29042019 - Economy bleeds as power system collapses

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8—Vanguard, MONDAY, APRIL 29 , 2019
:Vanguard News :@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058
AGM: From left, Non-Executive Director, Charles Umolu; Chairman, Board of Directors,
Ernest Ebi; Executive Director, South, Aku Odinkemelu; Managing Director/Chief Executive
Officer, Nnamdi Okonkwo, all of Fidelity Bank Plc, at the 31st Annual General Meeting of the
bank, in Lagos.
New cabinet: Hope rises for Enang, as
Akpabio opts for NASS
•Akpabio confident he’ll retrieve ‘stolen mandate’ in court
By Soni Daniel,
Northern Region
Editor
AS
President
Muhammadu Buhari
constitutes a new cabinet to
run the machinery of
government for his second
tenure, the coast appears to
be clearing for the emergence
of his current National
Assembly aide as a full-fledge
minister from Akwa Ibom State
in the new set up.
Competent party leaders
told Vanguard, yesterday, that
there was a gentleman’s
understanding that Buhari’s
Senior Special Assistant on
National Assembly Matters,
Senator Ita Enang, should
take the ministerial slot
should All Progressives
Congress, APC, win the
presidential contest.
A source conversant with
the development said having
spearheaded and remained
the face of APC in Akwa Ibom
State for over three years
before other gladiators joined,
Enang merited the attention
he was getting from the
president.
Akpabio confident
he’ll retrieve ‘stolen
mandate’
in court
The slot is believed to have
shifted in his favour,
following information that the
former governor of the state,
Godswill Akpabio, who was
also being considered for the
post, appears to have hinted
that he would reclaim his
mandate and return to the
Senate.
A top party official in Akwa
Ibom State said, yesterday,
that Akpabio had told close
associates that he would win
his petition at the tribunal and
reclaim his mandate from
former deputy governor, Dr.
Chris Ekpenyong, who was
declared winner last month.
The top APC official
said:“The former governor is
convinced that he has
concrete evidence to prove
that INEC connived with PDP
to rob him of a well deserved
victory by refusing to add the
result of the votes in his key
strongholds of Essien Udim
Local Government Area and
other places where he won.
“Akpabio intends to fight the
injustice meted out to him
and win to remain in the
National Assembly and
contribute his quota to
national development and
Akwa Ibom State, given the
massive support he enjoyed
from them during the poll.’’
The current minister from
Akwa Ibom in the cabinet,
Udoma Udo Udoma, is said
to have hinted that he would
opt of the political post after
May 29, despite a preference
by the Presidency for him to
be retained.
The only concern that
natives of the state have about
the presidential aide is that
he has been representing the
state at the National
Assembly since the return to
democracy in 1999.
Besides, some ethnic
groups outside Ibibio nation
where Enang hails from,
may also want to take a shot
at the ministerial post, having
not been represented for
many years.
UTME: We've uncovered new scam
to defraud candidates — JAMB
By Joseph
Erunke
ABUJA—AS candidates,
who sat for the 2019 Unified
Tertiary Matriculation
Examination, UTME, await
release of their results, Joint
Admissions and Matriculation
Board, JAMB, has alerted
of fresh plots being deployed
by fraudsters to dupe
unsuspecting candidates.
To this end, the
board,which said this in a
weekly news bulletin, released
to the media, yesterday,
by its Head of Media,Dr
Fabian Benjamin, has advised
candidates to jealously
guard their UTME registration
numbers and profile
codes to avoid falling victims
of this latest scam.
It also said over 200 candidates,
drawn from seven
countries, participated in its
UTME conducted on Saturday.
Mode of
operation
JAMB stated: "Candidates
should know that what these
fraudsters do is to take advantage
of their naivety and, subsequently,
obtain their registration
numbers with which
they print their examination
notification slips, which contain
the candidates’ phone
number and other vital data.
“These fraudsters then use
this information to send messages
to same candidates disguising
as officials of the
board or persons who have
special information, access
and capacity to inflate the candidates’
scores among other
things.
“Their strategy is akin to that
of a police officer who is unmindful
of the fact that he is
wearing his name tag on his
uniform and when you address
him by his name, he is
surprised that you know his
name.
“The board urges candidates
to see their registration
numbers and profile codes as
security data similar to the Automated
Teller Machine,
ATM, pin numbers, which
admit them to make withdrawal
from their accounts.
“The fraudsters use the information
derived from the
examination notification slip
printed using the candidates’
registration number to open
up a line of communication
with candidates to dangle the
enticing offer of awarding
them higher scores in the yetto-be
released 2019 UTME
results among other mouth
watering promises.
“ This is fraudulent as they
lack the capacity to do any of
such. Candidates are, therefore,
enjoined to disregard
messages or calls from anybody
claiming to have access
to the board’s classified information.
“The board wishes to state
emphatically that the results
of the 2019 UTME have not
been released.”
Conducts UTME for
200 candidates
in 7 countries
Meanwhile, JAMB has
said over 200 candidates,
drawn from seven countries,
participated in its UTME conducted
last Saturday.
The board said the exercise,
which took place in the United
Kingdom,
Ghana,Cameroon, Benin
Republic, Cote d’Ivoire,South
Africa and the Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia, was successful.
Why I was detained by
Buhari’s military regime
— Lamido of Adamawa
THE Lamido of Adamawa,
Aliyu Mustapha, said,
weekend, that he was
detained by the military
administration of
Muhammadu Buhari after it
toppled the civilian
administration led by
President Shehu Shagari in
1983 because he was a
commissioner in the civilian
government of the then
Gongola State.
Mustapha gave the
explanation while receiving
the Programme Manager of
Wadata Communication
Limited, Zubair Idris, who
paid him a courtesy visit after
an event in Yola.
He recalled that the new
military regime ordered the
detention of all the politicians
in government at the time for
investigation for alleged
corruption, adding: “I was
investigated and found to be
Reps speakership: Open ballot
system won’t work
— Lawmakers
ABUJA—AMID calls for
the adoption of open
ballot system in the election
of presiding officers of the 9th
National Assembly, two
lawmakers in the House of
Representatives said,
yesterday, that the lower
chamber’s laid down rules
could not be disregarded.
The lawmakers, Rimamnde
Shawulu (PDP-Taraba) and
Kehinde Agboola (PDP-
Ekiti), made the remarks in
separate interviews with
News Agency of Nigeria in
Abuja.
According to Shawulu, any
attempt to change the House
of Representatives’ Standing
Orders in the 9th Assembly
election without following
due process will be an
aberration to the practice.
The lawmaker, who got reelected
in the February 23
National Assembly polls, said
promoters of open ballot
election were not well
informed.
He said: “Let them come
from outside and amend the
rules. President
OPERATION PUFF ADDER:
Police arrest 18 suspected
kidnappers, recover 22 AK-47
rifles, others
By Kingsley
Omonobi &
Joseph Erunke
ABUJA—THE police
authorities have said
detectives attached to
Operation Puff Adder have
arrested 18 more notorious
kidnap suspects across the
country.
The police in a statement
by Force Public Relations
Officer, DCP Frank Mba, also
said the detectives
clean and subsequently
released.”
The traditional ruler
declared his full support for
the fight against corruption
and lauded the Buhari
administration for its
commitment to check
corruption.
Idris was in Yola to organise
a town hall meeting on the
anti-corruption campaign,
with support from US-based
MacArthur Foundation.
Earlier, Idris informed the
monarch of the town hall
meeting, which attracted
traditional and religious
leaders, civil society
organisations, educationists,
media practitioners and other
stakeholders.
He commended the
monarch for establishing
Pulaku FM that has been
partnering with the firm in
the fight against corruption,
using the local languages.
Muhammadu Buhari said
he could not assent to the
Electoral Act because it was
too close to the 2019 general
elections.
“Now, we have some weeks
to the election and you want
to amend how leadership is
elected. That is double
standard; it doesn’t make
sense.”
The lawmaker, who is the
Chairman, House
Committee on Army,
however, said the rules would
have to be amended at the
lower chamber before anyone
could talk about open ballot.
“The rules are already set;
any member, who wants the
rules amended, can bring the
motion to the floor of the
house. And if it is passed, it
becomes law but now, the
rules of the house have been
there since 2011.
Corroborating Shawulu’s
remark, Agboola said
adopting open ballot “will
amount to shifting a goal post
at the middle of a football
match. We have never voted
in the house on open ballot.
So we will not take that; they
can’t dictate to us."
recovered a total of 22 AK-
47 rifles, five locally-made
pistols and a cache of live
ammunition.
The statement read:
“Sequel to the arrest of the
‘spiritual father’ of
kidnappers and armed
bandits operating in the
northern part of the country,
one Mallam Salisu Abubakar,
Police detectives attached to
Operation Puff Adder,
through a series of detailed,
intensive and sustained
investigative operations,
successfully arrested 18 more
notorious kidnappers and
armed robbers at different
times and places across the
country.
“A total of 22 AK-47 rifles,
five locally fabricated pistols
and a cache of live
ammunition were recovered
from the bandits.
“The combined team of
crack detectives from IRT, TIU
and other operatives, using
actionable intelligence
obtained from the spiritual
godfather of the kidnappers
and other multiple sources,
tactically ‘smoked out’ the
kidnappers and armed
bandits from their hide-outs
in Birnin Gwari, Rijana,
Katari, Mai Daro and Buruku
forests in Kaduna State before
they were eventually arrested
at different locations and
times in Kaduna, Katsina,
Niger and Kogi states
respectively.
“Police investigations have
positively linked the arrested
suspects to some of the most
heinous crimes committed in
Kaduna State and its environs
in recent times."