Dino Melaye, a disgrace to the Senate - Tinubu

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JULY 14, 2016—13
PIPELINE BOMBINGS: Militant group announces
ceasefire
•Waits on Buhari to reconsider stance on dialogue
•ExxonMobil lied about Qua Iboe crude export pipeline attack—Avengers
By Emma Amaize,
Regional Editor, South
South, Perez Brisibe &
Emem Idio
YENAGOA— A militant
group, Niger Delta
Revolutionary Crusaders,
NDRC, based in Bayelsa State,
yesterday, declared a twoweek
ceasefire within which it
urged President Muhammadu
Buhari to review his hard-line
stance to dialogue with
militants and first-rate leaders
of Niger Delta to prevent total
devastation of crude oil export
facilities in the region.
This came as the Niger Delta
Avengers, NDA, accused
ExxonMobil of telling lies
about the bombing of its Qua
Iboe 48-inch crude export
pipeline on Monday.
Spokesperson of Avengers, selfappointed
Brig-Gen Murdoch
Agbinibo, stated: “ExxonMobil
can deny or fool the general public
about their export pipeline blown
up on Monday. How long can
they lie to their investors? Just in
matter of days, the whole world
will see the truth. Qua Iboe 48”
crude oil export pipeline is down,
so says the Avengers.”
NDRC, which recently blew up
the Brass Creek Manifold, the
largest in West Africa, situated in
Peretorugbene, Ekeremor Local
Government Area, Bayelsa State,
said: “With clear evaluation of the
happenings and advice of wellmeaning
Nigerians and Niger
Delta stakeholders, we hereby,
declare a two-week ceasefire for
a sincere and proper dialogue.”
Spokesperson of the group,
WOI Izon-Ebi, said in a statement:
“We want the Federal Government
Oshiomhole advocates stringent laws against child
defilers, rapists
By Simon Ebegbulem
BENIN CITY—GOVERNOR
Adams Oshiomhole of Edo
State has raised alarm over the
increasing cases of child
defilement in the country, calling
on state Houses of Assemby to
pass stringent laws that will check
the situation which he described
as unacceptable.
The governor, when he received
the new leadership of the
International Federation of
Women Lawyers, Edo State
branch, led by Mrs Maria Edekor,
at his office, yesterday, said it takes
a lunatic to defile children aged
6,7 or 10, adding that such person
must be sent to prison to serve as
deterrent to others.
According to him, “We will not
do enough if we continue to
lament defilement, rape, and other
violent crimes that are targeted at
women. The number of rape cases
has been on the increase,
including cases of defilement of
to consult distinguished
personalities, royal fathers and
chiefs of the Niger Delta
communities. Government
should disassociate itself from
negotiating with political jobbers
in Abuja, but come down to the
Niger Delta communities.
“If after the two weeks of
ceasefire, nothing meaningful
happens, we have no option but
to redirect our next phase of
action to the exporting terminals
to stop total export of our
resources.
“We hereby, call on Mr.
President to do the needful by
being sincere to himself and
Nigerians in engaging in
meaningful dialogue to ensure
a lasting peace in the Niger Delta
and Nigeria in particular.
“We have lived all our lives as
children and it is totally
unacceptable.
“I am not sure anybody can
really explain why these vices are
on the increase. These are not
normal people and we need to
put such people out of circulation
by sending them to prison. I think
we also need to amend our law
By Emem Idio
YENAGOA—THE Bayelsa
State Government has set up
an eight-man panel to
investigate the circumstances
surrounding the collapse of a
three-storey building in Imiringi,
Ogbia Local Government Area of
the state.
Executive Secretary of Bayelsa
State Physical and Development
Board, Chief Iboro Idaba, who
inaugurated the panel in
victims and like fishes constantly
immersed in pools of pollution,
so it is no longer new to us.
Come to talk about explosion
and degradation, it did not start
today, it has been so for the past
50 years. That is why the
colonial masters pointed it out
categorically to Nigerians before
independence that the Ijaws
and the Ogoni communities
were priority areas of
concentration and development
by the Nigerian government.
“All we need is a clean
environment devoid of pollution,
development, good drinking
water, motor-able roads cutting
across our communities,
electricity, universities, resource
control.”
The group expressed
reservation about the Minister
on defilement to prescribe stiffer
penalties. Part of the challenge
of the Nigeria’s condition is that
people are happy to tell you to
charge them to court, so we need
to set up special courts or assign
some judges to dedicate their
time in hearing cases that have
to do with defilement or crimes
Bayelsa gets 8-man c'ttee to probe
collapse of 3 storey building
of Transport, Mr Chibuike
Amaechi, saying, “He is taking
his hatred against former
President, Dr. Goodluck
Jonathan and Ijaw nation too far,
which is too bad for the peace
and unity of the Niger Delta and
Nigeria in general.
“Maybe Amaechi, the current
Minister of Transport is not a
good historian, otherwise, he
should have known that the
three higher institutions in his
Ikwerre land except Rivers
State Polytechnic were
established by an Ijaw man,
Chief Diette Spiff, the then
military administrator of Rivers
State. They are Rivers State
University of Science and
Technology and University of
Port-Harcourt."
INSPECTION: Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State (2nd right), inspecting the
remodeling of Port Harcourt Civic Centre project, venue to host the forthcoming 2016
NBA Conference in Port Harcourt, yesterday. Photo: NAN.
Yenagoa, said that the action was
to “forestall any further building
collapse in the state.”
The terms of reference of the
panel include “investigating the
remote and the immediate
causes of the collapsed building,
integrity test on other existing
structures at the project site and
ascertaining their sustainability
for habitation among others.”
Idaba said that the panel’s
recommendation “will help
against women and children.”
Earlier in his address, Mrs
Edekor said that the visit was to
inform the governor of their
forthcoming FIDA week, with
the theme: “Women
Representations; a Catalyst for
Global Development.”
sensitise the populace on the
need to contract professionals
for their projects, while
encouraging commitment on
the part of professionals in the
industry.”
Idaba, who expressed
confidence in the panel made
up of professionals in the
building industry, urged them
to make sacrifices and
thoroughly and diligently look
at the assignment before them
and make recommendations to
the state government.
Youths task
NWC on
resolution of
Delta APC
crisis
By Tare Youdeowei
ASABA—YOUTHS of the
All Progressives Congress,
APC, Delta State chapter, have
called on the National Working
Committee, NWC, of the party
to urgently settle the
leadership impasse rocking the
party in the state.
The youths urged the NWC
to within seven days set up a
non-biased and broad-based
Caretaker Committee to pilot
the affairs of the party in the
state.
Rising from an emergency
meeting, the Delta APC youths
vowed to disrupt the party’s
meetings in all wards, local
governments and state level,
as well as declare a state of
emergency in the state chapter
if the crisis was unresolved.
The youths in a statement,
‘Gen’ Black Man said:
“Nothing can destroy a
government more quickly than
its failure to observe its own
laws or worse, its disrespect to
party faithful at the grassroots.
These same activities of the past
executives led to the shameful
loss of the APC during the
April 11, 2015 gubernatorial
election in the state.”
....As party
stalwart
appeals to VP
on dialogue
with militants
By Elizabeth Uwandu
WARRI—A Lawyer and
Delta All Progressives
Congress, APC, chieftain, in
Delta State, Jesutega
Onokpasa, has appealed to
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo
to rethink his submission on
dialogue with the Niger Delta
Avengers, NDA.
In a chat with newsmen,
yesterday in Warri, Onokpasa
described the statement
credited to the Vice President
as being “rather confusing,”
since he “would have thought
that the major problem posed
by the Avengers will be to get
them to come to the
negotiating table since they
seem to be deliberately elusive
and committed to remaining so.
“If government will not
negotiate with the Avengers,
because according to
Osinbajo, they are economic
opportunists, then one must
wonder who government aims
to negotiate with if at all it is
willing to negotiate in the first
place.
“The Avengers, if at all they
are willing to talk, must be
constructively engaged by
government," he said.