Ribadu Visits President Yar’Adua

Amid the controversy surrounding his study leave, EFCC Chairman, Nuhu Ribadu, met with President Umaru Yar’Adua behind closed doors today in Abuja.

Beaming with smiles, Ribadu parried questions from State House correspondentsas he repeatedly said Happy New Year.

It was not clear what they discussed, but sources said it had to do with the controversy surrounding Ribadu’s new assignment.

Last December, the Nigeria Police Force nominated Ribadu for a yearlong course atthe National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, near Jos.

This sparked off a controversy as many Nigerians questioned the rationale for his nomination for the course.

Police authorities said, however, that by his rank Ribadu, an Assistant Inspector-Generalof Police was due for such study leave.

Princewill, AC, Calls For Ceasefire In Rivers State!

 

The Action Congress party (AC) in Rivers State and the gubernatorial candidate of the party during the last April elections today pleaded with all parties involved in the escalating confrontation between the militants and the security forces to exercise restraint in the interest of peace.

Tonye Princewill, in a statement to the media today urged the militants to sheath their swords while equaling appealing to the Joint Task Force – the security team responsible for restoring peace to the region to not only do the same but to declare a ceasefire to allow peace and stability to rein in the troubled state.

“It has becomes imperative to plead with the Rivers State Government under the able Leadership of Hon. Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, Tom Ateke the Leader of the Niger Delta Vigilante Movement (NDVM) and the Joint Task Force (JTF) not only to sheath their swords but declare an immediate cessation of hostilities to allow the State and the region regain its sanity and for reason to prevail.” The statement said.

According to Princewill, “This call becomes necessary as Rivers State will remain even after they have gone. Innocent people therefore can not be victims of whatever disagreements they have. Enemies today will be friends tomorrow. Dialogue is the only way and whether today or tomorrow eventually it will be used. The difference between the options is what will determine how many more innocent people will die. Ateke should not further justify the actions of the JTF by killing innocent people. You have shown you can do peace. Now more than ever before, we implore you to show us you can do peace again. Then you leave the rest to God. The holy bible states in the Gospel of Saint Mathew chapter 5 verse 9 ‘blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of God’.  Ateke become a child of God today by promoting peace once again and don’t give them an excuse to haunt, peruse or probably kill you.  The whole world is watching and today due to the happenings in our State the entire mankind  is suffering and the prizes of crude oil has soared to $100 a barrel thereby making the poor to pay more for oil which directly affects the economy of the world. Those that don’t know what you did before for peace must see what you do now. JTF and Rivers State also need peace. Ateke, please do utilize the peace overture of Governor Amaechi that militants should denounce violence and handover their weapons of mass destruction and be granted amnesty and beside as Thompson one of the greatest disciples of Christ one expect you to be at the fore-front of bringing sanity and peace to our State and Region.”

“Nigerians believe that the Niger Delta deserves an improvement in their socio-economic life. The international community and civil society organizations have also spoken in the same vain. We do not know of anyone today in Nigeria who feels that Niger Delta has been fairly treated by successive administrations. The helplessness, level of ecological devastation and degradation and poverty besetting our people are well known. Be that as it may, those of us who saw sense in the agitations and protests against marginalization and poverty of the region and have advocated same can no longer justify the modus operandi of some of these groups involved in snuffing life out of innocent oil workers, Security personnel, Nigerians and foreigners.”

Princewill said that President Musa Yar’adua and Governor Rotimi Amaechi are committed  to the “development and emancipation of our people is never in doubt but let us caution as much as we appreciate the efforts of the Joint Task Force ( JTF) to maintain peace in the Region but acting as an army of occupation is no longer fashionable. We have read the report of the Joint Task Force in the Niger Delta coded ‘Operation Restore Hope’ and wish to state that the use of military action to dislodge the Niger Delta warlords from their dens in the creeks of the region would be counter-productive, uncalled for, unwarranted and provocative and may result to a war on the Niger Delta people which calamitous consequences may not be ascertained.”

“We urge both the militants, JTF, FG and the various stakeholders to employ the principle of dialogue as the only suitable option to avoid overheating the polity or any other civil war in Nigeria” He said.

Hostage Fallout: Filipinos Barred From Working In Nigeria

The Philippines’ government has barred its citizens from seeking employment in Nigeria because of the rise in incidence of hostage crisis in the Niger Delta area of the country.

Most Filipinos work in Nigeria’s oil sector as crewmen onboard oil vessels that service the oil rigs in the Niger Delta.

Last year, a good number of the hostages taken were Filipino crew members.

Currently about 5,000 Filipinos work in Nigeria and most of them are in the Niger Delta.

The Filipino government has ordered immigration officials at the country’s international airports to refuse exits to all its citizens traveling to Nigeria. Other countries included ijn the travel ban are Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon.

Ferdinand Sampol, Naia immigration supervisor, said the move was recommended by the Department of Foreign Affairs along with the Department of Labor and Employment, which imposed a total ban on deployment to the four conflicted states.

Hundreds of departing workers, who flocked to the airport after spending the holidays with their families, were surprised to have their job contracts and supporting papers cleared by the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency office before going to the outbound immigration counters.

Industry sources said the government had stopped processing the papers of Filipinos for employment in Nigeria and Afghanistan in November last year, while a total ban was imposed in 2004 on workers going to Lebanon and Iraq.

Data from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration indicated more than 1,000 are now in Afghanistan and 5,000 in Nigeria, who were able to slip out of the airport through the so-called escort system.

MEND Backs Ateke Tom, Vows To Cripple Oil Export!

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has vowed to cripple Nigeria’s oil industry by halting exports from the Niger Delta according to a statement released to the media yesterday.
MEND expressed regret for the loss of innocent lives in the New Year’s Day attack in Port Harcourt by Ateke Tom but praised him for the attack and promised to support him providing him arms including anti-aircraft gunships to wage battle with Nigerian security forces.

“The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) commiserates with the families of the victims killed on New Year’s Day in Port Harcourt by the Nigeria Police Force after the attack by fighters of the Niger Delta Vigilante Movement.
“In its characteristic manner, the undisciplined Nigerian army resulted to an unnecessary scorched earth policy during a raid on the camp of Ateke Tom in Okrika. The burning of vehicles, boats, houses and looting was uncalled for in the first place, which resulted to the New Year reprisal attack on Port Harcourt.
“Our call for unity amongst every fighting force in the Niger Delta against a common enemy makes it imperative that MEND take sides in spite of our differences with Ateke Tom and will support him with fighters and heavy weapons including anti- aircraft. Today, the main factions in MEND are back together as one formidable force ready to fight against injustice and criminality.
“The injustice we refer to is the rape of the Niger Delta for decades; using its wealth to develop other regions of the country and oppression of the people. The criminals are the government of Nigeria, oil majors, corrupt politicians like the Obasanjo family, and the officers and men of the armed forces who are involved in oil bunkering, rape of our women, girls and little boys by gay soldiers, extra judicial killings, robbery, harassment of innocent civilians through involvement in civil matters and debt collection. Even with its huge budget, greedy officers in the military Joint Task Force (JTF) continue to hoodwink the governors in the region for money under one excuse or the other.
“We salute our agents inside the armed forces for a job well done! The leakage of classified information meant to annihilate us during a fraudulent peace initiative has prepared us for the bloody fight in2008. Our goal remains to paralyse 100 percent of Nigeria ’s oil export in one swipe.”
In the email signed by Jomo Gbomo, MEND advised civilians in the region to be cautious and avoid mingling in areas populated by military personnel.
“Civilians inside capital cities in the Niger Delta states of Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, and Rivers are advised to avoid milling around army check points and Armoured Personnel Carriers as they have become targets for attacks by explosive devices.”

Ateke: Sekibo Dismisses Amaechi’s Ultimatum

ONE-time Transport Minister, Dr. Abieye Sekibo, dismissed, yesterday, as mere shadow-chasing the two-week ultimatum given the Okrika community in Rivers State by Governor Rotimi Amaechi to produce warlord Ateke Tom.

The governor handed down the ultimatum on Wednesday following Ateke’s statement, claiming responsibility for the New Year day’s attack in Port Harcourt in which 16 people including seven policemen were killed by gunmen.

Former Transport Minister, Abiye Sekibo 

But as Dr. Sekibo who also once served as Secretary to the Rivers State Government spoke in Abuja, the state government vowed afresh to ensure Ateke’s arrest and make him pay for his crimes.

Governor Amaechi is also threatening to arrest parents of suspected militants to deter attacks on oil instalations and public buildings, while the Joint Task Force in the Niger Delta denied that its attack on Ateke Tom has political motives.

Dr. Sekibo speaking in Abuja condemned the governor’s directive that the warlord be produced because, according to him, it makes no sense for government, which has at its command all security apparatus to apprehend Ateke, to issue such ultimatum.

His words: “You have all heard the news of Governor Amaechi’s visit to Okrika on Wednesday.  Nothing is wrong for a governor to visit his people. But when the governor went there, what did he say?  He went to threaten the people. He went to give them an ultimatum to produce Ateke Tom.

“Here is a governor of a state who has all the security apparatus under him. He is the Chief Security Officer of the state. He could not arrest Ateke Tom. How can he give an ultimatum for the Okrika community to produce Ateke Tom? Ateke Tom is armed, the people are innocent unarmed people, how does the governor want them to arrest Ateke Tom?

The governor is just chasing shadows.
“The threat was not meant to achieve any objective. The threat was meant to score a political point. It was not meant to resolve the security problem. That is the point I am making. If the governor wants Ateke Tom, the way to do it is not to go and threaten over a million indigenes of a community. That is not the way to go about it,” he said.

Dr. Sekibo said the governor’s comments were not only capable of causing internal problems in the Okrika community but also capable of causing disaffection between the Okrika people and the Ikwere community, from where Mr. Amaechi hails.

“When you hear some of the things he said as a governor, there were statements that were unbecoming of any governor, which will not only inflame sentiments within that community but will also inflame sentiments between the Okrika Community and his own Ikwere community.

“I will want to believe that it was out of frustration, but I will also want to believe it was out of political frustration. Not security frustration. Our security agencies are more than able. If Amaechi opens up to the security agencies and tells them what he knows about the crisis … he knows more than he is telling them,” Dr. Sekibo said.

The former Transport minister said he was convinced that Gov Amaechi knew how to solve the security problem in Rivers State if he sincerely wanted to do so.

“He was close to Chief Ada George as governor of Rivers State, who incidentally is from Okrika. And he saw how Ada George ran that state the short period he was governor. He was very close to him, he should have learnt something from Ada George. He was very close, in fact he was the Speaker, the closest person to Dr Peter Odili. He saw how Odili ran that state. He should have learnt something from there.

“Celestine Omehia, the person he took over from, is his first cousin and both of them have been close politically. No matter the difference this governorship thing brought, he should have seen within the period how Celestine went about things. He has been there from the beginning.

“This problem has been there and Ameachi has been there from the beginning. So he cannot say he does not know where this problem is coming from and how it can be solved,” he said.

According to  Sekibo, Ateke Tom was not an Okrika phenomenon, saying: “Ateke Tom  phenomenon is not an Okrika community phenomenon, it’s not like the Okrika people held a meeting and set up Ateke Tom. You cannot hold the community responsible.”

On the way forward, he said: “I have been to several fora  like any other person even Amaechi. I have constantly said we should condemn all the activities of militants, all cultists. You know that is not the way to go. The problems of the Niger Delta should be resolved on a round table talking with our brothers and sisters.

“I have always held that view, those who know me, know that has been my position because in this age, it is no longer the time for muscle flexing, it is more of the brains and in Rivers State and the Niger Delta, we have young men and women who have the brains to match their colleagues from other parts of the country at a round-table and discuss and reasonably come to a conclusion in the interest of everybody,” he said.

- Vanguard

Security Agents Bar Ribadu From Aso Rock!

THE Presidency appears to have shut its doors against the outgoing Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, with security operatives attached to the Presidential Villa denying him direct access to the seat of power.

Mallam Ribadu, in his first public reaction to his removal as EFCC boss, said last night that he was ready for the nine-month course at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) in Kuru, Plateau State.

However, the EFCC’s Director of Operations, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, and other police officers attached to the commission have shunned summons by the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mike Okiro, for a meeting on the latest development in the anti-graft agency.

Several attempts by Mallam Ribadu to have direct access to the President in the last few days have been rebuffed by the President’s men who insist that his requests be channelled through the Inspector-General of Police (IGP).

Presidency sources told Vanguard yesterday that the thinking in the Villa was that Ribadu’s nomination for the NIPSS senior management course had been unduly politicised and was already assuming a blackmail dimension, hence the President had decided not to get involved.

The President’s Special Adviser on Communications, Mr Segun Adeniyi, could not be reached to comment on the issue yesterday.

Several calls to his phone lines were unsuccessful. Sources said the president who is an advocate of due process and believer in the rule of law no longer wants to entertain the issue of Mallam Ribadu being discussed with him.

“Since the issue is becoming a blackmail, the president is not ready to bulge. You knowthe president, he is one man that believes in doing things according to the rule of law and since the police authorities felt that Ribadu is due for training, he has to go,” sources said.

Investigation revealed that access by Mallam Ribadu to the president has been furtherrestrained with the president’s seal of approval for his course at NIPSS.

– Vanguard

Kinsmen Fast For Ibori’s Release

Kinsmen of the former Delta State Governor, James Ibori, have begun another round of fasting and prayer to save their “ambassador”, who is facing a 129-count charge at a Federal High Court in Kaduna.

The kinsmen will use the session to seek divine intervention for the success of Ibori when his trial resumes next week Friday.

In Oghara, Ibori’s country home in the Ethiope West council area, residents are being led by Queen Oreki II, the wife of the traditional ruler, Ovie of Oghara Kingdom.

According to the Queen, the prayer will not only continue till next Friday when Ibori’s bail application is due for hearing, but throughout the duration of his trial.

The conveners are holding on to their belief that the former governor took the state to a greater height in infrastructure and economic development. They argued that his present travails had political undertones.

In a related development, a former governorship aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Delta State , Mr. Sunny Onuesoke, has described Ibori as a victim of circumstance.

Onuesoke said Ibori’s fate was not unconnected with his agitation for resource control and urging the international community to take interest in his plight.

He said prominent Deltans and politicians from the Niger Delta region have concluded efforts to bring the attention of reputable world leaders to Ibori’s fate and the underlying political colouration of his trial.

Onuesoke traced Ibori’s ordeal by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to the antics of some northern elites, who he claimed, are frustrating the resource control struggle.

The aspirant, who spoke in Warri yesterday, said it was unfortunate that only the former Delta State Governor spent the Christmas and New Year in prison.

He said: “The arrest of Chief Ibori is a calculated attempt by some political leaders in the North to cut him to size as a result of his struggle for resource control. We have 36 governors in the Federation, and I want to prove to you that 85 percent of them are corrupt. But I was shocked and shed tears all through the Christmas period, I never did my Christmas with my ex-governor who has become a national figure, a national stabilising factor in the country who has been so responsible for the peace of the Niger Delta, who has been a fore front fighter of the resource control, now they are trying to cow Chief Ibori for fighting for resource control.

“Where are the Northern governors that they detained during the festive period?. Where are the Western and Eastern governors? They spent their holidays with friends and loved ones and why not Chief Ibori?”

While describing the travails of Chief Ibori as a selective justice, Mr. Onuesoke said the people of the South – South must rise and support one of their own being victimised for his fight for a better deal for the region.

 - The Nation

Policemen Attached To EFCC Shun Meeting With Okiro

Some 300 police personnel attached to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Thursday failed to attend the meeting earlier called by the Inspector-General of Police, Mike Okiro.

Police authorities had last week directed all police personnel attached to the EFCC to report to the Force Headquarters, Abuja, for briefing.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the briefing could not hold as neither the EFCC Chairman, Nuhu Ribadu, nor any of its operatives reported for the meeting.

“The meeting was scheduled to commence at 10.00am, but you can see that it is 2.00pm and none of them is here,” a senior police officer told NAN.

Following the development, Okiro met with the police management to discuss the next line of action.

After the meeting, Okiro said he had directed that another letter, inviting the personnel for a briefing, be sent to the commission today.

Ribadu was nominated by Okiro to attend a 12-month Senior Management Course at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru near Jos.

Nemesis Has Caught Up With Obasanjo, Adedibu – Ladoja

Immediate past Governor of Oyo State, Senator Rasidi Ladoja, has urged Nigerians to keep hope alive, saying nemesis has caught up with those responsible for the present political logjam across the country.

Ladoja, who addressed newsmen at his Bodija, Ibadan residence, Thursday, however, stated that Nigerians should not expect free and fair election from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as it is presently constituted.

“You can see what is happening to him (Obasanjo) now. I mean, under him Siemens scandal, Wilbros, Iyabogate happened. There was enough money to give us good roads, potable water but instead, he was gallivanting, chasing shadows and behaving as an emperor.

“Anybody who does any act of betrayal will pay for it. It is like the law of Karma. Nemesis is catching up with him. Whatever happens, this is my home and I have decided to dedicate the rest of my life to fighting for democracy until Oyo State people get democracy and good governance”, the former governor stated.

Ladoja also flayed the former president for jettisoning the ideals of brotherhood, which bound the founding fathers of PDP together with his recent pronouncement of Adedibu as the father of the party, saying the title was strange to the rank and file of the party.
He urged Nigerians to place their hopes on President Umaru Yar’Adua and be vigilant, saying their prayers were being answered while pointing to the failure of the former Chairman of PDP, Col Ahmadu Ali, to install a puppet to succeed him in office.

The former governor, however, dismissed insinuations that he was engaging in anti-party activities with his recent endorsement of his former Chief Media Officer (CMO), Alhaji Lanre Latinwo, to contest the by-election into the Lagelu Federal Constituency on the platform of the Action Congress (AC).
Explaining the rationale behind his action, Ladoja said he had no other choice looking at the qualities of his aide compared to other contestants, and more importantly, in view of the fact that he (Latinwo) was de-registered by the Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu-led faction of the PDP in the state.

“As far as an outlaw like Adedibu is father of the PDP, I don’t belong to them. We subscribed to the ideology of the PDP until the re-registration exercise. Akala and Adedibu came to destroy the PDP because they were not with us from the beginning. As far as Adedibu is the father of their PDP, we don’t belong together.

“Obasanjo handed over PDP to Adedibu and pronounced him father. PDP has no father but Obasanjo coined father and leader of the party. In a free and fair contest, Adedibu will never be in control but the party was handed over to him by Obasanjo, who also gave him the title: ‘father of PDP’. But today, is there anybody in Oyo State who is proud of Adedibu? For that one now to be called the father of PDP”, Ladoja added.

On his former Special Adviser on Security Matters, Chief Bola Alphonso, who has returned to Adedibu’s camp, Ladoja said he was not bothered as the development was not strange in politics.
“Alphonso is a human being; he has a right to take a decision the way he likes. You know human beings behave differently under stress. I think that is what has happened… Barrister Sarafadeen Alli has adequately covered that ground that he Alphonso has gone back to his vomit. It happens in politics. Some people believe it is better to stay where the action is. So, I am not bothered.”

Asked to assess his successor in office, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala, the former governor said there was nothing to assess other than the witch-hunting records of the administration. He said the poor state of roads in the state, huge pile of refuse and lack of potable water, which was running during his tenure, were all pointers that the Akala government was yet to start work.

On the posting of the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for further studies, Ladoja said he would also back the rule of law, which showed that Ribadu has his employer, who was the Inspector-General of Police while the police itself has its own working method.

- The Sun

Former Kogi Gov., Audu, Escapes Assassination!

Former Kogi State governor and the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) governorship candidate in the April 2007 elections, Prince Abubakar Audu, narrowly escaped death at Anyagba, his home town, on Monday as a gang of gunmen shot at his vehicle in a bid to snuff life out of him. One suspect has, however, been arrested by the police.

Briefing newsmen yesterday in Abuja over the attempted assassination, Audu said he was at the University Stadium, Anyagba, to attend the Italo Cultural Festival (ICF), where he was a special guest of honour.

According to him, “last week, I got invitation from Italo Cultural Society, the association that is in charge of the entire Igala tradition, anything pertaining to Igala tradition, they always try to get themselves involved. This time around, they called to tell me about the annual event called Italo Day that took place on December 31, 2007. I was invited as a special guest of honour and since I have been associated with this event since the past 30 years, I readily agreed to be in attendance.”

On the fateful day, December 31, Audu said he got a hint that government thugs were waiting to attack him at arena of the event but did not take it seriously. He said he drove to the venue, but was attacked by the gunmen as he tried to drive through the gate of the stadium which was locked and blocked by the thugs. “All we heard was people shouting from the stadium. The next thing I heard was a sound like a bomb, but it was a gun shot. It shattered the glass of my vehicle. What has been the saving grace for me besides God Almighty is that the vehicle is an armoured vehicle,” Audu claimed.

He said the atmosphere in the stadium was tense and rowdy, saying the attack shocked guests including the traditional ruler, the Attah of Igala who, Audu said “was totally shocked that in the presence of the police, these thugs were allowed to shoot into the air.”
Audu told journalists that he was in Abuja to see President Umaru Yar’Adua, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) and the National Security Adviser (NSA), to complain to them the recurrent plots to eliminate him.

He alleged that the reason for wanting to kill him was not unconnected with his petitions to the elections tribunal and the subsequent annulment of the governorship election and order for a rerun of the polls in the state.
He said policemen attached to him had been reduced from five to two, and appealed to the Federal Government, as well as all Nigerians, to condemn the attack in an unequivocal term.

The arrested suspect, who was whisked in to the Zone Seven Police Headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday night identified himself as Mukhtar Alapa from Anyagba.
Though he claimed that he never got any money from the gang, the suspect who fingered the gang leader as Ogwu Araka, said he (suspect) actively participated in the attempt to murder the ex-governor.
He named Ogwu Araka as the one who shot repeatedly at the corner where Audu sat in his AA 662 KFU Kogi registered Super Duty armoured Ford jeep.

- The Sun