Author: The Nation

Kano State Governor Abdullahi Ganduje has donated 158,000 Saudi Riyals (equivalent of over N15 million) to 3,170 pilgrims participating in this year’s Hajj in Saudi Arabia.

The move, according to the governor, was in a bid to ensure the pilgrims have a pleasant stay and safe return to their homeland.

Announcing the development to the pilgrims, Executive Secretary of Kano Pilgrims Welfare Board, Alhaji Muhammad Abba Dambatta, explained that each pilgrim would get at least 50 Saudi Riyals, which is equivalent to N5,000.

The welfare board boss enjoined the pilgrims to desist from embarking on the journey back home with items banned by the airlines and Saudi authorities.

Dambatta expressed delight at the pilgrims’ readiness to abide by the rules and regulations of the Saudi Government and prayed that the Almighty Allah will accept their acts of worship in the holy land.

Read Also: Ganduje, Sanusi urge peace, unity among Nigerians

He noted that the airlift of the pilgrims would begin in earnest.

The pilgrims have expressed joy at the governor’s gesture.

According to one of them, Ibrahim Ayyuba, the provision of a suitable accommodation, balanced meals and good transportation system to various sacred sites in both Mecca and Madina by the government was commendable.

They have since completed their Hajj in Saudi Arabia, following the symbolic stoning of the devil at Jamrat and they are now exploring the city of Mecca.

The pilgrims are hopeful that their prayers in the Holy Land would yield positive results for Ganduje, the state and Nigeria.

Executive Director of Environmental Rights Action (ERA) Nnimmo Bassey has accused the Federal Government of lacking the will to end gas flaring.

Bassey spoke at the “Youth Climate Incubation Hub” workshop in Port Harcourt on Thursday.

The workshop was organised for Southsouth youths by the Federal Ministry of Environment, with support from United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

He said the Federal Government had not shown enough commitment to ending gas flaring, and noted that the process required a lot of investment.

Read Also: Expert suggests steps to end gas flaring

“We need to get youths active in the issues of climate change. We need to place Nigeria on a better foothold for the future. We are losing our habitat and our environment. So, we are for restoration of mangrove forests. If we are serious about tackling global warming, one of the ways is tree planting.

“The only problem is that the government is not ready. If the Federal Government is committed  We have to take steps to stop global warming and climate change. Gas flaring has been on for over 62 years now, and that is the primary thing that needs to be tackled.

“The deadline to end gas flaring is 2030; some of us feel it is too far. We are feeling that the deadline should be 2020. We should end it next year. It is achievable we should only be ready to invest.”

The governorship candidate of Action Democratic Party (ADP) in Rivers State, Victor Fingesi, has called on the Federal Government to intervene and end killings and arson in Ogoni land.

Fingesi, who spoke on Thursday in Port Harcourt, said he was disturbed by the sad news of the death of nine persons in a cult clash on Tuesday.

The candidate, who described Ogoniland as the once-beautiful agricultural field in Rivers, but now turned into a killing field, said: “I urge Governor Wike to take security of life and property, especially in Ogoniland, serious by directing law enforcement agencies to take specific actions that will guarantee the safety of the people.

Read Also: Towards a permanent resolution of Ogoni eco-crisis 

‘’It is not enough to launch a security outfit (Operation Sting) and spend money without directing actions, such as curfew where necessary, panel of enquiry, meetings with the chiefs and people, and visits to the affected areas.

‘’These actions, when considered, will show that the Rivers government is not taking the matter lightly.

“Only the convocation of a security summit will be a panacea to the insecurity. The summit should comprise prominent Rivers people, leaders of cult groups and other groups involved in the breach of peace.”

Fingesi also sympathised with the victims and their families, particularly the President of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), Chief Legborsi Pyagbara, whose house in Khana council was razed by the arsonists.

Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki has raised an eight-man panel to investigate the fire, which razed about 90 shops in the spare parts market in Uwelu, Egor Local Government.

The panel is headed by former Whip of the House of Assembly, Osaigbovo Iyoha.

Obaseki had assured the victims of support, and promised to set up a team to look into the cause of the fire as well as ways of assisting them.

Secretary to the State Government Osarodion Ogie, who inaugurated the committee, listed the terms of reference as examining the remote and immediate causes of the fire, and establishing the culpability of any person, group, corporation or entity.

Read Also: Fire razes 90 shops at Edo market

Others are to establish the extent of damage and loss, and assess the effectiveness or otherwise of emergency responses.

The committee is to make recommendations to government on measures to avoid a recurrence.

Ogie urged the panel to summon any person or group to testify or present documents and visit the site of the incident.

He urged the committee to complete its work in one week.

Iyoha, who is also Obaseki’s Special Adviser on Political Matters (Edo South), promised that the committee would live up to the confidence reposed in it.

He pledged that members would deliver on time.

Some affected traders sold off what they could salvage from the fire to scrap dealers cheaply.

The scrap dealers said they bought the goods to prevent scavengers from collecting them.

The Association of Concerned Bayelsa Professionals has accused some Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirants of plotting violence with the intention to force the party to take the primary outside the state.

It said security intelligence available showed that the aspirants were plotting violence and instability because they were jittery and wanted the national headquarters to move the shadow poll on September 3, to either Port Harcourt or Abuja.

Chairman of the group Chief Jasper Timiebi, in a statement, said the aspirants were worried about the influence of Governor Seriake Dickson, who had led the Restoration Team of PDP for eight years.

He said the ACBP, a body of professionals across the eight local governments was “concerned about the increasing desperation occasioned by blackmail and the evil plot to unleash mayhem and killings in Bayelsa just to achieve a satanic plot.”

Timiebi said aspirants had instigated and sponsored litigation to frustrate the decision of the PDP-led government to conduct the last council elections without success.

Read Also: Lokpobiri will win Bayelsa for APC, says Oboro

He said when the government vacated all cases challenging conduct of the polls in Abuja, Yenagoa, and other cities, the aspirants decided to frustrate participation of the elected council officials in the primaries.

Timiebi insisted the ACBP, which monitored the election in the state, observed that it went well, asserting the massive influence of the governor in the state.

The group’s chairman  said the campaign organisation of one contestant wrote a petition dated August 10, to the national chairman òf PDP, in which he claimed there were threats to the peaceful conduct of the primaries in Bayelsa.

He said the petition was opposed to the inclusion of elected chairmen and councillors as delegates in the primaries as provided for in PDP constitution.

Timiebi said the petition addressed to PDP national chairman copied members of the National Working Committee, chairman and secretary of the party’s Board of Trustees.

The group’s chairman said the ACBP was motivated by a strong urge to ensure that the search for the next governor was not tainted by underhand tactics and evil machinations by desperate politicians.

He enjoined all aspirants to play by the rules and embrace the slogan of former President Jonathan that nobody’s ambition was worth the life of a single Bayelsan.

Timiebi urged aspirants to talk to the delegates rather than yielding their campaigns to a desperation ignited by the fear of defeat.

The Delta State Police Command has confirmed the death of a 15-year-old boy, who drowned in a stagnant river in Osubi, Okpe Local Government.

Commissioner of Police Adeyinka Adeleke said yesterday: “It is true, the boy drowned while fishing.”

The deceased, simply identified as Onoriode, drowned on Tuesday while fishing in a stagnant river in the Ikpirima Quarters of Osubi

A source said Onoriode, a Junior Secondary School Three (JSS3) pupil, went with three of his friends to the fishing expedition.

He said the friends were from Agbasa in Warri South, adding that the river had caused flood in the area following persistent rainfall.

Read Also: 15-year-old drowns in Delta community

“The deceased, simply identified as Onoriode, came in company of three other children. They are within the ages of 13 and 15. They came to fish at the …pit beside the Osubi Airport when the incident happened,” he said.

He appealed to the government to help channel the water into existing canals.

Residents of Ikpirima are mourning Onoriode’s death.

A relation said the family had not been told the children went fishing.

She said the news would be devastating to them, especially their mother, who is a petty trader.

One of the community’s leaders said children were always warned to stay away from the pool.

“None of the children from this area dare goes close to it. You can see that they are all from a distant community,” he said.

Another resident lamented that the community always record death in the pool yearly.

He called on the government to do something to channel the water into existing canals.

The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) in Bayelsa State has sealed nine petrol stations and an illegal liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) station in Yenagoa for expired licences and lack of basic operational equipment.

A DPR team, led by the Head of Operations, Ibinabo Jack, yesterday paid unscheduled visit to some outlets.

The affected filling stations were Nun River Petroleum, Maccary Oil and Gas, Barbizon and an unnamed LPG station said to be operating illegally.

Others were NNPC retail outlet at Edepie, Otueyal Oil and Gas, Tony’s Green Field Petroleum, Mobil Oil and Gas and another NNPC retail outlet, all in Yenagoa.

Jack said: “The sealing of filling stations is not new and it’s not going to be a one-off thing. It will be a continuous exercise. We caught some of them dispensing to customers below the variation. For instance, a station that is selling at point 41CL of every 10 litres is short-changing the public. In other words, where they ought to get 10 litres, they are given maybe six or seven litres. This is not fair.

Read Also: Shun sharp practices or risk sanction, DPR warns operators

“We had earlier given them fliers and posters to caution and enlighten them on how to handle petroleum products. The fliers are meant to be given to motorists and truck drivers on how they should conduct themselves. The posters are meant to be pasted in retail outlets also to caution motorists coming in to fill their tanks so they will know the safe way or method of handling petroleum products to avoid any untoward incidence.”

According to Jack, the sealed stations had committed so many irregularities which were punishable; while some were under dispensing, others did not have fire extinguishers.

He added: “Some did not even have sand buckets and these are things needed for their safety and that of their facilities as well as their customers. The penalties depend on their offences. When they report at DPR’s office, appropriate penalties will be spelt out to each of them.

“The DPR is a regulatory body and there are regulations biding the operations of retail outlets which need to be maintained by the operators.”