SUSPECTED FULANI HERDSMEN KIDNAP CATHOLIC PRIEST, SHOOT 2 OTHERS IN ANAMBRA

• Demand N2.5m ransom as Bishops dismiss payment
Nnewi—The Catholic Diocese of Nnewi, yesterday alleged that suspected Fulani herdsmen armed with dangerous weapons including guns, attacked and kidnapped the Rector of Tansi Major Seminary, Rev. Fr. Dr. Emmanuel Dim, while two other priests Rev. Frs. Jude Chukwuneke and Jude Ezeokana who were in the same vehicle with him escaped with various degrees of gun shot wounds. 

Addressing reporters at the Nnewi Catholic Diocese Media House, located in Assumption Cathedral Nnewi, Director of Communication of the Diocese, Rev. Fr. Hyginus Aghaulor, alleged that the herdsmen called, and demanded for a ransom of N2.5 million. He said: “Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, CBCN, has decided and directed that ransom should not be paid for the kidnap of any of its priests and anybody that is demanding for ransom for the release of any priest kidnapped is wasting time. 

“If anybody or group goes ahead to pay ransom for the release of any priest, the person or the group is on his own.” In a statement issued after addressing reporters, titled “Fulani herdsmen kidnap Rector of Tansi Major Seminary, Onitsha, demands for ransom,” the Catholic Diocese of Nnewi said the incident happened on the September 26, 2016, around 7pm along Nkpologwu/Nimbo Road Enugu State. 

According to the statement, “the three Catholic priests were returning from Nsukka to Onitsha and Nnewi, after a condolence visit to Rev. Fr. Uchenna Ezeh of Nsukka Diocese who lost his mother, before they were attacked and while Rev. Fr. Dim is still being held by the herdsmen- kidnappers who are demanding a ransom of N2.5 million, Rev. Fr. Ezeokana, who lectures in both Fr. Tansi Major Seminary Onitsha and Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, received treatment briefly at a hospital in Nsukka, but is now recuperating at Awka his home Diocese. 

“Rev. Fr. Chukwuemeka, who is the Chaplin of St Camillus de Lellis Chaplaincy, College of Health Science, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nnewi ,who was shot on the head has been transferred from Memphis Specialist Hospital Enugu to Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi, where he is currently receiving treatment.”

“On a separate place the same Monday 26th September, 2016, a Vincentian priest whose name is yet to be confirmed was also kidnapped with his brother along Abuja Lokoja express way, another Catholic priest Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Ugwu was kidnapped on August 9,2014 along Ugwuogo-Nike-Opi and few weeks back a senior seminarian was killed in cold blooded in Attakwu, Enugu State, and one begins to wonder if Catholic priest have become endangered species”. 

The visibly angry Rev. Fr. Aghaulor lashed out on South East Governors for doing nothing to protect people they are governing, “while their counterparts in the North are influencing the Federal Government in spending billions of naira to contain the Boko Haram insurgents, when something more worrisome and sinister than the activities of Boko Haram is being done in the South East by the Fulani Herdsmen”. 

“The South East Governors and their Chairman have done nothing to protect the people of South East, the Enugu State Governor whose state is where the menacing activities of the of the herdsmen is worst and the state legislators have not done anything to protect the people there, they should borrow a leaf from Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State. 

“We are in Federalism, and each state have right to make certain law governing them, what prevents Enugu State Government from making laws that can protect the people there, Governors of South East and their State Assembly’s should make laws that will protect their people”. Rev. Fr. Aghaulor lamented that since the existence of Nigeria, nobody has seen the level of killing spree that is being perpetrated by the Fulani herdsmen, adding that “while innocent people are left unprotected, we have seen barrage of military wares and personnel protecting the pipelines in Niger Delta, as if oil is more important than people’s life. 

Why should people be killed without provocation in their own traditional lands? “We are asking the government for how long would this continue, is this the type of country we all signed up for, is this part of the change, is there no rules and laws in this country , all over Nigeria women are being raped, people are intimidated, innocent Nigerians are being slaughtered and property worth billions of Naira destroyed by the suspected Fulani Herdsmen”.

Source:Vanguard

Naira crashes to N465/ USD as CBN issues new directives on domiciliary accounts usage

As Naira came under fresh pressures in the parallel market Wednesday, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, issued more directives restricting usage of domiciliary accounts by bank customers, apparently to stem the pressures and improve official supply of foreign exchange to the interbank market.

As a result of the pressure, Naira crashed to between N460 and N465/ USD1, against the opening rate of N445/USD1 in the parallel market segment, though the interbank rate depreciated just marginally to N312.9/ USD1, against N310 earlier in the week. Currency dealers at both segments of the market attributed the renewed pressure on rates to a worsening supply gap at all the segments, even as CBN’s intervention, according to them, has become too thin to assuage the huge demand.

One of the dealers in a commercial bank said: “CBN may have started finding it difficult to intervene with significant supply of foreign currency to the interbank market. “On the other hand we have been having increased demand from our customers but we are unable to source their requirements for some weeks now.”

Against the backdrop of the huge supply and demand gap, CBN appeared to have renewed its restriction measures on access and usage of independent foreign exchange resources. Yesterday, some bank customers said they had received messages from their banks warning them to desist from using foreign exchange inflows in their domiciliary accounts for trading purposes.

The directives, according to a source in a bank, came against the emergence of a thriving currency trade by some individuals with their domiciliary accounts. An e-mail from one of the banks stated that CBN had mandated that all customers of financial institutions were expected to utilize their accounts within regulatory guidelines.

According to the e-mail, the guidelines stated: “All customers of financial institutions are expected to only use their accounts for their direct personal/company related transactions. “No customer of any financial institution is permitted to engage in any activity that could be perceived as international money remittance service (IMTO) or bureau de change (BDC) activities without the express approval of the CBN.

 “Any customer who fails to adhere to these guidelines runs the risk of being reported not only to the CBN but subsequently to the security agencies.’’ The bank, in the same e-mail, encouraged customers to be mindful of these directives when using their bank accounts, adding that it would continue to provide updates regarding the proper use of domiciliary bank accounts.

Some of the banks’ account officers who spoke to Vanguard believed the apex bank would follow up this directive with more stringent control of access and usage of domiciliary accounts. Worried by these developments, a financial analyst at CardinalStone Partners Limited, a Lagos-based investment house, Tiffany Adugwe, told Vanguard that the primary cause of the adversities and pressures on exchange rate was the increasing supply gaps.

She stated: “There is no liquidity yet in the foreign exchange market and the situation is worsening. We need emergency borrowings, foreign exchange inflows as soon as yesterday. “The forex is not available at the interbank market and that is why the demands are going into the parallel market and hence the rate there is shooting up.”

Source:Vanguard

EMIRATES REJECTS NAIRA IN PAYMENT FOR FLIGHT

• It is illegal, says NCAA
• Stranded passengers allege discrimination

Emirates Airlines has rejected the Nigerian currency, naira, for payment by travellers to Brazil.The Dubai-based airline is rather demanding a credit card mode of payment from passengers at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.

The development, which caught many passengers unawares, caused some of them to be left behind, despite having bought tickets weeks earlier.The Guardian observed that while some passengers were turned back by the airline’s officials at the counter for already buying tickets in naira, they also ensured that a passenger who had earlier checked in for the 5:55 p.m. Lagos-Dubai Sunday flight never boarded the plane.

The Emirates office in Lagos yesterday confirmed that the credit card mode of payment is indeed the company’s policy, though it would not explain the rationale.An official of the airline, Babatunde Yahaya, who explained the new policy to angry passengers on Sunday said the action was in line with a memo issued to them, demanding that any ticket issued on Emirates, for passengers travelling from Nigeria to Brazil, “must be by credit card and not cash.” Yahaya said the directive was issued on September 22 and took effect immediately.

Reading from a sheet of paper to the evicted passengers, he said: “Any ticket issued on Emirates Airline from Nigeria to Brazil must be paid for with credit card and not cash.“The credit card holder must be verified, preferably not his passport. And even when issued by a third party, the credit card holder must be verified and his credit card ascertained.”

One of the affected passengers, Obinna, said it was “humiliation of the highest order,” and so shameful that such is happening on Nigerian soil.“This is a ticket bought almost two weeks ago from Emirates and they collected cash. Besides the fact that it is illegal to reject it for whatever reason, why did they collect the naira when they wanted a credit card? This is so disgraceful and I’ve never seen anything like it in my life,” Obinna said.

Another Brazil-bound passenger said it amounted to cheating the Nigerian system to insist that a ticket must be paid for with a credit card because the fares would be deducted in dollar equivalent and at the official exchange rate.“This is sheer discrimination against Nigerians that ordinarily would have been taken up in a sane clime. The ticket was purchased even before the date the so-called memo was issued. So, why did they collect the fares when they knew they would not honour them?” the passenger said on the condition of anonymity.

The airline, however, denied discrimination against anyone, citing a “company policy” that was not adhered to by travel agencies. The Emirates’ office in Lagos said the passengers affected bought their tickets some days before the scheduled travel, and had done so through travel agencies.

Early this year, some foreign airlines were allegedly demanding that tickets be purchased with foreign currencies or from overseas, in the wake of dollar scarcity and foreign airlines’ funds getting stuck in Nigeria. The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) then warned all airlines to desist from the act which it described as a flagrant contravention of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s “prerequisite guiding cost of products or services in Nigeria.”

The apex bank insisted that “pricing of any product shall continue to be in naira only and it is illegal to price or denominate the cost of any product or service (visible or invisible) in any foreign currency.”Reacting to the latest development, Spokesman for NCAA, Sam Adurogboye, said the action was contrary to the provisions of the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) between Nigeria and other countries as contained in Article 8 (4).

According to Adurogboye, the agreement provides for ticket payment either in local currency or official currency of the airline’s host country, but as preferred by the passenger.He said: “You (airlines) are duty bound to accept any mode of payment that the traveller chooses. And you don’t turn them down. If you do, then that is where we come in.”

He added that the regulatory authority was not unaware of complaints against foreign airlines operating in the country and had been appealing to them instead of going punitive.

According to Adurogboye, many of the airlines still have their funds stuck in Nigeria amidst dollar scarcity, noting that it would be most unfair to wield the big stick when they violate rules.He assured that NCAA would investigate the development with Emirates and act accordingly.
Source:Guardian

Sale of national assets: NLC mobilises for nationwide protest

ABUJA—Organised labour, yesterday, said it was mobilising to confront the Federal Government over its decision to sell some national assets which had before now sustained the nation’s economy. buhari-sale Organised Labour’s declaration came on a day the National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria, NUTGTWN, cautioned President Muhammadu Buhari against planned sale of the assets.

Addressing journalists in Abuja, president of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, described the proposed decision of the government to dispose of the national assets as reckless auctioning of the nation’s commonwealth to a coterie of capitalists and government’s close associates.

Wabba, who also inaugurated a committee, alongside the Academic Staff Union Of Universities, ASUU, to engage the Federal Government on the issue, said if the dialogue with the government to stop the sale of national assets failed, it would mobilise its members across the country to embark on a nationwide protest. He said that the congress was also considering the option of dragging the Federal Government to court, saying at least 20 lawyers had indicated interest to represent the Congress in court.

Wabba admitted that the congress had been passive on several national issues, but assured that it would engage government vigorously and ensure that the assets were not sold. He said the NLC decided to engage the services of intellectuals to come out with alternative policy ideas besides the ones being canvassed by government

Panama Papers

He said: “The Panama Papers leaks which up till now have not been investigated, in other states, it has been investigated and the veracity of the allegation has also been proved. “I think because certain individuals who are also now canvassing the sale of our national assets may be reason these issues have not investigated. We demand that those issues must continue to be investigated.

“Therefore, transferring our commonwealth to the ownership of a few will further impoverish all of us. I think it is high time even for government to try to take stock of all enterprises that have been privatised before now and what is their state. “What comes to mind is the power sector, which was privatised for over three years now. I am sure that all of us will agree that no value was added, instead they have been exploited. “We have been paying bills that cannot be justified.

Even to provide meters have nearly been difficult even with the pronouncement by the court that they reverse the tariff, it has certainly not received any attention.” The NLC President contended that considering that previous privatisation programmes failed woefully, it made no sense to sell off national assets, stating that, “these are clear avenues where such instances have been used to undermine our commonwealth and also few people have actually taken over those very strategic assets.

“We are, therefore, restating our position that we are opposed to the sale of those strategic assets in whatever guise in order to try to address the challenges in the economic. “We say this very patriotically, and we say this with the best of intention. I think the consequences would be more dangerous if we don’t take necessary steps now to protect those important national assets. It would also not serve any public good if those assets found themselves in the hands of a few.”

NUTGTWN

Meanwhile, the National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria, NUTGTWN, has cautioned President Muhammadu Buhari against the planned sale of some national assets. The union urged the President to be mindful of the “feverish prescriptions of few economic hit men” who, contrary to the spirit and content of the 1999 constitution, deliberately undermined national development through recommendations that fostered national assets stripping rather than sovereign wealth generation.

General Secretary of NUTGTWN, and member of the National Executive Council, NEC, of Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Issa Aremu, in a statement in Kaduna, titled Nigeria Not for Sale, argued that Nigeria was not short of resources, but lacked genuine resourceful leaders at all levels committed to nation building.

Aremu, who is also the Secretary, Alumuni Association of the National Institute, insisted that at 50 dollars per barrel of crude oil, Nigeria was still a rich country but “sadly impoverished by miserable leaders whose business as usual governance life styles include scandalous budget padding, illegal double prohibitive pension compensation for increasing army of two term governors, sheer theft of public funds officially put at trillion of Naira and lack of authentic vision of building the wealth of the nation.”
Source:Vanguard

FATHER RAPES 15-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER, DRUGS HER TO PREVENT PREGNANCY

The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a 47-year-old trader, Uchena Elumadu, for allegedly raping his 15-year-old daughter in the Agege area of the state.
SUNDAY PUNCH learnt that each time the Imo State indigene slept with the victim, he would drug her to prevent her from being pregnant.

He was, however, caught by his wife, who raised the alarm which drew the attention of neighbours and residents of Martins Street, New Oko Oba, Agege, where the incident happened.
The suspect, upon his arrest, allegedly admitted to sleeping with his daughter three times.
A police source said immediately the incest was discovered by the girl’s mother on Monday, September 19, the suspect fled the house.

He said, “The man has three children, two girls and one boy. The victim is the first child and she is in JSS 3. He had been sleeping with her for a long time. He started sleeping with her in 2015.

“It was easy for him because his wife is a casual worker at the airport and she is most times on night duty and does not sleep at home. What he does is to sneak into the room at midnight while the other children are asleep. He will wake the girl up, rape her and give her drugs to prevent pregnancy.

“But on September 19, his wife was around. He woke up and went to the room to wake up the girl, not knowing that his wife was awake and observing everything.
“The woman caught him in the act and shouted. She reported the case directly to the Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni.”

The source said the matter was immediately referred to the Gender Unit of the Lagos State Police Command headquarters, Ikeja, where a manhunt was launched for the suspect.
The source, who stated that Elumadu was arrested at his house on Friday after the police got a tip-off that he was around, added that the suspect thought that the case had died down.

The state’s Police Public Relations Officer, Dolapo Badmos, who confirmed the incident, said the victim had been admitted to Police College Hospital, Ikeja.

She said, “Preliminary investigation reveals that the suspect had on different occasions raped the daughter, after which he administered drugs to her to prevent her from getting pregnant.
“The 15-year-old girl told the police that the father on countless occasions woke her up in the middle of the night to rape her mostly when the mother was on night duty.

“The mother caught the suspect having intercourse with the victim. The father admitted to raping her on three occasions, blaming the act on the devil. The victim is currently admitted to Police College Hospital, where she is receiving treatment. This is in partnership with Mirabel Centre and the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, where medical examination will be carried out on her.”

Badmos, a Superintendent of Police, said the CP had ordered that the suspect be charged to court at the end of investigations.
She added that the command had no tolerance for sexual abuse and domestic violence.
Source: Sunday Punch