IMF's Lagarde 'impressed' by Nigeria

IMF chief Christine Lagarde has tweeted her reaction after meeting Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari in the capital, Abuja.

 ''Just met President Buhari of Nigeria. Impressed with government’s response to challenge of sustained, low oil prices''.

The government is facing an $11bn (£7.4bn) budget deficit and is trying to cope with the loss of revenue following the big drop in oil prices.

Bayelsa Supplementary: ‘Attempt Rigging, Face Dire Consequences’ – PDP Tells APC, INEC

Ahead of Saturday’s Bayelsa state governorship run-off election in Southern Ijaw, the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has again rallied its formation in the state and particularly Southern Ijaw Local Government, to use all means necessary in a democracy to resist any move by the APC to rig the election.

The party said it has since been made aware of plots by the APC to use compromised security operatives and INEC officials to attempt to produce fictitious votes and declare itself winner, but vowed that any such unholy bid would be greeted with vehement resistance and dire consequences.

The PDP leadership in a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh early on Tuesday, reiterated that Southern Ijaw is a well-known PDP stronghold and that it would never accept any results that do not reflect the will of the people.

“We issue this statement as direct notice to the APC and their compromised INEC, military and other security operatives who have been stationed to ostensibly assist to produce fictitious votes with which the APC intends to declare itself winner.

“Let it be known to all that the PDP is fully mobilized for Saturday’s supplementary election. Our members across Southern Ijaw have been stationed in every polling unit, every collation center and every exit and entry point in the area, and have been directed to use all mean available in a democracy to stop the APC in their trail.

“Southern Ijaw Local Government is a well-known stronghold of the PDP and we will not in anyway accept anything short of free, fair and credible elections, abundantly reflecting the will of the people. Anything to the contrary will attract terrible consequences. We restate our resolve that never again would the PDP allow itself to be manipulated out in any election at any level, no matter the intimidation by the APC-led administration.

“Consequent upon our loss of confidence in INEC and security agencies, we hereby make public our instruction to our members and supporters not to leave the polling area after casting their votes but to remain alert within the distance provided by the law and go ahead to use all means necessary to defend and protect their votes, should there be any attempt by anybody to rig the process.

“The PDP will intently monitor and keep records of activities, including all votes cast in every polling unit in Southern Ijaw and our members will not hesitate to unleash a legitimate anger, if at any point in collation, fictitious figures appear. In this regard, any INEC official who becomes a tool in the hands of evil will have him or herself to blame.

“Finally, we call on the international community and all well-meaning Nigerians to note the ceaseless undemocratic activities of the APC-led Federal Government and to hold it responsible should there be any breakdown of law and order during the Saturday’s supplementary election in Bayelsa state.

‘Don’t Kill Metuh’ – PDP Cries Out

                                              National Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh

…..Says Arrest Last Straw That May Break Nigeria’s Democracy

The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) demands an
immediate release of the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Chief
Olisa Metuh, who was Tuesday morning invited and detained by the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

This development, which did not come to us as a surprise given series of
threats to our party’s spokesman by the APC and the Federal Government,
who are obviously not comfortable with our stance on the confused state
of the nation under their watch, is a continuation of APC’s grand design
to silence and decimate the PDP.

The arrest of Chief Metuh today underscores the growing political
intolerance in our country and the foisting of a police state which was
last Wednesday underscored by the President and Commander-in-Chief
himself, who defended why a government in a democracy should flout
constitutional provision and brazenly disobey court orders.

This onslaught against our spokesman, according to intelligence
available to us is part of a larger script by the government to ensure
that PDP wings are finally clipped in their mission to install a
dictatorial one-party state in the country.

The excesses of security agencies under this government, especially the
Directorate of Security Services (DSS) and the EFCC, in abridging the
human rights of PDP members have become worrisome and a threat to our
democratic evolution.

Nigerians and the international community will recall that on a number
of occasions, the PDP, through its spokesman has been outspoken on some
undemocratic proclivities being exhibited by the APC-led Federal
Government in the last seven months.

The PDP insists that for whatever reason Chief Metuh was arrested, his
rights as a citizen under the law must not be trampled upon. We
therefore demand for his immediate release and that due process of
investigation and prosecution concerning him should be strictly adhered
to.

We state this because we have been made aware of top directives to break
Chief Metuh and if possible poison him during his detention by the EFCC.
Chief Metuh, has since his arrest at about 10 am, has been kept
incommunicado, with his lawyers denied access to him.

The PDP declares the arrest of our spokesman as the last straw that may
break our democracy. We therefore forewarn the Federal Government and
its agencies to save our democracy and forthwith release our National
Publicity Secretary.

We are also calling on the international community and well-meaning
Nigerians to stand up for this democracy, which our party nurtured for
16 years and deepened to a level where the opposition, for the first
time in our political history, had the opportunity to win in a general
election.

Signed:

Prof. Adewale Oladipo
National Secretary

Allies back Saudi Arabia in standoff with Iran

 Observers say relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran are at their lowest point in recent memory

Saudi Arabia's regional allies have stepped up diplomatic pressure on Iran, breaking or downgrading relations with the country following an attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran, which followed executions in the kingdom.

Bahrain announced on Monday that it was closing its embassy in Iran, and called upon Iranian diplomats to leave the country within 48 hours.

Bahrain frequently accuses Iran of being behind protests among its majority Shia population.

Within hours of the announcement, Sudan also said it was cutting off diplomatic relations with Iran "in solidarity with Saudi Arabia".

For its part, the UAE said it was downgrading its ties with Iran, replacing its ambassador with an embassy officer-in-charge.

Saudi Arabia announced on Sunday it was severing diplomatic relations with Iran and urged its allies to follow its move.

The decision came after Iranian protesters attacked its embassy in Tehran, following the kingdom's decision to execute Shia religious figure Nimr al-Nimr along with 46 other mostly Sunni convicts on terrorism charges.

Shia minorities across the Middle East have been demonstrating after Nimr's execution.

Saudi Arabia is adamant Nimr got a fair trial. Many of the men executed had been linked to attacks in Saudi Arabia between 2003 and 2006, blamed on al-Qaeda.

Saudi Arabia further announced on Monday that it was cutting commercial ties with Iran and cancelling all flights to and from Iran, according to Reuters.

In an interview with the news agency, Adel al-Jubeir, Saudi foreign minister, said the kingdom was banning all its citizens from travelling to Iran.

However, Iranian pilgrims are still welcome to visit Saudi Arabia and Mecca, Islam's holiest site, he said.

Earlier, Abdul Latif bin Rashid al-Zayani, secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, condemned the attack in Tehran and held Iranian authorities full responsible for failing to protect the Saudi diplomatic mission.

Iranian perspective

It is not the first time diplomatic relations have been cut between Saudi Arabia and Iran. However, there are fears it could lead to more violence.

Iran's foreign ministry said Saudi Arabia was using the attack on its embassy in Tehran as a pretext to fuel tensions..

The statement came after Iran was given a 48-hour deadline to remove its diplomatic mission from Riyadh.

"Iran ... is committed to provide diplomatic security based on international conventions. But Saudi Arabia, which thrives on tensions, has used this incident as an excuse to fuel the tensions," Hossein Jaberi Ansari, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman, said in televised remarks on Monday. 

On the other hand, Jubeir has accused Iranian authorities of being complicit in the attack, saying that documents and computers were taken from the embassy building.

He said the Saudi diplomatic representative had sought help from the Iranian foreign ministry when the building was stormed, but the requests were ignored three times.

Hamid Soorghali, a UK-based Iran observer said, the attack of the Saudi embassy "only works to damage and affect the image of Iran".

He said while the leadership in Iran is unified in condemning the execution of Nimr, it is divided in terms of the reaction.

"We get different responses from different institutions and leaders in Iran. We get a harsher message from Iran's supreme leader, which very much reverberates  in the mood and scenes of protesters in front of the embassy," he told Al Jazeera.

'No love lost'

Ghanbar Naderi, a journalist with Kayhan, a publication closely linked to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, said the breaking of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran was inevitable.

"It was going to happen today or tomorrow. This is a natural outcome of what has been going on for the past four or five years in Syria, Iraq and Yemen,"
"Make no mistake about it, there is no love lost between the Iranians and the Saudis."

On Sunday, Ban Ki-moon, UN secretary-general, issued a statement saying he was "concerned" about both sides of the diplomatic dispute, while criticising both the executions and the attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran.

Ban was to send Staffan de Mistura, the UN special representative for Syria, to Riyadh and Tehran on Monday.

In a call on Monday, Ban conveyed his concerns to the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and Iran, a UN statement said.

The statement said he urged the two countries "to avoid any actions that could further exacerbate the situation between two countries and in the region as a whole". 

UNEP report: Ogoni people issue 30-day ultimatum to FG

                                                

Polluted farmlands                                 

                                               Polluted water

THE Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People has given the Federal Government a 30-day ultimatum to implement the recommendations of the United Nations Environment Programme on the clean-up of Ogoniland, according to The Punch Newspapers.

MOSOP President, Mr. Legborsi Pyagbara, said the people of the area were already tired over the continued delay in implementing the UNEP report on Ogoni.

Pyagbara, who spoke on Monday at the 23rd anniversary of Ogoni Day, in Bori, Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State, explained that Ogoni people would not relent in embarking on protests if the Federal Government failed to begin fully the implementation of UNEP recommendations.

He described as pathetic a situation where the FG had refused to carry out the instructions of UNEP on the clean-up of Ogoniland more than four years after the recommendation was made.

The MOSOP president warned that his people would take to the streets in peaceful protests after the expiration of the 30-day ultimatum until the UNEP report was visited.

He said, “As part of Ogoni Project 2015, we launched a multifaceted campaign involving protest, letter writing campaigns, media advocacy and international advocacy for the implementation of the UNEP report.

“We commend the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government for the renewed interest in the UNEP report and his approval of the fast-track actions for the implementation of the report.

“However, we are seizing this opportunity to remind the government that the unusual delay for the take-off of the project is becoming unbearable and indeed taxing our patience.

“We urge the Federal Government to without further delay bring into being the announced structures and the roadmap for the implementation of the report that respects the sensibilities of the communities.

“The ongoing delay on the part of the government will continue to be seen as an act of genocide being committed against the Ogoni people. We are giving the Federal Government a 30-day ultimatum to commence the implementation of the report or we will take up series of non-violent measures to press down our message.”

Pyagbara, however, called on the Rivers State Government to commence the dualisation of Saakpenwa road as it promised during a campaign in the area.

He said the road would boost the economic well-being of the people of the area if it was dualised.

The MOSOP president also called on the youths of the area to desist from attitudes that could sabotage the struggle of the ancestors of the land.

Earlier, Chairman of the occasion, Prof. Ben Naanen, called on the people of the area to form a united front in order to achieve the struggle of the implementation of the UNEP report.

Naanen vowed that the struggle for the actualisation of the freedom of the Ogonis would not stop until their demands were met.

Responding, the Governor of Rivers State, Chief Nyesom Wike, promised that the government would soon commence the construction of Saakpenwa road.

Wike, who was represented at the event by his Commissioner for Housing, Mr. Emma Okah, disclosed that the dualisation project would start before the third week of January.