NNPC, Capital Oil sell 120,000 litres of kerosene to households in Gombe

By Robert Obi

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) in partnership with the Capital Oil and Gas Industries Ltd has sold 120,000 litres of kerosene to households in Gombe.
Samuel Echea, the Business Manager of Kerosene-direct of the company disclosed this on Tuesday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Gombe.
He said that the scheme was part of efforts to cushion the effect of shortage of the product in Gombe state.
Echea said that the product was sold in different locations in Gombe metropolis at the official price of N50 per litre. He said that the scheme was in collaboration with NNPC management to reduce the hardship faced by the masses.
According to him, the policy is also aimed at mitigating environmental problems associated with the felling of trees for fire wood. He said that the product was sold at Kamara Primary School, Jeka da fari, Army Barracks, Low Cost Housing units and at the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure for government officials.

Echea said that there was a high demand for the product by the people of the state.
He said that the scheme had successfully checked the activities of middle men who were capitalising on the problem to sell the little available commodity in the state at high price.
 Naij

CAN Group Faults Bakare On El-Rufai’s Retweet

A conglomeration of 13 church groups within the Christian Association of Nigeria on Tuesday faulted the comments by the overseer of the Latter Rain Assembly, Tunde Bakare, on the retweet by a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai.

The group also challenged Bakare to define “whether he is a Christian or Muslim.”
Bakare, in his state of the nation address in Lagos, said from its criticism of el-Rufai’s tweet on Jesus Christ, CAN was only diverting attention from grave issues affecting the country.
He also alleged that CAN was an extension of government.
But the Christian group, which operates under the aegis of Tarayar Ekklisiyar Kristi A Nijeriya (Hausa), said it was not surprised because Bakare was more of a politician than a pastor.
The President of TEKAN, Rev. Emmanuel Dzieggau, in an interview with journalists in Abuja, reminded Bakare that God would fight whoever makes derogatory remarks about Him.
Dzieggau described Bakare as a “confused mind,” adding that Nigerians should rather not take him serious because he had not recovered from the shock of losing an election.”
He said, “One day, he will wake up and speak as a politician and another day, he will speak as a pastor. But for him to say that CAN has no right to speak on somebody like el-Rufai, who derogates the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, is a very great offence.
“We want to tell Tunde Bakare to come out clearly and tell us where he belongs, either a Christian or a Muslim because he cannot be speaking from the two sides of his mouth. We are not surprised at the attitude of Bakare.”
Dzieggau said if it were to be the other way round — that a Christian made a derogatory remark against Prophet Mohammed — the country would have been on fire.
He said, “We are not going to fight for our God, we have left El-Rufai in the hands of God.”
According to him, anybody who speaks ill of Jesus Christ does not go scot-free, because “the God in Heaven knows how to deal with him.”
Naij

Market Leader In Lagos Charged With Murder

The western Nigerian state of Lagos has arraigned the President of Aguiyi i Ironsi Market popularly known as Ladipo Market in Lagos, Mr. Jonathan Chibuzor Okoli before an Ikeja High Court for attempted murder.
Jonathan Chibuzor Okoli in court yesterday
Jonathan Okoli was arraigned along side others still at large on a 12 count charge of attempting to kill five members of his market association during a protest in the market last year. The state alleged that Jonathan Okoli and others now at large on 5 March, 2012 while armed with guns and machetes attempted to kill Maduchukwu Ejike, Solomon Eze, Cyril Nwenu, Joseph Nnaji at Ladipo Market by inflicting grievous harms on them.
The state also alleged that the embattled market association president and some of his associates now at large unlawfully assembled at the market to act in disorderly manner and to disturb the public peace. Mr Okoli was also charged with extortion and unlawful display of arms in the market. He however pleaded not guilty to all the charges. In his application for bail, Okoli’s lawyer, Nnorom Quickers told the court that his client has been in detention since October last year without bail. He urged that the offence for which his client is been tried, is bailable. Nnorom also told the court that his client has earlier been exonerated of the crime for which he is been tried, by the office of Attorney General of the federation.
He added that Mr. Okoli was just been persecuted for refusing to sign a memorandum of understanding to step down as president of the market. Opposing the application for bail, Principal State Counsel, Mr. Femi Adamson told the court that granting the defendant bail, may further cause mayhem in the market. He urged that since the victims of the crime for which Mr. Okoli is been charged, are still members of the market, granting him bail may obstruct the cause of justice. Mr. Adamson also noted that the defendant has not put adequate evidence before the court to warrant his been granted bail. The presiding Judge, Justice Lateefah Okunnu has reserved ruling for bail later in the day. Hundreds of Mr. Okoli’s supporters were in court yesterday to show solidarity to their leader.
Naij

Nigeria Police Threatens Strike Over Unpaid Salaries

For delaying the payment of their January salary, junior officers in the Nigeria Police have threatened to embark on strike. Most of the junior officers from the Lagos State Police Command said they are embarking on strike anytime next week to force the authorities to pay their salaries.

"We are going to drop our guns and batons next week if the government fails to pay our salaries," a junior officer at the State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID,said.
The officer decried a situation where salaries of law enforcement officers will be delayed by the government knowing full well that they face a lot of temptations in the performance of their duties. Investigations revealed that the threat to embark on strike by junior officers did not start now but the police authorities have been managing the situation. "The situation is getting worse. Many of us are finding it difficult to pay our bills. We can’t pay our children’s school fees as a result of the delay in the payment of our salaries," the junior officer lamented.
Further investigations revealed that many of the officers have children in higher institutions and they have been putting pressure on their parents to pay their school fees. "Many of us have more than one wife and many children to cater for. Our children’s school fees have been increased and the salary remains the same. Do you know that some secondary schools are charging fees higher than some tertiary institutions? And for each child, I pay nothing less than N80,000 per term. I have five children in different private schools," a deputy superintendent of police, DSP, at the Command’s headquarters on Oba Akinjobi Road, Ikeja, lamented.
A junior officer at Oduduwa Crescent where MOPOL 20 is based, also lamented the late payment of salaries of policemen, saying it has the tendency of killing morale of policemen. "I have three children in the university, two are in private secondary schools preparing to write their senior secondary school certificate examination, SSCE. If my salary is not paid on time, where do I get the money to pay? I can’t go and rob," he said. A police constable at the SARS, Ikeja also lamented: "I joined the police four years ago. I have two children schooling at the Police Staff Children School here in Ikeja with high school fees. I am the breadwinner of my family but now that my salary is not paid, how do I pay my children’s school fees? Also, there is a particular drug my mother is using and it is very costly. How do I buy this drug for her now that I don’t know when I will be paid? If the strike is real, I’m ready to join them. If the strike will make government pay our salaries, then I will join them," he stated.
On what could be responsible for the delay in the payment of salaries of policemen, an Inspector at the Police Traffic Division in Agege volunteered: "Maybe they want to use our salaries to renovate the dilapidated Police College as exposed by a television station recently." A police Sergeant at the same department blamed the authorities for the contempt with which an average policeman is held by the public: "They don’t want us to collect bribe and they are still holding on to our salaries, what do they want us to live on? We have been saving peoples’ lives but they are not taking care of us. This is a fight we must fight," he said. When contacted, the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, DSP , said: "I’m not aware of any impending strike within the force."
Naij

NNPC Aircraft Overshoots Runway In Warri

An aircraft belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), 5NNOC operated by Aero contractors on Wednesday overshot the runway on landing at the Osubi airport, in Warri, Delta state.
Confirming the accident, the Acting Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the NNPC, Tumini Green, in a statement, said the aircraft was on a routine operation to Warri when it overshot the runway of the airport.
The statement said there were no casualties or injuries and that the appropriate aviation agencies have been contacted and have commenced investigations.
Naij

Kakih vs. Suswam: Gov Urges Court To Strike Out Case

Governor Gabriel Suswam yesterday prayed the Appeal Court sitting in Makurdi to strike out the appeal, which Terver Kakih filed against him. The governor said Kakih, who contested the 2011 governorship primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with him filed his appeal out of time.
When the matter came up yesterday, counsel to Governor Suswam, Jubrin Okutepa (SAN) argued that the appeal was filed after the 14 days mandatory period given for filing appeals.
He also maintained that it was on record that Kakih did not indicate any interest to raise a counter-affidavit to their application to bring additional witnesses, adding that all the issues were contained in his final written address, which he adopted before the court.
However, counsel to Kakih, Sam Kargbo said the Federal High Court in Makurdi did not give him fair hearing in his case against Suswam. Consequently, the five justices of the Appeal Court asked Kargbo to explain the consequences which led to the lower court denying him fair hearing.
Kargbo, who alleged foul play in the matter, told the appellate court that he filed a counter-affidavit opposing the application by the governor and PDP to call more witnesses but surprisingly he was never allowed to move the application while the application of the governor was granted.
“I protested and told the judge that it should be put on record that I was not heard and he said yes. The sequence was faulty. I was supposed to move my counter-affidavit before them and not for the court to grant their applications together with mine.”
Adopting his brief earlier, Kargbo urged the court to set aside the judgment of the trial court and allow the appeal to go on, insisting that the judgement had nothing to do with INEC and WAEC, saying they did not have any evidence and asked the court to expunge them from the appeal.
Kargbo, who cited the case of Governor Timpre Sylva vs. PDP contended that the fact remained that his client was an aspirant, saying he had the right to complain at the Federal High Court over the way and manner the party’s primary was conducted. He also posited that Suswam did not present any credential to contest the primary, which, according to him, was a constitutional requirement.
“It is a constitutional requirement to present certificate as enshrined in Section 177 but he did not do so.”

Reacting, Okutepa said the authority of PDP and Sylva was decided by the Supreme Court, which held that the Federal High Court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the suit, saying the issue of nomination was a party affair. On qualification of his client, Okutepa argued that the onus lied on Kakih to present a forge certificate of the governor, which he failed to do even as the lower court had rejected form 001 which he presented for not being duly certified.
He explained that Kakih admitted during cross-examination that he did not present any document during screening.
“A man who wants to be governor did not present any credentials and he expected my client to do so. I urge the court to dismiss the appeal for lack merit,” Okutepa appealed.
Naij

Tension In National Assembly Over New States

There is tension in the National Assembly over states creation. The desire for new states has caused a sharp division among the principal officers.
Senate President David Mark and his deputy, Chief Ike Ekweremadu, are for new states; most members of the House of Representatives from the North are not. The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Chief Emeka Ihedioha, who wants a new a state in the Southeast, is in a dilemma over how to manage the opposition in the House against state creation. Following the tension generated by the House’s poll survey on proposals for constitution amendment, the leadership has decided to give the 360 members a week to make their observations or complaints known.
After the complaints have been addressed, the report of the survey will be tabled at the plenary for consideration. There are 36 states – 19 in the North and 17 in the South. A breakdown of states in the North is as follows: North-West-7; North-East-6; and North-Central-6. In the South, the picture of states on geopolitical basis is: South-West -six, South-East-five; and South-South-six.
The disagreement over state creation is a major challenge confronting the National Assembly Committee on Constitution Review. It was gathered that the tension over state creation accounted for the delay in considering the report of the Poll Survey conducted by the House of Representatives.
A principal officer, who spoke in confidence, said: “Our leaders and members are divided on whether we should create new states or not. For instance, President of the Senate, David Mark, his deputy, Chief Ike Ekweremadu and Deputy Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha are in support of new states. “The supporting principal officers also hold contrasting views on state creation. I could see some selfish motives behind it.
More
“Most members of the House from the North are not keen because they are suspecting that there is a deliberate plot to limit the new states to the Southeast and minority areas in the North for strategic reasons for 2015 elections. “The Northern lawmakers are of the opinion that their zones may be shortchanged because the number of new states may be limited to one or two. They believe that there is an agenda to hide under parity factor to create one or two new states to achieve some political points. This is causing anger and tension in the National Assembly.
“The state creation is seen as an agenda against the core North, especially Hausa-Fulani. This is a faulty take-off point. “Do not forget that the agitators of new states require two-thirds consent from the 36 state Houses of Assembly. They can wish it; we can also use our strength to stop it.” A source in Mark’s camp referred our correspondent to the consistent position of the President of the Senate on state creation. “I do not think the President of the Senate has changed,” he said.
While receiving the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Police Affairs, Senator Paulinus Igwe, in Oturkpo, Mark said: “I am for the creation of Apa state and any other state that may fit the conditions. I have never shied from my agitation for creation of additional states just as I have always called for the creation of roles for traditional rulers in the Constitution. The traditional rulers are the custodians of peaceful coexistence in our various local communities. We must, therefore, confer on them constitutional powers that would enable them to perform the roles of ensuring peace in the communities.”
Naij