The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) on Wednesday has accused the Presidency of scaring Nigerians with the rhetoric of subversion.
Responding to the alarm raised over the alleged attempt to overthrow President Muhammadu Buhari, the Director, Publicity and Advocacy of the Forum, Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, asked the current administration to deal with the problems facing the country.
The NEF said that there was no point telling Nigerians that some unnamed citizens were plotting a forceful and undemocratic change of leadership in the country if the Presidency could not use the mechanism available to it to deal with the situation.
He challenged the Presidency to mention the plotters it claimed were recruiting some leaders of ethnic groups and the alleged ethnic groups.
According to Baba-Ahmed ; “Subversion is a crime, sedition is a crime and treason is a crime. Why is the Presidency or DSS telling us that there are people who are involved in these activities? What do they want the public to do with the information? They are failing twice; first of all, they are failing to eliminate the ground which gives these kinds of elements if they do exist, the reason to do what they are doing and then they are failing in enforcing the law.
“I can say we talk with other groups, we discuss national issues. That is our right; there is nothing illegal in that and I am sure other groups do the same thing. But when you throw this kind of blanket accusations that somebody that you haven’t told us, someone, that you are in opposition today with, you haven’t dealt with is engaging and recruiting sociocultural groups, you have to wonder are you just using words to scare citizens?”
The Governor of Edo State , Godwin Obaseki has hinted that Nigerians have no other choice than to work collectively to rescue the nation from insecurity and other challenges.
He gave this hint on Tuesday in Benin while receiving members of the South-South Zone Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by its National Vice Chairman, South-south, Chief Dan Orbih.
While identifying insecurity as one of the country’s biggest challenges, Obaseki blamed mismanagement of the nation’s economy for the worrisome trend.
According to him; “The way the ruling party has managed and mismanaged the economy of this country is the reason why we are having the level of insecurity that we are facing today. The lawlessness, indiscipline by the ruling party has brought us to where we are.
“We should not lose hope in Nigeria but focus on how to create confidence to give our people hope by managing the country well. The challenges of insecurity just show the dysfunctionality of our federal system.
“We run a federation; we have three tiers of government: Federal, State and Local Governments. Why should security be exclusive to the federal level? What happened to the other two? Until we address that structural imbalance, we are not going to be able to deal with security at its core.”
He also noted that it is only the PDP that can help the president solve the problem but not his party.
“Let us as party men and Nigerians help rescue the nation and call on those that have the capacity to rescue Nigeria. Security is local and we can rescue this nation; that is why Edo is relatively peaceful,”
“In the South-South, we must stand up to defend ourselves economically, politically and security wise. We have pretenders in the region who try to exploit the region and we must stop them.
Speaking earlier, Orbih stressed the need for the region to have its own security network to check insecurity and protect the people in the region.
“We appeal to you to lead the stand for state policing. It’s time to rejig the security architecture of Nigeria. We urge you to lend your voice to the struggle to make the country safe for all.”
The House of Representatives has revealed that annually, Nigeria loses a whopping sum of 70 million (USD) to Chinese and other European Trawlers due to illegal fishing activities in the nations waters as observed by the Nigerian Navy in 2017.
The House also resolved to bring to an end incidence of illegal fishing activities by foreign vessels on Nigeria’s territorial waters.
Meanwhile , the House at its plenary session on Wednesday mandated its committee on Agriculture and Services to investigate the matter and report back to it within 3 weeks.
The resolutions also urged the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, the Nigerian Navy and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to put measures in place to curb illegal fishing activities on Nigeria’s waters.
The House also urged the Federal Government to review its licensing policy that tends to favour foreign trawlers at the expense of their local counterparts and encourage indigenous investments into this agricultural sector.
While also calling on the Federal Government to prevail on the Gulf of Guinea Commission to urgently introduce a legally binding framework to check excessive fishing or overfishing in the Region
These were contained in a motion on notice brought by Hon. Patrick Ifon, who noted that “fish is one of the healthiest food on the planet as it contains nutrients such as vitamin D that is a great source of Omega–3, Folic Acid which is important for body and brain development, thereby contributing about 40% of the country’s protein intake”.
“Nigeria as a nation with large coastal area is rich in marine species, yet over half of the fish being consumed are imported from China and Netherland, thus placing Nigeria’s production of fish at 759.828 metric tons annually, according to the Report of the World Fish Centre in 2017;
“Nigeria is the 4th largest importer of fish in the world with about 2 million metric tons per annum for an estimated population of over 200 million people,” he said.
The lawmaker expressed worries that despite Nigeria non-fishing agreement and arrangements with distant nations such as China and the European Union, illegal fishing on Nigeria’s waters persists due to bilateral agreements with the nearby Country of Sao Tome and Principe.
He noted concerns raised by the Overseas Development Institute’s Report of 2018 that “illegal fishing boats from China, Netherlands and Spain operating in the Country’s territorial waters commonly transfer catches from their trawlers into container and cargo vessels on the high seas, thereby flouting quota regulations”.
“The Gulf of Guinea Commission which was established in 2001 to check issues bordering on fisheries beyond 20 nautical miles of each member nation is yet to come up with a legally binding framework to tackle illegal fishing activities
“Illegal and unregulated fishing in Nigeria’s waters undermines the economy, poses a security threat to the nation’s territorial waters, degrades the coastal communities and renders artisan fishermen redundant”, the lawmaker cautioned.
A prominent Islamic Cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, has revealed that the students of Greenfield University, Kaduna, were abducted by Boko Haram insurgents, and not bandits.
He gave this revelation while speaking yesterday on a live TV programme, Gumi said Boko Haram insurgents were beginning to infiltrate bandit herders.
According to him; “Now, we have two groups of bandits. We have the ordinary Fulani ethnic herdsmen and now there is another element which is coming in; it is the terrorist, the religious idealogues and this is what I’ve been fearing,” he said.
“The issue is getting compounded because this element is coming in; Boko Haram is coming into the scene now. They are the ones that captured Greenfield students. It is not a question of sleeping. You have to act very fast.
“The infiltration is already taking place but it is not as deep and we want these herdsmen to be protected against the invasion of these terrorists.
“And the leader is from Jalingo. He is from Adamawa. He is not the local Fulani we have here. So this means that the north-eastern element is coming into this area and we have to move fast. We don’t have that luxury of time.
“I have been trying to speak with the government but nobody is really trying to listen to me or speak with me on this issue.”
Asked if he has shared the intelligence he gathered on the whereabouts of the students with security agencies, Gumi said: “Everybody knows where they are. The parents know where they are. The point is that the students are in danger, any firing will kill 19 students and that’s why there is caution.”
Gumi also called on the Kaduna State Government to pay the ransom to secure the release of the abducted students.
He argued that while N100 million is a huge sum of money, it is not too much to sacrifice for the lives of the students.
He added that the security agencies can go after the kidnappers and retrieve the money after the students have been freed.
He further stated that; “Five souls were killed. Why? What amount of money is too big for us to save the lives of those five students, what amount of money?” Gumi asked.
“Secondly, we can give them the money to get the boys out of danger then go after our money. Nobody is saying you shouldn’t find them; you can get the two back.
“To say you will not negotiate with them and also not take action against them, I cannot understand that.”
The cleric further said he and Nasir el-Rufai, Kaduna governor, have had a discussion on the issue but have “parallel views” on how to handle it.
27 students abducted by bandits from Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka, Kaduna State, have been released after close to two months in captivity.
One of the persons who received the students confirmed the news to Newsfocusng on Wednesday.
He said the release was facilitated by the Sheikh Abubakar Gumi dialogue committee with support from former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
The students were among the 37 abducted almost two months ago.
After payment of ransom by parents and school management, the bandits only released 10 of the victims.
The Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on Tuesday announced the appointment of Angela Ellard of the United States, Anabel González of Costa Rica, Ambassador Jean-Marie Paugam of France and Ambassador Xiangchen Zhang of China as her four Deputy Directors-General.
This was contained in a statement posted on the WTO’s website, the former Nigeria finance minister reiterated her commitment to strengthening the global trade body.
The statement reads in bits; “I am very pleased to announce the appointment of four new Deputy Directors-General at the WTO. It is the first time in the history of our Organization that half of the DDGs are women.
“This underscores my commitment to strengthening our Organization with talented leaders whilst at the same time achieving gender balance in senior positions. I look forward to welcoming them to the WTO,” Okonjo-Iweala said.
Ellard (United States) has a distinguished career of service working at the US Congress as Majority and Minority Chief Trade Counsel and Staff Director. She is internationally recognised as an expert on trade and international economic policy, negotiating trade agreements and supporting multilateral solutions as part of an effective trade and development policy.
Ellard has negotiated and delivered significant bipartisan trade policy outcomes and legislation for well over 25 years with Members of US Congress and senior Trump, Obama, Bush, and Clinton Administration officials.
Also, Ellard worked as a lawyer in the private sector, working on trade litigation and strategy, policy and legislative issues. She obtained her Juris Doctor, cum laude from Tulane University School of Law and her Master of Arts in Public Policy also from Tulane. She is a frequent lecturer at law, graduate, and undergraduate classes and has published articles on trade law and policy.
For González (Costa Rica), she is a renowned global expert on trade, investment and economic development with a proven managerial track record in international organizations and the public sector. In government, Gonzalez served as Minister of Foreign Trade of Costa Rica; as Director-General for International Trade Negotiations; as Director-General of the Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency (CINDE); and as Special Ambassador and Chief negotiator of the US-Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement.
She also served at the World Bank as a Senior Director, the WTO as Director of the Agriculture and Commodities Division and as Senior Consultant with the Inter-American Development Bank. More recently, Gonzalez has worked as a Non-Resident Senior Fellow with the Peterson Institute for International Economics. She obtained her master’s degree from Georgetown University Law Center with the highest academic distinction and has published extensively on economic issues and trade.
On his part, Paugam (France) has held senior management positions in the French Government on trade, most recently as Permanent Representative of France to the WTO. He has also held a number of senior positions in the French Ministry of Economy and Finance, including as a member of the Executive Committee of the French Treasury. He has also served as Deputy Executive Director of the International Trade Centre in Geneva. He has accumulated a deep and practical knowledge of government practices on trade as well as being familiar with high-level dialogues on trade and international economic operations. He has published a number of articles on trade-related issues, in particular when serving as Senior Research Fellow on International Trade at the French Institute for International Relations (IFPRI). Paugam graduated from ENA in Paris and obtained degrees in Political Science from the Institute of Political Science in Aix-en-Provence and in Law from the Faculty of Law Aix-Marseille III.
Also, Xiangchen Zhang (China) is currently serving as Vice Minister in the Ministry of Commerce of China. He has long and extensive experience on WTO issues, international negotiations, and policy research. Ambassador Zhang served until recently as China’s Permanent Representative to the WTO and previously as Deputy Permanent Representative.
He has had an extensive career of more than 30 years in international trade, serving as Director of the Department of International Trade and Economic Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation; as Director-General of the Department of WTO Affairs of the Ministry of Commerce; and as Director General of the Department of Policy Research of the Ministry of Commerce. Ambassador Zhang holds a bachelor’s degree in Law, a Master’s degree in International Relations and a PhD in International Politics from Peking University. .
Youths from Nnung Ikono Obio in Uruan Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State have destroyed the family house of Uduak Akpan, the suspect linked with the murder of a job seeker, Miss Iniubong Umoren.
Newsfocusng gathered that the youths, on Tuesday, used heavy pebbles to vandalise the building after setting the security house of the one storey building on fire.
Information gathered by our correspondent hinted that, the youths carted away all the properties in the building and took the father of the suspected killer to the police.
They explained that their action was predicated on the alleged complicity of Uduak Akpan in the murder of the 26-year-old Umoren, a graduate of philosophy from the University of Uyo.
“They broke the louvers and the glass doors with the help of heavy pebbles and sticks and carted away everything in the building,” a witness said.
Miss Umoren, who was said to have been lured on the pretext of a job offer, was abducted and sexually harassed before she was murdered.
Meanwhile, the President of the Youths in the area, Etubom Sunday Essien, who spoke with our correspondent expressed disappointment over the ‘action’ of one of their own.
He said “the action of man slaughter committed by the suspect, Uduak Akpan, is an offence which is not condoned in the community.
According to him , “there is nothing happening apart from the one you have already heard. It’s not good for the boy to kill his fellow human being.
“We don’t know that is what he has been doing, that is, man slaughter. That is what we have heard that he is doing. That is the reason we took this action,” he said.
Essien however exonerated the Chairman of the LGA, Mr. Iniobong Ekpenyong, saying he played the role of a Chief Security officer of the council by calling on the police to arrest the culprit.
“The allegation against the chairman is not true. He is not involved. He was the one that called in the police to arrest the boy. He is a good man, never a time, never a day we hear any bad thing concerning him” he stated.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of Uruan LGA, Mr Iniobong Ekpenyong, has expressed displeasure over the claims of the Police that, “The suspect confessed to have told his Local Government Chairman of his atrocity before escaping to Calabar and was never at any time handed over to the Police by anyone”.
He said the statement portrayed him as having concealed security information and is capable of smearing his name.
He stated that as the Chief Security Officer of Uruan local government area swung into action when he learnt of the actions of Uduak Akpan so as to facilitate his arrest.
He noted that his efforts paid off as the suspect who had earlier hinted that he was at a location in Oron local government area was later arrested by the DPO of Uruan.
The Senate has ordered the Ministry of Finance, Office of Accountant General of the Federation and Office of National Security Adviser to explain the disappearance of N7.5 billion from the 2 per cent National Automotive Council Design and Development Council (NADDC) Levy Account domiciled with Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The Upper Chamber of the Assembly, on Tuesday gave the affected government institutions till Tuesday next week to explain the alleged “secret withdrawals.”
However, the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, Aliyu Ahmed, countered, insisting that the Ministry was not in possession of documents relating to the controversial fund.
Speaking on behalf of Permanent Secretary, a Director from the Ministry, Teslim Akintoye said “we don’t have any document to show for that transaction.”
Shocked by the revelation, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Account, Sen. Mathew Urhoghide berated the representative, maintaining that the approval was done in the Ministry of Finance .
Supporting the position of the chairman, the Vice Chairman of the Committee, Senator Hassan Hadejia asked, ” are you telling us that no document in the Ministry to show for it, everything emanated from your Ministry.”
The Chairman also added , ” You don’t appear before Senate when you don’t have anything to say .”
The representative of Office of Accountant General of Federation , Alexandra Adeyemi however confirmed that the money in question was released and it going to be recovered through budgetary process .
The Office of Accountant of the Federation failed to present the list of beneficiaries of the fund in question a part was earmarked for car loans to Security Officers.
The Committee was able to establish that the fund was withdrawn without involvement of National Automotive Council Design and Development Council (NADDC), but after some years , the agency was notified .
After heated debate on the matter, the Committee resolved to dig deeper into the secret withdrawal of N7.5 billion because there is no evidence that the money was paid back into Federation Account.
According to chairman, we are going to look the deeper into the matter, we have to give ample time into this matter , we must do proper status on it, to let Nigerians know what is going on., We want to see what the President is going to do about this colossal fraud.
The Committee further resolved that a full blown public hearing may be done on the issue.
The query had said, “A total sum of N3,836,000,000.00 (Three billion, eight hundred and thirty-six million naira) was irregularly withdrawn from the 2% National Automotive Council Levy Account with the Central Bank of Nigeria, Abuja in 2 installments of N2,800,000,000 (in 2005) and N1,036,000,000.00 (in 2006) by the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Federal Ministry of Finance as car loan to be granted for the Security Personnel Car Purchase Scheme Loan.
“The transaction was carried out by the Presidency in collaboration with the Bank of Industry, the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Accountant-General of the Federation without the involvement of NAC, the account owner.
“However the principal and the accrued interest from the fictitious loan have not been paid back nor are records available on the beneficiaries, agreement documents, moratorium, duration of the loan, the yearly interest rates accruable and how the fund will be paid back by the beneficiary.
“The Director General has been requested to intensify correspondence with the Honourable Minister of Finance, Accountant-General of the Federation and the Presidency to recover the fund (‘loan’).”
The upper house of the National Assembly has given Mr. Danladi Umar, the president of the “Code of Conduct” Bureau , for a period of two weeks to defend the petition against him, and the Senate is investigating this.
It would be recalled that security guard, Clement Sagwak, had through his counsel, Timzing Ramnap, petitioned the Senate, where he accused Umar of assaulting him.
The petition was laid before the Senate on April 29, 2021, by the Senator representing Plateau North, Istifanus Gyang.
Umar, who appeared before the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, on Tuesday, asked the panel to give him one week to study the detailed petition which was served on him at the session to enable him respond appropriately.
The Chairman of the Committee, Sen. Ayo Akinyelure, said the committee resolved to give Mr. Umar two week, that is, Tuesday May 18, 2021, to reappear before the committee.
He said, even though the Senate would proceed on a two weeks break on Thursday, the Committee is prepared to reconvene during the break to hear the CCT Chairman.
Also recall that the 22 years old Sagwak, an employee of Jul Reliable Guards Services Limited, told the Senate in his petition that he was attacked by Umar and that he was assaulted by Umar and a policeman attached to him after he informed him (Umar) that his car was not properly parked.
The issue, which occurred at the Banex Plaza, Abuja, was captured in a video, which later went viral. A development that angered Nigerians especially the statement of Umar defending himself.
The House of Representatives has ordered the Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, to urgently take over the investigation of the kidnapping, sexual, physical assault and killing of Miss Iniubong Ephraim Umoren, and ensure prosecution of the perpetrators of the heinous crime.
The House, condemned in strong terms, the act of sexual assault and gruesome murder of late Miss Umoren, described the act as barbaric, inhuman and despicable.
The lawmakers also ordered the IGP to ensure the protection of her family members from harassment, intimidation and harm.
It further mandated its standing Committee on Women Affairs and Social Development to follow up with the investigation and prosecution, and ensure compliance — just as it expects it to report back for further legislative actions.
The resolutions followed the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance, sponsored by Hon. Unyime Idem.
Moving the motion, Idem recalled that on April 30, 2021, the Anti-kidnapping squad of the Akwa Ibom State Command of the Nigeria Police Force received a criminal report on the disappearance of Miss Iniubong Ephraim Umoren who left her house on the fateful day in search of employment.
He noted that the late Umoren was a graduate of the University of Uyo in Akwa Ibom State, who was without employment since her graduation from the University.
“Available information has it that she received a phone call from the assailant who pretentiously called her and invited her to a false interview of an advertised job.
“The innocent Miss Umoren was later found dead by the police after an official report and with the help of a wide reportage of her disappearance and information of the false interview on social media platforms, and her body was further exhumed where it was buried in a shallow grave by her assailant”, he said.
He, however, expressed concern that the family members of the deceased have reportedly raised an alarm of receiving strange phone calls and threats of various degrees and have been asked to withdraw the case.
”It has been reported that the assailant upon his arrest by the police and subsequent voluntary confession boasted that he is well connected and will be released from the Police custody scot-free in a matter of days. The Nigeria Police Force has been reporting a surging high record in rape and gender violation across the country.
“Unfortunately, a very scary number of cases have been reported daily with thousands unreported. These acts are gross violation of human rights to dignity, life and sexuality,” he added.
Idem advised that the public outrage on account of rape and other violent crimes against women and the girl child should not go unpunished as a deterrent for the perpetrators and others nursing the thought to forestall future occurrence.
Adopting the motion, the lawmakers observed a minute silence in honour of the deceased and other victims of this nefarious act.
