GUARDIAN: Controversy over government’s move to develop new seaports U.S. deploys more troops to fight terrorists in Africa Pro-Jang govs move to scuttle plans to remove Tukur Firm to pay N5b for violating order on FAAN- Maevis deal. VANGUARD: IG orders redeployment of 3 CPs, 7 DCPs Hoodlums wanted to rape my wife – Ogun monarch How I escaped from suspected ritualist – Woman Ex-NNPC staff arrested for vandalising pipeline PUNCH Court remands guard for defrauding blind teacher We want only justice –Family of slain boy Police chief wants press barred from divorce suit I’m not an impostor – Jang. THISDAY: PDP Crises: President Asks Tukur, Other NWC Members to Resign How We Snookered Jang by Kwankwaso Seven Students, 4 Others Killed in Boko Haram Attacks on Damaturu Nigeria, 37 Others Bag UN Award for Meeting MDGs Hunger Target. NATIONAL MIRROR: Premier University, Sao Tome, appoints Vice- Chancellor, deputy NGF Crisis: 19 governors shun Jonathan`s invitation; *President orders Tukur, PDP NWC members to resign *Party lifts Wamakko`s suspension FG pays 192.5 billion Naira fuel subsidy claims NLC vows to resist job cuts over rationalization First Lady`s visit: Port Harcourt residents groan under security siege, how my father was killed- Harry Marshal`s son. NIGERIAN TRIBUNE: FG sets up 9 cottage industries in Oyo •Akinjide gives each N.5m Tukur, NWC members may go •As PDP NEC meets Thursday •S/West chieftains to boycott Lagos meeting My administration will not lose focus — Jonathan. THE NATION: 19 governors boycott cash crisis talks with Jonathan Boko Haram kills seven students, two teachers Amaechi won’t drop NGF mandate, says Kwankwaso Jonathan must run, say Clark, Ebute. PUNCH NEWSPAPER: 11 KILLED IN JTF, BOKO HARAM YOBE CLASHES: The Military Joint Task Force in Yobe State has confirmed that 11 people were killed in separate attacks as suspected members of the Boko Haram sect invaded the Government Secondary School and a military checkpoint in Damaturu, the state capital. The military spokesman in the state, Lieutenant Eli Lazarus, in a statement on Monday, explained that two teachers, seven students and two insurgents were killed during the attacks. Apart from the 11 killed, three soldiers, according to the statement, were critically injured in the clash that lasted for over five hours. The army spokesmen said three of the suspected Boko Haram members were caught alive and were currently in the custody of the JTF. JONATHAN ASKS TUKUR, PDP NWC TO RESIGN: President Goodluck Jonathan may have directed the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Dr. Bamanga Tukur, and other members of the PDP National Working Committee to resign. It was learnt on Monday that Jonathan gave the directive after the presidential committee on the PDP crises headed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Pius Anyim, submitted its report to him in Abuja . The order and submission of the report which noted that the party was drifting coincided with the lifting of the suspension of Sokoto State Governor, Aliyu Wamakko, by the 12-member Tukur-led NWC. A member of the presidential committee, who spoke to one of our correspondents on condition of anonymity, added that Tukur and the other NWC members would tender their resignation letters at the party’s National Executive Committee meeting scheduled for Thursday in Abuja. He said apart from the PDP internal crises, the President was concerned about the position of the Independent National Electoral Commission on the manner majority of the NWC members came to office. INEC had queried the affirmation method that returned most of the NWC members to office. It was also gathered that the NWC members were told that they risked being sacked if they failed to quit before Thursday. NIGERIA BEAT TAHITI 6-1, TOP GROUP: The Super Eagles shook off fatigue from their long journey from South Africa to steamroll Tahiti in their first group game of the 2013 Confederations Cup in Brazil. The beat the Pacific Islanders 6-1 on Monday. In a match that saw Nigeria missing several begging chances, defender Elderson Echiejile got two goals, while Italy-based Nnamdi Oduamadi registered the first hat trick of the competition. Jonathan Tehau, who pulled one back for Tahiti, was on the weeping end when he netted an own- goal. It was Tahiti’s first appearance at the Confederation Cup and Nigeria’s second. That fact, however, took nothing away from the African champions as they dominated every department of the game. The Tahitians had adopted a five-man defensive formation but Echiejile’s fifth minute goal forced them out, making the game more fluid. That only opened the way for Oduamadi five minutes later when he grabbed a spilled ball from goalkeeper Xavier Samin to make it 2-0. He struck again in the 26th minute to make it 3-1. WE WANT ONLY JUSTICE – FAMILY OF SLAIN BOY: Emotions ran high at number 9, Oyebola Close, Ikorodu, Lagos on Monday after a delegation of senior police officers visited the family home of Timilehin Ebun, a nine-year-old boy who was killed by a police stray bullet at the Mile 12 end of Ikorodu Road last Thursday. The policemen, led by the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of the State Criminal Investigation Department, Damilola Adegbuyi, condoled with the family over the incident. However, the family demanded only one thing; justice. A relative, Mr. Adebanjo Adebunmi, who spoke amid tears, said although Timilehin could not be brought back to life, the family was determined to pursue the case to a logical conclusion. I’M NOT AN IMPOSTOR – JANG: FACTIONAL chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Jonah Jang, on Monday said he never claimed to be the governor of Rivers State; hence he could not be accused of impersonating Governor Rotimi Amaechi. Jang spoke in response to an accusation by Amaechi that he (Jang) was impersonating him by calling for the meeting of the NGF. Amaechi had said he read in the media that Jang called a meeting of the governors, adding that such amounted to impersonation because he (Amaechi) as the chairman of the NGF did not call any meeting. He therefore called on the governors to disregard Jang’s call for a meeting since he (Amaechi) did not send the notice. At the meeting were the governors of Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Ebonyi, Enugu, Delta, Kaduna, Katsina, Kogi, Taraba, Bauchi, Ondo and Imo states. Benue State governor was however represented by his deputy. Missing at the meeting were governors of Niger, Kano, Sokoto, Ekiti, Osun, Lagos, Oyo, Osun,Edo and Rivers states. The governors were later led by Jang into a meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan at the Presidential Villa. Journalists were barred from the meeting which started at exactly 10pm on Monday. VANGUARD NEWSPAPER: CORRUPT POLITICIANS MUST PAY FOR THEIR SINS – RAWLINGS: FORMER President of Ghana, Flt. Lt. Jerry Rawlings, Monday said if Nigeria and other parts of Africa must get it right and strengthen democracy, corrupt politicians must not be allowed to go scot-free. This came as former Interim Head of State, Chief Ernest Shonekan, declared that religious fundamentalism poses a serious threat to the nation’s democracy, including other parts of Africa. According to Rawlings, Nigeria must not continue to pay lip service to eradicating corruption, especially against the backdrop that poor, petty thieves get imprisoned for several years, while businessmen evade taxes in millions of dollars and politicians embezzle state funds and go unpunished. Speaking yesterday at a conference on Emerging Democracies in Africa: Challenges and Opportunities, organized by the National Institute for Legislative Studies, Abuja, Rawlings said: ‘’We cannot continue to pay lip service to the strengthening, empowerment and independent management of our multiple anti-corruption institutions. We live in countries where poor, petty thieves get imprisoned for several years, while businessmen who evade taxes in millions of dollars or a politician who misappropriates millions of state funds escape punishment. These inequalities are recipes for the retrogression of our democracies and we cannot allow the negative tide to continue. A democracy that cannot provide socio-economic justice cannot be a healthy democracy and will remain vulnerable and fragile.” CBN REITERATES PLAN TO PHASE OUT POLYMER NOTES: The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Monday reiterated its decision to change some naira notes from polymer to paper. Mr Ugochukwu Okoroafor, Head of Corporate Communications Department of CBN, however, in Lagos said that the change would be gradual. The Deputy Governor of CBN, Mr Tunde Lemo, on April 2013, in Washington, said there were plans to withdraw the polymer notes. Okoroafor said that there was no fixed date for the change, but the apex bank would complete the phase-out before December 2013. Okoroafor said that the change became necessary because of the challenges associated with the use of polymer notes. He said that one of the challenges was the fading of the polymer notes and the high cost of printing. GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER: PRO-JANG GOVERNORS MOVE TO SCUTTLE PLANS TO REMOVE TUKUR: THE leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Monday fixed Thursday for the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting just as some of its governors are planning to frustrate moves to remove Bamanga Tukur as chairman of the party during the proposed NEC meeting. The party leadership also lifted the suspension order on Sokoto State Governor, Aliyu Wamakko, following the pressure mounted by the PDP Governors’ Forum. The decision, which was taken at the end of a meeting in Abuja yesterday between the PDP governors and the party’s National Working Committee (NWC), however, left the fate of Rivers State Governor Rotimi Azubuike Amaechi, who was the first PDP governor to be suspended, hanging. The inability of the Tukur-led NWC to convene the NEC meeting since July 2012 is one of the issues being held against him by party stakeholders, including the PDP governors. Meanwhile, it emerged Monday that the faction of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) loyal to Plateau State Governor, Jonah Jang, had begun immediate campaign against moves by some PDP governors to remove Tukur at Thursday’s NEC meeting. The Guardian learnt that a select committee of PDP governors, including a governor in one of the North Central states, had begun talks with other party stalwarts to douse the tension against Tukur. The NEC meeting was one of the requests tabled before the PDP NWC meeting at the party’s Presidential Campaign Office in Legacy House in Abuja Monday. However, some PDP governors still angry with Tukur on account of his leadership style and the circumstances surrounding his election as party chairman, were still in strong league with some National Assembly members and state chairmen of the party to ignite the move against Tukur at the NEC meeting. CONTROVERSY OVER GOVT’S MOVE TO DEVELOP NEW SEAPORTS: A PLAN by the Federal Government to develop new seaports in collaboration with some states and the private sector has generated a controversy among stakeholders in the maritime sector. Under the arrangement, according to the Federal Ministry of Transport, not less than 14 ports and “a number of jetties” are to be constructed or reconstructed and equipped with modern equipment. Besides, according to the government, efforts are ongoing to develop deep seaports in partnership with the private sector at Lekki and Badagry in Lagos State, Ibaka in Akwa Ibom State, Ogidigben in Delta State, Olokola in Ogun and Ondo states and Agge in Bayelsa State. While procurement processes are on for the dredging of River Benue and the construction of Makurdi River Port, work at Baro Port (Niger State), Oguta (Imo State) and Jamata (Lokoja, Kogi State) according to the government has reached an advanced stage. But stakeholders in the sector have expressed divergent views on the viability of the port projects in some states, especially in the long run. For example, some stakeholders in an interview with The Guardian yesterday said that developing a deep seaport in Bayelsa, Delta and Akwa Ibom states may be counter-productive in the long run. A deep seaport, according to experts, is different from regular ports because of its depth of water and ability to attract very large and heavily loaded ships. ANNAN URGES G8 NATIONS TO TACKLE SECRET COMPANIES: FORMER United Nations Secretary General and Chairman of the Africa Progress Panel, Mr. Kofi Annan, has called on the G8 governments to tackle tax avoidance and anonymous company ownership because of their negative impact on development. According to him, secret companies are a key means by which corrupt leaders and irresponsible businesses hide the proceeds of their crimes and misdemeanours. Anan urged the G8 to crack down on the use of secret companies by putting in place public registries of who own and control companies and trusts. Annan noted that the demands may seem ambitious, but it is critical. WAR AGAINST CORRUPTION TOTAL, SAYS CJN: THE Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Miriam Aloma-Mukhtar on Monday said the war to rid the judiciary of corruption should be total and all- embracing, declaring that besides corrupt judges, judiciary workers also found engaging in unwholesome practices shall be dismissed. Delivering a keynote address at a three-day national workshop organised by the National Judicial Institute (NJI) for judicial librarians across the country, Aloma-Mukhtar said all personnel in the judiciary were duty-bound to conduct themselves in a manner that does not tarnish the public image of the judiciary. Represented by Justice Olu Ariola of the Supreme Court, the CJN reminded the participants that as judicial officials, they are bound by the Code of Conducts for court employees and urged them not to go against the ethics of the judicial system. But she assured that any judicial worker that works hard and conducts himself well would be rewarded, whereas “deviant, fraudulent and indolent ones may become irrelevant in our drive for a virile judicial system.” U.S. DEPLOYS MORE TROOPS TO FIGHT TERRORISTS IN AFRICA: PRESIDENT Barack Obama is stepping up America’s military strategy against global terrorism and Africa is on the list of his targets, the United States (U.S.) government’s sources have revealed. The U.S. has now increased the number of troops at its military drone base in Niger to about 180, from its initial 40 in February this year. The U.S. had earlier this year established a drone base for the sake of dealing with the Boko Haram terror threat in Nigeria, an ally of the U.S. in Africa, and the west and central African regions. According to a letter sent to the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and President Pro Tempore of the Senate at the weekend, Obama informed the U.S. Congress that he had “deployed U.S. combat-equipped forces to enhance the counter-terrorism capabilities and support the counter-terrorism operations of our friends and allies, including special operations and other forces for sensitive operations in various locations around the world.” Observers say by adding more troops to the drone base in Niger, the U.S. is sharpening its strategy against Boko Haram, upon whose leader the State Department recently placed a $7 million bounty some weeks ago.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Jun 2013 05:38:14 +0000
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