Panic in Bayelsa communities as Cholera kills 21

There is panic in communities in Sagbama and Southern Ijaw local government areas of Bayelsa State over the outbreak of cholera.

A 60 year-old woman from Tungbo commu­nity and 20 people from adjoining communities were said to have died because of the cholera outbreak.

Findings indicated that the disease was rife in Sagbama, where people in Osima and Ekede communities were worse hit.

Some health workers in the affected commu­nities while explaining that the spread of the disease has assumed a worrisome dimension, stated that the Ministry of Health is on top of the situation.

Investigations revealed that the state Commis­sioner for Health, Dr Ayibantonye Owei has visited the two local governments and has ap­proved the distribution of drugs.

Reacting to the latest outbreak of the disease, Owei, however, said the reported cases of chol­era in the two commu­nities occurred about two weeks ago.

According to him, it was not true that 20 peo­ple died as a result of the disease, stating that the ministry moved in swift­ly to curtail it.

SUN

Leave Gov.Dickson alone- Dan Etete

A former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Chief Dan Etete, came down hard on the First Lady, Patience Jonathan and warned her to steer clear of the Governor of Bayelsa State, Mr. Seriake Dickson.

Etete, who fumed over the alleged meddlesomeness of Mrs. Jonathan in the affairs of the state cautioned her against involving herself in the internal politics of the state.

The First Lady has been accused of erecting structures through the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) to deny Dickson re-election in 2016.

Her activities had reportedly polarized the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) into two antagonizing groups ahead of the February general election.

She was said to have further demonstrated her enmity with the governor recently by refusing to have handshakes with Dickson during the burial ceremony of President Goodluck Jonathan’s younger sister, Nancy Jonathan-Olei in Otuoke, Ogbia.

Disturbed by the development, Etete who spoke at the weekend in Yenagoa at an event to mark his 70th birthday, accused the First Lady of being “jealous” of the “exceptional performance” of Governor Dickson.

The former minister promised to lead the fight to stop Mrs. Jonathan from further sabotaging the governor.
Etete wondered why the First Lady was preoccupied with her Dickson-must-go project instead of clearing the path for her husband’s re-election.

He further queried the status of the First Lady wondering who appointed her the “lord over Bayelsa to determine who becomes governor and who doesn’t.”
“I am using this opportunity to warn the First Lady not to make the mistake of trying to dislodge Governor Dickson.

“It is a known fact that Dickson has performed beyond the expectation of most Bayelsans, and that out of nothing but sheer jealousy the First Lady and her cheerleaders want him out to pave way for their selfish interests,” he said.
The event had in attendance Governor Dickson and prominent Ijaw leaders such as Chief Edwin Clark, among others.

Etete stated that his 15-year absence from Bayelsa had not affected his understanding of political events in the state.

The Nation

When a Public Mistake Requires an Old Fashioned Apology

By Magnus Onyibe

The title of this article is adapted from a piece by Ron Ashkenas, managing partner of Schaffer Consulting and co- author of The GE Work-Out and The Boundaryless Organization, which was published in Harvard Business Report, (HBR) that l received  on January 8, 2015. Some salient points in the article struck a chord in me as l was ruminating over the imminent February 14th presidential elections in Nigeria which is now a two horse race between the incumbent, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GEJ and former military head of state, general Muhammadu Buhari, GMB.
As an active subscriber and an avid reader of Harvard Business Review, HBR publications , Cambridge university, London School of Economics, LSE and Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (my alma mate) bulletin as well as other intellectual journals, my commentary on issues and events in Nigeria is usually not drawn only from local dynamics but equally considered from the prism of global experiences which l try to bring to bear in my analysis.
It is based on the foregoing that the HBR article “When A Public Mistake Requires An Old Fashioned Apology” is very poignant and relevant to our current situation in Nigeria as it discusses public mistakes by leaders and how they can control the damage to regain respect.
Incidentally, both Jonathan and Buhari have had the rare opportunity of ruling Nigeria at different times-Buhari as military head of state some thirty years ago and Jonathan as the siting democratic president. In the course of leading Nigeria, both men must have made mistakes, which are obviously hunting them especially in this period of campaign for election as president.
Without equivocation, the issues being thrown up by both campaign teams are a sort of referendum on both the incumbent and challenger’s time in the exalted office of the president and commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Do Nigerians require apologies from the two contenders for their past mistakes in governance before they can seek for and probably receive our mandate to lead us ? Before going into the dialectics would like to first of all crave your indulgence to consider the interesting perspective from the business world in the HBR article by Ron Ashkenas as reproduced below:
“Everyone makes mistakes. We make bad decisions and insensitive statements, we speak before we think, and we let our emotions get the best of us .But since we hold very senior executives to a higher standard, when they mess up, it often becomes a public spectacle .
Consider the case of AOL CEO Tim Armstrong. On August 9,2013- a time of disappointing quarterly results -he held an all-hands conference call with 1000 Patch (AOL’s hyper-local news division) employees. During the meeting, which was called to announce layoffs and site closings, Armstrong publicly fired Patch’s creative director for apparently recording the meeting. This “brutal” firing created a firestorm of negative publicity both for AOL and for Armstrong. Several days later, Armstrong issued an apology to all AOL employees, in which he admitted that he has “ acted too quickly…(and) learned a tremendous lesson…”
Six months later, Armstrong was forced to apologise for another incident. In announcing his plans to delay retirement contributions , he mentioned the high cost of health care benefits and cited two individual cases, which the company paid $1 million dollars to care for “ distressed babies. “Not only were his remarks callous , they also violated the privacy of the employees involved. after another round of disastrous publicity, Armstrong again issued a statement saying “ l made a mistake and l apologise for my comments. “He also reversed his decision to delay retirement contributions ( notice the similarities to president Jonathan’s reversal of his initial removal of petroleum pump price after a public outcry)
Of course Armstrong are not the first , last, or only senior executive who has made troublesome public remarks. Tony Hayward, the former CEO of British Petroleum, famously complained that he “wanted his life back” in the midst of the 2010 oil spill.(He later apologised to the families of the workers who had died in the tragedy, as well as the thousands of people whose lives were totally disrupted.) Former Harvard President and Treasury Secretary, Lawrence Summers had to apologise in 2005 for his contention that “innate differences “ between men and some accounted for the under-representation of women in the sciences. Senior advertising executive Justine Sacco was fired for posting an insensitive and racist tweet about AIDS in Africa. And more recently, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella apologised for suggesting that women should not speak up about pay inequities.
The question then becomes how to recover from one of these moments.
A written and public apology is a good first step, particularly if you’ve offended thousands of people. The next step is to proactively seek out the few people who have been most affected and talk to them privately. Public apologies are impersonal. People who have been hurt need something more human. They want a genuine, direct apology….
The third step in the recovery process is to find out whether the poor behaviour was a one time slip, or part of a recurring pattern.

Occasional mistakes can be forgiven, but if the same behaviour occurs a number of times, an apology will ring hollow. (Buhari’s retroactive decree no 20 that resulted in the judicial murder of three alleged drug dealers and decree no 4 which led to the jailing of journalist for writing the truth plus kidnapping, drugging and putting into crate of Umaru Dikko for illegal deportation to Nigeria qualifies as reoccurrence of same behaviour)
The real key to moving forward is to accept that you’re not perfect, and that future mistakes are probably inevitable. Without this mindset, executives can easily  convince themselves that they were actually “ misunderstood” or there was poor communication -that it wasn’t really their fault. But without taking true accountability, executives won’t learn from their mistakes, and the next public gaffe isn’t far away.

When executives do admit their flaws, they are better able to fix their mistakes and reclaim respect.”
As the author posited, human beings crave apologies, which is a humbling way of earning the sympathy of people. Accountability is also a critical factor for apologies to be effective.
Most Public mistakes are not confined to the business world, which the author focused on but even required more in the political space. Take for instance the case of senator Hilary Clinton ,the wife of former USA president Bill Clinton who stood stoically by her husband during the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal that rocked Clinton’s presidency with the potential of having similar catastrophic consequences as the June 17, 1972 breaking in at the DNC headquarters at Watergate, Washington DC famously referred to as the Watergate scandal that led to the resignation of president Richard Nixon in the 1970s.
Mrs.  Clinton’s apparent detachment from the  indignation expressed by American women towards her husband’s apparent philandering, made her look inhuman and haunted her when she was contesting against president Barack Obama for the ‘primaries’ for  the Democratic Party ticket. Realising that the American female voters were not queuing up behind her as they should ,she broke down and cried during one of her campaign activities and that emotional vulnerability turned the tide. Women switched their support to her but it was too late as the ‘Obama for president’ train, as it were had already left the station.
Coming back home to Africa , it may be recalled that the late Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa, 1994-1999 instituted the Truth and Reconciliation committee which enabled ex presidents and apartheid Apostles, Iain Smith, Fredrick De Clerk  and a host of other ethnic supremacists to apologise to their black victims thereby bringing to a closure the evil ordeal for people like bishop Desmond Tutu, who wept during one of such occasions .In Nigeria , how can we not remember clearly how the tears of late Sam Mbakwe, the then governor of IMO state 1979-1983 who was nicknamed the WEEPING governor, generated goodwill for him and his people.

Also, Ernest Attah, the immediate past governor of Akwa Ibom state, 1999-2007 who broke down in tears during agitation for resource control and Supreme Court judgment on the onshore offshore oil dichotomy is a more recent reminder.
While not advocating that Jonathan or Buhari should break down in tears during campaigns , in my view they owe Nigerians a huge debt of apology for the following mistakes :
GEJ for attempting to remove fuel subsidy and thus increase fuel pump price by 100% with the potentials for exacerbating poverty in the country and for waiting till the visit of child rights advocate, Malala Yusufzai before inviting parents of the kidnapped Chibok girls to Abuja commiserate with them amongst others.

GMB on his part has to apologize for the judicial murder of the three Nigerian youths accused of drug trafficking  who were sentenced to death with decree no  20, a law that was enacted after the alleged offense was committed which is retroactive justice. The jailing of the Guardian newspaper journalists , Tunde Thompson and Nduka lrabor for reporting the truth with decree no 4 which is a retroactive law similar to decree 20 in his bid to muzzle the press and the barbaric kidnaping, drugging and putting in a crate in the UK of ex transport  minister, Umaru Dikko in 1984,in an attempt to forcefully and illegally bring  Dikko back to Nigeria to answer corruption charges.
For sure, my list of public mistakes requiring apologies from the two contenders for Nigeria’s presidency in 2015 maybe not be exhaustive but it remains to be seen if either  of the two presidential hopefuls thinks Nigerians deserve such nicety.
Nevertheless, whether Jonathan or Buhari chose the path of honour to apologise to long suffering Nigerians for their mistakes that have hurt them or not, the fact remains that with the murk so far raked up in the ongoing campaign, leaders will, going forward, think twice before formulating policies or making decisions that would hurt rather than help their fellow compatriots. That would be a positive and beneficial lesson to be gained from election 2015.

• Mr. Onyibe, a development strategist and futurologist, sent this piece from Lagos

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The Opinions expressed in this article are the Author’s and do not reflect Sayelba Times’ editorial policy.

 

Assessment of Jonathan

By Akin Osuntokun

 

There is before me a legitimate and compelling request. And that is the presentation of the performance score sheet of President Goodluck Jonathan. But since I have identified myself as a partisan witness, I decided that the evaluation of Jonathan is more credible if given by objective third parties and they don’t come more credible than the British House of Commons, Brookings Institution and the Transparency International (TI) or do they?

From The Library of The British House of Commons

Jonathan’s record in office
When President Jonathan took office in 2011, he promised a ‘Transformation Agenda’ for Nigeria. What is his record in office?

On the positive side:
Nigeria has consistently averaged over 7% real annual GDP growth under his watch. This has led some to view the country as an emerging economic giant.
The restive Niger Delta has been relatively peaceful. He has continued to support the Niger Delta Development Commission, created in 2000, but also announced in April 2014 a ‘Presidential Initiative for the North East’, which is intended to promote development in that conflict-affected area.
He has not engaged in any frontal attacks on the formal institutions of democracy and in some cases – such as INEC and the National Human Rights Commission – backed strengthening them.
He has signed Freedom of Information and National Health Bills into law and created a Sovereign Wealth Fund.
He also has significant infrastructural achievements to his name.
In 2014, he commissioned a ‘National Conference’ to come up with proposals to transform Nigeria for the better in future.
Nigeria’s Ebola outbreak was handled effectively.

On the negative side:

Nigeria’s domestic security situation has dramatically deteriorated, with the state until recently appearing relatively unconcerned about it.
The government’s response to the kidnapping by Boko Haram in April 2014 of 270 schoolgirls in Chibok, Borno State, was widely criticised for its complacency – similar accusations have been made since then.
The security forces continue to commit serious human rights abuses. Corruption remains pervasive.
The Sovereign Wealth Fund mentioned above is yet to start operating effectively.
Promised reforms – for example, opening up the petroleum and power sectors to private ownership and investment – have proceeded slowly, if at all.
Progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals has been patchy.
Nigeria remains a major importer of refined fuel and the country still suffers from chronic fuel and power shortages. A 2012 attempt to end the subsidy on fuel was partially reversed following large-scale street protests.

Brookings institution

On President Jonathan’s performance:
“Despite Boko Haram—the country is thriving: The economy continues to grow and with the rebasing of its GDP—became the largest economy in Africa and the 26th largest in the world. Jonathan’s supporters also point to his success in containing the Ebola virus, which earned him commendations from countries and institutions around the world.”

Transparency International

“Global perception of the anti-corruption battle in Nigeria got a modicum of approval, recently, after the global anti-corruption body, Transparency International, TI, moved the country four places up in its yearly ranking (and thirty-eight places from the most corrupt country designation of 2003) of public sector transparency.
Nigeria’s 139 ranking was up from the 143rd position the country was ranked last year, according to the TI ranking released a few weeks ago.
Now I am not excited at this mixed report but that is precisely what it is — mixed report — dramatically different from the censorious dismissal of Jonathan by oftentimes conniving media and partisan intelligentsia as a complete failure and absolutely ‘clueless’ leader to whom any other Nigerian rival contender (no matter how obtuse, mendacious and dangerously bigoted) is preferred.

CRY, BELOVED NATION

The late Chiefs Obafemi Awolowo, Adekunle Ajasin, Ajibola Ige and Olabisi Onabanjo — all direct victims of Buhari’s tyrannical visitation — would be bewildered and hard put to understand the politics of Yoruba land today with particular reference to the portrayal and marketing of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, as a new political icon.
The melodramatic qualification is to say that these personalities would turn in their graves. And this is despite the anguished prompting of our collective institutional memory by the globally acclaimed scholar and Yoruba gift to the world of wisdom and understanding, Professor Wole Soyinka.
This time around, Buhari has had two significant opportunities to indicate his disposition towards the sensibilities of the Yoruba people and on both occasions his actions spoke louder than words.
I put the question to his most passionate supporters — would it be appropriate for the APC candidate to express regret or remorse over the fate suffered by the late Chief Awolowo at the hands of his military junta in 1984-85-when he visited the Awolowo matriarch in Ikenne? Of course, he did no such thing, despite the fact that his running mate, Professor Yemi Osinbajo (whose name he could not even pronounce correctly. He called him Osinbade!) is married to Awolowo’s granddaughter.
In tandem with his ‘first without equal’ status in the hierarchy of Yoruba traditional rulers, the Ooni of Ife is the custodian of the spiritual and primal origins of the Yoruba. Along with the late Emir of Kano, the Ooni Okunade Sijuade, Olubushe II, was humiliated with the impoundment of his international travelling passport and confinement to Ile-Ife for six months for visiting Israel by the Buhari-led junta.
Buhari held his presidential election campaign rally in Osun State about a week ago and the remarkable omission of that campaign tour was his failure to pay a customary courtesy visit to the Ooni. Even if he felt no remorse for the contemptuous treatment meted to the foremost traditional ruler under his iron fisted rule, doesn’t the symbolic embodiment of the Yoruba deserve this elementary courtesy and respect? How would it be received, if, reciprocally, an APC presidential candidate of Yoruba origin were to similarly snub the Sultan of Sokoto?
Yet the blame is not totally Buhari’s, if I were in his shoes, that despite his trademark disdain and disregard for other peoples sensibilities, he could still command the hero worshipping of some political leaders of the South-west, the chances are I may not be aware I did anything wrong. As the Yoruba adage goes — If you sell your kith and kin cheaply, do not expect others to rate him highly.
In this political season, I insist that the Yoruba are being sold short to the APC. Before the political party was consummated, the Yoruba were near unanimous in the desire and aspiration for the restructuring of Nigeria towards decentralisation and devolution of powers from the centre to the states, zones and regions.
The opportunity to advance this cause materialised some months ago with the convocation of the National Conference by President Goodluck Jonathan. And then the South-west faction of the APC suddenly developed cold feet and aversion towards the prime time platform to frontally re-table this priority and long held objective.
The embarrassing spectacle was such that while the godfathers were declaiming the Conference, the godson, Afenifere renewal group (AFR), was the most passionate canvasser of the Yoruba irreducible minimum demand of regionalism at the gathering.
And to what do we attribute this awkward summersault if not the deference of Yoruba APC leaders to the contrary wishes and beckon of their new political icon. I refer readers to the response of Buhari to the issues of restructuring and resource control in interviews he recently granted. In one of them he mocked ‘what is resource control… who is to control what’? The irony here is that there is an element of truth to the below stated observation made by a columnist with the Vanguard newspaper.
“With all the noise currently being made about Buhari’s candidacy, one important point is often overlooked: Buhari is not even well-liked by his own people. A lot is made of the 12 million votes he obtained from the North in 2011, conveniently forgetting that Goodluck Jonathan also obtained a sizeable eight million votes from the same North. Indeed, in 2011, Goodluck Jonathan won 428,392 votes in Buhari’s home-state of Katsina; to Buhari’s 1,163,919. That means Jonathan won 37% of the votes in Buhari’s backyard.”
He canvasses further “It is also instructive that in the primary election for the APC presidential candidate, Northern delegates did not vote for Buhari. Instead, they gave their votes to Kano State Governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar. Delegates from Buhari’s North-west voted for Kwankwaso, while those from the North-east voted for Atiku. Buhari’s votes came primarily from the South-west, as well as from the South-east and the South-south.”
Beyond the persecution complex motivated (Buhari-personified) vengefulness of his Northern underclass supporters, there is a modicum of truth to the assertion that ‘Buhari is not even well liked by his own people’. And it could not have been otherwise. They don’t come more loyalist than one of his most dedicated lieutenants who lies abandoned for years to the fate of his terminal illness. He is just one of many.
Permit me to share with you the following transmission (catechism) from Mohammed Abacha:

“Buhari… the Change We Don’t Need”

• I have never seen any school built in his name. I have never seen any borehole constructed by him.
• There is no record of any scholarship awarded by him or for him nor through him.
• I have never seen him use his popularity to canvass for any charitable work nor any humanitarian effort, not even at the height of the polio scourge where other purposeful and prominent leaders led the campaign for immunisation.
• No single text book has been donated to any school either by him, for him or through him.
Asides from doing nothing for others, he has not even improved himself since his exit from office.
• No book written, no memos, no lectures, nothing!
• The only thing of note he can point to are his numerous interviews on the BBC Hausa station.
• He never championed for a university in his state nor has he ever been involved in any kind of development programme to better the lives of the Almajiris in Daura.
• His entire existence has not led to any meaningful development in Daura, yet they say he can change Nigeria.
Doesn’t charity begin at home anymore?”

 

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The opinions expresses in this piece are the Author’s and do reflect Sayelba Times’ editorial policy

Military Routs Insurgents in the Battle to Capture Maiduguri

 Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State

• Curfew imposed on state capital
• Mungono captured
• Six Adamawa villages attacked
Michael Olugbode in Maiduguri, Senator Iroegbu in Abuja and Daji Sani in Yola

Barely hours after President Goodluck Jonathan declared in Maiduguri that the Boko Haram Islamic sect would be crushed, the terrorists have raised the tempo of their attacks in the North-east with multiple attacks on Borno and Adamawa States.

On Sunday, it was battle royale for the soul of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, as the Nigerian troops, for over 10 hours engaged the insurgents who looked bent on over-running the town.

At the end of the battle, nine soldiers and 56 insurgents had been felled by bullets.

Besides the loss of 56 of their fighters, the insurgents also lost some of the prized equipment which they abandoned following the heavy bombardment from a co-ordinated operation by air raid and the relentless firing of the ground troops.

Although the insurgents were markedly repelled from Maiduguri, Mungono, another major town which shares boundary with Baga, was captured yesterday by the Islamist terrorists.

The attack on Maiduguri, the capital of the esteemed Kanem Bornu empire and modern day Borno State, has been on the plans of the terrorists as they have always wanted to make the city the capital of their proposed Islamic state or caliphate.

It was gathered that hundreds of heavily armed insurgents tried to gain entrance into the town through Jinikin-Moronti, at the outskirts on the road leading to Damaturu along Jos-Kano highway and close to two major housing estates 1,000 and 707.

The terrorist group was confronted by Nigerian soldiers and other security operatives at the 33 Battalion Barracks at the entrance to the town.

The ensuing battle raged from 12:30am till about 3:30am with the soldiers at the barracks assisted by other soldiers at various facilities within the town.

Other security operatives and members of the youth vigilante group joined in the operation as the insurgents were successfully repelled.

Just when everyone thought the insurgents had been beaten, they re-emerged with renewed, determined and stronger firepower which caused the entire people of the town to notice that a major battle was raging. It lasted between 5:40am till about 11am.

Residents were left terrified and could not venture out of their homes, not even for the Sunday worship service.

Narrating their experience, a member of the youth vigilante, Modu Baana, who spoke to journalists, said: “It was around 2am when we were alerted of the deadly move by the terrorists to enter Maiduguri through the Jimtilo outskirts. We learnt that over 100 heavily armed men with armoured tanks and Hilux jeeps were about coming into the town.

“Heavy shelling ricocheted all around the town as the military had to deploy both ground and aerial battle to suppress the determined insurgents, which looked recharged and motivated to take over the town.”

Some members of the youth vigilante that were involved in repelling the attack, revealed that nine soldiers who were killed in the attack were evacuated from the ‘battle front’  by a military patrol Hilux van to the Garrison Command along Pompomari area near the Military Anti Bomb Squad Unit around 12.30 pm.

Some of the Air Force surveillance jets were still hovering over the town until late afternoon yesterday, as some pockets of insurgents who were believed to be in the town were still being trailed and tracked.

Baana added that the fighter jets deployed really helped and that was why the insurgents scattered and some ran away into the neighbourhood as they were overwhelmed.

Many residents of the areas under siege were seen moving into different parts of the troubled town, while many residents of the two housing estates — 707 and 1000 — have begun to move out in droves.

Meanwhile, the military authority has slammed a 24-hour curfew on the town. This is to enable security operatives smoke out any remaining terrorist in the town.

In a text message to journalists, the Army PRO, Colonel Sani Usman of the Division 7 of the Nigerian Army, said a 24-hour curfew was on and advised people of the town to stay indoors.

Confirming this, the Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters (DHQ) said curfew had been imposed. According to the Defence authorities, several attempts by the terrorists to attack and take over the town in the past had been successfully repelled through intelligence gathering and pre-emptive strikes by the troops.
The DHQ gave an update on the on-going operation around Maiduguri and Mongunu through its twitter handle.

“Troops are repelling a simultaneous attack on Monguno and Maiduguri by terrorists.

“Coordinated air and land OPs being conducted now.”

Apparently, the tweet was much before Mungono eventually fell.
Although the Boko Haram insurgents failed to capture Maiduguri, they were able to overrun Monguno, a town that shares border with Baga.

The town was attacked at about the same time with Maiduguri yesterday morning.

According to security sources, the soldiers that fled the town were seen in Maiduguri. Also with the fleeing Nigerian soldiers were some Camerounian soldiers who had assisted to keep the place secured before the attack.

It was also gathered that some of the people that were killed were Customs officers who were deployed to the entrance of Maiduguri.

Also killed were some residents of the town that fled their homes during the attack on Maiduguri into the streets. They were said to have been hit by stray bullets.

It was learnt that some of the insurgents who fled into some neighbourhoods in the town were picked up by the youth vigilante and soldiers.

In a related development, despite the fall of Mungono, Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State, who hailed the bravery of the soldiers in staving off the attack on Maiduguri, has called on citizens of the state to be calm, reassuring them that security forces are making frantic efforts to safeguard lives and property which, he noted, was evident in the patriotic manner the armed forces repelled the attack by the insurgents on Maiduguri.

The governor however regretted the attack on Monguno, headquarters of Monguno Local Government Area in the northern part of the state, which might have resulted in loss of lives and the exodus of many citizens that are now taking refuge in different parts of the state with some of them sustaining gun injuries in addition to losing their property.

Shettima said the government was screening and taking records of surviving victims from Monguno with a view to accommodating them and offering them immediate palliatives as internally displaced persons.

He called on them to regard what happened as ordained by God, praying that the situation would come to an end, through intensified commitments on the part of all stakeholders and sustained invocation of God for divine intervention.

Also in Adamawa State  the insurgents have raided six villages of Michika local government area, killing several people, kidnapped several youths and women and destroying properties worth millions of naira in the communities.
Reports from the affected areas indicated that six villages: Mbororo, Shahu, Liddle, Garta, Kamale and Ghumci were raided by the insurgents on Saturday night.

An eyewitness confirmed the attacks to THISDAY and revealed that the insurgents struck Saturday night at about 8 pm when the villagers were preparing to go to bed .

He noted that the insurgent stormed  the villages in their usual character as they came in their hundreds on motor cycles and few on vehicles as he said this time the insurgents were mercilessly, slaughtering people from house to house without remorse.

Another eyewitness from Garta village , Vandu kainu , who claimed he narrowly escaped from the attacks  told journalists in Yola that the insurgents pounced on them unceremoniously around 6:00 pm raiding their homes and shops.

According to him, They burnt almost all their houses after looting them, adding that most of the  villagers fled to take refuge on top of mountains while some were killed by the insurgents.

“For now I can’t say the number of casualty as we are still in the bush, but they slaughtered many people like Christmas goats. They also abducted many trapped residents, mostly youths and women,’’ he said.

THISDAY

Gas City Project: Jonathan Mandates Uduaghan, Presidency to Fix New Date for Ground Breaking

 Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan
By Alike Ejiofor

President Goodluck Jonathan has mandated the Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, relevant authorities in the presidency and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources to fix a new date for the ground breaking ceremony of the $16 billion Delta Gas City and the Export Processing Zone project.

Jonathan gave the directive when he paid a courtesy call on the Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse II, in the company of Uduaghan, during an unscheduled visit to Delta State.

He pointed out that it would not be possible to do the ground breaking before the elections because the investors have to be around for the ceremony, stressing that these were companies that have to be given enough notice.

Jonathan therefore mandated the Delta State Governor to work closely with the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and the presidency to get a suitable date before May 29 for the exercise.

The president took the opportunity of the visit to explain the circumstances surrounding the aborted ground breaking for the Delta Gas City project and the Export Free Zone (EPZ).

He told the Olu of Warri, in the presence of his chiefs, that he had to put off the ground breaking because of the fear of outbreak of violence after the ceremony, which would have frightened investors.

According to him, his action in putting off the exercise was not borne out of fear that anything was going to happen to him, noting that as a son of the Niger-Delta, he could move freely in the zone without molestation.

Jonathan ,during the visit, also had a private audience with the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor.

Governor Uduaghan on his part commended the president’s personal visit to the Olu of Warri which has afforded him the opportunity to explain to the monarch and the Itsekiri people the issues surrounding the ground breaking ceremony of the project.

Uduaghan also expressed appreciation to the Olu on his understanding of Mr. President’s explanation and commitment to the project.

He appealed to groups and individuals to desist from politicising the ground breaking ceremony, adding “We join Mr. President in our commitment to the success of the project.

THISDAY

FG to Resist Plans by Opposition to Form Alternative Govt

Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta, Mr. Kingsley Kuku

Ernest Chinwo in Port Harcourt

The presidency has said it will resist any attempt by the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) to form an alternative government if President Goodluck Jonathan is re-elected in next month’s general election.

It also accused the APC of planning to instigate political crisis in the country if the party (APC) did not win the presidency.

The Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Chairman, presidential amnesty programme, Mr. Kingsley Kuku, stated this in Port Harcourt yesterday at an ethnic nationality summit.

Kuku, who was addressing the leadership of the various youths organisations drawn from the Niger Delta, noted that the APC had been threatening to form an alternative government if it did not win the February 14 presidential election.
He said the presidency has resolved to ensure that the 2015 election would be free and fair but will resist any attempt by any political party or group to cause mayhem after the election.

“If the APC is confident that it would win the presidential elections, why should the party now resort to threats? Nigeria is too big for any group of people to contemplate the idea of forming an alternative government when there already exists a legitimate administration voted into office by Nigerians,” Kuku said.

He recalled that before the 2011 general election, some politicians who are now members of the APC had threatened that there would be unrest if Jonathan won the election.  He noted that after the election, violence was unleashed, resulting in the death of many persons including members of the National Youth Service Corps. None of the chieftains of APC, he said, ever condemned the wanton destruction of lives and property in 2011.

Kuku, however, said Jonathan would continue to run the affairs of the country despite the distractions posed by unwarranted opposition to his policies.

He cited the Boko Haram insurgency as one major indicator that the president does not believe in the resort to violence to resolve issues.

According to him, the president had offered Boko Haram members amnesty on several occasion to no avail.

“Because of this the government finds it disturbing that some persons are bent on taking vengeance against the former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Onyeabor Ihejirika, just because he tried to combat Boko Haram to preserve the unity of the country.”

Kuku revealed that measures were being taken to ensure that Anambra State becomes part of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) by virtue of it being an oil producing state.

THISDAY

Kuku revealed that measures were being taken to ensure that Anambra State becomes part of the Niger DeltaDevelopment Commission (NDDC) by virtue of it being an oil producing state.