The Abuja Investment Company Limited, AICL, the business arm of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA, on Friday took over THISDAY Dome following a court of appeal judgement against Leaders and Company, Publishers of Thisday newspaper.
The Dome, owned by Leaders and Company, is famous for holding high caliber events.
The head of AICL, Ahmed Musa, praised the court as the last hope of the common man.
According to him, AICL was allocated the plot of land on which the dome sits in 2009 and entered into a lease agreement with the publishers of Thisday for two years at a cost of ₦97,094,284.02, out of which the company paid ₦57,558,854.73 as part payment.
“The Lease Agreement provided that the balance of the rent in the sum of N39,495,429.30, was to be paid on or before August 31, 2009.
“In spite of several requests for payment, however, the balance of the rent remains outstanding as Messrs. Leaders & Company has flagrantly refused to pay,” Musa said.
Several attempts to recover the balance payment proved abortive, leaving AICL to head to court where the court ruled in its favour in 2014.
“M/S Leaders’ recalcitrant behavior was predicated on the fact that it is a media house and had made threats to use the media in blackmailing AICL and FCTA into not collecting its rent and also forfeiting its rights to the property. Notwithstanding all the propaganda, AICL resorted to the only available remedy to it which was the law courts,” he added.
Leaders and Company appealed the judgment but on Thursday, the court dismissed it’s applications, giving way to AICL to take over the property.
The court also awarded N197 million to AICL as cumulative outstanding rent, which the legal officer, Ada Amadi, said would be recovered from the value of the property on the land and if that is not enough, the balance will be sought through a garnishee order.
The Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami
The Attorney-General of the Federation, AGF, Abubakar Malami, has denied claims by the Senate that the move to arraign the Senate President and his Deputy for forgery is a coup against the legislature.
Salisu Isa, senior special adviser to the AGF, also said the insinuation that the action of the AGF is an interference on the legislature by the executive arm of government; and therefore a violation of the principles of separation of powers, is also not true.
Isa said the AGF is quite conversant with the principles of separation of power but his action in instituting the suit against the Senate president and his deputy, is in keeping with his responsibilities as the AGF.
He pointed out that the office of the AGF is empowered under section 174 (1) of the constitution to undertake and initiate criminal proceedings in any court of law in the country.
Isa explained further that the AGF did not act in a vacuum but rather had relied on the recommendation of the Inspector-General of Police to initiate criminal proceedings against the affected principal officers of the Senate for altering the Senate standing rules, therefore his actions were quite legal.
He said the IGP has fully investigated the matter which arose from a petition sent to the Nigerian Police by some aggrieved members of the Senate.
The senate President, Bukola Saraki and his deputy Ike Ekweremadu, as well as the former Clerk of the National Assembly, Salisu Maikasuwa and his former deputy Benedict Efeturi are to stand trial for allegedly altering the Senate standing rule which was used in the election of the principal officers of the Senate in 2015.
The Senate condemned the action, describing it as a coup against the legislature, adding that it was intended to cause a change in the leadership of the National Assembly.
Brigadier General Victor Ezugwu addresses troops at Pulka, Borno State
The General Officer Commanding, GOC, 7 Division of the Nigerian Army in Borno State, Victor Ezugwu, a Brigadier General, recently embarked on a four-day elaborate tour of brigades and units under his command in Borno and Adamawa States. Despite an attack on his convoy in April along Maiduguri-Bama road, which led to the death of a soldier and injuries to two others, the army chief took to the same road when he could opt to take a helicopter ride.
That is the daring spirit that oozes when one encounters troops fighting insurgents in the Northeast. Our reporter, Samuel Malik, had a first-hand encounter with soldiers and their commanders during a trip to the frontlines of the war against insurgency. He got the rare privilege to speak with the GOC during one of his numerous tours of duty.
It was a brief encounter that was quite revealing. The GOC, fondly called ‘zuma’ by soldiers due to his connection and camaraderie with the troops, speaks about the insurgency and efforts to ensure civilians are safely returned to their communities. He says troops are winning the war due to the inspirational leadership of the current Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, a Lieutenant General.
What inspired you as the General Officer Commanding to embark on such an elaborate tour?
What inspired me is the inspiration I get from the leadership style of the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General T.Y. Buratai. Each time he comes to visit us in the front lines here, he goes to every unit within the AOR (area of responsibility) and he spends quality time with the troops and he tranverses through all these our locations. So, having been inspired by his sacrifice as head of the army, I said ‘ok, as a divisional commander I should be able to also go round and see my soldiers. So, particularly, what is unique about this tour is that it is the first time that I am taking a cross-country tour of my brigades.
What I want to achieve by this is to get to see my soldiers at every point. The idea is that even if I did not get to stop at each checkpoint to see them, if they heard that GOC was passing, as they saluted and I reciprocated, it would still be appreciated that at least the GOC passed through here. I wanted to get to know them closely and make myself available to them rub minds with them and hear their problems so that I can do whatever I can to solve them.
What are the takeaways you are leaving with from the tour?
The takeaway has been quite enormous, as it has been an eye opener. I have seen that my troops are in very high spirits. I have seen that the objective of the army headquarters to make sure that insurgency is brought to a successful conclusion has started yielding result. I saw motivated soldiers, I saw peace and security being restored in local governments and villages, I saw markets and places of worship and business activities springing up, I saw farming activities. Borno state was facing a food crisis. There was a time that we were losing IDPs due to shortage of food.
Now that I have seen farming has picked up, it is a guarantee that next harvesting season, there will be enough food for people to eat and this is closely linked to the security provided by soldiers. So, it gives me a lot of joy. I feel satisfied and fulfilled that peace is actually beginning to return to hitherto troubled places.
The GOC visited soldiers deployed at Banki Junction, a key part in cutting supplies to the insurgents
One statement you have reiterated to your troops in every location is, ‘We have won the war, it is the peace that we are after’. What do you mean by that?
What I mean is that war is about flexing muscles, pitching your equipment against the enemy’s, pitching your tactics against the enemy’s. These are the physical components of war. That is, immersing your arsenal against the enemy. In that case, the enemy has not been able to stand and face us and fight any longer. We have been destroying them. They come to attack us, we defeat them. We go to attack them, we defeat them. Casualty rate has dropped in my division but enemy casualty rate has tripled and quadrupled. So, if you allow me to say, I will say that particular aspect of the war, fighting, we have an upper hand against enemy.
Why I said peace is left for us to win is because much as I am satisfied that peace is returning to some areas, there are still some areas that we do not have our citizens in those places, where their houses that have been destroyed are yet to be reconstructed.
Thus, peace will be won when there is absolute or near absolute return of citizens to their abode and full commencement of economic life and restoration of government activities. You saw broken down bridges, you saw there is no power, you saw hospitals dilapidated and almost out of existence. These are the ingredients of peace that are still eluding us. It is not only about the presence of the military. Remember, there are other elements of national power that come into play in things like this when you are fighting insurgency. Military is a line of action. The political, the diplomatic, the economic, the information are all channels that you employ to fight insurgency.
The military aspect is what I am telling you that we have done reasonably very well. Now, for political stability, economic restoration, for ease of communication – you have seen that you cannot use your phones in certain places. The presence of these is what will show that peace has been won. It will take time but eventually there is light at the end of the tunnel, meaning we will get there.
So, I hope and dream that in no distant time, government will step up their activities in all other aspects, including the negotiation that the President keeps talking about, ‘If I see credible leaders of the insurgents, I will negotiate with them.’ It is an option that is open for us to win the war because every battle ends up on a talking table. After the war-war, you do the jaw-jaw. The jaw-jaw aspect of it is key to peace and I am praying and recommending that sooner or later when that is done, everything will come to a favourable conclusion and that is when Nigeria will declare herself free of insurgency.
Brigadier General Ezugwu in a group photograph with troops in the front lines
In every location you have been to, troops kept calling and shouting ‘Zuma’. Where and how did you come about that name?
When I was a Lieutenant Colonel, I was posted to 35 Battalion in Katsina State as a Commanding Officer, CO, and, you know, command at battalion level is very critical in the military. If you make a successful battalion commander, you can as well make a successful brigade commander and as well a successful higher commander.
So, when I took over the battalion, the first address I gave to my soldiers – after telling them my mission, what I wanted us to do and how I wanted to run my battalion, discipline and a lot of other issues – that first address is very key because the soldiers are watching your lips, they are watching your body language and idiosyncrasies. These are the things they use to assess their commander and say, ‘E be like say this CO wey come, you sure say na better CO come so?’ Then same way, if your speech, that first speech, is inspirational, they can say, ‘Kai, the way wey we dey see this CO, the way him talk to us e be like say better CO don come’.
So, when I finished the address, I told them I came with two gifts. In my left hand I told them I had whip and in my right hand was a bottle of honey. I asked for the Hausa name for honey and they said Zuma. So, I told them those who wanted whip would get enough of it while those who wanted Zuma would equally get enough and we departed.
The day I held my first durbar, a soldier stood up to ask a question and he said, ‘Sir, when you took over this unit’, immediately he said that, my heart jumped because during durbar the soldiers have immunity and they can say anything without fear because there is no officer present, it is the commanding officer and them. He continued, ‘You told us that you came with Koboko (whip) and Zuma but sir, the way I dey see am now e be like say you don throw away the Koboko, na two Zuma dey your hand now’. They felt that I was beginning to give them a new lease of life and that was how they started calling me Zuma. I think that was their way of giving me a pass mark for the little effort I put in.
Many Nigerians in Europe have expressed disappointment over the decision of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union.
Britons had on Thursday voted 52% against 48% to leave the EU with England and Wales voting for BREXIT while London, Scotland and Northern Ireland backed remaining in the EU.
In telephone interviews conducted by the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, respondents described the outcome of the referendum as a catastrophe for ethnic minorities in Europe.
Raymond Aste, a lawyer and political analyst who stays in London, said “I can understand concerns by white supremacists to stem the flow of immigrants into their country, but for the immigrant communities, it beats me as to how they considered voting to leave the EU.”
John Duniya who is resident in Scotland, said the Leave EU outcome meant ethnic minorities would not have protection from the EU especially on human rights issues.
“Secondly, the argument put forward by the leave campaigners on immigration control and better welfare for commonwealth citizens is just deceit. I bet you, their idea of commonwealth means Australia and Canada, not Nigeria, Ghana, India and Pakistan,” Duniya added.
Similarly, Yetunde Olivier, a member of Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation, France, said the development was bad for Europe.
“Britain should have pushed for renegotiation in areas it is not comfortable with rather than seek for exit. This is not only about immigration; it is about trade, currency, law and above all, supremacy. I hope at the long run Nigerians and others would not be kicked out of the UK,” she added.
Uche Obiano, a systems analyst who spoke from Switzerland, stressed the need for Nigerians in the diaspora to start considering going back home and contributing to nation building.
Obiano said “all this fear about uncertainty in the UK can be addressed if we start considering going back to our fatherland.”
“If Europeans developed Europe themselves, we can also go back home and contribute to nation building. Britons do not do cleaning, care-giving or security jobs. These can be very tasking and degrading but at the same time immigrants are seeking these jobs for survival. My opinion is that if you find life tough abroad, then go back home and hustle,” he concluded.
Embattled National Chairman of the dissolved National Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Ali Modu-Sheriff has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to disregard the Edo State Governorship Primary organized by the Ahmed Makarfi-led faction of the party.
He said this during a press conference at his private residence, adding that he has set-up a committee to conduct fresh primary election in the state.
The former governor of Borno State announced that, Hope Uzodinmma and Ahmed Gulak will be the chairman and secretary of the fresh exercise.
He also named a three man Ad-Hoc delegate panel with Hazeem Gbolarumi, former Oyo State Deputy Governor, as Chairman and Bala Aboki as secretary.
Modu-Sheriff restated that he is the authentic national chairman of the PDP, claiming that the primary election conducted on Monday was not monitored by INEC.
He further claimed that the INEC has handed over to him, guidelines for the conduct of the party primaries for him to conduct a proper one.
He assured his supporters that he would produce a candidate for the party by next Thursday to beat the July 10th INEC deadline for the submission of party candidate for the elections.
In its reaction, the Makarfi committee cautioned chieftains of the party not to play any part in the purported fresh primary election in Edo state and not to take any appointment offered by Modu-Sheriff.
Dayo Adeyeye, spokesperson for the Makarfi committee, in a statement re-echoed sentiments that Modu-Sheriff is conniving with the All Progressive Congress, APC, to completely cripple the PDP.
“It is now very clear that Senator Ali Modu Sheriff is working very hard for the enemies of our great party. First, the Edo primary election and all the processes leading to it thereof were properly conducted, monitored and observed by INEC. Edo PDP Chairman has warned Sheriff to steer clear of their affairs as the party in the state is resolutely united behind Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, the Candidate of the PDP”.
The caretaker committee further warned that any of its members serving in any committee set up by Senator Sheriff will be engaging in anti-party activities and will face disciplinary action.
It dismissed Senator Sheriff’s claim of a court pronouncement empowering him to conduct a fresh primary election in Edo State.
Before traveling to Borno state, I dodged nearly everyone who matter in my personal life. There was no way I was going to tell my siblings or friends outside the media that I was travelling to Borno, stronghold of Boko Haram and former hotbed of terror.
It may no longer represent the theatre of war that it was once, but it remains the only state where insurgency still thrives. I was not prepared to subject them to the kind of fear that daredevil journalism had made me accustomed to. But make no mistake: this was a trip I wanted badly. I had wanted it for exactly two years.
If iron sharpeneth iron, as it is said, it must be that daredevilry begets more daredevilry. In the first week of May 2014, I travelled to Chibok, Borno state, shortly after the abduction of nearly 300 girls from the Government Girls Secondary School in the town. (Having witnessed the anguish of parents of the abducted girls and the horror in the eyes of three escapees from the incident, I think it is the joke of the century when some people continue to stubbornly claim that the whole Chibok saga is a scam.).
The Maiduguri airport was still closed at the time — it is now open and there are only two flights daily, save Saturdays — so I flew to Yola instead before connecting Chibok by road.
Maiduguri itself was my original destination, but a young man named Jasini who was to be my guide (to help circumvent geographical and language encumbrances), withdrew at the 59th minute of the eleventh hour, citing the danger of such trip. It was hard for me to take because Jasini agreed to my proposal two full weeks earlier and he could only wait for me to arrive in Maiduguri before reneging.
It turned out a blessing in disguise, though, as making an about-face to head towards Chibok meant I had covered substantial geographical ground in Borno.
From Biu to Damboa and Askira/Uba, I was awestruck by the sacrifice of soldiers on guard in the sweltering sun, searching vehicle after vehicle to pick out insurgents before they could wreak havoc.
Each time the car I was travelling in was stopped at a checkpoint, I made sure to exchange banters with the soldiers and put in a word of gratitude for their sacrifice to fatherland.
One told me of how he hadn’t seen his parents in four years, and how they would joke that they had “donated” him to Nigeria. That was at a time when Boko Haram had the edge over the army, so I wondered what would happen to those soldiers if they sustained injuries.
I hadn’t left Borno when I decided I would surely be back someday. So, as the only Azman Air Lagos-Maiduguri flight for the day touched down in Maiduguri last month, I was glad to be finally fulfilling a dream.
Soldiers know they signed for death
The airplane tyres had barely screeched to a halt when I made my most important discovery of my stay: the average Nigerian soldier at the theatre of war is desperate to fight, to “finish off” Boko Haram and restore peace to all of Borno and the entire north-east region.
I didn’t immediately know that the young man who occupied the window seat beside me was a soldier — until I needed to speak with a local for directions and I struck up a conversation with him.
“I am here for a national assignment,” he would say when I asked to know what he was doing around. “I am a soldier; and I won’t leave this state until we’ve finished off these stupid Boko boys.”
In my weeklong stay in the state, I spoke with more than 30 soldiers and not one expressed a different sentiment.
“I will be alive to witness the end of this war,” another one told me. And when I asked how he managed the thoughts of possible death, having initially admitted losing “a couple of friends and colleagues” to mines and gun shots, he added: “Look, I signed for it; I am not going to run away because I knew from start what I was signing for.”
So close to danger
Scene of a bomb blast
Although people in the south-west typically consider Maiduguri unsafe (so long it is a part of Borno), I honestly thought the risks were minimal. That was the fifth month of the year and no single bomb blast had been recorded, in contrast to 2015 when there were series of attacks, including one, the deadliest, that killed 26 people at a mosque.
But days after I entered town, Boko Haram launched its maiden Maiduguri strike in 2016, injuring four in a bomb blast at a mosque. Since there was no way I could have been at a mosque at 5:45 am when the blast occurred, I didn’t feel at all threatened.
But a second blast did send shivers down my spine. Close to noon on Thursday May 12, a suicide bomber pretending to be a staff of the state secretariat failed to gain admittance into the premises but succeeded in detonating an improvised explosive device all the same, killing four and injuring at least 19.
I shuddered when I received a call from Seyi Awojulugbe at the Lagos office of TheCable, seeking confirmation of the blast. My guide and I were at the Post Office area of the city, where the secretariat is located, just two days before. Was that close? Maybe not.
An acquaintance had volunteered to link me with an injured soldier, who was recuperating at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH), and we were to meet in front of the secretariat on Thursday morning. But for no reason, after parting company with my guide in the morning, I went out for breakfast and decided against meeting up with my acquaintance. For no reason. Instead, I spent the rest of the day indoors, studying the videos I recorded undercover. In my nine days in Borno, that was the only day I spent indoors.
Found out by a soldier
Were the army looking after its soldiers well, I would surely be dead by now. Wherever I went in daytime, I always made a stopover in the evening at the Soldiers’ Club inside the Maimalari Barracks, where soldiers, downing bottles of beer and gobbling plates of pepper soup, usually retired to from the forests to keep up with normal living. It was the most exciting part of my Maiduguri stay, and I always looked forward to it because it helped me know what soldiers truly thought about the army’s war against insurgency. I discovered so much, because it was always a gathering of soldiers participating in no-holds-barred conversations.
For example, I learnt from them that while soldiers — the ones who were directly confronting Boko Haram on the battlefield — were desperate for the sect to be wiped out, the same could not be said of the officers, the senior men in the army hierarchy.
“Our bosses in the army know what they are doing,” one told his colleague on my first day at the relaxation centre. “Go and make your research very well: it is in moments of war that dishonest officers make the most money for themselves.”
A third soldier could agree no less, and he cited an example. He was part of a group of soldiers that found an SUV stashed with cash inside Sambisa Forest. Once sighted by troops, the driver of the vehicle made no effort to escape. Instead, he pled for mercy. Well, by this soldier’s account, it was a matter that was “killed” by the intervention of some officers. “This man went scot-free,” he lamented. “Now, tell me, who was he working for? And why was it easy for the matter to be killed?”
On Day 3 of my routine visit to the place, a soldier found me out. My guide, a civilian with strong ties to the army, was with me on the first day, but he was nowhere this day. Tall, dark, brawny — and obviously brainy — this soldier, as he would later admit, found out I was “too interested” in the matters of the insurgency. When I asked questions, they were too deep for “an ordinary civilian” to ask; and when others talked and I kept quiet or looked away, my body language still showed I was following the conversation. When he laid hands on Karl Maier’s This House Has Fallen, with which I kept myself company, he branded me a “culprit”.
Two minutes to save my life
Diary Maimalari Barracks
“You better start explaining your mission here before I throw you into the guardroom,” he said with a softness that screamed both anger and danger.” And when it was clear to me that I had been found out, I sought to speak with him privately. “I do not have much time, just two minutes, and you had better say the truth,” he warned as we exited the room.
Of course I said the truth, beginning from how my 2014 Chibok trip sparked a desire to find out what was happening to injured soldiers. Did he throw me into the guardroom? No chance, because in me, he found a friend to whom he could unload the burden of soldiering in Nigeria. He spoke with me for 15 minutes after getting me to promise that I would not tape our conversation. I obliged, and it turned out one of my most revealing interviews in Maiduguri.
Losing my manliness… a journalist is first a human, after all
You may have already read the story here, but reading can never be comparable with hearing, firsthand, the moving story of Hamidu’s battle with death, from which he emerged with life.
I was close to tears — but I wasn’t quite there — when the brainy soldier told me about life in the forest, how a group of six soldiers could be together and five would be blown to death by explosive mines, how soldiers were killed in battle and their bodies were left to “rot away”, how they lost their homes due to years in Borno without rotation, how soldiers were dealing with the psychological trauma of the gory happenings on the battlefront.
The only other time I could have shed a tear was when I ran into the soldier who lost his right eye to fragments of a Rocket-Propelled Grenade (RPG). Sadly, I met him in a situation that made it impossible for me to request for an interview, and all I could do was make do with a video recorded undercover. That eye injury is now 26 months old, and all I saw was a plastered eye and a victim “awaiting referral” abroad. What exactly has the army been doing on this eye for two years and two months?
But it was far more heartbreaking to learn that a soldier lost his limbs and was disemboweled by a bomb blast, and then on arriving at the hospital, he was left for dead, dumped at the back of the hospital. Had some soldiers not gone there to urinate, and had he not mustered all the strength he had left to shake his legs to prove that he still bore life, he would surely have died. The tears were coursing down my cheeks before I knew it. Thankfully, I had a handkerchief handy.
Double-crossing the journalist
There were numerous impediments to reporting a sensitive story as this, and there would have been no story to tell had I failed to surmount most of them. But one major failing of this work was my inability to get just one wife of a slain soldier. And I came close a number of times.
One interesting prospect was the case of a soldier killed in battle on June 2, 2015. On June 1, 2016, a friend linked me with the slain soldier’s wife; and even though it was most inconvenient, I offered to travel to Ilese Barracks, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun state, to interview her the following day. I thought it would be significant for me to talk with the woman on the first death anniversary of her husband. It was one full year of chasing yet not getting her husband’s death benefits.
A few hours after speaking with the woman, a native of Plateau state, I received a phone call from a random number; it was from the army headquarters in Abuja and it was to warn me against embarking on the trip.
“We are not saying you should not go but the army will not comfortable with that kind of trip,” he said in the doublespeak and subtle intimidation that had become the hallmark of public relations in the army.
The army not wanting you in their territory and a source not trusting you were a difficult combination. Trip over!
But before the caller hung up, he had betrayed the army’s laxity in compensating families of its fallen heroes. In advancing his argument for opposing my trip, he had said: “We would not want you to do anything that would jeopardize the woman’s chances of collecting her entitlements. When she came to Abuja, I personally supervised the processing of the relevant documents and I am hopeful that by 2017, she would get what is due to her.”
Two full years to settle a woman who had a contact at the army headquarters! What then would happen to the ordinary woman, the one who has no friends or uncles or fathers in Abuja?
Missing the wife of a missing-in-action soldier
There were three more cases where an interview with a slain soldier’s wife was scuppered. One was not exactly a wife; the wedding was a few days away when her husband-to-be was killed in battle. It was her friend who obstinately blocked all chances of an interview. As for the second woman who lost her husband in battle, it was her late husband’s friend who ensured the interview never materialized.
The third and most painful miss was that of a woman whose husband I knew; I never met him really but we often spoke on phone for the latter part of 2014 and much of 2015. It is now nine months since I or any other member of his family has heard from him. Judging by all the interactions I had in Borno, this is a typical case of a Missing In Action (MIA) soldier. It is unlikely the young man is alive.
The younger of his two brothers had graciously offered to facilitate the interview, to hold at Odogunyan Barracks on the outskirts of Lagos, when the older called to call it off at the last minute.
“Look, you cannot go there!” he blurted on phone. “I am the one who has been taking care of the two children he left behind. If you have anything to give the family, give it to me or give it my brother. But I warn you: you cannot go there!”
It was clear that his dissent was never about the interview; he simply believed I had “something” to give the family and I should be handing it to him, not the woman. The difficulty in getting the wife of a fallen soldier was no coincidence. As an investigative journalist, I know that the more some people are desperate to shield a matter from the media, the bigger. Hopefully, I have done enough to provoke someone to unearth this story someday.
You can read the first four parts of the Forgotten Soldiers series here, here, here and here
Prime Minister David Cameron is to step down by October after the UK voted to leave the European Union.
Speaking outside his office at 10 Downing Street, he said he would attempt to “steady the ship” over the coming weeks and months but that “fresh leadership” was needed.
The PM had urged the country to vote Remain but was defeated by 52% to 48% despite London, Scotland and Northern Ireland backing staying in.
Cameron said he had informed the Queen of his decision to remain in place for the short term and to then hand over to a new prime minister by the time of the Conservative conference in October.
“It would be for the new prime minister to carry out negotiations with the EU and invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which would give the UK two years to negotiate its withdrawal,” he said.
“The British people have voted to leave the EU and their will must be respected. The will of the British people is an instruction that must be delivered,” he added.
The referendum turnout was 71.8% – with more than 30 million people voting – the highest turnout at a UK-wide vote since 1992.
Meanwhile, Nigel Farage leader of the UK Independence Party, UKIP, has hailed the decision to leave the EU describing it as the UK’s “independence day”.
Farage – who has campaigned for the past 20 years for Britain to leave the EU – told cheering supporters “this will be a victory for ordinary people, for decent people”.
Pro-Leave Conservatives including Boris Johnson, former Mayor of London and Michael Gove, a popular conservative MP had signed a letter to Prime Minister Cameron, urging him to stay on whatever the result.
The European Parliament is to hold an emergency session on Tuesday, June 28, to discuss the referendum result.
However, Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon said that the EU vote “makes clear that the people of Scotland see their future as part of the European Union” after all 32 local authority areas returned majorities for Remain.
Sturgeon says the option of a second referendum on Scotland’s independence “must be on the table” because the country faces the prospect of being taken out of the EU against its will.
She says a “significant and material change in circumstances” had occurred since Scotland voted to stay in the United Kingdom in 2014.
But since the UK had voted to leave the EU, the Scottish government “will begin to prepare the legislation required” for a second referendum to take place.
The BREXIT vote does not immediately mean Britain ceases to be a member of the 28-nation bloc.
That process could take a minimum of two years, and “Leave” campaigners are suggesting that it should not be completed until 2020, the date of the next scheduled general election.
Commander, Operation Lafiya Dole, Maj. Gen. Lucky Irabor
The Nigerian military said it has instituted an investigation into allegations that some of its officers and men illegal receive money from civilians to serve as escort in the North east.
Addressing a press conference in Maiduguri, the commander of counter-insurgency operation in the North east, Operation Lafiya Dole, Lucky Irabor, a Major General, said he has received reports that some of his men collect money from travellers to escort them through some major routes.
“I wish to use this opportunity to state that we have received reports that some personnel are in the habit of collecting money to escort civilian motorists and goods along the major routes,” Irabor said.
“These allegations are currently being investigated. However, should there be any officer or soldier who is seen collecting money, please do not hesitate to report such to the Theatre Command.”
He assured that the military has a responsibility to protect and assist Nigerians and must do their jobs with dedication.
Irabor urged the public not to pay for such escort duties, warning that “whoever is caught doing that will face the full weight of the law either military or civilian.”
He said any illegal activities involving the military should be reported using the following mobile phone numbers: 09028101021 and 08082252400. The lines would be available for between 9am and 7pm daily, he stated.
Some soldiers and policemen were reportedly involved in a fracas at the Borno State Government House in Maiduguri on Thursday over rice meant for Internally Displaced persons, IDPs.
Trouble started Thursday morning when some soldiers allegedly wanted to force their way into the Government house which was packed full with Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, who had gathered to benefit from the distribution of bags of rice by the state government.
The distribution started last Monday and thousands of IDPs daily thronged the venue, leading to a serious traffic gridlock around the area. Many of them would return home without their share of the rice.
According to eye witnesses, the policemen who were in-charge of the distribution took offence at the soldiers for trying to cause more chaos in an already rowdy situation. This infuriated the soldiers who allegedly started shooting into the air to disperse the crowd in their determination to have their way.
The policemen, refusing to be cowed, allegedly returned the gesture by also shooting into the air and throwing canisters of tear-inducing gas.
The helpless IDPs scampered in different directions, with many of them sustaining various degrees of injuries, even as one policeman was shot in the leg.
It took the intervention of Major-General Lucky Irabor, the commander of counter-insurgency operation in the North east known as Operation Lafiya Dole, for the situation to be brought under control.
It was gathered that Irabor and Aminchi Baraya, Borno State commissioner of Police, later visited the injured policeman at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital where he was taken to for treatment.
The Police and the Army in a joint statement later said that the situation has been brought under control.
The statement explained why the distribution exercise was moved to the government house in the first place, saying it was because some thugs had overpowered the committee saddled with the responsibility of getting them to the IDPs and carted away with the food in some communities.
It read: “The distribution was meant to take place at 28 wards of the two local government areas unfortunately, when the exercise was launched in old Maiduguri ward for Jere local government area and at Shehuri north ward for Maiduguri on Sunday, hoodlums overpowered the committee in both instances and made away with many bags of the rice meant for the displaced persons.
“As a result, officials tasked with the distribution shifted the exercise to two premises around the office of the Deputy Governor outside the Government House in order to ensure security of the food items while beneficiaries were identified and issued with allocation notes to give them access to the distribution centers. The exercise had gone smoothly since Sunday with some wards covered, until the unfortunate development today.”
“The Army and the Police are jointly investigating the cause of the fracas with a view to ensuring that anyone found culpable amongst the security men are made to face disciplinary measures in line with laid down rules of the Nigerian Armed Forces. Findings and measures taken will be brought to public knowledge as soon as possible,” the statement concluded.
Following the recent decision by members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the Senate, to withdraw their support for the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration, Senators from the All Progressive Congress, APC, and the Labour Party have declared total and unflinching for the president.
In a communiqué released on Thursday, the joint APC and Labour party caucus in the senate said their support for the president was aimed at actualizing the promised change that Nigerians voted for during the last general election.
The statement signed by Sola Adeyeye on behalf of the APC/Labour Party Senate Caucus reads, “We are shocked at the totally partisan reaction of our colleagues from the minority party, PDP, to the on-going investigations and recovery of public funds meant for the prosecution of the war against insurgency,” adding that the current anti-corruption drive was not a partisan affair as the PDP alleged.
The communiqué went further to say, “Seeking to recover diverted public funds is neither dictatorial nor against the rule of law. In all the actions, programmes and policies of the PMB-led APC Federal Government, no PDP member has been unjustly arrested or imprisoned on mere allegations,
“As law abiding and patriotic citizens, we cherish the rule of law and the separation of powers among the different arms of government. Political interference based on partisan consideration must be eschewed.”
The members of the joint caucus of the APC and Labour Party promised to always give their best in support of the President, and urged their PDP colleagues to rise above partisan inclinations in order to deliver to Nigerians the change they earnestly desire.
