06032018 - Charge any Fulani man with AK-47 to court—BUHARI

8—VANGUARD, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2018
:Vanguard News :@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058
Boko Haram: Declare state of
emergency in Adamawa, Borno, Yobe
now, Clark tells Buhari
•Accuses Adamawa, Borno, Yobe govs of frustrating
efforts to end Boko Haram
By Henry Umoru
ABUJA— FORMER
Federal Commissioner
for Information and South-
South Leader, Chief Edwin
Clark, has called on
President Muhammadu
Buhari to urgently suspend
all democratic institutions in
Adamawa, Borno and Yobe
states and declare a state of
emergency in the states to
allow for full military control.
Addressing journalists,
yesterday, at his Asokoro
residence, Abuja, Clark, who
condemned in very strong
terms, the resurface of Boko
Haram insurgents in these
states and the abduction of
over 110 innocent secondary
schoolgirls in Dapchi, Yobe
State, said he had sleepless
nights when the ugly news
of Dapchi broke out.
He, however, accused
Governors Bindo Jibrilla;
Kashim Shettima and
Ibrahim Geidam of
Adamawa, Borno and Yobe
states respectively of
frustrating efforts of the
Federal Government to nip
the unfortunate war in the
bud because of what he
described as the governors’
selfishness and what they
stood to gain.
Clark added that the Borno
State governor took
advantage of being the
Chairman, Northern
Governors’ Forum to always
travel out of the state and
abandon his people.
In an open letter to
Attorney-General of the
Federation and Minister of
Justice, Abubakar Malami,
SAN, Clark said: “The
political dimension of the
fight against the insurgent
has not been adequately
considered; yet this is the
point of the fear in the
containment fabric.
"The governors of
Adamawa, Borno and Yobe
states, to Nigerians and
interested observers, as
criminal aloof, and distant
from a situation that is
primarily their responsibility
in each one’s respective state
where he is the chief security
officer, and behaving like any
other governor in Nigeria.
"It is in the light of this
obvious, gross dereliction of
constitutional duty of these
civilian governors that I am
here, calling on President
Muhammadu Buhari to
immediately declare a state
of emergency in each of
those states.
“In an emergency
situation, which is total, and
in which the civilian
administration is completely
neutralised for a period of six
months, a sole administrator
is more likely to take a very
pragmatic military view and
strategy against those
tormenting his territory; and
will be assimilated and fully
involved in the military
operation.
"Above all, I recommend
this drastic action because
the people of those states
need immediate succour,
and peace, to return to
normalcy that will enable
them participate as integral
parts of the Nigerian nation.
“Once again I congratulate
the armed forces for their
brilliant job. But we will be
deceiving ourselves if we
continue to believe that we
can defeat the Boko Haram
by allowing the state
government to operate side
by side with the military.
“Today, we are confronted
with the remnant of Boko
Haram moving in and out of
Nigeria carrying out attacks
and engaging in
frequent suicide bombings
in Sambisa forest, which had
earlier been the
headquarters of Boko
Haram but now taken over
by our gallant forces.
"But let me warn that the
battle is not over yet unless
the Federal Government
takes an unprecedented
drastic action to flush out the
disturbing and periodic
actions of the insurgents.
“I have had sleepless
nights thinking about the
recent easy abduction of over
110 innocent secondary
school girls in Dapchi, Yobe
State, while we are still
lamenting and grieving over
the abduction of the Chibok
schoolgirls on April 14, 2014.
"These have no doubt
thrown a big challenge to the
wonderful work being
carried out by the military in
terminating the insurgence
from the North East of
Nigeria.
“I submit that the present
security situation in the
country, particularly in the
North-East, where the
insurgents are still
challenging the territorial
integrity of Nigeria, bombing
and killing innocent citizens
and the recent abduction of
over 110 schoolgirls in
Dapchi, Yobe State, which
has now attracted global and
local attention, like the case
of Chibok schoolgirls, can no
longer be regarded as a
normal situation."
SEMINAR: From left, Chairman, Maryland School, Rev
Alayande Ajibola James; Executive Director, Corona Schools, Mrs
Yoyin Adeshina; Mrs Folashade Adefisayo, Keynote Spaeker and
Executive Consultant, Edumark Consult, Mrs Yinka Ogunde at Total
School Support Seminar/Exhibition, in Lagos.Photo: Akeem Salau.
NNPC’s N774m fuel subsidy to drop
•As landing cost falls to N166 per litre
By Udeme Akpan
THE N744 million under
recovery or fuel subsidy
currently incurred by
Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation,
NNPC, is set to drop as the
landing cost has already
fallen from N171 per litre to
N166 per litre.
Petroleum Products Pricing
Regulatory Agency, PPPRA,
with the responsibility to
publish template targeted at
guiding investors and users
of petroleum products as
well as the general public,
has not made its data public
for several months.
But investigation by
Vanguard in Apapa, Lagos,
where imported petroleum
products are stored before
they are lifted to other parts
of Nigeria, showed that the
landing cost, which
previously stood at N171 per
litre, dropped a few days ago
as a result of the fall in oil
price from $70 to $66 per
barrel in the international
market.
Consequently, Vanguard
gathered that the total cost
of imported fuel, including
marketer’s margin,
insurance, storage and
distribution has fallen from
N185 to N180 per litre.
The drop in total cost was
mainly attributed to the
recent fall in the price of crude
oil from $70 to $67 per barrel,
meaning that refinery
owners now pay less for crude
oil than before, thus resulting
in low price, and by extension
subsidy or under recovery
US worried about Nigeria,
other African countries’
debt overhang
THE United States of
America has
expressed worry about the
heavy indebtedness by
African countries a few
years after they were
relieved of their debts by
international financial
institutions.
The US Department of
State, during a background
briefing on the first trip of
Secretary of State, Rex
Tillerson to Africa, said
such loans were unhelpful
to the continent.
Mr. Tillerson will meet
with Nigeria’s President
Muhammadu Buhari and
also leaders of Chad,
Djibouti, Ethiopia and
Kenya during his travels
from March 6 to 13.
To date, debt reduction
packages under the
Heavily Indebted Poor
Countries, HIPC, Initiative
have been approved for 36
countries, 30 of them in
Africa, providing $76
billion in debt-service relief
over time.
In 2005, to help accelerate
progress toward the UN
Millennium Development
Goals, the HIPC Initiative
was supplemented by the
Multilateral Debt Relief
Initiative, MDRI.
Nigeria was one of the
countries that benefitted
from the debt relief under
ex-President Olusegun
Obasanjo. About $12
billion debt was cancelled
for Nigeria in a deal that
saw the country repay
about $18 billion.
The burgeoning debt by
the Nigerian government
since then, especially
during the Muhammadu
Buhari, has been of
concern to observers.
Vice President Yemi
Osinbajo, however, allayed
the fears in an interview on
Friday when he said the
borrowed sums were
judiciously being utilised
for massive infrastructural
projects across the country.
PDP chair: Adedoja
approaches court for
accelerated hearing of his
suit
By Dirisu Yakubu
ABUJA—LESS than a
week after the defection
of foundation members of
Peoples Democratic Party, PDP,
including Professors Tunde
Adeniran and Jerry Gana to
Social Democratic Party, SDP;
another chieftain of the party,
Professor Taoheed Adedoja
has approached a Federal
High Court sitting in Abuja,
seeking an accelerated
incurred by the NNPC.
Traders said the fuel
subsidy was not fixed but
rises or falls, depending on
developments in the
international oil market and
other variables.
Group Managing Director,
NNPC, Mr. Maikanti Baru,
had yesterday, put the
corporation’s daily fuel
subsidy at N744 million.
Over 46m Nigerians defecate openly—FG
By Suzan Edeh
B AUCHI—FEDERAL
Ministry of Water
Resources has disclosed
that Nigeria has the
highest number of persons,
who practice open
defecation with an estimate
of over 46 million.
Minister of Water
Resources, Suleiman
Hussein Adamu, disclosed
this during the official
celebration of local
government wide open
defecation free status by
Dass Local Government
Area under the Sanitation,
Hygiene and Water in
Nigeria, SHAWN, project
held at Waziri Mazadu
Primary School at Dass
Local Government
headquarters, Bauchi State.
The minister, who was
represented by Permanent
Secretary, Federal Ministry
of Water Resources, Musa
Ibrahim, said more than two
third of the Nigeria
population were without
access to basic sanitation
facilities, adding that efforts
in time past to address the
challenge yielded minimal
results.
He commended
UNICEF and the UK for
supporting the
implementation of the
SHAWN project in Nigeria,
which he noted, had been
implemented in 70 local
government areas of the six
states of Bauchi, Benue,
Katsina, Zamfara, Kaduna
and Jigawa, adding that the
project had been extended
to 100 LGAs in eight states.
hearing of the suit he filed
against the election of Prince
Uche Secondus as the national
chairman of the party.
Lawyers to Adedoja, one of
the aggrieved PDP national
chairmanship aspirants at the
December 9, 2017 convention
the party, Messrs Rickey Tarfa
& co, yesterday, approached
the court to request an
accelerated hearing to an
earlier suit filed on December
18, 2017 on behalf of its client,
Prof. Adedoja whose name
was “unlawfully excluded
from participating in the
December 9 national
chairmanship election of the
PDP.”
According to Adedoja in a
chat with Vanguard,
yesterday, “all the defendants/
respondents in this case,
including Prince Uche
Secondus, PDP and
Independent National
Electoral Commission, INEC,
had long been served with the
originating processes in the
earlier suit.
“The abridgement of time
sought by Rickey Tarfa is to
enable the case to be heard
by the Federal High Court
expeditiously as the aim of the
suit bothers wholly on the
right of Adedoja to participate
in the said convention
coupled with the need to
urgently determine the right
of the parties in the suit, to
enable INEC deal with the
valid and authentic national
chairman of PDP with respect
to the scheduled conduct of
any primary election or any
activity of the party requiring
any correspondence with
INEC.”