PICTURES: Army engineers clear notorious camps; more terrorists killed, civilians rescued

As part of efforts to rid Nigeria of Boko Haram terrorists, troops of 21 Brigade and personnel of Nigerian Army Engineers on Wednesday cleared a notorious terrorists camp at Chuogori and Shantumari areas of Borno State, the spokesperson for the army, Sani Usman, has said.

In a statement Thursday, Mr. Sani, a colonel, said during the offensive operations, the fleeing terrorists left underground silos.



Mr. Sani added, “In addition, troops of 151 Task Force Battalion conducted operations on Kashingeri, Wale and Kushingari Boko Haram terrorists camps today.

“During the raids, quite a number of the terrorists were killed, a Landrover vehicle and a Tipper were recovered.

“The troops also rescued 59 civilians that were held captive by the terrorists and cleared the camps.”

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I’m not expecting ministerial appointment from Buhari — Bakare

The General Overseer of the Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has said that he is not expecting a ministerial appointment from President Muhammadu Buhari.

Bakare, who spoke in an interview with Sahara TV monitored by NE on Thursday, however, parried a question on whether he would accept a ministerial appointment if offered by the President.

Bakare, who was the running mate of Buhari on the platform of the Congress for Progressive Change in the 2011 presidential election, defended the President’s style of governance, saying, “slow and steady wins the race.”

The cleric said, “As far as I am concerned, I am not expecting to be named a minister. If I am offered an appointment, when I get to that bridge I will cross it. I am already a minister of the gospel. Ministry is my calling and my life. The word minister means servant. When you expect nothing, you cannot be disappointed. I keep on doing what I am doing, to be a solid supporter of the Buhari movement and what he stands for in public life. I have no regret on what I did in 2011. If an opportunity presents itself, I will do it again. I am not seeking anything.

“Let’s not count chickens before they are hatched. The bible says the expectation of the righteous will not be cut off. That is when the expectation of the righteous is in tandem with God’s expectation. If you are expecting from God, the flesh can fail. Who knows tomorrow? In the next two months, when the ministers would be named, what if nobody is here or alive? ”

He, however, said he would continue to support the President in any capacity.

The cleric said President Buhari’s visit to the United States has improved the relationship between the two countries.

On whether former President Goodluck Jonathan should be probed, he said, “I will not advocate that President Jonathan should be probed or not be probed. A day or two before the inauguration of the President, the transition committee received a report. They worked on it for weeks.

“The President has looked into those reports. If there are anomalies, President Buhari will call the former president and say things are irregular and the law should take its effect. But as for the witch-hunt of others, that is a waste of time. If you keep on chasing the wrong things, you will not do the right things. But that does not mean anyone who has done evil should get away with it.

Bakare said he would not support the restitution of stolen funds as amnesty for corrupt government officials, noting that this would promote a wrong attitude.

He added, “What Nigeria needs now are not so much of restitution. Some stolen funds that were sent back to Nigeria in the past went into wrong hands. What Nigeria needs is a clear example of good governance, the rule of law as against the rule of men.

“On the rule of men, might is right. On the rule of law, right is might. So if you can get ‘right is might’ in place, if you do something wrong and you are punished for it, those who have the desires to do similar things will know that there are consequences for their choices, that is where we are going. I can tell you that witch-hunt is not something that President Buhari would support. Perish the thought, it is not his character.”

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Port Harcourt, Warri refineries commence crude production – NNPC

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has announced that the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries have been successfully re-streamed after a nine-month rehabilitation exercise conducted by its in-house engineers and technicians.

The corporation, in a statement, noted that both plants commenced preliminary production of petroleum products after successful test-runs, adding that while PHRC was ramping up its operation to about 60 per cent of its 210,000 barrels per day capacity, WRPC production was projected to hit 80 per cent of its installed 125,000bpd capacity.


The NNPC said the Port Harcourt refinery was projected to boost the nation’s local refining capacity with a product yield of five million litres of petrol per day, while Warri refinery would contribute 3.5 million litres of petrol.

Providing insight into the rehabilitation exercise, the NNPC noted that it had to adopt the phased rehabilitation strategy after the Original Refinery Builders, who were initially contacted for the project came up with unfavorable terms.

It said, “Though a decision was taken in 2011 to rehabilitate all the refineries using the ORB of each of the refineries, we were impelled to switch strategy after the ORBs declined participation and nominated some partners in their stead who came up with outrageously unfavorable terms.”

The NNPC stated that the nominated partners, as sole-bidders, came up with humongous price offers after two years of thorough and exhaustive scope of work definition and price negotiations.

It added that the proxies were also unwilling to provide post rehabilitation performance guarantees.

The corporation said, “The phased rehabilitation strategy which entailed phased and simultaneous rehabilitation of all the refineries using in-house and locally available resources in line with the spirit and letter of the Nigerian Content Law, also involved the use of Original Equipment Manufacturer representatives to effect major equipment overhaul and rehabilitation.”

The national oil firm said the phased rehabilitation programme, which started in October 2014 after the required funding stream was established, created a 70 per cent reduction in costs which helped largely in mitigating the financing challenges of refinery rehabilitation.

It observed that with the successful re-streaming of the PHRC and WRPC, attention has now moved to the 110,000 barrels per day Kaduna Refining and Petrochemicals Company which was billed to come on stream soon.

In a related development, NNPC disclosed that it had successfully recovered the System 2B Pipeline which was breached last week at Arepo, Ogun State.

The corporation stated that its team of engineers, who were deployed to the scene of the incident, were able to access the pipeline after the fire was put out and commenced repair work immediately.

It said, “We wish to announce that the vital System 2B Pipeline which was breached at Arepo last week has been fixed and brought back on stream. Pumping of products through the system commenced on Monday upon successful completion of repair work over the weekend.

“We also wish to call on all those engaged in the criminal acts of pipeline sabotage and oil theft to desist in order to avoid such horrendous deaths as was witnessed in the recent incident.”

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How Yar’Adua canceled sale of refineries, refunded Dangote’s $750m – Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has explained that the sale of two of the nation’s oil oil refineries had been concluded before he exited office in 2007, saying his successor, the late Umaru Yar’Adua, reversed the sale due to “pressure”.

Obasanjo said this in his serialised interview with ‘Book Club’, a programme on Channels Television, monitored in Lagos on Wednesday.

The ex-President said business mogul, Aliko Dangote, leading a consortium of investors, had paid $750m for two of the refineries, as the Federal Government was finding it difficult managing the facilities at the time.

He, however, regretted that instead of the Yar’Adua administration to consolidate on the sale so that the investors could turn around the fortunes of the refineries, his successor succumbed to pressure and reversed the sale of the oil facilities.

Obasanjo equally revealed that not only did his successor canceled the sale, he also refunded the $750m paid by the investors.

He added, “The refineries are old and Dangote and some investors paid $750m for two of the refineries. My successor came to office and reversed the sale; he even refunded the money they paid.

“So, I went to him and said ‘why did you do this’? He said it was because of pressure. So, I said ‘so the pressure of some people was more important than the interest of the whole nation’!

“Right now, you will hardly be able to sell the refineries for more than $250m because they are very old.”

Obasanjo explained that most people, especially leaders, failed to analyse the decisions of those before them before upturning those decisions, pointing out that most leaders yielded to sentiment than informed opinions.

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REVEALED: Oil worth $13.7b Billion stolen under NNPC

The Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, Hajiya Zainab Shamsuna-Ahmed, on Wednesday said between 2009 and 2012, about 160 million barrels of oil valued at $13.7bn was stolen under the watch of the national oil giant, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.


She also said that subsidy payment from 2005 to 2012 indicated that $11.63bn had been paid to the NNPC but that “there is no evidence of the money being remitted to the federation account.”

The NEITI boss, who called on the Federal Government to privatize the refineries, stated this during a courtesy call on Governor Nasir el-Rufai, at Sir Kashim Ibrahim Government House, Kaduna, on Wednesday.

El-Rufai is among the four governors appointed by the National Economic Council to scrutinise the accounts of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and the Excess Crude Account managed by the administration of Goodluck Jonathan.

Part of the terms of reference was to unravel the N3.8trn not remitted to the Federation Account by the national oil giant between 2012 and May 2015, as well as $2.1bn said to have been deducted from the Excess Crude Account.

Governors of Akwa-Ibom, Edo and Gombe states were members of the team.

Hajiya Ahmed said, “Crude product swap of $866m was lost from 2009 to 2011 and $8243m in 2012. Total amount expended in subsidy payment from 2005 to 2012 as captured $11.63bn have been paid to the NNPC. However, there is no evidence that these amounts were remitted to the Federation Account,” she stated.

Meanwhile, Governor El-Rufai disclosed that since he called for the scrap of the NNPC, the corporation has being sponsoring articles in the media to attack him to fight on till NNPC will be killed.

He added that the corporation would be made to pay all monies it owed before its final death.

El-Rufai said, “NNPC has become a monster that is too powerful. I will continue to fight NNPC till it dies for Nigeria to survive.

“It is either Nigerians kill NNPC or NNPC will kill Nigeria.

“Since, I called for the death of NNPC, the corporation has sponsored articles attacking me, but I am telling them my skin is thicker than an elephant.”

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Buhari appoints P.T. Boroh as new Niger Delta Amnesty chief

President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed P.T. Boroh, a retired brigadier general, as the Coordinator of the Amnesty Programme for former Niger Delta militants.

Mr. Boroh, whose appointment takes immediate effect, is to take over the responsibilities of the former Special Adviser to President Jonathan on Niger Delta who also doubled as Coordinator of the Amnesty Programme, presidential spokesperson, Femi Adesina, said.

The appointment of a new Coordinator for the Amnesty Programme is expected to lead to the speedy resolution of recent hitches in its implementation such as the non-payment of outstanding allowances to ex-militants, Mr. Adesina said in a statement.

The coordinator of the programme under the Jonathan administration was Kingsley Kuku.

Last week, Mr. Kuku was summoned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on allegation of massive looting of funds meant for the amnesty programme.

Mr. Kuku declined EFCC’s request to report for questioning on July 28 on medical grounds, assuring to do so September 30.

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PICTURES: Police alert Nigerians of Improvised Explosive Device (IEDs) conveyed in fashion hand-bags

The Nigeria Police on Tuesday discovered female suicide bombers with a fashion bag carrying an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in Yobe state.


This was contained in a tweet by the Police on their official twitter handle ‏@PoliceNG.

It read: “SUICIDE BOMBERS NOW CONVEY IED IN FASHION HANDBAGS”

The police called on Nigerians to be vigilant saying suicide bombers have now devised the use of fashion bags to convey improvised explosive devices (IED).

The fashion handbag used in conveying IEDs

“People in and around Yobe State as well as the entire country should watch out for excessive and gorgeous dressing bag carrying young girls/older women. This bag is one of such recent discovery in Yobe State by Police EoD Personnel,” it added.

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Ooni of Ife, Oba Sijuwade is dead

The Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, has died at the age of 85 in a London hospital.

The monarch was said to have died Tuesday evening.


Relevant officials, who spoke to NE on Tuesday night, however, refused to confirm the monarch’s death, saying they did not want to be quoted on the death of the foremost traditional ruler, who was said to have passed away on Tuesday.

“I have heard but please, I don’t want to be quoted on this. People have been calling but nothing has been made public. You see, another person is calling me from London,” the source said before picking the other call.

Another source, who spoke on condition of anonymity to our correspondent, explained that Oba Sijuwade was flown out of the country from Ibadan about five days ago in an unconscious state.

“Kabiyesi was flown out of the country about five days ago in an air ambulance. He was unconscious; his situation was critical.

“As a matter of fact, some people have been weeping in the palace since the weekend because of his situation when he was flown out from Ibadan in that air ambulance,” he said.

One Osun traditional ruler, who asked not to be quoted, revealed last night that the Ife monarch had died.

He said, “The Ooni is dead. It is true. He died about two hours ago in the UK. His two oloris (wives) – Olori Moni and Olori Odun – were with him in the UK.

“He travelled out for treatment anytime he fell ill but he couldn’t make it this time. It is sad but I believe it is God’s time. There was nothing anyone could do to stop it.

“Tokunbo, his eldest child, will probably leave for the UK this evening. There is nothing we can do but we take solace in the fact that he lived well. The proper announcement will be done later,”

A call to the line of the monarch was not answered.

There had been fears over the health of the first class monarch since 2013 when he was taken out of the country for medical attention for over a month.

Born on January 1, 1930, Sijuwade became the fiftieth ruler of the ancient kingdom of Ife, popularly referred to as the cradle and source of the Yoruba, in 1980.

Though he took the name Alayeluwa Olubuse II upon his installation, he dropped “Alayeluwa” from his name a few years back, saying that only God is fit to be called “Alayeluwa.”

Alayeluwa means omniscience.

A former commissioner and indigene of Ife, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, “It is true. I was with him on Wednesday. Last Thursday when we held the political summit in Ife, he supported us and sent an emissary to the summit. He slumped on Thursday and was rushed to Ibadan airport from where he was flown to Lagos in an air ambulance en route to England for treatment. He became stable by Saturday. It is sad that he relapsed and passed on.”

The flamboyant traditional ruler was crowned king on December 6, 1980 in a colourful ceremony attended by prominent traditional rulers the Emir of Kano, Oba of Benin, Amayanabo of Opobo and the Olu of Warri as well as the representatives of the Queen of England.

It was gathered that the Ife traditional council and the Osun State traditional council would meet on Wednesday.

A competent source disclosed that emissaries from the two councils would visit the Governor of Osun, Rauf Aregbesola, to officially break the news to the governor.

Sijuwade was born to the Ogboru ruling house. The handsome king was a grandson of the Ooni Sijuwade Adelekan Olubuse I. He studied at the Abeokuta Grammar School and Oduduwa College in Ile-Ife.

He worked for three years in his father’s business and later did a two-year stint with the Nigerian Tribune, before attending the Northampton College in the United Kingdom to study Business Management.

At the young age of 30, he became a manager in Leventis, a Greek-Nigerian conglomerate. In 1963, he became the Sales Director of the state-owned National Motors in Lagos. After spotting a business opportunity during a 1964 visit to the Soviet Union, he formed a company to distribute Soviet-built vehicles and equipment in Nigeria. This later became the nucleus of his widespread business empire. He also invested in real estate in his home town of Ile-Ife. By the time Sijuwade was crowned Ooni in 1980 he had become a wealthy man, whose fame and connection was global.

When Sijuwade became the Ooni, he inherited an ongoing dispute over supremacy between the obas of Yorubaland. In 1967 the crisis had been resolved when the late Yoruba sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, was chosen as the leader of the Yoruba. In 1976, the Governor of Oyo State, General David Jemibewon, had decreed that the Ooni of Ife would be the permanent chairman of the State Council of Obas and Chiefs. Other Obas led by the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, said the position should rotate. The dispute calmed down when Osun State was carved out of Oyo State in August 1991, but still persisted. In January 2009, Sijuwade was quoted as saying that Oba Adeyemi was ruling a dead empire (the Oyo Empire, which collapsed in 1793). Adeyemi responded by citing “absurdities” in Sijuwade’s statements and saying the Ooni “is not in tune with his own history”.

It will be recalled that Oba Adeyemi, the Permanent Chairman of the Oyo State Council of Obas and Chiefs, was conspicuously absent from a meeting of Yoruba leaders in April 2010.

In February 2009, Sijuwade helped mediate in a dispute over land ownership between the communities of Ife and Modakeke, resolved in part through the elevation of the Ogunsua of Modakeke as an Oba.

In August 2010 he mediated in the ownership dispute between Oyo and Osun states concerning Ladoke Akintola University, calling a meeting attended by Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, governor of Osun State, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala, governor of Oyo State and the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education which resulted in an action plan.

Oba Sijuwade became the fiftieth traditional ruler or Ife in 1980.

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Big Brother Africa 2015 cancelled

Popular television reality show Big Brother Africa also known as BBA, will not be coming off this year due to inability of the organizers of the show, Africa Magic and Endemol’s to get sponsorship for the show.

The Manager of Multi Choice Ghana, Anne Sackey, she confirmed to newsmen that they at Multi Choice Ghana have received notice from MNET that this year’s edition of Big Brother Africa will not come off.

She explained that MNET did not give them any reasons as to why they will not be doing the Big Brother this year, but then, she personally thinks it’s due to sponsorship constraints.

“They didn’t give us any reason though, but I think it’s mainly because of cash constraints as we all know the show is very expensive to put up” she said.

Anne Sackey continued that since the organizers don’t have a constant annual headline sponsor (s) for the show, it becomes difficult sometimes getting sponsors.

“They don’t have fix sponsors on the show. Every year the sponsor changes, sometimes it’s Coca­Cola, sometimes MTN and other companies from Ghana have sponsored before” she noted.

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Sacked Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi demands ₦1 Billion compensation from NFF

Sacked Super Eagles coach Stephen Keshi has demanded a compensation of a billion Naira from the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) for defaming him.

Last week, it was reported that Keshi had dragged the NFF to court for “wrongful dismissal and defamation”.

A top source told said “Keshi’s lawyers have demanded for a billion Naira from the NFF as compensation for defaming their client.”

The letter from the Kaduna-based law firm was received by the NFF on Friday.

Keshi was sacked by the NFF on July 5 after the NFF disciplinary committee investigated various allegations against him.

This was four months after the 53-year-old coach signed a new two-year contract after his initial three-year deal with the NFF ran out at last year’s World Cup in Brazil.

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Probe Amaechi if you are sincere in your fight against corruption - Wike tells Buhari

Rivers state governor, Nyesom Wike says if President Buhari was really serious about his fight against corruption, he must start by probing the administration of former Rivers state governor, Rotimi Amaechi.

The governor gave the charge in a statement released and signed by his special adviser on media and publicity Opunabo Inko-Tariah today July 26th. The governor added that an appointment of Rotimi Amaechi by Buhari will be an endorsement of corruption ..

“If Buhari is sincere in his fight against corruption, let him probe the Amaechi’s government and he will discover that there cannot be a government official that is more corrupt than Amaechi.

 From the genesis to revelation of his government, Amaechi’s fiscal recklessness and dictatorial policies and approaches are responsible for the financial woes of the state that should ordinarily be buoyant. A man like Amaechi must not be allowed to flaunt the fruits of his crime with impunity. He has to account for the monthly allocations he received in 8 years and the IGRs for the same period. He spirited so much out of the system with little or nothing to show for it.

The appointment of Amaechi by Buhari will be an endorsement of corruption by Buhari. If there are no skeletons in his cupboard, why try to frustrate the Hon Justice Omereji’s commission of inquiry? This obviates the need for further evidence that his hands are dirty. After all, he started and ended his reign with the late Justice Kayode Esho’s panel and the Prof Odinkalu’s commission of inquiry respectively -not to talk of that headed by Justice B A Georgewill. Do unto others, what you want others to do unto you’, our Lord Jesus admonished my brother Knight, Amaechi.

The attempt to stop the Hon Justice Omereji’s Commission of Inquiry from investigating his government is not only risible but shameful and highly provocative. It is ironical that the same man who sealed the judiciary for close to two years and turned lawyers into taxi drivers and artisans will now have the gumption to approach the same courts he desecrated for justice. If his successor had followed his footsteps, which court would he have approached to seek redress? How will he appear before those he almost turned into beggars? As a result of his callous and insensitive actions, most lawyers had broken homes as they could not sustain their families. Some even lost their loved ones in hospitals for lack of money to buy needed drugs.”.

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Bobbi Kristina Brown, daughter of Whitney Houston dies at 22

Bobbi Kristina Brown, 22, the only daughter of singers Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown, died Sunday, nearly six months after she was found unresponsive in a bathtub of her home, her family said.

Brown has been unresponsive in hospitals since she was found in a bathtub of her Roswell, Georgia, home on Jan. 31. Her family said she suffered irreversible brain damage.


"She is finally at peace in the arms of God," her family told NBC News in a statement. "We want to again thank everyone for their tremendous amount of love and support during these last few months."

Bobbi Kristina was music royalty as the daughter of two superstars — and the granddaughter of another, Cissy Houston, the mother of Whitney, who died in February 2012.

She became even better known at age 10 when she was featured on her father's reality TV series, "Being Bobby Brown."

Police have said that they investigated the case as a medical emergency and that no foul play is suspected. No criminal charges have ever been brought.

But late last month, Brown's conservator sued Nick Gordon — who has been described as Brown's boyfriend and husband, an attachment her family denies — for $10 million, accusing him of having physically abused Brown and having improperly withdrawn $11,000 from her bank account after she was in a coma.

Whitney Houston brought Gordon into her household as an orphan at the age of 12, raising him with her daughter after divorcing Bobby Brown in 2007. Gordon wore a large tattoo of Houston's face on his arm and called the singer "mom," but she never adopted him or included him in her will.

(NBC)

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