As herdsmen attack Benue church…: 2 Catholic priests, 17 worshippers killed

• Buhari describe killing as satanic, sacrilege
There was palpable tension and near breakdown of law and order in Makurdi, Benue State capital, yesterday, following fresh killings by suspected Fulani herders.

In the attack, two Catholic priests and 17 parishioners of St. Ignatius Quasi Parish, Ukpor Mbalom, Ayar Mbalom village, Gwer East Local Government Area were confirmed killed.
Daily Sun gathered that the parishioners and the priests had gone for early morning mass at about 5:30am when the herders invaded and mowed them down.

The Catholic Diocese of Makurdi, in a statement signed by its Director of Communications, Fr. Moses Iorapuu gave the names of the Reverend Fathers killed as Joseph Gor and Felix Tyolaha.
Fr. Gor had raised the alarm about Fulani herdsmen in a Facebook post on January 3: “Living in fear. the fulanis are still around us here in Mbalom. They refused to go. They still grazing along. No weapon to defend ourselves.”

Commissioner of Police in of Benue State, Fatai Owoseni who was one of the first callers at the affected village confirmed the killing saying he saw 16 corpses on the spot in addition to one that had earlier been brought to Makurdi and those of the two priests.
“The information first came at about 8am that some bandits suspected to be herdsmen attacked a church. Immediately we got the information we moved into the village to take a wider coverage of the general area.

“We also went to a church where the incident happened. We were told the attackers came to the church, then to a venue of a burial ceremony where the priest was supposed to officiate.
“We saw 16 dead bodies including the priests that were killed. We have already deployed security with community members to go after the assailants. It’s a wide forest area. We believe the arsonist must have been hanging around the area. These are armed marauders just out to kill people, we will go after them.”

While noting that it was still hasty to conclude as to who the assailants really were, Owoseni said the police had worked on every bit and pieces of information it had got, adding that “by the time we apprehend these attackers, we will know where this is coming from.”
The latest killing had sparked tension in many areas of Makurdi including the popular Wurukum roundabouts, Modern Market area, High Level and Wadata, a development which made the police to beef up security.

Some hoodlums were said to have blocked highways and set up bonfires in different locations across the metropolis while police battled to disperse them even as Hausa within the metropolis were said to have relocated to the Wadata area for fear of reprissal.
The situation made shop owners to hurriedly close their shops even as parents rushed to schools to pick their children while the Modern Market and Wadata Market were closed down.
Following the killing, Governor Samuel Ortom who was on a 12-day leave in China had to cut short his vacation.

A statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Terver Akase said the governor is returning home to address the security challenge occasioned by the ongoing killing of Benue people by armed herdsmen.
However, Iorapuu, the Catholic spokesman, while regretting that the herdsmen in their classic style, burnt down homes, destroyed food items and killed at will maintained that the police seemed to know nothing of the attacks which have been going on in other villages within the state since the Anti-open Grazing Law came into effect last year.

“Many people are asking why the international community has remained silent over the massacre of Benue citizens? The answer is simple: It has been the goal of the Jihadists to conquer Benue and Tiv people who resisted their advance into the Middle Belt and the eastern part of Nigeria since 1804, the people who rejected Islam and fought for the unification of Nigeria in the civil war of 1967-1970. The people of eastern Nigeria, therefore, have little sympathy for Benue people who fought on the side of Nigeria.”
He lamented that there were over 170,000 internally displaced persons in eight camps in Benue before the Naka invasion, stressing that the current invasion of Mbalom would further swell the humanitarian crisis in the state.

“What cannot be said at this point is the consequences of the death of missionaries in the silent killings that have been ignored by the government for over a year.
“The Catholic Diocese of Makurdi, which is one of the largest in Nigeria has been active in providing relief materials including education and skills acquisition lessons. To go for the priests means total destruction of everything we stand for and believe in, as a people,” Iorapuu stated.

•Action vile, satanic, says Buhari
President Muhammadu Buhari described the killing as “vile, evil and satanic.”
In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, Buhari said the killing of priests and worshippers was a calculated attempt to initiate religious conflict and plunge communities into endless bloodletting

He said the country under his leadership would not bow to the machinations of evildoers.
He promised that the assailants would be hunted down and made to pay for the sacrilege committed.
“I extend my sincere condolences to the government and people of Benue State, the Mbalom community, and especially the Bishop, priests and members of the St Ignatius’ Catholic Church, whose premises was the unfortunate venue of the heinous killings by gunmen.
“This latest assault on innocent persons is particularly despicable. Violating a place of worship, killing priests and worshippers is not only vile, evil and satanic, it is clearly calculated to stoke up religious conflict and plunge our communities into endless bloodletting.”

Another black day in Benue –Acting Gov.
Acting Governor of Benue State, Benson Abounu said it was obvious that Benue was under siege.
“This is another black day in Benue. I am saddened, the governor is saddened, the Benue people are very sad. I can say that Benue is under siege from every corner. What happened is a calculated attack, well planned and well executed.”

Abounu who lamented that the priests were killed right inside the church while they were celebrating mass expressed worry about the new dimension the Benue pogrom was assuming.
“We are under siege and I do believe that this has gone beyond the normal herdsmen crisis. What we have is an attack by insurgents and should therefore be given very serious attention. It is no longer the usual herdsmen crisis but an issue of insurgency as we have in the North-east.

“As far as this incident is concerned, I have alerted all security agencies and we have been on top of the situation. The commissioner of police has gone there himself and police and soldiers have been deployed. We believe the attackers are still lurking in the bushes. The security agents must run after these people into the bushes, flush them out and apprehend them.”

Archbishop Obinna: Nobody knows whose next
The Catholic Archbishop of Owerri Diocese, Imo State, Anthony Obinna, who spoke through the Diocesan Media Director, Reverend Father George Nwachukwu described the killing as barbaric and inhuman just as he called on the appropriate authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice.
According to him, the situation has thrown the churches into confusion, not knowing which man of God is next.

“What is happening in our society today is bad. I am not saying the Federal Government is not doing anything about it, but they are not doing much. I don’t know what the country is becoming; people are confused. Today it’s there (Benue), who knows where next and who? It’s a sad situation. We don’t know exactly who is doing this but everybody knows that there is an amalgam of Boko Haram. You can’t differentiate them from each other. This is not good at all.”

In his own reaction, former governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi condemned the killing of two Catholic priests as some worshippers, saying the spate of attacks seemed to be getting out of control.
He called on government to act quickly and seriously to stop the killings, which he noted would be scary to foreign investors and injurious to Nigerian’s economy.
“Besides,” Obi said, “it negates the fundamental freedom of worship, association and movement and questions our unity as a country.”

Daily Sun Report

TONY MOMOH: BUHARI OWES NO ONE APOLOGY OVER ‘LAZY YOUTH’ COMMENT

Tony Momoh, former minister of information, says President Muhammadu Buhari owes nobody an apology for saying some Nigerian youths “sit at home doing nothing because Nigeria is an oil- producing state”.

Buhari made the controversial comment while speaking at the Commonwealth Head of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in London.

Shehu Sani, senator representing Kaduna central, had asked Buhari to withdraw the statement and apologise.

But speaking to DAILY INDEPENDENT, Momoh asked why the president should apologise for “saying the truth”.

“That the president should apologise? Apologise for what? Are many Nigerian youths not staying at home doing nothing? Why should he apologise for saying the truth?” Momoh said.

“Is it not true that many of our youths are sitting at home doing anything because of lack of opportunities? If he is going to apologise, it will be because the government is trying to create opportunities for youths. To apologise for saying a lot of Nigerian youths are staying at home is unnecessary”.

According to Momoh, Buhari only said what was on his mind, “unlike the professional politicians who are used to lying”.

“The fact is President Buhari is a very highly focused man. He says what is on his mind and is never afraid of doing so,” he said.

“If you want to analyse the issue, you will discover that he is just speaking his mind unlike the professional politicians who are used to lying. Having discovered that many Nigerian youths stay at home and have no work to do, it is his responsibility to create avenue for them to work.

“If Shell is going to invest $15b or more in Nigeria, is it not a way of creating avenues for the youths who stay at home doing nothing? A lot of Nigerians are focusing on unimportant things, playing politics with important issues by distorting what the president said.

“If I were to look at the issue, I will focus on the fact that Shell is going to invest $15b in Nigeria and create avenues for unemployed youths to work.”

DAILY INDEPENDENT Report

Primary school -leaver ‘practised’ as doctor for four years

The Lagos State Police Command has arrested one Abdulrahman Mohammed for allegedly impersonating a medical doctor and operating a clinic in the Idi-Araba area of the state.

Mohammed, a primary school-leaver, had allegedly paraded himself as a doctor for four years before luck ran out on him on Saturday.

Drugs, stethoscope, used syringes, blood pressure monitors, drip packs, among other medical paraphernalia, were said to have been recovered from a shop on Bamishile Street, Idi-Araba, where he attended to patients.

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Edgal Imohimi, while parading the suspect on Monday, said investigations revealed that the 39-year-old administered injections.

He said, “On April 14, around 12am, detectives from the Area D Command, Mushin, arrested a native of Ran village, in the Gamboru Ngala Local Government Area of Borno State, for operating as a medical doctor whereas his education stopped at primary school level, even though there is no certificate to authenticate that claim.

“Further investigations into the activities of Mohammed, who had been impersonating a medical doctor for the past four years, revealed that he had been administering intravenous injections, conducting medical tests on his patients and taking their urine and blood samples.

“The suspect confessed that he bought his drugs from Idumota Market. Exhibits recovered from him include blood pressure monitors – manual and electronic – syringes, drip packs both saline and sugar solutions, among others. The suspect will be charged to court as soon as investigation is over.”

The suspect, who denied impersonating a medical doctor, said he had been operating as a chemist since 2014.
He admitted that he did not learn the skills from anyone, adding that he had wanted to become a doctor.

He said, “I stopped school after primary six. I started selling drugs and injections in 2014, but I don’t give people injections or drips. Some people came to check their blood pressure. If a customer says he has a headache, I can sell Panadol to him. I buy my drugs at Idumota. Nurses come to buy from me.”

Apart from Mohammed, two siblings, Ngozi Nnabude and Uchena Agagwaonye, a teacher at Handmaids International Catholic School, Aguda, Surulere, were paraded for allegedly threatening to expose a reverend sister for having an alleged sexual relationship with a reverend father.

It was gathered that Agagwaonye had consulted her elder sister, Nnabude, to help send threat text messages anonymously to the reverend sister – the head teacher of the school – for allegedly frustrating her at the school.

The Commissioner of Police said the head teacher reported the case after receiving many threat messages, adding that detectives of the command were mobilised to unmask the identities of the perpetrators who later tuned to be the siblings.

He said, “Investigation into the case revealed that Uchenna Agagwaonye, a teacher at Handmaids International Catholic School, was frustrated by what she termed as the highhandedness of the school’s head teacher. So, she (Agagwaonye) decided to make life miserable for the Catholic nun by engaging her sister, Ngozi Nnabude, a woman with an outstanding knowledge of computer and telephony.

“When the threat to maim, kidnap, kill and expose her unfounded secret sex life was unabated, the reverend sister reported the matter to the command’s Anti-Kidnapping Unit. Detectives investigating the case have been charged to find out if the suspects have the capacity to carry out their threats; if they are working with other criminals and if there are other persons they are torturing psychologically.”

The siblings, who hail from Anambra State, confessed to sending the text messages, but denied threatening to kill the reverend sister.

Nnabude, 45, said, “My sister wrote a text message, but her phone went bad. She said I should help her to send it through online bulk SMS. She said the reverend sister was bringing down the school and that if she did not stop, she (Agagwaonye) would make a sex video clip involving her to go viral. We did not threaten to kill her.”

Agagwaonye, 39, said, “I teach primary four pupils at the school. I have worked in the school for over 18 years now and she is the sixth reverend sister I will work with.

“The problem started in 2016 when I wanted to sit my final year examinations at UNILAG. I went to take permission from her, but she said she did not want to see anybody except the assistant headmistress whom I met with. The assistant headmistress granted the permission. When I came back, my salary was not paid.

“I begged her, but she directed me to the assistant headmistress. The woman said I should keep praying that she (the head teacher) would pay my salary. After two weeks, she paid me about N23,000 and deducted N12,000 from my salary. I was not happy, but I continued to work.”

Agagwaonye explained that sometime in 2017, the head teacher told teachers that whenever they were doing revisions for pupils, they should revise the questions the pupils would encounter in the exams.

She said while she was doing the revisions as allegedly instructed, the assistant headmistress reported her to the reverend sister that she was engaging in examination malpractice.
“After six months when we had an argument over the graduation of pupils, the reverend sister gave me a letter of suspension and my salary was deducted again. I was not happy.

“This year, she told teachers that if a child left the class and school, we would get half salaries; if three children left, she would not pay the class teacher’s salary.

“She sacked the security woman last year. The woman said she was sacked because she caught her (the head teacher) sleeping with a reverend father in the office. I told my sister that I wanted to make the reverend sister to calm down.
“I wrote in the message that if she did not change her ways, I would make the sex video clip to go viral. I don’t have any video clip. If I knew it was blackmail, I would never have done that.”

Punch Report

Knocks as Buhari says he hasn’t done too badly

The Peoples Democratic Party, the Coalition for Nigeria Movement, the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights and the Campaign for Democracy on Sunday knocked President Muhammadu Buhari for saying he had not done badly, as well as blaming past leaders for the poor state of the economy.

The President had on Sunday said considering the condition in which his administration met the country allegedly without savings and the economy vandalised; “we have not done too badly.”
According to a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, the President spoke while receiving some members of the Buhari Diaspora Support Organisation, led by Mr. Charles Sylvester.

Buhari noted that Nigeria was gifted with human and natural resources, but regretted that past leaders failed to capitalise on the nation’s resources to improve the lot of Nigerians.
“Failure of some of the leadership we had in the past led to our not being able to capitalise on resources to improve the lot of the people,” the President said.

He added that those he described as wicked people plundered the country “and kept Nigerians poor.”
Buhari said the damage done to the Nigerian economy in the years of plunder was massive, adding that the government was doing its best to recover some of the loot.

“If they had used 50 per cent of the money made when oil prices were as high as $143 per barrel and stabilised at $100, with production at 2.1 million barrels per day for many years, Nigerians would have minded their business.

“The stealing was so much and they were so inept that they could not even cover the stealing properly. I wonder how all those things could have happened to our country,” the President said.
He commended members of the Buhari Diaspora Support Organisation for deciding to identify with the country when they could have stayed abroad where they were comfortable.

“I am happy that people like you are here, on your own, defending the country. You have shown courage and sacrifice. I assure you that your confidence in us won’t be abused; we will do our best to justify it,” Buhari said.

Sylvester was quoted as saying that members of the group were happy with the achievements of the Buhari administration so far.
He said the same God who healed the President when he was sick would grant him victory in 2019.
He said, “You met a difficult situation, but you have overcome most of them. We are happy with the agriculture revolution, the ease of doing business, the anti-corruption war, the employment of youths through the N-Power programme, and the blockage of leakages in the public sector through the Treasury Single Account.

“We are proud of the speed with which you recovered the abducted Dapchi schoolgirls. It shows you as a worthy general. We are happy that you have declared for 2019. Majority of Nigerians are happy, but agents of corruption and darkness are unhappy.

“The same God, who healed you when you were ill, will grant you victory in the 2019 elections. You are a General who does not fear combat, either with Generals or non-Generals.
“We declare our love and support for you. You are fixing the faulty foundations of our country and second term is when you will build the enduring structure.”

You can’t be your own judge, PDP tells Buhari
But the Peoples Democratic Party said it was wrong for the President to mark his own scripts, saying there was no way Buhari could judge himself fairly.
It said it would be better for the President to listen to the cry of the electorate, who had been regretting voting the former army General into power in 2015.

The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Kola Ologbondiyan, who spoke with one of our correspondents in Abuja on Sunday, wondered why the President had not been able to initiate and complete a single project since he assumed office about three years ago.

He said, “Only a failure will set questions for himself and sit down to mark it. In this case, ask the President if he was the one who elected himself. He should ask those who voted for him, campaigned for him as well.

“If he has done well or he has not done badly as he claimed, let him point to a single project he initiated and completed in three years.  Nigerians are tired of a leader like him.”
Ologbondiyan said if the President had done his best and the country remained the way it was, it would be better for him to pack his load and leave the Presidential Villa.

‘Buhari never displayed competence in governance’
Also, the Coalition for Nigeria Movement, supported by a former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, lambasted Buhari for always blaming past leaders.
The spokesman for the CNM, Mr. Akin Osuntokun, said this during an interview with one of our correspondents on Sunday.

Osuntokun said Buhari should not forget to blame himself for Nigeria’s woes since he is also a former leader having served as a military head of state from 1983 to 1985.

He said, “He has never displayed competence in the area of governance. It is therefore expected that he will give himself a pass mark. However, while blaming past leaders, he should not forget to blame himself since he also ruled Nigeria in the past.

“The President continues to blame everyone for what he fails to do. Transparency International has exposed the deception of his anti-corruption war. This is the same President who indicted his own government when he revealed that the Inspector-General of Police failed to relocate to Benue to curb a crisis as commanded.”

The CNM spokesman urged the international community not to be deceived by Buhari’s utterances in London because he would never accept blame for anything.

You weren’t elected to pass the buck,  CDHR, CD tell Buhari
The Committee for the Defence of Human Rights and the Campaign for Democracy, on Sunday said it was not proper for the President to blame past governments for the country’s woes, noting that his “goodwill among Nigerians was fast receding.”

The CDHR President, Malachy Ugwummadu, said, “I just hope that there will be an end to passing the buck with this present administration. The energy the government is dissipating on castigating previous governments can be deployed in reorganising the country.

“One of the reasons Buhari was voted in was the belief that he would be able to deal with Nigeria’s exigencies, not to come in, pass the buck, and abdicate responsibility. Buhari should not fritter the goodwill of Nigerians he has, which is fast receding.”

Also, the CD President, Usman Abdul, said, “The President should be mindful of what he says about past leaders because he was also a former leader of the country. The President has not done any better than the previous governments.”

Punch Report

Buhari’s one-term stance now invalid, says presidency

• What he said about second term in 2011
• ‘He has right to change his mind’
• Stakeholders say it shows lack of integrity

From the presidency came yesterday a declaration that Muhammadu Buhari’s statement in 2011 that he would only be president for one term was not applicable anymore.The renouncement came barely 24 hours after the president, at the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja, declared his intention to seek re-election on the platform of the party in 2019.

Specifically, Buhari had, in the lead story of a newspaper of February 6, 2011 captioned “2011: Why I’II Serve for Only One Term” given reasons he would not spend more than four years in office if elected president of the country.Below are Buhari’s responses to whether or not he would seek re-election.

You have been quoted as saying if you don’t win the election in 2011 you wouldn’t go to court?
Yes, I said that!

Even if you have evidence that you are rigged out?
Having been in court for 50 months between 2003 and 2008, if I’m rigged out again, I will not go to court. I will leave the party to deal with the case. The CPC can, but I, as the presidential candidate, I’ve made up my mind never to go to court again on that issue.

Is it because of the expenses involved?
There are the expenses, but look at what happened in 2007. The decision of the case split the Supreme Court in the middle. But look at what they came up with.

Why did you say you will do just one term, if elected?
I’m not getting younger. If I succeed and do one term, I will be 73 years old.

If you’re doing just one term, you may want to urgently do some things? What are they?
There are two issues and I have said them in one sentence. Security and power. This country has to be secured and managed. People in Nigeria must not go about fearing that they would be abducted.

You must not be afraid to the point that you can’t drive from Kaduna to Kano any time of the day. If you are in Lagos, you should have jobs to the point that you can afford to have three shifts in a day.

That is eight hours each. But people are now very scared wherever they are. People have built houses worth over a billion naira, but they are afraid to live in them. What is the use? So, security is number one.

Number two is infrastructure. We have to revive the electricity sector so that people will have access to power to carry out their businesses. Others include the roads, the railways, the shipping lines. We used to have all these things. In spite of what we earned in the last eleven years, the whole infrastructure has already collapsed.”

Twenty days after swearing-in, precisely 17 June 2015, Buhari told Nigerians resident in South Africa, after taking part in the 25th Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union in Johannesburg, that his performance would be limited by old age.

“I wish I became Head of State when I was a governor, just a few years as a young man. Now at 72, there is a limit to what I can do,” he said.But yesterday, Femi Adesina, the spokesman of President Buhari, said his principal’s 2011 statement that he would only be president for one term was not applicable anymore.

Speaking on a national television programme, Adesina said Buhari entertained pleas for him to be president for the past one year before declaring his intention.
“The other one of running one term was in 2011. When he was running in 2011 he said yes he will be a president for only one term but did he win in that year? No. The victory came in 2015. So that being quoted from 2011 is not applicable again,” Adesina said.

“There were a lot of convincing appeals. I have sat in different meetings with different groups and the president and all of them the reason they came was that they run for a second term in office.“And do you know that whenever the president reacted to these groups, he will pick every other thing he raised and he said the issue of a second term he will not say a word and that has been the past one year. These calls have started coming and he didn’t say a word.

That reinforced my opinion that for him, it is not a do-or-die affair, it is just a matter of serving the country.”
The president’s spokesman said the declaration would not affect governance. “I think the president had just picked the right time to make his intention known, whether it will affect governance or not depends on the personality of who is the president.

“Don’t forget that under Obasanjo when the process was affecting governance, he read a riot act and said let’s concentrate on governance. President Buhari is just somebody like that, he will never allow politicking to affect governance.”He said the president may be re-elected on his achievements in security, reviving the economy and fighting corruption.

“There are certain things that he set out to do. Normally they come up under three broad umbrellas. One is secure the country, two is fight corruption, three is revive the economy and I have said it in all three areas.“There are successes in all three of these areas. Except anybody is willfully blind. The willfully blind will never see, even if you put the thing right in front of his eyes. We are not talking to the willfully blind or deaf,” Adesina said.

But a founding member of the APC, Prince Tony Momoh told The Guardian that President Buhari never said he would run for only one term in 2011.“What the president said under the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) platform before the merger was that he would not contest again. He made the statement during a press conference in Abuja and we said then that it was not possible for him to decide on his own.

“That was before the merger, but when the merger came up in 2013 and he happened to be a key factor in the arrangement, that alone nullified whatever he must have said earlier under the CPC.”

According to Momoh, if at all President Buhari said he would only run for one term in 2011, he also has the right to change his mind, “after all he is not seeking a third term like erstwhile President Olusegun Obasanjo.”To the National Chairman, African Democratic Congress (ADC), Chief Ralph Nwosu, going by the constitution, the president has the right to re-contest, but since he once promised to only do one term, his U-turn now to seek reelection shows he lacks integrity. “He should have considered what he said earlier.”

A human rights lawyer, Dr. Femi Aborisade, said the 2011 declaration made by Buhari in 2011 was personal to him and has nothing to do with his constitutional right to seek reelection.“One would have expected Mr. President to tread the part of honour by respecting what he said in 2011 but since he decided not to tread on that path, the responsibility is now left to the Nigerian electorate whether they want to reelect a failure or not.”

A chieftain of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), Dr. Amos Akingba, said he had no comment on an administration that lacks integrity.If Buhari wins the presidential election in 2019, he will be sworn in at the age of 75, and he is expected to serve till he is 79.

The possibility of a smooth sail of another four-year administration is, however, under serious doubt due to his health condition.The president has embarked on at least three medical vacations abroad. The first was on February 5, 2016 when he went on a six-day vacation to the United Kingdom.

Four months after, on June 6, 2016, he embarked on another 10-day vacation to attend to what the presidency described as “persistent ear infection.”

The third time was when Buhari left for medical treatment abroad and stayed away for months, during which Vice President Yemi Osinbajo became the acting president.

Guardian Report

I will run for president again in 2019, Buhari declares

President Muhammadu Buhari has declared his intention to run for president again in 2019.
He made the announcement on Monday at a meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

The meeting is ongoing in Abuja.
Special Adviser to the President on New media and Engagement, Bashir Ahmad, revealed this in his tweet on his official handle @BashirAhmaad.

“President Muhammadu Buhari has just officially announced his intention to seek re-election in 2019. Details soon…” his tweet read.

Kaduna State governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai also confirmed this in a tweet on his verified handle @elrufai.

BREAKING NEWS: PMB has just announced to APC NEC his intention to run for a second term of office. Alhamdulillah. – Nasir El-Rufai
— Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai (@elrufai) April 9, 2018


PM NEWS Report

Homosexuals fight in Lagos after contracting HIV

There was chaos in Egbe, in the Ikotun area of Lagos State, when some homosexuals allegedly fought one another after contracting the Human Immunodefeciency Virus.
PUNCH Metro gathered that one of the men, identified as Ezeugo, infected his first lover with the virus.

Ezeugo had reportedly brought in another boyfriend to the house and was about to make love to him when the first boyfriend raised the alarm around 3am on Tuesday.

Our correspondent learnt that policemen from the Ikotun division were invited by residents and the suspects were arrested.

A police source said the prime suspect, Ezeugo, confessed to have been a homosexual for about five years.
He said, “We got a distress call from residents around 3am that there was a fight among five homosexuals living together in a room apartment.

“On getting there, we were told that late that night, the neighbours heard a noise and thought a thief had broken into the house.  But they later discovered that the noise came from the room where the men stayed and that they were fighting.

“The tenant who accommodated the others, Ezeugo, had gone out to bring a new gay partner and was about to sleep with him when his first lover protested that he could not be sleeping with him and his tribesman from Calabar, Cross River State.
“Ezeugo denied that he wanted to sleep with the new person.

“While we were interviewing them, the first lover said his major grouse was that Ezeugo was sleeping with him and wanted to sleep with his tribesman as well.”

But the state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Chike Oti, said the suspects fought after they discovered that they had been infected with HIV.

Oti identified the men, whose ages ranged from 20 to 31, as Ezeugo, Akachukwu, Abuchi, Dara and Marvellous.
The police spokesperson said the five suspects were in custody and they were assisting with investigation.

He said, “They were into gay relationship and a quarrel broke out among them. The security men who listened to their heated argument alerted the police and the Ikotun Divisional Police Officer sent men there to arrest them.

One of them confessed to be HIV/AIDS positive and said it was his boyfriend that infected him. The boyfriend was sleeping with the other men as well and that was the cause of their fight.”

Punch Report

CONTROVERSY TRAILS $321M ABACHA LOOT

• We’ve returned money to Buhari govt -Swiss envoy

• We don’t have such information –FG

• I never asked Nigeria for extra pay –Foreign lawyer

Controversy has continued to trail the $321 million Abacha loot with the Switzerland government and the Federal Government sharply disagreeing over the whereabouts of the money.

While the Swiss Ambassador to Nigeria, Chad, Niger and the Economic Community of West African States, Eric Mayoraz said his government has returned the money, the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun said the Muhammadu Buhari-led government has no information about the return of the said $321 million by the Government of Switzerland.

But the ambassador who spoke exclusively with Daily Sun in Abuja, insisted the money has been deposited in the Nigerian account with the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland.

He directed Daily Sun reporter to find out from the Minister of Finance, Adeosun, where the money actually is.

“The money has been put on a bank account of Nigeria at the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, but it belongs to Nigeria. And now, it is in the process of being put on the national bank account here in Nigeria.

“But you should ask the Minister of Finance where the money actually is because it is not anymore in Swiss hands, it is in Nigerian hands since the beginning of this year,” Mayoraz said.

The Bank for International Settlements, a global financial institution owned by central banks, fosters international monetary and financial cooperation and equally serves as a bank for central banks.

Mayoraz said in collaboration with the World Bank, the Swiss Government has put in place, a mechanism to ensure that there is no case of disappearance of the funds like it happened in the past.

He said the money would be used for the National Social Safety Net Programme, a programme of the Presidency.

“So, this is cash transfer for the poorest Nigerians. The programme exists already and now again, I don’t know if this particular money was already used for this or if it is still waiting.

“But the programme is there, there is monitoring also from the World Bank, together with the Nigerian Ministry of Finance and the Presidency on its repatriation.

“Also, I think it is an important part to mention that the Nigerian civil society, Reverend Ugholo, and his association, are part of the monitoring of this money.

“I think this is a common interest from Switzerland, Nigerian government and the World Bank that the money goes to the people of Nigeria and avoid a situation that the money would disappear again,” Mayoraz added.

But Adeosun who spoke through her Special Adviser on Media, Oluyinka Akintunde, said she had no knowledge of the return of the money recovered from the late former military head of state, Gen. Sani Abacha.

“I don’t have any information with respect to the return of $321m Abacha loot by Switzerland,” she maintained.

When asked about other Nigerians who may have their funds trapped in Swiss banks, Mayoraz declined comment alluding to the confidentiality of the process.

Mayoraz, however, recalled the memorandum of understanding signed between the Nigerian Ministry of Justice and the Swiss Government on bilateral mutual  legal assistance, saying that if such request emanate from the  Federal Government, the Swiss Government will follow up and will freeze the money.

Recall that during the inaugural Global Forum on Asset Recovery (GFAR) in Washington, United States, in December 2017, a memorandum of understanding was signed by the Government of Switzerland, Nigeria and the World Bank to repatriate the sum of $321 million said to have been stolen by former head of state, late General Sani Abacha.

The Federal Government, had through the Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Justice Reform and Open Government Partnership (OGP), Mrs. Juliet Ibekaku-Nwagwu, said the funds would be used for social protection programmes, and called on civil society organisations and the media  to monitor the use.

Short of calling Abubakar Malami, the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), the Swiss lawyer hired by the Federal Government since 1999 to work on recovering the late Abacha loot, Enrico Monfrini has denied asking for additional fees.

The denial came on the heels of a syndicated article in Nigerian media seeking to justify the duplication of Monfrini’s job by the AGF.

An online news portal, TheCable had reported the engagement of another set of Nigerian lawyers for a fee of $17 million (about N6 billion) for a job already completed by Monfrini.

TheCable had reported the engagement of the services of two Nigerian lawyers- Oladipo Okpeseyi, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), and Temitope Adebayo- for a fee of $17 million (about N6 billion) for a job already completed by Monfrini.

But Monfrini denied allegation that he demanded additional fees, hence the decision to hire new counsel to facilitate the recovery of the looted fund trapped in Swiss account.

“I am not asking any additional fees from the Federal Republic of Nigeria in respect of funds which I have recovered on behalf of the latter during the last 20 years,” he said, adding that any allegations against him “would just be a lie.”

Working with then-attorney-general of Nigeria, Mohammed Adoke, Monfrini had traced about $321 million to Luxembourg.

The monies were recovered and kept in the custody of the  attorney-general of Switzerland, awaiting final return to Nigeria.

Monfrini said he did not know why Nigeria decided to appoint other lawyers.

“Upon the election of President Buhari, the newly appointed minister of justice and attorney-general, Malami, appeared to prefer using the services of other lawyers in Nigeria and elsewhere,” he had claimed.

It was also reported that Nigeria would pay $17 million (over N6 billion) to the freshly engaged lawyers who would “help” with the repatriation of $321 million allegedly stolen by Abacha.

The  $17 million is nearly thrice more than what was already paid to Monfrini for the same job.

“This is a case of re-looting Abacha loot. A simple letter from the office of our attorney-general of the federation to the Swiss attorney-general requesting the repatriation of the funds to Nigeria consequent upon the signing of an MoU was all that was required to consummate the deal.

“From nowhere, Malami went and appointed another set of lawyers to do his job for him, and for few million dollars too,” senior official of the ministry of justice said

Daily Sun Report