Nigerian Army To Partner With EFCC In Curbing Oil Theft And Pipe-line Vandalism

Nigeria Army with EFCC officials at PH Zonal Office during a courtesy visit

Brig Gen S. O. Olabanji, Commander, 2 Brigade Nigerian Army, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has said that the Economic and Financial

Crimes Commission, EFCC, remains pivotal in the military’s efforts to check oil theft and pipe-line vandalism in the country.

He also pledged the army’s support to the EFCC in carrying out the onerous task of sanitizing the oil industry.

He gave the assurance during a courtesy visit to the EFCC’s zonal office in Port Harcourt on February 10, 2016.

Noting that oil theft contributed to the sabotage of the Nigerian economy, he said, “I am aware that part of the mandates of the EFCC is to prosecute any person or group that is involved in any form of economic sabotage.”

He stated that the Nigerian Army would assist the EFCC in the area of information gathering.

“There should be a synergy of government agencies in Port Harcourt, particularly the South-south zone so that we can find a lasting solution to the issue of oil theft, and tackle the issue of vandalism,” he said.

On his part, the Zonal Head, Ishaq Salihu, appreciated the Brigade Commander for his kind words, and promises.

“Your presence will go a long way in not only solidifying an already existing relationship between the EFCC and the Nigerian Army, but will go a long way in the joint fight against oil theft/bunkering,” he said.

He added that the agency had hope and confidence in the Army to partner the agency in the fight against the menace of pipeline vandalism, oil theft and other economic and financial crimes.

With NTA

Court nullifies Nyako’s impeachment

Murtala Nyako

The Court of Appeal on Thursday declared null and void the impeachment of the former governor of Adamawa State, Murtala Nyako.

The court sitting in Yola ruled that the July 15, 2014 impeachment of the former governor was not constitutional.

Nyako was impeached on allegations of corruption by 17 out 25 members of Adamawa State House of Assembly after a panel set up to investigate allegations submitted a report which indicted him.

The judges on Thursday unanimously held that Nyako was not given fair trial and that his rights were violated by the state assembly.

They noted that the House proceeded to impeach the former governor in spite of a subsisting court order against such move.

Though the court rule that Nyako be accorded all rights dues to him, including the payment of his entitlements, it however rejected his appeal to be returned as governor of the state.

With The Guardian

Minister Seeks Special Funding For Public Media for Anti-Terror Campaign

Minister of Information and Culture At #Budget2016 Defence

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has advocated a special funding arrangement for public media organizations to enable them to scale up their sensitization campaign against insurgency in the North-East.

The Minister made the call on Wednesday at the National Assembly, during an interactive session with members of the Senate Committee on Information and National Orientation, preparatory to the 2016 budget defence.

While responding to the sentiment expressed by a member of the Committee, Senator Ben Murray Bruce, on the effective utilisation of the public media in the fight against insurgency in the North- East, Alhaji Mohammed said his ministry had already mounted a robust public sensitization campaign on the insurgency, with the active participation of the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria, but noted that the public media needed to be retooled to enhance its ability to drive the campaign.

“I must say that FRCN, NTA and VON, they have given me their schedules, at times we get as many as 16 slots within an hour to propagate these things. But I must admit that we have constraints. The FRCN in particular does not have the reach it used to have before and this is not surprising because for years, we have neglected the maintenance of the FRCN.

“VON is even worse because when the new station was built about two years ago, we were told that we need about N600 million annually to maintain it but what did we get? N120 million when they give us anything at all. So we have been cannibalizing and trying to make the best out of a bad situation,” he said.

Alhaji Mohammed disclosed that the public media organs were directed to itemize the necessary requirements needed to prosecute the public sensitization campaign against the insurgency in order for the people to take ownership of the war and be security conscious.

“Let NTA, FRCN, VON, if only for the sake of the war in the North-East, tell us what they need to be able to prosecute this war. It’s going to be huge no doubt, but there is no way NTA, FRCN or VON will be able to meet this obligation when we have broken down transmitters and antennas,” he said.

Alhaji Mohammed also stressed the crucial role of the National Orientation Agency (NOA) in the campaign against insurgency and value re-reorientation.

“We see the NOA as a veritable vehicle not just in the war against insurgency but on all the wars against every ill including the war against corruption. We are working on this renewed campaign, which is going to be a much improved campaign on war against indiscipline, which we have tagged “Change Begins With Me”.

”This campaign will address all ills but this time around, we are not just targeting those at the top, they would have to lead by example but it’s going to be a bottom-up kind of campaign,” he said.

In his contribution, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Information and National Orientation, Eyinnaya Abaribe, suggested to the Executive Arm of Government to prepare and present an amended budget to capture all the necessary requirements of the public media organs to ensure success in the sensitization campaign against insurgency.

OAU students protest, ask EFCC to probe VC

Nigerian students under the aegis of Alliance of Nigerian Students Against Neo-Liberal Attacks on Thursday staged a public protest in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, and called on anti- graft agencies to arrest and prosecute the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Bamitale Omole, for allegedly mismanaging the university’s resources. 

The Coordinator of the ANSA, Wole Olubanji, who led scores of students to stage the protest also asked the university to reinstate the students union leaders suspended for seeking better welfare for the students. 

The protesting students said many petitions had been written against the vice chancellor, saying they had enough evidence to back their allegations against him.

Olubanji said, “We are calling on President Muhammadu Buhari, the National Assembly, EFCC, ICPC and the Code of Conduct Bureau to probe Prof. Bamitale Omole’s administration. 

“Prof. Omole administration has earned over N30bn from subventions, more than N1.5bn from school fees, billions of naira from ore-degree program besides funds received from special agencies such as World Bank, TETFUND etc and money from internal sources including  donations from corporate bodies. ”

Despite the fund, the students said their hostels were in very poor condition; the lecture rooms were over crowded  and epileptic power supply was the order of the day. 

With The PUNCH

INEC to Prosecute Under-Age Voters

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said on Wednesday that it would prosecute under-age voters in Plateau.

Dr Godwin Kwanga, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of INEC in the state made this known in a Stakeholders’ Forum in Jos ahead of re-run elections in the state fixed for Feb. 20.

Kwanga said that the state was replete with underage voters in possession of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).

The stakeholders at the forum included representatives of security agencies, politicians, media and election monitoring and observer groups.

He announced that the polls would hold in Langtang South, Pankshin North and Pankshin South state constituencies.

The REC said that the menace of underage voters almost marred the last general elections in the state.

According to him, the menace produced a lot of mutilated and voided votes during the April 11, 2015 polls in Quan’Pan Local Government Area.

“Our experience in Quan’Pan showed that a lot of underage voters were having the PVCs and this led to a lot of cancellations.

“One of the underage voters, who had PVC bearing his image and the age of 36 years, confessed to INEC officials that he was only 16 years old.

“We looked the other way even when in the same elections, our tags were photocopied and massively reproduced by agents of political parties,’’ he said.

He, however, said that unlike what happened in the April 11 polls, INEC was set to prosecute any case of underage voters in the coming rerun and supplementary polls.

Kwanga said that card reader machines would be solely used for the Feb. 20 polls and that newly registered voters were excluded from participation.

He assured that INEC would provide all political parties a level playing ground and appealed to party agents not to compromise ad hoc staff into tampering with materials to stall the polls.

“I beg agents of political parties not to lure ad hoc staff to tamper with materials as it will disrupt the process.

“Once you remove the battery from the machine, it malfunctions when you replace it, and ad hoc personnel are not trained on such duties,’’ he said.

He explained that accreditations and voting would hold simultaneously between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. as against past practices.

Akwanga announced that election in Langtang North would hold in 68 polling units and would be contested by only All Progressives Congress (APC) and Mega Progressive Peoples Party (MPPP).

He gave the names of their candidates as Jackson Ninmwang and Rinsmicit Emmanuel, respectively.

He said that Vincent Bulus of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was excluded.

“Pankshin South state constituency election will hold only in Nyelleng polling unit in Fier Area while that of Pankshin North will hold in Pyabor polling unit.

“The four political parties and candidates to contest in Pankshin North state constituency are Alice Dimlong, APC; Yakubu Zetgang, LP; Tamnakat David, MPPP and Diket Plang, PDP.

“Supplementary election in Pankshin South will feature Gideon Dashe, APC; Dagak Michael, APGA; Theresa Bartuk, MPPP and Mwamsat Istifanus, PDP,“ he said.