‘The Triumph Of Hope Over Experience’ By Oyinkan Medubi

This administration can avoid being the object of nature's derision, and let its word be its bond

The triumph of hope over experience', was the comment of our erudite Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) about a man who was said to have remarried immediately after the death of a wife with whom he had been very unhappy.

Obviously, some people learn from experience; and some, from experience, never learn. But, whether we learn or not, nature continues to teach us. Take the simple matter of time: it ticks on, no matter how you literally hold back the hands of the clock. Take also the seasons: they change no matter how much you want to hold them back. Seasons come, seasons go; governments come, governments go; only the universe remains.

Enough of our philosophising, dear reader; we are talking today about the sudden, some would say even unnecessary, postponement of Nigeria's general elections. I am having trouble understanding it; but then I generally have trouble understanding anything because the people around me have all agreed that I am somewhat slow to comprehend things. I think they had to hold a meeting on the subject or something. I am still scratching my head on why it took them so long to come to that realisation. Anyway, I am so slow it took me a long time to know my left from my right, my friend in my enemy, and that what I took to be a creeping plant giving off hisses into the air in my garden was really a green snake looking for sunshine.

I must confess though that the postponement took many of us by surprise. There I had been, believing that the word of the government was its bond. There is an unwritten code that says that your word is your bond. That code has guided many for centuries. I remember growing up in a community where this word-bond agreement ruled the farms. If a farmer needed extra hands on his field, he did not go to hire.

No sir, he simply asked his fellow-farmers to leave off farming their own field and attend to his own needs for the two or three days he might need them. And they often did, barring sickness. The unwritten law was that should any of his friends ever require his services, he would willingly abandon his own needs and meet that one at his point of need.

Thus when the government gave the word that the elections would hold as scheduled, we took it to be its bond also. Alas, not so! We had no way of knowing that the word belonged to the government while the bond might belong to us. Imagine a farmer being left holding a bond in that fashion, after having given his own time and energy to develop his fellow-farmer's farm, only to be told that the time chosen was no longer convenient, particularly in view of the fact that the weather is not under any man's control. Like that farmer, I am still holding the election bond in my hand, much to my chagrin and definitely not to my pleasing, or even Jega's. Indeed, the postponement has made nonsense of all our personal programmes which we all, to a man across the nation, strenuously strained to postpone just to make sure that, should movements be restricted, no important thing would suffer during the elections.

I do not want to go into the reasons for the postponement, contrived or not. I'm only interested in what effects it has on me. The first thing that struck me was the question: don't the rest of us count? Is it possible for all of us who constitute the electorate to be as negligible as all that and maybe more? The story is told that someone remarked to his father, at his parents' 50th wedding anniversary, that the said parents never seemed to fight. His father replied that they sure had their many battles, like any other couple; it was just that sooner or later in the fight, one of them would realise that he, the man, was wrong. That is one version.

Another version has it that the man replied that early in the marriage, they had decided that in order to avoid all conflicts, he, the man of the house, would take all the big decisions while the wife, the woman of the house, would take all the small ones. In the fifty years of being together though, the man found out that there had not been one big decision to take. That was why the union had lasted for so long.

The reason that we the electorate don't count much in electoral matters should be the subject of a treatise for a political scientist, but not for us here. You and I must nevertheless be struck by the deep, deep irony and amusement in the situation. If you possess this knowledge, my friend, you possess a great thing indeed – that the land belongs to the people; the instruments of governance belong to the people; the power deriving thereof belongs to the people; therefore the state belongs to the people. My friend, I congratulate you for knowing this; not all of us do. You see, at critical and crucial moments, most government functionaries think it nothing to yield to the temptation to use the same state against the people, or to forget them altogether. Now, say news reports, there are soldiers circling people's houses. When will we learn?!

Naturally, it never works, mostly because the protection of the people against such misuse is writ large in nature. Take the example at hand. Postponing these elections is not really to the people's liking: the people did not ask for it; the people did not want it; the people still do not understand it. The thing just went right over the people's heads. That just gives one the feeling of déjà vu, does it not, and makes one rather tired.

Let's take one or two government functionaries who have gone over the people's heads like this and have rued the action. At the height of his power in France, Louis XIV was said to have claimed, 'L'Etat c'est moi (I am the state)', and as he was dying in 1715, he was claimed to have said, "Je m'en vais, mais l'Etat demeurera toujours (I depart, but the state shall always remain)", while Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette, also absolute monarchs, departed via the guillotine. The June 12 saga in Nigeria is still fresh in the collective mind. The then president single-handedly cancelled an election that was said to have been the freest and fairest to date in this country. I believe that president is still smarting from some of the consequences of not respecting the owners of that election, the people. The State remains, always.

Experience, they say, is the best teacher. Of course, no one can singly go through every experience that he needs to learn from. That is why we have history and literature books. That is why we have others. That is why we have visions. That is why we have our religions. History, literature, visions and religions tell us what nature has always made clear: the land belongs to its maker. This in effect translates to the fact that nature has ways of correcting the errors of mankind when he attempts to play God. Nature does so because it knows that sometimes in the heart of some unknowing ones among us, hope triumphs over experience.

We tend to think that the people before us were unlucky or they got it wrong somewhere. It must be different with us, just like motorists who come on the scene of an accident and then speed off. Tch, tch, feed in the same data, use same method and expect different results? This administration can avoid being the object of nature's derision, and let its word be its bond.

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Author: Oyinkan Medubi
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Opinions expressed above are solely those of the author.
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Let Nigeria’s nations speak up! By Gbogun Gboro

Because of the troubling picture of our country at this time, I believe that the nations, or at least the largest nations, of our country, should speak up now. I hope that some will.

Some force must rise up to try and save this country from self-destructing. Individual eminent Nigerians at home and abroad have shouted and screamed, and some of the most influential persons in the world have stood at our gate, or even come into the house, to sound desperately serious warnings and admonitions. None has made much difference.

Since independence, we Nigerians have willfully and stubbornly built a superstructure for disaster. Now, we seem determined to reap at last the fruits of that disaster. No serious discussion is taking place concerning the disastrous superstructure. A National Conference recently made some recommendations, but those recommendations hardly feature in the on-going presidential campaigns.

At the same time, because the superstructure built for Nigeria has raised the stakes of presidential authority irresistibly high, contestants for power and their chief backers seem resolved now to trample down all barriers and to break all legitimate bounds in order to reach the presidency. Violent clashes are being enacted on the campaign trails. Terroristic threats are sounding from many directions. And preparations for mayhem and war are being more or less openly carried out. From some actions that we have seen in the past week, it seems that, when the storm of actions finally comes, even governmental agencies (such as the Nigerian military and police) will be fully engaged in fully partisan, and unlawful, mold against some Nigerians or groups of Nigerians.

Many leading politicians obviously think that once their side wins the presidential election, all of Nigeria's trouble will end. But from the way things look these days, such political barons may be grossly deceiving themselves.
I repeat therefore, let some of the main nations of our country speak up now. They owe the historic debt of speaking out clearly and boldly now. They need to speak up above the cacophony of politicians' voices.

Of these nations, I am fairly confident of the desires of one – namely my own Yoruba nation. We Yoruba are strong believers in Nigeria – in a Nigeria that is stable, prosperous and advancing towards greatness in the world. We are united in the strong belief that the only way to achieve such a Nigeria is to abide by principles. We are sure that nothing of great or permanent value can be achieved without seeking strength through reasonable and well-considered principles. We came to these beliefs from our 1000-year history of living in orderly kingdoms and thriving cities and towns. Ends desired and sought by individuals and groups in a polity must bow to the polity's high principles of stable order, otherwise disorder and chaos will result. Every Yoruba child grows up knowing these things.

Looking carefully at Nigeria from that perspective, we Yoruba have always been sure about the principle to employ in organizing Nigeria. That principle goes as follows: Because Nigeria is made up of many different nationalities, Nigeria should be organized into a rational federation, according careful respect to the various nationalities. If there is to be order and prosperity, this position is not negotiable. Our most prominent fathers in Nigerian politics in the late 1940s, the group inEgbe Omo Oduduwa, stated the principle very soundly.

Then one of their captains, our father Awolowo, wrote books and political statements to make it clearer and clearer throughout his life. There is hardly any prominent Yoruba alive today who has never made at least some little contribution to the statement of this principle.

We Yoruba may be spread out into many
political parties, yet we are all certain that, for Nigerian peoples to live harmoniously together in one country, and for Nigeria to be stable and successful, Nigeria must be ordered as a reasonable federation.

Whenever the government of Nigeria has convened any kind of national conference, members of the Yoruba elite, though belonging to different political persuasions, have always come together to produce proposals based on the same principle for presentation at the conference. A leading Yoruba intellectual in the Diaspora once put it simply as follows: "The simple answer to the question "What do the Yoruba want?" is this: The Yoruba want a Nigerian state which respects its multinational character and gives adequate recognition to the inviolability of its federating nationalities, no matter how small or big, a Nigerian state that promotes equal justice for all its citizens and makes a sacred commitment to the secularity of its character…The Yoruba have always wanted a Nigeria that practices and is committed to the principles of true federalism".

This is the only way to make the peoples of Nigeria live in reasonable harmony together, by giving each people some leeway to manage much of its unique needs and concerns in the Nigerian federation – so that each people will thus be able to make its own kind of contribution to the overall progress and prosperity of Nigeria. This principle is not directed at hurting, and it cannot possibly hurt, any of the peoples of Nigeria. On the contrary, it is a principle that can be very beneficial to every Nigerian people and to Nigeria as a whole.

At the 2014 National Conference, some of the main details of the Yoruba Position were presented as follows:

1. Make Nigeria's existing six zones into regions – with minor boundary adjustments to make sure that none of the nationalities in Nigeria shall be split up between regions.

2. Re-adjust the balance of powers between the federal authority and the regions – so that the regions should have more powers, more resource control and more funding than hitherto to promote and implement development. This would shift the burden of development mostly to the regions while assigning sufficient power and money to the federal government to direct the commanding heights of the Nigerian economy, regulate interstate relations, defend Nigeria, and speak for Nigeria in the world.

3. The regions should control the development of their resources, with the federal authority charging taxes thereon. In revenue allocation, more should go the regions than to the federal centre. Revenue generated by a region (such regional business taxes, sales taxes, etc) should belong to the region. Most of the VAT derived from a region should return to the region.

4. There should be a federal police, regional and local police. Police functions are, by nature, rooted in their localities.

In summary, we Yoruba nation want a Nigeria that works – a Nigeria of harmony among peoples, of regional and local virility, of progress in development, and of constantly improving quality of life for all citizens. We Yoruba are not used to living in poverty; we are depressed to be part of a country that is wracked by instability, constant conflicts, terrorism, poverty, hopelessness, and fears.

We are displeased that the central issue of a well-structured federation is not occupying the central place it deserves in the ongoing presidential campaign.

We hereby state our minimum demand. Let the candidates know that our assessment of their views in this matter will determine how much of our votes they will get.

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Author: Gbogun Gboro

Opinions expressed above are solely those of the author.
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Army Must Participate In Polls, PDP Insists

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Organisation on Thursday disagreed with the rival All Progressive Congress (APC) on the need to deploy soldiers to maintain peace during the May 28 and April 11 general elections.

The ruling party's position came on the same day when the Nigerian Army assured of its readiness to be involved in the 2015 general elections based on the provisions of the law, warning political thugs to stay away from the exercise.

In its statement from Abuja, the PDP accused the presidential candidate of the APC, General Muhammadu Buhari, of setting a stage for electoral violence with his recent utterances, warning that bloodletting would not be condoned.

Director, Media and Publicity of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation, Femi Fani-Kayode, who noted the position of the party at a press conference in Abuja, said its insistence on the use of soldiers for the election monitoring is in spite of the judgments of the Court of Appeal, Abuja, and the Federal High Court, Sokoto. Both courts gave judgements against the use of soldiers for the election.
Justice R.M. Aikawa of the Federal High Court in Sokoto, had in a judgment delivered on January 29, 2015 barred the use of the Armed Forces in the conduct of elections.

Similarly, the Court of Appeal, which heard the appeal arising from the petition filed by the APC against Fayose's victory in the June 21, 2014 governorship election in its judgment on Monday, also condemned the use of members of the Armed Forces in the conduct of future elections in the country, saying it is illegal.
It said such actions constituted a violation of both the constitution and the Electoral Act.

The Appeal Court reiterated that the use of Armed Forces in the conduct of elections was in violation of Section 217(2)(c) of the Constitution and Section 1 of the Armed Forces Act.

It cited and relied on a judgment delivered by Justice R. M. Aikawa of the Federal High Court in Sokoto.

The appellate court therefore barred the use of the Armed Forces in the conduct of future elections in the country as such, it said, constituted a violation of both the Constitution and the Electoral Act.

Fani-Kayode, at the press conference, stressed that said the opposition being mounted against the planned deployment of soldiers for the election by the APC was out of fear that its plan to intimidate and harass voters and rig the election would not materialise.

He said the utterances of Buhari in recent time suggest clearly a plan to cause mayhem which the Federal Government would not allow to come to pass.

He noted that there was crisis in the past caused by utterances of Buhari which cost some Youth Corps Members their lives, adding that such would not be allowed again.

His words: "The PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation wishes to take this opportunity to draw the attention of the Nigerian people and members of the international community to the subtle threat of violence in a statement by General Muhammadu Buhari, at the APC stakeholders' meeting in Abuja on Tuesday.

"General Buhari said that the patience of the APC and its leaders were on test. One wonders what he means by that and what he and his supporters intend to do once that patience runs out.

"In an AFP news report of Friday, February 6, 2015, he was asked if he would accept the outcome of the presidential election no matter how unfavourable. Listen to his answer: "I am not going to lose; so I won't answer that question."

"Again, only yesterday, Wednesday, February 18, 2015, in an interview on ARISE Television, General Buhari was asked what his reaction would be if he loses the election. His answer was: "We shall see."

"As far as we are concerned, these are ominous and subtle threats to unleash violence on the Nigerian people and all those that he perceives are his enemies in the event of his losing the election," he stated.

The 2 Brigade Commander/Sector 2 Joint Task Force, Operation Pulo Shield, Brigadier General Koko Essien, speaking with newsmen, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, said the military and other security agencies would not condone any act of political thuggery during exercise and after the elections.

Essien observed the level of volatility in the security situation in Rivers State and disclosed that the military was strategizing to ensure that the 2015 election was conducted without hitch.

The brigade Commander urged the people of the state to feel free to come out and exercise their franchise on the day of election, promising that adequate security measures would be put in place.

"We will be involved in the election to the extent that is allowed by law. We are having meeting with INEC and we are going to support INEC based on the requirement of the law. We are going to support the police based on the areas they (police) are lacking. If the law says we are not going to be at the polling booths, we will not be there," he stated.

Meanwhile, the Rivers State Council Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has threatened to boycott the coverage of the 2015 if adequate security was not given to its members.

At a press conference in Port Harcourt, chairman of the council, Opaka Dokubo, said in view of the dastardly incident in Okrika where the APC rally was attacked by gunmen leading to the death of a police officer while others sustained injuries, journalists in the state may stay at home on election day.

"We have to protect the lives of our colleagues. The security agencies and the leadership of all the political parties must ensure the security of journalists covering the elections," he said.

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Daily Independent
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Hot Weather Pushes Up Demand For Soft Drinks, Water Sachet In Asaba

Coldsoft drinks sellers and water sachet vendors at major parks and markets in Asaba are enjoying high patronage due to the prevailing hot weather and poor power supply in Asaba, Delta State.

Some of the water vendors, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on in Asaba, said that the business of cold soft drinks and sachet water had been booming in the last six weeks.

They said that their daily sales had increased by about 50 per cent and they now smiled home with huge profits on a daily basis.

Miss Rita Chukwu, a teenager, who sells cold soft drinks and sachet water at the Abraka market said: "Sales have really increased in the last six weeks because of the sunny weather. Before now, I could sell about two crates of minerals and malt, but in the last six weeks, my sales have doubled I can even sell as many as five crates a day.''

Master Philip Ezeh, also a teenager, who sells pure water at the Ogbeogonogo Modern Market, said that the hot weather had pushed up sales of pure water from four bags of sachet water a day to eight bags.

"Since school resumed in January, I sell between six and seven bags on daily basis after school and this has been very helpful to my mother who also sells some cold drinks here at the market,'' he said.

Another sachet water vendor, Miss Faith Azaka said: "though it is not very easy hawking this sachet water around the park, if I look at what I get after each day, I always have course to thank God for the sales.''

"Pure water sachet business is quite profitable because each bag of sachet water you sell gives you almost an additional N100 profit.

"And for every day I come to the park to sell, I go home with nothing less than N700 as my profits.''

NAN reports that as a result, many teenagers are taking advantage of the sunny weather to make some money for their families.

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Culled From Daily Independent
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Shocker: CAN Got N7Bn And Gave N3M Each To State Chairmen To Campaign For Jonathan

Fresh facts emerged on Thursday about the allegation by the Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, that President Goodluck Jonathan's Peoples Democratic Party gave some pastors N6bn to campaign against the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), in the 2015 presidential election.

A Borno State-based Pastor, Kallamu Dikwa, said the money allegedly given to the pastors by the Presidency was N7bn and not N6bn as alleged by Amaechi, who doubled as the Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign Organisation.

Amaechi had alleged that some unnamed leaders of the PDP paid N6bn to Christian clerics to campaign against the APC.

But reacting to the Northern States Christian Elders Forum, who challenged Amaechi to name those pastors involved in the bribery scandal, Dikwa told journalists in Kaduna on Thursday that the said money was channelled through the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria.

Dikwa, who is the Executive Director of the Voice of Northern Christian Movement, said CAN got the said money (N7bn) on January 26, 2015 and disbursed N3m each to state Chairmen of the CAN across the country.
He was also an Associate Pastor with the E. Y. N. Church (Enklesiyan Yan'uwan A Nijeriya) Farm Centre, Dikwa Road, Maiduguri, Borno State, under Rev. Emmanuel Kwajihe between 2002-2004.

But the Presidency and CAN had denied this allegation. While the Presidency said that Dikwa was an agent of the APC, the General Secretary of CAN, Rev. Musa Ayake, maintained that the allegation was total falsehood.

However, Dikwa, said the CAN had started threatening Christians in the state (Borno) that they must re-elect President Jonathan in the rescheduled election.

He said, "It was N7bn that was given to the CAN leadership by President Goodluck Jonathan. They (CAN) later disbursed N3m each to the state chairmen of the CAN. The money was handed over to the CAN leadership on 26th January, 2014.

"This is what I know. One of the CAN officials from Abuja told me that they have collected the money. The corruption in CAN is terrible. They are corrupting the body of Christ because of money.

"They are now threatening Christians in Borno State that they will deal with anybody who refused to vote for Jonathan. And the CAN officials are now campaigning that if Buhari emerges President he will islamise Nigeria; and that Prof. Yemi Osinbajo will resign soon after Buhari wins to give way for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to emerge Vice President.

"And at the same time, CAN is threatening Christians in Borno if they didn't vote for Jonathan. And the same CAN continues to blackmail Prof. Yemi Osinbajo that Islamic world has bought Osinbajo with millions of dollars, all this is because of the N7bn bribery that they have received from Jonathan."

But Ayake in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents in Ilorin on Thursday said,

"At no time did CAN collect money from Jonathan to preach against Buhari or to give the impression that Buhari wants to islamise Nigeria."

Ayake added, "I do not think I will lower ourselves, our integrity and our positions to somebody who is fake, who called himself a pastor when he is not; a liar, somebody who does not even know his left from his right. I know the person, if I want to comment, I will be lowering myself and my integrity to such a thing. Please that person is not what he claims to be.

"What he said is a lie. It did not happen. It will not happen.

"He is a liar. We should not waste our time on him. He is not a pastor. He has never been a pastor. He is just a liar. If I should reply, I would be lowering myself. What he said is between him and his God. Let him know that when this life is over, we are going to stand before God to give an account of what we said or did in this life. Let him continue with his lies, God will catch up with him one day."

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SOURCE: The PUNCH
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Elections Will Hold As Scheduled, Says President Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday dismissed fears of another postponement of the general elections, stressing that the March 28 and April 11 dates will not be changed.

Dr. Jonathan spoke at the Naval Dockyard, Victoria Island, Lagos while inaugurating four new vessels to boost the capacity of the Nigerian Navy (NN).

Jonathan said: "Nigerians can see that the present administration is leaving no stone unturned in improving the capacity of the armed forces, not just the Navy. The Army and the Air Force have felt sufficient improvement in capacity.

"Let me also use this platform to promise my good country men and women that we will rout Boko Haram. Capacity has been increased sufficiently and our men are doing wonderfully well in the north.

"We must conduct elections as scheduled by INEC because within this period, we are convinced that we will return the North to the level where the activities of extremists will not affect our elections. We are working night and day and I have directed that Nigerians be briefed regularly."

He restated his commitment to the unity of the nation, adding that the government places premium on national security, food security and employment generation.

According to the President, the government is working in harmony with the military to ensure the nation does not disintegrate.

"We will rout Boko Haram. Our capacity has increased sufficiently and officers and men are doing wonderfully well. The ongoing activities to contain the sect will also provide conducive atmosphere for elections to hold in the regions.

"We will return the (Northeast) region to a level where activities of terrorists cannot be carried out."

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SOURCE: The Nation
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EFCC Press Release Pension Scam: Accused Ill Health Stalls Trial

The trial of a former Special Assistant to the Director of Administration (Pension Accounts), Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Aliyu Bello, and a Sokoto State school teacher, Abdullahi Omeiza, before Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court Abuja could not proceed on February 17, 2015 as the first accused claimed he was unfit following injuries sustained in an attack by armed robbers.

The accused persons are being tried by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on a 5-count charge bordering on criminal conversion and stealing of over N1bn (one billion naira) from the Pension Account, Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.

Bello and Omeiza, are alleged to have at various times between 2009 and 2010 obtained by false pretence and with intent to defraud, from Pension Account, Office of the Head of Service of the Federation, various sums in the aggregate amount of N281, 623,351.87 through various third parties and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 1(1) (A) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, 2006 and punishable under section 1(3) of the same Act.
At the resumed hearing of the case, counsel to EFCC, Emmanuel Egwuagwu, standing in for Godwin Obla, SAN, told the court that, they were ready to proceed with the case.

Though both accused were present in court, the defence counsel, Mahmood A. Magaji, SAN, expressed concern over the health of the first accused (Bello) whom he said was unfit. The counsel stated the accused is still recuperating from a head injury sustained during an armed robbery attack over the weekend.

Justice Ademola, in the circumstance, adjourned the case to April 28, 2015 for continuation of trial.

Wilson Uwujaren

Head, Media & Publicity

18th February, 2015

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Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
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Immigration Deports 82 Illegal Immigrants Found With Temporal Voter Cards

Keeping to its promise of repatriating foreigners caught meddling with next month's elections, the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) has sent packing, 82 Nigeriens, who were found with Temporary Voter Cards (TVCs).

The aliens were said to have been arrested during raids conducted by NIS officials across Lagos.

The suspects, it was learnt, had claimed they were from Borno State to register to vote.
They, however, claimed that they obtained the TVCs for the purpose of making money during elections from politicians.

Briefing reporters before the repatriation, the Comptroller, Immigration, Mrs Justina Ahmadu, reiterated her warning that foreigners should stay away from the elections.

She said that it (election) was strictly for Nigerians, noting that the service was bent on flushing illegal immigrants from the country for security reasons.

"I appeal to those employing them (aliens) to ensure they have their valid travel documents the moment they employ them. They should make sure they procure their resident cards for them in order to qualify them to stay legally in the country.

"All foreigners residing in Lagos should also know that the forthcoming election is Nigerians' affair and as such, they should not meddle into it," she said.

Some of the suspects disclosed that they have been in the country for about four years and were lured into registering by their counterparts who told them to pretend they were from Borno State.

Some of the aliens most of who could understand English gave their names as Mohammed, Idris, Kanaide, Mohammed, Musa and Shuaibu, adding that they came to Lagos in lorries that conveyed live cows.

Asked where they resided, the suspects said they lived under the bridges and shanties in different parts of the state before their arrest.

"I have been in Lagos for close to four years. I came into the country in a truck conveying cows. I supply water to residents who do not have access to boreholes.

"Many of us have temporary voter cards. We posed as Northerners because our names sound like theirs. Some of our friends told us we should get the cards, that we would be giving money during elections.

"But we were not able to get our Permanent Voters Cards (PVC) because we were afraid to go to the designated points since immigration officers visited regularly," said one Mohammed.

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SOURCE: TheNation
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Policemen Threaten Strike Over Unpaid Salaries, As IGP Warns Against Breach Of Discipline

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Press Release
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The attention of Police High Command has been drawn to a media publication captioned, "Policemen Threaten Strike over unpaid salaries".
 
At the outset, it is pertinent to state that, the leadership of the Nigeria Police Force is mindful of its responsibility towards the welfare of the workforce; part of which is promotion and recognition of hard work.
 
As is expected, every promotion attracts some financial benefits, and which have been deeply considered in the course of processing and approving the promotions. For the avoidance of doubt the Nigeria Police Force is working assiduously with relevant government departments and agencies to effect the payment of the promotion arrears. Meanwhile, all promoted officers have since January 2015 been enjoying the salaries attendant on their new ranks.
 
It needs be stated for the umpteenth time that the Nigeria Police Force is founded on the bedrock of discipline and loyalty. The Police Regulation has provided enough windows for aggrieved officers to ventilate their grievances.
 
The IGP wishes to use this medium to restate his commitment to the welfare of officers and men of the Nigeria Police Force. Hence all hands must be on deck to sustain measures put in place to ensure a safe and secured nation.
 
As such, the IGP is miffed that officers have to recourse to unapproved channels to air their perceived grievances. The IGP therefore warns such officers of the dire consequences of breaching extant rules and regulations.

Ag. CP EMMANUEL C. S. OJUKWU, psc

FORCE PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER,
FORCE HEADQUARTERS,
ABUJA.
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PR Nigeria
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Breaking: More Terrorists Die As Air Campaign Gets Results In Sambisa And Gwoza

A concerted air campaign by the Nigerian Air Force is ongoing in furtherance of the mission to clear terrorists from all their enclaves. 

The air strikes which today targeted the training camps and logistics dumps of the terrorists in Sambisa forests and parts of Gwoza have been highly successful as it achieved the aims with required precision. 

The death of a large number of terrorists has been recorded while many others are also scampering all over the forest and out of the struck bases. 

Details of casualty will be determined in subsequent phases of the operation.
 
Meanwhile, the strikes continue in other locations of the theatre heralding the advance of troops and other elements of the mission.

CHRIS OLUKOLADE

Major General
Director Defence Information
19 February 2015
_____________________
PR Nigeria
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