09042021- Insecurity: Tension mounts in Imo, Abia, Rivers

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8 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 2021 :Vanguard News Bandits must be wiped out because they’ve lost rights to live, El-Rufai insists By Ibrahim HassanWuyo KADUNA — Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has said bandits terrorising Nigeria have lost their rights to life under the constitution and must be wiped out. He also said a situation where security agencies only responded to incidents of banditry was unacceptable. The governor stated this at a town hall meeting on national security organised by the Ministry of Information and Culture held in Kaduna, with theme, “Setting Benchmark for Enhanced and National Unity in Nigeria”. He said: “The bandits are at war with Nigeria and there is no other way to approach the current insurgency but for security forces to take the war to the bandits and recover forests where they are occupying. “The security agencies mostly react to cases of banditry and abduction, we are in a war with these terrorist challenging the sovereignty of the Nigerian state. “Our security forces must collaborate to take the war to the bandits and terrorist, recover and restore the forest to enable our law abiding citizens to engage in legitimate farming and livestock production,’’ El-Rufai stated that no one in a position of responsibility could deny the need for sustained action against criminals, adding that security operations that were more proactive would cripple the outlaws and reassure ordinary citizens. He said government must identify and deal with non state-actors and others challenging the existence of the country. The governor advised that :@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058 ICAN CONFERENCE: From left — Chief Risk & Compliance Officer, MTN Nigeria, Cyril Ilok; Chief Transformation Officer, MTN Nigeria, Olubayo Adekanmbi; Chief Financial Officer, MTN Nigeria, Modupe Kadiri and President, Institute of Chartered Accountants Nigeria, Mrs Onome Joy Adewuyi during ICAN's 50th Annual Accountants’ Conference at the International Conference Centre (ICC), Abuja sponsored by MTN Nigeria. ...Says it’s unacceptable that security agencies only react to banditry security forces should be increased and be well equipped to deal with insurgency, adding that judiciary must also be decentralised to serve justice. “To address the banditry problem, we must implement the National Livestock Transformation Plan, NLTP, already produced four years ago to enable accelerated investment in modern animal husbandry on operating rapid decentralization of herders in known locations,” he said. Governor El-Rufai also stressed the need for security agencies to be proactive in the fight against banditry and other violent crime, saying a situation where they only responded to incidents of banditry was unacceptable. He said security agencies must collaborate and take the fight to bandits and kidnappers because the country was at war with them. “The situation in which the security agencies mostly only react to cases of banditry and abduction is unacceptable. “We are in a war with these terrorists who are challenging the sovereignty and monopoly of the instruments of coercion of the Nigerian state and its territory. “Our security forces must collaborate to take the war to them, recover and restore the un-governed forests these terrorists occupy, and enable our law-abiding citizens to engage in their legitimate pursuits,’’ the governor said. He reiterated his position that bandits must be “wiped out” because they had lost their right to life, by virtue of the constitution. He said: “These bandits have lost their right to life under our constitution and must be wiped out in their entirety. There is no other way to approach the current insurgency situation today as far as governmental action is concerned.’’ Dangote, Flour Mills, BUA in bitter sugar war By Kenneth Ehigiator ABUJA — Three Nigeri an conglomerates – Dangote Group, Flour Mills and BUA Group are currently locked in a bitter war over production and export of sugar. Chairman of Dangote Group of Companies, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, and Chairman of Flour Mills Nigeria, Mr. John Coumantaros, had on January 28,2021, written the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Niyi Adebayo, accusing BUA’s refinery in Bundu Free Trade Zone in Port Harcourt of undermining the national sugar master plan, NSMP. BUA Group has fought back at claims by Dangote Industries Limited and Flour Mills of Nigeria that its sugar refinery “poses a threat” to the Nigerian local sugar industry. The NSMP is a policy road map for sugar production introduced in 2013 to achieve self-sufficiency in sugar production and save foreign exchange on the importation of sugar and ethanol. In the joint letter, Dangote and Coumantaros alleged that the sugar refinery in Port Harcourt was built with the intention to undermine the NSMP, and asked the minister to investigate the quantity of raw sugar imported by BUA’s sugar refinery, with a view to imposing on the company 60 percent duty and 10 percent levy. Calling for a fair and discipline implementation of the NSMP by the regulator, the Nigerian Sugar Development Council, NSDC, the duo stated in the letter: “Publicly available information suggests that BUA International, one of the players in the sugar industry, has commissioned a sugar plant in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. ‘’With the new refinery, the country’s refining capacity goes from 2.75 million metric tones to 3.4 million metric tones per annum, or from 170 percent over capacity over last year’s import quota to over 210 percent capacity. “This investment in the Port Harcourt refinery was clearly done with the intention to undermine the NSMP. We are particularly surprised by the brazenness as we believe that the choice of location and the publicity campaign behind the investment has been deliberately engineered to provoke public sentiment and put the Federal Republic of Nigeria against its people.” They also asked the ministry to ensure that no additional allocation of quota was given for raw, very high polarity sugar or refined sugar for the refinery in Port Harcourt for local market production. But responding to a request for information from the trade ministry over the petition, Chairman of the BUA Group, Abdul Samad Rabiu, said his company’s project was governed under the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority, NEPZA Act and the Free Zone approved by President Muhammadu Buhari. Rabiu, who noted that Dangote and Coumantaros were calling to question the authority of the President’s power and the diligence of the trade ministry, said: “Therefore, we see this as an affront to the powers of the president and an attempt to undermine Nigeria and its institutions as well as edge out competition, to gain a monopoly that holds the country to ransom.’’ Describing the duo as coconspirators, Rabiu, in his response dated February 11, 2021, said it was a well-known fact “in Nigeria and anywhere in the world that wherever Dangote is operating in any sector or business, he seeks to muscle out competition through any means necessary” and “this scenario is playing out again in this case. “It is, however, strange that his current co-conspirator, John Coumantaros, a Greek/ American national, was once a victim of Dangote’s. ‘’They are only just acting as friends in connivance because of their interest to push out competition and create a monopoly for themselves.” He said under the NEPZA act, companies were allowed to process and, if they so wished, sell 100 percent of their production in Nigeria with payment of duties based on the current raw materials’ tariffs. “As a matter of fact, Aliko Dangote of Dangote Industries, who is one of the complainants alleging and attacking this approval has also applied and obtained the same approval for his refinery project in Lekki, Lagos State, where he is currently enjoying the benefit of the being in an NEPZ,” he said. He said his sugar refinery in Port Harcourt was mainly for export, rather than the Nigerian market, adding that it was doing everything possible to ensure that its backward integration programme, BIP, was on course through it’s 20,000 hectares Lafiagi Sugar Project encompassing a 10,000tpd sugar mill, 200,000tpa sugar refinery, 20 million litres Ethanol plant and a 35MWpoer plant from Bagasse. FG presents provisional licenses to 20 private varsities By Joseph Erunke ABUJA —THE federal government yesterday presented provisional licenses to the 20 new private universities recently approved by the Federal Executive Council, FEC. Recall that FEC had on Wednesday, February 3, 2021,during its weekly meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, approved the establishment of 20 new private universities, bringing the total number of private universities in the country to 99. The approved universities are,Topfaith University Mkpatak, Akwa Ibom State; Thomas Adewumi University, Oko-Irese, Kwara State; Maranatha University, Mgbidi, Imo State;Ave Maria University, Piyanko, Nasarawa State; Al-Istiqama University, Sumaila, Kano State; Mudiame University, Irrua, Edo State;Havilla University, Nde-Ikom, Cross River State; Claretian University of Nigeria, Nekede, Imo State. Others are NOK University, Kachia, Kaduna;Karl- Kumm University, Vom, Plateau State; James Hope University, Lagos; Maryam ABUJA — FORMER President of the Senate, Senator David Mark, has said if the current security challenges in the country must be nipped in the bud, it has become very imperative for Nigerians to bury religious and ethnic differences. According to Senator Mark, all leaders and citizens must, as a matter of urgency, come together to establish a common front against forces threatening the peaceful coexistence among the people. He said it was time for all men and women of good conscience to rise to the occasion and proffer lasting solutions to the lingering insecurity that had enveloped the entire country Ṡpeaking yesterday at St. Mulumba Catholic Chaplaincy, Apo, Abuja, to mark his 73rd birthday, Mark, who noted that Nigerians could no longer deny the current level of insecurity and disharmony tearing the country apart, said that at 73, he was now an ambassador of peace in his home state, Benue and Nigeria, with a resolve to serve God and humanity. Senator Mark said: “Though we have different reasons to celebrate at different times, we cannot shy away from the present abnormality of insecurity and disharmony threatening the very foundation of our country. “It is important for all of us to come together and fashion out a workable and equitable solution to end this menace.” Mark said he believed Nigeria would overcome the situation if the people and their leaders were willing to do the right thing. Recall that Senator Mark served as Nigeria’s Abacha American University of Nigeria, Kano;Capital City University, Kano;Ahman Pategi University, Kwara; University of Offa, Kwara State. Also approved are, Mewar University, Masaka, Nasarawa State;Edusoko University, Bida, Niger State; Philomath University, Kuje, Abuja; Khadija University, Majia, Jigawa and Anan University, Kwall, Plateau State. Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, in his remark at the National Universities Commission, NUC Auditorium, Abuja, venue where the licenses were presented, said the approval of the establishment of these universities was a testimony to the continued partnership of the federal government with the private sector. Adamu, who was represented on the occasion by the Minister of State, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, urged the proprietors to live up to the standard of NUC, warning that quality assurance standards must not be compromised. On his part, the Executive Secretary of National Universities Commission, NUC, Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, noted that the approval was a landmark achievement for Nigerian universities. Insecurity: Mark tasks leaders, citizens on need for common front By Henry Umoru Senate President from 2007 to 2015 and is fondly remembered for his role in the enactment of “the Doctrine of Necessity,” that saved Nigeria from a major leadership crisis, following the illness of late President Umaru Yar’Adua in 2010. Present at the mass were prominent Nigerians including the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Uche Secondus, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Anyim Pius Anyim, former Chief of Staff to the President, Chief Mike Ogiadomhe, former Senate Leader, and Senator Victor Ndoma Egba, SAN among others.
Vanguard, FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 2021 — 9 :Vanguard News :@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058 OPENING: Governor of Delta State, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa; His Edo State counterpart, Mr. Godwin Obaseki and Executive Director, Institutional Banking, Sterling Bank PLC, Mr Emmanuel Emefienim, during the opening ceremony of the 20th National Sports Festival sponsored by Sterling Bank in Benin City. Ebonyi massacre: You woke up late, IPOB tells Umahi By Peter Okutu & Steve Oko THE INDIGENOUS Peo ple of Biafra, IPOB, has mocked Gov. David Umahi over his lamentation on the massacre of locals by herdsmen, saying that the governor is waking up to realities rather too late. IPOB in a statement by its Media and Publicity Secretary Emma Powerful, said Umahi and other South East governors ignored the warnings by its Leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu about the hidden agenda of Fulani herders in the zone. The pro-Biafra movement accused Umahi of shedding" crocodile tears" when they failed to take proactive measures to avert the mayhem. Gov Umahi, had recently , while receiving Vice President Yemi Osinbajo who came on condolence visit to Ebonyi State, said governors of the region were currently hiding their faces in shame. He accused herdsmen of betraying the South East governors who had been protecting them even against the wishes of the people. His words: " We have been called all kinds of names and we feel ashamed that the same people we fight for day and night as governors and leaders of South-East to ensure the oneness of this country would know about attacks on Ebonyi State and they were asked to leave and they left and we were slaughtered and killed. "What face do we have then to face our people? We feel so ashamed to face our people." IPOB blamed the governors for pampering herdsmen but quick to proscribe IPOB paving the way for the federal government to tag it terrorists. The statement read in part: "When our Leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu was warning you people and your fellow saboteurs, you called him a miscreant. " You and your fellow Igbo leaders hurriedly outlawed IPOB, a peaceful movement and prepared the ground for the federal government to tag us terrorists. •As Police repel attack on Police station •Govt to set up 1000 vigilante groups " Igbo leaders approved Operation Python Dance that claimed many innocent Igbo youths. Thank God for the miraculous escape of our Leader, otherwise the vampires would have drank with his skull. "When our Leader set up Eastern Security Network, ESN, following the failure of the South East governors to protect the people, instead of supporting him, you connived with the federal government to hunt down our men staking their lives to protect our ancestral land. "Now that the Fulani you have protected have risen to kill your subjects in return, face them like men and stop lamenting like women. Why shed crocodile tears? They are your friends and One Nigeria brothers! "Why haven't you ordered for their arrest the same way you governors approved of the onslaught against our men at Orlu? You hate your own and protect your enemy. "Clean your tears and live with your One Nigeria brothers. Stop lamenting. We warned you but you took us for fools because of your selfish political ambition." Police repel attack on Police station Meantime, police in Ebonyi said they have repelled another attack by gunmen on another police station in the state. One of the assailants was allegedly killed in a shootout with the police. Vanguard reliably gathered that one of the police officers who repelled the attack was injured and rushed to hospital for treatment. The incident happened at Ugbodo Police station in Ebonyi Local Government area of the state. A top security source in the state, who spoke to Vanguard, said the gunmen launched the attack around 2am on Tuesday. “But they met stiff resistance from the police men at the station. In the ensuing battle, a Police officer sustained an injury while the gunmen later retreated with some of them being hit by the bullets from the Police. "In the morning, the police went on a search of the bushes in the area and discovered the corpse of one of the gunmen,” the source said. It was learnt that a gallon of petrol was also found near the dead gunman which was believed was to be used to set the station ablaze. Govt to set up 1000 vigilante groups On Wednesday, Ebonyi State Government said it was going to ensure the setting up of 1000 vigilante groups across the rural and urban settings of the state. This was part of the resolution reached during the State's Expanded Security Council meeting at the old Government House, Abakaliki. Addressing newsmen at the end of the meeting, the Secretary to the State Government, Dr. Kenneth Ugbala who stated that the government was prepared to handle the security architecture/ network of the state from the grassroot level added that "all the necessary facilities that can help them do their work better including mobility and training will be instituted through the Ministry of Internal Security immediately. "The meeting had extensive discussions on the establishment of vigilantes and we want to take our security from the grassroot the way it has always traditionally been done. Every community in Ebonyi State is to have five vigilantes and that will give us a total of 700 vigilantes at the 13 local government areas of Ebonyi State. "They will be responsible outside our normal community vigilantes that have always been our traditional way of safeguarding our people which the government encouraged that all the villages and communities should set out their own vigilante. We all grew up to meet all these things being done and this is the right time to create barricades on the roads at odd hours and checkmate who is going out and coming in at our local government areas and communities. "The state will equally set up 700 vigilantes across the 13 LGAs and another 300 at the urban centres, making it a total of 1000 vigilante members. The essence of it is that all the necessary facilities that can help them do their work better including mobility and training will be instituted through the Ministry of Internal Security immediately. The vehicles have already been purchased by government to make sure that they are strategically located in all the corners in the state to ensure that our people are not attacked by bandits." He called on the Police and other security agencies not allow their commands or Divisions to be attacked by gunmen. "Government will have no option than to allow such division or command to be closed down. "The reason is that our security agencies have the primary responsibility of protecting not only their stations or personnel working with them but our citizens but where they cannot even protect themselves, it is a big problem because they are trained for that and government agreed that if the agencies allowed their facilities to be attacked, then Ebonyi government will be requesting for close down of such station or area command while the officers working in such places will face disciplinary actions. "We encourage security agencies to have a combined team of security at each of the police stations and area commands throughout the state to safeguard their facilities. The council equally resolved that every police station should make effort to clear grasses from their facilities 200 radius away from the station. A situation where police stations and area commands are allowed to be surrounded by bushes will give room for insecurity." 2023: Igbo Presidency'll end agitations for secession —Udeogaranya A FORMER Presidential aspirant of All Progressives Congress , APC, in 2019, Chief Charles Udeogaranya has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to end agitations for secession and disintegration of Nigeria by making a public statement supporting the long overdue president of Igbo extraction in 2023. According to Udeogaranya, President Buhari did not in any of his 2015 presidential campaigns in the South-East distance himself from the region producing Nigeria's presidency in 2023, which was loudly campaigned by his campaign team. Udeogaranya went down the trenches to remind that when Abacha was facing similar issues of disintegration, he simply got Chief Emeka Ojukwu to tell Ndigbo to stand for Nigeria and that was the end of the matter. He stressed further that if not for Zik 's relentless efforts of yesteryears, the North would have seceeded from Nigeria. “It's then surprising that those that Igbo leaders laboured for to still be part of Nigeria are gravely showing signs of ingratitude to Ndigbo to an extent of marginalzing them.” Udeogaranya concluded that the ball is in the hands of President Buhari to do the needful by proclaiming support for Igbo Presidency in 2023 and all manner of secession and disintegration agitation will evaporate. Ikpeazu launches 30-year devt plan in Abia By Ugochukwu Alaribe U MUAHIA—GOVER NOR of Abia State, Dr Okezie lkpeazu, has launched a 30 year Development Plan, which will serve as a blueprint for sustainable economic growth and development in governance for succeeding administrations in the state. The plan, titled; Abia State Long Term Development Plan, ABSLTDP, would last from 2020 – 2050, Ikpeazu, who stated this during the launch and public presentation of the ABSLTDP in Umuahia, noted that if the development plan which his administration has already keyed into is seriously followed and sustained by subsequent administrations, the state would be a reference point for other states to emulate. The governor who was represented by his Deputy, Sir Ude Oko Chukwu, commended the State Planning Commission for collaborating with the Partnership Initiatives in Niger Delta, PIND, and other development partners in ensuring the successful take off of the programme in the state. Ikpeazu assured that his administration would do everything in its power to ensure the successful implementation and legislation which will be incorporated into every sector of the state and urged the people of the state to own and protect the project. “The Abia State Long Term Development Plan (ABSLT- DP) 2020 - 2050, will offer a blueprint to sustainable economic growth and development in governance for succeeding administrations for many years to come. If the development plan which this administration has already keyed into is seriously followed and sustained by subsequent administrations, Abia State will be a centre of attraction and a reference point for other states yet to key into such programme. I commend the State Planning Commission for collaborating with the Partnership Initiatives in Niger Delta (PIND) and other development agencies in ensuring the successful take off of the programme in the State. We will do everything in our power to ensure the successful implementation of this long term development plan.” Anambra 2021: We need someone with Ojukwu's ideology —APC women By Vincent Ujumadu A women WKA—ANAMBRA in All Progressives Congress, APC, have vowed to ensure that the next governor of the state would be someone who has the ideology of the late Ikemba Nnewi, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu. Speaking when a governorship aspirant on the platform of APC, Chief Azuka Okwuosa interacted with women from the 326 political wards in the state in Awka, their leader, Mrs. Nkechi Nnoli said Okwuosa represents Ojukwu's ideology by the way he carries women along in his political programmes and assured him of their unalloyed support. She said: "We need a man that has the ideology of Ojukwu to rule Anambra State and Azuka Okwuosa is the man because he has the charisma, the political energy, the principles and most especially, the ideology of the late Igbo leader, which is to restore the glory and dignity of Ndigbo. "We believe in the Azuka Okwuosa project and so do the 326 women leaders of APC in Anambra State. "Throughout Sir Okwuosa's walk with APC, he has never faltered or disappointed us, but has always given the women folk an opportunity in all assignments.“"We are confident that he would give the women a pride of place in his government when elected governor of Anambra State. "Sir Okwuosa knows that Anambra has very vibrant women, who can be called upon when the going gets tough. He has absolute trust in our women because we have never disappointed, especially in Anambra APC. He believes in women's participation in politics.He is the godson of Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, the Ezeigbo gburugburu and Ikemba Nnewi."
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09042021- Insecurity: Tension mounts in Imo, Abia, Rivers

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