01052021

8 — SATURDAY VANGUARD, MAY 1, 2021
Politicians behind unrest in South-East
— Nwanyanwu
By Dirisu Yakubu
NATIONAL chair
man of the Zenith
Labour Party, ZLP, Chief
Dan Nwanyanwu has
blamed the recent violent
skirmishes in the South-
East, particularly the invasion
of Police Command,
Correctional Service
Headquarters and the residence
of Imo State Governor
Hope Uzodinma on
failed politicians who lost
out of the state’s power
equation.
Nwanyanwu stated this
when he appeared as guest
of the Channels Television
breakfast programme,
Sunrise Daily.
According to the ZLP
boss, “the correctional
centre is beside the Government
House and the
residence of the Brigade
Commander is not far
away, same as where the
Police Commissioner lives.
That is the safest place in
Owerri. But people got in
there, shot for two hours,
released all the prisoners
and nobody fired a shot to
repel them. From where
the 34 Artillery Brigade is,
at that time of the night to
that point wouldn’t have
taken more than seven
minutes. Everything stood
down only for the Commissioner
of Police to wake up
and accuse the Indigenous
People of Biafra, IPOB of
doing it without any investigation.
We did our investigations.
IPOB has no
hand with what happened
in Owerri.
“Terrorism is now being
imported into the safest
place in the South-East. It
is being done by persons
who think that this governor
should be given restless
nights because people
have lost power. It is the
opposition that is fighting
Hope Uzondinma. You
have taken the resources of
the state to the point that
you now think you are richer
than the state and now,
you are using it to fight us.
You can pay bandits,
called unknown gunmen.
Let’s stop calling them unknown
gunmen because
they are known. These people
are being funded by
politicians. Will Hope
Uzodinma allow his house
to be attacked? These are
people that have lost out in
the power equation,” he
said.
Chief Nwanyanwu called
for the involvement of citizens
in the fight against insurgency,
adding that government
is overwhelmed
and incapable of winning
the war using force as the
only option.
Vice President, Professor
Yemi Osinbajo, Nwanyanwu
argued, was right when
he stated recently that the
elites need to speak up and
join forces in the anti-terrorism
fight, saying it was
the failure of the elite to act
that threw up non-state actors
that are now making
the country unsafe for everyone.
“In the South-East, a
gentleman saw an opening
and exploited it. The elites
have refused to stand up to
be counted. I understand
what the vice president is
saying. How many people
make up Miyetti Allah?
How many are there in
IPOB leadership? How
many are these people
compared to the population
of those areas? It is so
because we have not keyed
in the citizens in the fight
against insurgency. We
cannot use force all the
time; carry the citizens
along,” he counselled.
NNPC makes U-turn, says FAAC remittance will be
boosted
By Obas Esiedesa
THE Nigerian Na
tional Petroleum
Corporation, NNPC, yesterday
reversed its decision
to make zero contribution
to the Federation
From left: Political Adviser to British Deputy High Commissioner, Lagos,
Mr. Wale Adebajo; UK Prime Minister’s Special Envoy on Girls’ Education,
Helen Grant; UK Minister for Africa, Mr. James Duddridge; Lagos State Governor,
Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu; Deputy High Commissioner in Lagos, Mr.
Ben Llewellyn-Jones; Commissioner for Economic Planning & Budget, Mr.
Sam Egube; his counterpart for Transport, Dr. Frederic Oladeinde and others,
during the UK Minister’s courtesy visit to the governor, at
Lagos House, Alausa, Ikeja, recently.
PTAD commences adjustment
to pension benefits
THE Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate,
PTAD will commence the adjustment to pension
benefits arising from the implementation of the new
minimum wage from this month’s payroll. The arrears
will take effect from April 2019 while the PTAD will
also commence payment of the arrears from May 2021.
The Executive Secretary of the directorate, Dr Chioma
Ejikeme, who disclosed this yesterday at a press briefing
said with the granting of the presidential approval
for the implementation of the consequential adjustment
to the pension benefits, “PTAD is now empowered to
start the upward adjustment of all pensioners’ benefits
according to the approved template.”
She said, “as a responsible agency of government saddled
with the mandate of overseeing the payment of
pension benefits to pensioners under the Defined Benefit
Scheme and taking care of their welfare, we are encouraged
to do more for our pensioners. We will continue
to strive to improve the quality of their lives.
“Let me at this point inform and caution our senior
citizens once again, that PTAD will not request for any
gratification from anybody before the money will be
paid into their account. They should not give their account
details to anybody. They should report any scammer
or anyone requesting for gratification before their
benefits would be paid to PTAD.”
JUSUN Strike: Why FG must embrace mediation
—Law Don
By Ikechukwu Nnochiri
A
professor of law
and Senior Advocate
of Nigeria, SAN,
Mohammed Tabi’u, has
implored the Federal
Government to deploy
conflict management
strategies, especially
mediation, to resolve the
ongoing strike action by
the Judiciary Staff Union
of Nigeria, JUSUN.
Prof. Tabi’u maintained
that the sole issue
that led to the strike
that has stagnated judicial
activities in the
country for more than
Account Allocation Committee,
in the month of
May, due to high cost of
petrol subsidy.
The Corporation in a
statement by its Group
General Manager, Group
Public Affairs Division, Dr.
Kennie Obateru explained
that the shortfall in remittance
will be remedied.
NNPC had in a letter to
the Accountant General of
the Federation warned
that it would not make any
remittance to the Federation
Account Allocation
Committee in the month
of May after spending
N111.966 billion to subsidize
petrol consumption in
March.
NNPC’s Chief Financial
Officer, Umar Isa in the
letter explained that the
amount spent on subsidy
in March would be net-off
from oil and gas revenue
in April due in May leaving
no balance for FAAC.
Isa also projected that
NNPC would only be able
to remit just N12.966 to
FAAC in June also due to
subsidy payment.
However, Obateru clarified
in the statement that
“the revenue projection
contained in the letter to
the Accountant General of
the Federation being cited
in the media pertains only
to the Federation revenue
stream being managed by
the Corporation and not a
reflection of the overall financial
performance of
the corporation”.
three weeks, could be
effectively resolved
through dialogue.
The legal luminary
spoke at the official
launch of a five-year
strategic action plan and
public presentation of
the mediation house
project of the Institute of
Chartered Mediators
and Conciliators,
ICMC, which held in
Abuja yesterday.
JUSUN had on April 6,
ordered its members
across the federation to
shut all courts to press
home their demand for
implementation of financial
autonomy for the
Declare emergency, US can’t
stop insecurity in Nigeria
— VATLAD
By Emma Amaize
VANGUARD for Transparent Leadership and De
mocracy, VATLAD, has said the United States and
other friendly countries cannot help Nigeria win the battle
against insecurity.
The group in a statement by the national president, Mr.
Emmanuel Igbini, yesterday, advised President Muhammadu
Buhari and National Assembly to proclaim a state of
emergency and officially declare that the country is at war.
It blamed unpatriotic and desperate elite, who it referred
to as ‘domestic terrorists’ for the problem facing the country,
urging leaders of the country to take decisive actions
against the internal guerrillas.
VATLAD asserted: “Our attention has been drawn to media
publications wherein it was reported that President Muhammadu
Buhari has appealed to government of United
States of America for assistance to fight against the external
forces and terrorists threatening the security and territorial
integrity of our country.”
“The US and other friendly countries cannot move in
officers and equipment of their armed forces into Nigeria
to assist our armed forces in this war except and until President
Buhari and our National Assembly issue a proclamation
of state of emergency and officially declare that Nigeria
is at full military war against external enemies and
terrorists in line with section 305 of 1999 Nigerian Constitution,
as amended.
“These unpatriotic and desperate Nigerian elite who have
constituted themselves into domestic terrorists and undermining
our nation’s peace and security must be brutally
dealt with immediately using the full force of our military
the same way the US deployed its Special Forces against
those Americans sponsored by former President Trump to
invade Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021. The US Congress
did not hesitate to declare these US citizens, who invaded
the Capital Hill as terrorists and called in the US armed
forces to deal decisively with them.
“While we are not opposed to seeking assistance or cooperation
from US and other friendly countries in addressing
these increasing wars against Nigeria, we are, however,
patriotically compelled to ask the question: Is US the solution
to this war on our country?
“We wish to once more state unequivocally that the US or
indeed any other friendly countries cannot successfully help
Nigeria win this war we face without first and foremost
Nigerian leaders admitting the fact that the major enemies
are those unpatriotic and desperate Nigerian elite in partisan
politics and businesses, who continue to undermine the
peace, unity and security of Nigeria and Nigerians for their
personal interests.
judiciary.
The union noted that
President Muhammadu
Buhari had on May 22,
2020, signed into law,
an Executive Order that
granted financial autonomy
to both the legislature
and the judiciary
across the 36 states of the
federation.
The Executive Order
equally mandated the
Accountant-General of
the Federation to deduct
from source, any amount
due to state legislatures
and judiciaries from the
monthly allocation to
each state, for states that
refuse to comply with
the executive order.
The Nigerian Bar Association,
NBA, earlier
threw its weight behind
JUSUN’s action, even as
lawyers staged peaceful
protests across the federation.
Meanwhile, fielding
questions from journalists
at the ICMC event
in Abuja, Prof. Tabi’u,
SAN, stressed that the
protracted strike action
which has lasted for over
three weeks, amplified
the need for governments
at all levels to pay
more attention to the
development of other
Aternative Dispute Resolution,
ADR, processes,
such as mediation.