Security agencies on red alert over northern groups ultimatum to Ndigbo

The Federal Government on Wednesday said security agencies were already on the alert over the position of a coalition of Northern groups, including the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, which on Tuesday gave all Igbos resident in the 19 states of the North a three-month ultimatum to quit or be forced out after the expiration of the October 1, 2017, deadline.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said this while answering questions from State House correspondents after the weekly meeting of the Federal Executive Council at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Mohammed assured Nigerians that security agencies are on top of the matter, adding that the statement was capable of destabilising the country.

ALHAJI LAI MOHAMMED

He observed that such development did not start now.

He said, “The issue of one or two groups issuing statements that are capable of destabilising the polity and then being responded to by another group, I think did not just start today or did not start yesterday.

“What I want to assure you is that security organisations are very very much on top of this matter.”

When asked whether the issue of the ultimatum came up for discussion during the FEC meeting, the minister said it did not come up.

The National President, AYCF, Yerima Shettima, had handed down the ultimatum at a press conference in Kaduna on Tuesday.

“We are also telling our brothers (northerners) out there in the South-East to get prepared to come back home,” Shettima had said.

The ultimatum followed a successful sit-at-home order enforced by the Nnamdi Kanu-led Indigenous People of Biafra on May 30, 2017, which the five South-East states complied with.

The ultimatum was handed down at a well-attended press conference held at the Arewa House, Kaduna, on Tuesday.

The text of the press conference signed by Nastura Ashir Sharif (Arewa Citizens Action for Change); Alhaji Shettima Yerima (Arewa Youth Consultative Forum); Aminu Adam (Arewa Youth Development Foundation); Alfred Solomon, (Arewa Students Forum); Abdul-Azeez Suleiman (Northern Emancipation Network), as well as Joshua Viashman, who signed on behalf of the Northern Youth Vanguard.

The National President of the Northern Emancipation Network, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, who read the text of the press conference, noted that the Igbo had become a threat to national unity.

He noted that the action of the North was necessitated by the persistence for the actualisation of Biafra by the Igbo, saying this had led to the impediment of other people’s rights in the South-East by ‘the Indigenous People of Biafra and its overt and covert sponsors’.

Suleiman said, “With the effective date of this declaration, which is today, Tuesday, June 6, 2017, all Igbo currently residing in any part of northern Nigeria are, hereby, served notice to relocate within three months and all northerners residing in the South-East are advised likewise.

“All northern civil societies and pressure groups are, by this declaration, mandated to mobilise for sustained, coordinated campaigns at their respective state Government Houses, state Houses of Assembly, local government council secretariats and traditional palaces.

“Our first major move shall be to reclaim, assume and assert sole ownership and control of these landed resources currently owned, rented or in any way enjoyed by the …Igbo in any part of Northern Nigeria.”

PUNCH NEWSPAPER

El-Rufai orders arrest of Northern youths for threatening Ndigbo

Governor Nasir El Rufai of Kaduna State has ordered the immediate arrest of all signatories to a statement issuing a three-month ultimatum to all Igbos to leave northern Nigeria.

Gov. Nasir El-Rufai

The governor, in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant-Media and Publicity, Samuel Aruwan, on Wednesday also assured residents in the state of “their freedom to reside where they choose”, adding that the “constitutional right of every Nigerian to own property, move freely and to live in peace and harmony is sacrosanct”.

A coalition of Northern groups, including the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, had on Tuesday, gave all Igbos resident in the 19 states of the North a three-month ultimatum to quit or be forced out after the expiration of the October 1, 2017, deadline.

The group also asked Northerners in the South-East to get prepared to come back home.

The group’s grievance had been over the success of a recent sit-at-home order enforced by the Nnamdi Kanu-led Indigenous People of Biafra on May 30, 2017 which the five South-East states complied with.

Reacting the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the apex socio-political body of the Igbo, demanded ‘urgent action’ from the country’s security agencies.

The group also urged the Igbo in the North to be ‘vigilant’ while going about their activities.

The Kaduna State Government, however, condemned the youths’ action in the statement, insisting that it has been consistent in taking action to punish hate speech and incitement.

The statement reads in part, “The Kaduna State Government condemns in the strongest terms the press statement by some self-appointed “northern youths” that threatened the safety and property of our citizens of Igbo extraction. Government assures every resident of our state that their constitutional and human rights to live peacefully and own property wherever they choose is sacrosanct. Even people who may feel unhappy about irresponsible comments or actions that have taken place in other states must know that two wrongs cannot make a right.

“The Kaduna State Government believes in and will uphold the right of every Nigerian to live safely and develop his/her full potentials within its territory.

“Reckless disregard for the rights of other citizens drips through the press statement by these “northern youths” who have chosen to use the discourse around restructuring to promote their own agenda of hate, division and incitement. This sort of opportunists cannot be allowed to distort debate, or turn it into a pretext for a barely-disguised agenda of displacement and dispossession of some citizens.

“We will not tolerate such irresponsible statements and conduct in our state. The statement issued by the “northern youths” violates the laws of Kaduna State. Therefore, the Kaduna State Government has directed that its Ministry of Justice should prepare charges and prosecute the signatories and anyone complicit in arranging this egregious assault on the rights of fellow citizens.

“Preparatory to prosecution, the police have been directed to immediately arrest, interrogate the signatories to the statement and investigate all the circumstances and persons that may be implicated in the matter.

“The Kaduna State Government urges all residents to ignore the threats from the “northern youths”. We are in contact with the leadership of the Igbo community in Kaduna, and we delighted to say that this community, like all our other communities, believes in the strength of the constitutional order to protect all citizens.

“KDSG wishes to encourage all our people to celebrate the diversity with which the Almighty has blessed us, to continue to shun agents of division, and to stand firm in upholding a common humanity. Everyone has a right to live in peace and harmony.”

PUNCH NEWSPAPER

BURMESE MILITARY AIRCRAFT MISSING

A Burmese military aircraft reportedly carrying more than 100 people has gone missing, officials say.

The army said the plane was flying between Yangon (Rangoon) and the southern city of Myeik. Search and rescue efforts are under way.

"Communication was lost suddenly at about 1:35 pm [07:05 GMT] when it reached about 20 miles west of Dawei town," the army said in a statement.

There were 105 passengers and 11 crew on board, an airport source told AFP.

BBC

Capacity Building Is Our Major Objective--Gov. Okowa

Delta State Governor, Senator Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa has said his administration is committed to capacity building of its workforce to grow a productive civil and public service.

Speaking today (Tuesday) when the Chairman and members of the National Assembly Service Commission paid him a courtesy visit in Asaba, the Governor observed that despite the current recession in the country his government will continue to train and re-train its workforce for a more productive state.

According to him, "times are very challenging due to the economic downturn in the country and many states are struggling to pay salaries but, that does not stop us from beginning to initiate ways and means of building on the capacity of our staff not just those in the House of Assembly Service Commission but also at the civil and public service."

"We intend to look in that direction because we know that if our staff are more productive, the entire system will be productive; we are hopeful that our resources will improve shortly but that does not stop us from organizing trainings that are local; foreign training will have to be reduced as much as possible because it is very expensive,'' he said, adding "we realized the need to build the capacity of our staff to provide the needed foundation for the legislature to grow and make appropriate laws for our people."

He appreciated the synergy and partnership between the House of Assembly Service Commission and the National Assembly Service Commission, stating. "it is very important because the legislature needs to grow and in growing they need to share ideas at both levels; l think that this new partnership between the service commissions at both levels will help stabilize the staff and service in the legislature."

Earlier, In a brief address, Chairman, National Assembly Service Commission, Dr. Paul Oweh, informed the Governor that they were on a working visit to the State House of Assembly Service Commission to interact and share ideas and help strengthen the synergy existing between them for a better service delivery.

GOVT. PRESS RELEASE

Court orders final forfeiture of Ikoyi’s $43.4m, £27,800, N23.2m to FG

The Federal High Court in Lagos on Tuesday ordered the permanent forfeiture to the Federal Government of the sums of $43,449,947, £27,800 and N23,218,000 recovered from No. 16, Osborne Road,  Flat 7B Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos.

The funds had been stashed in iron cabinets and “Ghana-must-go” bags in the apartment before they were discovered and recovered on April 11, 2017 by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission following intelligence information.

The anti-graft agency had earlier on April 13, 2017 obtained an interim court order temporarily forfeiting the funds to the Federal Government.

Justice Muslim Hassan, who granted the interim order, had given 14 days for anyone interested in the funds to appear before him to show cause why the money should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.

But on May 5, 2017 when the matter came up, no one came before the judge to claim the money.

However, a private legal practitioner, Mr. Olukoya Ogungbeje, appeared before the judge, with an application, urging the judge to suspend the final forfeiture proceedings pending when a three-man panel constituted by President Muhammadu Buhari in relation to the funds would submit its report.

The panel, headed by the Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, was to probe the claim and counter-claim of the Nigeria Intelligence Agency and Rivers State Government to the funds.

But the EFCC had opposed Ogungbeje’s application and urged Justice Hassan to dismiss it and go ahead with the forfeiture proceedings.

Ruling on Tuesday, Justice Hassan upheld the EFCC’s submission and dismissed Ogungbeje’s application for lacking in merit.

The judge described the application as totally strange, noting that having not appealed against the interim forfeiture order, Ogungbeje had no right to seek a stay of proceedings in the case.

The judge, who noted that Ogungbeje was not a party in the suit filed by the EFCC, described the lawyer as a meddlesome interloper and a busybody, adding that his application was strange to law.

He advised the lawyer to explore the Freedom of Information Act if he wanted information from the Federal Government on the findings of the Osinbajo’s panel.

Having dismissed Ogungbeje’s application, the judge subsequently made an order permanently forfeiting the funds to the Federal Government, noting that no one had appeared to show cause why the permanent forfeiture order should not be made.

Justice Hassan held, “I am in complete agreement with the submission of the learned counsel for the applicant (EFCC) that the property sought to be attached are reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities and that by every standard this huge sum of money is not expected to be kept without going through a designated financial institution; more so, nobody has shown cause why the said sum should not be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria. Having regard to the foregoing, I have no other option but to grant this application as prayed.

“For the avoidance of any doubt, I hereby make the following orders: 1. A final order is made forfeiting the sums of   $43,449,947 found by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission at Flat 7B of No. 16 Osborne Road, Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos, which sum is reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities to the Federal Government of Nigeria.”

The judge made the same order in respect of the £27,800 and N23,218,000.

After the judgment, the EFCC lawyer, Idris Mohammed, urged Justice Hassan to award a cost of N5m against Ogungbeje for wasting the judicial time of the court with his application.

Ramon Oladimeji, PUNCH NEWSPAPER

Ita-Giwa urges FG to probe distribution of relief materials nationwide

A former Presidential Adviser, Senator Florence Ita-Giwa, on Tuesday urged the Federal Government to urgently probe the distribution of relief materials to Internally Displaced Persons across the country.

Ita-Giwa gave this charge against the backdrop of Saturday’s recovery of multi-million naira relief materials in the resident of a politician in Calabar, Cross River State.  

The National Refugee Commission had in April 2017 given 268 bags of cement, 400 bundles of roofing sheets, over 800 assorted woods, 95 bags of rice, 50 bags of beans, 70 bags of 50kg garri, drugs and other materials to Bakassi refugees in response to a fire outbreak in Day Spring Island which destroyed their makeshift houses.

The items were handed over to the Cross River State Emergency Management Agencies for onward distribution to the affected refugees but they found their way to the homes of individuals who were already selling the items.

In a petition to the Department of State Service and the Nigeria Police, Ita-Giwa lamented that relief materials no longer get to their destination.

She said, “This incident is an eye opener and I believe it has been happening for a long time. With this discovery now, I am calling on the Federal Government to investigate the mode of distribution of relief materials to IDPs all over the nation, not just Cross River State.

SEN. FLORENCE ITA-GIWA

“Because maybe most of those things they claim they have been sending to those people end up in the markets. This is an example.

Government would be wasting money, thinking that they are rehabilitating people, thinking they are intervening, whereas those things are not getting to the people. So they must be investigated.”

She charged Governor Ben Ayade to immediately to address the problem of distribution of the relief materials to the refugee, adding that the development was an embarrassment to the state.

“I would be very shocked if the governor of this state, who has been crying for Bakassi people, and I want to believe that those tears are real tears if he does not act immediately on this report, because it is an embarrassment for a man that preaches sympathy for the underprivileged.

“A man that says that from his own background, he knows how it feels like to be trampled upon. He has openly been shedding tears for Bakassi. So, I would be very surprised if the governor does not do something urgently for a people, whose relief materials were sold in the market,” he said. 

Ita-Giwa stressed the need for a proper resettlement of the people of Bakassi in Dayspring Island as this would check such developments as the diversion of materials.

According to her revisiting the judgment of the International Court of Justice to reclaim the ceded Bakassi was an exercise in futility.

She also said it was inappropriate to relocate the Bakassi people to an existing Akpabuyo Local Government Area, adding that the proper thing was to resettle them in Dayspring, a virgin area of their choice which suits the fishing lifestyle of the people.

By Mudiaga Affe, Calabar PUNCH NEWSPAPER

Tight security for $2.1b arms deal panel members

Security is to be tightened around members of the Special Investigative Panel on Arms Procurement, The Nation learnt yesterday. 

The presidential directive was said to have followed the suspicious death of a member, Rear Admiral T.D. Ikoli, and threat to others.

The panel, which has wound up its operation temporarily, was probing the $2.1 billion arms procurement from 2007 to 2015.

It had investigated the purchase of arms in the Army and the Air Force. The review of arms procurement in the Navy was outstanding at the time of Rear Admiral Ikoli’s death.

Three of the members of the panel are believed to have had a close shave with death.

Rear Admiral Ikoli died in what the panel described as “suspicious circumstances” on April 5 in Lagos.

About one week before his death, Rear Admiral ikoli’s dog was killed, also in suspicious circumstances, it was learnt.

Panel Chairman  Air Vice Marshal JON Ode narrowly escaped being ambushed by a 12-man gang in two separate vehicles. The wife of another member (a retired Major-General) narrowly escaped being abducted.

It was learnt that after the developments, the panel opened discussions with President Muhammadu Buhari. Besides, it wrote a letter to Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on the danger its members were being exposed to.

Prior to the alarm raised by the members of the panel, none of them had security presence in their homes.

A source, who spoke in confidence with our correspondent, said: “Right from the start of the probe, JON Ode Panel members were being threatened but they defied the intimidation to complete their assignments

“Some of those involved in the $2.1b arms scandal were associates, colleagues, junior officers and students of members of the panel. But they refused to be swayed by personal ties in doing their job.

“But there had been obvious security threats against the panel members by some of those implicated and their fronts.

“Ikoli’s death shattered panel members who did not bother initially to ask for protection.”

The source said the aborted attacks against the chairman of the panel, AVM JON Ode and the wife of another member made the team to make representations to the Presidency.”

Iit was gathered that the government directed that police and military security be provided in the homes of the members.

Those who want escorts have also been given.

Another source added: “The Presidency has directed that adequate security measures be put in place for AVM JON Ode members’ panel following intelligence reports on threats to their lives.

“The government also took the steps in view of the way corruption is fighting back and the high-level risk taken by members of the panel against their colleagues and course mates.

“We now have some level of police and military presence in the homes of the members of the panel. I will not go into details on this.”

Also yesterday, it was learnt that members of the panel did not receive sitting allowance.

The government spent over N200million (not up to N300million) on the committee instead of the N600million being bandied.

A document revealed that the cash was expended only on accommodation, transportation, breakfast and lunch for members.

A source said: “The panel members did a selfless service.  They were not given official vehicles. Some members attended sittings by taxi-cab. One of them had a rickety car which could not withstand rains.

“Even when requests were made for official vehicles, none was made available.

“But some mischievous elements have launched propaganda against the committee by alleging that it spent N600million. The good thing is that members signed for what was expended on them. The records are there.”

Members of the investigative committee  include AVM J.O.N. Ode (rtd.) –Chairman; R/Adm J.A. Aikhomu (rtd.) ; R/Adm E. Ogbor (rtd.) ; Brig Gen L. Adekagun (rtd.); Brig Gen M. Aminu-Kano (rtd.) ; and Brig Gen N. Rimtip (rtd.) .

Others are: Rear Admiral T.D. Ikoli ; Air Cdre U. Mohammed (rtd.); Air Cdre I. Shafi’I;  Col A.A. Ariyibi ; Gp Capt C.A. Oriaku (rtd.); Mr. Ibrahim Magu (EFCC); and Brig Gen Y.I. Shalangwa – Secretary.

Some of the areas of investigation are:

• How 10 contracts totalling $930,500,690.00 were awarded
• Payment of  N4,402,687,569.41 for unexecuted contracts
• Procurement of two used Mi-24V helicopters instead of the recommended Mi-35M series at $136,944,000.00.
• Purchase of four used Alpha-Jets for the NAF at US$7,180,000.00 funded by ONSA
• Cannibalisation of engines from NAF fleet to justify procurement of jets
• Excessive pricing of 36D6 Low Level Air Defence Radar at $33m instead of $6m per one
• Delivery of radars without  vital component of Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) that distinguishes between own and adversary aircraft
• Strange transfer of $2m to Mono Marine Corporation Nigeria Limited owned by some Air Force officers
• N15bn lavished on the maintenance of Alpha-Jets, C-130H aircraft and Mi-24V/35P helicopters.
• N2.5billion contracts awarded to Syrius Technologies (an Ukrainian company) not registered in Nigeria
• Award of seven contracts worth N599,118,000.00 to Defence Industry Corporation of Nigeria (DICON); two were delivered.
• By Yusuf Ali, Nation Newspaper