Nigerian Army dismisses five Soldiers

The Commander of the Guard Brigade, Brigadier General M.S. Yusuf has disclosed that five soldiers attached to the 176 Brigade Command of the Nigerian Army have been dismissed from service.



The soldiers according to the Brigade Commander were dismissed for extorting money from people. “I want to inform you that five soldiers attached to the 176 Brigade Command in Gwagwalada Abuja, were dismissed recently for collecting money from members of the public.

“This has become necessary because we want the best from our soldiers, and this can only be achieved if we have good understanding with other citizens of Nigerians, as it would help in bridging the gap between us and the civilians.”

Brigadier Yusuf said the entitlements of all the soldiers on guard in the various formations in the country, are always paid upfront before they are deployed and based on this. We would not tolerate anyone of them collecting any gratification whatsoever from people. We do everything possible to make them conducive at their place of primary assignments,” he said.

He however challenged the National Orientation Agency to also work out modalities of educating the civilian publics on their relationship with the military.He appealed for the support of the media in bridging the gap between the military and civilian.

Brigadier General Yusuf spoke in Abuja on Tuesday during an interactive meeting with journalists in his office.

Man in court over alleged false publication

38-year old man who allegedly defamed character of a resident of River Valley Estate, Ojodu, Lagos and published the story in a Nigerian daily was on Tuesday arraigned in Lagos.

The accused, Olugbenga Sonaiya, who resides at Ojodu Berger, Lagos, is facing a charge of publication of false news with intent to cause fear before an Ikeja Chief Magistrates’ Court.

Sonaiya pleaded not guilty to the charge.

At the arraignment, the Prosecutor, Insp. Simon Imhonwa, told the court that the accused committed the offence on Dec. 3, 2010.

Imhonwa said that the accused alleged that a fresh human head was found at the house of one Mr Anthony Okpala.

“Soniaya falsely claimed to have seen a fresh human skull at Mr Okpala’s home located within River Valley Estate.

“He also raised an alarm by causing terror to members of the public and subsequently sold the story to journalists.

“The false information that was intended to defame the character of Mr Okpala was published in one of the newspapers on Dec. 3, 2010,” Imhonwa said.

He said the offence contravened Section 39 of Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

The Magistrate, Mrs Bola Osunsanmi, granted the accused N100, 000 bail with two responsible sureties in like sum and adjourned the case till April 4 for trial.

Village head arrested for defiling, infecting girl with HIV

The Kano State Hisbah Board said it has arrested a Village Head in Danbatta Local Government Area of the state (names withheld) for allegedly defiling a 13-year- old girl.

The Director General of the board, Dr Abba Sufi, who disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kano on Tuesday, also said the Village Head was suspected to have infected his victim with HIV virus.

He said the suspect was arrested on Monday following complaint from parents of the girl.

Sufi said the case had since been forwarded to the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammad Sanusi II who ordered for his immediate suspension from office.

“The girl was to be given out in marriage to her suitor, but three days to the wedding ceremony, the girl was tested and found to be HIV positive.”

“When interrogated, she said the suspect was the person, who infected her as he had been sleeping with her, “ he said.

He said that the suspect had also been tested and found to be a carrier of the deadly virus.

Sufi said the suspect would soon be charged to court.

EFCC, AGF disagree over suspects’ prosecution

Justice Mohammed Idris of the Federal High Court in Lagos on Tuesday ordered the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to decide which of them will prosecute 16 suspects accused of multi-billion fraud at the Consolidated Discount House Limited.

The suspects’ arraignment was stalled due to a disagreement between two lawyers representing the AGF and EFCC on who should prosecute the case.

Three separates charges were filed against the suspects. Defendants in the first charge are Stephen Akinretoye, Peter Ololo and Falcon Securities Limited.

The second charge has Akinretoye, Mudashiru Shittu, Olawale Omisore, Capt. Eddy Ndoms, Aquatic Transport Limited, Cross Oceans Limited and Ehco Ventures Limited as defendants.

In the third charge, Akinretoye, Shittu, Larai Claude-Eninn, Hassan Gbenga, Ajibola Jolaosho, Omisore Olawale, Omisope Johnson, Onimole Adebawale and Emmanuel Odedina are the accused.

In the first charge, the complainant, Federal Republic of Nigeria, alleged that between January 1 and December 31, 2007, the accused persons agreed among themselves to defraud Consolidated Discounts Limited by granting loans to Falcon Securities Limited, a company owned by Ololo, without proper documentation.

The prosecution said they allegedly converted N43.9billion being funds belonging to Consolidated Discount in contravention of Section 15 (2) and 15 (3) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2012.

In the second charge, Akinterotoye and others allegedly defrauded the company in the guise of granting loans to the fourth to seventh defendants and converted various sums, such as N520milion, N303million and N600million.

The prosecution said investigations revealed that Consolidated Discount had already paid for vessels before the dates of the various applications for loan made by the fourth to seventh accused persons.

In the third charge, the prosecution said the defendants, as employees of Consolidated Discount, committed an act of fraud by converting its N915.7million.

We are down but not out, says PDP ministers

The PDP Ministers Forum yesterday said though the People’s Democratic Party is presently down because it lost the 2015 elections, the party would bounce back again to reclaim its place of pride in the nation’s political landscape. In a remark at the opening session of the Forum’s maiden meeting in Abuja, the chairman of the forum and former Minister for Special Duties, Kabiru Tanimu Turaki said despite deliberate attempt to change the narrative on the tremendous achievements of the PDP government in the last 16 years, members of the forum are determined to defend and protect the achievements of the PDP government. The meeting which started at about 12pm had in attendance PDP ministers from 1999 till 2015. Some of the ministers in attendance were Professor Jerry Gana, Prof Tunde Adeniran, John Odey, Muhammed Wakil, Steve Oruh, Mike Onolememen, Nduese Essien, Oroye Olajumoke, Dubem Onyia, Orubebe Godsday, IBRAHIM Shekarau, Kabiru Tanimu Turaki (chairman) Josephine Anenih, Amb. Aminu Wali, Edem Duke, Prof. Tunde Adeniran, Senator Patricia Akwashiki, Femi Fani-Kayode, Senator Ikenya, Senator Bala Muhammed, Prof ABC Nwosu, Dr Suleiman Abubakar, Ibrahim Bio, Ojo Maduekwe, Shetima Mustapha and Boni Haruna among others. According to the chairman of the forum, the meeting was to discuss the emergence of Senator Ali Modu Sherrif as the chairman of the People’s Democratic Party, pointing out that as critical stakeholders, they cannot sit by and watch the party being destroyed. “People had predicted that Nigeria will disintegrate in 2015 but the PDP kept Nigeria together. If we can save Nigeria, we can save our party if we save PDP,we are saving democracy in Nigeria. Some insinuations have been made that we are not a recognized organ of the constitution of the party. But we have our rights as members of the national caucus . We are stakeholders. We are leaders in our various states and we have more than a passing interest in our party. We may be down today because we lost elections but we are not out. We are coming back and this is the beginning of our coming back” he said. Enumerating the achievements of the PDP in the last fifteen years, Tanimu said the party left indelible imprints in all the sectors of the nation’s economy and the achievements are there for all unbiased critics to see. “When we came in in 1999, we inherited a wobbling economy. We made it not only the the fastest growing economy in the world but we were the third destination for foreign direct investment in Africa. We strengthened the banking sector. The faith of Nigerians in the diaspora was restored in the country and they came back to invest in the country. We sustained an exchange rate regime that was stable between N94 to N115 to a Dollar. We moved agriculture from subsistence level to business. We respected court orders. We were able to build and sustain existing infrastructure. New airports were built. “In the health sector, we ensured that each state of the federation had a teaching hospital or a federal medical Centre. We eradicated polio. We wrestled Ebola to the ground. We are not fighting for space with anybody. We will defend our legacy so that the narrative is not changed. The successes of PDP was because we believed power belong to the people and we must be with the people. That is why Nigerians trusted us to 16 years” he said.

Nigeria gets anti-dumping relief from WTO

DEAD local industries may come to life again, as the Federal Government has secured some measures from the World Trade Organization to combat dumping. Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment (MITI), Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah disclosed to newsmen in Lagos that efforts are underway to revitalize local industries and discourage dumping, which has killed local production. Economy His words: “One of my first official outings as minister was to represent Nigeria at the World Trade Organisation Ministerial Conference in Nairobi, Kenya; and discuss Nigeria’s place in the global multilateral trading system. One of the areas we addressed is dumping and I am happy that we got some relief, anti-dumping relief that we are going to use to promote local industries. Also, on one of our recent trips to the United Arab Emirates, I was privileged to sign, on behalf of Nigeria, an important bilateral agreement on Trade Promotion and Protection.” Influx of finished goods from Europe and Asian countries into the Nigerian market is killing the nation’s local industries and hampering its bid for industrialisation. Investigations by Financial Vanguard revealed that in the last four years alone, Standards Organisation of Nigeria, SON, destroyed substandard products worth N10 billion that found their way into the country. Top among these goods were cables, wires, tyres, tomato paste in tins and satchets; textile materials, among other household items and consumables. Fielding questions on how he would tackle the influx of substandard goods overwhelming SON and NAFDAC, the new Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment (MITI), Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah said that among the sectors mostly affected by dumping in the last several years is the cotton, garments and textile sector. The minister said: “We are in the era of globalisation as people like to call it, and what it means is that people are constantly trying to sell their goods, so we have a particular responsibility to ourselves to make sure that the goods that are coming here do not result to dumping. We are competing with the treasuries of the developed world where they are in effect subsidising goods that are coming into countries in the developing world and hampering industrialisation. In order to solve the problem, the Minister stated: “It is the entire ecosystem – it ranges from trade policies to ensure that there is no dumping of cotton and finished products. I know we have several government agencies that are involved in checkmating products coming into the country. SON is one of them. It is under our ministry and NAFDAC is one of them under the Ministry of Health. I think the important thing is to do it in a systematic way and in a way that leverages technology. If you don’t do it that way there is a risk; you will be overwhelmed. “Nigeria is a large country with a population of 170 million people and counting, so we must leverage technology and this is something that is being discussed and being implemented whether through the Nigeria Customs in terms of inspection, both the one that arrives or before goods are shipped. This is an area where we can do more and I will also say in the spirit of enabling environment we have to do it as service to stakeholders and not in a way that is adversarial. We would work hard at it.” According to him, another approach to discourage dumping is to consume what we produce locally. “We, Nigerians, have to be prepared to make some trade-offs and the most obvious one that will have the greatest impact is to consume what we produce – Made-in-Nigeria and that includes me. If we are willing to pay the price of consuming what we are producing it will get better with time, like it happened in other countries like Germany, Japan and others, they all went through the same cycle and am fully persuaded we will get the benefits in time. “Speaking for myself and the leadership of my ministry, I can assure you that we are prepared to make tough choices that are required, we will be prepared to make tough sacrifices that are required and frankly we will expect that by leading by example, we will be able to carry others along with us. The principle of delayed gratification is something that we must accept and it is something President Buhari has has been talking about and in the short term, we need to make some tough choices for a better tomorrow.” On policy inconsistencies, he said: “We do understand that it can be shocking when policies are not consistent. I think it is important to maintain consistency. You heard me say the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan, NIRP, is one we studied and we are going to implement it, we might have to clean up some areas where we have received useful inputs to clean up and that is what we are doing. “So, I think you will not find in this government policy reversals unless when it has to do with issues of transparency and governance and that is why government has been quite open in sharing with Nigerians some of the challenges we are facing but it is not around polices, frankly I think it is around implementation. The problem we have is not government policies but implementation of the policies in a responsible and sustainable way to get long- term results.”

Nigerians must unite against terror, by Lagos commissioner

NIGERIANS have been enjoined to unite to fight the war against terror.

Lagos State Commissioner for Home Affairs Dr AbdulHakeem AbdulLateef said yesterday that war could only be won through collective effort.

“Everybody should know that the current situation requires that all hands must be on deck. Every sector has a role to play – the media, the armed forces, the teachers, the lawyers – must have the fear of God. Everybody must know that this is a joint effort because the Quran says fear a trial because when it comes, it would consume not only those who started it,” AbdulLateef said at a seminar organised by The Criterion, an association of Muslim women in business and the professions.

Speaking on “Misrepresentation and misinterpretation of Islamic teachings”, AbdulLateef said misinterpretation and misrepresentation of Islam manifests when Muslims neglect the basic teachings of Islam.

He urged the gathering to be tolerant and seek knowledge and enlighten others on what Islam stands for.

He said: “We need to continue to enlighten people. Religious leaders must not be silent. They must speak out and explain Islam to people. You can’t say you are a Muslim when you disrespect your parents, members of your family, harm your neighbours, not catering for the orphans and the poor regardless of their religion. That enlightenment is the spirit that everybody must imbibe because Prophet Muhammad lived with Jews and Christians and accommodated every one of them. “We want a situation where people understand that Islam is alien to violence, abhors intolerance because it tolerates people of other religion; it says no to rebellious activities; so, everybody must understand that. We must live together. Nigeria is a country where this marriage has taken place since the amalgamation and all Nigerians must learn to live together regardless of their tribal, ethnic or religious affiliations.”

The commissioner blamed parents for youths’ restiveness in the society, saying they have abandoned their primary role of training their children.

Speaking on “Manifestation of Deviant Behaviour, Group and Ideology,” Dr Lateefah Durosinmi, a university teacher, said deviant behaviours were caused by excessive religiosity, maladjustment from the home and absence of proper parenthood.

Deviant behaviour, she said, manifested through bigotry, intellectual terrorism, intention to change society, controversies about social order, unnecessary desire for martyrdom, adding that the consequences include conflict in society and general social instability.

Buhari to discuss oil price stability in Saudi, Qatar

President Muhammadu Buhari will today begin a week-long visit to Saudi Arabia and Qatar to discuss the swindling oil price and how they could be shored up.

Buhari, according to a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, will be accompanied by a high-powered Federal Government delegation, including the Minister of State (Petroleum) and Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, (NNPC), Dr. Ibe Kachikwu.

The President will first travel to Riyadyh for talks tomorrow with King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and senior officials of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The statement said ongoing efforts by Nigeria and other members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to achieve greater stability in the price of crude oil exports are expected to be high on the agenda of discussions between President Buhari and the Saudi Monarch.

Crude oil prices and market stability will also be on the front burner when President Buhari goes to Doha on Saturday for talks on Sunday with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

The President is also scheduled to meet with leading Saudi and Qatari businessmen in Riyadh and Doha, and invite them to support his administration’s efforts to revamp the Nigerian economy by taking advantage of the great investment opportunities currently available in Nigeria’s mining, agriculture, power supply, infrastructure, transportation, communications and other sectors.

President Buhari’s other engagements in Saudi Arabia include meetings with heads of international financial organisations and multilateral associations.

Before going to Doha, the President will also visit Medina and Mecca to pray for greater peace, prosperity and progress in Nigeria

Private depots sell petrol for N98/litre….. IPMAN cries out

The Independent Petroleum Marketers of Nigeria (IPMAN) has warned of a fresh nationwide fuel scarcity following what it calls profiteering by private depot owners.

The private depot owners are alleged to be selling Premium Motor Spirit at N98 per litre.

Fuel scarcity has already hit Port Harcourt and Edo State with a litre selling for between N120 and N140 where it is available at all.

Five litres is sold for a minimum of N750 at the black market.

IPMAN wants the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu to investigate why the private depot owners are selling far above the official price.

Vice President of IPMAN, Alhaji Abubakar Dakingari, speaking to The Nation by phone said a fresh fuel scarcity is imminent unless government steps in immediately.

He said, “I don’t know what the minister is going to do for us. If you watch, the fuel scarcity is resurfacing. The private depots are selling at the rate of N98 per litre. So we in IPMAN are seriously worried.”

He advised the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to increase supply as inadequate supply is the reason why the private depot owners are exploiting other Nigerians.

The official pump price for petrol is N86 for NNPC affiliate petrol stations and N86.50 per litre for Independent stations.

Dankigari said that it is impossible for the independent marketers to buy a product for N98 per litre and sell it for N86.50 per litre.

His words: “We want the NNPC that is supplying almost 78 per cent to increase its volume of supply because fuel scarcity is now imminent. There are already signs of petrol scarcity and the private depots owners have taken advantage of selling the product at a higher rate.

“And more so those private depot owners don’t have products and those that have the product are selling petrol at the rate of N98, which makes it difficult for independent marketers to buy that product because when they buy they will lose because they will have to sell at the rate of N86.50.

Motorists in Port Harcourt are currently paying through their nose to get fuel.

Investigation revealed that some marketers are not happy with federal government’s new pump price of N86.50 per litre.

Some residents who spoke to The Nation said the marketers should explain why they must go through another round of furl scarcity-induced suffering.

Mr. Johnson Ndubuisi said the latest scarcity coming so soon after the last one is bad enough.

Ndubuisi said: “Look at this ten litre fuel: I bought it for N1, 500. I don’t know the problem with these marketers who seem to prefer to sell to black marketers who in turn sell to us at exorbitant prices.

“Government must not allow them to continue to exploit us; some of them have the products but simply refuse to sell.”

There is no official reason yet for the scarcity in Port Harcourt.

The situation is similar in Edo state where a litre goes for N100 in some filling stations in Edo State and as much as between N150 and N200 at the black market.

Only NNPC mega filling stations sell at the official price of N86.

Long queues were seen at such NNPC mega filling stations.

When contacted by phone for comments, Edo State chairman of Petroleum Monitoring Committee, Lord Amen Osunde, said he was at a social gathering.

26years old man, stole boss’ car to attend Valentine party

Operatives of the Rapid Response Squad, RRS, of the Lagos State Police Command have arrested one Emmanuel John, 26 years old for duplicating the car key of his boss, Mrs. Flora Ighalo, and later absconded with it without the knowledge of the owner. The suspect was arrested at Abraham Adesanya Estate, Lekki penultimate Sunday night by the operatives for stealing his boss’s car, a Toyota Corolla, Epe 642 DX with the aim of taking the car to a valentine party at Splash Hotel, Sangotedo, Ajah. According to John, he had about a week before carrying out the act cut the Toyota Corolla key without the knowledge of his boss. However, on February 14, 2016, Sunday afternoon, when he was not supposed to be at work John sneaked into the Abraham Adesanya Estate residence of her boss and drove the car away with the duplicated key. John narrated thus, “I and my friend, Oscar, wanted to carry the Toyota Corolla to Splash Hotel’s Valentine Show on Sunday night. I persuaded Madam to give the go ahead to cut a spare key but she declined. A week before, February 14th, I duplicated the key without her knowledge in Obalende. “Though, she excused me from work on Sundays, I sneaked into her resident and took away the car after church. I took the car to my residence in Ajuwe Area, Ajah, Lagos.