PHCN vs Wamakko: Sokoto to experience total blackout after ultimatum expires

The action of Governor Wamakko Magatakada against some staff of the Power Holding company of Nigeria, PHCN has since taken a different turn after the Electricity workers in the North-West Zone decided to issue a seven-day ultimatum to the Governor to redress his action through a public apology to the officials he  allegedly flogged while on duty.
Wamakko has been accused of  whipping Engr. Moses Osigwe, Business Manager of Gwiwa Business Unit of PHCN, and his fellow staff, Mallam Isyaku Daura, Officer II (Electrical) and Nuruddeen Mohammed, Staff l(Lines). The Governor was said to have taken the action because he believed they manipulated  the failure of two SMVA transformers that supply electricity to his home, Wamakko.
The electricity workers had written a letter entitled  ”Demand for Unreserved Apology and Payment of Compensation for Assault on Our Members” The letter which was  signed by the Assistant General Secretary of the electricity workers’ union in the zone, Mr. Moses Amedu, had accused  the Governor of beating their members blue and black, and at the same time ordering the officers attached to him to complete the torture.
The letter, with reference NUEE/AGS/NW/KD/201 2/120, dated October 31, 2012, said: “We are shocked beyond imagination to learn that on October 20, you invited the Business Manager and two Officers to your house, where you subjected them to inhuman treatment by personally whipping them mercilessly and then ordered their continuous flogging by the Mobile Policemen attached to your office.
“As the Chief Security Officer of the state, whom we are supposed to rely on for the security of the staff and equipment of PHCN in Sokoto State, you have betrayed our hope by this singular and unwarranted act.
“This action can be best described as a rampage and uncontrolled anger. Therefore, except you renew our hope and confidence and tender an unreserved public apology to the staff you have dehumanised, we can no longer guarantee the continuous service of our members in Sokoto State.
“You should also be prepared to pay compensation that will be sent to your office soon. Accordingly, one week is sufficient to do this.”
Unfortunately, the one-week ultimatum specified by the electricity  workers had passed yesterday with no apology and compensation from  Wamakko. This has aggravated the anger of  the union, directing its members within the state to embark on an indefinite strike should Wamakko continues to remain silent and adamant on the matter.
The union said: “We regret the inconveniences this unfortunate incident and subsequent action of the union may cause the good citizens of Sokoto State.”
They had reiterated that the Governor should be held responsible for the action they are about to take in Sokoto state.
Recall that Dailypost had written an editorial on this matter. If you missed it read here…
DailyPost

Seven Burnt To Death In Auto Crash

Seven persons were yesterday burnt to death in an auto crash along Agbor-Abavo-Asaba highway.
National president of Ijaw People Development Initiative, , IPDI, Comrade Austin Ozobo who witnessed the accident said the accident occurred at about 3.40 pm, adding that there were four survivors, who were rushed to an undisclosed hospital.
“A bus carrying about 11 passengers reportedly collided with a Peugeot J5 bus, which lost control.
“It is quite disturbing. I saw human beings burning alive and there was nothing anybody could do to stop the fire.
“Immediately it happened, there was an explosion and the bus caught fire. There was no fire service, even when the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC officials, came later, nobody could do anything. People were just watching until they were burnt. There were only four survivors,” he said.
InformationNigeria.org

Opinion: Fashola, why so deceitful?

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by Olumide Makanjuola

 

If you know Lagos State very well, you will understand how ridiculous and insensitive the state government has made itself look with the ‘okada’ restriction law on 475 roads.

In the last few months, we have heard rumor about the Lagos State government banning motor cycle popularly call ‘okada’. For some reason, I thought this must be the most expensive joke of all time considering how the Lagos State governor used ‘okada’ rider for his election campaign last year.  Apparently, those days are gone and forgotten by the governor.
I have asked myself many times what could have lead to this ‘okada’ “restriction’’ now obviously ‘okada’ ban but I certainly can’t figure out any reasonable justification. If you talk of ’okada’ accident, it no big deal, buses do have accident across the state and am convinced we don’t have record of how many people who have lost their lives from bus accident. I would have expected the State government to carry out a survey to assess how convenient people find the public transportation especially mini buses and BRT within the state. With this, they will understand how crazy it gets trying to move from one location to another within the state using mini buses and the glorified molue, BRT. Also, I know some of you might want to argue without foundation on ’okada’ being the major transportation robber find very accessible for their operation but what happened to buses and cars? I will let you figure this out and I hope you will be sincere in your judgment.
If you know Lagos State very well, you will understand how ridiculous and insensitive the state government has made itself look with ’okada’ restriction on 475 roads. I always don’t think I need to say this but for those who might not be aware, Lagos State has the smallest landscape across the country and is the most populated in Nigeria and across the West Africa sub-region. The commercial buses in the state cannot provide for the entire populace except we want to deceive ourselves. I know some of you might want to argue this because you probably seat in your padded car with full air condition and have no idea what those who access public transportation go through. You also see ’okada’ rider as those you think constitute foolish driving who have potential of hitting your car or had done this before. But ask yourself this question; don’t private cars and public buses also drive irresponsibly?
I have carefully monitored how difficult it has been for people who find ’okada’ as other means of transporting for themselves across the state. I also looked at the frustration people are forced to deal with in the last few days and what I could  draw from this is how inconsiderate, heartless, and selfish our government both at the local council, state and federal level has become. I don’t know who advise the governor on transportation issue in the state but am confident the person is very disconnect from reality of situation on transportation across the state. This is the only country where we cut off amenities without providing option for users of such service. The government has refused to provide sufficient and accessible transportation system and yet we are’’ Restricting’’ citizen who have taken lead in this initiative and also find this as a means to survive with their families. The government says it only restricted ’okada’ on 475 roads in Lagos state but Police officer and other uniform officer has taken this beyond the 475 roads with baseless justification. ‘Okada’ riders now run even within street just because the hungry police officer has seen this as a mean of making more money daily
However, I would like the government to consider some steps towards addressing the frustration it has landed it citizen in the last few days from this unjustifiable decision on ’okada’ restriction.

1. Allow ’okada’ to run their business during the peak period (6am-10am and 4pm-9pm) when traffic is huge and buses are very limited especially Mondays to Fridays.
2. Create sensible traffic laws that will control and guide the usage of ‘okadas’ in the state.
3. Carry out a survey to appraise how accessible the populace find the public transportation system and what they think the options are.

If the Lagos government would consider these three steps, we might at some point arrive at a solution in addressing the transportation crisis in the state.
YNaija.com

31-year-old electrician to die by hanging for killing client

Since October, 2006, life has never remained same for one Mr. Abdulkadiri Issa, a 31 year old electrician. Worst fate befell him yesterday when he was sentenced to death by hanging at Lagos state High Court in Ikeja for the murder of Mrs. Catherine Kate-Amadi in Ebute-Meta, Lagos.
Issa was condemned to death for stabbing Kate-Amadi with a kitchen knife in her residence where he had been invited to repair some electrical faults.
After the gory incident, Issa was said to have locked himself up with the corpse of the deceased in the house where policemen said they found him hiding in the toilet.
However, his counsel, Mr. Yemi Omodele, had urged the court to discharge and acquit his client, on the ground that the prosecuting counsels led by A.O Bajulaye, has no strong evidence against him.
Omodele also said the evidence of the first and second prosecution witnesses, PW1, Chief T.I Enyinma, the deceased’s cousin; and PW2, Charles Osuagwu, the deceased’s brother-in-law, was only based on hearsay and not first hand witnesses.
He also stressed that there’s no medical evidence to establish the “act or omission” of the accused which led to the death of the victim.
Though the third prosecution witness, PW3, Investigating Police Officer, Patrick Nnadi, said autopsy was conducted on the deceased, no evidence relating to the autopsy was given in court.
The prosecuting party, however claimed that the Consultant Pathologist and Chief Medical Examiner of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Prof. John Obafunwa, was unable to give evidence in the case due to his appointment as “Vice-Chancellor and other administrative issues.”
The Lawyer, also maintained it wasn’t fair to convict an accused person simply because he was found at the scene of a crime. Arguing that “it is unheard” that a murderer would intentionally lock himself up in the same room with his victim.
According to the accused testimony, he used to go to the deceased’s flat to help her with electrical repairs but that fateful day he went there as usual but was slapped to unconsciousness by one of the two men sitting with the deceased as at the time of his visit.
When he regained consciousness he found people in the house surrounding the deceased in the pool of her blood.
The presiding Justice, Iyabo Kasali, relying on circumstantial evidence presented by the prosecuting counsel, found Issa as guilty as charged.
DailyPost

Ribadu report: Group calls on the President to Fire Petroleum, Finance ministers

Minister of Finance, Okonjo Iweala; and Petroleum Minister Diezani Madueke

President Goodluck Jonathan has been urged to sack the Petroleum Resources and Finance Ministers, Mrs. Diezani Alison Madueke, and Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala respectively, following the controversy generated by disclosures from the Nuhu Ribadu led Petroleum Revenue Task Force (PRTF), which implicated government officials.
The president has also been charged to fire the boards and management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
Addressing reporters in Abuja Wednesday, the National Convener of United Action for Democracy (UAD) Mr. Jaye Gaskia, and leader of the group further threatened to mobilize Nigerians to stage a mass protest in the city of Abuja should the president fail to heed to their demands.

The Ribadu panel revealed theft in the country’s oil and gas sector to the tune of over $29 billion, price fixing and contract scams with additional $6 billion lost yearly as well as 250,000 barrels of crude daily over the previous ten years.

Gaskia decried that Nigeria lost an equivalent of the total budget for 4 years in the past ten years.

“We are worried and concerned enough as patriotic citizens of our country to reach the conclusion that something drastic, immediate, and far-reaching must be urgently done to end all forms of impunity in the governance of our country, and begin the process of salvaging Nigeria. “ We declare without fear or fervor that with the campaign tagged, ‘End Impunity Now’ we insist that because of the endemic nature and systemic character of corruption in the country the process of ending impunity begins immediately with the tackling of corruption.”

“And we had gone on to make some key demands including: sacking of the boards and management of the institutions of government implicated in the mind boggling and monumental fraud in the management of the fuel subsidy regime for 2011, a fraud which as at the time of the various probes amounted to over 1.7 trillion naira, and just about 45 percent of the 2011 federal budget. We have been clear about the fact that the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources and its minister, as well as the NNPC, DPR, PPMC, PPPRA, bore direct and greatest responsibility in the monumental fraud”, he stated.

According to him, “We had also stated clearly that given that manifestation of the complete lack of coordination in the economy and among relevant agencies and institutions with respect to the management of the subsidy fund, combined with the fact that monies were signed and paid out from the Federation Account without the knowledge or authorization of the minister of finance, who is also the coordinating minister of the economy that her office bore indirect responsibility for the fraud and barefaced looting of the economy.”

“We had thus demanded the sacking of all officials so implicated, and the trial of those with cases to answer. Additionally we had demanded that all subsidy thieves and those who aided and abetted them should be speedily brought to trial and looted funds recovered.”

He said the group has maintained its stand that the president should guarantee quick prosecution and conviction of indicted oil marketers and the officials that work together with them to steal from the oil revenue and other sources with all their names published for the members of the public to know them and their level of involvements.
BusinessNews

Veteran Nollywood actor, Pete Eneh’s leg amputated

Extremely sad news coming from the home of veteran actor, Pete Eneh. Just heard from reliable sources that doctors at Parklane Hospital Enugu had no choice but to amputate one of his legs in order to save his life.
The veteran actor was said to have sustained some kind of injury last year, and because he didn’t take proper care of it, it led to serious infection that became hard to treat. The injury was said to have degenerated to a sore and because Mr Eneh was diabetic, it refused to heal. He spent three months at the hospital before he was advised to amputate the leg before the infection spread to other parts of his body.
The amputation took place on Wednesday October 24th after all efforts to save the leg was unsuccessful. Pete Eneh is said to be dealing with it well.
 DailyPost

Nigeria army 'abuses' in Boko Haram crackdown - Amnesty

Boko Haram has been held responsible for widespread violence in north-eastern Nigeria

Nigerian security forces have carried out widespread abuses in their campaign against the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, Amnesty International says.

The rights group says in a report that abuses include extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearance and torture.
A spokesman from the Nigerian army rejected the accusations, saying soldiers always operate within the law.
Boko Haram campaigns for an Islamic state and has been blamed for the deaths of hundreds of people this year.
It has carried out frequent attacks in northern and central Nigeria since 2009.
In its report, Amnesty blamed Boko Haram for widespread atrocities, including murder, burning down churches and schools, and attacks against the media.
But it said a heavy-handed response by the security forces had only fuelled further violence.
"The cycle of attack and counter-attack has been marked by unlawful violence on both sides, with devastating consequences for the human rights of those trapped in the middle," said the group's secretary general, Salil Shetty.
"People are living in a climate of fear and insecurity, vulnerable to attack from Boko Haram and facing human rights violations at the hands of the very state security forces which should be protecting them."
Reports of people being shot dead by the army or beaten to death in detention were particularly common in the north-east of the country, Amnesty said.
In response, Nigerian army spokesman Col SK Usman told the BBC that soldiers were professional and properly trained.
"There is no Nigerian soldier that goes out on the streets to just kill innocent Nigerians," he said.
"So whatever we do we always make sure it is done within the ambit of the law."
Amnesty's report documents what it calls an "increasing climate of fear" in which people are too scared to report crimes and journalists do not dare to cover them.
It calls on Nigeria's government to clarify the truth about incidents linked to Boko Haram, establish accountability for abuses and bring those responsible to justice.
BBCNewsAfrica