The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

  • Military launches air raids on Boko Haram camps

    Military launches air raids on Boko Haram camps

    … Several insurgents killed

    Nigerian forces used jets and attack helicopters to bombard suspected Boko Haram camps in the northeast on Friday, killing a number of insurgents, the defense headquarters spokesman said.

    Brigadier-General Chris Olukolade told Reuters by telephone several camps had been attacked, including in the Sambisa game reserve in Borno State, but did not have further details.

    “A number of insurgents have been killed. It is not just Sambisa, every camp is under attack. But we have not done the mopping up operations on the ground to determine the numbers killed,” Olukolade said.

    Military personnel are trying to regain territory controlled by increasingly well-armed Boko Haram members in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States, which were put under a state of emergency by President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday.

    Boko Haram, other Islamist militant groups such as al-Qaeda linked Ansaru and associated criminal gangs have become the biggest threat to stability in Nigeria.

    Thousands have been killed since Boko Haram launched an uprising almost four years ago in an effort to create an Islamic state in a country of about 170 million split roughly equally between Christians, who are the majority in the south, and Muslims, who predominate in the north.

    Violence has mostly happened far from the commercial hub Lagos or political capital Abuja and hundreds of miles away from oilfields in the southeast.

     

  • Hull releases Olofinjana

    Hull releases Olofinjana

    Hull City has released Seyi Olofijana from the club after securing promotion to the English Premier League, Supersport.com reports.

    The former Nigeria international was offloaded along with 11 others, while four players including Senegal veteran, Abdoulaye Faye, were offered new deals.

    Without a Championship start since November, Olofinjana was allowed to join the Championship strugglers Sheffield Wednesday ahead of March’s emergency loan deadline for Football League clubs.

    The move effectively ended his four-year association with the Tigers, and his release on Thursday was confirmation that there will be no place for him as manager Steve Bruce reshapes his squad. His four-year contract was due to expire in June.

    An injury-plagued Olofinjana has dramatically failed to live up to expectations since his £3 million from Stoke City in the summer of 2009.

    Although he spent the 2010/11 season on loan with Cardiff City, he has earned about £6 million in wages during his four years on the Tigers books.

    In return, he made just 24 starts and scored once for the club.

    Olofinjana follows a similar path threaded by compatriot Austin ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha, who was released by Hull City at the end of the 2007/08 season after making only 11 starts for the club.

     

  • Wukari crisis: Police charge 58 to court

    At least 58 people have been charged to court over the May 3 crisis in Wukari in which 39 people were killed and properties destroyed.

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the crisis broke out at a funeral procession of the third in command in the Jukun Traditional Council in Taraba State.

    The crisis was reportedly caused by a disagreement between the Jukuns and Hausa/Fulani community over burial rites.

    The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Jubril Adeniji, told journalists in Jalingo on Thursday that normalcy was gradually returning to the warring communities.

    He said the 24-hour curfew earlier imposed on the area had been reviewed from 4pm to 6am to enable students to attend school.

    “We have charged 58 persons to court in connection with the Wukari crisis.

    “The command has recovered dangerous weapons and looted items from some of the suspects arrested,” Adeniji said.

    The commissioner also said the command had placed all Divisional Police Officers in the area on alert following the declaration of a state of emergency in neighbouring Adamawa by President Goodluck Jonathan.

    “We have deployed enough men to the border areas and urged all the DPOs to be on alert to check the possible infiltration of criminals from states under state of emergency to our state,” he said.

    Adeniji called on the people of the state to always give information to the command to enable it protect them better.

     

  • Jonathan secures Nigerian prisoners’ release in Equatorial Guinea

    Jonathan secures Nigerian prisoners’ release in Equatorial Guinea

    President Goodluck Jonathan has secured the release of 10 prisoners held by Equatorial Guinea for various immigration offences, a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday.

    It said the release of the prisoners was the outcome of President Jonathan’s two-day official visit to the country between March 21 and 22.

    “The host Minister of National Security disclosed that such a gesture had never been officially extended to any illegal immigrant in Equatorial Guinea from any country.

    “Due to the small size of the population of the country, the government was out to keep the influx of foreign nationals in the country at the minimum,” the News Agency of Nigeria quoted the ministry as saying in the statement.

    The statement said the Equatorial government extended the gesture because of “the high esteem and respect” held for Nigeria and President Jonathan.

    The government also approved the immediate issuance of one-year resident permit to the freed Nigerians and directed its ministry of national security to work closely with the Nigerian embassy in the country.

     

  • U.S smugglers ‘linked to terrorists’

    New York officials said they have busted a multi-million dollar cigarette smuggling ring.

    Officials allege that three of the 16 Palestinian immigrants charged had links to known terrorists.

    The state’s attorney general said investigators had recovered only “a fraction” of the proceeds from sales of more than a million untaxed cartons.

    BBC reports that the amount of money involved remains unclear, but records show the suspects deposited at least $55m (£36m).

    The scheme cost the state an estimated $80m in tax revenue, said officials in a press conference on Thursday.

    The alleged ringleaders, brothers Basel and Samir Ramadan, were arrested on Wednesday in Maryland.

    Investigators said they had found $1.5m in cash – some stashed in black plastic bin bags – in the home and car of Basel Ramadan.

    According to police, the scheme involved buying large quantities of cigarette cartons from a wholesaler in Virginia, hiding them in a public storage building in Delaware and bringing them to New York City and upstate New York for sale at markets and grocery stores.

    New York City Police Commissioner, Ray Kelly, said that one of the suspects used to run a business in the 1990s partly funded by Omar Abdel-Rahman, a blind cleric serving a life sentence for a conspiracy to blow up New York City landmarks.

    Another was the “confidant”, Mr. Kelly said, of a Lebanese immigrant convicted of a deadly shooting attack in 1994 on a van full of Jewish students on Brooklyn Bridge.

  • Why FG declared emergency rule in Adamawa – Minister

    Why FG declared emergency rule in Adamawa – Minister

    …Identifies proximity to Cameroon

    .….Emergency to be lifted when normalcy returns

    The Federal Government has given reason for the inclusion of Adamawa State in the proclamation of emergency rule in three northern states in the country.

    The state proximity to Cameroon and the need for the military to have a wide area of coverage was said to be the reason for the inclusion of the state.

    The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Olugbenga Ashiru, disclosed this during Friday’s meeting with foreign diplomats in the country.

    The minister, however, assured that the state of emergency would be lifted immediately normalcy returned to the affected states.

    Besides, he said the dialogue committees on peace would continue their work while the military action is also going on as part of multifaceted approach to arresting the situation.

    He also allayed the diplomats’ fears on human right abuse, assuring them that the military would abide with their rules of engagement.

    The minister said the military authorities would make public their rules of engagement in the troubled states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe.

    He further stressed that the state of emergency is to protect lives and property and to flush-out the insurgent.

    He, however, said as part of the rule of engagement, the military would first give the insurgent the opportunity to surrender and where this fails, they would employ all military action.

    Ambassador Ashiru assured the diplomats who would want to visit the areas of their safety, saying however that would have to be a protected visit.

    He advised those wishing to visit the areas to get clearance from the ministry and the defence ministry.

     

  • Andrew Challenge season 2 begins May 18

    Andrew Challenge season 2 begins May 18

    Season two of Andrews Challenge, Nigeria First Real time online academic competition has been scheduled for May 18- June 17, this year.

    All interested students are to register for the program on the website  www.andrewschallenge.net

    Once a student registered on the website, a link will be sent to his or her e-mail address which he or she must click to be activated. After which he can visit the website to login with his/her username and password

    Andrews Challenge according to the Executive Director of the True Measures Limited, TML, Anuoluwapo Aojobi, organizers of the programme is intended to revamp and escalate the healthy academic rivalry that once existed among students.

    He said the programme offers Fame and financial gains to deserving students who emerge as scholars at the end of the competition.

    He added that Andrews Challenge was set up to motivate students to excel in their academics.

    “At a time when parents are paying so much for their children’s education, it is quite important to compliment the efforts of the parents and teachers by ensuring that students give more attention to their academics.

    “Andrews Challenge is a healthy academic competition that helps students to be smarter than their peers who do not take part in the competition. They also tend to have better understanding of the topics taught at school. Ultimately, Andrews Challenge improves the academic performance of the smart students in their various schools. You can be sure that such students will perform excellently in SSCE, UME, Post UME, IGSCE, diploma exams and other exams done at their level”

    “Though the competition is more of an open test, scholarships go to students with the highest scores and who completed the premium test at the shortest possible time. Each test contains 10 questions which include Mathematics, English, Science, commercial, arts and general knowledge questions.

    “The mission is to award scholarship prices to deserving senior secondary and tertiary students. The Vision is to stimulate to stimulate the reading culture, better educational performances and healthy academic rivalry across the nation.

    “The competition is organized for 100 – 300 level undergraduates, SS1 – SS3 students, external students (those waiting admission), diploma students, OND students and students in College of Education.

    “During the duration of the competition, students can participate anytime anywhere. So either at school, home or cyber cafe, students can conveniently register on the program website www.andrewschallenge.net to participate

    Season one of the competition took place from November 24 – December 10, 2012

    Six outstanding students emerged as winners and were rewarded with scholarship prices

    In the secondary category, the top winner was Victoria Harrison, an SS3 Art Student of St Gloria College, G.R.A. Ikeja while the top winner of the tertiary category was Moses Oloriade, a 300 level student of Mechanical Engineering

    The top winners received N150, 000 each

  • Beckham quits football

    Beckham quits football

    Former England captain, David Beckham, announced on Thursday that he will retire from professional soccer at the end of the season, Supersport.com reports.

    “I’m thankful to PSG for giving me the opportunity to continue but I feel now is the right time to finish my career, playing at the highest level,” the 38-year-old Paris St Germain midfielder said in a statement.

    “I want to thank all my teammates, the great managers that I had the pleasure of learning from. I also want to thank the fans who have all supported me and given me the strength to succeed.”

    Beckham earned 115 caps for England, a record for an outfield player, and won the Champions League, six Premier League titles and two FA Cups with Manchester United.

    He also won league titles with Real Madrid in Spain, LA Galaxy in the United States and PSG in France.

     

  • Sidney Sam dumps Nigeria for Germany

    Sidney Sam dumps Nigeria for Germany

    Bayer Leverkusen midfielder, Sidney Sam, has finally opted to play for Germany ahead of Nigeria after he was called up to the national mannschafft squad ahead of the friendly internationals against the United States and Ecuador in June.

    Sam, who has played for the Germany under-19 team is eligible to play for the Super Eagles and has been courted in recent months by the Nigeria Football Federation and head coach, Stephen Keshi.

    However, Sam may never get to dorn the green-white-green after it was revealed that he had been called up by the Germany coach, Joachin Loew for the friendly matches.

    The NFF has now reacted to the development through an Executive committee member who refused to have his name in print.

    “Keshi won the Nations Cup in South Africa without Sam so I don’t really see it as such a big miss. Besides Sam hardly speaks a word of English and would have struggled to gel with the rest of the bunch. I also hope for his sake, that Sam does not end up like Patrick Owomoyela who went on to represent Germany without any real fruits to show for it,” the NFF member told Supersport.com on Thursday.

    Sam has been capped 19 times at junior level for Germany netting three goals.

     

  • Sultan, CAN sue for peace

    Sultan, CAN sue for peace

    …Ribadu urges politicians to stop ‘fueling crisis’

    The Sultan of Sokoto, Saad Abubakar, on Thursday appealed to Nigerians to embrace peace no matter their religions and tribes.

    He noted that it was in God’s wisdom that He instituted different tribes and religions therefore mankind and specifically Nigerians must tolerate one another for peaceful co-existence.

    He said the crisis and disaffections in the world today is not the making of God, adding that “it is product of man inhumanity to man.”

    While preaching the message of peace in Abuja, through his representative, the Andoma of Doma at the National Consultative Meeting on “the role of religious leaders and traditional rulers in building a culture of peace, national unity and integration”, he cautioned the citizenry not to hurt their compatriots.

    He said since the consequences of religious crisis has not yielded more than destruction, Nigerians should return to the basis that God created mankind equal but man created the colour bar that now bedevils the society.

    According to him, the only quality that exalts a man is his goodness and not religion or tribe.

    He said, “what makes you different before God or what makes you acceptable to God, what endears you to God, is the much of your goodness that has benefited the other person, whether he is of your religion, your colour, your tribe or not.”

    The cleric and traditional ruler appealed to all religious leaders in the country to aggressively preach the sermon of peace and harmony to their congregations.

    The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), President, Ayo Oritseyjafor, agreed with the Sultan’s message of peace, adding that “that any group that desires peace is definitely doing the right thing.”

    For Nigeria to attain a desirable rebirth, the CAN president said the citizenry must do all that is possible to re-establish peace in the country.

    His words: “But let me quickly say that if we must build a new Nigeria, if we must build a great Nigeria, then we must all of us do everything it takes to bring peace.”

    Meanwhile, the former chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Malam Nuhu Ribadu, also appealed to both political and religious leaders to stop fueling crisis in Nigeria.

    “I want to appeal to our own leaders, especially politicians, you have a role to play. Please don’t be putting more fire on this already tense situation,” he said.

    He described the unrest as a global phenomenon, a challenge, which he urged the leaders to tackle head on.