APC Crisis: How NEC made Oyegun, Saraki, Dogara winners

…As Tinubu, Akande are curiously absent
•Govs, aggrieved camps’ meeting fail to broker peace
By Levinus Nwabughiogu
Like a prosecution counsel whose absence stalled the hearing of his case in a law court, the failure of the National Leader of  the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and the former interim National Chairman of the party, Chief Bisi Akande’s, to attend  the party’s National Executive Committee, NEC, meeting, on Friday, stopped the hearing of “their  case” against the leadership of the party and the National Assembly respectively. This is the inside story of how the APC National Chairman, Chief John Oyegun, was let off the sack hook.
Apart from President Muhammadu Buhari, a retired military general who is obviously not known with generous, frivoulous, broad smiles, every other person wore smiles on their way out  of the meeting.
From the ruling party National Chairman, Chief John Oyegun, to the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, and Speaker Yakubu Dogara, the smiles beamed. The governors were not left out. Trust Governors Adams Oshiomole and Rochas Okorocha who spoke to journalists. Their smiles were expectedly infections. But these were  wry, seemingly subdued smiles that flashed just across faces.
Sure, one would think that those smiles were from the heart. But beyond  the facade was deep seated pain arising from the stalemate of the core issue that brought them together. In any case, many thought it was a conscious calculation to hoodwink the media and the world knowing what the expectations of the members of the public were of them from the meeting.
Vote of confidence on Oyegun
But Oyegun’s happy mood was real. No doubts. He had hitherto been on tenterhooks. Two reasons were chiefly responsible. One: He was let off the sack hook and unexpectedly given a vote of confidence by the gathering. Two: His perceived critics were not available to frontally press their charges against him.
Indeed, to any keen follower of the ugly developments in the All Progressives Congress, APC, since June 9 when the 8th National Assembly was inaugurated, expectations were high that the National Executive Committee, NEC, meeting  of the party, held on Friday at its national secretariat in Abuja, would have resolved the logjam. But that was not to happen.
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara;Senate President, APC Chirman Chief John Odigie-Oyegun Dr. Bukola Saraki and President Muhammadu Buhari at the APC NEC Meeting.
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara;Senate President, APC Chirman Chief John Odigie-Oyegun Dr. Bukola Saraki and President Muhammadu Buhari at the APC NEC Meeting.
What is the logjam? The Senate President, Saraki, and the Speaker, House of Representatives, Dogara, were elected into office in defiance of the directive of the party which had, in a straw poll, on June 6,  produced Senate Ahmed Lawan and Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila as official candidates for the portfolios. Since then, all things fell apart for the party. That was round one of the problems.
Round two: While every effort was made to placate the powers-that-be in the APC, who obviously godfathered and even midwived the candidatures of Lawan and Gbajabiamila, another tsunami hit the party. What happened? The party’s hierarchy, in what was believed to be a coerced move, sent in a list of candidates to be made Senate Leader, Deputy Senate Leader, Chief Whip and Deputy Chief Whip, ditto for the House of Representatives. But their list was rejected  by the senators who eventually picked their choices for the positions.
Meanwhile, the letter containing the names for the Reps principal offices was not read by the Speaker, a development that culminated in a free- for -all on June 25 on the floor of the House. And then the party boiled further.
The crisis escalated when it sprawled menacingly to the national secretariat of the party, threatening  Oyegun as the National Chairman as some quarters accused him of taking gratification.
But the man has since dismissed the allegation saying it is neither here not there.
And determined to broker peace among the APC warring parties, the Chairman summoned a meeting of the NEC for Friday.
Buhari, Saraki, Dogara, senators, Reps, governors elected on the platform of the party and every other person who had the licence to attend graced the event. But the National Leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and the former interim National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, upon whom most things in the party revolved around were conspicuously absent.
Rhetorics
One would have thought that the core issue, being the crisis in the party, would be exhaustively discussed and laid to rest, but you can’t bet it was scarcely mentioned in the course of proceedings. What rather transpired in the meeting were words of admonition, warnings, cautions and, in the end, there was a basket full of resounding rhetorics. Yet the crisis raged on. Otherwise, why would a NEC that had the powers to take decisive and definite decisions pass on the responsibility of brokering peace between the aggrieved parties onto the governors to mediate?
Meanwhile, in the preclude to the closed-door session, the President had asked everyone to pocket his selfish ambition and allow the party and, by extension, his government to work.
‘Winning the battle, losing the war’
He said: “The elections have come and gone. The APC has won the battle, but lost the war. This is the paradox of democracy and we shall see how we can manage it going forward.
“I have already addressed you through the Chairman, through the leadership of the party, through your excellencies, the governors, and through our senators and House of Representatives members.
“The APC must not disappoint its constituency, that is the nation-state. We have to convince our various constituencies that we are individually worthy of the sacrifices that they have made.
“Let us as members of the APC no matter our personal differences get together and use the mandate given to us by this country. This is my personal appeal to you in the name of God. Whatever your personal interest or ambition, please keep it close to your heart and in your pocket. Let APC work.
“Let the system work and let us have a government that will earn the respect of our constituencies.  My problem is the constituencies. I thank you very much for listening to me, and I thank the leadership across the board, and I appeal to you to please continue to work together.
“Please accept the superiority of the party.   I cannot confine myself to the cage or Sambisa forest and refuse to participate in NEC or BoT. So, I respect, the superiority of the party.  But God in his infinite mercy has helped by giving us acceptance. Let us not throw this success to the wind”.
APC will overcome challenges – Oyegun
In his welcome speech at the meeting, the National Chairman expressed the hope that the challenges in the party would be resolved before the resumption of National Assembly  on July 21.
“We know the issues the challenges the party is passing through. In the process, we will discuss the challenges. I can assure you that they will be dealt with conclusively before the National Assembly reassembles”, Oyegun said.
APC governors to meet Saraki, Dogara
Briefing journalists after the meeting, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said that NEC resolved that Pregressives Governors Forum, a body of APC governors, would meet with Saraki and Dograra later as part of the moves to settle the conflict.
He stated that both the NEC and the governors unanimously expressed satisfaction with the Oyegun-led party executive by passing a vote of confidence on him.
He said: “The National Legal Adviser came to seek the approval of NEC as to the certain candidates of NEC who should be members of BoT and a motion was moved and carried after which NEC and the governors passed a vote of confidence in the leadership of the party.
“NEC has provided an enabling environment to look into ways of resolving the national assembly lock jams. Later in the day, the governors will be meeting with the Speaker and the Senate President in a further attempt to find a lasting solution to the lingering logjam at the National Assembly.
“Also, it is important to let you know that everybody in the party is united on two issues which are party supremacy and the need to ensure that this government deliver its campaign promises.”
APC will not break up—Okorocha
Also with journalists at the end of the meeting, Okorocha, who is the Chairman of the governors group,  stated that the problems in the party would be resolved amicably.
He said: “Many people think that there will be problems between APC members at this meeting. But I am assuring Nigerians that we have met and discussed what affects all of us and we have understood ourselves. We have also reiterated our support and loyalty to our leadership. We are also going to meet on the issue of the National Assembly crisis and it will be resolved amicably. So, I can confidently say that the crisis facing the party is almost over now.”
APC will come out of problem stronger—Oshiomhole
Similarly, the Edo governor, Oshiomhole said that APC would come out of its present challenges stronger and better.
Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki and President Muhammadu Buhari at the APC NEC Meeting.
Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki and President Muhammadu Buhari at the APC NEC Meeting.
“In human societies, you are bound to get divergent views. We can’t be perfect because we are human. The only thing is to recognize our limit and work together. The fact that the president left his office to attend the NEC meeting shows that he believes in the supremacy of the party because all of us, the president inclusive went for the election on the platform of the party,”he stated.
“I expect that the party will work as unified entity especially as we promised the nation change. We had a very interesting discussion during the meeting and we affirmed the superiority of the party. We also have confidence in the way the president is giving leadership to the country. And so we all pledged to be Layla and dedicated to the party and the administration.
“I think we are leaving this place much, much stronger than we entered. But the good thing about democracy is that it allows even the fool to be foolish and the intelligent also to be intelligent. In the process of discussion, we intended to appeal to people to buy into our beliefs and our actions for us to be strong. And I am happy that those that are expecting chairs will be thrown, people coming out wearing long faces. But the party came out to say after we are APC”.
Tinubu, Akande absent at NEC meeting
Curiously absent at the meeting were Tinubu and Akande. Both had been dissatisfied with the turn of events in the National Assembly and the APC. While Tinubu was said to have been using the party leaders against Saraki and Dagara as National Assembly leaders, Akande exploded in a letter, warning against a North’s conspiracy against the Youraba of  the South-West. But at the APC NEC meeting where the issue could have been discussed both men stayed away. Consequently, the NEC decided to step down their case, a development many felt had given Saraki, Dogara and Oyegun an edge in the crisis.
Lai Mohammed defended their absence.  “If you look at our Constitution, neither of them is a member of the EXCO of the party. I think it is at the discretion of the NWC or NEC whom to invite or not and I also saw that quota as act of respect for his position. I don’t want to fathom more reasons why they are not here, but like I said neither of them is a  member of the EXCO of the party”, he said.
Peace meeting
Having received the blessing of the NEC to mediate between Saraki/ Lawan’s groups and Dogara/Gbajabimaila’s  groups, APC governors took the peace meeting to Imo State Governor’s Lodge in Asokoro where they met with the aggrieved groups. But like the NEC meeting, the Asokoro meeting ended in deadlock. Again, beaming with broad smiles, Okorocha and Oshiomhole, who have apparently become the mouthpiece of the Progressives Governors Forum, briefed journalists.
“You will not see any more disagreements as against the past. Peace has come to our party. Both the Senate President and the Speaker; Senator Ahmed Lawan and Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila will work together for the unity and progress of our party. By next week, we will give you people the details of the outcome of this peace meeting, but so far so good all things being equal,”Okorocha said.
Oshiomhole echoed similar sentiment “When you have some little disagreement among friends, the only way to solve them is to talk and we have started the process. The fact that the two sides are present, the foundation for peace is there.
“If people refuse to see eye to eye or refuse to sit together, then you can’t even discuss and the fact that they all turned up and we listened to all the sides and we have a couple of suggestions, we have agreed to continue with the conversation and we are meeting again  tomorrow (Saturday) night  here again. So, I believe we are making some progress. Not that everything is signed, sealed and delivered that is why Okorocha said we are continuing the process.”
Bottom line
In the reckoning of many ordinary Nigerians, the brouhaha in  the APC does not concern them. What they earnestly yearn for is change. Clogging the wheel of developmental progress in the overall good of the country might spell doom for the government of Buhari. Just as Oyegun and the governors have promised, Nigerians expect the crisis in the National Assembly to be resolved before its resumption date of  July 21.

Nigerian-born scientist wins award for his cancer-seeing glasses

Ben Ezeamalu    

   

A Nigerian born scientist, Samuel Achilefu, has won the prestigious St. Louis Award for 2014 for creating cancer-visualizing glasses.
Dr. Achilefu, a professor of radiology and biomedical engineering, and his team developed the imaging technology in cancer diagnosis into a wearable night vision-like goggles so surgeons could see the cancer cells while operating.
“They basically have to operate in the dark,” Bloomberg Businessweek quoted Dr. Achilefu, 52, as saying.
“I thought, what if we create something that let’s you see things that aren’t available to the ordinary human eye.”
Dr. Achilefu won a scholarship from the French government to study at the University of Nancy, according to St. Louis Post-Dispatch, a regional newspaper in St. Louis, U.S., and is the 87th person to receive the annual award since it was established in 1931.
Married with two young children, Dr. Achilefu moved to St. Louis after he was hired by Mallinckrodt to start a new research department.
“Our efforts start with two words: ‘What if?'” Dr. Achilefu said during his acceptance speech.
“These words may sound simple, but they embody the belief that each person has the potential to make a difference, if only he or she can take the time to understand the problem.”
According to Bloomberg, the researchers’ technology requires two steps: First, surgeons inject a tiny quantity of an infrared fluorescent marker into the patient’s bloodstream. The peptides contained in the marker enables it to locate cancer cells and buries itself inside.
After the tracer flows through a patient’s body and clears from non-cancerous tissue – which lasts about four hours – the operation would begin. Wearing the goggle, the doctor can inspect tumours under an infra red light that reacts with the dye, causing cancer cells to glow from within.
This month, the goggles have been used on humans for the first time by surgeons at the Washington University School of Medicine.
Four patients suffering from breast cancer and over two dozen patients with melanoma or liver cancer have been operated on using the goggles since they were developed.
“The goggles function fantastically,” says Ryan Fields, a surgical oncologist who is collaborating with Dr. Achilefu to improve on the technology.
“They allow us to see the cells in real time, which is critical. Because the marker has not yet been FDA-approved, doctors are currently using a different, somewhat inferior marker that also reacts with infrared light.”
Julie Margenthaler, a breast cancer surgeon, says tens of thousands of women who had had breast cancer lumpectomies go back for second operations every year because of the inability to see the microscopic extent of the tumours.
“Imagine what it would mean if these glasses eliminated the need for follow-up surgery and the associated pain, inconvenience and anxiety.”
Dr. Achilefu and his team began work in 2012 after they received $2.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Before then, they had been working on a lean budget provided by the Department of Defence’s Breast Cancer Research Program.
After it was developed, the team spent years testing the technology on mice, rats, and rabbits to confirm the efficacy of the goggles.
“Nobody would believe us until we showed that the goggles work,” Dr. Achilefu says.
The Food and Drug Administration are still reviewing the goggles and a related dye Dr. Achilefu and his co-researchers developed, according to Washington University in St. Louis, a St. Louis based journal.
Dr. Achilefu says he intends to keep Washington University as the primary centre for clinical trials to evaluate the technology in patients.
“Making a difference in society should be the goal of everybody,” Dr. Achilefu

INVESTIGATION: How children from rich Nigerian families help finance Boko Haram

     

Premium Times    

   

On Saturday, 4 October, 2013, Bauchi, capital of Bauchi State, was experiencing an unusually cold weather. At the Old GRA, a suburb of the city, Ismaila Gambo, a 21-year-old with a neatly trimmed beard got up at dawn and headed to a nearby mosque for his morning prayers. He wore a grey sweatshirt atop a pair of jeans and boots.
Ismaila’s dressing suggested that he was off to some high-energy work. But he was actually headed for Maiduguri, capital of Borno State where he believed he was to carry out a self-appointed divine assignment.
Upstairs, in a bedroom in the Gambos’ home, a duplex, his 17–year-old sister, Khadija, said her own prayers. She was dressed in a long gown and wore a headscarf as she waited for her brother to return.
Khadija wore a niqabi, a veil worn by a Muslim woman so that only the eyes are visible. Soon, if all went according to plan, Khadija would be married to a jihadi, a fighter for the cause of Islam. What would her husband be like? She hoped he would be handsome and bearded like Ismaila, her brother.
When the men returned from the mosque just before 6 a.m., Khadija waited until she heard her father go back to bed. Then, before her parents woke up, she stuffed some pillows under the covers to make it seem like she was the one in bed and mentally reviewed her checklist: – clothes for five days, boots, warm socks, a toothbrush, a hairbrush, her niqabi, hijab, and Qur’an.
She grabbed her suitcase, walked downstairs, slipped through the door with her brother and they sped off in one of their father’s many cars.
For the Gambo children, they were embarking on a journey to fulfill destiny. Both had been radicalised by the extremist ideology of Boko Haram and were making a trip to be part of the movement they believed in. But fate had other plans for them.
The two Gambo siblings – this website agreed to change their names for security reasons – had been plotting their journey for over a year. They had been in touch via the telephone and internet with others who had become convinced that the Boko Haram ideology represents the way to salvation.
Ismaila is an Engineering graduate of the Abubakar Tafawa Belewa University, Bauchi. His sister, was a second year French undergraduate of the University of Jos, before they embarked on their journey.
But Ismaila and his sister did not fulfill the mission to join the insurgents. They were caught because he mixed up the phone number of his contact — a lecturer at the University of Maiduguri– which was given to him by a Boko Haram member. The contact was to have provided them with accommodation in GRA, Maiduguri.
“I made a mistake with the numbers they (Boko Haram) had given me in Bauchi, and by twist of fate it was another University of Maiduguri lecturer’s number.”
“The lecturer played along, and while we were waiting, the house was raided,” Ismaila recalled, without regret.
He and his sister are among many that wanted to join Boko Haram or successfully joined, but were caught and are now cooling their heels at a detention camp in Maiduguri, capital of Borno State and the heart of the insurgency.
The icirnigeria.org was given a brief, exclusive access to the detention facility in Maiduguri, one of the many such places where the children of mostly rich and powerful people who have supported, sponsored or were working for Boko Haram are being kept.
The story of these “rich kids” provides a glimpse into how some of the terrorist activities of the Boko Haram group have been financed. Apparently, part of the insurgency group’s past success can be attributed to the contributions these children made to their “cause”.
Ismaila told the icirnigeria.org that there were many of them who were successfully recruited from very influential homes to work for Boko Haram. Many of them consider claims that the insurgency was poverty-driven laughable.
Adegboyega Sam, an army major and one of the officers at the camp, said when Ismaila and his sister were arrested, they had almost an equivalent of N3 million in various currencies, several banks’ ATM cards, four smartphones and three laptops.
“There are many of them here, children of influential Nigerians, some we have been keeping for more than three to four years. We only await instructions from above; ours is to follow orders,” he said.
Confusion
In spite of several hours of interrogation, investigators who have handled the case of these young Nigerians are still a bit confused about how they got conscripted to work for Boko Haram. There are still too many questions unanswered. Why did they leave everything dear to them – family, privileged upbringing and life – without looking back to become terrorists?
The services that Ismaila intended to offer Boko Haram are unclear, even to him. According to a rough transcript of his confessional statement, he told security operatives that he wanted to play a “public-service role” — delivering food, or, perhaps, providing intelligence for the sect; maybe “a combat role”, he said.
Ismaila said he had never held a gun, let alone fire one. As he claimed, his desire was to help Muslims. He wanted to die fighting a holy war.
When asked if he was willing to be used on a suicide mission, Ismaila said: “Yes, if it pleases the Almighty Allah.”
“I did not just run with my sister. An Islamic State had been established, and it is thus obligatory for every able-bodied male and female to fight to keep it. I wanted the comfort of a new khalifah (caliphate),” he said.
Investigations show that there are many like Ismaila who have come to believe in the Boko Haram ideology and have provided support in terms of intelligence, logistic support, food, transportation and so on. Others have directly provided funds to oil the wheel of the deadly insurgency campaign waged by Boko Haram against the Nigerian state and its people.
Musa Awal
Another inmate of the detention facility, Musa Awal, 18, was restless as he spoke to our reporter.
“This nation is openly against Islam and Muslims, especially since Jonathan became President and the evil of this country makes me sick,” he said angrily.
Musa is the third son of a wealthy family from Borno State. His family came into wealth during the regime of the late General Sani Abacha. He told our reporter boldly that not only is education harmful, but “living in this land is haram [sinful]”.
But when reminded that he had attended some of the best schools in Nigeria, he kept mute, looking bemused.
When Musa was caught, he begged that his parents should not be called. He told interrogators that if he confessed, his parents would be killed.
According to a security source, this suggests that he must have worked with a group of people – the possibility of a cell could not be overruled.
Another source at the Directorate of Behavioural Analysis which is part of the office of the National Security Office, NSA, revealed that they had been tracking finance and supplies to Boko Haram for long and it was no surprise that many influential families had set up some sort of fund which they released in the shape of “protection monies” to Boko Haram.
“Some of them watch helplessly as their kids become radicalized and when we nab them, some even prefer that their wards are left in detention out of fear,” said the source.
The source disclosed that one way that Boko Haram finances its operations is through collection of protection money which it obtains from willing sources or through blackmail and coercion of residents of territories it controls.
For example, rich people like Ismaila and Musa, who sympathise with Boko Haram fighters, funnel monies to the insurgents ostensibly for protection but in reality as financial support to prosecute their activities.
The source said that is why, curiously, in spite of the numerous attacks on Maiduguri, places like the old and new GRA where wealthy and influential people stay, have never been targeted.
“Go to both the new GRA and the old one, none of them has been attacked all these years that the insurgency has lasted,” he stated.
The Parents
When our reporter visited Musa’s parents, it was obvious that they were regular people, although wealthy.
His mom expressed shock that he had become radicalised and joined a terrorist group. She said that the only time her son was violent was when he was aged about eight. That was when he got angry and broke the television. She also said they ensured that their kids never had unsupervised internet access and encouraged them to watch cartoons.
“We wanted to preserve their innocence, but maybe with all the affluence we failed,” she said with a sigh.
The story is no different from the Gambos whose children first attended religious schools before heading to the upscale Hillcrest School in Jos, Plateau State, after which they spent a year in a preparatory college in the United Kingdom. After that, back home in Bauchi, a private Islamic teacher came home to give them Islamic knowledge in what they considered a conducive environment.
But the story of radicalised rich kids like Ismaila and Musa cannot be strange or new to those who know about Farouk Abdulmutallab, who at 23, attempted to bomb a US-bound plane on a Christmas Day in 2009.
The youngest of the 16 children of Umaru Mutallab, a wealthy businessman and banker from Kastsina State, Farouk, now popularly known as the “underwear bomber”, hid explosives in his underwear which failed to detonate on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, Michigan.
Among other charges, he was arraigned for the attempted murder of 289 people and was in February 2012, sentenced to four life terms and a 50 year jail term.
There is also the story of Ibrahim Uwais, the son of a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, who allegedly left with his two wives and children to join the ISIS.
The 41-year-old devout Muslim, who was perceived to have hated Boko Haram, its ideology and killing of innocent people, left his father, Muhammed Uwais, and other family members shocked.
Kunle Nwosu, a psychologist with the NSA office’s Counter-Terrorism Department, works on a de-radicalization programme started recently for “rich misdirected boys”, as he called them.
He said in many cases, most of their parents are nice, regular people and the kids seem well adjusted. They are obedient, well-mannered, got good grades in school and are volunteers in mosques. Religion plays a central role in their lives and they make efforts to pray five times daily.
“To be honest with you, you can’t imagine their kids being Boko Haram,” Nwosu stated.
Aliyu Ibrahim, an Islamic scholar in one of Maiduguri’s many Islamiyya (Islamic schools), explained why many kids from wealthy homes are Boko Haram supporters. “We have a lot of experience with these influential children. Many of these kids are Boko Haram fans. Something just goes wrong. It probably begins from drugs, stealing, waywardness and then sympathy for Boko Haram,” he said.
Big Problem
“If you read many of their statements, there is a similarity to them as if they’d been copied from a script. For example you keep seeing the phrase “I simply cannot sit here and let my brothers and sisters get killed by infidels; I am ready to die and so forth,” noted Mr. Nwosu.
Mr. Nwosu observed that most of the boys and girls in the facility were arrested before the coming of the Islamic State, IS, which has launched a terrorist campaign in the Arab world. He believes that many such youths who are open to extremist indoctrination might have since joined ISIS and that Nigeria may already have a large army of radicalized youths that could make the country a huge tinderbox.
But if nothing can be immediately done about Nigerian youths that might be flocking to join ISIS, certainly, back home, the state can take action against those who have been detained for links to Boko Haram. Or so it seems.
Some wondered why such potentially dangerous youths would be kept in detention for years, some as many as four years, without being brought to trial. But it is not as cut and dry as it appears, it seems. Even our security source at the camp balked when asked why the detainees had not been charged. He did not provide an answer.
However, another security source, who is also a lawyer, who does not want to be named, said there is no legal obstacle preventing the military or security agencies from charging them to court, reasoning that there are a plethora of charges that can be brought against them.
“Basically you have something like knowingly attempting to provide material support and resources to a terrorist organization in the form of personnel — namely, himself, monies and so on,” he observed.
Even then, he added that ”a wide range of activities is criminalized under the Terror Act, including supplying weapons, money, personnel or training to providing things like humanitarian relief, conflict-resolution training and other expert advice or assistance”.
It is not known precisely how federal authorities arrived at its targets and under what laws some of these semi-juvenile detention facilities are run. In all, it was discovered that there are four facilities – one in Borno and Plateau states and two in Abuja – all catering to some 1,000 individuals aged between 15 and 30.
The National Security Adviser’s Office would not speak officially. The Department for State Security too said it was not aware of the existence of these facilities.
Similarly, the military appeared unwilling or unable to offer any information. The publication of this report was held up for several weeks in order to get the defence spokesman, Chris Olukolade, a Major General, to speak on the detention camps but it was difficult getting him until last week.
When confronted with our findings last week, Mr. Olukolade stated that he was not aware of any detention camp where young Boko Haram financiers or supporters were being held,
He however, promised to find out and react appropriately later. Until the time of going to press, Mr. Olukolade did not provide any information on the matter.
The icirnigeria.org, however, learnt that investigation of many young people at various stages of radicalization was ongoing. Also, agents were gathering intelligence and setting traps for unsuspecting targets like Ismaila.

This report was first published by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting. We have their permission to republish.

Allison Madueke establishes The Union Newspaper; to pay reporters N250,000 monthly

Home / National / Allison Madueke establishes The Union Newspaper; to pay reporters N250,000

 

By Ameh Comrade

 

 

 

Minister of Petroleum, Diezani Allison Madueke, has joined the league of newspaper publishers in the country, with the introduction of a weekly title, ‘The Union’, DailyPost has learnt.
It was gathered that the paper has an all-gloss pullouts for its Entertainment, Sports, Fashion and Style sections.

A close insider hinted that the publication would kick off fully as from January 1, 2014, but at the moment, they are trying the market with a weekly publication, which covers every aspect of normal newspaper reportage.

It was also gathered that the newspaper operates from an office located in GRA, Ikeja, Lagos, while the former Managing Director of the Champion Newspaper, Emma Agu, is currently managing its operations.
Sources said reporters would be paid N250,000 monthly, while Editors will get about N500,000 per month.

APC NEC May Be Deadlocked as Ex-Governors, Back Saraki, Dogara

 

• Ex-govs seek Tinubu's ouster from NEC
• Oyegun slams his accusers
• Party may face legal hurdles if it moves to remove senate leadership

Omololu Ogunmade and Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The crisis rocking the All Progressives Congress (APC) may simply worsen during and after its much anticipated National Executive Council (NEC) meeting friday, as all indications point to likely tough exchanges between various interest groups within the party, in what has been described as political fireworks, which could lead to a stalemate.

This is fuelled by the belief that some former governors, who are members of the party, and a group of Northern stakeholders in the party have resolved to defend the elections of both Senator Bukola Saraki and Hon. Yakubu Dogara as Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives respectively.

Today's NEC meeting is expected to be attended by President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President, Speaker and Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Senate Leader, APC state governors, NWC members and APC state chairmen, among others.

Other prominent leaders of the party expected at the meeting are former governor of Lagos State Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Chief Bisi Akande, Chief Ogbonaya Onu and other leaders.

THISDAY learnt that the former governors of the party met during the week and agreed not only to back the emergence of Saraki and Dogara as the Senate President and Speaker of the House but also to strongly advocate the restructuring of the party along the line of legacy parties.

This decision, THISDAY learnt, was spurred by the perception of the ex-governors as well as some Northern leaders that the protracted crisis in the National Assembly is being orchestrated from only the South-west chapter of the party.
There is the belief that the opposition to the leadership structure in the National Assembly is being championed by Bola Tinubu whose preferred candidates lost out in the struggle for the leadership of the national legislature.

Many suspect that the NEC meeting of friday may seek to remove the elected leadership in the senate, a development which could pose some legal problems to the party given the fact that the senate leadership which has fully crystalised had gone through the normal legislative processes.

Any form of alteration to the emerged leadership structure can therefore be through impeachment which has to be done by two-thirds members of the senate.

It was further learnt that the former governors, who are vehement in their resolve, have decided to force their way into the venue of the meeting today on the grounds that if a National Leader of the APC, Senator Tinubu, who is also a former governor, is allowed in, there is no reason they should be denied entry into the meeting.

The former governors are also insisting that there is no provision in the constitution of APC which accords recognition to the position of a National Leader with the argument that what is good for the goose is also good for the gander.

Hence, they said if Tinubu, who is their colleague is allowed in, they also possess the qualification to be part and parcel of the meeting.
However, one of the former APC governors, Dr. Kayode Fayemi who spoke to THISDAY last night denied knowledge of any plot to storm the NEC meeting or move against Tinubu.

"We are not members of NEC and I am not aware of any plan to attend the NEC meeting by former governors in the party. You know there are former governors and there are former governors."

Fayemi noted that it is possible perhaps to allow former governors into the meeting, but only as observers as they have no voting right, asking "so what is the essence?"

He further reasoned that none of the about 15 former governors is likely to do what has been suggested.
In order to achieve their objective, they said they had planned to assemble at the party’s national secretariat with a view to joining the meeting once Tinubu is granted access into the meeting venue.

THISDAY also gathered thursday evening that the party leaders had resolved to uphold the sanctity of the party’s constitution by denying anyone who is not a legal member of the party's NEC access to the meeting.

On their part, northern stakeholders of the party were said to have been aggrieved over insinuations that the South-west chapter of APC was heating up the party with a warning that the National Assembly crisis "was gradually becoming a distraction to the party and could stall its manifesto of change."

The northern stakeholders flayed Chief Bisi Akande over his comment on Monday that the elections of Saraki and Dogara were sponsored by oil barons and that the northern elite were conspiring with Saraki to frustrate the South-west.
They described the allegation "as a failed attempt to pit the North against the South-west and it should be stopped before it does more havoc to APC".

However, governors elected on the platform of APC were scheduled to meet thursday at the Imo Governor’s Lodge in Abuja so as to arrive at an initiative to resolve the current logjam in the National Assembly.

Another source of tension was the allegation of under-hand action levelled against the party's National Chairman, Chief John Odigie Oyegun which has been condemned by many of the stakeholders as false and selfish witch-haunt.

Although many of the party leaders have issued statements stating the contrary, fears and apprehension have indeed gripped many party members over what may likely be the outcome of the NEC meeting.

The party's national chairman, Chief Oyegun, who has been at the centre of the crisis that bedevilled the party in the National Assembly, described the bribery allegation against him as rubbish and an attempt by persons without conscience to smear his long-standing image.

Addressing a group of South-east and South-south Professionals who paid him a solidarity visit thursday, Oyegun urged all the interest groups to accept compromise in the interest of the party and Nigeria generally.

"When they say I'm taking money from a senator, to do what? I am not a senator, I cannot vote, I cannot by being chairman pronounce him as Senate President or Senate Leader so what is he giving me money for? How many people know me personally? It is annoying, it is dirty, it is crude, it is unbecoming and it can only be from people who are totally devoid of conscience at any level of humanity that can do things of that nature.

"There is nothing they have not said about me. But when you ask what has the man done, one of their reports said the present executive cannot win us elections in 2019, Good lord! You've not even finished with 2015, you are talking about 2019.

"The one that annoys me is the attempt to rubbish 75 solid years of a character that I've put together. They said I take gratification, gratification to what purpose? The only people who can say that are the people who don't know my background or history. I was just over 30 when I started joining teams that were buying aircraft from Holland and Soato in United States. That could not corrupt me. I was on the board of the Railways, NPA and the rest of them, if all these did not make me corrupt, how can I at 76 take money, money from who to do what?

"At 75 years and having occupied various important positions both in government and out of it, I do not have a land in Abuja. If people are devoid of conscience, it should not make me lose sleep," he said.

In a related development, the senator representing Niger east senatorial district, Senator David Umaru, said thursday that the emergence of Saraki as Senate President and Dogara as Speaker of the House of Representatives was a fait accompli, recalling that members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were the majority senators on the floor of the Senate when the election was held on June 9.

“They could have snatched the Senate Presidency from us," he observed.
He also debunked the belief that Senators of Like Minds, the group that is loyal to the Senate President, negotiated away the office of Deputy Senate President to the PDP, adding that the bulk of the senators present in the chamber during the election was from the PDP.
He insisted that the positions of the Senate President and the Speaker were “no longer negotiable even at the NEC meeting. What our party should know is that the outcome of the election could have been devastating”.

He said: "Whether you like it or not, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) represents President Buhari, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) is represented by the Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) has the National Chairman, John Oyegun. It therefore follows that Saraki and Dogara represent the New PDP component in the party.

"The New PDP, with five governors, a former vice-president of the country cannot be ignored. At least, equity demands fairness and the elections of Saraki and Dogara represent that fairness."

In the same vein, the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of APC, Timi Frank, who spoke on African Independent Television (AIT), has urged the party to accept the outcome of the National Assembly elections and move on.

He reasoned that the PDP could have nominated themselves to be Senate President and Deputy Senate President, "and you cannot take that from them".

“We should thank PDP for what they did, for being democratic. They know they are not the ruling party, so they respected themselves by making sure an APC Senate President emerged. They unanimously gave their support to Saraki as we only had about seven or eight APC senators in the Senate as at that time.

"I see no reason anybody should blame Saraki for what has happened. We should be happy that he was there to at least save the situation at that time. If he wasn’t there, the situation could have been different," he said.

Querrying the flop of the APC by swarming to the International Conference Centre (ICC) on the day of the election, Frank said: “The question we should be asking is: Who asked 51 senators to go to the International Conference Centre? What did they go there to do? I don’t know who called for that meeting, as a party man. We should not blame Saraki for becoming Senate President. We should put the blame on the party and whosoever that called that meeting. Has the president come out to tell Nigerians that he called for a meeting and Senator Saraki wasn’t there? Even the president wasn’t at the International Conference Centre. Why did you expect Saraki to be there?
"Everybody is saying the president called (for a meeting). Who gave the directive for the meeting? So, this is the big question, a very critical question we should be asking."

He also denied that there was a trade off between Saraki and the PDP.
“To the best of my knowledge, this is a contest between two political leaders in the same party. Both of them were banking on the support of PDP senators because APC senators alone could not have made them Senate President. What happened was a victory for democracy, a victory for the people. You can’t take it away. The Senate or House (of Representatives) is an independent House. These people decide on what they want. They go for what they are comfortable with," he said.

He therefore urged his party to move beyond the crisis and forge a common front, adding that: “One of the APC senators that was present contested alongside Ekweremadu and lost. Not that they just asked Ekweremadu to be the Deputy Senate President. No! It was live on TV. PDP was more in number, so, they voted for their own. At the end of the day, Ekweremadu emerged as the Deputy President of the Senate”.

Relocation to Maiduguri on course, says Army

•Minimah

by: Gbade Ogunwale

The authorities of the Nigerian Army have said the directive given by President Muhammadu Buhari for the military’s relocation of Command and Control Centre to Maiduguri was being strictly adhered to.

At a briefing in Abuja on Wednesday, the Army said the grand finale of this year’s edition of the Armed Forces Remembrance Day celebration would take place in Maiduguri.

According to Brig. Gen. Donald Oji who spoke on behalf of the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Kenneth Minima said the celebration would be low-keyed.

“The choice of Maiduguri to host the closing activities of NADCEL 2015 was informed by the need to further raise the morale of our troops in the area of operation by showing solidarity to them ,” Gen. Oji said.

The celebrations, which started yesterday, will also include a medical outreach programme to the Internally Displaced Persons camps in Maiduguri from July 4 to 5.

The Chief of Army Staff is billed to lay wreath at the military cemetery in Maiduguri and to visit the 7 Division hospital where injured military personnel are being treated.

He will also address troops and present medals to deserving gallant officers and men.

Troubled APC-NEC in search of peace

by: TONY AKOWE

The stage is set for tomorrow’s meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the All Progressives Party (APC), where leaders are expected to chart a new way forward for the ruling party, following the festering crises triggered by the controversial election of National Assembly’s principal officers, writes TONY AKOWE.

ATTENTION will tomorrow shift to the National Secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC). The ruling party is scheduled to host its first National Executive Council (NEC) meeting since the general elections of March 28 and April 11.

It is expected that the NEC will take far-reaching decisions on the constitution of the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT) and the festering leadership crisis in the Red and Green Chambers of the National Assembly.

Many had expected the party to have held the meeting to constitute the BoT before the May 29 inauguration of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration. The two bodies would have ironed out critical issues like zoning of offices, especially the leadership positions that plunged the National Assembly into crisis.

According to the APC constitution, the NEC is composed of members of the national executive of the party, zonal leaders, and state chairmen.

Other members of the NEC are: the President, Vice President, Senate President, Deputy Senate President, who are party members, Speaker, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, who are members of the party, states’ governors, who are members of the party, Majority or Minority Leader, Chief Whips and Deputies in the Senate and House of Representatives, who are members of the party.

They also include two serving senators – elected on the party’s platform – from each of the six geo-political zones. They are to be nominated by the Senators from their zones. Three House of Representatives members – elected on the party’s platform – from each of the six geo-political zones and to be nominated by members from such zone, six ex-Officio members – one each to be elected by the national convention from each of the six geo-political zones, as well as serving chairman, deputy chairman and secretary of the BoT.

Bulk-passing has been the order of the day between the APC leadership and beneficiaries of the controversial elections in both chambers of the National Assembly, on who should be blamed for the crisis.

The leadership is bitter that some APC members in the Senate and House of Representatives, who should be seen to be upholding party supremacy which they preached during electioneering campaigns, relegated the position of the party to the background.

On their own part, the lawmakers felt the National Assembly should be allowed to choose its leaders.

Senate President Bukola Saraki, who is being accused of refusing to read a letter written by National Chairman John Odigie-Oyegun on APC’s preferences for principal offices, on the floor of the Senate, has explained that he got the memo after the zonal caucuses had filled the positions.

But he was contradicted by Bala Ibn-Na’Allah, Deputy Leader of the Senate, who said only a letter written by the President could have been read on the floor of the National Assembly and not a memo from a party chairman.

Speaker Yakubu Dogara, who has not named the principal officers, blamed the delay on pending court cases.

However, critics have been blaming the party leadership for the avoidable crisis. They argue that the initial insistence by the party not to zone the offices and President Buhari’s stance not to interfere in the selection process, were responsible for the crisis.

The national caucus of the party was said to have jettisoned the initial zoning arrangement designed by a committee put in place by the National Working Committee (NWC).   The committee had zoned the Senate Presidency to the Northcentral.

But some party leaders, including senators from the Northcentral zone, held tenaciously to the arrangement.

Those holding the leadership responsible for the crisis have called for the stepping down of the National Chairman, who they alleged, mismanaged the situation.

To some others, Chief Oyegun and his team could not have done anything better than what they did, trying to uphold party supremacy?

It is expected that the handling of the situation will feature prominently at tomorrow’s NEC meeting.

 In an attempt to address the problem created by the emergence of Saraki and Dogara as Senate President and Speaker and also placate its loyal members, the party had forwarded the letters to the National Assembly leadership, nominating principal officers for both houses.

The party may have been pressured by some of its governors to take such a decision with a view to bringing the crisis to an end.

There have been allegations that some governors, elected on the APC platform, decided to wade into the cisis, because of their concern and desire for intra-party peace.

Governors Adams Oshiomhole (Edo), Tanko Al-Makura (Nasarawa), Mallam Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna),  Rauf Aregbesola (Osun), Abubakar Sani Bello (Niger), Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo), Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi) and Abubuakar Badaru (Jigawa),  were said to have moved to placate some powers-that-be in the party, who felt slighted by the emergence of Saraki and Dogara.

They were said to have relocated after their meeting with President Buhari to the party’s national secretariat to inform the leadership of their resolve to intervene.

But their intervention achieved little or nothing as the Senate President again defiled the party and went ahead to name his preferred candidates for the principal offices against the suggestion of the party

An attempt by the Speaker to follow Saraki’s footpath was violently thwarted by members of the House of Representatives, who turned the hallowed chamber to a boxing/wrestling ring.  Saraki insisted that the officers he announced were the choices of caucuses from the various zones. Speaker Dogara argued that the House must respect the principles of federal character as contained in the constitution.

The letter from the party may be in conflict with the constitution. In line with the Federal Character principles as enshrined in the constitution, the Northcentral ought not to produce any other principal officer in the Senate, having produced the president. But the party ceded the position of a Deputy Senate Leader to the zone by nominating Senator George Akume for the position, while leaving out the Southsouth in the sharing of positions in the senate.

The party also gave the Chief Whip slot to Mohammed Mongunu, from the Northeast, which had produced the Speaker.

The Northcentral was completely missing in the power sharing arrangement in the House.

The letters preferred Senator Ahmed Lawal from Northeast as the Majority Leader, Senator Sola Adeyeye (Southwest) as the Chief Whip, Senator George Akume from Northcentral as the Deputy Majority and Senator Abu Ibrahim as the Deputy Deputy Chief Whip.

Similarly, in the House of Representatives, the party demanded the announcement of Femi Gbajabiamila from Lagos State in the Southwest Zone as House Leader; Alhassan Ado Doguwa from Northwest State as Deputy Leader; Mohammed Monguno from the Northeast as Chief Whip and Pally Iriase from Edo State in the Southsouth as Deputy Chief Whip.

Since the crisis began, Chief Odigie Oyegun has consistently told the world that it was another phase in the development process of the party, adding that they will come of it stronger and more united.

He believes that despite what has happened, the party will not allow the predictions of those who see nothing good in the ruling to come to pass and therefore would do everything possible to prevent the escalation of the crisis.

Odigie-Oyegun was quoted as saying that the crisis is “an unfortunate thing and I think it has arisen because of major interest groups within the party and that has given rise to gross disloyalty and an unacceptable level of indiscipline and disrespect to the party.

“But that notwithstanding, we are doing everything we can to stop this civil war and bring the party back again so that we can focus on our essential agenda of delivering service to the people. What is happening now is very unacceptable and painting us in a bad light.

“But thank God we have this period of recess in the National Assembly to bring things back together again. We are doing everything we can to ensure that by the time the national assembly reconvenes, all of these things would have been squarely behind us.”

He has also been accused of being financially induced by some party leaders to conduct the mock elections that threw up Ahmed Lawan and Femi Gbajabiamila.

Reacting to that, Oyegun said:  “Gratification to do what and for whom? And what have I done to justify that gratification except to stand as neutral as possible in the circumstance and emphasise adherence to the supremacy of the party.

“So, that is it. Gratification for what? Let anybody who says he brought come out and say that. It is a public thing. It is my integrity they are trying to smear. That comes only through blackmail from some forces that feel that I am standing in the way for whatever their intentions are.

But that is neither here nor there. What’s important is that we must put our party back together again and focus on the promises we have made to the Nigerian people.”

The national chairmen said he was unaware the calls for his resignation.

His words: “People are trying to push me in one direction or the other but one thing I have to my credit is my neutrality. I don’t belong to any of the contending power blocs in the party. And of course, that has its price.

“And that is why you have heard a lot of it directed personally to smear me. I have built a reputation that has lasted for over 70 years. I don’t have to go and be taking peanuts from some political gladiators. So, whatever they try to do, they cannot smear my character. If anybody has given me gratification to do anything, let him come out and say so, state where, when and how much.”

Some political watchers have traced the crisis the battle for the sole of the party ahead of the next general elections in 2019. This school of thought sees a clear fight for the control of the party among notable leaders of the party.

Besides, they see Saraki as taking advantage of his position as the Senate President to create his own power bloc within the party and oil his presidential ambition in 2019.

He reportedly defended the ‘coup’ that produced him as the Senate President when he described his backing out of the presidential race ahead of the party’s primary as a great sacrifice.

Saraki, who, was edged out of the presidential race in 2011 by the decision of Northern elders to field one candidate from the region against former President Goodluck Jonathan, has since dismissed the 2019 ambition as a mere speculation.

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who contested with Jonathan for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ticket at the primary, has also denied trying to hijack the APC.

Today’s NEC meeting is expected to be stormy and its outcome will no doubt dictate the shape of things to come for the party and by extension, the nation at large in the coming months.