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As the country prepares for its 52nd independence anniversary, the General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church, Pastor Williams Kumuyi, has charged the leadership of the country to remain focused and find solutions to the nation’s problems.

Kumuyi gave the charge while briefing the press in Abuja yesterday on a four-day programme by the church titled Divine Connection for Full Freedom beginning from Friday as part of its activities to mark the independence anniversary.

Kumuyi, who said he would be in Abuja for the programme  between September 28 and October 1, 2012, from where it would be transmitted to other parts of the world, also sympathised with the victims of the recent flood disasters across the country

 The pastor believes it will take a focused leader to take the country to the promised land in the light of all the challenges facing it.

He therefore advised the leaders to look at the future with the belief that the country’s problems will be solved since it was God that put them in positions of authority.

 Kumuyi urged leaders to use of all the resources that God has given to the nation, the manpower, the wisdom the fortitude and everything to make sure that we map out solutions to our problems through the wisdom of God.

The people of Nneyi-Umeri, in Anambra East Local Government Area of Anambra State, have said that the site of the newly-commissioned  Orient Refinery  belong to them, and not Nsugbe community, as  claimed by one of the company’s directors, Mr. Nnaemeka Nwawka.

  The chairman of the Community Development Union, Barrister Eugene Ben Aghaebem, who made the clarifications in an interview with newsmen , demanded an apology from the director.

Aghaebem said: “There is a land case between Nneyi-Umuleri and Offianta, Nsugbe, both in Anambra East LGA of Anambra State, that dates over a century. The case has gone to the Supreme Court of Nigeria and came back to the High Court. Right now, the case is in the Court of Appeal.

“For Nnaemeka Nwawka of Orient Petroleum Resources Ltd, to cede the land to Nsugbe in his interview of August 30, where he said that: ‘The refinery is sited at Nsugbe; in the boundaries between Nsugbe and Umueri’ is prejudging the case that is in the Court of Appeal.

“The Orient Petroleum Resources Ltd has been responsible for the crisis that has bedevilled our community in the recent times, especially since 2005, which has taken so many lives.

“Such statements, as made by an executive Director of Orient Petroleum, Nwawka, is capable of igniting crisis in our area and should be retracted immediately with apologies to the people of Nneyi-Umueri.

“Even when they declare that the land where their refinery is located is Nsugbe, they have continued to deal with some two persons in Nneyi-Umuleri purporting to be on behalf of the community. And we continue to ask: if the land is not ours, why deal with those persons from our town who are not in peace with the entire community?

“The executive directors of Orient Petroleum should know that the era of divide and rule is gone. The world has gone far higher in knowledge and enlightenment and people can get information from their remotest enclave or village.”

Responding to a question, Aghaebem confirmed that Orient Petroleum had been having talks with the community.

 He said: “Yes, even Orient Petroleum’s last meeting with our people, the Nneyi-Umueri, whose land they are taking by force has not been concluded. We want to put them on notice to shelve all evil tactics and come to terms with our people.

It is surprising that the company has refused to come to terms and dialogue with the town union and the entire Umueri, but instead chose to deal with certain individuals. This may not be too comfortable for the smooth running of the refinery as it is better to operate in a peaceful atmosphere.

“Mr. Gabriel Anikpeh, during whose tenure as the President General of Umueri, Orient Petroleum came to the town and signed a land agreement may not be happy to hear that the land he assigned to Orient Petroleum is now referred to as belomnging to Nsugbe.

“The question Orient Petroleum chiefs should answer is whether Anikpeh, the principal person they signed agreement with over land is from Nneyi-Umueri or Nsugbe. Is it the same land Anikpeh assigned to Orient they now refer to as Nsugbe or another?”

“We are peace-loving people, and that is why we are begging and pleading with the Orient Petroleum Resources Ltd to come to a settlement with us.

“We welcome them into our community and are willing to let our lands to them. However, it must be discussed and settled. Their entrance into our community must not be a curse, it must be a blessing.

“We are neighbours with Nsugbe and have lived together peacefully from ages, and by the grace of God, we will continue to live in peace.

“So, we urge Chief Nwawka to immediately retract his statement in a newspaper the same way he announced that deceptive and untrue position over the land, and desist from making statements that are capable of causing crisis. He should also do an apology to the people of Umueri for ceding their land to Nsugbe.”

Also speaking, the immediate-past chairman of Nnenyi-Umueri Community, Brother Sam Onwuegbusi, said: “we never refused to let out our land to the Orient. The only problem we have with them is the size of the land they ask for.

“Orient has refused to dialogue with us, the landlords of the refinery site, instead, it picked one or two people from our community to discuss with.  This was the genesis of the crises in Nneyi Umueri where two youths, Okagbue Nwasolu Mobi and Chioma Ikeli, were killed.

“Orient didn’t feel perturbed, but instead, continued in their divide and rule policy in the community and making statements and conclusions that are capable of causing more crises.

“Like I said earlier, the refinery Orient wants to build is modular and compact that does not require so much space of land. So what does the company need 1200 hectares of land for in this modern world where refineries come in small structures?

“We want to know if Orient is a subsidiary of the Anambra government and Umueri is not in the state capital territory. So what about the public interest that makes it a condition that the owners of the land must be consulted?”

Following the intervention of the  Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu, the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) has suspended its on-going strike in some states of the federation .The teachers are protesting the non-implementation of the 27.5% increase in their salary in some states.

The minister, during a meeting between officials of the Federal Ministry of Education and the NUT leadership, appealed to the union for time to address the issues subject to procedure.

The union agreed to the Minister’s proposal and suspended the strike accordingly.

In May 2008, the NUT issued a 21 – day ultimatum for the implementation of the Teacher’s Salary Scale (TSS).The Ministry of Labour and Productivity intervened at the time while the Governors’ Forum (NGF) also waded in on August 6, 2008 following which an agreement was signed with the union on the 27.5% increase in each State.

Gigi Chao, the daughter of a Hong Kong billionaire says she has been bombarded with marriage proposals – and even nude photographs – from Nigerians and other nationals after her father offered £40 million to the man who could woo her.

Gigi Chao, daughter of property tycoon Cecil Chao, entered a civil partnership with her girlfriend of seven years in a ceremony in Paris five months ago.

But Mr Chao, 76, has told the South China Morning Post that reports of his daughter’s civil ceremony were “false”. He announced the HK$500 million dowry earlier this week.

It has sparked a deluge of offers. Speaking on Thursday Ms Chao, 33, said she had received about 200 proposals and that the number of people following her on Twitter, YouTube and Facebook had jumped by 1,500 since her father’s announcement.

“People are contacting me on Facebook, by email, on Twitter. It’s ridiculous. I can’t sort out the serious proposals from the half-hearted ones. I can’t make head or tail of it,” she told The Daily Telegraph.

Ms Chao, an executive director of her father’s company, Cheuk Nang, said that in addition to receiving enquiries from gentlemen who say they are looking for love and ask her out on a date, she has received some introductions that are less conventional.

Some hopefuls have attached nude photos of themselves or provided information about their financial situations. She has received proposals from all over the world, including Nigeria, India, Turkey and Bulgaria. Numerous bankers have contacted her.

“Some of them had obviously done their research, you know, gone on my Facebook and looked at my background,” she said. “Some of them are quite poetic.”

But far from getting angry at her father, she said she was “touched”.

“At first I was entertained by it, and then that entertainment turned into the realisation and conviction that I am a really lucky girl to have such a loving daddy, because it’s really sweet of him to do something like this as an expression of his fatherly love,” she said.

While Ms Chao knew that her father would go public denying the union, she did not know he would offer the reward. “I think the HK$500 million really came as an afterthought.”

Even though Mr Chao has not accepted the union, Ms Chao said she loved her father and that they had a good relationship. “It’s not that he can’t accept me,” she said. “It’s that he can’t accept how society would view me and the status that it would incur. Marriage is still a form of social status. I do understand him. I understand why he’s doing this.”

She added: “But I don’t appreciate getting 1,500 emails.”

Ms Chao, who also runs Haut Monde Talent, a model management and PR firm, met her partner, Sean Yeung, who also goes by Sean Eav, while they were working together.

Ms Chao she was drawn to Ms Yeung because she was straightforward, not manipulative, honest, had strong family values and cared about her friends deeply. “I’m very happy when I’m with her,” she said.

Ms Chao, who has dated men and women, said she has always been open and honest about her relationships to her family.

However her mother has not accepted her sexuality. Ms Chao recalled that when she told her mother about a relationship with a girl when she was 16 years old, her mother “banged her head against the wall, literally”.

Although they have become more visible in recent years, members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community in Hong Kong are still largely not accepted by the vast majority of the population.

Ms Chao believes gay rights are picking up, but said work was still needed on the social mentality.

Mr Chao is not so conventional himself. He made headlines in 2003 when his Rolls-Royce caught fire while he and his girlfriend were inside.

The tycoon has never married and once claimed to have had “intimate relations” with about 10,000 women.

The Police are to probe fresh clues on the August 6 killing of 17 worshippers at the Deeper Life Bible Church, Okene.

The fresh investigation is at the instance of Inspector General Mohammed Abubakar who has also put on hold the release of three politicians- Yahaya Karaku (ex-Okene LGA chairman), Abubakar Zuberu (ex-Okehi LGA chairman) and Momoh Jimoh- being detained in connection with the attack.

The investigation panel raised to examine the circumstances surrounding the attack had recommended the release of the trio.

The IGP was not convinced by the recommendation in view of the new clues ,it was gathered yesterday.

However,the three former local government chairmen who are the key suspects in the attack and are in detention at the Force Criminal Investigation department (FCID) have initiated a legal action to compel the IGP to release them on bail.

In all ,the police have arrested 18 suspects, including one Abdulmannan Obadeki, who was picked up in Owo, Ondo State.

The FCID ,in its preliminary report, recommended the release of the former local government chairmen and also identified some fresh clues which require further investigation.

A source familiar with the case said: “The preliminary report was submitted about three weeks ago but the IGP, who is a crack detective, believes that the fresh lead must be probed before any of the suspects can be granted bail.

“So, as I am talking to you, the IGP is on top of the situation, he wants the investigators to get to the roots of the killings.

“It is the view of IGP and his team that all sides to the case must be probed instead of the team jumping into conclusion that the murder might not have political undertones.

“The antecedents of some of the suspects, especially their involvement in political violence, made the IGP to insist on investigation of fresh clues.

“As I am talking to you, some of these investigators have been shuttling between Abuja and Lokoja. The target is to get to the roots of the murder.”

Responding to a question, the source said: “The Police Force is not in hurry to release the former local government chairmen because more information is being gathered on their activities.

“This investigation is not personal but we have been directed by the IGP to ensure a thorough job.”

Asked if the probe was not taking a long time, the source added: “It pays to do a better job than a sordid one. We are aware of the expectations of the public.”

Meanwhile, the police source confirmed that Yahaya Karaku (ex-Okene LGA chairman) and Abubakar Zuberu (ex-Okehi LGA chairman) have asked a High Court to compel the IGP to release them on bail.

But the source said: “The allegations border on criminal matters and investigation is on. In their application in court, they are seeking the enforcement of their fundamental human rights.

“If there is a definite pronouncement or order from the court, the Police will honour it. So far, we have not got any at all.”

There was confusion and palpable anxiety among aviation personnel yesterday after the Federal Government redeployed some key officials in aviation agencies.

The staff redeployment, it was learnt, is part of the restructuring of the aviation agencies under the transformation agenda of the administration.

The redeployment affected top management officials who were moved from their former duty posts to different agencies.

 

Among those affected is Mrs.Elizabeth Agom who was moved from the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) as director of finance to the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) in the same capacity.

Also affected is the general manager, finance of NAMA, Nuhu Ozigi who was sent to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA),

The company secretary of the same agency, was redeployed to the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria.

Investigations reveal that some directors in the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) were sent packing for unknown reasons.

No official reason was given for the redeployment as none of the officers within the affected agencies was willing to speak on the development.

However, the special adviser to the aviation minister on media, Joe Obi said government has been planning to carried out some restructuring in the aviation sector as part of institutional reforms aimed at improving service delivery for personnel in the sector.

Obi explained that he could not confirm whether the restructuring had commenced.

A high powered investigation team set up by the Inspector General of Police, (IGP), Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar, to probe the murder of newly wedded Mr Ugochukwu Ozuah ,has arrived Lagos.

Ozuah was allegedly killed by policemen at UPS bus stop on the Oshodi/Oworonshoki expressway on Thursday, September 20,five days after his wedding.

Spokesperson for the command,Miss Ngozi Braide has denied the involvement of policemen in the killing.

She said Ozuah was killed by armed robbers and not policemen, adding that the principal witness in the alleged murder, Mr Iriekfe Omeme who is supposed to assist police in its investigation hurriedly returned to his base in the United Kingdom.

Braide also denied that Omeme made a written statement at the Anthony police station where the incident was reported contrary to Ozuah’s family members claims.

The public out-cry which the incident has generated in the last one week prompted the IGP to raise the investigating team to unmask the killers of Ozuah.

It was gathered that the team which is led by a Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mr Chris Ezike is saddled with the responsiblity of probing Ozuah’s murder.

The investigation team has appealed to those who may have any useful information on the murder to come forth with such.

Braide who confirmed the arrival of the team in Lagos, said: “ The team has therefore released the following dedicated phone lines for purposes of interaction and information gathering from members of the public. The phone numbers are, 07084427555, 08184733777 and 07067722456. The first numbers are already open and functional while the last number 07067722456 will start functioning from 1200hrs tomorrow 29/9/2012”.

She added: “The Commissioner of police Lagos State Command wishes to use this medium to appeal to members of the public, especially Ozuah’s family to remain calm and be patient as justice will be done and the perpetrators of this dastardly act will be brought to book.”

Dana Air Limited and two others yesterday lost in a bid to ensure further stay of the coroner’s inquest into the circumstances surrounding the crash of its passenger plane in Lagos on June 3.

About 153 passengers perished in the mishap, majority of whom have yet to be physically interred, while their families are yet to be compensated, prompting the state government to initiate the inquest.

In a ruling yesterday, Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Lagos did not only refuse applications by a private body, the Civil Aviation Roundtable Initiative (CARI), its President, Captain Dele Ore and Dana Air, but vacated an earlier interim order for stay of the inquest pending the determination of the motion for intertlocutory injunctions.

CARI and Ore had sued the Coroner, Oyetade Komolafe, the Lagos State Chief Coroner, the state Chief Judge, and the Attorney-General of the state and seven others, challenging the propriety of the inquest.

It is part of the plaintiffs’ contention that it is only the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) that is empowered by law to investigate air travel accidents in the country.

The plaintiffs also accompanied the substantive suit with an application for interlocutory injunction for stay of the inquest pending the determination of the suit.

Although the 1st to 4th defendants ( the Coroner and Lagos State officials) opposed the application, Dana (named as the 8th defendant) filed a separate application supporting the plaintiffs’ prayer for interlocutory injunction.

Ruling yesterday, Justice Abang held that granting the application would amount to a waste of time as issues raised in them were similar to those canvassed in the substantive suit.

“I could not agree with the learned counsel for the plaintiff, Collins Ogbonna, that the refusal of the application will foist on the court a situation of fait accompli.

“This is because if the plaintiffs at the end of the day succeed in their claim, all the steps taken by the 1st to 4th defendants will be set aside and accordingly nullified.

“Accelerated hearing of the suit is hereby ordered.”

“The interim order I made on August 28 is hereby discharged and is accordingly vacated.”

The judge held that the issues raised in support and against the application for interlocutory injunction were “substantially the same” and as such, granting it would amount to impinging on the substance of the substantive suit.

He further held that it will also amount to shutting out the 5th to 10th defendants that had not been heard in the suit.

“The issues raised by the parties for and in opposition in the application for interlocutory injunction are substantially the same issues raised by the parties in support and in opposition in the main originating summons.

“If I decide the issue raised by the plaintiffs now, the court would have decided the main matter in an interlocutory application without hearing all the parties in the suit.”

Justice Abang awarded N10,000 cost against the applicants, in favour of the 1st to 4th defendants who had opposed the application.

Other defendants in the suit include the Attorney-General of the Federation, the Ministry of Aviation, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, the Accident Investigation Bureau, the Nigeria Airspace Management Authority and Dana Air.

An Egyptian-American man behind an anti-Islam film that has stoked violent protests across the Muslim world was arrested on Thursday in California for allegedly violating his probation, and a federal judge ordered him jailed without bond.

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, 55, was taken into custody at an undisclosed location by U.S. marshals and brought to court in Los Angeles still wearing his street clothes but handcuffed and shackled at the waist.

Nakoula has been under investigation by probation officials looking into whether he violated the terms of his 2011 release from prison on a bank fraud conviction while making the film, though authorities have said they were not probing the movie itself.

“The court has a lack of trust in the defendant at this time,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Suzanne Segal said in refusing Nakoula’s request for bail at a hearing in U.S. District Court.

His crudely made 13-minute video was filmed in California and circulated online under several titles including “Innocence of Muslims.”

The clip sparked a torrent of anti-American unrest in Egypt, Libya and dozens of other Muslim countries over the past two weeks. The violence coincided with an attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that killed four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya.

Nakoula, under the terms of his release from jail, has been barred from accessing the Internet or using aliases without the permission of a probation officer, court records show. He now faces eight probation violation accusations.

In denying his request for bail, Segal called him a flight risk and said the Coptic Christian filmmaker who most recently lived in the Los Angeles suburb of Cerritos had “engaged in a lengthy pattern of deception,” including using several aliases.

Nakoula has stayed out of the public eye for much of the past two weeks, amid outrage over the film.

A lawyer for Nakoula expressed concern in court on Thursday for his client’s safety and asked that the hearing be closed to the media.

Reporters were not allowed into the hearing but watched from a specially arranged viewing room a block away, and the judge ordered that a camera filming the proceedings for closed-circuit viewing not show Nakoula’s face.

Defence attorney Steve Seiden, in asking for Nakoula’s release on $10,000 bond, argued unsuccessfully that he had stayed in touch with probation officials even while in hiding.

“It’s a danger for him to be in custody at Metropolitan Detention Center due to the large Muslim population there,” Seiden said, referring to the federal jail in downtown Los Angeles where Nakoula would likely be housed.

But prosecutors said Nakoula, who could be sent back to prison for up to two years if he is found to have violated the terms of his release, had been dishonest with the court, even about his name.

“Most specifically, he did not accurately present himself as who he was to the people he cast in the film,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Dugdale, adding that in his view, Nakoula would be safer behind bars.

The probation issues were the latest of Nakoula’s legal woes. On Wednesday, an actress who says she was duped into appearing in the film sued Nakoula, who she identified as the producer. Cindy Lee Garcia also named YouTube and its parent company, Google Inc., as defendants in the case.

No fewer than 500 intending pilgrims to Mecca, in Saudi Arabia were yesterday dispersed at the Hajj and Cargo terminal of the Murtala Mohammed Airport (MMA), Lagos where they were supposed to assemble for take off to the holy land due to the suspension of the exercise by the Federal Government.

The intending pilgrims had been keeping vigil at the camp hoping to be airlifted to Mecca for the exercise, but their hopes were dashed yesterday when they learnt that they would not be airlifted from the Lagos Airport by the designated carrier, Med-View Airlines.

It was observed that some of the intending pilgrims who had spent close to two days at the camp and hoping to be airborne by Friday night were disappointed when they learnt that they would not be airlifted any longer and were told to leave the camp to return on Monday.

It was however learnt that the Federal Government through the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria may resume airlifting of pilgrims on Sunday, following the resolution of the impasse with the Saudi Arabian authorities by the Federal Government of Nigeria.

However, the Director, Public Affairs, NAHCON, Alhaji Uba Manna, declined comment on the issue, saying that his boss was still in a meeting with the Federal Government delegation.

Manna informed that the NAHCON boss will inform journalists of the outcome of the meeting.

The Saudi Arabian authorities had since this week been repatriating Nigerian pilgrims due to an alleged irregular papers.

So far, over 600 female pilgrims and a male had been deported from Saudi Arabia due to the issue.

As at the time of filing in this report, some pilgrims from Oyo and Osun States were still being expected at the Lagos Airport.