The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

  • No deal with Jonathan on 2015 – Baraje’s faction

    The Abubakar Baraje-led Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said that there was no deal between the faction and President Goodluck Jonathan over the President’s 2015 re-election bid.

    In a statement issued on Wednesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Chukwuemeka Eze, the faction accused the Bamanga Tukur-led PDP of spreading tissues of lies on the outcome of Sunday’s meeting between Jonathan and the G-7 governors.

    Baraje said claims by Akwa Ibom State Governor, Godswill Akpabio, that the governors had okayed Jonathan for 2015 were mere propaganda meant to deceive members of the public.

    “We wish to specifically urge Nigerians and our supporters to ignore the concocted tales of Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom and Chairman of PDP Governors Forum.

    “Akpabio lied by claiming that we have accepted that President Jonathan should contest the 2015 presidential election and that most of our demands are being met.

    “The fact of the case is that no agreement has been reached on any of the issues we tabled before the President and until we see results, Nigerians should ignore the present efforts by the Tukur camp to deceive them.

    “We advise Nigerians to ignore the tissue of lies and propaganda from the Alhaji Bamanga Tukur faction of the party on the outcome of our meeting with President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan at the Presidential Villa last Sunday, 15th September, 2013,” Baraje emphasised.

    The faction added that there is a mechanism in place to decide whether or not Jonathan would be given the green light to contest the 2015 presidential election.

    Until the time to choose the party’s presidential flag-bearer comes, any speculation on this is just a mere academic exercise, Baraje stated.

     

  • Senate debates 2013 budget implementation Thursday

    Senate debates 2013 budget implementation Thursday

    The Senate on Wednesday resolved to debate the overall implementation of the 2013 budget on Thursday.

    This resolution followed a Point of Order raised by Senator Abdul Ningi (Bauchi Central).

    Ningi, who invoked Order 42 of the Senate that deals with personal explanation, drew the attention of his colleagues to a publication which quoted the Executive to have declared that the 2013 budget as “unimplementable.”

    Ningi faulted the thrust of the report.

    He noted that contrary to the claim of the Executive that the 2013 oil benchmark of $79 per barrel was over bloated, the oil prices have remained high.

    The lawmaker said that he felt concerned because the budget deals with the welfare of Nigerians and should be so treated.

    He noted that as far as he was concerned, the country’s economy has been stable.

    He insisted that contrary to the claim of government, that the oil benchmark was over bloated, oil price has not fallen below projection.

    He said that oil price in the international market has remained $107 per barrel.

    He prayed the Senate to slate full discussion of the implementation of the budget for Thursday.

    Senate President, David Mark, agreed that there was need to discuss the implementation of the budget so far.

    Mark said: “I have not read the publication and whatever was attributed to the Minister of State for Finance.

    “But I have no problem with discussing the current level of the implementation of the budget.”

     

     

  • Kano rejects PDP caretaker committee

    Kano state government has rejected the recent appointment of a caretaker committee for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the Special Adviser to the Governor on Sports, Alhaji Ahmed Shu’aibu-Gara, made the government’s position known at a news conference in Kano on Wednesday.

    According to him, the appointment of the caretaker committee for the state by the national leadership of the PDP is against the party’s constitution.

    ‘’From preamble to declaration in the party constitution there is no where it provides for a caretaker arrangement as bridging model for any available vacuum whatsoever.

    ‘’Beside appointing a caretaker for 90 days for Kano State there is nothing to take care of rather it is a careless undertaking that is dead on arrival because it is pregnant with intent,” Shu’aibu-Gara said.

    He explained that the state chapter of the PDP had demonstrated so much responsibility and uncommon respect to the party’s constitution by formally notifying its leadership on July 26 that the tenure of the state executive committee was to expire on August 23.

     

  • Police did not rescue me – Anglican Archbishop

    The Dean of the Anglican Communion in Nigeria, Archbishop Ignatius Kattey, who regained his freedom after eight days in captivity, has said the Rivers State Police Command lied for claiming that they rescued him from his captors.

    Kattey and his wife Beatrice were abducted on September 6 at Aleto, Eleme on their way to Port Harcourt.

    But his wife was later released that same night by the abductors who fled with the clergyman.

    Angela Agabe, the Police Relations Officer (PPRO) in the state shortly after the release of the Archbishop announced on Saturday evening that it was the police that rescued him.

    But at a Press conference in his private residence at Agbon-Nchia, Eleme, Rivers State, on Wednesday, Kattey said that his kidnappers rescued him on their own accord and attributed it to divine intervention because he knew people all over the world were praying for him to be freed.

    Kattey said, “Police did not rescue me, they did not rescue my wife. I saw the police the first time two days ago, the police public relations officer lied. “

    He added that the Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr. Mbu Joseph Mbu, had apologized to him for the lies police told about his rescue.

    However, he acknowledged that there were efforts by security agencies to secure his release as he counted up to 500 times helicopters hovered over the forest area where he was kept by his abductors but could not see him.

    He explained that it would have been very difficult for the search team to find him as he was kept in a very thick forest and laid down most of the time while in the custody of the abductors.

     

     

  • UK court sees Ibori’s ‘palace’ on video

    UK court sees Ibori’s ‘palace’ on video

    A British court was shown footage on Wednesday of a palatial property built in Nigeria for jailed former governor James Ibori, complete with marble columns and a private gym that offered a glimpse into the lifestyle of Nigeria’s ruling class, Reuters reports.

    The opulent mansion staffed by cooks, maids and chauffeurs was just one of a portfolio of properties across the world worth over $10 million in total that Ibori acquired while he was governor of Delta State from 1999 to 2007.

    Footage of the property at Clement Isong Street in Abuja, taken by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission when it searched the home this year, revealed a level of luxury unimaginable to most of Nigeria’s 170 million people.

    Reuters says majority of Nigerians live in ramshackle housing with little or no electricity or running water.

    The film showed a monumental facade with white marble columns two storeys high. Inside were vast reception rooms adorned with crystal chandeliers, gilded mirrors and marble-topped tables.

    The property also boasted a large private gym with a treadmill, cross-trainer and other fitness equipment. A close-up shot inside one of several marble bathrooms showed a power shower with electronic control panels.

    Last year Ibori pleaded guilty at London’s Southwark Crown Court to 10 counts of money-laundering and fraud in one of the biggest embezzlement cases seen in Britain. He is serving a 13-year term at Long Lartin maximum security prison in England.

    Shown as part of a confiscation hearing in which prosecutors are seeking court orders for Ibori’s assets to be seized, the film featured a directory of telephone extensions across the property including the “children’s parlor” and “staff house.”

    A list of staff and suppliers included multiple chauffeurs, cooks and housekeepers as well as details of how to reach the “TV man.”

     

  • Housing scheme: Lagos alerts on activities of fraudsters

    Housing scheme: Lagos alerts on activities of fraudsters

    Lagos State Government has alerted residents on the activities of some fraudulent persons inviting unsuspecting members of the public to subscribe to the Lagos State Government Home Ownership Mortgage Scheme (Lagos HOMS).

    The government said the fraudsters, by way of a fake website www.nigeriapropertycentre.com/blog/buying.selling/the.lagos-homs, provide false information, purportedly from government and requested payment to certain bank accounts.

    The Commissioner for Housing, Mr. Bosun Jeje and his counterpart in Justice, Mr. Ade Ipaye in a statement, said those behind the fraudulent sale, sent out agents to sell printed forms to innocent members of the public who seek allocation of flats under the Lagos HOMS Programme.

    The statement said, “The said information, invitation and demands did not emanate from Lagos State Government and any person or persons making such demands should immediately be reported to the nearest police station or law enforcement agency. Lagos State Government, in pursuit of its people oriented programmes and projects, is assiduously developing housing units and a sustainable mortgage scheme under the Lagos HOMS Programme. But it is yet to finalize and put into public domain the modalities for accessing the units.”

    The government said investigation is currently on to track down the suspects and prosecute them, assuring residents that full details of the Lagos HOMS programme will be presented and widely publicized at the appropriate time.

     

  • Suswam’s presence stalls opening of nPDP office in Benue

    The presence of Governor Gabriel Suswam stopped the opening of a new Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP) office in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, on Wednesday.

    The Nation gathered that shortly after the formation of the new party by the Kawu Baraje -led faction last month, some aggrieved members of the party in the state had begun plans to open the nPDP office in the state capital.

    A member of the National Assembly who is nursing ambition to succeed Suswam as governor in 2015 is believed to be behind the moves.

    He allegedly sponsored sprinter group to create a new party in Benue and was waiting for Suswam to travel out of the state before hatching his plans on the nPDP office.

    The Chairman of the Benue State chapter of the party, Dr. Emmanuel Agbo, told our correspondent in an interview that there is only one PDP in the state.

    Dr. Agbo, who is the chairman of Conference of PDP chairmen said what, happened in Abuja was a family affairs that would soon be settled.

     

  • Efficiency in public health hampered by acrimony – Jonathan

    Efficiency in public health hampered by acrimony – Jonathan

    President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday maintained that the greatest challenge working against effective and efficient public health sector in the country is the acrimony and rancour among professionals in the system.

    He made the remark while inaugurating a Presidential Committee of Experts on Inter-Professional Relationship in the Public Health Sector headed by former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Yayale Ahmed.

    The inauguration took place before the commencement of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja.

    The President said his decision to set up the committee was to find lasting solution to the series of problems in the sector.

    He said: “It is my pleasure to welcome you to the inauguration of critical committee which I set up in the face of evident challenges in our nation’s public health system occasioned by the frosty and unhealthy relationship between the different professional cadres working in the sector.

    “This state of acrimony has compromised efficiency, effectiveness and proper coordination that thus resulting in health delivery that has not met our administration’s expectations. The direct victims of this unacceptable state of affairs are our people who at the end of the day complain bitterly.”

    Pointing out that the health sector is a cardinal priority of his administration’s transformation agenda as only healthy people can work, he said that attainment of the universal health coverage and the provision of comprehensive health care for all our citizens is a goal the administration has set for itself.

     

     

     

  • APC Senators write Senate

    Senators under the platform of the newly registered All Progressives Congress (APC) have written the Senate to formerly intimate the upper chamber of the birth of the party.

     

    The letter titled: “Notification of the registration of All Progressives Congress (APC) and status of Senators of the merged political parties,” was read on the floor of the chamber by Senate President, David Mark, on Tuesday.

    Senate Minority Leader, Senator George Akume, in the letter drew the attention of the Senate to the fact that Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) provides for the right to peaceful assembly and association.

    Akume also drew the attention of the chamber that Section 84 of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended) on the other hand stipulates the conditions for merger of political parties.

    He noted that in a bid to build a strong, virile and enduring democracy, “the three major progressive political parties, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) resolved to merge and become the All Progressive Congress (APC).

    Akume said that in furtherance to the provisions of Section 84 of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended), a formal request for the registration of APC was sent to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on June, 7, 2013.

    INEC, he said, accordingly granted the request on July 30 to give the birth to the APC.

     

  • Ombatse cult: FG deploys troops to Nasarawa

    The Federal Government has ordered immediate troops’ deployment to Nasarawa State, as members of the dreaded Ombatse ethnic militia continue to threaten the peace and security in the state.

    Director of Army Public Relations, Brigadier Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, who announced the deployment at a briefing on Wednesday, said the troops would be deployed from a battalion of the Nigerian Army.

    The militia group had earlier in the year, ambushed and killed no fewer than 49 policemen and 10 officers of the State Security Service (SSS) at Lakyo village during a joint reconnaissance exercise.

    Members of the militia also inflicted heavy casualties on the civilian population, particularly people who did not belong to their ethnic group, or those perceived to be against their traditional beliefs.

    Ever since, the security situation in the state has continued to take a frightening dimension, with prospects of the violence spreading to neighbouring states.

    “Due to the heightened security situation in Nasarawa State, the Federal Government has ordered the deployment of Nigerian Army troops in order to prevent further escalation of the violence and its spread to other parts of the state.

    “It is gratifying to note that the deployment of Nigerian Army troops in the violence prone area has helped in curbing the spread of violence by the Ombatse and other ethnic militia groups in Nasarawa State. The Federal Government and the Nasarawa State government are exploring other ways of ensuring quick return to normalcy,” Gen. Attahiru stated.

    The Army spokesman also said nine officers and men are currently being tried in a General Court Martial for offenses ranging from murder, manslaughter, issuing threats and use of abusive or provocative language.

    According to him, some of the soldiers were also being tried for fighting, quarreling, disobedience and other tendencies capable of threatening established order.