ROAD CONTRACT SCAM: CHIEF TONY ANENIH REPLIES REPS

Former Works Minister, Chief Tony Anenih has reacted to claims by the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts that he presided over a failed N2.3 billion road contract.

Chief Anenih in a four-page letter dated November 29, to Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, said he was miffed that a member of the House of Representatives could make such unfounded allegations.

Anenih clerified the contract was awarded to Torno Internationale after it put in the lowest bid of N2.318 billion with 18 months completion and secured the Federal Executive Council approval.

“It is instructive to note that during evaluation and inspections, the competence and capacity of Torno to execute the contract was never in doubt because their construction equipment were all on display at Zuru Town in Kebbi State where they were doing a township road for the Kebbi State Government. Also of note is that Torno’s parent company Torno Internationale SPA, built Shiroro dam in 1990,” he said.

Anenih said he left office at a point when the contractor had received a total of N672 million by the end of October 2002 and was at 16% level of completion.

“However, I am told that in 2004, two years after I had left the ministry, based on the threat by the contractor to stop work on the ground that the contract has been frustrated by government’s failure to pay for job executed after several demands for such payment to be made, the then Honourable Minister (Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe) took a memo to Federal Executive Council for the termination of the contract. I was further informed that the contractor in 2005, took the matter for arbitration and obtained judgment against the government. It is therefore clear from the foregoing that the contract was not terminated by government on the ground of incompetence of the contractor rather it was the contractor that sought termination because of failure of Government to pay for job done,” he further stated.

MILITARY TO CLEAR BARRACKS OF ILLEGAL OCUPANTS

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika, said on Thursday that the Nigerian military has commenced the mass eviction of civilians from barracks across the country.

The eviction of non-soldiers from barracks is coming on the heels of two successful attacks  by suspected terrorists this week.

Two car bombers had on Sunday struck at the St. Andrew Military Protestant Church inside the prestigious Armed Forces Command and Staff College,  in Jaji, near Kaduna. The college  houses the officers and men of the Infantry Centre and School as well as  the Nigerian Army Peace Keeping Centre .

Similarly on Monday, gunmen, numbering 40, launched an attack on the office of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad in Abuja, where suspects were being held. Two policemen and one of the gunmen were killed in the incident.

At the closing of the Chief of Army Staff Annual Conference in Asaba, Delta State, Ihejirika said he had already issued a directive to commanders in charge of military formations to take immediate action against illegal occupants.

 The COAS also warned that the leadership of the Army would ensure that reported lapses were treated decisively.

 He said, “That one (purging the barracks of illegal occupants) is obvious. I have already informed the commanders and they know. The commanders would not wait for the Chief of Army Staff before taking action. Rather, from next week, I want to see action in respect of illegal squatters and similar things.”

The Commander in charge of Army Engineering, Maj. Gen. Olaniyi, who took the last presentation at the conference, had called attention to the fact that barracks being rehabilitated were accommodating a large number of civilians in places like the Ikeja Cantonment and Asaba.

Olaniyi, who said that the Ojo Cantonment had become haven for criminals, warned that unless decisive steps were taken, even foreigners would be more than soldiers in some rehabilitated barracks; adding that that the number of civilians living in the cantonment was even more than that of soldiers.

Ihejirika insisted that the bombing at the Armed Forces Command and Staff College was avoidable, stressing that absence a perimeter fence did not offer any commander an excuse to allow such an  incident to happen.

He said that about 80 of the barracks in the country had not been fenced and urged the commanders to put in their best in the area of intelligence gathering and security maintenance.

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UN GEN. ASSEMBLY UPGRADES PALESTINIAN STATE

The UN General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly to recognise Palestine as a non-member observer state - a move strongly opposed by Israel and the US.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said this was the "last chance to save the two-state solution" with Israel.
Israel's envoy to the UN said the bid pushed peace process "backwards", while the US said the move was "unfortunate".
The Palestinians can now take part in UN debates and potentially join bodies like the International Criminal Court.
The assembly voted 138-9 in favour, with 41 nations abstaining.
Hundreds of Palestinians celebrated on the streets of Ramallah, in the West Bank after the result was announced.

The parties began in Yasser Arafat Square on Thursday morning - long before the voting.
Mr Abbas made his speech in New York just before 23:00 local time as crowds of people waving flags gathered around large screens carrying the live feed.
Fireworks erupted in Ramallah with the news of the vote. While Palestinians will see no changes on the ground with immediate effect, the symbolism is all-important.
There is also hope that access to UN bodies will bring new rights. A successful application for membership of the International Criminal Court could be used to accuse Israel of war crimes or make other legal claims against it.

"Sixty-five years ago on this day, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 181, which partitioned the land of historic Palestine into two states and became the birth certificate for Israel," Mr Abbas said shortly before the vote in New York.

"The General Assembly is called upon today to issue a birth certificate of the reality of the State of Palestine," he said.
But Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the vote "meaningless", and said that Mr Abbas' address in New York had not been "the words of a man who wants peace".
Opponents of the bid say a Palestinian state should emerge only out of bilateral negotiations, as set out in the 1993 Oslo peace accords under which the Palestinian Authority was established.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the vote "unfortunate and counter-productive", saying it put more obstacles on the path to peace.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also called for more talks, saying the resolution underscored the need to resume meaningful peace negotiations.

The BBC's Aleem Maqbool said there were celebrations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip

The UK abstained from the vote, as did Germany. The Czech Republic, Canada, the Marshall Islands and Panama were among the nations voting with the US and Israel.
In the West Bank, crowds celebrated the vote by waving flags and chanting "God is great!"
"For the first time, there will be a state called Palestine, with the recognition of the entire world," Amir Hamdan was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.
"Today the world will hear our voice," he added.
Symbolic milestone The Palestinians are seeking UN recognition of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, the lands Israel captured in 1967.
While the move is seen as a symbolic milestone in Palestinian ambitions for statehood, the "Yes" vote will also have a practical diplomatic effect, says the BBC's Barbara Plett, at the UN.

Israel's ambassador to the UN, Ron Prosor, says the only way to achieve peace is through negotiation

The Palestinians hope that access to UN bodies will bring new rights: A successful application for membership of the ICC could be used to accuse Israel of war crimes or make other legal claims against it.
"This is a whole new ball-game now. Israel will be dealing with a member of the international community, a state called Palestine with rights," senior PLO official Hanan Ashrawi told the BBC.
"We will have access to international organisations and agencies and we will take it from there."
There had been lobbying by Israel and the US to try to delay the vote or change the text to obtain guarantees that no international legal action would be taken against Israel.
Last year, Mr Abbas asked the UN Security Council to admit the Palestinians as a member state, but that was opposed by the US.

How did key countries vote?

• Voted for: France, Spain, Belgium, Norway, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, Turkey, China, Russia, India, Brazil, South Africa, Nigeria
• Voted against: Israel, US, Canada
• Abstained: UK, Germany, Australia, Colombia

Mr Abbas was much criticised by many Palestinians for remaining on the sidelines of the conflict earlier this month in Gaza and efforts to achieve a ceasefire with Israel.

His Fatah movement, based in the West Bank, is deeply split from the militant Hamas movement which governs Gaza.
Gaza's Prime Minister Ismael Haniyeh said in a statement sent to the BBC that Hamas' "support for the UN bid is based on the 'rule of non-recognition of the occupier'... and the right of Palestinians to return to their homeland". (BBC)

FORMER HEAD OF STATE, GEN. BUHARI LOSES DAUGHTER

The first daughter of former Head of State General Muhammadu Buhari died on Thursday in Kaduna, two days after giving birth to a baby girl through a caesarean section at a private hospital.

Zulaihatu Buhari, named after the General’s late mother and famously called Magajiya, was born December 5, 1972 and had battle with sickle cell anaemia.

She left behind her husband retired military Captain Mahmud Junaid and three children (two girls and one boy), including her new baby. Until her death Zulaihatu Buhari was a staff of National Steel Raw Material Exploration Agency.

Family sources said her funeral prayers will hold today (Friday) in Kaduna.

FG REMODELS NIGERIAN AIRPORTS....FAAN MD

The General Manager, Corporate Communications of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Yakubu Dati, says the federal government is determined to make the country the hub of aviation in Africa.

Hon. Datti said this during a live interview on a Lagos based radio station, 99.3 Nigeria Info.

He said after the remodelling of all the 22 airports in the country, four new ones are to be constructed, adding that the federal government will not entertain any unnecessary delay.

Hon Datti added that there are also a lot of restructuring going on, in terms of staff, concessionaires amongst others, in all local and international airports in the country.

COURT ASKS PARTIES IN ABUJA DEMOLITION SUIT TO MAINTAIN STATUS QUO PENDING THE NEXT HEARING DATE

      The Federal High Court, Abuja, on Thursday ordered the withdrawal of all applications for interlocutory injunction filed by parties in a suit on the demolition of Minanuel Estate, Airport Road, Abuja.
Presiding Judge, Justice Danlami Senchi said the withdrawal was necessary to get to the merit of the case. He therefore ordered the parties to maintain the status quo pending the next hearing scheduled for February 25 to Feb. 28, 2013.
While calling on the parties to prepare their witnesses before the next hearing, Justice Danlami urged the parties to avoid acts capable of undermining the accelerated hearing of the substantive suit.
Counsel to the Federal Capital Territorial Administration (FCTA), Mr Joe Gazama (SAN), had argued that the court had no jurisdiction to entertain the matter and prayed the court to strike out the plaintiff's application.
According to Gazama, Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), which the plaintiff claimed allocated the land in contention to it, does not have the power to do so, insisting that only the Minister of the FCT, Alhaji Bala Mohammed, had such power.
But Counsel to the plaintiff, Mr Femi Falana, (SAN), prayed the court to protect the land in question against further allocation. He equally asked the court to protect and preserve the property in the estate, pending the determination of the substantive suit.

COURT DISMISSES $12.4B OIL WINDFALL SUIT AGAINST IBB

A federal high court sitting in Abuja, on Thursday dismissed the suit instituted by  the Registered Trustees of Socio – Economic and Accountability Project, SERAP, and two other rights and development based NGOs against the federal government, to probe the $12.4 billion gulf oil windfall in 1991 during the Ibrahim Babangida military regime.

Justice Gabriel Kolawale in the judgment which lasted for Two and half hours, held that the application seeking to compel the federal government to probe the IBB regime on the $12.4 billion, failed because of the plaintiff's inability to proof by way of admissible evidence, the existence of the alleged Dedicated and Special Account, operated by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

On the admissibility of exhibit A, the purported copy of the 1994 Pius Okigbo report, allegedly indicting General Babangida, Justice Kolawale said the report is neither a certified true copy nor a gazetted copy by the federal government to be relied upon , thereby questioning the veracity of its content.   

Justice Kolawale while dismissing the suit also held that the plaintiff lacks jurisdiction to the fundamental right of enforcement rules which allows for a Twelve months window period for such application to be brought before the court, in a matter that was filed in April 2010 as against 2005 when the course of action actually took place.

t would be recalled that the Federal Government in 1994 after the exit of Babangida, commissioned the panel to investigate the activities of the Central Bank of Nigeria and recommend measures for the re -organisation of the apex bank.

In the course of its assignment, the panel discovered that the 12.5 billion US Dollars in the Dedicated and Special Accounts had been depleted to a mere 200 million US Dollars by June of 1994.

REPS TO INVESTIGATE ALLEGATIONS AGAINST NIGER DELTA MINISTER, ORUBEBE

The House of Representatives on Thursday, directed its relevat committee to probe allegations of corruption levelled against the Minister of Niger Delta, Elder Godsday Orubebe.

The resolution followed a motion on the matter by Mr. Kehinde Olusegun (Ogun state). Honourable Olusegun asked the House to investigate the allegations and to ensure that the matter was not swept under the carpet. He said Mr Orubebe had failed to declare a house purportedly built for him by an Abuja based Construction Company in the Mabushi area of the Federal Capital Territory.
“A case has been made against the minister as it relates to a house built for him by Setraco Construction Company at Mabushi district here in Abuja. It has been found that he failed to declare the house in his asset declaration form with the Code of Conduct Bureau.” Mr Olusegun said.
The House subsequently mandated its committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes to investigate the matter and make appropriate recommendations to the House within 21 days.
The House further directed the ministry of Finance, the Central Bank and the Accountant General of the federation to suspend all payments into the ministry over what he described as bogus contracts, except the East West road projects until the completion of investigation to verify the authenticity of certificates pending for payment.

REPS CONSIDER BILL TO CORRECT DEFECTS IN NIGERIAN FLAGS & COAT OF ARMS

A bill to correct some abnormalities in the Flags and Coats of  Arm Act of 2004, on Thursday in Abuja passed through second reading in the House of Representatives.
The bill seeks to enact the National Symbols Act, 2012, defining a procedure for States to follow to have their flags, symbols and other emblems.

It also seeks to expressly authorise the use of State Flag, State Coat of Arms and how it should be used vis-a’ vis the National Flag.
The Nigerian National Symbol includes the National Flags, National Coat of Arms, National Anthem and National Pledge.
The Flags and Coats of Arm Act of 2004 does not provide for States flags expressly, but it permits it by making reference to it.
Leading  the debate on the general principles of thebill , Rep. Karimi Sunday(PDP-Kogi) said the bill seeks to correct some abnormalities in the old Act.
He noted that some States currently have flags and symbols without following the correct procedures, and displaying them without the National Flag.
“ It will be wrong for a State to display its own flag without the National Flag.’’
The lawmaker said that the bill would impact on the psyche of an average Nigerian  to think of himself as a Nigerian first before he thinks of himself as member of his “ tribe, religion, ethnic group or State.“
Rep. Sunday urged his colleagues to support the bill, saying that it would foster national unity and instil patriotism among Nigerians.
“ Nigeria no doubt is at one of the most challenging times in her national history where various factors militating against the Nigerian State keeps rearing its head.
“ All efforts geared at fostering unity, nationalism and patriotism should therefore be encouraged, while all factors repudiating the Nigerian State must be discouraged.’’
In his contribution, Rep. Leo Ogor (PDP-Delta ) expressed his  support for the  bill, saying  the that “ the Green White Green is the symbol of our authority.’’
He expressed concern that some states were having their own flags,  saying that if the trend continues, Local Government might also want to have their own flags.
He averred that any state that desires to have its own flag “ should know that there is only one nation.’’
“ The National Flag should be our only flag, it is our national identity.’’ Ogor said.
In his remarks, Rep.Ossai Ossai (PDP-Delta)  aligned himself with the views of Rep. Sunday that the bill was intended to unite the country.
“ This bill will promote patriotism, a feeling of united Nigeria and Sovereign State.’’
However, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila(ACN-Lagos)  deferred in his views, saying that  states having their flags or other symbols does not connote that Nigeria was not a united nation.
He said that any states could have their flags side by side with the National Flag.
“ They can go side by side, if National Flag is disrespected, we can bring an amendment and not repeal.
“ I don’t think the bill should pass through the second reading.’’
The bill however, scaled second reading when it was put to vote by the Deputy Speaker, Rep. Emeka Ihedioha.
He  referred it to the House  Committee on Justice for further legislative work.
Meanwhile, the House had adjourned plenary to Dec.11 to allow House Committees complete work on 2013 appropriation bill. (NAN)

UMEH`S BID TO VACATE COURT VERDICT SUFFERS SET BACK

Attempts by Sir Victor Umeh to retain his position as the national chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA suffered a setback on Thursday, as the Court of Appeal Enugu Division could not rule on the order restraining him.
The court, presided over by Justice Inyang Okoro, adjourned the case till January 15, following a letter stating that APGA`s Counsel, Mr. Chudi Obieze was indisposed.
Mr Obieze had informed the court that he was placed on a five day sick leave beginning from yesterday (Wednesday).
Arguing against the adjournment, Umeh’s Counsel, Mr. Pat Ikwueto (SAN), said it was a ploy to delay the court process and urged the court to vacate the lower court order while the substantive suit continued.

Sir Victor Umeh is seeking to vacate a high court order restraining him from functioning as the national chairman of APGA.

POLICE ARRAIGN SIX OVER AREPO PIPELINE MURDER

Six men appeared on Thursday before Justice Idris at the Federal High Court on a seven-count charge which includes the killing of three NNPC staff and vandalizing oil pipeline.

The men pleaded not guilty to all charges while the prosecutor, assistant commissioner of police, Friday Ibadin asked the court to adjourn hearing on the case to allow the accused persons hire a lawyer to stand for them in court.
The presiding judge then adjourned the case till the 18th December 2012.
The six men being prosecuted for the killings of the NNPC staff were rounded up between October 6^th and 7^th from a gang of pipeline vandals in the Arepo community after the decomposed bodies of the NNPC staff were discovered by men of the Special Task Force on Anti-Pipeline Vandalism, led by Mr Ibadin after four week of searching on the waterways and creek around the scene of vandalism in Arepo, Ogun state.
The bodies had since been identified as those of the deputy manager in charge of Pipelines Right of Way (PROW) and two other engineers deployed to effect repairs on a vandalised pipeline in Arepo on September 5.
According to Mr Ibadin, officers using speedboats and helicopters to comb the creeks near Arepo dug up the bodies in two shallow graves across a river after a confessional statement from one of the arrested suspects.
Nigerians have attributed the scarcity of fuel experienced in Lagos and environs at about September to the Arepo vandalism. (by Channels TV.)

LAGOS STATE GOVT. SEALS EIGHT FIRMS FOR TAX DEFAULT

The Lagos State Internal Revenue Service has sealed eight companies for failing to remit taxes amounting to N28. 3 million.

The Head of Distrain Unit of LIRS, Folasade Coker-Afolayan, told newsmen after the closure that the defaulting companies were shut for failing to remit personal income taxes of workers.

She said the tax liabilities of each of the companies were for between one to six years.

Mrs. Coker-Afolayan warned the sealed companies not to violate the laws by opening their premises and doing business as usual.

She said it would amount to criminal offence to do so.

PEACE RETURNS TO AJAH, LAGOS AFTER COMMUNAL STRIFE

The Lagos State Police Command says peace has been restored to the Ajah\Ilaje and its environ despite distress call received that yet another causality has been recorded.

Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide disclosed that after the security personnel dispatched to the area had left the troubled zone, some miscreant started formenting trouble and the police returned to maintain law and order.

Miss Braide told our correspondent that the police have arrested two culprits in connection with the unrest and have been transferred to Special Anti-Robbery Squad Ikeja for interrogation.

She added that due to the unending crisis in the area that started on Monday, the state commissioner of Police has ordered that mobile squadrons be permanently stationed in the area until peace is restored.