The Nation Newspaper

Tag: protests

  • Protests as Bayelsa evicts flood victims

    DISPLACED flood victims in Bayelsa State were over the weekend evicted from the emergency relief camp amid protests.

    The aggrieved victims were seen being thrown into waiting vehicles with The Special Adviser to Governor Seriake Dickson on Security Matters, Lt. Col. Bernard Kenebai(Rtd), leading a combined team of security personnel, to carry out the eviction.

    The exercise drew tears from children and women at the camp.

    The victims accused the Chairman of the Bayelsa Flood Relief Management Committee, Rear Admiral John Jonah, of ordering their eviction.

    They also accused members of the committee of diverting funds and relief materials meant for them.

    The eviction exercise came on the heel of Governor Dickson’s dissatisfaction with the handling of the camp.

    This, it was gathered, informed the inclusion of local government management teams in the committee for grassroots impact.

    The victims queried the rationale behind the forceful eviction.

    The Secretary of the Elders Council coordinating all the camps, Mr. Leigha Nathaniel, accused government of using intimidation to effect the eviction.

    He said: “Security agents are being used against us to force us out of the camp. We don’t have anything to fall back on in our homes when we get back to our communities”.

    Other victims pleaded for provision of money to facilitate their return home.

    One of them said: “Some of us will not move anywhere until they give us money to return home.

    “Look at policemen and soldiers everywhere ready to arrest us but we don’t care.

    “It is better they arrest us here than to go home and suffer.”

    The Press Secretary of the Deputy Governor, who is the Chairman of the Relief Committee, Mr. Envison, alleged “lots of cultists have infiltrated the camps.”

    The Commissioner of Information, Mark Fefebgha, blamed the committee’s failure on opponents of the government.

    Fefebgha, who is a member of the committee, also accused coordinators in various camps of registering fictitious names.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Bakassi: Cross River Assembly protests

    Bakassi: Cross River Assembly protests

    •Imoke: Justice can still be done

    The Cross River State House of Assembly yesterday accused the Federal Government of being part of an international conspiracy to frustrate Cross River and Bakassi people.

    It asked the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, to resign.

    This follows the government’s position not to seek a review of the 2002 International Court of Justice (ICJ) judgment, which ceded Bakassi to Cameroon.

    The 25 members of the Assembly marched in protest from the Assembly Complex to the Governor’s Office to register their grouse.

    Speaker Larry Odey, who led the protest, was diplomatic.

    Odey said they only came to find out from the governor, if there was any positive development in the direction of the review, but other members were more direct in expressing their bitterness.

    Mr. Saviour Nyong (Bakassi Constituency) said: “We are very perplexed that the Federal Government, with the mandate of Nigerians and by extension, the mandate of the people of Cross River State and Bakassi, to defend us, has only played politics with the people of Bakassi.

    “One therefore wonders if Nigeria is an independent nation, because no nation in the history of the world has given out its own territory on a platter of gold.

    “We have heard of other ICJ judgments that have been given more than three to four decades ago, yet, no Green Tree Agreement has been reached, talkless of its implementation.

    “So one wonders the haste in the ceding of Bakassi. In my own words, I term it to be an international conspiracy against the people of Bakassi and Cross River State, which was made possible because our leadership was part of it.”

    Mr. John Gaul Lebo (Abi Constituency) said: “This shows clearly that there is a conspiracy by the Federal Government. First by the President’s setting up of a shadow presidential committee less than three days to the expiration of the 10 years we had to seek a review.

    “Two, it is not for the AGF to say that documents presented before him are no fresh and credible facts. He is not the court. The ICJ provision under Article 33 provides that every new evidence must be presented before the ICJ. The ICJ has the jurisdiction to determine whether that evidence is credible or not. As AGF, it is a conspiracy against the people of Nigeria for him to say to the press that that evidence is not a fresh and verifiable evidence.

    “It is not the business of Cross River State or the people of Bakassi because we are only a part of the Federation. We have no locus standi to go to the ICJ.”

    Mr Agbiji Agbiji (Ikom 1) said: “Nigerians have called for a review. If the president fails to carry out the mandate of the people, the constitution says no treaty can be implemented without the resolution of the National Assembly. So the question is which constitution is the president upholding? Which constitution is he operating?”

    Mr. Jake Enya (Boki 2) said: “The Federal Government should listen to the voice of the majority of the people which says that this ICJ judgment must be reviewed.

    Mr. Joseph Bassey (Calabar South 2) said the legislators will embark on a hunger strike and prayers, so that everyone involved in the ceding of Bakassi should die.

    Governor Liyel Imoke said: “The very intractable problem of Bakassi is a problem which I have been careful to manage, so we do not politicise it because there are a number of humanitarian considerations, security issues and of course being a part of a country, Cross River State on its own has no locus to file an action at the ICJ.

    “So what is important is that the authorities at the federal level understand the pain the people here feel and the consequences of the judgment on the people.

    “There are a lot of grievances, pain and hurt, and we can only appeal to everyone at this time to remain calm and understand that there are processes and procedures that are followed in cases of this nature.

    “All hope is not lost. We may have reached the end of one stage of this struggle but I believe there is still an opportunity to address some of the real challenges that the ceding of Bakassi has brought upon the people.

    So, yes, we may not meet the deadline for a review. I hope we do and we still have a few hours to be considered, but in the event that we do not, I believe very strongly that there are still other opportunities which we will pursue to ensure that justice is done.”

     

  • Imo community protests oil spillage at Shell’s pipeline

    Residents of Umudike in Ohaji-Egbema Local Government Area of Imo State yesterday protested a massive crude oil spillage on the Umudike-Assa-Rumuekpe oil pipeline owned by the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).

    The protesters accused SPDC of neglect, hazardous practices and inhuman treatments.

    They said the protest was to prevent the company from hurriedly covering up the spillage without undertaking the required Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to determine the extent of the damage on the environment.

    According to them, this was not the first time a spillage would occur without the company compensating the community.

    The community said: “In 1997, there was a spillage that was poorly handled by the company. In 2001, there was another massive oil spillage, which resulted in an explosion and burnt over 13 people to death. Several others were badly burnt and incapacitated.”

    Speaking on the scene of the spillage, which was manned by heavily armed soldiers, the community’s youth leader, Mr. Ogini Reginald, said: “This is not the first time they have done this act of sabotage and we are prepared to resist them until the right thing is done. Since this company came into this community in 1964, it has not done anything to improve the living standard of the people. There are no hospitals, schools, good roads and over 100 graduates from this community are unemployed.”

    The protesters demanded, among other things, that SPDC removes its old pipes and replaces them with new ones to avoid spillage, compensation to the community for environmental damage from previous incidents and provision of employment opportunities for youths.

    A 99-year-old woman, Mama Felicia, tearfully said their land is no longer fertile for agriculture.

    The traditional ruler of Umudike Autonomous community, Ezeali James Nwanro, said: “When the spillage occurred, SPDC contacted me, and I told them to carry out their preliminary assessment to ascertain if the spillage was an act of sabotage or equipment failure before the issue of compensation should arise.”

  • Seven killed as protests against film spread in Mideast

    Seven killed as protests against film spread in Mideast

    •Pope in Lebanon calls for peace

    At least seven people died yesterday as angry demonstrations against an anti-Islam film spread to their widest extent yet around the Middle East and other Muslim countries. Protesters smashed into the German Embassy in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, and  set part of it on fire and climbed the walls of the U.S. Embassy in Tunis, waving an Islamist banner.
    Tunisia’s official news agency said  two people  died and 29 others  injured in protests outside the U.S. Embassy in Tunis.
    Three deaths were recorded in Sudan and one each in Egypt and Lebanon bringing the toll to seven at press time.
    The Tunisia State news agency-TAP- said  both people killed were demonstrators, while the injured include protestors and police.
    Pope Benedict XVI appealed for peace and reconciliation among religions same day as the violence spilled over into Lebanon within hours of his arrival in the tumultuous region.
    The pope flew into Lebanon for a three-day visit despite the recent unrest — including civil war in Syria, a mob attack that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans in Libya, and a string of violent protests across the Middle East stemming from the film, produced in the United States, which insults Islam.
    “I have come to Lebanon as a pilgrim of peace,” the 85-year-old pope said upon arrival in Beirut, speaking under a canopy at the airport on a sultry afternoon. “As a friend of God and as a friend of men.”
    He denounced religious fundamentalism, calling it “a falsification of religion.”
    The crowd at the pope’s arrival was small as security kept most people away from Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport, which is named after a former prime minister who was assassinated in a 2005 bombing that some blame on the regime in Syria.
    The pontiff was welcomed by top leaders, including the Lebanese president, prime minister and parliament speaker, as well as Christian and Muslim religious leaders. Cannons fired a 21-shots salute for the pope.
    “Let me assure you that I pray especially for the many people who suffer in this region,” he said.
    But just hours after the pope arrived, violence erupted in northern Lebanon over  the film “Innocence of Muslims.”
    es the Prophet Muhammad, portraying him as a fraud, a womanizer and a child molester.
    According to Lebanese security officials, a crowd angry over the film set fire to a KFC and a Hardee’s restaurant in the port city of Tripoli, 85 kilometers north of Beirut, sparking clashes with police. Police then opened fire, killing one of the attackers, the officials said.
    At least 25 people were wounded in the melee, including 18 police who were hit with stones and glass. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.
    Earlier Friday, speaking to reporters aboard his plane, the pope said he never considered canceling the trip for security reasons, adding that “no one ever advised (me) to renounce this trip and personally, I have never considered this.”
    Protests were held in cities from Tunisia to Pakistan after the Jumat prayers, where many clerics in their mosque sermons called on congregations to defend their faith, denouncing obscure movie produced in the United States that denigrated the Prophet Muhammad.
    The spread of protests comes after attacks earlier this week on the U.S. Embassies in Cairo and the Yemeni capital Sanaa and on a U.S. consulate in Libya, where the ambassador and three other Americans were killed.
    After standing aside earlier this week in the face of protesters, security forces in Yemen and Egypt fired tear gas and clashed with protesters yesterday to keep them away from U.S. embassies.
    Egypt  president, Mohammed Morsi, went on state TV and urged Muslims to protect foreign diplomatic missions — his first direct public move to contain protests.
    “It is required by our religion to protect our guests and their homes and places of work,” he said. He also condemned the killing of the American ambassador in Libya, saying it was unacceptable in Islam. “To God, attacking a person is bigger than an attack on the Kaaba,” he said, referring to Islam’s holiest site in Mecca.
    His speech was an apparent attempt to repair strained relations with the United States, which was angered by his slow response to Tuesday night’s assault on the embassy in Cairo. Police did nothing to stop protesters from climbing over the embassy walls, and Morsi