Libya slave trade: Buhari silent because most victims are Yorubas, Igbos – Fani-Kayode

​Femi Fani-Kayode, former Minister of Aviation, on Wednesday asserted that most Nigerians sold into slavery in Libya were natives of Igbo, Edo and Yoruba.

The two-time former minister asserted that 75% of those sold into slavery have their “organs harvested, bodies mutilated and roasted like suya.

He maintained that President Muhammadu Buhari has remained silent over the issue because most of the victims were not from the North.

In a tweet via his social media handle, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chieftain noted that Buhari’s silence was an indication that the current administration is evil.

He wrote: “75% of those sold into slavery in Libya who have their organs harvested, bodies mutilated and who are roasted like suya are from southern Nigeria.

“They are mostly Igbo, Edo and Yoruba. U see why Buhari’s evil regime don’t care? They are not Fulani herdsmen”- Paul Achalla.”

Libya slave trade: Nigerians set to hold protest on Friday

​A protest against slavery in Libya has been announced to hold on Friday in Lagos.
This follows global outcry on alleged slave trade boom, killings of migrants and human trafficking going on in the country.

The protest tagged ‘movement against second slavery’ would be held on Friday at the United Nations High commission Office.

Some prominent Nigerians, including a former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode have called out the Nigerian Government for keeping quiet over the ugly development.

Buhari Sacks Kachikwu as GMD; Approves New Board of Directors For NNPC

President Muhammadu Buhari has sacked Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu as the group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and replaced him with Maikanti Baru. In a press statement issued today in Abuja, the president office stated that Kachikwu as the minister for State for Petroleum will now be the chairman of the Board of the NNPC.
See full statement below:

PRESIDENT BUHARI APPROVES NEW BOARD OF DIRECTORS FOR NNPC


President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the composition of the Board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), as provided for under Section 1(2) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Act of 1997, as amended.
The new board is composed of the following:
A. Chairman-Dr Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, Honourable Minister of State for Petroleum;
B. Group Managing Director- Dr Maikanti Kacalla Baru;
C. The Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Finance; and
D. The following six persons:
1. Mallam Abba Kyari
2. Dr Thomas M.A John
3. Dr Pius O. Akinyelure
4. Dr Tajuddeen Umar
5. Mallam Mohammed Lawal, and
6. Mallam Yusuf Lawal.
President Buhari urges the new board to ensure the successful delivery of the mandate of the NNPC, ” and serve the nation by upholding the public trust placed on them in managing this critical national asset.”


FEMI ADESINA
Special Adviser
(Media and Publicity)
July 4, 2016

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AKWA IBOM GUBER – Nsit Ubium: Dilemma of Ambitions

AKWA IBOM GUBER – Nsit Ubium: Dilemma of Ambitions        

By: Otobong Sampson

This piece is written in the worst case scenario. Politically, it seems the land of Nsit Ubium is in a quandary. The people have to decide between the speakership of Onofiok Luke and the governorship hopes of Umana Umana. They will have to choose between the Peoples Democratic Party and All Progressive Congress. On this, party will be a non-factor. Antecedent will be everything, the sole determinant. It is a tough, yet, an easy decision. It is a choice between prospectively profitable investment and a risky venture. It is an option between certified leadership and unsafe gamble. It is a decision that may span the plains of Nsit Ubium…a judgement all Akwa Ibom people must serve as jury. Choices are free but nobody is free from the aftermaths of choice.
Robert Frost the poet in “The Road Not Taken,” wrote:
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;…

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Nsit Ubium, are u a land that inter great ambitions? Sam Edem, Effiong Bob….how they fell to “brotherly” envy and sacrificed on the stake of the narrow ambition of a kinsman remains ponderable. Is it Onofiok’s turn, and still for the same deviant and schlock governorship ambition? Genuine ambitions are not fueled by schizotypal obsession. They are driven by structural needs of the people and the configurational patterns of society. Umana Umana’s ambition today, remains ill-intentioned, ill-timed and suspicious, just as it was at the outset. On a moral scale, the main turn-off of UOU’s guber jamboree is the many futile attempts by the man himself and his subalterns to deodorize him from whatever stench they claim characterized the Akpabio years. If that era was sleazy, the incidental born-again was a sleaze-in-chief while he lasted as SSG. If the PDP is filled with crooks today, the APC governorship candidate ranked top in PDP’s hierarchy of crooks before the pages were flipped. It is only a moral irritant that would demonize a platform that offered him a regrettable privilege to emerge Akwa Ibom’s most notorious billion-man…too questionable that the “probe” word should ever form part of his speech, public or private.
 For Akwa Ibom governorship options, it is dangerous error to think Umana as a lesser evil. Even so, Baltasar Gracian, in “The Art of Worldly Wisdom,” offers a cautionary advice that we should “never open the door to a lesser evil, for other and greater ones invariably slink in after it”. Though yet to become the main boss, Umana lived an inebriated tyrant as government secretary. He brooked no press criticism even when it was factual. He struck with his fangs and unleashed his pangs. Today in the middle of a stormy electoral excursion, he pretends he is the people’s man. But he can’t be better than a benevolent dictator. And he will run an imperial democracy in the end.
As I drove, approaching the roundabout that also links Barracks road that afternoon, I witnessed a throng of people filled Ibom Plaza, others, in groups of varying numbers were also swarming towards the congregation. It was only after I got close that I noticed the speaker’s official car. I didn’t have the patience so I went my way. Minutes later, details of that event flooded the social media space. I have read criticisms of that event with some being wholly abusive without being sensible. But most ridiculous is a video, clearly a desperate afterthought, arranged by the APC media organ where a cluster of about a dozen persons were enticed to speak against the beautiful event of that day. Onofiok’s abrupt trip to another section of the street that day caused dazing and unsettling effects in the opposition camp. It was another masterstroke from the genius himself. He penetrated with ease where was generally perceived to be the den of opposition, freed them from the mental shackles of deception elongated by free readership of printed falsehood; he came out triumphant. That thirsty multitude, like Charlotte Bronte echoed, I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.
A hundred “arrangee” anti-Onofiok videos can’t neutralize the dripping effects of that visit. The APC media arm should gather a voluntary crowd of same staggering proportion and let the people who cheerfully received the speaker, also reject him. Else, there’s no other acceptable way to discredit him. Onofiok is winning. His distinctive trademarks, street cred and generosity, are shields against the arrows of mindless propaganda. He is the one formidable rock in the governing party that must be crushed if the opposition is to succeed in its morbid aims. If the APC governorship candidate had not erected a Berlin Wall and installed Iron Curtains to separate himself from the people while he laid drunk in the corridor of power, he wouldn’t solely depend on immoral skullduggeries to sell his ambition. The speaker is everything good that the opposition wish their man was. UOU does what Onofiok did; just that he does it at his utmost convenience. That is the difference. And such is not the hallmark of a leader. For this group, indeed, politics have no relation to morals.
In his private jet, he flew in;
Flaunting a sparkle of his illicit goldmine
An oppressor garbed in saintly garment
Mocking us, yet acting as our man

Under the blazing sun they converged
Hypnotized by his filthy cents
Enchanted by his impossible promises
With probe his manifesto, yet so unclean he is.

Isn’t it funny how we hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office? The APC isn’t necessarily filled with crooks but most crooks are found in APC. The speaker appears ready to absorb more barbs. He’s got no option. That’s the price of uncompromising leadership.
 

Tension as Buhari Moves to Bar Courts from Granting Bail; Submits Request for Record Trial

Tension as Buhari Moves to Bar Courts from Granting Bail; Submits Request for Record Trial 




President Muhammadu Buhari has submitted to the leadership of the judiciary, his requests for record-time trial of alleged looters of the nation’s treasury, according to an investigation by Nigeria Tribune.
The demands, expected to be met by the judiciary led by the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mahmud Mohammed, are reportedly creating ripples in the judiciary, due to what a high-profile source termed “the unconstitutionality” of some of them (demands).

Nigerian Tribune gathered that Buhari is demanding a time-frame to such trials, with 90 days (three months) reportedly proposed.

Judges, adjudged upright, are also to be head-hunted by the CJN for Buhari’s administration anti-corruption war.

The demands, reportedly approved by the president, were said to have been packaged by the presidential committee on anti-corruption war headed by Professor Itse Sagay.

The courts being manned by the targeted judges are also to become mainly anti-corruption courts, handling only alleged corruption trials.

The dedicated courts are said to be focused on clearing the backlog of pending alleged corruption cases, involving many past public office holders whose trials had been stalled despite being out of immunity cloak.
An earlier attempt in the life of the administration yielded little success as many of the handpicked judges for consideration, failed the integrity test conducted by security agencies.

It could not be confirmed if a new set had been shortlisted for the presidency’s desire.

A senior source privy to the demands disclosed that there are other ancillary desires of the president for the demanded quick dispensation of justice that clashed with human rights of accused persons and constitutional provisions.

Buhari’s Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, had been practically on the road, sensitising the populace on why the human rights of suspects and accused persons in alleged corruption cases, are being abridged by the current administration.

Last week in Lagos, he said the human rights of the suspects in the alleged arms deal corruption case ended where that of others negatively affected by their actions, began.

It was learnt that Buhari is seeking the support of the judiciary leadership to stop giving bail to accused persons, throughout the period their trials would last, a period expected not to be more than three months.

Interlocutory appeals to higher courts are also expected to be stopped in the course of the accused trials.
Many of the stalled trials are being held by interlocutory appeals to higher courts where they usually pend for a longer period, with their pendency expected to stall the trial at the lower courts.

Agitation Attracts More Int. Media: Nig Separatists Claim Police Kill 8 In Biafra Protest – FOXNews

Agitation Attracts More Int. Media: Nig Separatists Claim Police Kill 8 In Biafra Protest – FOXNews


WARRI, Nigeria –  Nigerian separatists claim police killed eight people during violent protests demanding an independent Biafran state in southeastern Nigeria and the release of a detained leader. Police deny the allegation from leaders of a cause that sparked a civil war in the 1960s that killed a million people, Fox News reports

Uchenna Madu, leader of the Movement for the Actualization of the State of Biafra, said police shot protesters Monday in southeastern Aba city. Abia state police spokesman Ezekiel Onyeke said no one was killed and police fired only tear gas and smoke grenades to disperse protesters after some lobbed petrol bombs at security forces.

Onyeke said police arrested 26 people for possessing weapons including machetes, axes and clubs.
Fourteen other people have been killed and 200 detained since the protests started in October.

SEE WHAT AFRICAN/AMERICANS ARE DOING IN SOLIDARITY TO CHAMPION THE COURSE OF BIAFRA

SEE WHAT AFRICAN/AMERICANS ARE DOING IN SOLIDARITY TO CHAMPION THE COURSE OF BIAFRA

See what eunice mason and some others wrote and are doing

Thankyou Thomas Hughes FOR YOUR POWERFUL STATEMENT TO THE HEBREW ISRAELITE IN BIAFRA AND AMERICA!! !!

my beloved Hebrew people we MUST display a front of solidarity IN THE WAKE OF THESE INJUSTICES THAT ARE BEING PERPETRATED AGAINST OUR PEOPLE WORLDWIDE!!!
if we don’t cry out with a loud voice in our defense as a people who will for us? we as a people can be so quick to support other races in their dilemmas but we ignore what is going on to our own people. This is dysfunctional by people. It is time for Us to THROW off the cloak of dysfunction and separation and SHOW THE WHITE WASHED WORLD THAT JUDAH AND IRSAEL IS ONE PEOPLE AGAIN AND WE ROAR BACK AND DEFEND OUR PEOPLES NO MATTER WHERE THEY MAY BE ON THIS WORLD STAGE!!!

TO MY BIAFRA PEOPLE WE (JUDAH) STAND WITH YOU!
ENDURE MY BELOVEDS!! IT IS ALMOST OVER…!
QUAM YASHARALAH ‪#‎RISE‬ ‪#‎YSRAEL‬!!?!

Woman Shot by Police in the Stomach During Biafra Protest in Aba

More disturbing reports coming in from Aba in Abia state after 8 pro-Biafra supporters were  shot to death by security operatives. This woman was also shot in the stomach by policemen during the same protest. She was immediately rushed to the hospital where she is currently receiving treatment.

Every Black Person Should Read About Sarah Baartman and How Blacks were Abused

This is a very interesting story. Funny how I never knew about her until today when I came across this article that I just had to read, and then share. It’s kinda interesting how some of us just go through life not knowing how we got to where we are, and who made it happen. Most f us preferred to remain oblivious to the history. But if you are one of those who are curious about the past and keen on making the future better, then this story is for you. Happy viewing!


Culled From, SouthAfrica.Info:

Sarah Baartman, displayed as a freak because of  her unusual physical features, was finally laid to rest 187 years after she left Cape Town for London. Her remains were buried on Women’s Day, 9 August 2002, in the area of her birth, the Gamtoos River Valley in the Eastern Cape.
Baartman was born in 1789. She was working as a slave in Cape Town when she was “discovered” by British ship’s doctor William Dunlop, who persuaded her to travel with him to England. We’ll never know what she had in mind when she stepped on board – of her own free will – a ship for London. But it’s clear what Dunlop had in mind – to display her as a “freak”, a “scientific curiosity”, and make money from these shows, some of which he promised to give to her.

Baartman had unusually large buttocks and genitals, and in the early 1800s Europeans were arrogantly obsessed with their own superiority, and with proving that others, particularly blacks, were inferior and oversexed.

Baartman’s physical characteristics, not unusual for Khoisan women, although her features were larger than normal, were “evidence” of this prejudice, and she was treated like a freak exhibit in London.

The ‘Hottentot Venus’

She was called the “Hottentot Venus”, ‘Hottentot’ being a name given to people with cattle. They had acquired these cattle by migrating northwards to Angola and returned to South Africa with them, about 2 000 years before the first European settlement at the Cape in 1652. Prior to this, they were indistinguishable from the Bushmen or San, the first inhabitants of South Africa, who had been in the region for around 100 000 years as hunter-gatherers.

Khoisan is used to denote their relationship to the San people. The label “Hottentot” took on derogatory connotations, and is no longer used.

Venus is the Roman goddess of love, a cruel reference to Baartman being an object of admiration and adoration instead of the object of leering and abuse that she became. She spent four years in London, then moved to Paris, where she continued her degrading round of shows and exhibitions. In Paris she attracted the attention of French scientists, in particular Georges Cuvier.

No one knows if Dunlop was true to his word and paid Baartman for her “services”, but if he did pay her, it wasn’t sufficient to buy herself out of the life she was living.

Once the Parisians got tired of the Baartman show, she was forced to turn to prostitution. She didn’t last the ravages of a foreign culture and climate, or the further abuse of her body. She died in 1815, at the age of 25.The cause of death was given as “inflammatory and eruptive sickness”, possibly syphilis. Others suggest she was an alcoholic. Whatever the cause, she lived and died thousands of kilometres from home and family, in a hostile city, with no means of getting herself home again. Cuvier made a plaster cast of her body, then removed her skeleton and, after removing her brain and genitals, pickled them and displayed them in bottles at theMusee de l’Hommein Paris.

Some 160 years later they were still on display, but were finally removed from public view in 1974. In 1994, then president Nelson Mandela requested that her remains be brought home. Other representations were made, but it took the French government eight years to pass a bill – apparently worded so as to prevent other countries from claiming the return of their stolen treasures – to allow their small piece of “scientific curiosity” to be returned to South Africa.

In January 2002, Sarah Baartman’s remains were returned and buried on 9 August 2002, on South Africa’s Women’s Day, at Hankey in the Eastern Cape Province.  Her grave has since been declared a national heritage site.

Marang Setshwaelo, writing for Africana.com at the time, said Dr Willa Boezak, a Khoisan rights activist, believed that a poem written by Khoisan descendant Diana Ferrus in 1998 played a major role in helping bring Baartman home. Boezak said: “It took the power of a woman, through a simple, loving poem, to move hard politicians into action.”

Whatever the reason, Sarah Baartman is home, and has finally had her dignity restored by being buried where she belongs – far away from where her race and gender were so cruelly exploited.

INEC Says December 5th Mistakes In Bayelsa Won’t Reoccur

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) assured the public that it was ready to prevent a repeat of incidents that occurred during the Bayelsa State rerun election on December 5th, 2015, according to the Public Relations Officer for INEC speaking yesterday in Yenagoa, the State capital.

 
Mahmood Yakubu, INEC Chairman 
 
The spokesperson, Mr. Timidi Wariowei, whose comments came three days before the supplementary elections in the State also announced that the distribution of election materials has already commenced for the January 9th poll.

His statements come in the midst of accusations by both the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) that they are sponsoring militant groups to commit violent acts.

Mr. Wariowei said INEC received the sensitive election materials on Wednesday and distribution had commenced beginning with the Ekeremor LGA on Thursday.

“Of course, all the material area now in our custody; the materials are ballot papers, result sheets among others,” he said.

Due to the widespread concerns about electoral malfeasance the distribution of materials will begin for “Southern Ijaw Local Government Area early morning of Saturday,” he disclosed.

Describing the situation in more detail Mr. Wariowei stated “you know that the real focus is the Southern Ijaw and we do not want what happened on December 5, 2015 to repeat itself again in the area; INEC is prepared to conduct free, fair and credible election for the betterment of the people.”

Mr. Wariowei also stated that INEC has more than 100 polling units ready to conduct the election and that some changes to the adhoc staff have been made “to ensure that the election is conducted freely.”
On security matters he stated "we have been collaborating with the Police and Army to ensure peaceful election in Bayelsa."

NIMASA Collected Revenue In Dollars, Remitted Naira – FG

The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, on Wednesday, said the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency had not been remitting the revenues generated to the government’s coffers.

   
Kemi Adeosun, Minister of Finance 
 
The immediate past Director-General of NIMASA, Patrick Akpobolkemi, is currently facing 40 counts of fraud and money laundering to the tune of N34.5bn.

Adeosun specifically stated that in some instances, NIMASA collected revenue in dollars but paid naira into the government’s account.

The minister said this while addressing journalists after the first Federal Executive Council meeting of the year inside the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

She explained that the requirement was that such money should go to the Central Bank of Nigeria which would convert the money to naira.

Adeosun said while the government had stopped NIMASA from doing so, an audit was being carried out to identify other agencies.

This, she explained, was why the government was doing a full audit of all those accounts and to ensure that all those revenues were converted in accordance with the extant procedures and guidelines.

The minister added that it was also discovered that some of the agencies spent government money without control.

When asked what would be the fate of the heads of the MDAs under whose purview government funds were diverted in the past, the minister said she would not want to pre-empt the outcome of an audit that would be commissioned by the government.

She, however, said that in a situation where it is clear that financial procedures had been breached, there was a process for dealing with the culprits.

Adeosun said, “The principal discussion in our meeting today was the initiative by this administration to plug revenue leakages in our MDAs that generate revenue. The presentation to FEC was to remind ministers who supervise these revenue-generating boards of their responsibilities under the Fiscal Responsibility Act.

“Let me remind you that under the FRA, these boards and corporations who generate revenue are supposed to generate and operate surplus, 80 per cent of which is to be credited to the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
“But we have discovered that many agencies have never credited anything and never generated any operating surplus including some whose salaries, overheads and capital are paid by the Federal Government.
“In addition to that, they generate revenue which they spend without any form of control.”

Adeosun said one of the initiatives adopted by the government was the directive to all the agencies that they must all submit a budget that must be subject to approval and they must operate within that budget so that the surplus that is meant to come to the Federal Government could be seen to be used appropriately.
Adeosun ruled out the possibility of any ministry inflating its budget when there was no revenue
She said, “There can be no inflation of budget when revenues are so thin and one of the things that I think that the budgeting process is doing is pruning down unnecessary expenditure.

“Let me also mention that we have set up the efficiency unit that is going to look into how we spend money and look at how we make savings because the money just isn’t there.”

Adeosun said the Federal Government had discovered that many revenue-generating agencies had not been remitting the revenues generated to the government’s coffers.

She explained that these are revenues of government in non-oil economies but the government had not been looking in the direction of the MDAs in the past because the country had a lot of oil money
She disclosed that a circular had been issued to the agencies in their hundreds in December 2015 requesting that they send their budgets.

“What we discussed today (Wednesday) was the responsibility of the ministers to ensure that whether those agencies have boards or not, those budgets are prepared and that the Ministry of Finance is going to sit down with the supervising ministers and the boards concerned where necessary, to go through their budgets and make sure that they are reasonable and that the costs are not inflated.

“We also discussed that in some cases, because some agencies have a track record and history of making sure that every naira they earned was spent, we will go in and audit agencies under Section 107 (8) of the Financial Regulations.

“The Accountant-General, who is under the Ministry of Finance, has the power to go in and make inquiries about how public money is spent, so we will be sending in auditors to some agencies where we believe their cost is simply excessive and not in tandem with our expectations.

“The expected outcome of this is that the Internally Generated Revenue which the new budget is banking on will actually become a reality. So, that was the principal discussion and everybody in the cabinet endorsed the initiative.”

Sylva Accuses PDP Of Plotting Violence During Bayelsa Elections As Tensions Continue To Rise

On Wednesday, the former Governor of Bayelsa State and the candidate of the All Progressive Party (APC), Timipre Sylva mocked Governor Seriake Dickson, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, over the alleged plot to disrupt the January 9th supplementary election in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area (LGA) and the other 101 units.

 
Seriake Dickson And Timipre Sylva 
 
Mr. Sylva’s accusations come amidst fears that tensions are rising in Bayelsa State as the supplementary election approaches. A war of words has emerged between the two candidates with both accusing the other of fomenting violence ahead of the supplementary polls.

Earlier this month SaharaReporters published a story regarding Governor Dickson’s claims that the APC was attempting to use the security services to rig the supplementary elections.

As tensions continued escalating on Tuesday, the PDP reported that several gunboats of armed men stormed the Peremabiri Community in Southern Ijaw LGA which were claimed to be sponsored by the APC.

Speaking to the media on Wednesday in Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa State, Mr. Sylva stated that intelligence reports gathered by the APC noted that there were indications of the stockpiling of dangerous arms. The purpose of this weapon stockpiling, according to Mr. Sylva, is the disruption of the Southern Ijaw LGA supplementary elections.  

“Therefore, the PDP government knows it is on its way out and are plotting to perpetuate violence in Southern Ijaw LGA.

“Governor Dickson has shown that his desperate accusations against the APC are actually plots set in motion by the PDP,” Mr. Sylva explained.

However, Mr. Sylva has yet to provide copies of these intelligence reports to the media with specifics about the threats APC agents found.

Continuing his attacks upon Governor Dickson, Mr. Sylva accused the governor of fabricating reports about APC-led violence in Southern Ijaw LGA.

“All the problems that Mr. Dickson is crying about ahead of Saturday poll are in his head, hence, he needs to have his head examined, ” Mr. Sylva stated.

The former Governor expressed misgivings about the redeployment of State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Baritor Kpagih, claiming that local representatives of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) are corrupted by the PDP.

“The manner in which INEC in Bayelsa State was constituted by the outgoing President [Goodluck Jonathan], was designed to deliver the State to the PDP,” he stated.

These accusations have raised fears that the violence witnessed in Southern Ijaw LGA during the December 5th elections will be repeated this Saturday.

Fresh Violence Hits Peremabiri Community In Bayelsa

Tensions are mounting in the Peremabiri Community of Bayelsa State following reports that armed men attempted to attack ex-militant Eris Paul (AKA Ogunboss). Community youths were able to arrest one of the attackers, Mr. Attitude Ebi, after a hot pursuit.

 
Eris Paul, ex-militant leader of MEND (Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta) 
 
The suspect was subsequently turned over to Naval officers who delivered a brutal beating to the man.
Following his beating, Mr. Ebi was formally arrested for attempting to cause mayhem in the Peremabiri Community. He confessed that he was told by a friend that he would be paid N50,000 if he came to the community to cause trouble and vote.

Numerous community youths are now said to be patrolling the area armed with sticks, cutlasses, and clubs.

EFCC Arrests Buhari’s Associate, APC Chieftain, Jafaru Isa

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Wednesday night arrested a former military governor of Kaduna State and chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Lawal Jafaru Isa.  

Jafaru Isa 

Mr. Isa is the first chieftain of the APC arrested by the EFCC since the beginning of a sweeping probe into the alleged diversion of $2.1 billion meant for arms purchase by officials of the immediate past administration.
Mr. Isa, Military Administrator of Kaduna State from December 1993 to August 1996 during the military regime of General Sani Abacha and one-time governorship candidate of the defunct CPC in Kano State, is a close friend of the embattled former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki.

Mr. Isa, also a close political associate of President Muhammadu Buhari, was arrested at his Abuja residence located at Ajayi Crowther Street, Asokoro.

A witness told PREMIUM TIMES that operatives of the anti-graft commission invaded his residence around 9 pm, and then whisked him away a few minutes later.

PREMIUM TIMES gathered that Mr. Isa, a retired brigadier general, was invited last week to appear before the commission on Wednesday (yesterday) to clear the air on “some questionable receipts” from the former NSA.

Investigators believe the retired soldier received over N100million from Mr. Dasuki.
Rather than honoring the invitation, sources said, Mr. Isa wrote a letter to the EFCC through his lawyer, seeking a postponement of his appearance date on the grounds of the death of a relative.

Apparently dissatisfied with his excuse, the EFCC, however, arrested him to clarify the “questionable receipts”.

The spokesperson of the EFCC, Wilson Ujuwaren, could not be reached Thursday morning for‎ comments on the arrest.

But a top official of the commission confirmed the development.
”He has been wasting our time, and we just have to pick him up for our investigation to continue,” the official said.

 

Anenih Undergoes Heart Surgery

A member of the family, who confirmed the development, said it was “only God” that saved the life of the 82-year-old politician.

 
BOT CHAIRMAN, ANTHONY ANENIH State House PHOTO 
 
The heart condition was accidentally discovered, TheCable learnt, when the former minister of works and housing was preparing to return to Nigeria after a visit to the UK.

He was said to have complained of “irregular heartbeat”, prompting a family member to make an emergency call for an ambulance.

“The ambulance arrived within five minutes and he was taken out on a stretcher, with paramedics giving him oxygen support. It was at the hospital that it was discovered that he had some heart issues which he had not experienced before,” the source said.

Anenih was immediately booked in for a surgery, which was successful. He returned to Nigeria shortly before Christmas but he is “looking pale”, another family source told TheCable.

Anenih is regarded as one of the most powerful politicians in Nigeria between 1999 and 2015 when the PDP controlled power.

He was very close to Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan while they were in power.

In 2007, he fell out with Obasanjo following a tussle for the chairmanship of the board of trustees – a position Obasanjo coveted but which Anenih eventually got.

The PDP constitution, amended to pave the way for only Obasanjo to assume the position, was re-amended to allow others to have a go.
Anenih marked his 82nd birthday on August 4, 2015.

Kerry says implementation of Iran nuclear deal 'days away'

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday the implementation of a nuclear deal agreed between Iran and six world powers was only days away, allowing tens of billions of dollars in sanctions against Iran to be lifted.

There is no date set yet for "implementation day" of the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action agreed on July 14 in which Tehran agreed to shrink its nuclear program in exchange for some sanctions relief.

Outlining foreign policy milestones of the past year, Kerry pointed to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action "from which we are days away from implementation, if all goes well."

He said he discussed implementation of the nuclear deal with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif during a phone call on Thursday. They also talked about tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia triggered by the execution by the Saudis of a Shi'ite cleric, he said.

"The foreign minister made it clear to me they intend to complete their obligations with respect to implementation day as rapidly as possible," said Kerry told reporters.

"We are currently engaged ourselves in making certain that we're prepared to move on that day. And I think it could come -- without being specific -- sooner rather than later."

Kerry said the United States would continue to ensure that Iran lives up to its commitments under the nuclear deal and press for the release of American prisoners "that have been unjustly detained" by Iran.

Senior Iranian officials have dismissed speculation that Iran is considering a prisoner exchange with the United States. Among Americans held by Iran is Washington Post correspondent, Jason Rezaian, who was arrested in July 2014.

Others include Christian pastor Saeed Abedini and Amir Hekmati, a former sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps. Robert Levinson, a private investigator, disappeared in Iran in 2007. Iran has claimed that the United States holds some 16 Iranians for bypassing sanctions and around 60 prisoners for other crimes.

Rupture with Iran may not have been Saudi aim, but Riyadh has no regrets

The diplomatic rupture with Iran triggered by the execution of a Shi'ite cleric was probably a side effect of a decision taken by Saudi Arabia for domestic reasons, rather than the outcome of a deliberate ploy to enrage its regional opponent.

But whether or not they intended to raise the heat in a tense rivalry that already underpins wars across the Middle East, Saudi Arabia's new rulers have shown no sign of regret.

Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is also defense minister, reassured the world on Thursday the crisis would stop short of an all-out war between the Gulf region's main powers.

"A war between Saudi Arabia and Iran is the beginning of a major catastrophe in the region, and it will reflect very strongly on the rest of the world. For sure we will not allow any such thing," he told the Economist.

But in the days since the execution, Riyadh has done nothing to halt an escalation in confrontation, demonstrating a level of comfort with brinkmanship unheard of in the typically cautious kingdom before King Abdullah died a year ago and was replaced by his brother King Salman.

The night after a Saudi executioner put Shi'ite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr to death in a high-security prison, Iranian protesters stormed Riyadh's Tehran embassy and Mashhad consulate. Riyadh responded by cutting off diplomatic ties.

"I do not think this would have happened under King Abdullah. Either the executions or the cutting of relations," said a Saudi political analyst, who spoke on condition of anonymity in an absolute monarchy where publicly questioning rulers' decisions is taboo.

"I personally wish they had only withdrawn the ambassador. It makes it less difficult to change later," the analyst said of the decision to cut diplomatic ties.

Salman, the sixth brother to rule as king since 1953, has set in motion the first transfer of power to a new generation for six decades, appointing his nephew Mohammed bin Nayef as crown prince and his own son Mohammed bin Salman as deputy.

Saudis say the rupture with Iran is the latest evidence that the new rulers are less hesitant to act than their predecessors.

Sources close to the Riyadh authorities say the stormings of the diplomatic buildings in Iran came as a surprise, even though such attacks are hardly unprecedented: the British embassy in Tehran was torched in 2011 and one Saudi diplomat was killed in a similar attack in 1988.

Nevertheless, one well-connected Saudi said that while he did not believe the Saudi rulers expected the embassy attack, they would have been willing to risk Iranian reprisals to carry out an execution they believed was fully justified.

"The mood with the government is to push back against Iranian encroachment. So if Iran tries to intervene in a domestic matter, it's complete anathema," the Saudi said. He added that Iranian threats may even have made Riyadh more determined to go ahead with Nimr's execution.

"It's a Saudi citizen convicted of crimes in Saudi Arabia. They think 'we will not take international, and especially Iranian, opinion into consideration.'"

RUPTURE FOLLOWS STEPS TOWARDS THAW
King Salman and the two princes have taken aggressive steps over the past year to confront what they see as growing Iranian influence in the Middle East - going to war in neighboring Yemen to halt a takeover by Shi'ite rebels they consider Iranian pawns, and increasing support for rebel groups fighting against Iran's ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

Nevertheless, many in Riyadh insist the government was not trying to pick a new fight with Iran by executing Nimr, a cleric Riyadh had long accused of stirring up unrest, and who was executed along with dozens of Sunni Muslims also accused of terrorism.

They point to a series of steps Riyadh had taken in recent months towards a thaw with Tehran, including working hard to get a new ambassador approved in Iran after a months-long hiatus, opening a new embassy in Shi'ite-ruled Iraq, and sitting opposite Iran at Syria peace talks last month in New York.

Saudi officials say that by taking offense at the execution of Nimr, Tehran has demonstrated its claim of dominion over all Shi'ites regardless of national borders, which Riyadh in turn calls a fundamental threat to the international system.

Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir this week told Reuters Iran needed to decide if it was a normal nation state or "a revolution".

End 'business as usual' with North Korea, U.S. tells China

The United States called on China on Thursday to end "business as usual" with its ally North Korea after Pyongyang defied world powers by announcing it had tested a hydrogen bomb.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he made clear in a phone call with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi that China's approach to North Korea had failed.

"China had a particular approach that it wanted to make, that we agreed and respected to give them space to implement that," Kerry told reporters. "Today in my conversation with the Chinese I made it very clear that has not worked and we cannot continue business as usual."

China is the North's main economic and diplomatic backer although relations between the two Cold War allies have cooled in recent years.

The vast majority of North Korea's business dealings are with China, which bought 90 percent of the isolated country's exports in 2013, according to data compiled by South Korea's International Trade Association.

North Korea carried out a nuclear test on Wednesday, although the U.S. government and weapons experts doubt Pyongyang's assertion that the device it exploded was a powerful hydrogen bomb.

The test angered both the United States and China, which was not given prior notice.

As of Thursday morning, "sniffer" planes and other sensors had yet to detect any evidence, such as particles in the air, that would substantiate the North Korean assertion that it had set off an H-Bomb, a U.S. government source said.

North Korea also said it was capable of miniaturizing the hydrogen bomb, in theory allowing it to be placed on a missile and threatening the U.S. West Coast, South Korea and Japan.


U.S. CONGRESS TO ACT
U.S. Republicans and Democrats in the House of Representatives could join forces in a rare display of unity to further tighten sanctions on North Korea. 

Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, told reporters that Democrats would support a North Korea bill likely to be brought for a vote by Republicans next week. A congressional source said it was expected as soon as Monday.

The legislation was passed by the House Foreign Affairs Committee last February but it was stalled until Pyongyang jolted the world by setting off an underground nuclear bomb test. 

The House measure would target banks facilitating North Korea's nuclear program and authorize freezing of U.S. assets of those directly linked to illicit North Korean activities. It would also penalize those involved in business providing North Korea with hard currency. 

"We understand Republican leadership plans to move a bill strengthening U.S. sanctions on North Korea. That will have strong bipartisan support," Pelosi said, adding that "we will support it." 

It was unclear how more sanctions would deter North Korea, which has conducted four nuclear tests since 2006 while paying little heed to international pressure. 

The United States and its ally South Korea are limited in their military response. After North Korea last tested a nuclear device, in 2013, Washington sent a pair of nuclear-capable B-2 stealth bombers on a sortie over South Korea in a show of force. At the time, North Korea responded by threatening a nuclear strike on the United States. 

The test also alarmed Japan. Its prime minister, Shinzo Abe, agreed with U.S. President Barack Obama in a telephone call that a firm global response was needed, the White House said.

Obama also discussed options with President Park Geun-hye of South Korea.
A South Korean military official told Reuters that Seoul and 

Washington had discussed the deployment of U.S. strategic assets on the divided Korean peninsula, but declined to give further details. 

A White House spokesman said there had been no talk with South Korea about any introduction of the so-called Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, a move opposed by China. 

"There have been no discussions or consultations with the South Koreans" about the deployment of anti-ballistic missile capability," the spokesman, Josh Earnest, said.

The system has radars that can track multiple ballistic missiles up to 2,000 km (1,200 miles) away, a range which would reach deep into China.

In response to the latest test, South Korea said it would resume propaganda broadcasts by loudspeaker into North Korea from Friday, which is likely to infuriate its isolated rival.

The South raised its military alert to the highest level in areas along the border near its propaganda loudspeakers, the South's Yonhap news agency reported on Thursday.

"Our military is at a state of full readiness, and if North Korea wages provocation, there will be firm punishment," a South Korean national security official, Cho Tae-yong, said in a statement

Dow off to worst January start ever as China fears grow

U.S. stocks sold off further on Thursday, giving the Dow its worst start to a year since the 30-stock index was created in 1928, dragged down by another drop in Chinese equities and oil prices at 12-year lows.
China allowed the biggest fall in the yuan currency in five months, adding to investor fears about the health of its economy, while Shanghai stocks .SSEC were halted for the second time this week after another steep selloff.

Oil prices fell to 12-year lows and copper prices touched their lowest since 2009, weighing on energy and materials shares. Shares of Freeport McMoran (FCX.N) dropped 9.1 percent to $5.61. All 10 S&P 500 sectors ended in the red, though, and the Nasdaq Biotech index .NBI fell 4.1 percent.

"People see the weakness in China and in the overall equity market and think there's going to be an impact on corporations here in the United States," said Robert Pavlik, chief market strategist at Boston Private Wealth in New York.

"When you have a market that begins a year with weakness, people are sort of suspect anyway. The economy isn't moving all that well, the outlook is modest at best, and they don't want to wait for the long term. China creates more uncertainty."

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI closed down 392.41 points, or 2.32 percent, to 16,514.1, the S&P 500 .SPX had lost 47.17 points, or 2.37 percent, to 1,943.09 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC had dropped 146.34 points, or 3.03 percent, to 4,689.43.


The Dow has lost 5.2 percent since the end of 2015 in the worst first four trading days since the 30-stock index's creation.

Stocks extended declines late in the session, and the CBOE Volatility Index .VIX, the market's favored gauge of Wall Street anxiety, ended up 21.4 percent at 24.99, its highest since Sept. 29.

Investors also braced for Friday's U.S. government jobs report, which could show how well-insulated the U.S. economy is from international stresses. 


Billionaire investor George Soros, speaking at an economic forum in Sri Lanka, drew similarities between the present environment and the financial crash of 2008. He said global markets were facing a crisis and investors needed to be very cautious, Bloomberg reported.

Apple, which generates a lot of its business in China and is still the most valuable U.S. company, fell 4.2 percent to its lowest level since the August market swoon.

Yahoo (YHOO.O) fell 6.2 percent to $30.16 after Business Insider reported the company was working on a plan to cut its workforce by at least 10 percent. Alibaba (BABA.N), in which Yahoo has a stake, was down 6 percent at $72.72.


Volume has been heavy this week. About 9.9 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges Thursday, well above the 7.2 billion daily average for the past 20 trading days, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 2,704 to 415, for a 6.52-to-1 ratio on the downside; on the Nasdaq, 2,492 issues fell and 390 advanced for a 6.39-to-1 ratio favoring decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 1 new 52-week highs and 82 new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 16 new highs and 302 new lows.

(Additional reporting by Tanya Agrawal and Saqib Iqbal Ahmed; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Nick Zieminski).

Traders work on the main trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange shortly after the opening bell of the trading session in the Manhattan borough of New York City, January 7, 2016. 

 

Reuters/Brendan McDermid

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