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APC Blames Gov Obi For Anambra Stampede

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The All Progressives Congress, APC, has blamed the governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, for the death of some 30 crusaders in a stampede early Saturday morning in Uke, Idemili north local government area of the state.

The party’s interim national publicity secretary, Lai Mohammed, reasoned that if Obi and the gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA,Willie Obiano, had not turned the praying ground to a campaign ground, the ugly incident that ensued would not have happened.

The party said while there was nothing wrong in a state governor attending a vigil, such visit should not be impromptu in order for the organizers to make the necessary security arrangements.

It added that such visit should not have been used as a licence to engage in political campaign.

The party also condemned the move of the governor to set up a panel to investigate the stampede, saying it would amount to presiding over a case that one is involved in.

“Considering that the Governor himself is at the centre of the whole tragedy, setting up a panel to investigate the cause of the stampede will amount to seeking to be a judge in your own case. The only cause of the stampede is the Governor’s ill-advised visit to the vigil,” the statement said.

It continued: “The simple truth is that there would have been no stampede if Governor Obi had not come to the vigil or, even if he had come, had not attempted to politicize the gathering that was meant strictly for prayers.”

The APC warned the governor to desist from imposing a candidate on the state against the wish of the people.

The Holy Ghost Adoration Ministry in its usual practice organised a crusade to mark entrance into a new month and hundreds of worshippers who attended the programme booed at the governor and Obiano when they tried to launch a campaign, resulting in a stampede as security details attached to Obi tried to defend their boss.

The police is yet to give an official figure of casualty more than 24 hours after the incident.

Many Feared Dead In Anambra Stampede

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Many Feared Dead In Anambra Stampede

A stampede at the Holy Ghost Adoration Ground in Uke, Idemili North Local Government of Anambra State, led to several deaths on Saturday morning.

The Holy Ghost Adoration Ministry, organises a weekly crusade at the ground which is usually attended by hundreds of worshippers.

Being the first Saturday in the month of November, the programme promised to be special and it attracted more worshipers.

However, they got more than they bargained for as stampede, the cause of is yet to be determined, led to the death of many, bringing the program me to an abrupt halt.

The police public relations officer for the state command, Emeka Chukwuemeka, said the casaulty figure cannot immediately be ascertained, but reports say at least 23 had died and another 100 injured.

“The number of deaths cannot be ascertained now until we conclude investigations because some persons who fainted were later resuscitated,” Chukwuemeka said.

He said investigations have begun into unravelling the cause of the incident.

Meanwhile, the candidate of the opposition Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, for the November 16 governorship election, Chris Ngige, has blamed governor Peter Obi and his party, the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, candidate, Willie Obiano, for the incident.

Ngige said that reports reaching him indicate that “the APGA campaign train went to the Adoration Ground at Ukeh and induced stampede as Obi’s goons charged at worshipers who booed at them for campaigning at the Holy ground.”

Reacting to the incident, however, governor Obi who expressed shock over the incident, promised to set up a panel of enquiry to determine the immediate and remote causes of the stampede.

He also promised to take care of the medical bills of the victims.

Guinea-Bissau Postpones Election For Lack Of Funds

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Guinea-Bissau Postpones Election For Lack Of Funds

Guinea-Bissau will postpone an election planned for November until early next year due to lack of funds, officials said on Friday.

The election is supposed to return the West African country to democracy after a military coup last year and western and regional powers and the United Nations, UN, had all urged it to hold the vote before the year ends.

“There is no sufficient funding to hold general elections,” interim President Manuel Sherifo Nhamadjo said.

He had previously indicated that the vote would take place on November 24.

The UN special representative to the country, Jose Ramos-Horta, said that $20 million had been raised for the election, adding that he now expected it to happen either in February or March.

“We have to first of all proceed with voter registration and after that the general elections could be held,” said Augusto Mendes, president of Guinea Bissau’s electoral commission.

“This will probably be sometime in the first quarter of 2014,” he added.

The coup-prone former Portuguese colony is notorious as a trafficking hub for narcotics from South America to Europe.

Gov Fashola Wants Clear Agenda For National Conference

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Gov Fashola Wants Clear Agenda For National Conference

The governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola has urged the Presidential Advisory Committee on National Dialogue to study the report of the 2006 conference and set a clear agenda for the success of the talks.

Fashola gave the advice when members of the committee led by its chairman Femi Okunrounmu paid him a courtesy call.

He said if there must have a dialogue, there must be an agenda and every view must be heard.

“If we refuse to listen to the views of the aggrieved, it portends great concern whether or not we can dialogue. If those that do not agree are heckled and shouted down, then for me, the platform for dialogue is already defeated,” he said.

He stressed that “a dialogue by its very definition, demands that you must listen to every view, both agreeable and disagreeable”.

The governor listed unemployment, lack of education, power supply, hunger, national security as some of the agitations of the people that should be discussed.

“When the people are prosperous, they often tend to be less violent,” he said.

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Earlier, Okunrounmu had promised that the views of the people would count.

“This is an event that people have been agitating for for decades and since the announcement Nigerians have been overwhelmed,” he said.

He said the visit of members of the committee to the state was in continuation of consultations with Nigerians across the six geo-political zones.

New Distribution Company Wants Power Theft Criminalised

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New Distribution Company Wants Power Theft Criminalised

From Jefferson Ibiwale, Benin

A call has been made for the criminalization of power theft and enforcement of the existing sanctions with appropriate penalties for the recovery of lost revenue arising from such acts of sabotage.

Chairman of Vigeo Power Limited, Victor Gbolade Osibodu, made the call on Friday in Benin, Edo State, at the physical handing over of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company, BEDC, to his company.

Osibodu also urged the federal government to speedily conclude payment of workers of PHCN to enable new owners and investors who took over the various companies to enjoy a stable working environment.

He said a “regulatory certainty with a well defined and predictable tariff methodology” should be developed, while also urging the federal government to facilitate easy access to adequate funding for the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN.

This, according to him, will enable the TCN adequately evacuate power produced to distribution companies.

He assured retained staff of the now defunct BEDC of  a conducive and healthy working environment, just as he promised electricity consumers that the handover will mark significant improvement in power supply.

Earlier in his remarks, the CEO, BEDC, Effiong Umoren, said the four states under the zone, namely, Edo, Delta, Ondo and Ekiti, have the highest prepared meters population (about 40 percent) in the country.

Sharia Court Judge Dismissed Over Bribery Allegations

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Sharia Court Judge Dismissed Over Bribery Allegations

A judge of the Sharia High Court in Maiduguri, Borno State, Alkali Mohammed Suguli has been dismissed having been found guilty of corruption.

The Borno State Judicial Service Commission announced the dismissal on Friday after considering the report of the Public Complaints Committee which investigated a petition by one Bukar Karkarma against the accused.

Suguli of Yerwa Civil Sharia Court I, Maiduguri, was said to have “unlawfully sold inherited property” and was dismissed for gross misconduct.

A statement signed by the secretary of the Borno State Judicial Service Commission, Baba Goni Adam, read: “The Commission accepted the report of the Public Complaint Committee which found Alkali Mohammed Suguli guilty of gross misconduct in the case of Mallam Bukar Karkarma versus Alhaji Bashir Liman.”

Investigations revealed that the sack of Suguli came after long drawn legal battle that commenced since 2006 when the petitioner,  Karkarma, wrote to the state chief judge seeking redress in the suit before the (now) expelled judge.

The petitioner had alleged that thet judge received bribes to give a ruling against him in the suit between “Mallam Bukar Karkarma versus Alhaji Bashir Liman”, where an order was given for the selling of his inherited property.

Suguli’s expulsion is with effect from October 31, 2013, according to the statement.

Senate Orders IG To Investigate Rape Of 2-Years-Old By Policeman

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Senate Orders IG To Investigate Rape Of 2-Years-Old By Policeman

The Senate has ordered the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, to prosecute a coporal, Anthony Onoja, for allegedly raping a two-year-old girl in Mararaba, Nasarawa State.

The Senate unanimously condemned the act of paedophilia and sexual abuse, even as it asked its committee on police affairs to investigate it and report back within one week.

The Senate’s order followed a motion titled, “Cruelty to Infants”, brought by Helen Esuene (PDP-Akwa Ibom), in which she said that the Nigeria Police had refused to charge the suspect to court for the alleged sexual assault of the minor.

She noted that under the Child Rights Act, sexual assault was a criminal offence which attracted life or 14 years imprisonment.

“This is not the first time it has been reported in this hallowed chamber of a police officer sexually abusing an infant girl and offenders often go unpunished,” she said, calling for urgent action to stop such evil acts.

Abdul Ningi (PDP-Bauchi) attributed the increasing spate of sexual abuse to the neglect of the people’s cultural values.

“For it to be done by a law enforcement officer, it speaks volumes of the negative changes we are having in Africa. As long as we don’t go back to appreciate our culture and history, we will continue to witness these abnormalities which now place us half way between humans and animals,” Ningi said.

another senator, Ifeanyi Okowa (PDP-Delta), called on government agencies to intensify awareness on the Child Rights Act to encourage Nigerians to take precaution.

Okowa said it was the responsibility of government to ensure that the dignity of the children was secured and protected to guide against any abuses.

“We are responsible for protection of the dignity of every child. We must begin to rethink and find our way back to our God,” Okowa said.

Senate President David Mark said the policemen’s crime must not go unpunished.

“Crimes are committed all over the world, it is not only in Nigeria. The difference is that when our own is committed, we don’t get the people who commit them and when we eventually find the people, we don’t punish them. We should begin to punish people who commit crimes no matter how small or big, irrespective of whom they are,” he stressed.

He said: “I believe that this particular case must attract maximum punishment whatever way we look at it. Even if we tie him to a stake and kill him, it is not enough punishment,” Mark said.

 

Kaduna Assembly Investigates NRC Recruitment

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Kaduna Assembly Investigates NRC Recruitment

The Speaker of the Kaduna State House of Assembly, Usman Tahir, on Thursday constituted a seven-man ad hoc committee to investigate the alleged abuse of recruitment guidelines by the Zaria district office of the Nigeria Railway Corporations, NRC.

The investigation was prompted by a motion moved on the floor of the assembly by Yakubu Soja (APC-Zaria Kewaye) on alleged abuses in the recruitment of junior staff on grade levels 01-06 by the district office.

According to Soja, the recruitment violated the provisions of the Federal Civil Service which provides that such vacancies be filled by applicants where the government offices were located.

He said it was important for the assembly to thoroughly investigate the matter so as not deny applicants in the area the right to be considered for appointment.

Soja informed the members that applicants from Zaria district of the NRC were side-lined from the exercise.

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Several lawmakers, including Mohammad Ali (APC-Kawo), urged the House to also look into recruitment exercises conducted by various federal agencies in the state.

The committee, headed by Maikudi Tanko, was given two weeks to report back to the assembly.

Other members are Abdullahi Khalid, Bala Yunusa, Labari Tela, Balarabe Jigo, Yakubu Soja and Mohammed Shuaibu.

Al-Makura Denies Plan To Grant Ombatse Amnesty

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Al-Makura Denies Plan To Grant Ombatse Amnesty

By Godwin Ojoshimite

Nasarawa State governor, Umar Tanko Al-makura, has denied reports in the media that his administration is considering granting amnesty to the outlawed Ombatse militia group allegedly responsible for the killing of security operatives in Alakio.

Al-Makura made his position known through a press statement signed by his senior special assistant on media and press affairs, Sani Musa Mairiga.

The governor described the reports as false, callous, and unfounded adding that it is a calculated attempt to drag his name in the mud and rubbish the efforts of his administration towards finding a lasting solution to the Ombatse menace.

According to him, there was nowhere in his speech where he canvassed amnesty for members of the sect.

“It is shocking that a story of such magnitude was published without recourse to what I said while delivering a lecture on the topic: contemporary security challenges in Nasarawa state,at the institute for security studies in Bwari Abuja on Tuesday”, he said.

The governor reasoned that such comments could pre-empty the work of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry set up by the state government to probe the Alakio massacre of security operatives and other matters.

He added that “this story as published by some newspapers is a figment of the imagination of the writers”.

He maintained that his administration would continue to ensure peaceful co -existence among the various ethnic groups in the state.

The press statement, however, called on the general public to disregard the newspaper report and await the outcome of the judicial commission of inquiry.

Our Case Against Imo State Officials – ICPC

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Our Case Against Imo State Officials – ICPC

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, has denied accusations of witch haunting officials of the Imo State government, including governor Rochas Okoracha, insisting that its operatives are in the state for routine investigations in line with the law.

The commission was reacting to a demonstration staged by some women drawn from several local government areas in Imo State, alleging that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC and ICPC had been sent after their son, governor of the state.

The ICPC said it was investigating two petitions involving officials of the state government relating to corrupt practices.

The first petition is an allegation of financial impropriety levelled against the former deputy governor of Imo State, Jude Agbaso, who was impeached by the state House of Assembly on February 13, 2013.

Preliminary investigations by the operatives of ICPC indicated that the state government awarded a contract to JPROS International Nigeria Limited for the construction of three roads within Owerri Municipality at a cost of N1.15billion.

The sum of N300million was released to the contractor before the regularisation of the said road contracts and further investigation by the ICPC revealed that the contractor has so far received a total of N1.45 billion, but has abandoned the project after executing works valued at slightly over N300 million.

The ICPC said that records of the company’s incorporation at the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, showed that JPROS International Nigeria Limited has Prince Akanno, a government official, as a serving director.

Akanno, is the special assistant to the governor of Imo State and also chairman, committee on monitoring and implementation of road projects in the state.

In a bid to frustrate further investigation, Akanno reportedly instituted a civil suit challenging the authority of the commission and the Investigation team led by one Chukwura to summon him to clarify issues.

The second petition was sent to the commission by the Association for Local Government of Nigeria, ALGON, Imo State Chapter, alleging misappropriation and diversion of N73billion funds belonging to the 27 local government councils of the state.

The association “the Speaker of the House and his men” benefitted from contracts executed with state funds in order to discourage them from carrying out their oversight functions on the projects.

Upon receiving the petition, the commission said it sent out several letters of invitation to twelve functionaries in the state but only five honoured the invitation.

Those who honoured the invitation include the Clerk of the state House of Assembly; the branch manager of Zenith Bank Plc, branch manager of Guarantee Trust Bank Plc, accountant-general and commissioner for finance.

The seven others yet to show up are the secretary to the government; the governor’s principal secretary; the commissioner for agriculture and natural resources; the state commissioner for works; the permanent secretary, ministry of local government and chieftaincy affairs, and the commissioner for local government.

The branch manager of Diamond Bank Plc, Owerri, is also yet to show up.

“Instead of honouring the invitation of the commission, the suspects have dragged ICPC and its investigators to court, seeking the enforcement of their fundamental human rights. The cases are domiciled in Courts 4 and 6 of the State High Court sitting in Owerri, the Imo State Capital,” the ICPC said.

The commission warned that anyone who refuses to honour its invitation would face arrest and prosecution in line with section 25 of the ICPC Act 2000.

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