Major oil and gas companies in Niger Delta region, including Royal Dutch Shell plc (ADR) (NYSE:RDS.A), Chevron and others are set to go into peace talks with the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), whose members have agreed to consider such talks even with the Nigerian government. The militants said that it does not have new demands, as it just wanted foreign oil and gas companies to leave the southern region of the Niger Delta and stop oil pollution.
The group said that it wanted genuine attitude by the government and a conducive atmosphere to carry out dialogue.
The Avengers started to attack oil infrastructure in February, when they blew up Shell’s Forcados terminal and under-water pipeline.
On its website, the group pointed out that while Chevron has not suffered any electricity outage in the past 40 years, the locals do not have access to clean water, hospitals and schools. The group said that multi-national oil companies are living as “Kings” in Nigeria.
According to Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the attacks on Shell, Chevron, Eni SpA (ADR) have reduced Nigerian crude oil production by almost 700,000–800,000 barrels per day (bpd). The oil production has dropped to its lowest in 27 years in Africa’s biggest economy which is majorly dependent on crude oil for its revenue. [myad]
The scenario that is playing out now in the erstwhile largest political party in Africa, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is similar to the one that played out in1999 when this Republic commenced. That was when the then military President, Ibrahim Babangida, otherwise known as IBB went fishing for a candidate that would fit his Maradonic thinking, to contest the 1999 Presidential election: the candidate who, after winning the election, he would be able to control by remote device. He settled for a man whose outward appearance showed that he was “moomoo.” That man happened to be Olusegun Obasanjo, also popularly called OBJ. When election was over and he and his like minds in the PDP were able to hang OBJ on the nation as President, he (IBB) settled down for the exploits. But before anybody would know what was happening, OBJ had woken up from his moomoo posture to show his peppery side with the famous declaration: ‘those who invested in my electoral victory to become President should consider their investment a loss.’ It got so hot for IBB that at certain times, he was just trying to hide from entering OBJ’s trap. Instead of his intended maneuvering of the nation’s affairs through his puppy, the OBJ, IBB was then praying to God not to allow the puppet cross with him. And just recently, as an average Igbo man would say, ‘nyanga de sleep jejeje on its own, trouble go wake am.’ This much Ali Modu Sheriff confirmed, when he said that he was just sitting on his own when the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) came to invite him to be the national chairman of the party. He told news men after taken over the secretariat that he did not campaign to be the PDP chairman but that he was persuaded by the PDP national caucus to step in for the job. As a matter of fact, in the forefront courting Modu Sheriff then was the garrulous, motor park tout and confused Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti state, the cultist Rivers state governor, Nyeson Wike and their likes. Even when elders of the party such as Jerry Gana and leader, Doyin Okupe (who refused to die after Buhari won and became President of Nigeria against the background of his vow that Buhari would only be President over his DEAD BODY or that he would change his name from Doyin Okupe), cried out against such sacrilege, of making Modu Sheriff the national chairman, the shortsighted governors would not listen. They were even sweating, defending Modu Sheriff over a wide allegation of his being the originator of Boko Haram. Not quite six months later, the same people now teamed up with the foresighted PDP leaders to want to remove the seat (of chairmanship) from the same Modu Sheriff. They thought it was easy to play around with a person who had wangled his way into the governorship seat of Borno state and remained there for eight years; the man who wangled his way into the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigerian and the man who can deploy his enormous wealth to even unseat any ‘quee-quee‘ President! Indeed, Modu Sheriff played true to type when he virtually bulldozed himself, with retinue of his supporters and fellow new leaders of the party into the National Secretariat of the party at Wadata House, Wuse in Abuja, the nation’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on Monday. He had proved that he is no push over: that no one could use him for whatever purpose and dump him, just like that. Modu Sheriff is at best, a morsel that seems to have hung on the throat of the dying PDP and at worse, a stubborn scorpion that is ready to sting anybody that dares him. Or simply, he seems set to help bury the remains of the party whose leadership thinks that changing the chairmanship is as easy as taking a sip of La-casera. E easy!!! [myad]
President Muhammadu Buhari, on Monday played host to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, at the Abuja House, London.
Archbishop Welby visited the president in company of Josiah Idowu-Fearon, a reverend and secretary general of the Anglican communion worldwide who is a Nigerian.
Abuja House is the official residence of the Nigerian high commissioner to Britain.
The Archbishop Welby was the one who defended Buhari when the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Cameron described Nigeria as “fantastically corrupt” in a private conversation with Queen Elizabeth in May ahead of an anti-corruption summit.
The archbishop said: “But this particular president (Buhari) is actually not corrupt.”
Buhari is expected back in the country this week. [myad]
The immediate past Nigeria minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke has bemoaned the manner in which her name had been dragged into the mud on the trump up charge of corruption while she was in office.
The former minister who is undergoing medical treatment on account of cancer, said in a statement she personally wrote: “I have strived to maintain a record of hard work, integrity and excellence, giving my best to society, because my parents raised me in the consciousness that a man or woman’s greatness is defined not by the amount of wealth they have acquired but the impact of their service to God and humanity.”
She said that the campaign of pulling her down: “coming at such a critical time in my life when I am battling cancer, this poorly executed propaganda bares on its face like tribal marks, a clearly malicious attempt to victimize an innocent woman in what appears an exaggerated plot to validate and give credibility to the anti-corruption crusade under Nigeria’s new regime.”
She asked questions: “when did it become a crime to own a property in Nigeria? When did it become a crime for a woman of my status to have in her possession, jewelry? Jewelry, which women all across the world, including the woman selling tomatoes in Bodija market have in abundance in their closets? In which court of law, anywhere in the world was I prosecuted by the EFCC and found guilty of corruption?”
The full text of her statement goes thus:
My attention has been drawn to a report by Al Jazeera, which was released on Monday as a testament to the effectiveness of Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in its war against corruption.
In the video report, which has been widely circulated in the social media, there are claims about me owning a property in Abuja allegedly worth $18 million. The report, which represents everything ridiculous and despicable about professional media practice and global best practices in the war against corruption, is the latest attempt to give a dog a bad name in order to hang it. Clips of jewelry allegedly worth over $2 million were also copiously displayed as if to feed the cravings of an audience gratified with the notion that every wealthy Nigerian is corrupt.
This will not be the first time calculated attempts have been made to demonise and damage my reputation in the public space. Many times, my detractors have gotten away with these irresponsible smear campaigns because they have become accustomed to my characteristic approach of silence in the face of these callous attacks.
The latest in the string of propaganda attacks launched against my person since I left government as Nigeria’s Petroleum Minister is this Al Jazeera report, which without any court conviction anywhere in the world attempts to dress Diezani Alison Madueke in the garb of a common criminal. This, to say the least, is the height of journalistic brigandage and a sheer mockery of Nigeria’s anti-corruption war before the eyes of the world who are watching and asking if the war against corruption is a circus show where suspects are prosecuted and sentenced on the pages of newspapers and video blogs without anything as remotely in the semblance of a trial in the courts of law.
When did it become a crime to own a property in Nigeria? When did it become a crime for a woman of my status to have in her possession, jewelry? Jewelry, which women all across the world, including the woman selling tomatoes in Bodija market have in abundance in their closets? In which court of law, anywhere in the world was I prosecuted by the EFCC and found guilty of corruption?
With all sense of modesty, I say this only for posterity and for the records. I have strived within my means and the blessings of God to live a decent and accomplished life. I studied architecture in England and obtained a bachelor’s degree from Howard University, United States of America in 1992. When I returned to Nigeria that same year, I joined Shell Petroleum Development Corporation. In 2002, I obtained an MBA at Cambridge University, United Kingdom. In April 2006, I was appointed by Shell as the company’s first female Executive Director in Nigeria. In July 2007, I was appointed by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua as Minister of Transport. The next year in December 2008 I became Minister of Mines and Steel Development. In April 2010, I was appointed as Minister for Petroleum Resources and served in that capacity till May 2015. During this period as Petroleum Minister, I had the honour of serving Nigeria and representing her in the Organization of Oil Exporting Countries (OPEC) where I was elected first female President. All through my career, I have strived to maintain a record of hard work, integrity and excellence, giving my best to society, because my parents raised me in the consciousness that a man or woman’s greatness is defined not by the amount of wealth they have acquired but the impact of their service to God and humanity.
Coming at such a critical time in my life when I am battling cancer, this poorly executed propaganda bares on its face like tribal marks, a clearly malicious attempt to victimize an innocent woman in what appears an exaggerated plot to validate and give credibility to the anti-corruption crusade under Nigeria’s new regime. People who are battling cancer or those who have lost their loved ones to this medical condition understand what I am going through at this time. This is what makes me ponder at the cold-heartedness of those who will go any length to defame and destroy in the name of propaganda. What happened to our shared humanity?
I have absolute regard for the law and believe that people who have breached the laws that govern societies should be made to face the wrath of the law. But in a civilized society, a responsible government owes its citizens absolute commitment to the principles of rule of law, equity, fairness and justice. I have been wrongfully and maliciously maligned and those behind this reckless action know it.
I leave them to posterity, their conscience and above all the Almighty God who is the final judge of all.
The embattled former national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ali Modu Sheriff has virtually taken over the National Secretariat of the party at Wadata House, Abuja, even as the newly appointed national chairman, Senator Ahmed Makarfi gets set to battle him.
While Modu Sherriff bulldozed his way into the national secretariat and took his seat as chairman, Makarfi said that he would make his position on the matter known today, Tuesday.
Sherriff had been removed from office following the dissolution of the party’s national Working Committee (NWC) and National Executive Committee (NEC) by the National convention convened in Port Harcourt on 21 May, 2016.
The convention subsequently constituted a seven-man caretaker committee headed by Makarfi, to steer the affairs of the party, pending the convening of another national convention within three months.
The other members of the committee were Senator Ben Obi (secretary), Senator Odion Ugbesie, Senator Abdul Ningi, Mr Kabir Usman, Mr Dayo Adeyeye and Alhaja Aisha Aliyu.
But Sheriff in company of Wale Oladipo and Adewole Adeyanju, National Secretary and National Auditor of the defunct NWC, went to the national secretariat yesterday with their supporters to take it over.
Addressing a press conference inside the party’s NWC Hall, Sheriff said he was back on the national chairmanship seat following a Lagos High Court order and that his tenure would run till 2018.
Makarfi said that his committee has had comprehensive consultations with party stakeholders and would state its position at the end of the consultations.
This was even as Modu Sheriff told news men after taken over the secretariat that he did not campaign to be the PDP chairman but that he was persuaded by the PDP national caucus to step in for the job.
He boasted that having staked his reputation to work for PDP, nobody had the right to stop him.
“The National Secretary, Prof. Wale Oladipo, is here with me. He knows that both the NWC members and all the PDP governors begged me to come to become chairman. All the NWC, BoT and governor’s forum supported my being chairman and when it came to voting, I got 69 votes to emerge the winner over other contenders.”
Modu Sheriff said he was not part of what happened at the convention ground in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, adding that he and members of the NWC met at a hotel to formally postpone the convention in reverence to a valid court order.
He quoted a Lagos court ruling which barred the party from conducting election for the three positions — the national chairman, national secretary and national auditor — during the ill-fated convention.
According to him, since he as the national chairman did not approve of the convention, anything arising from it remained null and void.
He said it was public knowledge that there was an order by the Federal High Court in Lagos declaring him the authentic national chairman of the PDP.
“I have kept away from taking steps that could jeopardise the law, following an exparte order from the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, which had given a contradictory order, restraining me from operating as the chairman of our party notwithstanding some further orders from the Federal High Court Lagos, specifically directing the Inspector General of Police to provide me with adequate security to enable me carry out my duties. Now the ex parte order given in Port Harcourt has since lapsed on the 9 June and has not been renewed,” he said.
Sheriff said he had come fully armed with all the necessary court orders to resume as the national chairman, as directed by a court of competent jurisdiction.
He said: “We have to this effect served the necessary court orders on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which is the impartial arbiter in matters like this; the police as custodians of the law; and we will make same available to you gentlemen of the press, so that you can make informed analysis of the issues involved.”
Sheriff said he had set up a committee headed by Hope Uzodinma to oversee the Edo State governorship primary and congress for the forthcoming election.
According to him, the only people that will be screened by the committee are those that can produce evidence of payment of the specified N10 million.
“We have also asked all interested PDP members to come and purchase nomination forms for the Edo State governorship primary. The cost of the form for the primary election is N10 million and not N16 million as was announced by the Makarfi-led Caretaker Committee,” he said. [myad]
Kogi state governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello may have overshot his bound and angered the leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on which platform he is governing the state.
The leaders of the party, made up of members of the party in the National Assembly from the state, House of Assembly members, executive members in the state and prominent party leaders have set up a panel to probe the governor over the appointment of commissioners and other matters considered to be anti-party activities.
The party chieftains who held a crucial meeting in Abuja on Monday, set-up an 11-member Disciplinary Committee headed by Senator Dino Melaye, his erstwhile strong supporter, to review the various allegations leveled against the governor, and report back within seven days.
According to the resolution of the meeting, which was also attended by the APC Chairman in the state, Alhaji Haddy Ametuo, and read to journalists by Melaye, Bello allegedly made all the appointments without carrying the party along.
The Kogi APC leaders said: “Out of the 15 Commissioners he (Bello) appointed, PDP has 13 card-carrying members while APC has two. Out of the 105 members of the Caretaker Committee members for the 21 Local Government Councils, PDP has 72 while APC has 33.
“Out of the 28 people he appointed as Special Advisers and Senior Special Assistants, PDP has 24, APC has one, APGA has one, Labour has one, Accord has one.”
The party said that it acted based on the Article 12 (8) of the APC constitution, to convey the meeting, where it agreed to set up the committee made up of members from the three senatorial districts of the state to invite the governor, for necessary questioning.
They said that their action became imperative following an alleged decision of the governor to rebuff all attempts to hold a meeting with the State Working Committee of the party since he was sworn-in as governor.
They threatened necessary disciplinary actions against the governor in accordance with the party constitution, in case he chose to disregard the party resolution.
Part of the resolution reads: “After much deliberations, the House noted that Governor Yahaya Bello has substantially, breached the provision of Article 21 of the constitution of the APC.
“The House, therefore, resolved to constitute a disciplinary committee of 11 members to invite Governor Yahaya Bello and give him the desired fair hearing.”
Members of the disciplinary committees are: Senator Dino Melaye (Chairman), Hon. S.T. Adejoh (Secretary), Senator Mohammed Ohiare, Senator Abubakar Abdulrahman, Senator Nicholas Ugbane, and Alhaji Haddy Ametuo, the APC Chairman in Kogi State.
The Kwara Government has announced that it has secured a $56million investment from China for the establishment of a textile industrial park in the state.
In a statement in Ilorin, the Senior Special Assistant, Media and Communication to the Governor, Dr. Muideen Akorede, quoted Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed as saying that the government concluded the investment deal during his current investment trip to East China.
The statement said that the agreement for the establishment of Kwara Chitex Industrial Park was signed by governor Ahmed and Shi Zengchao, the Managing Director of Ningbo Jinsheng Star Import and Export Company Limited.
The statement said that the event took place at the 18th China Zheijand Investment and Trade Symposium in Ningbo, East China.
It said that the initiative involved $3.7 billion worth of investments in 31 projects out of which $1.4 billion was for outbound investments.
The statement said that the Kwara Chitex Industrial Park was the only one Nigeria- bound, quoting the governor as expressing delight over the multimillion dollar project which was expected to commence soon.
The park, according to the governor, would create 3,000 jobs for the people of the state.
“We are looking for investors, especially in the area of manufacturing. We have a very youthful population which shows there is a strong workforce that can support industrialization.
“There are opportunities in textiles, agriculture, mining and other areas, the potentials are huge,’’ the statement quoted Ahmed as saying.
It quoted Ahmed’s Chief Economic Assistant, Abayomi Ogunsola, as saying that government would provide about N1billion in counterpart funding and 400 hectares of land as well as infrastructure support.
The statement also said the governor held preliminary talks with potential investors in agribusiness and agro allied industries during the visit to China.
It said that governor Ahmed offered prospective investors incentives such as tax relief and accelerated land acquisition process. [myad]
Multiple University of Toronto and government buildings were shut down Monday morning after police said they received reports of a person possibly armed and in the vicinity of the Ontario legislature.
Officers with the Emergency Task Force and K-9 unit were deployed to the area of Queen’s Park Crescent and Bloor Avenue after receiving separate reports about a suspicious person dressed in all black, wearing what appeared to be a surgical mask and carrying a black knapsack.
The university placed several buildings on Queen’s Park Crescent and surrounding streets on lockdown, saying anyone already inside the buildings to “remain in place.”
Roads were cordoned off, and nearby hospitals, including Women’s College Hospital, were also placed in lockdown as a precautionary measure, and Hospital for Sick Children also restricted entry and exit to their buildings “out of caution.”
Trains also bypassed Museum station while tactical officers investigated.
Hours later, Sgt. Sean Cassidy said officers had “cleared” the buildings, and there was no need for public concern.
He said there was no indication anyone actually had a firearm on campus.
Earlier in the day, Police Chief Mark Saunders told reporters on scene that officers were taking the reports seriously.
He said police had received from a passerby a photo of a male dressed in all black, wearing a mask and carrying a black knapsack.
Although police did not see a firearm in the photo, they said one caller indicated they spotted a man wearing all black and carrying a firearm.
Saunders also confirmed that a male who was placed in police custody near campus earlier in the morning was not related to the campus investigation.
In a statement Monday afternoon, University of Toronto president, Meric Gertler thanked students, faculty and staff for responding “calmly and quickly to this event on our St. George campus.” He also thanked police and campus community officers for their quick actions and care.
“I think I speak for many of us when I say that this has been a distressing day, but I am very relieved at the outcome.” [myad]
Bambang Waluyo, Indonesian Deputy Attorney General, has said that no fewer than 121 people are currently on death row in Indonesia, including 35 foreigners, mostly convicted of drug-related crimes.
Waluyo who disclosed this on Monday in Jakarta during a parliamentary hearing, said that his office is preparing to execute 18 convicts, after July 6, the Eid al-Fitr Muslim holiday, which ends of the holy month of Ramadan even as the government planned to execute 30 death-row convicts in 2017.
Meanwhile, the Justice Ministry said that those on the death row include Mary Jane Veloso from the Philippines, Lindsay Sandiford from Britain and Frenchman Serge Atlaoui. The ministry recalled that in 2015, Indonesia executed 14 convicts; all but two of them were foreigners, in a move that drew international condemnation. Under Indonesian law, each convict would face a squad of 10 gunmen. Indonesian President, Joko Widodo, who took office in 2014, has taken a tough stance against drug trafficking, saying that the country is facing a drug emergency. dpa/NAN. [myad]
Former Nigeria Vice President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme has advocated regional independent where the six zones of Nigeria would have their constitutions.
Ekwueme saidthat what Nigeria negotiated and agreed on with the British colonial authorities before independence in 1960 was a regional government arrangement, where each of the federating units had a constitution, which was annexed to the Republican Constitution of 1963. The former Vice President made his position known at the 17th Annual Convention of the Igbo Youth Movement, which comprised former governors of Anambra State, Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife and Peter Obi, and Niger Delta activist, Ankio Briggs. The theme of the convention was ‘Still in search of true federalism.’
“It was on the basis of that (balancing interest of minority and majority) that I came to the conclusion that we should have six regions or geo-political zones as you call them as of the 1994 constitutional conference – three in the North and three in the South. Ekwueme stressed that it was time for Nigeria to revert to the basic principles and arrangements left behind by the country’s founding fathers. Going down memory lane, Ekwueme observed that his incarceration by the military in 1984 at Kirikiri prisons afforded him the opportunity to reflect deeply on Nigeria’s problems. According to him, he came to the conclusion that a six geo-political zonal structure was the solution to the ills plaguing Nigeria. Ekwueme added, “The six-geopolitical zonal structure will take care of minorities in both the North and the South. “It was on the basis of that (balancing interest of minority and majority) that I came to the conclusion that we should have six regions or geo-political zones as you call them as of the 1994 constitutional conference – three in the North and three in the South. “From the south, you have the South-West, the Yoruba; you have the South-East, the Igbo; and then you have two minority groups, Mid-West and COR (Calabar, Ogoja and Rivers) as South-South. “In the North, you have the North-West, which is Hausa/Fulani; then the North-Central, Middle Belt, which is the aggregation of minorities, and then in the North-East again, minorities predominated by Kanuris in Borno and Yobe and then other minority groups.” According to him, the Republican Constitution provided a sharing formula, which allocated 50 per cent to the regions, 30 per cent to a distributable pool and 20 per cent to the centre. “There is a need for us to return to the basics from what we inherited from our founding fathers,” Ekwueme said. [myad]
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Major oil and gas companies in Niger Delta region, including Royal Dutch Shell plc (ADR) (NYSE:RDS.A), Chevron and others are set to go into peace talks with the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), whose members have agreed to consider such talks even with the Nigerian government. The militants said that it does not have new demands, as it just wanted foreign oil and gas companies to leave the southern region of the Niger Delta and stop oil pollution.
