AMUNEKE: Before and after Chile

BY: JUDE OPARA, ABUJA

Amuneke hails Eaglets

Chief Coach of the team Emmanuel Amuneke could be said to be the happiest man in the country today courtesy of the superlative performance of his boys who, against all odds, conquered the rest of the world to defend the trophy the country won two years ago in Dubai.

The quiet achiever prior to the beginning of the championship was highly vilified by some Nigerians who, among other things, accused him of selecting players on sentiments. Some even went ahead to label him a bribe taker who only selected players whose parents paid huge sums of money. That story went viral especially on the social media andindeed there was intense pressure on the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to sack the former FC Barcelona winger before the Chile party.

CONFIDENCE

Another person that should rightly be in cloud Nine is the president of the NFF, Amaju Pinnick who stood his ground to allow Amuneke to continue with his job. If the reverse was to be the case, those who are on a daily basis looking for ways to vilify him would have seen another golden opportunity to call him a failure. They would have said that his tenure has not brought anything good in terms of trophies after the failure of the Super Eagles to be at the last edition of the African Cup of Nations (AFCON).

Many would have called for his head if the team had crashed out at the early stages of the championship even at the quarter finals. The hawks were already waiting for that to happen but fortunately for the coach he triumphed.

In fact NFF president, Amaju Pinnick shortly after the team defeated Mexico 4-2 to qualify for the final openly revealed how he suppressed the pressure from within and outside the NFF to send Amuneke packing. In fact some media houses had boldly written that the former Super Eagles left winger was not going to be on the bench for Nigeria at the championship.

The ‘Amuneke must go’ campaign started after the team went for the African edition of the championship in Niger republic where they finished third after losing to Mali in the semi finals. There was heightened concern over his future as his antagonists went to town with the story that if they could lose to Mali, then it would be a disaster waiting to happen at the global stage.

The spurious allegation of bribe taking was indeed strange from what was witnessed at the team’s training camp before they jetted out for their training tour in Argentina. Anybody who had visited the team during their training session would attest to the fact that Amuneke never showed any favoritism to any player.

Buhari sacks permanent secretaries

By Levinus Nwabughiogu

ABUJA -A gale of retirements may have swept across the federal civil service as president Mohammdu Buhari may have concluded plan to relieve about 17 Permeant Secretaries of their duties.

This is coming ahead of the swearing in of the ministers-designate on Wednesday.

Some of the permanent secretaries led by the new Acting Head of Civil Service of the federation, Mrs. Winifred Ekanem Oyo-Ita, held a closed door with the president at the presidential villa.

It is not yet known what transpired at the meeting but feelers said that the president may have communicated the development to them.

Most of those affected were those senior to the acting Head of Service.

It was gathered the development brought tears to the Oyo-Ita at the meeting as she felt for the Permanent Secretaries

More details soon....

NNSG to Buhari: Implement confab resolutions now to end nat’l drift

The Nigerian National Summit Group (NNSG) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to implement fundamental resolutions of the 2014 National Conference that were adopted by the delegates, as a way of restructuring the country to avert the imminent national drift towards “madness.”

Goodluck-Buhari

File Photo: Former President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan handing over reports of the 2014 National Conference to President Muhammadu Buhari

In a statement signed yesterday by its Executive Secretary, Tony Uranta, the group said that Nigeria could still suffer the 2015 Bogey if it refuses to begin restructuring now.

The statement reads in part: “In recent times, very important voices from the north have come out loudly in support of restructuring!

“In an article titled: ‘The State Of The Nigerian Nation,’ by Alhaji Ahmed Joda, like former Vice- President Atiku Abubakar, at the recent LEADERSHIP Governor of the Year award ceremony, lent a ringing support to the drive towards true federalism.

“Wrote Joda: ‘Our country has passed through difficult times, including a civil war and has survived. We must, however, not ascribe the fact of our survival to anything like military might; rather it was because ordinary Nigerians overwhelmingly desire to live together in one united country but under some acceptable arrangement.

“It is clear from all we are passing through that there is a sufficient body of opinion around the country that the present arrangement is not adequate and needs to be discussed further.’

“In his own remarks at the Awards on September 18, 2012, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, not only called for true federalism, he regretted not supporting former Vice-President Alex Ekwueme’s earlier call for the creation of six semi-autonomous regions affirming that Dr Ekwueme obviously saw what some of them did not at the time.”

The group noted that the Southwest, North-Central, South-East and South-South have been spearheading the campaign for restructuring for decades, saying that now that Arewa chieftains like Joda and Atiku have admitted to the urgent need to embark on this pressing national exercise, President Buhari must recognise that the North-West and North-East strongly desire restructuring also.

Itsekiri nation disowns calls for creation of Biafra Republic

By Egufe Yafugborhi

WARRI—THE Itsekiri ethnic nationality of Warri, Delta State, has dissociated itself from the calls for creation of a Biafra Republic out of Nigeria as being drummed by some Igbo interest groups in the South-East.

The Itsekiri Leaders of Thought, ILT, expressed the group’s concern over the Igbo agitation yesterday in a statement by its Chairman, Pa Johnson Ayomike and Secretary, Edward Ekpoko.

The body is disturbed that the proposed Biafra Republic as widely reported in the social media includes the whole of Delta State.

The statement stressed: “We recall with pains the day the defunct Biafran Army invaded Warri and Benin in the then Midwest Region on August 9, 1967. Never again will the Itsekiri tolerate such invasion. The Itsekiri nation is committed to the unity of Nigeria and will do all it can to promote and protect it as one indivisible country. As Major General Philip Effiong said on January 14 1970, the Republic of Biafra ceased to exist. We, the Itsekiri, wish it to be eternally so for the peace and development of our great nation.”

RADIO BIAFRA: Group slams protesters in Enugu

By Francis Igata

ENUGU—A pressure group in Enugu, known as,”Concerned Citizens of Enugu State,CCES,” has condemned the activities of the Indigenous People of Biafra,IPOB,over the continued detention of their leader and Director of Radio Biafra, Mr. Nnadi Kanu, who was arrested at the Lagos Airport.

The group described the recent protest by the pro-Biafra group in Enugu as illegal, unacceptable, anti-democratic and an adventure that was capable of undermining the unity of the country and the existing peace and tranquility.

A statement by the group’s leader, Chief Jeremiah Udeh said: “We, the Concerned Citizens of Enugu State,CCES, condemn in its entirety the unlawful approach of violent protests adopted by the so-called IPOB in promoting its course.

We do not and will not encourage any unlawful act that will be inimical to the peace and unity of the country and the tireless efforts of the present administration in Enugu State to advance development in the state.

I didn’t get contract, oil block, anything from Jonathan— Edwin Clark

By Charles Kumolu

ELDER statesman, Chief Edwin Clark, has dismissed insinuations that he betrayed former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, by reportedly saying that the ex-President lacked the political will to fight corruption, noting that he was maliciously misconstrued.

Clark

Clark, who was criticised by some associates of the former President over the statement, also denounced claims that his decision to quit partisan politics was provoked by the ex-President’s defeat at the polls.

In a 3,902-word letter, the former Minister of Information exonerated himself from the various allegations of betrayal levelled against him, adding that close associates of the former President and some party leaders sold Jonathan out.

He further defended the former leader’s anti-corruption record, noting that his attempt to probe former Heads of State, who were fingered in high profile corruption cases, was frustrated by some officials in Jonathan’s government.

His words: “My statements on President Jonathan and my quitting partisan politics were wickedly, sensationally presented.

“It must be admitted that President Jonathan was very willing to fight corruption, but he believed that due process should and must be followed otherwise he could have initiated investigations into the scandals of Halliburton, Siemens and other serious alleged corruption charges levelled against some former Heads of State and other prominent Nigerians.

Some Igbo fanatics are making things difficult for Nigeria – Tofa

By Olalekan Bilesanmi

Alhaji Bashir Tofa is a businessman and politician. He came to limelight when he contested the 1993 presidential election with the late business mogul, Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, in an election adjudged free and fair, but annulled by the military. Abiola was believed to have won the poll. In this interview, Tofa thinks the level of corruption in the country is sickening and, as such, believes that President Muhammadu Buhari is on the right path as he fights the ill head-long irrespective of the hues and cries that the fight is selective. 

Tofa

He takes a swipe at the Peoples Democratic Party,PDP, for its condemnation of the Federal Government and the judiciary over the on going election tribunal judgments, saying only fools make accusations without proof.

What is your impression so far about the Buhari government in the light of the confirmed ministers?

I think, on the whole, President Buhari has done well and that is expected. Anybody who enters a house and just begins to live in it without checking the structure and the leakages and doing something to do some repair, that house may collapse on him if it is structurally deficient. President Buhari now knows more about the condition of the house,he is making some repairs, strengthening some pillars, blocking some leakages, and can now be said to be ready to settle down and do what is needful. Hopefully, the ministers will be given their portfolios by mid-November; they will quickly move to their ministries, examine things, review the draft budgets for their ministries; a final budget will be agreed upon by the Executive Council and presented to the National Assembly – all before the end of December. Hopefully, the National Assembly will not waste time, knowing the poor state of the nation.

Gbaramatu kingdom not part of Biafra, community leaders warn

The leaders of Gbaramatu kingdom, Warri South West Local Government Area, Delta State, have warned that Gbaramatu kingdom is not part of Biafra.

Elder Dickson Agagha, who spoke on behalf of the leaders at a meeting in Warri, insisted that  Gbaramatu kingdom will never be part of Biafra, saying that any son or daughter of the kingdom making such a move to include Gbaramatu in Biafra will fail.

They also appealed to all youths in the kingdom to remain law-abiding, expressing hope that the government of President Muhammadu Buhari will address the neglect and marginalisation of Gbaramatu kingdom by immediate past administration of Goodluck Jonathan.

“The five years of Jonathan as President actually brought pains

‘Pro-Biafra protests not in the interest of south-east people’

By Chidi Nkwopara, Peter Okutu, Francis Igata, Godwin Oghre & Ugochukwu Alaribe

OWERRI—IMO State Governor and Chairman of Progressives Governors’ Forum, Chief Rochas Okorocha, is currently arranging a crucial meeting with other governors in the South-East, over the growing agitation by protagonists of Biafra.

Members of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, yesterday, shut downMARKETS in Aba, Abia State, in continuation of its three-day one million protest march calling for the release of their detained leader and Director, Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu.

Okorocha

Similarly, Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, said it had mobilized over 2,000-members for a peaceful protest in Ebonyi State.

Governor Okorocha in a statement through his Chief Press Secretary, CPS, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, said the leadership of Ohaneze Ndi Igbo, and other stakeholders in the geo-political zone, were also being invited to talk and agree on how to check the activities of pro-Biafra groups in the area.

“The meeting is expected to take place this weekend in Owerri, the Imo State capital. Already the Governor has begun to make all the necessary contacts to ensure that all those expected to be at the meeting, would be in attendance”, Onwuemeodo said.

It will be recalled that Okorocha had earlier, while taking exception to the pro-Biafra violent protests in some of the South-East states and few other neighbouring states, disassociated the governors and leaders in the South-East states from the MASSOB protest, describing the whole exercise as “embarrassing, disturbing, counter-productive and to a large extent, distracting”.

According to Governor Okorocha, the pro-Biafra protests could not be in the interest of the south-east people but were only sending wrong signals to the rest of Nigerians.

“It has become increasingly necessary for the governors in the zone, Ohaneze leaders and other stakeholders in the area to meet, to call a spade, a spade”, Okorocha said.

The Governor also said that “at the end of the Owerri meeting, the governors and other leaders will take a common position and will also invite the leaders of the pro-Biafra groups for a meeting, to let them know the socio-economic and political implications of their activities, including their demand for sovereignty in a united Nigeria”.

Chief Okorocha insisted that the governors and leaders in the zone could no longer sit and watch the whole situation degenerate, even as he also noted that the Igbos as a people cannot afford to have its own kind of Boko Haram.

He wondered why the pro-Biafra apologists kept quiet all these years only to resume their protests and activities this time and few months after the new administration in the country came on board.

Markets shut in Abia as over 30,000 sympathisers protest

In Aba, Abia State, members of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, yesterday, shut down markets in continuation of its three-day protest march, calling for the release of their detained leader and Director, Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu. The protesters in several groups, with each numbering no fewer than 5,000, marched through Azikiwe, Cemetery, Asa, Faulks, Aba-Owerri and Osisioma Ngwa from where they forcefully closed all the markets in the city.

According to them, the one million protest march was an attempt by the group to draw the attention of the international community to alleged injustice being visited on their leader who had been detained for over two weeks now.

According to them, they chose not to be violent because the “price has already been paid by our forefathers and the price we are going to pay for the sake of Biafra is exactly what our director (Kanu) is paying for at the moment.”

However, security agents including soldiers and policemen were on hand, to ensure that hoodlums did not hijack the protest to loot property.Vanguard observed that as early as 8am, some of the protesters had marched around the popular Azikiwe road and warned shop owners to lock up or face the wrath of the group, while another group visited the Ekeoha Shopping Centre to ensure that the order was not flouted.

Shop owners who had already opened for business were seen hurriedly closing their shops. The two groups later converged at the ever busy Azikiwe/ Asa road junction causing a heavy gridlock as they marched through Faulks to the Ariaria International Market where they had Saturday warned traders not to open for business yesterday.

MASSOB mobilizes 2,000 for Ebonyi protest

In Ebonyi, MASSOB, yesterday, said it had mobilized no fewer than 2000 members for a peaceful protest in the state.

In a statement, the factional leader of the group, Uchenna Madu, said in Abakaliki that the body was protesting indiscriminate arrests and detention of its members by the federal government.

‘It is high time the ministers come on board’

Nigeria will finally get a new government on Wednesday after more than five months of waiting, when President Muhammadu Buhari assigns formal roles to 36 ministerial nominees approved by parliament.

Buhari is scheduled to make the announcement from 10:00 am (0900 GMT), bringing to an end 166 days in which he has effectively been in sole charge of Africa’s leading economy and most populous nation.

The inauguration was scheduled to take place at his official residence,ASO Rock, in the capital, Abuja.

Buhari’s primary focus since coming to office on May 29 has been the fight against Boko Haram Islamists and launching an anti-corruption drive.

But the lack of ministers has given a sense of political limbo and created uncertainty in the business world.

“Nigeria’s nature as a political economy has been emphasised in the absence of a cabinet,” Michael Famoroti, editor-in-chief of Nigeria business, economy and finance analysts Stears, told AFP.

“Political stasis has bred economic stasis, through cargoes stranded at ports, an uncertain investment climate and delayed spending decisions.

“Too many parts of the economy have stalled as economic agents await government clarity,” he said in an email.

I didn’t push my stepson down the storey building – Housewife begs

By Esther Onyegbula

THESE are, indeed, trying times for 34-year-old mother of four who was arrested for allegedly pushing her stepson from the third floor of their apartment at No. 40, Oluwole Estate, Ogba, Lagos. Her ordeal started Thursday, last week, after her 14-year-old stepson, Rahman, was found reeling in pains at the basement of their three-storey building. While the woman and her husband were shocked at the wound he sustained, relations of her husband rather thought otherwise.

Mariam Musa

They suspected foul play and wasted little time in inviting the police from the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, SCIIB, Panti, Yaba, to arrest their brother’s wife accusing her of masterminding the ugly incident.

My hands are clean

Denying the allegation, the full-time housewife who identified herself as Mariam Musa, told Crime Alert: “I was arrested because my stepson accused me of pushing him from the window of our apartment located on the third floor after he jumped out of the window himself.

How could I possibly push the boy (Raman) from the window? I am surprised that he said I pushed him from the window when he jumped off himself. He was five years old when he started living with us. God in heaven knows he jumped out of the window himself.”

She continued; “I was a caterer before I got married 11 years ago, but since then, I have been a full-time housewife. On Wednesday, at about 6am, I woke my stepson and my children up to get prepared for school. Later, my son Abudulakim, came to meet me in the kitchen and informed me that his stepbrother was not in the house.

Missing N5,000

“When my husband, Umaru, woke up, he found out that Raman, my stepson, had collected his N5,000. Throughout the day, we searched everywhere for Raman.

My husband even called his brother, Abubakar (Raman’s uncle) to know if Raman was at his place but he said no. Luckily, Abubakar called back at about 5pm and said that they had seen Raman. That night, at about 9:30, my husband and I went to my brother-in-law’s place to fetch him back home.

Police arrest 252 cultists in Delta

Commissioner of police in-charge of Delta State, Alkali Baba Usman is, no doubt, facing a herculean task. Aside the incessant criminal activities of cultists in major areas of the state, he is also saddled with the onerous task of checkmating the nefarious activities of not just other criminals but, the recent uprising amongst some agitators for the creation of sovereign state of Biafra. 

From all indications, he has lived up to expectations and is poised for an onslaught against all forms of crime and criminality in the state. He spoke with our Crime Editor, Emma Nnadozie, recently, in Asaba. Excerpts:

INTRODUCTION: Cultism has become a social dilemma. Some refer to it as a religious or social group with socially deviant or novel beliefs and practices. The group owes uncommon allegiance to their leaders. The struggle for influence, hegemonic supremacy, control and protection among cult groups is the fundamental and primary cause of the skirmishes and orgy of cult related killings and maiming of perceived enemies.

Suspected cultists arrested in Asaba.

Another factor that has prompted cultism is land speculation and speculators. There is also clannish behaviour, these are people who, for the sake of vengeance, gather and unleash attacks on people.

In Delta, we have taken the war against cultism to their camps. We have had diligent clamp down on cults in different locations.

In Oghara, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad raided cult hide outs and arrested 48 members. At Agbor, another cult hot-bed, about 9 cultists were arraigned recently and are facing the wrath of the law. At Jesse, about 13 members of Sparrows Junior Eye, SJE, were arraigned in July, 2015.

SupremeVikings

More so, at Ibusa, cult members engaged a SARS team, threw stones at their Hilux van and damaged the back and front windscreen. At the end, two of them were nabbed. As a follow up, the command monitored and arrested 33 male and 2 female members of Supreme Vikings confraternity also at Ibusa. At Okwe, we nabbed 9 suspected Aiye 1977 A.S,H. Dodorima cultists during their meeting.

Investment in Nigeria’s oil, gas industry is down by 20 per cent – Chevron boss

Lagos – Mr Ali Moshiri,, the President of Chevron Africa and Latin America Exploration and Production, has said that the total investment in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, which stood at 20 billion dollars in 2014, has dropped by 20 per cent in 2015.

Moshiri disclosed this in Lagos at the 33rd annual conference of the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE). Moshiri that said Nigeria accounted for 20 billion dollars out of the 600 billion dollars investment in the global oil and gas industry in 2014.

In Africa, Moshiri said, Nigeria was the top producer of liquid hydrocarbon and number three in gas production. He said that the country’s position in gas was because of lack of gas infrastructure and not because of the level of its gas resources.

“But when you talk about investment, total industry investment in 2014 was about 600 billion dollars and Nigeria had around 20 billion dollars . After the price crash, there is tremendous reduction in global investment. Moshiri said Nigeria had tremendous capacity and resources to produce far above the current two million barrels of crude oil per day, but added that much investment would be required.

He said 20 billion dollar investment would be required yearly for the country to replace its current production levels.

Moshiri said many projects were locked up in Nigeria because of cost citing the Bonga South West project as one of the them. He said the current slump in crude oil price was as a result of “ much inventory in the oil market’’.

Moshiri said between 2014 and 2015, about four million barrels of crude oil per day were unconventionally introduced into the market which led to this development.

In his speech, Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode Nigeria currently maintained an economically unstable energy trade balance, in which the country exports virtually all the crude oil produced and import substantial part of the petroleum products consumed in the country.

Ambode, who was represented by the Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Mr Olawale Oluwo, also argued that the country had under-utilised other energy sources such as Bitumen, Coal and non-carbon-related energy sources.

“Therefore, the challenge before us is to determine how we as a nation can adapt to these emerging scenerios in global and national oil and gas, so that we take advantage of them and shape them to our advantage,” Ambode added.

Buhari swears in Ministers

By Levinus Nwabughiogu

ABUJA–President Mohammadu is presently performing the inauguration ceremony of his ministers-designates in Abuja.

Already, four persons had taken their oath of office.

They are Okechukwu Emelema(Abia), Alhaji Mohammdu Bello (-Adamawa ), Sen. Udo Udoma( -Akwa Ibom) and Chris Ngige (Anambra State).

Others to follow

Details later