Thursday 19 June 2014

Stolen Funds: FG Withdraws Charges Against Mohammed Abacha

Mohammed Abacha


The federal government yesterday withdrew the criminal charge it filed against Mohammed, son of late head of state, General Sani Abacha.
At yesterday’s proceedings before Justice Mamman Kolo of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Wuse Zone 2, Abuja, the government announced its decision to withdraw the charge.
The government, through a private counsel, Daniel Enwelum, filed the charge of nine counts against Mohammed, accusing him of “dishonestly receiving stolen property” and saying he “voluntarily assisted in concealing money,” belonging to the state and estimated at N446.3billion.
Efforts by the government to arraign Abacha on the charge was unsuccessful as he failed to appear in court on two occasions, when the case was earlier mentioned.
However, Abacha showed up in court yesterday. He mounted the dock when the case was called, shortly after which Enwelum informed the court about the directive he got from the attorney general of the federation (AGF), to the effect that he should discontinue the case because there are fresh facts and documents available to him.

Boko Haram: US To Seek Extradition Of Detained Members

barack_obama


The United States attorney representing the 25th District (Maryland Region), Ms Aisha Braveboy, yesterday said that the American government would soon be asking its Nigerian counterpart on the possible extradition and serious prosecution of the detained terror suspects who had been arrested on account of Boko Haram in Nigeria.
This is just as Nigeria’s ambassador to Nigeria, Professor Adebowale Ibidapo Adefuye, has said that the terrorist group had no reason to justify their deadly acts of killing and destroying innocent citizens of Nigeria.
Speaking during a public debate organized by the Africa-American Investment Partners on the menace of Boko Haram in Washington, DC, Ms Braveboy noted that efforts were underway to ensure that everybody who had been indicted for having anything to do with Boko Haram as well as the terrorist attacks in Nigeria was duly prosecuted by the United States, United Nations and the international community.

Wants politicians linked to terrorism released for prosecution
Lauding the efforts of the Nigerian government to curb terrorists and acts of terrorism in the country, the US official said that a letter would soon be sent to the government to request a proper prosecution of the detained terrorists in Nigeria. She added that those politicians that are being linked with sponsoring the terrorist group should be released to the international community by the federal government for arrest and prosecution.
Ambassador Adefuye, who was the keynote speaker at the event, said that there was no justification for any act of terrorism in Nigeria, faulting the claims from some quarters that Boko Haram members were perpetrating evil in Nigeria as a result of underdevelopment in the three affected states. “Does anybody have a reason to kill because he feels his region has not been developed? It is totally unacceptable to say that terrorism came to existence in Nigeria as a result of underdevelopment in any part of the country,” he noted.
Condemning media reports that the federal government was violating human rights, the Nigerian envoy who has been meeting to inform US lawmakers on the efforts that the Nigerian government is making to fight terrorism in Nigeria continued that the diplomatic way with which Nigeria had been handling the trials of those indicted for terrorism should show that the country is a respecter of human rights. He added that Boko Haram did not just start during President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.
Adefuye however thanked the United States government including senators and Congressmen for now realizing that all the media reports which earlier said that the Nigerian government was slow in its intervention in the Chibok kidnapping were all fabrications just to discredit President Jonathan’s administration. He continued that the Western media were just blowing the security situation in Nigeria out of proportions.
He said: “How can you say that the entire Nigeria is unsafe because Boko Haram members are striking in just three states out of the 36 states in the federation? I think the international media should also think and report about the positive things happening in Nigeria just like the just-concluded World Economic Forum which was held successfully. All that international investors need to do now is to ignore all the overblown media reports and take a trip to Nigeria; it is when they get there that they will know that the situation is not as bad as it is being reported in the media.”
Also speaking, the coordinator and partner of the Africa-American Investment Partners, Mr Franklin Ekechukwu, charged the international community to urgently do everything to support Nigeria in order for the kidnapped female students to be found and returned back to their families alive.
Mr Ekechukwu added that the efforts being put in place by the federal government should be appreciated.

Chibok Girls: Jonathan okays N1.6bn for safe schools initiative
•As Gordon Brown, Gov Shettima visit Aso Rock
President Goodluck Jonathan has directed finance minister Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to open a trust fund account of N1.6billion for the Safe Schools Initiative, in response to the growing number of attacks on the right to education including the kidnap of over 200 schoolgirls from Chibok.
This is coming just as former British prime minister Gordon Brown, Borno State governor Kashim Shettima and his Yobe counterpart Ibrahim Gaidam met with the president at the presidential villa, Abuja, to perfect and seal the Safe Schools Initiative which was launched by Jonathan at the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa last month in Abuja.
Brown, who is currently the UN special envoy for education, had teamed up with a coalition of Nigerian business leaders to formally launch the “Safe Schools Initiative” as part of the opening activities of the WEF.
The UN envoy alongside governors Shettima and Gaidam as well as Okonjo-Iweala and presidential spokesman Reuben Abati briefed State House correspondents on the outcome of the meeting with the president.
“And Mr President has kicked off this initiative by opening and instructing that I open a trust fund in which we have already put N1.6billion. The private sector is also putting N1.6 billion; his excellency Gordon Brown is going to be raising some resources and the governors are also putting in commitment,” Okonjo-Iweala said.
The UN envoy told journalists that he also came with a message from Ban Ki-moon, UN secretary-general, giving his support for Nigeria on the Safe Schools Initiative.
He said, “I just came from a meeting with the president. Every child is special, precious and unique. I have come here with the UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon giving me his support to do so — to send our sympathies and our solidarity and our support to the children of Chibok who have been cruelly kidnapped and to give our support to the families of these girls and to the whole community in Borno State.
“And I am here to say that we wish as an international community to do everything we can to back up the efforts of President Goodluck Jonathan and the governors of the states to make sure these girls are returned to their families and at the same time to make sure that every parent feels that they can send their children to school knowing they wil be safe in future.
“And that is why we are launching the Safe Schools Intiative and that is why the president has decided to set up this fund that will allow the international community as well as local donors to contribute to making our schools in this country safer.
“We also want to help the rebuilding of Chibok schools because we want parents of that area to be sure that when thier girls are released they can come home to a school that is rebuilt and safe.
And we want to help in rebuilding the schools in other areas where schools have either been demolished or burnt down or vandalized.”
Borno governor Shettima warned against politicising the process, saying while the situation is such that calls for sobriety and maturity, politics would be played at the appropriate time.
He said, “We have given our commitment to partner with the federal government and the international community to ensure that we promptly address this problem confronting us. It is an issue that basically boils down to education, poverty, empowerment. By the grace of God, we want to give you our commitment: that we are going to pursue this thing vigorously with all the resources, human and material, in our disposal, and, please, it will be completely devoid of politics.
“Times like this call for sobriety, maturity, for unity of purpose. At the appropriate time, we are going to play politics but this is not time for playing politics with the lives of people.”
On his part, Yobe governor Gaidam said, “The initiated is going to be started in our three states because we are the most affected areas in terms of the insurgencies. We promise to give him all the necessary cooperation to ensure that the programme succeeds.
“We are also going to partner both with him and the federal government under the leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan to ensure that this programme becomes successful at the end of the day.”

30,000 flee villages to Maiduguri
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has said that over 30,000 villagers have fled their areas to Maiduguri, Borno State capital, for safety.
The north-east zonal coordinator, Alhaji Muhammad Kanar, told the Hausa service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) that frequent attacks of the villages by the Boko Haram have forced the residents to abandon their homes to Maiduguri, the state capital.
According to the coordinator, “villagers seeking safety in Maiduguri were from Alau, Gwoza and other surrounding communities worst hit by the militants”.
NEMA has vowed to create camps in Maiduguri to cater for the affected persons, Kanar said.
Meanwhile, the Economic Communities of West African States (ECOWAS) Council of Ministers has revealed that security, economic development and regional integration will top the agenda of its 72nd Ordinary Session in Accra, Ghana.
This was contained in a statement signed by the ECOWAS Commission’s acting director of communication, Sunny Ugoh, yesterday in Abuja.
According to the statement, the meeting will hold from June 19 to June 20. ECOWAS would also consider the memorandum on the “ECOWAS declaration on events in northern Nigeria” due to insecurity in that part of the country.
Thousands of people have been killed in northern Nigeria due to the activities of the Boko Haram terrorist group.

Use of force cannot end Boko Haram – CAN
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has said that the use of force alone cannot solve the menace of Boko Haram, because its activities were ideologically construed and can only be solved by a superior ideology.
Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, president of CAN, who spoke yesterday on the sidelines of a one-day Christian/Muslim interactive meeting in Abuja, said as necessary as military operation in quenching the raging fire ignited by the insurgents could be, the only potent means of solving the menace is by engaging them with counter-narrative.
According to Oritsejafor, Muslim clerics should begin to engage the insurgent members with a view to re-orientating them against their pervert ideology, adding that military operation is very important but the problem will not be solved completely just by bullets.
“We will have to create an avenue for a superior argument in the area of ideologies. In other words, we must bring up another ideology that is higher and better, that would counter and contradict the ideology that has created this monster,” he said.
Oritsejafor said he disagreed with a section of the people who believed that poverty was at the centre of the issues that bred insurgency in the north, stressing that if government decided to give car to each Nigerian, it would still not address the scourge because the dreaded Islamic group was being driven by wrong ideology.
“It is a fact that Boko Haram is not as a result of poverty, but as a result of an ideology. If you buy a car and build a house for everybody in Nigeria, it does not stop an ideology. The only thing that stops an ideology is another ideology, a better and a superior one.
“What we now have to do is to look for the people who have this type of ideology, that have contact with these people who have the wrong ideology, so that they can take the right ideology, go to them and explain it to them. They may not listen to me, but there are people they will listen to.
“The people who can engage Boko Haram basically are Muslim clerics. I do not want to be hypocritical. There is no Christian ideology that can match that ideology, because they are totally different. But it is purely a Muslim ideology that can counter this ideology,” he stated.
Speaking a similar vein, the Chairman Islamic Resource Centre, Nigeria, Prof. Mohammed Al-Amin also agreed that the issue of Boko Haram was an ideological issue, that if the perpetrators are converted ideologically, then it would have done what weapons and violent actions could not do.
“I perfectly agree that Boko Haram is an ideological problem and the best way to tackle it is through intellectual engagement. Among Muslims scholars, there were some that started this engagement some years back. I think it is very important we encourage this to continue. Secondly, the opinion of this conference is that Boko Haram has proven that their agenda is not Muslim interest to attack Christians in this country.
“It is also not an agenda of the federal government to unleash mayhem on the northerners, but a disease by a section of Nigerians that have unleashed terrible abuses on both Muslims and Christians,” he said.
Leadership

Lagos Assembly Berates PDP Over Desperation To Regain Ekiti

Lagos-House


Lagos State House of Assembly has lambasted the PDP leadership over its desperation to regain Ekiti State by every possible means which includes rigging, violence and other ruthless means.
The position of the House was made known yesterday by the chairman, House Committee on Information, Strategy, Security and Publicity, representing Epe Constituency II, Hon Segun Olulade.
The House was reacting to the reported arrest made by the Department of State Security in Ekiti over illegal thumb-printing into ballot boxes by loyalists of PDP gubernatorial candidate, Ayo Fayose, ahead of the Saturday election.
“The attempt by PDP to forcefully regain Ekiti is a wishful thinking, not even a dream. The party is making every ruthless effort to choke Ekiti people into accepting a tyrant model being imported by Ayo Fayose from Abuja. We believe that Ekiti people are learned people and very wise. I have no doubt that the people will stand and defend their mandate of the choice of Governor Kayode Fayemi.
“All attempts being employed by PDP have failed. First was the attempt to use a PDP man in police uniform to discourage followers of Dr Fayemi by shooting at a peaceful rally, leaving an APC supporter dead; then the attempt to distribute expired rice and food items to woo the people; and now they have started thumb-printing illegally ahead of the election”, the House said.
The lawmakers who commended the inspector general of police for taking an honourable position in the shooting case also commended the men of the State Security Service for the arrest of the hoodlums who were thumb-printing into ballot boxes.
Leadership

Boko Haram Planning Massive Attacks In Abuja – FG


The federal government has revealed a plot by the Boko Haram insurgents to carry out a massive attack in different locations in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Coordinator of the National Information Centre and Director General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mr Mike Omeri, made the revelation yesterday during a media briefing on the update of the fight against insurgency and effort to rescue the abducted Chibok schoolgirls.
According to Omeri, the insurgents plan to hijack fully loaded petro tankers from their drivers, plant explosives in them and move the vehicles to destinations where they are expected to cause monumental destruction of life and property.
“The Nigerian security services have received intelligence report to the effect that insurgents intend seizing petrol tankers and planting Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in the tankers and driving them to crowed places in Abuja,” Omeri said.
The NOA boss urged members of Petrol Tankers’ Association to be on red alert and advised them to report any attempt or seizure of their vehicles to the security agencies. Citizens were also advised to report any broken down tanker in any part of the territory to security agencies.
“We are using this opportunity to appeal to the public to be on the alert particularly when they see any tanker driving dangerously,” he said.
The spokesman for the Department of State Services, Ms Marilyn Ogar reacted to the suspected insurgents arrested in Abia State, saying they were actually 491, including five infants and five women.
Omeri described the suspects as travellers, and said the arrest was not targeted at any group of persons or individuals.
He revealed that during interrogation of the suspects, a notorious insurgent who had been profiled by the DSS since 2007 and had been on the agency’s watch-list was identified.
“This led to further questioning of the large movement of persons travelling in a convoy of over 30 buses with none of them having up to N1,000 on them,” he said.

US Approves Fresh $18m To Fight Boko Haram
The United States government has approved a fresh $18 Million to fight Boko Haram and other terrorists groups in the entire Africa continent.
This was contained in a press statement which was obtained by our correspondent from the office of the United States Reward for Justice.
The statement made it known that the US has placed a $5 million bounty on Barnawi, a leader of the Nigeria-based terrorist group known as Ansaru, who is also a former senior member of the Boko Haram sect.
Apart from the $5 million bounty which was put on each of the two deadly Nigerien terrorists, Hamad el Khairy and Ahmed el Tilemsi, the United States Reward for Justice also declared a reward of $3 million for whoever gives useful information that can lead to the arrest of an Egyptian, Abu-Yusuf al-Muhajir, who specializes in making explosives for terrorists in Africa.

Stop Indiscriminate Arrest Of Northerners – ACF
Apparently disturbed by the arrest of 486 northerners in Abia State, the northern apex socio-cultural organisation, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), has warned of the dangers of indiscriminate arrest of northerners in some parts of the country under disguise of looking for Boko Haram members.
According to the ACF, it is unlawful to arrest 486 northerners who were in pursuit of their legitimate means of livelihood in the South on the allegation that they are members of the outlawed Boko Haram sect because of their faith, origin and appearance.
ACF in a statement signed by its spokesman, Muhammad Ibrahim, said, “This indiscriminate act of arrest based on faith and origin negates the spirit of one Nigeria and equally violates their freedom of movement and association as guaranteed in the Nigerian Constitution.”
“ACF therefore calls on the relevant authorities and in particular the Abia State Government to exercise caution on the alleged arrest of Jigawa indigenes on suspicion of being Boko Haram members, lest such an action make some people of a particular faith and origin become foreigners in their fatherland.

Russia Backs Nigeria’s War Against Terror
Abuja, June 13, 2014 Russia has expressed its support and solidarity with the Federal Government in its fight against insurgency and associated security challenges.
The Russian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Nikolay Udovichenko, said this in his address on the National Day of the Russian Federation, Thursday.
“We know, from our own experience, how important it is to stand together in the fight against terrorism. Our country is ready as it has always been, to lend a hand to Nigeria in this struggle,’’ he said.
Leadership

NO MORE COUP IN NIGERIA – DEFENCE CHIEF

Alex Badeh


The Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, yesterday dismissed a story originated from African Confidential speculating the possibility of a coup d’etat in the country, saying the military would defend democracy whatever it takes.
The London-based online medium, in its 13 June, 2014 edition, came out with a story that there was a plan in the offing to replace the Jonathan administration with an interim national government to be headed by Senate president David Mark because of his military background, but Badeh dismissed the story with a wave of the hand.
The CDS made the declaration while receiving the director-general of National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mike Omeri at the Defence Headquarters, in Abuja, for the formal presentation of the Nigerian Centenary Flag to the military, which the CDS ordered its hoisting in all military formations nationwide.
According to him, the military as a professional group “has no option but to love Nigeria” and do those things that would ensure security and protection of lives within the nation.
Air Chief Marshal Badeh, who did not hide his surprise at the rumours of coup, said democracy had come to stay in the country and that the military had no intention of truncating it.
“Why should anyone be thinking in negative fashion? Tell them we will not do it. Those rumouring coups must be living elsewhere and not in Nigeria. The Armed Forces are defenders of democracy. We are an arm of democracy, so how can an arm of democracy work against the democracy that we are part of?”, the CDS asked.
Leadership

SECURITY AGENCIES NOT DOING ENOUGH TO RESCUE OUR GIRLS – CHIBOK CHAIRMAN

Nigerian Soldiers


The chairman of the Chibok Community Association in Abuja, Mr Tsambido Hosea-Abana has expressed fear over the inability of the Nigerian security agencies to rescue the over 200 girls abducted at Chibok, Borno State, even as he noted that there is the possibility that some of these girls may not return alive.
The chairman, who was speaking at the Unity Fountain during the sit out of the Bring Back Our Girls group yesterday, lamented that despite daily media reports on the efforts of the security agencies, the truth still remains that after 66 days, the girls are still in captivity of the deadly Boko Haram sect.
“I am calling on the president to put in more efforts, even if it involves negotiation and inviting former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo to assist in ensuring that our girls are returned safely,” Hosea-Abana said.
He also wondered why the security agencies have not been able to make any notable attack on the Sambisa forest, and noted that it is a cause for alarm, while suggesting the use of local hunters in the rescue mission.
Members of the #BringBackOurGirls group who expressed concern over the failure of the security agencies to rescue the Chibok girls up till now, also warned that if the government fails in the rescue mission, they would not hesitate to push for a motion to impeach the president.
Leadership

A Mighty Girl's photo.


The Nazis called them 'Night Witches' because the whooshing noise their plywood and canvas airplanes made reminded the Germans of the sound of a witch’s broomstick. The Russian women who piloted those planes, onetime crop dusters, took it as a compliment. In 30,000 missions over four years, they dumped 23,000 tons of bombs on the German invaders, ultimately helping to chase them back to Berlin. Any German pilot who downed a 'witch' was awarded an Iron Cross.
These young heroines, all volunteers and most in their teens and early 20s, became legends of World War II but are now largely forgotten. Flying only in the dark, they had no parachutes, guns, radios or radar, only maps and compasses. If hit by tracer bullets, their planes would burn like sheets of paper."
So begins a NY Times tribute to one of the most famous "Night Witches," Nadezhda Popova, pictured here. Popova, who flew 852 missions during the war, passed away this past year at the age of 91. To read more about her incredible story, visithttp://nyti.ms/JbnOMC
While there aren't any books available for young readers about these courageous women, there are several books for older readers about the role of Russian women combat pilots during WWII including "Flying for Her Country: The American and Soviet Women Military Pilots of World War II" (http://amzn.to/1mTMad9), "Wings, Women, and War: Soviet Airwomen in World War II Combat" (http://amzn.to/1fyPOs8), "A Dance with Death: Soviet Airwomen in World War II" (http://amzn.to/1jJb79N), "Red Sky, Black Death: A Soviet Woman Pilot's Memoir of the Eastern Front" (http://amzn.to/NhxvM4).
For an excellent documentary for ages 10 and up about the WASPs, the American women flyers of WWII, check out "Fly Girls," at http://www.amightygirl.com/american-experience-fly-girls
For more true stories of courageous women heroes of WWII, check out the inspiring book for ages 13 and up "Women Heroes of World War II: 26 Stories of Espionage, Sabotage, Resistance, and Rescue" at http://www.amightygirl.com/women-heroes-of-world-war-ii
For two highly recommended novels, both for ages 13 and up, about women resistance fighters of WWII, check out "Code Name Verity" (http://www.amightygirl.com/code-name-verity) and "Rose Under Fire" (http://www.amightygirl.com/rose-under-fire).
For stories for all ages about girls and women living through the WWII period, visit our "WWII / Holocaust" section at http://www.amightygirl.com/books/history-biography/history-world?cat=186
And, to introduce your kids to more famous female flyers like Amelia Earhart, Bessie Coleman, and Harriet Quimby, visit A Mighty Girl's "Planes" section athttp://www.amightygirl.com/books/general-interest/transportation?cat=129