confirmed the incident, describing it as unfortunate but he restated the commitment of his command in protecting critical assets of the government against sabotage.
He said that the pirates would not go unpunished, and would be apprehended and prosecuted adding that his men gave a good account of themselves despite the ambush.
“My men of the anti-vandal unit on surveillance duty were ambushed at Ogbobiri community in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area. They were ambushed on their way back by sea pirates. One of them was killed. The incident happened on Friday at about 23.15
hours. We have recovered the body.” Agu said.
A source from the NSCDC command, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the commandant had deployed them to oil-bearing communities in the state following the activities of militants in the area.
The source said, “The team had conducted their daily surveillance and were on their way back when unexpectedly, some gunmen, suspected to be sea pirates, opened fire on them.
“The men fired back but because it was an ambush, one of them was killed,” he said, adding that the gunmen must have also suffered casualties.
It was further learnt that the deceased was an indigene of Okodi in Ogbia LGA of the state.
Local divers were said to have recovered the corpse of the killed officer.
