25052018 - BENUE KILLINGS: ETHNIC CLEANSING OR JIHAD? Soyinka, Northern leaders tango

12—Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 25, 2018
:Vanguard News :@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058
John-Jonah decries absence
of oil firms in Bayelsa
By Samuel
Oyadongha
Y ENAGOA—
BAYELSA State
deputy governor, Rear
Admiral Gboribiogha John-
Jonah (retd), has decried
the continued refusal of oil
companies to site their
operational offices in their
areas of operation.
This, according to him,
was unacceptable to the
state as taxes they ought to
pay to Bayelsa were paid
to other states where their
offices are situated.
He stated this in Yenagoa
when members of the
House of Representatives
Ad-hoc Committee on the
Petroleum Industry Bill
visited the state.
According to the deputy
governor, “Staff of most of
the oil companies will
simply come and work in
Wike emerges Leadership
Newspaper Governor of the Year
RIVERS
State
governor, Mr
Nyesom Wike has been
named Leadership
Newspaper Governor of the
Year 2017 for his
o u t s t a n d i n g
developmental strides.
The management of
Leadership Newspapers
honoured Governor Wike
as Governor of the Year on
the strength of his delivery
of projects that have
transformed Rivers State.
The award ceremony
which held at the
International Conference
Centre in Abuja, yesterday,
was attended by Vice
President Yemi Osinbajo,
Bayelsa State governor, Mr
Seriake Dickson, former
Cross River State Governor,
Mr Donald Duke, former
acting National Chairman
of PDP, Senator Ahmed
Makarfi and representative
Aftermath of NDU crisis:
Uneasy calm in Amassoma
By Emem Idio
Y ENAGOA—
NORMALCY is
gradually returning to
Amassoma, the host town
of Niger Delta University,
NDU, Bayelsa State, after
days of unrest which
reportedly led to loss of
lives.
Our reporter, who visited
the town yesterday,
observed that the streets
were empty, and although
life was beginning to pick
up, the once busy town
was still deserted and
devoid of the usual hustling
and bustling.
the state and return to cites
such as Lagos or Abuja
where they are located.
“Just recently, our
governor, Mr Seriake
Dickson took the matter up
with the Vice President, Prof
Yemi Osinbajo which
resulted to the issuance of
some appropriate executive
orders, but the expected
results have not
materialsed.”
He decried the volume of
gas being flared in the state,
saying: “One of the most
devastating forms of
pollution arising from
crude oil extraction is gas
flaring.”
He added that owing to
the devastating effects of
gas flaring, the state
government has
commissioned a study to
ascertain the effects of gas
flaring on the health of the
people of the state.
of Lagos State governor.
On hand to lend support
to the Rivers State Governor
were elder statesmen from
the state, National
Assembly members, state
lawmakers, commissioners,
special advisers and
stakeholders.
Receiving the Leadership
Governor of the Year Award
2017 on behalf of Governor
Wike, Speaker of the Rivers
State House of Assembly,
Mr Ikunyi-Owaji Ibani
assured that Wike will
sustain the development
projects that have earned
the state respect across the
world.
He noted that Rivers State
has become a huge
construction site where the
economy has been
energised because of the
commitment of their current
administration to the rapid
development of the state.
The main campus of the
university was under lock
while a detachment of
security operatives made
up of police and Nigeria
Security and Civil Defence
Corps, NSCDC, operatives
were stationed outside.
No fewer than 15 police
vans were sighted
including an Armoured
Personnel Carrier stationed
at the school gate, while
other vans patrolled the
town.
Economic and social
activities were virtually
absent as most shops and
business centres remained
shut.
EFCC arraigns Orbih, Ize-Iyamu, others over alleged
N700m money laundering
By Simon Ebegbulem
B ENIN—THE
Economic and
Financial Crimes
Commission, EFCC,
yesterday, arraigned the
Edo State chairman of
Peoples Democratic Party,
PDP, Chief Dan Orbih and
Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu
before a Federal High
Court sitting in Benin City,
Edo State, over alleged
laundering of N700 million.
Others arraigned include
former Deputy Governor of
the state, Mr Lucky
Imasuen, a former member
of the House of
Representatives, Tony
Azegbemi and Efe
Anthony.
The court ordered that the
defendants be remanded in
prison custody until they
meet their bail conditions.
Trial judge, Justice P.I
Adjokwu, remanded them
in prison custody after
rejecting a plea by counsel
to Ize-Iyamu, Chief
Charles Edosomwan, SAN,
that they be kept in the
custody of the EFCC.
In the charge, former
Chairman, Board of
Trustees of the PDP, Chief
Tony Anenih, was listed as
being at large.
The defendants were
arraigned on an eightcount
charge of money
laundering.
They, however, pleaded
not guilty when the charges
were read to them.
Counsel to the
defendants, Edosomwan
(Ize-Iyamu) Dr. O.G
Izevbuwa (Imasuen)
Kehinde Ogunsumi
(Azegbemi) Ferdinand
Orbih, SAN (Dan Orbih)
and Prof. Jim Akhere, in
their bail applications
pleaded that their clients be
granted bail on self
recognisance.
Justice Adjokwu granted
bail to the five accused
persons in the sum of N10
million each and a surety
in like sum who must be a
public servant in the rank
of level 16 and above.
WORKSHOP: From left: Mr. Adedayo Famakinwa, Chairman, House Committee on
Establishment,Training, Pension and Public Service; Dr. Akintola Benson Oke, Commissioner for
Establishment,Training and Pension; Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, Vice Chancellor, University of Lagos
and Guest Lecturer; and Mr. Ayodeji Aruna, Director of Training, during the two days Workshop on
Strategic Planning and its Effects on Work Force and Productivity, in Ikeja, Lagos.
Dickson to Buhari: No stability without
devolution, restructuring
A
B
By Johnbosco
Agbakwuru
U J A —
GOVERNOR
Siriake Dickson of Bayelsa
State has told President
Muhammadu Buhari that
Nigeria was in dire need
of restructuring and
devolution of power,
adding that without these,
there will not be stability in
the states of the federation.
The governor who met
President Buhari behind
closed doors at the
Presidential Villa, Abuja,
said there was need to carry
every section of the country
along, noting that the
Federal Government
should, as a matter of
urgency, have a change in
the approach to security
management especially in
the Niger Delta region.
Fielding questions from
state
House
correspondents after the
meeting, Dickson said “I
am here this afternoon
(yesterday) to see the
President and to discuss
with him critical national
issues and also issues that
are pertinent to the stability,
security and development
of Bayelsa State and the
Niger Delta region.
“And we had a very
fruitful discussion and I am
grateful to the President for
the opportunity he afforded
me to intimate him on the
challenges and also of the
prospects.
“You will recall that since
my re-election ,this is the
first time I will be here, I
am not a regular visitor
here. So, I thank the
President for availing me
the opportunity to share
perspectives on serious
issues on security, stability
and development of
Bayelsa and Niger Delta
region and Nigeria.
“We talked about the need
to revisit the Brass energy,
the need for change in
approach to security
management in the Niger
Delta, challenges of
stabilizing the Niger Delta
and need for federal
support.
“We talked about a whole
range of issues including
what we think should be the
final response to the ongoing
debate about devolution
and I believe that we had a
very fruitful interaction.”
On what were his concerns
on the issue of security
and what he would
want the President to do,
Dickson said, “I had a
discussion with the
President, he is the
President and
Commander-in-Chief, he
is the leader of the country
and these issues are
beyond partisan politics
and we had a frank
discussion."
Bunkering: We've no case to answer, 7
fishermen tell court
SEVEN
fishermen
currently facing trial
on two counts of conspiracy
and an attempt to deal on
petroleum products without
lawful authority, before a
Lagos Federal High Court,
yesterday, urged the court
to dismiss the charge
against them.
The seven fishermen are
Sewe Peter; Gbekpo Oke;
Tito Seraphen; Didi
Deudone; Axipke Ajimon;
Dege Semede and
Videgen Remi.
They were arraigned
before Justice Hadiza
Rabiu-Shagari, in
December 2017, by Lagos
Division of Nigerian
Security and Defence
Corps, NSCDC, on the two
counts charge.
The fishermen who are
Beninios, in a no-casesubmission
filed and
argued by their lawyer,
McAnthony Aikharialea,
stated that the prosecution
had not been able to established
or link them to the
alleged charge.
At the resumed hearing
of the matter, yesterday, ,
the fishermen’s lawyer,
Aikharialea, told the court
that his submission is
premised on the 1999
Constitution which states
that ‘it is unfair to hold an
individual based on the
offence they did not
commit’.