The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Tension

  • Tension in Anambra over lawmaker’s kidnap

    The kidnap of the member representing Onitsha South I constituency in the Anambra State House of Assembly has heightened tension in the state.

    Emeka Aniegbonam, a doctor and an Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) member, was abducted from his clinic in Fegge, Onitsha, by three gunmen.

    His abductors are demanding N50 million for his freedom, it was gathered yesterday.

    A source said the suspects called a lawmaker’s phone and demanded N50 million.

    The phone was switched off immediately.

    Some lawmakers have switched off their phones and gone into hiding.

    Some of them who spoke with The Nation yesterday refused to comment on the matter.

    One of them said he had no capacity to speak on the matter as the House standing committees were dissolved on Tuesday.

    The reconstitution of the committees, according to the Assembly’s spokesman, Fidelis Nwakwesili, would be done on the next adjourned date, which is April 16.

    Police spokesman Emeka Chukwuemeka said the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations), Adyole Abey, has relocated to Onitsha.

    “These boys have bitten more than they can chew and this command cannot allow such a thing to continue, enough is enough,” Chukwemeka said.

    In a related development, a bank manager in Onitsha and a woman were yesterday kidnapped at Nkpor near Onitsha

    Though Chukwuemeka could not confirm the incidents, a security source said they were on the trail of the suspects.

    The source said the two incidents happened between 4.30 and 5.15pm.

  • OBJ’s Kaduna visit stirs Jonathan, Sambo tension

    OBJ’s Kaduna visit stirs Jonathan, Sambo tension

    In what could become a replay of what transpired between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and his then deputy, Atiku Abubakar, between 2003 and 2007, culminating in a sharp division within the Presidency, there are strong indications that the cordial relationship between President Goodluck Jonathan and Vice-President Namadi Sambo may have turned frosty.

    Sources revealed that this development is the alleged aftermath of the recent visit of Obasanjo to Kaduna some days ago to commiserate with the people and government of the state on the death of former governor, Patrick Yakowa, in the helicopter crash which occurred in Bayelsa State last month.

    But according to security reports made available to the president, Obasanjo’s sympathy visit was a decoy to achieve another objective: mobilise influential traditional rulers in the state against the alleged second term ambition of the president and canvass support for the return of power to the north.

    What particularly peeved the president, sources said, is the alleged role played by the Vice President in facilitating the meeting between Obasanjo and traditional rulers without taking his boss into confidence.

    At the said meeting, the former president was alleged to have impressed it on the traditional rulers led by the Emir of Zazzau, Alhaji Shehu Idris, on the imperative of ensuring that the presidency returns to the north in 2015, and the urgent need to start mobilising the people and major stakeholders to back the project.

    While he was alleged to have admitted to his audience that he supported the president to win the last general elections, sources privy to the outcome of the meeting said that Obasanjo told the traditional rulers that the ‘agreement’ he had with Jonathan was for the president to spend only one term in office.

    The former president reportedly told his hosts that his recent public criticism of the present administration was borne out of his findings that the president is allegedly bent on contesting for another term in office.

    Though The Nation could not confirm the response of the traditional rulers to Obasanjo’s speech it was, gathered that palpable unease currently reigns in the Presidency since the vice-president returned to the seat of power from Kaduna.

    All of these developments come as reports that the president may have decided to drop Sambo as his running mate for the 2015 presidential election in favour of an unnamed northern governor continue to gather steam within the political circles.

    This alleged plot, it was gathered, was a strategic move to polarise the rank of the northern governors, a few of whom are alleged to be interested in contesting the Presidency come 2015.

     

  • Tension in Imo as thugs invade council offices

    Tension in Imo as thugs invade council offices

    •Govt: Okorocha won’t use hoodlums 

    The local government crisis in Imo State yesterday deepened as armed thugs invaded some council secretariats on alleged order of the state government.

    The thugs were suspected to be members of the Imo Security Network.

    They were allegedly led by some government officials who stormed the offices of the chairmen and whisked them away to an unknown location.

    The 27 chairmen were disengaged by the government on the grounds that their tenure had expired.

    But the council chiefs have refused to vacate their offices over the claim that their tenure would expire in 2013.

    Speaking with The Nation, the Secretary of the state chapter of the All Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) and Chairman of Ngor-Opkala Local Government Area, Enyinna Onuegbu, said 50 hoodlums invaded Owerri North and abducted its Chairman, Eric Ogwo and his secretary.

    They were allegedly taken to the Government House in Owerri.

    Onuegbu said: “The government officials, who supervised the raid, said they were directed by the state government to arrest all of us because our tenure had lapsed. After manhandling my colleagues for about two hours, they were dumped at a police station to make it look like a police action.

    “But the police, realising that the matter is sub judice, as the Federal High Court had ordered us to maintain status quo as council chairmen, released my colleagues. This further confirms the lack of respect for rule of law by the Imo State Government.”

    But the Special Assistant to the Governor on Media, Ebere Uzoukwa, denied the allegation.

    He said: “Governor Rochas Okorocha cannot engage thugs to effect arrest council chairmen, since he has unrestricted access to the police. But the tenure of the chairmen has lapsed and they do not have any more business in the council.”

     

  • Tension mounts as Saudi shuts out more Nigerians

    Tension mounts as Saudi shuts out more Nigerians

    Nigeria and Saudi Arabia were struggling yesterday to avert a diplomatic row, even as another batch of 512 pilgrims were brought back home, following the refusal of the authorities to allow them entry.

    House Speaker Aminu Tambuwal and the Saudi Ambassador, Mr. Khaled Abrabuh, met in Abuja.

    One of the pilgrims is a man, who could not understand why his wife was disallowed from performing the Hajj along with him.

    The refusal of the authorities to allow the man’s wife to join him raised fresh fears in government circles that there might be more to the hostility of Saudi Arabia against Nigeria.

    Besides, Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdul-Azizal –Saud has not given the Federal Government’s delegation to be led by Tambuwal the green light.

    The delegation has been on “standby” in the last 24 hours without any response from the Saudi authorities.

    The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria’s (NAHCON ‘s) Head of Media Unit, Mana Uba, said: “Efforts are still on to resolve the issue. But, as I am talking to you now, out of the 1,200 pilgrims denied entry in Jeddah, 510 are on their way. Among them is a male pilgrim, who has decided not to perform the Hajj because his wife was not allowed to enter Saudi Arabia.

    159 Nigerians were brought back on Wednesday.

    Yesterday, the pilgrims were brought back to home through the Aminu Kano International Airport in Kano.

    They are from Katsina, Taraba, Adamawa and Oyo states.

    Two lorries with registration number KT40A28 and KT41A28 were at the Hajj Terminal, to evacuate the Katsina pilgrims.

    Those from other states were taken to Kabo Guest Inn.

    “These pilgrims were flown to Saudi Arabia by Max Air, but another carrier, Meridien, is assisting to bring them back, based on a mutual arrangement.

    “I think the carrier that flew them to Saudi Arabia does not want to subject them to any further hardship because they had remained at the airport.”

    On attempts being made to resolve the impasse, Uba added: “We are optimistic that the Federal Government team will be able to resolve this challenge.”

    A government source said: “The government team is still in Abuja, the King of Saudi has not given a date to meet with them.

    “What is apparent now is that the motive of Saudi Arabia in denying our pilgrims entry was not about Muharrams (male guardians) as being claimed. Why will the wife of a male pilgrim be denied the company of her husband after meeting the regulations spelt out by Saudi?

    “It is insulting to ask Nigerian delegation to wait for clearance before going to Saudi Arabia.”

    The NAHCON National Commissioner in charge of operations, Alhaji Abdullahi Muhammad, said government will transport back to Nigeria all the 908 women pilgrims detained in Saudi Arabia. He spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

    He said that the commission had no choice but to bring back the pilgrims as the Saudi authorities insisted that they must be brought back.

    The chairman of the commission, Mallam Muhammad Bello, had on Wednesday told the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs that the Mahram issue was never discussed now with the Saudi officials.

    He said the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) it signed with the Saudi government for the 2012 Hajj had no provision on the issue.

    Bello said the issue came up when some Nigeria pilgrims arrived at the King Abdul’azeez Airport, Jeddah on Sept. 23, adding that only Nigerian pilgrims were subjected to such treatment.

    Muhammad regretted that the Saudi authorities had rebuffed all diplomatic moves by the commission and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

    The commission on Wednesday suspended the transportation of pilgrims to Saudi Arabia for 48 hours to resolve the matter.

    So far, 24,886 of the 95,000 pilgrims have been transported to Saudi Arabia by the commission.

    No fewer than 102 women intending pilgrims from Sokoto State were yesterday returned home.

    The situation has delayed the airlift of the first batch of 500 pilgrims from Niger State slated for airlifting yesterday. The trip was cancelled in compliance with the suspension of airlifting of pilgrims directive.

    Niger State Pilgrims Welfare Commission spokesman Alhaji Sani Awwal said in Minna yesterday that the commission compiled with the NAHCON directive. “Therefore, we aborted our planned inaugural flight to Saudi Arabia today (yesterday).  “We had finished the screening of the 500 intending pilgrims from Mashegu, Paikoro and Mariga local government areas but when the message of the suspension reached us, we complied with it.

    “The pilgrims were already at the Minna International Airport after the completion of their screening at the Hajj Camp, while the carrier, MAX Airline had stationed its plane on the tarmac waiting, when the suspension came into effect.

    “We have, therefore, returned the pilgrims to the Hajj Camp, awaiting further directive from NAHCON. Appropriate measures had been taken toward ensuring the comfort of our pilgrims at the camp, including free feeding and medical care,“ he said.

    Awwal assured intending pilgrims that the commission is determined to ensure that all of them are transported to Saudi Arabia immediately the issues concerning the female intending pilgrims are resolved.

    An official has suggested that Nigeria and Saudi authorities should work out laws to accommodate elderly women who have lost their husbands.

    “The laws should also work out ways to accommodate rich women who are capable of sponsoring themselves to the Holy Land without depending on any man as guide,” Alhaji Salisu Musa, Executive Secretary, Plateau Pilgrims Welfare Board, said in Jos.