CBN GAS EXPLOSION: 3 DEAD AND 10 HOSPITALIZED

The Cross River Police Command has confirmed three persons dead and 10 in critical condition due to Friday’s gas cylinder explosion at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in Calabar.

Mr John Eluu, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), disclosed this on Saturday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Eluu said 20 members of staff of the bank were injured in the explosion which occurred at about 11 a.m., while two others were in critical condition.

As of yesterday, being Friday, 20 CBN staff members were injured and two were in critical condition immediately after the gas explosion.

We have been monitoring the situation closely and I can confirm to you that three of the victims are dead, while 10 are in critical condition.

Investigation is still ongoing to unravel the cause of the explosion.We will continue to monitor the victims as we pray for their survival and quick recovery’’, he said.

The PPRO dismissed the rumour in some quarters that the explosion was a detonated bomb blast by Boko Haram insurgents.
I wish to say categorically that the explosion was not a bomb blast by Boko Haram insurgents as it is being rumoured in some corners.

Our men from the Explosive Ordinance Department were on ground at the scene of the accident.
Their investigation shows that it was a gas cylinder explosion from one of the units in the building that caused the blast”, he explained.

FUEL SCARCITY HITS THE COUNTRY HARDER

For most Nigerians across the country, the issue of perennial fuel, particularly petrol scarcity, it appears, is becoming a way of life and something they have to put up with, at least for now.

Just as the situation was normalising after an earlier scarcity, the two-day strike by members of the Petroleum Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) worsened the supply.

Almost 28 hours after the strike was called off, most parts of the country are still grappling with scarcity and long queues at filling stations as a result of short supply of the product.

For most of the week, motorists and commuters struggled for petrol at the few filling stations selling the product, with most either selling only to black marketers, especially at night, or at exorbitant prices in daytime, in utter disregard of the fixed prices. Others have, however ran out of stock.

This was made worse by the inclement hot weather and picketing of one of the largest Discos in the country, the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC) in Lagos, resulting in shut down of its operations and power outage for some days.

In Lagos, petrol has become ‘gold,’ as most stations, including the major marketers, seem to have run out of stock.

Most of the filling stations were not selling petrol yesterday and the few ones that were selling caused heavy vehicular gridlocks along the major roads.

Transportation has gone up on most routes by about N50.

At Total filling station in Ojota, Taofeek Adebayo, bemoaned that the fuel scarcity has gone from bad to worst.

“I have been here for the past one hour. I wanted to buy petrol and go to Agege. I don’t know the cause of the scarcity. So I can’t say what the government can do about it.”

“I have an appointment that is necessary for me to go with my car. That is why I am going out. Otherwise, I would have gone with public transport.”

Another motorists, Kola Agboola, said he had to come from Ketu because they were not selling fuel at the filling station close to his house.

“We want the government to make fuel available, that is the solution.”

Toyin Yesufu said that he bought fuel last Saturday at Total in Ojota without any problem at N86.5 and the queue was not long like this one.

“Today (yesterday), it is quite a long queue. I have been here for the past one and half hours.

In Abuja, the relief from the suspension of the strike was noticeable yesterday, more stations dispensed fuel, but it may take another four days for the supply chain to stabilise.

In most filling stations that had fuel, there were long queues and confusion, as motorists outdo one another in an attempt to buy the product.

President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Francis Johnson, believed the scarcity would ease by tomorrow.

“I am in Abuja now and we shall go to the depots and mobilise to ensure that everything goes smoothly. By tomorrow, everything should be back to normal,” he said.

He urged the Department of Petroleum resources (DPR) agents to go round and seal up defaulting stations.

“If you have products, why do you refuse to sell? The best thing is to seal them up, since they don’t want to sell.”

FORMER GOVERNOR OF DELTA STATE FELIX IBRU IS DEAD

Former Delta State governor, Olorogun Felix Ibru, has died at the age of 80.

Ibru was elected as the first executive governor of Delta State in 1992. He was also elected a senator representing Delta Central Senatorial District in 2003.

His death was confirmed by the Urhobo Progressive Union(UPU). Late Ibru was the president of the Union.

Mr Josiah Ntekume, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) interim committee of the union in a statement in Warri said news of the death of the former Governor of Delta came as a shock to the Urhobo people.

“The death of Olorogun Felix Ibru today came as a shock to the Urhobo nation.

“A heart has stopped beating. A good soul has ascended to heaven. We part with our beloved former President-General of UPU and first Executive Governor of Delta in pain,” he said.

Ntekume prayed God to grant the family the fortitude to bear the great loss.

Ibru, a former senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and a business tycoon, was born on Dec. 7, 1935 to the family of Chief Peter Ibru in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta.

As a traditional chieftain of his homeland, Felix Ibru bears the tribal honorific Olorogun.

He often uses it as a pre-nominal style the title is also borne by many of the members of his large family in the same way.

As a student in Nottingham, he was elected the first Black President of the British Council with responsibility for Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Lincolnshire and Leicestershire.

In 1997 he was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws (LL.D) by the Delta State University and a Fellowship of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR).

His political activities began in 1983 when he contested for a seat in the Senate, which he late won in 2003 representing Delta Central Senatorial; District.

He ran for the Governorship of Delta in 1991 and emerged as the First Executive Governor of the newly created state in 1992.

The business icon was survived by six children and many grand children.

SENATE PRESIDENT TRIAL ADJOURNED TO 18th OF MARCH.

The commencement of the trial of Senate President Bukola Saraki at the Code of Conduct tribunal was stalled on Friday after his lawyer filed a motion challenging the jurisdiction of the tribunal to hear the suit.

Kanu Agabi, SAN, a new lead counsel to Saraki said his motion must be heard before the trial can begin. The tribunal then adjourned proceedings until March 18, 2016.

Saraki was arraigned before the tribunal last year on a 13-count charge of alleged false declaration of assets while he was the governor of Kwara State.

An appeal filed by the senate president at the Supreme Court to challenge the tribunal’s jurisdiction and whether it formed a quorum to hear the case stalled proceedings in the case.

The Supreme Court on February 5, this year dismissed his appeal and directed him to submit himself to trial.

While countering Agabi’s argument at the tribunal on Friday, the lead prosecuting counsel, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN) said Saraki’s lawyer filed the motion to deliberately stall the trial, pointing out the validation of the tribunal’s right to try Saraki by the Supreme Court.

He argued that since the Senate President claimed he was innocent of the charges preferred against him, he should allow the trial to commence in order for him to prove his innocence.

On Friday morning, the Senate President in a statement signed by his deputy chief of staff, Gbenga Makanjuola, said he would appear before the tribunal ” to totally submit himself to the due process of the law.”

He described the suit that brought him before the tribunal as ‘illegitimate’ while noting that the tribunal has not been fair to him.

“As Nigerians carefully follow the proceedings of the case, we must all be guided by the fact that a basic scrutiny of Section 3, Paragraph D of the Act that establishes the CCT and the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) state in explicit terms that before any complaint (if any) is forwarded to the CCT for adjudication, the public officer against whom a complaint is made must be given the opportunity to either deny or admit the claims by the Bureau. As it stands, Nigerians must ask why this fundamental and indispensable condition for a trial at the CCT has not been followed.

“What this means is: the condition precedent mandates that Dr. Saraki – as every other citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is entitled to – should have been given the opportunity to explain any perceived inaccuracy, but he was never given the opportunity to do so.

“Secondly and more crucially, the application submitted by the Senate President draws attention to the fact that the 13-year-old declaration forms on which the majority of the impending suit is predicated, were examined and investigated by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) at the time of submission and were found satisfactory to the Bureau’s requirements at the time.”

We deserve to benefit from Buhari – Tinubu’s daughter

Folasade Tinubu-Ojo says Buhari has abandoned Nigerian market women – Tinubu’s daughter alleges that a FCT woman leader is organizing another market association named Association of Organised Market People in Abuja – Tinubu’s daughter says market women have to benefit from Buhari because they have the right to Folasade Tinubu-Ojo, Iyaloja-general of Nigeria and daughter of Bola Tinubu, national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of abandoning Nigerian market women who supported him in the last general election, The Cable reports.

Tinubu-Ojo, who led a group of women to the APC national secretariat in Abuja on Thursday, March 10, appealed to the president to carry the market women along in his government. She said: “I am here this afternoon to represent the market women and men of Nigeria. There have been agitations, not even agitation or allegation; the people believe that the government of the day is not carrying them along as it should be; that they worked round the clock for the party during the campaign, but after the inauguration most of us are not carried along,” she said. “We only hear in the news that the first lady is doing a programme, this and that. And we just see it in the news, and they wouldn’t allow me be; all the complaints come to my table morning and night. And I say okay, enough is enough… We even heard that another FCT woman leader is organising another market association named Association of Organised Market People in Abuja, and most of these people are PDP members; they were nowhere to be found when we were working for the party day and night. So, now our people are not happy because they need to benefit from where they believe they have the right to, and all we need, all we are crying for, is for the government to give them a sense of belonging and carry them along properly.”

When asked if her father, Tinubu was aware her agitation, she said: “Because I am the daughter of the national leader of APC doesn’t mean that I must not represent my people well. I have to represent my people’s opinion. “I am a leader, and as a leader my people are crying foul, and I won’t fold my hands and keep quiet because my father is a national leader, it is wrong. I am not mobilising against the party, no. I am solidly behind the party, I have worked for the party before and I will still work for the party tomorrow, but that does not stop me from saying the truth.” ‎
 Folasade Tinubu-Ojo, Bola Tinubu’s daughter says President Muhammadu Buhari has abandoned Nigerian market women who supported during the last general election.

Folasade Tinubu-Ojo appeal comes barely a month after Senator Oluremi Tinubu, had also accused the APC government of abandoning Nigerian women after “using” them in the 2015 general election. Speaking on the floor of the senate on January 26, Oluremi Tinubu said that the change now experienced by Nigerians is not what was expected. The senator also stated that the Buhari’s administration will incur the wrath of women if something is not done to improve the allocation to the women’s affair ministry.

She said: “In its manifesto, the APC mentioned the need for empowerment programmes for Nigerian women. “Such comprehensive empowerment requires fund which should be included in the budget for implementation. Going through the budget for the federal ministry of women affairs, I discovered that the total allocation to the women ministry is so meagre and I think it would be the least allocation allotted to a ministry. “And when we look at the functions of this ministry – the ministry is divided into two divisions: human resources and capacity building, economic services and women cooperative – but when we look at the first division, which is human resources and capacity building, they are supposed to promote education, development of women in the civil, political, socio-cultural and economic sectors. “All these that I have also mentioned require capital. Looking at this budget of less than N4bn, they have capital with almost N3bn. So, when you look at it, what is left? “I am just laying this case on behalf of the Nigerian women. This is not going well… It’s as if we were used during the campaign, and we said this is a government of change. The change mantra is supposed to change things across board.

“What they have allotted to the Nigerian women is not encouraging. When we talk about change, it doesn’t mean we are going to dodge and support what is not working. “This is the best way to start. So that the women would not just be used for campaign and several promises made to them. On behalf of the Nigerian woman, I am making their case today that this budget is not telling anything and not making any promises, so when it gets to the committee level, they should have a way of trying to amend this budget so that it would meet all the needs that the Nigerian women and they would not incur the wrath of the Nigerian woman.”

MTN MUST PAY FINE FULLY SAYS REPS

The House of Representatives said on Wednesday that the N1.4trillion fine imposed on MTN by the Nigerian Communications Commission “must” be fully paid as against the N780billion the Federal Government negotiated with the telecommunications service provider.

The House also expressed unhappiness over the role played by the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami, in the negotiations leading to a reduction in the $5.2billion fine.

Its Committee on Telecommunications said at a meeting with the Minister of Communication, Mr. Adebayo Shittu, and top officials of NCC in Abuja that Malami usurped the powers of the NCC.

The development came as the House ordered an investigation into the alleged non-remittance of levies and surcharges by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, totalling $10bn.

The Chairman of the committee, Mr. Sajeed Fijabi, noted that the NCC, being the government approved regulator, should have led the negotiations and not the AGF.

The NCC had slammed the fine on MTN for failing to suspend unregistered subscribers from its network.

Fijabi said, “There is nowhere in the law that said there is room for reduction.

“If you are reducing this now, what happens to Globacom and others? I see MTN going to court every time as a way to circumvent the law. In the US, British Petroleum paid its full fine for oil spills.”

He said there was clear evidence that the NCC had been put under pressure to develop cold feet on insisting that the fine should be paid in full.

“Somebody is not allowing you to handle this matter the way you should. After you have imposed the fine, somebody negotiated and reduced it.

“You imposed the fine, you should take the lead on the negotiations, but now you are being sidelined. You gave them N1.4tn fine, and we at the National Assembly have already projected that amount as part of FG revenue.”

PDP RELEASES CONGRESS AND CONVENTION TIMETABLE

Communiqué Issued at the End of the 69th National Executive Committee (NEC) Meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Today, Monday, March 7, 2016 at the PDP National Secretariat, Abuja.

The National Executive Committee (NEC) of the PDP in its 69th meeting deliberated on critical issues as they relate to the party and the nation, and resolved as follows.

A. Party Congresses and National Convention;
1. NEC approved the time-table for the party’s Congresses and National Convention.  Congresses commence on Saturday, April 23, 2016 and culminate in the National Convention on Saturday, May 21, 2016.

2. NEC approved the party’s Guidelines for Congresses and the National Convention. National Convention holds in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

3. NEC after exhaustive deliberations approved the extension of the tenure of office of all organs of the party at all levels until the conduct of Congresses and National Convention. This is however with the exception of Edo and Ondo States.

4. NEC approved the setting up of four special committees in preparation for the National Convention. They are National Convention Committee, Reconciliation Committee, Zoning Committee and Finance Committee.

B. Erosion of Fundamental Human Rights and Harassment of Opposition In Nigeria.

1. NEC considered the erosion of fundamental human rights and constitutionally guaranteed personal liberty of Nigeria, especially key leaders of the PDP by the APC-led Federal Government and resolved as follows:

1. Condemned the incessant harassment, maltreatment and unlawful incarceration of PDP leaders at various levels by Government controlled law enforcement and prosecution agencies.

2. Condemned the Friday, March 4, 2016 invasion and raiding of Ekiti State House of Assembly and subsequent arrest and continued detention of four PDP members of the House by the Directorate of State Services (DSS) on trumped-up charges.

3. Demanded the immediate and unconditional release of the four PDP members of the Ekiti House of Assembly by the DSS.

4. Resolved to stand in solidarity with all Nigerians whose fundamental rights as citizens are being infringed upon by the Federal Government.

5. Called on the international community and all civil rights organizations world-wide to take note of the denial of fundamental human rights, abuse of liberties and freedom of individuals; and the rapid descent of Nigeria into totalitarianism.

6. NEC also condoled with the families of its 18 members who were brutally murdered in Ogoni land in Rivers state as well as with the Federal Government and the Government of Kogi State over the unfortunate death of the late Minister of state for Labour, Barr. James Ocholi, and resolved to send a high-powered delegation to condole with his family.

7. NEC in session also congratulated all its members who won in their rerun elections, including former Senate President, Senator David Mark.

Signed:

Senator Ali-Modu Sherrif                        Prof Adewale Olapido
National Chairman                               National Secretary