A lawyer and rights activist, Kabir Akingbolu, has filed a suit before a Federal High Court in Lagos against President Muhammadu Buhari over his failure to make adequate provision for the production and supply of petroleum products to all citizens at a regulated price.Akingbolu, in the fresh suit, which is yet to be assigned to a judge for hearing, also listed the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) as the second defendant.The lawyer stressed that considering the nature and extent of inconveniences which the citizens of the country were being subjected to by lack of petroleum products, especially the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), the failure of Buhari, as the Chief Executive Officer of the country, to act by making the products sufficiently available, was capable of causing breach of peace and serious discomfort for the citizenry.The lawyer formulated four questions for the court’s determination and argued that the failure of the president to address the scarcity was a breach of the oath of office which was administered on him on May 29, 2015 and a violation of the clear and unambiguous provisions of Section 130 (1) & (2) of the 1999 Constitution as amended.The plaintiff is also seeking an order declaring the failure of the defendants (Buhari and AGF) to make available petroleum products as a breach of oath of office, and that the failure to fix the refineries in the country was equally a breach of the constitutional obligation of the president.He wants an order directing Buhari to make petroleum products available in desirable quantity across the nation, and an order mandating the president to fix and repair all the nation’s refineries to meet the demand of the entire masses.In an affidavit in support of the suit, Akingbolu, recalled that on or about January 20, 2015, the country started experiencing fuel scarcity in every nook and cranny of all the 36 states and the federal capital, as the nation prepared then for the general elections.He added that fuel situation then became so severe that the economic activities in Nigeria almost came to a halt, if not for the intervention of some independent marketers that decided to sell the petroleum products to the citizenry though at ridiculous prices.After the election which Buhari won, the lawyer recalled further that the masses were delighted believing that the hardship of the scarcity of petroleum products would shortly come to an end.But since Buhari’s swearing in on May 29, the lawyer lamented that fuel scarcity had taken a rather negative toll on the citizenry, with people having to complain bitterly on the stress and hardship they have been going through to get PMS at exorbitant prices.“The price of PMS is now no longer at N87 per litre at most petrol stations but N110 and above in the country, creating untold hardship on the citizenry as well as the plaintiff who voted for the first defendant (Buhari).“I know as a fact that very few petrol stations still sell at N87 per litre and it is like going to a battle field before the citizens can get petroleum products.“I know as a fact that the refineries have deliberately been ignored and left unfixed by the past administrations in Nigeria for their selfish interest of which the current president might follow if not properly cautioned, hence the commencement of this suit.“If the refineries are fixed and are working in perfect condition, the situation of scarcity of petroleum products would come to an end, and second, the issue of spending huge amounts in the exportation of crude oil to be refined outside the country and subsequently imported back, would come to an end,” Akingbolu stated.
Tuesday, 4 August 2015
ExxonMobil Vice-Chair to Head NNPC
President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of the Executive Vice Chairman of ExxonMobil Africa, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, to head Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Kachiku is expected to take over from from Joseph Darwa at the NNPC headquarters in Abuja around 3:00 PM Nigerian time.Kachikwu, trained lawyer, was born and raised in Onicha Ugbo in Aniocha North local government area of Delta State.
Saturday, 1 August 2015
Snopp Dogg Stopped in Italy for Carrying Too Much Cash
This his European tour keeps causing him problems. First he was arrested for DUI in Sweden now this.Snoop Dogg found himself in trouble with Italian Customs agents because he was carrying too much money when he entered the country.You know how they ask you to declare money you have in your possession if it's over $10k? Well Snoop was stopped at an Italian airport with approximately $422,000 in cash in his Louis Vuitton luggage, said an Italian lawyer representing him.Half of the money was impounded by Italian customs, the other half will be given to him after they determine how fines he will pay."We clarified everything from a legal point of view. The money came from concerts he had performed around Europe. There was no crime; it was just an administrative infraction," Parisi, his Italian lawyer said.Hopefully this tour gets better for him and he returns home to the US without anymore incident
Sourced from Linda Ikeji
"APC a Party of Shameless and Desperate Liars" PDP
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), as a party of “shameless” and “desperate liars”.The party berated the APC for supposedly sticking to its lies and empty denials despite overwhelming evidences that the new Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Alhaji Lawal Daura is an APC member.PDP National Publicity Secretary Chief Olisa Metuh in a statement on Saturday said the spate of lies chunked out by the APC and its spokesperson, Alhaji Lai Mohammed in the desperation to suppress the truth is not only reprehensible but also symptomatic of lack of character.“When the matter first came up, the APC spokesman hurriedly went on air on RayPower radio wherein he stated categorically to the nation that he never knew or met “the man”, and that “the man” has never had any contact or dealing whatsoever with the APC as a party before his appointment as DSS Director General.“When we came up with the newspaper advertorial sponsored by the APC wherein it announced Alhaji Daura as a member of its campaign Intelligence Committee, a very important position vested on him by virtue of his membership of the party, as well as pictures of him with other members of the committee, Lai Mohammed started singing a new tone, insulted PDP leaders as hallucinating out of poverty and asked PDP to produce Daura’s membership card and evidence of registration.“We ask, is APC demanding that the PDP invade Daura’s house to get his personal card? Or that we should go to Daura to get the APC ward register? How on earth does the APC spokesperson want us to go and ask a man in charge of arresting and detaining people who hold views contrary to those of his party and government to give us his party membership card? How on earth can the PDP request and get the APC membership register in Daura’s ward? Who do Lai Mohammed and the APC think they are fooling? Nigerians?” the PDP queried.The PDP noted that in his lame effort to defend his party, the APC spokesman either intentionally lied or exhibited crass ignorance by trying to equate the DSS with the National Orientation Agency (NOA), the Police Service Commission (PCC), or the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) where a Democrat, Mr. Leon Panetta was named by President Obama as head.“Perhaps Mr. Lai Mohammed needs to constantly update and crosscheck his facts. We wish to inform him and the APC that there is a great difference between the CIA and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) after which the Nigerian DSS was fashioned.“Whereas the US FBI and the Nigerian DSS are vested with the statutory tasks of providing domestic intelligence, security service and criminal investigations among others for the state and can be equated with the British M15 and Russian FSB, all of which have their headships insulated from politics, the CIA on the other hand is vested with collecting of intelligence overseas, the same role as Nigeria’s National Intelligence Agency (NIA).“Furthermore, the NOA and PCC are agencies that have no powers to investigate, arrest or detain, neither can they be used to harass, hound or intimidate. Also, we wish to remind Lai Mohammed that Mr. Mike Omeri, in writing, declined the appointment into the PDP campaign committee because of his position as Director General of the NOA. We note therefore that in drawing his comparisons, Mr. Mohammed either exhibited high level ignorance or acted ostensibly to deceive Nigerians yet again.“Severally in the past, we have exposed Lai Mohammed in terms of lies but instead of retracing his steps, he keeps on moving from one ‘lai’ to the other. Only in May this year, Lai Mohammed nearly derailed the transition programme when he issued a false statement alleging that the APC team was being frustrated, just for the head of the APC’s Transition Committee, Alhaji Ahmed Joda to announce that there was nothing of such.“Nigerians have not forgotten how Lai Mohammed had in June 2014 issued a statement wherein he alleged that a plane carrying Kano state Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso to attend an APC rally in Ekiti was denied landing permission in Akure, only for Kwankwaso’s Director of Press Affairs, Baba Dantiye to announce that his boss was at another event in Kano and had no plans to travel to Ekiti state.“The APC spokesman should know that being a spokesperson of a political party does not mean he should be dishing out lies. He should shed his unnecessary arrogance and understand that the APC did not win the Presidential election on account of his lies and deceit. In fact, this constant falsehood has become a huge embarrassment and source of worry for responsible and respectable persons in the APC.“Quite often, he boasts of arranging a course for the opposition. We ask, is he arranging a course in lies? For the umpteenth time, let us inform him and the APC that the PDP does not need their course on the spreading of hatred and strife with lies, propaganda and deceit. Our form of opposition is focused only on constructive criticisms while presenting credible alternatives to the policies and programmes of the present administration.“Our worry however is that the APC spokesperson has so negatively influenced some hundreds of young people who now engage in abuses as a model for effective communication and this is not healthy for the polity. We urge Nigerians to purge themselves of this poisonous mode of communication so that we can have credible and decorous political discourse in this country” the party said.The PDP insisted that in appointing its member to head the DSS, a very sensitive security agency vested with numerous powers, the APC has annexed the Service as a tool to suppress the opposition and other Nigerians who hold views contrary to that of government, thus preparing the ground for dictatorship and a reign of terror on the people.“No wonder we are now witnessing invasions of houses of PDP members as well as harassments, arrests and detentions of electoral officers and tribunal members in Akwa-Ibom, Rivers and other PDP state where the APC is desperate to upturn our electoral victory at all cost and by any means”, it stated.The party however restated that no amount of harassment and threats or conniving with people, whether disgruntled PDP members or staff, can intimidate, blackmail or distract the PDP from discharging its duty to Nigerians, of providing constructive and credible opposition to the policies and programmes of the present administration.
Nigeria Now Ready to Take on Boko Haram
President Muhammadu Buhari Friday said
that with the formation of a stronger
regional military coalition, Nigeria and
neighbouring countries now have an
increased capacity to deal effectively with
Boko Haram and other terrorist groups.
Also Friday, the Boko Haram Victims
Support Fund headed by Lt. Gen.
Theophilus Danjuma disclosed that donors
have now redeemed about N23 billion of
their pledges. Buhari on his part ordered
the immediate release of federal
government’s N5 billion pledge to the fund.
Speaking at an audience with Dr.
Mohammed Ibn Chambas, the United
Nations Secretary-General’s Special
Representative and Head of the United
Nations Office for West Africa, Buhari
reaffirmed his belief that the full activation
and deployment of the Multi National Joint
Task Force established under the auspices
of the Lake Chad Basin Commission will
lead to the speedy defeat and elimination
of Boko Haram.
The President added that with the
Command and Control Centre of the
Nigerian military now in Maiduguri, Borno
State, the morale of troops in the front-
line states had improved significantly.
“You can tell the Secretary-General that we
are doing our best and our best will be
good enough for the nation and the sub-
region,’’ Buhari told Ibn Chambas.
Against the background of upcoming
elections in Cote D’Ivoire, Guinea and
Burkina Faso, the President also called on
the United Nations to assist African
countries in the acquisition and use of
innovative technologies to ensure more
credible elections.
“When citizens recognise that their votes
count, it will boost their confidence in
democracy and their countries’ electoral
systems,” he said.
Recalling that in the last general elections
in Nigeria, the Independent National
Electoral Commission used smart card
readers to authenticate prospective
voters, Buhari observed that while Nigeria
could afford the use of such technology in
its elections, other African countries may
require support and assistance from the
international community.
Ibn Chambas commended Buhari for his
strong and positive actions against
terrorism.
The United Nations envoy also welcomed
President Buhari’s successful visit to
Cameroon this week and his reaffirmation
of Nigeria’s commitment to the peaceful
resolution of all border issues with
Cameroon.
Donors redeem N23bn pledge to Boko
Haram support fund…
The Presidential Committee of the Boko
Haram Victims Support Fund headed by Lt.
Gen. Theophilus Danjuma disclosed that
donors have now redeemed about N23
billion of their pledges.
President Buhari subsequently directed the
Head of Service of the Federation, Mr.
Danladi Kifasi, to facilitate the immediate
release of the N5 billion pledged by the
Federal Government since August 2014 for
the Fund.
A statement by the Special Adviser on
Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina said
the president gave the directive after
receiving a briefing from the VSF
Presidential Committee at the Presidential
Villa.
Danjuma had told the President that out of
the N55.92 billion pledged at the fund-
raising dinner for the Fund in August last
year, N33.54 billion was still outstanding,
including N5 billion from the Federal
Government.
He said that the VSF currently has
N23.33 billion in four bank accounts and
that the committee received approval from
the immediate past administration to
incorporate the fund into a Trust Fund, to
“insulate it from political interference”.
Danjuma had urged the President to use
his office to persuade all organisations
and individuals to honour their pledges to
the committee.
Buhari also urged the committee to ensure
proper coordination with other government
agencies providing support and assistance
to victims of terrorism.
The President assured Danjuma and
members of the VSF Committee that his
administration was taking proactive steps
to defeat terrorism in the country.
He said that despite the challenge of
acquiring much needed strategic equipment
and weapons to confront the terrorists,
the Nigerian military has recently gained
much ground in its effort to defeat and
degrade Boko Haram.
He added that the full deployment of the
Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF),
under the auspices of member-states of
Lake Chad Basin Commission, would
further boost ongoing military operations
against the terrorists.
Boko Haram Kills 6 in Maiduguri market…..
On the same day that Abbah pledged to
wipe out Boko Haram, the terrorists
struck again in Maiduguri, killing 6
persons, with several others injured in a
suicide bomb attack at a crowded market.
The attack which temporarily halted sales
at the market and sent jitters to the entire
town happened at 6:30 am when some
people were still in bed.
A member of the youth vigilance group
who spoke anonymously to our
correspondent on phone, said the bomb
was detonated by a woman who arrived
the market pretending as if she was one
of those that come early to buy
vegetables.
He said the woman arrived in a tricycle at
about 6:30 am at Gamboru market where
wholesale trading of fresh vegetables is
done.
He said that the woman on sensing that
she might perhaps be caught by the
security at the entrance to the market,
quickly detonated the bomb strapped on
her at the tricycles park where
passengers are dropped and picked.
The National Emergency Management
Agency (NEMA) has confirmed that six
persons were killed in the suicide bomb
attack.
The Northeast zonal coordinator of the
agency, Mohammed Kanar who spoke to
our correspondent on phone said: "I cannot
give you the exact time of the blast but
our men were called to offer assistance at
7am. We found six persons were killed,
two of the corpses were mangled and
beyond recognition.
“11 persons were injured, four were taken
to the University of Maiduguri Teaching
Hospital (UMTH), the seven others were
taken to the State Specialists Hospital to
be treated."
117 jihadist fighters killed in Chad…
It was also confirmed yesterday that
about 117 Boko Haram terrorists have been
killed by Chadian forces in an operation
which began two weeks ago.
"For two weeks, Boko Haram terrorists
have been trying to infiltrate our islands
on Lake Chad to carry out attacks on
peaceful citizens," army spokesman, Colonel
Azem Bermendoa Agouna said, adding that
military operations were ongoing.
Lake Chad is a strategic region where the
borders of Chad and northeast Nigeria
converge with those of Cameroon and
Niger, further north.
Boko Haram has carried out raids and
suicide bombings in all four countries,
which have formed a military alliance along
with Benin to tackle the movement.
Sourced from ThisDay
Monday, 27 July 2015
WHAT NIGERIA SHOULD LEARN FROM GREECE DEBT CRISIS
The global economic slowdown has left some mature economies like Greece stricken and more on a par with emerging markets like Nigeria, mainly because of their Achilles Heel of over-leveraged government debts. At last count, Greece owes 242 billion euros to its creditors the IMF and European Central Bank, an amount that the IMF decided is unsustainable just after the country missed a 1.5 billion-euro repayment.As a Eurozone member state, Greece’s economic performance has a direct impact on the value of the euro, which slumped to its lowest point in 2015 against the USD, while declining to 0.00462 from 0.00451 against the naira at the height of the Greek debt crisis in mid-July.Why is this good news for Nigeria-EU trade? In the process of signing a trade agreement with West African countries, the EU has been steadily developing its relations with Nigeria, which is the largest economy in Africa. In the face of some difficulties in trade talks, business has picked up considerably between the two partners, and the EU is gaining market share in Nigeria, which imports millions of euros-worth of goods from the bloc. The EU sells machinery, chemicals, industrial goods and vehicles to Nigerian companies. A fall in the value of the euro means that European goods are more affordable than they used to be, so this could mean an increase in the level of goods ordered from the EU by Nigerian companies.Nigeria exports mainly oil and other commodities like gold and diamonds to the EU, accounting for 80% of West African exports together with Ghana and the Ivory Coast, and this is where the bad news comes in. As the euro declines against the USD and the naira, Nigeria gains buying power, but loses some selling power because the EU may reduce the current level of purchases or imports from the West African country, which will have a knock-on effect on government tax revenues. A lower-valued euro means less buying power for the EU, which sees Nigeria as its top source of oil in West Africa, and the longer the Greek debt crisis drags on, the more damage it will do to the bloc’s exchange rate stability with its trading partners.Emerging markets like Nigeria are coming into an era of opportunities and increased bargaining power in their relations with giant economies like the EU, which is the world’s second largest economic power. With each member state crisis, the euro loses value. There are also some serious underlying economic trends that are concerning, such as disinflation, slow GDP growth, and the challenge to the euro that is posed by vulnerable economies like Italy, or Spain and Portugal, which are only just emerging from their own crises.Back to the good news, with lower oil prices around the globe, maintaining oil imports to the EU may not be such a difficult challenge as originally assumed. This is balanced out by future developments in the level of the USD against the euro, if the US economy continues growing and outpacing its developed rivals, the currency exchange challenge returns to the table.My view is that Nigeria could see the Greek debt crisis as an opportunity to increase its bargaining power with the EU, both in terms of bilateral trade agreements and in terms of increasing its national exports to the bloc.