23022018 - Confusion over Yobe girls; angry parents stone gov

Vanguard, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2018—3
:Vanguard News :@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058
DANGOTE AWARDS: From left, Mr Olakunle Alake, Director, Dangote Sugar; Mr
Victor Osadolor, Deputy Managing Director, UBA Plc; Mr Muyiwa Bakare; Mr Femi Otedola;
Alhaji Aliko Dangote, President, Dangote Group, and Mr Asue Ighodalo, Chairman, Sterling
Bank Plc during Dangote Foods Gala Nite Award, in Lagos. Photo: Kehinde Gbadamosi
From left, Corporate Strategy Specialist, Mariya Aliko-Dangote;
President/CE, Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote; winner
of overall top performing distributor of Dangote Foods, Ali Balarabe;
Executive Director, Sales & Marketing, Dangote Flour Mills Plc,
Halima Aliko-Dangote; and Executive Director, Commercial,
NASCON Allied Industries Plc, Fatima Aliko-Dangote at the event.
Northern Senators divided
over Adamu's sack
•Why I was removed —Adamu
By Henry Umoru
ABUJA— The crack in
the Northern Senators
Forum, yesterday, took
another dimension, as
Senator Ali Wakili (APC,
Bauchi South), disagreed
with his colleagues on the
removal of the forum’s
immediate past chairman,
Senator Abdullahi Adamu
(APC, Nasarawa West).
Speaking on the floor of
the Senate, yesterday,
Senator Ali Wakili, said
there was no meeting
where members reached the
decision to remove
Abdullahi Adamu, adding
that his constituency and
prominent leaders in the
North were scandalised by
what had happened.
He said: “My
constituency and other
leaders of the North are
disgusted, asking why we
are trying to destroy our
leadership.”
Wakili, who came under a
point of Order, Order 14 and
15 of the Senate Standing
Rules 2015 (as amended),
drew the attention of his
colleagues to the fact that at
no time did the Forum meet
to sack Adamu as its
chairman.
Wakili said he took
exception to remarks
concerning “monkeys,”
even as he accused Senate
spokesman, Aliyu Sabi
Abdullahi, of leading the
pack of lawmakers that
briefed journalists on
Wednesday.
Deputy Senate President,
Senator Ike Ekweremadu
who also presided over
plenary yesterday, did not
allow for any debate on the
matter. He simply said,
‘Noted’.
But refusing to allow the
matter to die, Senator Aliyu
Sabi Abdullahi absolved
himself of any blame,
saying he refused to
comment on the issue
when he briefed journalists
on Wednesday.
Why I was removed
—Adamu
Meanwhile, Abdullahi
Adamu, who was removed
as chairman of Northern
Senators’ Forum on
Wednesday, has denied
allegation that he
mismanaged funds
belonging to the group.
Adamu, who also attacked
ex-President Olusegun
Obasanjo for criticising
President Muhammadu
Buhari, in an interview with
Channels Television,
yesterday, said the
allegation was raised
against him because he
rejected the passage of
election sequence by the
Senate.
•To invest $4.6 bn in sugar, rice,
others in 3 years
By Prince Okafor
LAGOS— PRESIDENT
and Chief Executive,
Dangote Group, Mr. Aliko
Dangote, has said his
companies annual revenue for
2017 exceeded $4.1 billion.
He also disclosed that the
group planned to invest $4.6
billion over the next three
years in sugar, rice and dairy
production alone.
Speaking during the
Dangote Food Distributors
Award night in Lagos,
Dangote said: “In 2017, our
annual revenues exceeded
$4.1 billion. Our new projects
include the world’s largest
single train petroleum
refinery, which is being built
in Ibeju-Lekki in Lagos at the
cost of $12 billion.
‘’This, we believe, will
We're yet to fully return
to CAN — Catholic Bishops
CATHOLIC Bishop
Conference of Nigeria,
CBCN, has denied media
reports that it has returned
to Christian Association of
Nigeria, CAN.
CAN had informed
Nigerians in a statement on
Sunday that the CBCN was
back to its national body after
five years of withdrawal.
But in an exclusive
interview with online portal,
Premium Times,
Wednesday, the CBCN
president, Ignatius
Kaigama, said although
negotiations were ongoing
for the expected return, the
CBCN was yet to take a final
decision about rejoining the
umbrella body.
He said: “We want to
dialogue and conclude some
issues of the constitution. We
are still talking, we are still
negotiating. We are still reexamining
how things have
• We're for peaceful
coexistence — Military
By Peter Duru
M AKURDI—BARELY
48 hours after the
deployment of military to
Benue State to check bloody
herdsmen incursions, ethnic
leaders of the state have
expressed displeasure and
apprehension over their
activities, alleging that the
exercise was aimed at
providing cover for armed
Dangote Group’s
revenue exceeds $4.1bn
in 2017
been, so that when we return,
our return will be total and
complete. So the statement
you saw did not emanate
from the Catholic Church,
although we are working
with CAN at the state levels.
“When we are through
with our dialogue and
negotiations with the
Christian Association of
Nigeria and we are mutually
satisfied, we as the Catholic
Bishops Conference will
issue a statement to that
effect.”
Given the position of the
CBCN, CAN President,
Samson Ayokunle,
explained that his media
aide interpreted the decision
of the CBCN to attend the
constitution review and the
executive council meeting
organised by CAN, to mean
that the Catholic Bishops
had returned to the
association.
Exercise Ayem A’ Kpatema:
Benue leaders accuse
military of giving herdsmen
cover
address Nigeria’s energy
needs and eliminate
importation of refined
petroleum products.
“We will continue to launch
massive agricultural projects
across the country in rice and
dairy farming. Our push for
backward integration in
providing our own raw
materials on a massive scale
has led to the planned
investment of $4.6 billion over
the next three years in sugar,
rice and dairy production
alone. That will eliminate the
country’s reliance on imported
materials, and the foreign
exchange headaches that
come with it.
“We developed a sugar
backward integration project
plan targeted at the production
of 1.5MT/PA from various sites
across Nigeria, in the next 10
years.
“To this end, we are
acquiring about 150,000
hectares for sugar plantation
in Adamawa, Taraba,
Nasarawa, Kwara, Kogi and
Niger states. We signed an
MoU with Nasarawa State
government recently, for the
construction of an integrated
sugar complex located at
Tunga.
“We envisage that we will
generate over 100,000
employment opportunities
from all these sugar projects.
In addition, we will establish
integrated sugar mills within
these locations, generate
electricity, and produce
animal feeds from bagasse
and molasses.
“At Dangote Flour Mills, we
have a three-point growth
plan; focus on sustaining high
product quality, improving
customer engagement and
strengthening supply chain
capabilities. We introduced
new improved pasta product
called Excellente.”
Dangote further disclosed
that the group was planning
new investments in NASCON
Allied Industries.
herdsmen to take over
Benue land.
But in a swift reaction,
Deputy Director, Army Public
Relations, 707 Special Forces
Brigade Makurdi, Major
Olabisi Ayeni, maintained
that the army would, in the
course of the exercise, bring
the killings to an end and
ensure peaceful coexistence
in all Benue communities.
In a statement issued by
Chairman of the joint ethnic
leaders and President
General of Mdzough U Tiv,
Chief Edward Ujege, on
behalf of the Idoma National
Forum and the Omi
Ny’Igede, they accused the
military of allowing open
grazing in the state.
The statement read in part:
“We wish to express our
profound displeasure at the
emerging trends of the
military operation tagged,
Ayem A' Kpatema.
“The general public may
recall our initial
apprehension about the real
mission of troops deployed
to Benue State and true to
our predictions, the flag off
of the exercise has confirmed
our fears.
"A pamphlet circulated by
Nigerian Army has defined
the real intention of the
military in Benue State. The
pamphlet confirmed that the
military had come to provide
cover for armed herdsmen to
take over our land.
‘’The publication of the
pamphlet in Tiv language
gives the impression that the
Tiv are the target of the
exercise, whereas the
herdsmen attacks cut across
the entire Benue State, which
is multi ethnic. This profiling
of the Tiv people is also
unacceptable.”
We are for peaceful
coexistence
— Military
However, the counter
statement by the military
read in part: “The Nigeria
Army is a Federal
Government agency
saddled with the
responsibility of protecting
the lives and property of
Nigerians as well as protect
the territorial integrity of
Nigeria.
“All that the army needs to
do here is to ensure that no
Benue resident is killed or
displaced from their homes,
that is all we are doing.
"We want to ensure
peaceful coexistence among
the herders and farmers. We
are not saying herdsmen
should not obey the anti
open grazing law enacted
by the Benue State
government.