Release Deji Adeyanju Now or Face the Consequence, Civil Society Groups Warn Police

Release Deji Adeyanju Now or Face the Consequence, Civil Society Groups Warn Police

politics Unknown   05:05

Release Deji Adeyanju Now or Face the Consequence, Civil Society Groups Warn Police

The arrest of Prince Deji Adeyanju by the police over his mobilization of Nigerians to rally against the secret trial and freedom of Nnamdi Kanu, the IPOB leader, will spell doom for the nation. This much was contained in a statement signed by the Convener of the Movement for the Advancement of National Transformation (MANTRA), Comrade Jude Ndukwe on behalf of other civil society groups.
Deji Adeyanju, the Convener of Concerned Nigerians, a Pro-Democracy group, had organized the Pro-Nnamdi Kanu rally scheduled to take off at the Unity Fountain, Abuja, today, to call the attention of the world to what it called “the serial injustices and acts of brutality meted out to the leader of the IPOB group by the tyrannical government of the day”.
The statement reads in full below:
Following the urgent nature of the issue on ground, I have the mandate of over 50 civil society groups to make the following statement.
We have just heard of the arrest of Prince Deji Adeyanju, Convener of Concerned Nigerians, over his organization of a peaceful rally tagged #FreeNnamdiKanu which was meant to, once again, bring the attention of the world to the many inhuman treatments which the despotic government of Muhammadu Buhari has subjected the IPOB leader to including the secret trial he is forced to pass through.
Without much ado, we urgently and strongly demand that Mr Adeyanju be released immediately or this government which has so shamelessly descended into brazen fascism and tyranny in a supposed democratic dispensation will have the wrath of a resolute coalition of civil society organizations to contend with. This nonsense has got to stop!
The wanton arrests, detention and or even killing of journalists, bloggers, human rights and political activists and opponents, religious adherents etc, by this government has got to its height and we have to put an end to it now. We can no longer afford to continue to fold our arms while a very tiny fraction of our society as represented by the police and the military stifles us and deny us our inalienable rights. Enough is enough!
This government should be ready to face a flurry of furious protests capable of shutting government activities down if Deji Adeyanju and all those arrested with him are not released immediately.
The cause for which Deji was arrested is a just one. Nnamdi Kanu has no reason to be subjected to any secret trial and other deliberate humiliations from Muhammadu Buhari and his whimsical servants while notorious and murderous Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen terrorists are given kingly treatments and even paid compensations for murdering fellow Nigerians who do not share the same religion and ethnicity with those in power.
We have been in the trenches with Deji for some time now. We organized the Anti-Social Media Bill rally. It was peaceful. We organized the #IstandWithNigeria rally. It was peaceful. We organized the pro-Amnesty International Rally. It was peaceful. We organized a rally to warn the executive to stop undermining the legislative arm of government. It was also peaceful, and many more.
Deji Adeyanju is a peaceful activist. None of the rallies he called or participated in has ever gone violent. So why arrest such a man if not that this government is deliberately on the path of incurring the wrath of civil society groups?
We are watching and warning. The keg of gunpowder upon which this nation has been sitting since the inglorious second coming of Buhari is about to go off. Free Prince Deji Adeyanju now or face the consequences.
Signed:
Jude Chijioke Ndukwe
Convener, Movement for the Advancement of National Transfomation (MANTRA)
For and on behalf of Coalition of Civil Society Organisations

WELCOME TO JUSTICE CHIGOZIE'S BLOG: BUHARI DIDN’T DESERVE TO BE PRESIDENT —EZEKWESILI

WELCOME TO JUSTICE CHIGOZIE'S BLOG: BUHARI DIDN’T DESERVE TO BE PRESIDENT —EZEKWESILI

news Unknown   13:43

IMMIGRATION RECRUITMENT: BUHARI DIDN’T DESERVE TO BE PRESIDENT —EZEKWESILI

• Go and contest if you want to replace Buhari —Presidency

THE Convener of Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) and former Minister of Education, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, on Saturday, said President Muhammadu Buhari didn’t deserve to be president, due to his lackadaisical attitude to the plight of the 2000 Nigeria Immigration Service recruits, who slept at the entrance of Aso Villa in Abuja from Friday till Saturday morning.
But the Presidency in its reaction challenged the former minister to run for presidency and take over from President Buhari.
We recall that NIS recruits were trained on weapons handling and dispersed on August 20, 2015 from their various camps, following a circular, which emanated from the NIS headquarters in Abuja, directing them to go on two weeks break. Since then, they have not been recalled to their respective camps.
Ezekwesili, while appealing to the protesters to maintain decorum, also challenged President Buhari to come out and publicly address the alleged illegal recruitment which has permeated his administration in the last couple of months, saying “that was not the change Nigerians voted for.”
According to her, “you are great Nigerians. So, you slept here, Oh my God! Inside this cold of Abuja. Somebody holds you a better explanation, and if President Muhammadu Buhari says he doesn’t know that you slept here since yesterday, it means he doesn’t deserve to be there.
“This government should not punish those who did not deserve to be punished. Nothing should be done secretly. This is not the change Nigerians voted for. President Buhari should come out and address the allegation of illegal recruitment going on in the civil service,” she added.
She further alleged that the Federal Government was employing those who did not have knowledge, skills and required literacy through the backdoor into civil service without minding the consequence, while promising to join the recruits until their demands were acceded to by President Buhari.
Ezekwesili stated that the impunity Nigerians fought during the immediate past administration has resurfaced in the present administration of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
She frowned on the situation in which the underprivilegedwere being subjected to hardship before they could be employed into the civil service, pointing out that only the children of members of the National Assembly, Federal Executive Council and bigwigs in the country were gainfully employed, even without merit.
Also speaking, another convener, Mrs Aisha Yesufu said the immediate past administration deserved to be commended for redeeming its image by employing the recruits, wondering why President Buhari, who promised ‘change’ had subjected the youth who had undergone rigorous trainings, especially in weapons handling, to such humiliation.
Some of the other protesters, Godwin Ladi Mercy, Adeleye Adejoke, Salomi Yohanna and Usman Ugbede Yusuf, condemned government action, saying the Federal Government should not refer to the 2,000 youths as applicants, because they have been given provisional offer of appointments, NIS uniforms, identification cards and posted to various commands nationwide.
As of the time of filing this report, the protesters, who slept at the entrance of the Villa till Saturday, have vowed to remain there, until the president or any of his aides comes out to address them.
While reacting, the Senior Special Assistant to the president on media and publicity, Garba Shehu, advised Ezekwesili to form a political party to run for presidency if she felt Buhari was not doing well.
He told Sunday Tribune in Abuja that if she did so and won the election, Buhari would hand over to her.
Asked to react to Ezekwesili’s claims, Shehu said: “Did I hear you say that Madam Ezekwesili said President Muhammadu Buhari is not fit to be in that office?
“That is a political statement. What I will advise her to do is to come out of the shadow of the grieving Chibok parents, register a political party and go into the election against the APC and President Muhammadu Buhari.
“If she thinks she is a better person to be in that office, let her present herself to the Nigerian people in an election. She has the right to do so under our constitution.”
“The issue of democracy is that there is a right to vote and be voted for. If anybody thinks that they can do a better job than President Muhammadu Buhari as president of Nigeria, let them go and run for the office to win election and take over.”

-Tribune

We must know those who refunded money — Aborisade

We must know those who refunded money — Aborisade

politics Unknown   00:36

We must know those who refunded money — Aborisade

HUMAN rights activist and lawyer, Comrade Femi Aborisade, was a leading figure in the pro-democracy movement in the early nineties and was the National Secretary of the Joint Action Committee of Nigeria (JACON), which organized and unified Nigerians' resistance to the military. In 1994, along with Chief Gani Fawehinmi SAN, he helped form the National Conscience Party. Excerpts:
By Bartholomew Madukwe
WHAT is your reaction to the refusal of the administration to publish names of those who returned money to government?
On June 4, 2016 the Federal Government published the values of recovered cash loot, various sums involved in final forfeitures, interim forfeitures in local and foreign currencies and a list of 239 non-cash loot comprising farmlands, plots of land, vehicles, maritime vessels, completed and uncompleted buildings, between 29 May 2015 and 25 May 2016.
However, the identities of persons from whom the recoveries and forfeitures were collected were not disclosed, contrary to repeated promises made by the regime to name and shame former public officers who had looted public vaults.
Some persons, including Professors of law, have attempted to rationalize the non-disclosure of the names of persons from whom the recoveries were made and those involved in interim and final forfeitures, arguing that premature disclosure of names would have been illegal on the ground of likelihood of claims of damages for defamation; but none of those who share this opinion have gone ahead to cite the provisions of the law that would have been violated if Mr. President or any other arm of government named and shamed those who voluntarily made returns or have been made to suffer forfeitures.
Without doubt, the failure of the Federal Government of Nigeria to disclose the names of persons who voluntarily returned looted cash and those who have suffered asset forfeitures either on interim or final basis shows that the PMB/APC regime is succumbing to pressure in the fight for probity and transparency in the handling of public affairs. In the context of the fact that the identity of some other persons and the sums they allegedly looted had been disclosed before commencement and conclusion of their trials, the latest attitude of the regime amounts to double standards.
A fundamental point to first establish is that disclosure of the identities of persons who have voluntarily been making returns as well as those who have suffered forfeitures and the value of what they return or forfeited ought to be a product of a systematic process of investigation and prosecution through the judicial system rather than being politicized through agencies of the executive arm of government outside the judicial process. Where arrests are made pursuant to proper investigation and suspects are promptly charged to court, disclosures ought to be made in the ordinary course of prosecution of suspects.
In the process of prosecution, relevant agencies of government as well as individuals and organizations would have the opportunity to gather empirical and verifiable information on recovered or forfeited loot based on the processes filed in the court’s Registry.
Process of investigation
Indeed, the defendant may only be prosecuted and convicted based on proof by the prosecutor beyond reasonable doubt. A defendant who is accused of an offence is not obliged to answer any question in the process of investigation and interrogation.
But from the law as established by the apex court, is there is no legal liability that the Federal Government may suffer by disclosing the identities of persons who voluntarily made returns of looted funds and non-cash loots?
Indeed, in the case of looters who have been made to forfeit looted assets in final forfeiture orders, there is absolutely no legal liability for publishing such names. Similarly, publication of names of looters involved in interim forfeitures cannot be defamatory, provided the publication is factual and not false. The best tradition of a democratically elected government operating a written constitution and specific statutes governing specific areas of law is for government to charge suspects to court. In the process, the names of looters as well as the value of what they return or forfeited pursuant to any plea bargain agreements, confessional statements and/or admission of guilt would simultaneously become public knowledge.

The compelling conclusion that may be drawn is that the non-disclosure of the identities of suspected looters who have made returns is not in the public interest. Culled from vanguard news

Kaduna: Christian Man Accused Of Blasphemy And Stabbed For Eating During Ramadan

Kaduna: Christian Man Accused Of Blasphemy And Stabbed For Eating During Ramadan

news Unknown   12:03

Kaduna: Christian Man Accused Of Blasphemy And Stabbed For Eating During Ramadan
Barely 10 days after a mob killed an Igbo woman for allegedly committing blasphemy in Kano, a 41- year old carpenter, Francis Emmanuel, was stabbed on Tuesday, June 7, 2016,afternoon by unknown youths for eating during the Ramadan fast in Kaduna State.
Kaduna’s Governor Nasir El-Rufai visited the victim of the assault earlier this morning at St. Gerard Catholic Hospital where he ordered the police to fish out the perpetrators for prosecution.
The incident occurred at 2:30pm on Tuesday when Emmanuel was eating in his workshop when the youths suddenly appeared from nowhere and started attacking him for eating on the afternoon of Ramadan.
Speaking with journalists from his hospital bed, the carpenter spoke of his terrifying ordeal.
“It happened around 2:30pm at Sokoto Road, Kakuri, on Tuesday, when I went to the market to buy wood to do some work,” Emmanuel said. “So, when I came back, I bought food to eat. As I was eating, about six Hausa boys came to ask me if I am a Muslim or a Christian, but I did not answer them.”
“They asked why I was not fasting, then, I told them that I am not a Muslim. Before I know it, one of them slapped me. As I stood up, the rest came and surrounded me and started attacking me with knives.”
Emmanuel then told the gathered journalists he did not know the identity of the vicious and bigoted attackers.
“Nobody could come to my aid because of the type of knives the boys were carrying. They used cutlasses scissors and knives, I became unconscious, I don’t even know who brought me to the hospital,” he added.

FG TO REMOVE FERTILIZER SUBSIDY

FG TO REMOVE FERTILIZER SUBSIDY

politics Unknown   12:27

• No plan by FG to remove subsidy on fertiliser, says Official
• 
  
• Abuja – Prof. Victor Chude, the Chairman, National Fertiliser Technical Committee, Ministry of Agriculture, says the Federal Government has no plan of removing fertiliser subsidy now as alleged in some media reports.
• 
  
• Chude said this in an interview with on the sidelines of the 2nd Annual West African Fertiliser Stakeholders Forum in Abuja on Friday.
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• Some media reports had quoted Chief Audu Ogbeh, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, as saying that the government had removed subsidy on fertiliser.
• 
  
• He said the subsidy would only be removed after the government had met farmers` conditions of prompt availability and affordability of the commodity.
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• “Government is not removing subsidy now.
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• “It would be removed at a fixed period on a condition that farmers get the right fertiliser such as crop and soil specific fertiliser at the right time, early enough before the rains and at a good price.
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• “Farmers must also have access to credit at single digit interest rate at five per cent and the value to the produce, which is what the Federal Government is working to achieve.
• 
  
• “Once these conditions are met, the subsidy will be removed.
• 
  
• “Farmers would not need the subsidy by then because they will have access to the credit at affordable interest rate of five per cent compared to 20-25 per cent that banks are currently giving.
• 
  

• “It is only when they have achieved this that subsidy can be removed, “ the chairman said.

Brent back above $49 as oil prices resume uptick

Brent back above $49 as oil prices resume uptick

politics Unknown   02:07

Brent back above $49 as oil prices resume uptick

Brent crude powered back above $49 a barrel in Asia Friday as oil prices resumed their rise after the dollar eased and militants blew up another pipeline in African producer Nigeria.



A rally that pushed oil prices to a series of 2016 highs since last week had taken a breather over the past two days after minutes of an April meeting showed that the US Fed kept the door open to raising interest rates in June, sending the dollar higher.

A stronger greenback puts downward pressure on oil, as it makes the dollar-priced commodity more expensive, curtailing demand and depressing prices.

At around 0615 GMT, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in June was up 48 cents, or 1.00 percent, at $48.64 and Brent crude for July gained 39 cents, or 0.80 percent, to $49.20.

Analysts said prices resumed their uptick after the dollar eased and threats of supply disruptions returned to the fore following the bombing of a gas pipeline owned by the Nigerian subsidiary of Italy’s Eni in the latest attack on the country’s oil facilities.

Earlier, a new militant group called the Niger Delta Avengers(NDA) carried out several attacks on key pipelines and facilities operated by oil majors Shell and Chevron, hurting output in Africa’s biggest economy and major crude producer.

Officials said Nigeria’s output had slumped to 1.4 million barrels per day from 2.2 million because of the unrest.

The Nigeria disruptions come on top of a reduction in Canada’s output due to wildfires threatening the country’s oil sands region.

“The pause in the dollar rally and continued concerns over supply disruptions in Nigeria are supportive of oil prices,” said Bernard Aw, an analyst with IG Markets in Singapore.

“In addition, Anas Al-Saleh, Kuwait’s acting oil minister… expects the oil market to rebalance in the second half of this year as demand increases. Therefore, it could be only a matter of time before crude pushes beyond $50,” he told AFP.

US Federal Reserve policymakers meet from June 14-15, with investors watching their decision on interest rates.

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries also meets on June 2 in Vienna, with the market fixed on whether they will take action to