Panic! Militants greet Muslims, bomb Chevron – Newspaper review

The front pages of Nigerian dailies have sad tales to tell regarding the state of the nation, from militant attacks to cases of corruption, its all stories of hopelessness headlining the pages of the newspapers. 

Bent on making good its ‘operation zero economy’ threat, the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) yesterday blew up three Chevron manifolds : RMP 22, 23, and 24, reports The Guardian.

Then in an ironic twist, the insurgents also sent a message of goodwill to Muslims celebrating the end of Ramadan.

In a separate development, the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) yesterday faulted Wednesday’s statement by President Muhammadu Buhari to Niger Delta militants that “the unity of Nigeria is not negotiable.”

They said the President’s position was an old-fashioned approach to the resolution of national problems, more so as Buhari was quoting a 1967 statement by former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon on the unity of Nigeria.

“The circumstances of the present-day Nigeria demand a renegotiation of the future unity and existence of Nigeria,” the IYC said.

According to the spokesman of the Avengers, Mudoch Agbinibo: “Between the hours of 10:50 p.m. to 11:10 p.m. our Niger Delta Avengers strike team blew up Chevron manifolds. The manifolds are RMP 22, 23 and 24. Happy Eid Mubarak to our Muslim brothers.”

In a related development, The Vanguard reports that Ghanaian President, John Mahama, has blamed intermittent power cuts in his country on delays in delivery of crude oil from Nigeria to power thermal plants due to the activities of Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), which had been blowing up oil and gas pipelines in the Niger Delta.

Mahama’s lamentation came as the NDA, yesterday, blew up three Chevron Nigeria Limited manifolds at Diogbolo, near Dibi, Warri Local Government Area of Delta state, using controlled explosive devices.

Still on issues related to terrorism, President Muhammadu Buhari has finally  approved the list of committee members to carry out  fresh investigation into the abduction of over 200 girls  from Government Girls School in Chibok, Borno state on the 14th of April 2014, by  the terrorist sect, Boko Haram.

The President had in January this year during a meeting with the BringBackOurGirls campaign group directed the National Security Adviser, Maj. Gen. Babagana Monguno (retd), to set up a committee that will carry out a fresh investigation into the abduction of the girls from their dormitories.

A top government source said the committee is set to commence it’s work as the President has recently approved the list of members submitted to him.

According to the source, the President had instructed that the members should be contacted for consent before their names will be made public.

The source who pleaded anonymity said that the President  wants to get to the root of the matter and know what exactly  happened , adding that  findings from the investigation  will  facilitate the release of the girls.

According to the source, the committee’s  terms of reference  include amongst other things, to carry out fresh investigations on the abduction and the circumstances  surrounding it.

Recall that while some of the girls managed to escape from their captors, the whereabouts of most of them is still in doubt, though the President had in different fora said his priority was to see to the safe return of the girls. He had also said government had no credible intelligence on their specific location.

While President Buhari had on several occasions declared that his government had no concrete evidence on the whereabout of the girls, the Nigerian military had in April this year given the parents of the girls some hope, saying most of the girls were still alive and held in Sambisa Forest,  close to the Chad-Niger border.

In another development, former National Security Adviser (NSA) Col Sambo Dasuki (rtd) has protested his detention for alleged $15billion arms deals facilitated by the Office of National Security Adviser (ONSA).

He says the Federal Government should allow his trial  to begin, The Nation reports.

Dasuki is said to have told his associates that he is not disposed to a secret trial.

He insists that based on service rules in a security system, he only obeyed the directive of the President and Commander-in-Chief,  former President Goodluck Jonathan.

The ex-NSA, The Nation learnt,  told his associates: “I am ready for trial because they have destroyed my family’s name and my professional integrity, especially how we successfully fought Boko Haram and recovered major towns and cities, not villages. They should let my trial start in earnest to enable Nigerians know the truth from falsehood.

There is a plan to try Dasuki’s case in secret to protect some of the witnesses. But Dasuki disagreed.

He said: “I don’t believe in secret trial and there is no basis for it because the government has filed all necessary papers in court and attached the list of witnesses. Since the witnesses have become public knowledge, there is no basis for secret trial.”

Dasuki also queried the rationale for keeping him in custody “without any warrant”.

He said: “Since I was detained in the custody of the Department of State Service (DSS), I have not been shown any warrant to this effect or court order.

“I deserve to be shown the warrant of detention by DSS and the purpose for restricting me to house arrest. My detention is unlawful.”

 

In yet another case of corruption, the federal government has set up 20 teams of prosecutors, comprising 80 lawyers, who will handle a number of high profile criminal cases investigated by law enforcement agencies, including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The Punch reports that each of the teams had four lawyers with a Senior Advocate of Nigeria as the leader. The identities of the lawyers, who were said to have been specially trained for the tasks ahead, have not been made known.

It was learnt that the Prof. Itse Sagay-led Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption was involved in the training of the special prosecutors.

Our correspondent gathered that the training, which ended in June, lasted for over one month.

Sources in the Federal Ministry of Justice in Abuja confirmed to our correspondent on Thursday that one of the teams of prosecutors had been assigned the forgery case recently instituted against Senate President Bukola Saraki; his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, and two others.

The new prosecuting team will fully take over the forgery case from the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, Mr. Mohammed Diri, when the trial resumes on Monday

In sports, Complete Sports reports that Super Eagles forward Ahmed Musa has passed his medical ahead of his move to English Premier League champions, Leicester City.

Leicester City are set to break their record transfer fee for a second time in a week by completing the move for the versatile forward from Russian side CSKA Moscow.

Claudio Ranieri’s led side recently signed Nempalys  Mendy from French side Nice for £13m, while Musa will cost them £15m.

The Foxes were close to signing the Nigerian during the January transfer window, but their bid was turned down by CSKA.
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Musa represented Nigeria at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil where he scored two breathaking goals in a group game against Argentina.
He scored 53 goals in 161 appearances for CSKA.

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