March 2021 – Page 19

Post Date : March 22, 2021

Bird strike forces Aero Contractors plane to make air return in Kano

A Lagos-bound Aero Contractors aircraft was forced to make an air return on Sunday having suffered a bird strike in Kano. The captain of the aircraft was said to have taken the precautionary decision to make an air return when he heard the sound of the bird strike. Tribune Online reports that a bird strike is defined as a collision between a bird and an aircraft that is in flight, on a takeoff or landing roll. Reacting to the incident, the management of the airline in a statement issued apologized to the passengers on board the flight. The statement from the airline declared: “Aero Contractors regrets the inconveniences suffered by our passengers on flight N2 142 which occurred this morning 21st March, 2021 on the Kano to Lagos flight due to a bird strike on the engine while taking off. “For precautionary and safety reasons, Aero Contractors had to make arrangements to ferry the aircraft back to Lagos to enable our engineers undertake a check on the engines and secure the approval of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) before returning it to service. “When the Captain heard the sound of the bird strike, he made a safety and professional decision to return back to land in Kano, despite all the engines being normal and within limit. “After close examination, with the approval of NCAA and Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), the aircraft was ferried back to Lagos for further examination.We are currently doing everything possible to bring our passengers back to Lagos.”

Post Date : March 22, 2021

Police Arrest Two For Killing Mother, Son In Ogun

The police in Ogun State have arrested two suspects for allegedly killing a housewife and her four-year-old son. In a statement issued on Monday, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi, said the victims were killed for ritual purposes. He identified the suspects as 29-year-old herbalists Baoku Gbuyi and a 27-year-old bricklayer Olamide Odulaja. The arrest of the suspects, the police spokesman noted, followed a report received at Ijebu Igbo division, from the victim’s husband, who reported that his wife and his son went out and yet to return, and efforts to locate her and the little boy was futile. “On interrogation, Olamide confessed that he and one herbalist abducted the victim and her son on the 13 of February 2021 and that the victims were killed for money ritual at the house of the said herbalist,” Oyeyemi said. “He stated further that, it was the herbalist who burnt the woman’s head which he used for him and upon Hus confession, detectives went after the said herbalist who resides in Arararomi, Jaoara, Ijebu Igbo. “On getting to his resident, it was discovered that the herbalist has taken to flight having heard about the arrest of Olamide.” On how the suspects were arrested, the police spokesman said following the complaints lodged, all the adjoining divisions were alerted to be on the lookout for the fleeing suspect who was eventually traced to Kajola village, where he was arrested by the DPO Awa Ijebu with the assistance of hunters and local vigilantes “On interrogation, the herbalist confessed that it was Olamide Odulaja who approached him for the money-making ritual following which he asked him to bring a head of human being as one of the material to be used,” he stated. The suspected herbalist was said to have opened up that they conspired to abduct the woman and her son and slaughter them for ritual purpose. The suspect noted that he burnt the woman’s head with some other herb material which he gave to Olamide to use. When asked about the little boy, he said that his head and remains were dumped inside a pit latrine. Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, Edward Ajogun, has ordered the immediate transfer of the case to the state criminal investigation and intelligence department for further investigation and diligent prosecution. The CP who described the incident as the height of man inhumanity to man warned those who are out looking for a money-making ritual to desist as only hard work backed with prayer can lead to success.

Post Date : March 22, 2021

Matawalle swears by the Quran he has no connection with bandits

Bello Matawalle, governor of Zamfara, has sworn by the Quran that he has no connection with bandits. The Quran is the holy book for Islam, a faith which the governor professes. In the past months, the state has come under a series of attacks by suspected bandits. Bandits had abducted schoolgirls at the Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe. While receiving an award conferred on him by the Centre for Quranic Reciter, Nigeria, on Sunday, Matawalle called on the people of Zamfara to swear, too, that they have no connection with bandits terrorising the state. “As I’ve been mentioning, the issue of insecurity is not just for federal government, governor or other security agencies; the issue of insecurity is for all of us, and we should not politicise the issue of insecurity,” he said. “I have sworn with the Holy Qur’an that if I know, or if I am part of, or I know anybody who is coordinating this banditry, or with my hand or any of my family, may Allah not give me in this life. “I dare all the people from Zamfara state, from our father, Aliyu Gusau to Yarima Bakura and all the cabinet members, right from the inception of the political dispensation of the state, to take this oath as I did.” The governor said in taking up the challenge, it will be easy for residents to identify those behind insecurity and ensure peace is restored in the state. He said as chief security officer of the state, he will do everything possible to provide a secure and peaceful environment. He added that it is important for residents to be able to go about their lawful business without fear of anyone harming them. In 2019, Matawalle dethroned some traditional rulers in the state over their alleged involvement in banditry. The Zamfara police command redeployed its divisional police officer (DPO) in Kaura-Namoda following allegations of conniving with bandits terrorising the area.

Post Date : March 22, 2021

Congo Opposition Candidate Dies Of COVID-19

Republic of Congo opposition candidate Guy-Brice Parfait Kolelas died of Covid-19 as he was being transferred to France for treatment, his campaign director said Monday, the day after presidential elections in which he was the main challenger. Kolelas was seen as the main rival to veteran leader Denis Sassou Nguesso, who was expected to win Sunday’s vote. The election was boycotted by the main opposition and under an internet blackout, with critics voicing concerns over the transparency of the polls seen as tilted towards Sassou Nguesso. Kolelas “died in the medical aircraft which came to get him from Brazzaville on Sunday afternoon,” his campaign director Christian Cyr Rodrigue Mayanda told AFP. The sixty-year-old tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday afternoon, and was unable to host his last campaign meeting in Brazzaville. On Saturday, he posted a video from his sickbed, declaring he was “battling against death”. “Rise up as one person… I’m fighting on my deathbed, you too fight for your change,” he urged his supporters, saying the election was “about the future of your children”. Mayanda called on supporters of Kolelas to rally at 11 am local time (1000 GMT). “We’ll continue to count the ballots. He was ahead in a number of areas,” he said. ‘Atmosphere of peace’ Kolelas came second in the presidential election of 2016, picking up 15 percent of the vote according to official results. He had pledged to release the two candidates from that vote sentenced in 2018 to 20 years in prison for “undermining state security”, former army general Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko and ex-minister Andre Okombi Salissa. He was only serious contender left facing the president on Sunday after a string of boycotts, withdrawn candidacies and exclusions. Provisional election results are not expected for days. There were no reports of major incidents before polling stations closed, but AFP correspondents said access to the internet and social media, as well as text messages, was cut. In some areas voters complained that their names weren’t on the electoral list. “The only uncertainty is what score Mr. Sassou will tell the electoral commission to give him,” said Congolese novelist Emmanuel Dongala, contacted by AFP at his US home. Sassou Nguesso, 77, a former paratrooper, first rose to power in 1979 and has since accumulated 36 years in office, making him one of the world’s longest-serving leaders. Speaking after he cast his ballot, Sassou Nguesso said that the “atmosphere of peace” during the election campaign — marked by police crackdowns on the opposition — was “a good sign for our democracy”. But when asked about security when election results are announced, a moment that triggered a wave of violence at the last vote in 2016, he responded: “I’m not God”. Shops were closed and only security vehicles were seen in Brazzaville city centre during voting. The largest opposition group, the Pan-African Union for Social Democracy or UPADS, is boycotting the poll in which some 2.5 million people are eligible to vote. UPADS — the group of former president Pascal Lissouba, who died in France last August — is the only opposition party to have a parliamentary group in the current national assembly. “Overall, the Congolese shunned the ballot box,” said rights activist Brice Makosso. “The polling stations were empty.” Flanked by its giant neighbour the Democratic Republic of Congo as well as Gabon, the former French colony has abundant oil reserves and most of its budget comes from petroleum revenue. Civil war But its economy is in a slump, hurt by a collapse in world crude prices, long-standing debt, and the pandemic, as well as a reputation for corruption. Sassou Nguesso campaigned on agricultural development and portrayed himself as a defender of Congo’s youth — the average age of the population of five million is just 19, according to UN figures. After first coming to power in 1979, Sassou Nguesso was forced to introduce multi-party elections in 1991 and was defeated at the ballot box a year later. But he returned to power in 1997 following a prolonged civil war. He has won every election since, which the opposition have mostly slammed as fraudulent. A constitutional amendment in 2015, which ended a ban on presidential candidates aged over 70 and scrapped a two-term limit, allowed him to run again in 2016. AFP

Post Date : March 22, 2021

Arewa Youths To Ortom: Prove You Were Attacked By Fulani Herders

The Arewa Youth Federation (AYF) yesterday challenged Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom to prove that he was attacked by Fulani herdsmen on Saturday. AYF President, Adamu Kabir Matazu, told Daily that “We’ve seen attacks even against governors like was seen in the Boko Haram attack on Borno Governor Babagana Zulum and there was evidence. “But Ortom did not provide any evidence. Criminals come from all segments of the society, and there was not any evidence that he was attacked let alone by Fulani herdsmen.” Recall that Benue gov, Samuel Ortom’s convoy was attacked on Saturday by suspected herdsmen. It was gathered the Suspected herders rained many bullets on the gov’s convoy in an attempt to assassinate him .

Post Date : March 22, 2021

Pardon Ex-Governors Dariye, Nyame, Jonah Jang Begs Buhari

Jonah Jang, former Plateau governor, and Istifanus Gyang, senator representing Plateau North, have appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to facilitate the release of former governor Joshua Dariye from prison. NAN reports that the duo made the appeal on Sunday in Jos, Plateau state capital. The politicians asked the president to grant Dariye “executive pardon on compassionate ground”, noting that his health was deteriorating. The supreme court had on March 12 upheld Dariye’s conviction over criminal breach of trust, which attracted a 10-year jail. The court, had, however, quashed the charge bordering on criminal misappropriation of public funds. Jang also appealed that Jolly Nyame, former governor of Taraba, should be granted state pardon, having served part of his jail term. In February 2020, the supreme court had affirmed the judgment of the court of appeal which handed Nyame a 12- year jail sentence. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had charged Nyame with abuse of office. He was accused of diverting N1.64 billion during his tenure as governor of Taraba between 1999 and 2007. Speaking in the same vein, Gabriel Suswam, senator representing Benue North, backed the call for the release of Dariye and Nyame. “You both have my full support for this call. I think they deserve to be pardoned, particularly at this point in time,” he said. “I join them to call on the president to pardon these two gentlemen on compassionate ground.”

Post Date : March 22, 2021

Herdsmen allegedly attack Sunday Igboho mother’s residence

Suspected herdsmen have allegedly invaded the residence of mother of Yoruba rights activist, Sunday Adeyemo aka Sunday Igboho. Igboho’s spokesman, Olayomi Koiki, confirmed this on Sunday night via his Twitter handle. He wrote: “Chief Sunday Adeyemo’s mother’s house at Igboho was invaded by three Fulani men this evening around 7:54pm. “Two of them escaped, one is currently held at Igboho police station.” A former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode also confirmed the development on his twitter page. He stated: “Three terrorists were caught in Sunday Igboho’s mothers house and not two. One was caught and two escaped. “I just spoke to Sunday Igboho and he told me that two foreign Fulani terrorists were apprehended in his mother’s home in Igboho, Oyo state this evening. “Their mission was to harm Mama. One of them escaped whilst the other is with the police. Those that sent them are playing with fire.” He added: “I am appealing to those who are behind these provocations against his person & reckless attacks to desist from this nonsense. “Sunday is a heroic figure in the South West and by far the most powerful, vocal and popular figure in Yorubaland today. “Harming him or his family members will not augur well for the peace and stability of our nation.”

Post Date : March 22, 2021

Nigeria records 86 new COVID-19 infections, total now 161,737

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has recorded 86 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 161,737. The NCDC disclosed this on its official Twitter handle on Sunday. “On the 21st of March 2021, 86 new confirmed cases were recorded in Nigeria. “Till date, 161737 cases have been confirmed, 147899 cases have been discharged and 2030 deaths have been recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. The 86 new cases are reported from 7 states- FCT (33), Lagos (28), Ondo (11), Kano (7), Akwa Ibom (3), Rivers (3), and Kaduna (1),” the NCDC said.

Post Date : March 22, 2021

Senate queries Finance Ministry over failure to account for N2.8bn released from service wide vote

THE Senate has raised alarm over refusal of the Ministry of Finance to account for N2.8 billion service wide vote collected from the federation account. According to the Senate, the N2.8 billion was slated to take care of estacodes and other allowances for those representing the Federal Government in internationally organized annual board meetings, conferences and workshops, including contribution to Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC. The Senate Committee on Public Accounts, led by Senator Matthew Urhoghide, PDP, Edo South, which raised the alarm, said of the said amount, payment vouchers were raised for the sum of N113,558,372.85, leaving the sum of N2,772,214,120.42 unaccounted for. The committee is relying on the 2018 Auditor General of the Federation’s report to query on the unaccounted expenditures. Urhoghide, who expressed dissatisfaction with the abuse of service wide vote by government agencies, vowed to investigate management of service wide vote by agencies in 2021 budget. The query read: “ Financial Regulation 601 states, ‘All payment entries in the cash book/accounts shall be vouched for on one of the prescribed treasury forms. ‘’Vouchers shall be made out in favour of the person or persons to whom the money is actually due. Under no circumstances shall a cheque be raised, or cash paid for services for which a voucher has not been raised.” During our audit, it was observed that the sum of N2,885,772,493.27 was released to the Federal Ministry of Finance from the Service Wide Vote. “This is to take care of estacodes and other allowances for representing the Federal Government in internationally organized annual board meetings, conferences and workshops including contribution to Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC. “This infraction was due to the failure of the Permanent Secretary to seek approval from the appropriate authorities to incur the above expenditure which is seemingly unaccounted for. “The Ministry may carry out such unauthorized or unapproved expenditure that may lead to diversion of public funds for other purposes. It may also lead to mismanagement and underutilization of public funds.” In his response, the Permanent Secretary of Finance Ministry, Aliyu Ahmed, told the committee that he was not with response to the query at the moment, but pleaded with the committee to give him another time to appear. At the end of the day, the committee chairman ordered the permanent secretary to appear on Tuesday to respond to the query before the lawmakers. Urhoghide, who noted that only the public accounts committee looks into the service wide vote, stressed, however, that somebody must account for how the money was spent. He said: “It is only public account that looks at the service wide vote, what of this disbursement of service wide vote, somebody must account for it this year, you must account for it.”

Post Date : March 22, 2021

$1.5bn refinery repair: Nigerians should hold me accountable for every dollar, says Sylva

Timipre Sylva, minister of state for petroleum, says Nigerians should hold him accountable “for every dollar, every cent” spent on the Port Harcourt refinery. He said President Muhammadu Buhari wants to leave behind a legacy of functional refineries for Nigerians. Nigeria has four refineries — two in Port Harcourt and one each in Kaduna and Warri — with a combined capacity of 445,000 barrels per day. All four refineries are non-functional, after being shut down in 2020. On Wednesday, the federal executive council (FEC) meeting approved $1.5 billion for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery. The approval has since elicited critical reactions from various quarters, particularly from notable Nigerians like Atedo Peterside, Peter Obi, and Atiku Abubakar. Speaking on Sunday during a Channels Television programme monitored by TheCable, Sylva said the Buhari administration means well. “They (Nigerians) can hold me accountable and hold this government accountable for every dollar, every cent on this refinery and ensure that we deliver a refinery that works,” he said. “What President Muhammadu Buhari wants to leave as a legacy are refineries that are functional. “That is really where we are looking at because what is going to happen to those refineries will be decided by Nigerians and future administration.” ’18 MONTHS TO COMPLETE REHABILITATION’ The minister noted that the rehabilitation will take 18 months and the first phase will get the refinery to 90 percent operational capacity. “We’re not lying to Nigerians. We’ve told you that this is going to be in three phases and the first phase is definitely going to be within the tenure of this administration,” he said. “You should hold us. It is 18 months and we are going to take the refinery to 90 percent of its main capacity and that is what you should hold us to.” THREE SOURCES TO FUND REHABILITATION Sylva gave a breakdown of how the government intends to source the $1.5 billion required to repair the refinery. “Let me tell you how this rehabilitation is going to be funded; it is not going to be all debts, we are not going to borrow all the monies that are going into the rehabilitation,” he said. “NNPC is going to spend about $200 million from its internally generated revenue sources, while the federal appropriation will put in about $800 million and it is already broken down into three parts. “The 2020 appropriation will give $350 million, 2021 appropriation will give another $350 million, and 2022 appropriation will give another $100 million, making it all $800 million from appropriation, and then the rest of it will now come from Afrexim Bank.” ‘LOT OF GAINS FOR NIGERIANS’ Sylva said the rehabilitation of the refinery is “one way the government can generate revenue to invest in other sectors of the economy”. He said the refinery will benefit Nigerians and be commercially-viable “to produce profits for the government”. The minister added: “This rehabilitation will bring a lot of gains for Nigerians. First, we are gaining from savings in the foreign exchange end, savings from importation of premium motor spirit (PMS); and we will gain from the operations of the refineries itself.” Sylva noted that the Port Harcourt refinery, which has the capacity to produce 210,000 barrels per day, cannot satisfy Nigeria’s needs alone. “This refinery plus Dangote’s refinery, Kaduna refinery and Warri refinery will more than satisfy Nigeria’s requirements,” he added. “We are headed to a point where Nigeria will become a net exporter of refined petroleum products. So we will be able to satisfy Nigerians and also have excess in exporting these products.” The Cable