I have a dream that one day,Nigeria will be like this even to the villages.This dream shall be reality soonest.
Monday, October 26, 2015
Police, others partner with INEC for Bayelsa gov poll
The
police, Operation Pulo Shield and other security operatives have promised to
collaborate with the Independent National Electoral Commission to ensure a
credible governorship election in Bayelsa State.
The new Commissioner of Police, Bayelsa State Command, Mr.
Nasiru Oki, gave the indication on Friday while briefing journalists shortly
after the 33rd Security Council meeting presided over by Governor Seriake
Dickson in Government House, Yenagoa.
Oki, who said officers and men of the police were adequately
prepared for the election, noted that the Inspector-General of Police had
assured them of the provision of adequate personnel and logistics to ensure a
hitch-free governorship election slated for December 5.
He also explained that in line with the policy thrust of the IG,
the command would mobilise members of the public to participate in community
policing in order to secure their areas.
Oki said, “One of the policy thrust of the IGP is the
participation of the community people in the securing their areas. So, we are
going to mobilise members of the public to participate in community policing.
“The strategy is already on the ground. We have already done our
operational orders as regards who should do what, when to do what and we will
work with the officials of INEC. ”
The Commander, Operation Pulo Shield in the Niger Delta,
Maj.-Gen. Alani Okunlola, also said the meeting deliberated on the emerging
threat to lives and property.
He said they had identified areas where they needed to beef up
security to make the state safe before, during and after the election.
Earlier, Dickson said his administration would work closely with
the security agencies towards maintaining law and order.
He stressed that acts capable of undermining the security and
sovereignty of the state and the country would not be tolerated.
Dickson, who also condemned recent protests by youths in some
parts of the country, urged other ethnic nationalities residing in Bayelsa to
remain law-abiding and conduct themselves peacefully, particularly during the
approaching governorship election.
Punch
NDLEA arrests two more suspects with 89 ATM cards
Barely
one week after arresting a China-bound man with 108 Automated Teller Machine
debit cards, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has arrested two other
suspects with 89 ATM cards at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport,
Lagos.
A
statement SUNDAY PUNCH exclusively obtained from the NDLEA on
Saturday said 40-year-old Pauline Osita Nweke was caught with 65 cards, while
41-year-old Frank Chukwudi Egesiokwu, was caught with 24 cards. Both were on
their way to China.
The
NDLEA quoted Osita, an Onitsha-based trader who hails from Enugu State and
married with two children, as saying the cards in his possession belonged to
friends and business partners.
He
said, “I am a trader. I sell menswear at Onitsha. I was on my way to China to
buy goods when NDLEA officers arrested me with 65 debit cards. The cards belong
to my friends, relatives and business partners.”
The
second suspect, Egesiokwu, who was a boutique at Aba, Abia State, was found in
possession of 24 debit cards.
The
Chairman of the NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade, has directed that the suspects be
transferred to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for further
investigations.
The
Head, Public Affairs, NDLEA, Mr. Mitchell Ofoyeju, in an interview with our
correspondent, said investigations by the agency had shown that the suspects
and their sponsors planned to beat the new minimum daily cash withdrawal limit
set by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
He
said, “The new CBN policy is that one cannot withdraw more than $300 per day if
one is outside the country.
“What
we have discovered is that the suspect will open multiple accounts from each of
which they will use the ATM cards to withdraw money. So, if they are able to
withdraw $300 from 10 accounts, they will get $3000 daily; you can imagine how
much they will withdraw if the cards are more.”
Punch
Pro-Biafra Igbo tear Nigerian passports
Some
Biafra secessionists have torn their Nigerian passports to press home their
demand for the breakaway of the South-East from the Nigerian state.
As of
Saturday, no fewer than three videos were seen on the online video sharing
platform, YouTube, in which some Igbo denounced their citizenship of the
country and declared their allegiance to Biafra.
The
Nigeria Immigration Service has, however, warned that such act is criminal and
attracts a jail term.
In one
of the videos, the man introduced himself as Emenike Michael Nwofor.
He
said, “My names are (sic) Emenike Michael Nwaofor. I’m from Nnewi in Biafra
land; when there was Biafra, there wasn’t anything called Anambra State. I
would refuse to add that name called Anambra State to it. I am from Nnewi, the
former Enugu State.
“I am
living here in Bordeaux (France); I am an asylum seeker in Bordeaux. I have
been around Bordeaux for a year plus and we have been able to gather the
Biafran family here in France; we have been able to register with the
government of France as indigenous people of Biafra.”
After a
long speech, he subsequently brought out his Nigerian passport and tore the
pages.
In
another video, a young man, who did not mention his name, also tore his
Nigerian passport angrily.
In the
third video, the man, who spoke in Igbo and French, tore his passport while
using derogatory words on the government of Nigeria.
The
Public Relations Officer of the NIS, Deputy Comptroller Ekpedeme King, while
reacting to the development in an interview with our correspondent on Saturday,
said the service was not aware of the passport tearing.
King
said, “There is a new Act called the Immigration Act 2015 which stipulates the
punishment for any alteration or destruction of Nigerian passport; it is a jail
term with conditions.
“Those
who mentioned their names, if we find out that they tore their passports, will
be taken to court. A process has to be followed.”
Checks
by our correspondents showed that the Immigration Act 2015, among other
conditions, states, “Altering existing travel documents renders the holder on
conviction of a two million naira fine and/or imprisonment for a term of three
years.”
The
Department of State Services had reportedly arrested and detained the founder
of the guerrilla broadcasting channel, Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, at the
Murtala Muhammed International Airport Lagos on his arrival from London
recently.
The
Nigerian Police had also arrested and arraigned many members of the Movement
for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra and other secessionist groups
recently.
Thousands
of members and supporters of MASSOB had last Tuesday embarked on a protest in
Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, demanding to break away from Nigeria.
In a
swift reaction, governors in the South-East and other leaders in the zone had
dissociated themselves from the protests, saying they were not in support of
the group.
A
former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon (retd.), while speaking to Channels TV on Friday during his visit to Nasarawa
State, had said the resurgence of a group claiming to be Pro-Biafra would not
in any way pose a threat to the sovereignty of the country.
punch
Nigeria tackles UK over plan to deport 29,000 Nigerians
The
Nigeria High Commission in London says it is worried by the migration and
removal policy of the UK Government, which has placed deportation tag on 29,000
Nigerians.
The
Acting Nigerian High Commissioner in London, Mr Olukunle Bamgbose, gave the
indication in his office when he spoke with State House Correspondents covering
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s visit to London.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Bamgbose said the migration
policy came about following the migration crisis created by the troubled
regions in the world.
“I
think about 29,000 Nigerians have been designated to be deported.
“We are
insisting that due process must be followed before Nigerians are really removed
from the UK to Nigeria,’’ he said.
Bamgbose
gave four conditions that should be met by the UK immigration office before the
commission could accept the migration and deportation agenda.
“First,
we must ensure that they are really Nigerians; they are medically fit to
travel; all the legal processes must have been completed and that they have
role to play in Nigeria.
“You do
not expect someone who has not been to Nigeria for 30 years to 40 years and who
does not have any family to be deported.
“He
will constitute social problems to us in Nigeria; so these are the sore points
at this moment that we have,’’ the envoy said.
Bamgbose
noted that in spite of the challenge, the relationship between Nigeria and UK
had deepened, adding that the UK is ready to engage with Nigerians in various
aspects, in defence, immigration, trade and investment.
“In
2012 trade volume between the two countries was about four billion pounds,
which has doubled now.
“But
with what we now have British investors are ready to move into Nigeria in a
massive way.
“I
expect that in the next two to three years the trade volume will triple and go
to about 12 billion pound or even more.’’
Bamgbose
attributed the rise to the new confidence the foreign investors had in Nigeria
and the new administration.
The
willingness of the British businessmen to even want to come to Nigeria is very
important.
“Because,
hitherto, the way we were running the government they did not have that
confidence in government.
“They
are not really sure whether they can go into Nigeria and invest.
“Now
with the new administration, what they believe the new administration can do
and the fidelity with which the new administration has brought to governance
that is the first thing.
“You
have to have the confidence of those who are going to Nigeria to invest and I
think with what is going on now they are very confident that they can go into
Nigeria and invest,’’ he said
punch
How Nigerian shareholders hijacked Econet — Founder
The
Founder and Executive Chairman of Econet Wireless, the first GSM operator in
Nigeria, Mr. Strive Masiyiwa, has further described how Nigerian shareholders
hijacked the company.
Masiyiwa,
in the 12th part of his Facebook series titled ‘It’s time to play by a
different (ethical) set of rules,’ on Friday, alleged that the names of the
foreign investors were illegally removed from the shares register of the
company and that efforts to seek legal redress were futile.
In an
earlier post, the industrialist recalled how the company was voted out by
Nigerian shareholders due to his refusal to pay $9m in bribes to senior
politicians.
Masiyiwa,
who has been named by the Cable News Network as one of the 50 most influential
business leaders in the world, founded Econet Wireless in Zimbabwe in 1998,
with the Nigerian subsidiary coming on board in 2001.
In his
post on Friday, which was subtitled ‘Rights, wrongs, and rule of law in
Africa,’ Masiyiwa said, “When we set up the company in Nigeria, all 22
shareholders had to sign an agreement governing our relationship, known as a
Shareholders Agreement. This was April 2001. The purpose of a Shareholders
Agreement is to protect the shareholders’ investment in the company.”
“When
the other shareholders, led by (former) Delta State Governor James Ibori,
decided to throw us out of the company, they did two things that violated the
provisions in our shareholders’ agreement, as well as Nigerian law: first, they
‘cancelled’ our shares and removed our name from the share register of the
company.
“No one
has power to do this except a court and usually only the highest court in a
country, as it is tantamount to expropriation of property rights. They did it
anyway and dared us to go to court.
“We did
and it took us exactly 10 years to reverse what they did. The judges of the
courts of Nigeria were harsh in their criticism of this decision by the other
shareholders. They called it ‘disgraceful.’ It was a form of gangsterism!”
According
to Masiyiwa, the Nigerian shareholders did not offer their foreign counterparts
the right of first refusal. Instead, he added, they offered their shares to a
third party — a company from the Middle East — without first offering them to
the foreigners as an existing shareholder.
He
added, “Of course, in their minds, it was not necessary because they had first
‘cancelled’ our shares. There’s no legal right for other shareholders to say,
‘We no longer recognise you as a shareholder,’ then hold private meetings and
make resolutions as if you don’t exist. (Protection of shareholder rights is
sacrosanct if we want to mobilise investment and see the people of our
continent prosper. Otherwise the whole investment climate is thrown up in the
air!)
“To
right these wrongs, we first had to approach the Chief Judge of the Federal
Court of Nigeria. She inexplicably refused to grant our request for nearly five
years. When she retired in 2008, we petitioned her successor, Justice Mustapha.
He granted our request and appointed a three-member international panel of
legal experts to serve on the Tribunal.
“Two of
them, including a retired judge, were Nigerian. It took him less than three
months to make the appointments, for which we have waited nearly five years!”
punch
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)