PDP suspends Tukur as face-off reopens

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Working Committee (NWC) yesterday took a reprisal action against its  erstwhile National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, slamming him with a one month suspension.

National Legal Adviser, Victor Kwon, in a statement issued yesterday in Abuja, premised the decision to suspend  Tukur  and another  member of the party, Aliyu Buba Gurin, on a suit, asking a Federal High Court, Abuja to remove the incumbent National Chairman, Adamu Mu’azu and restore him as chairman of the ruling party.

Tukur had submitted, like the plaintiff before Justice Evoh Chukwu that his resignation from office on January 15, 2014 did not comply with provisions of the party’s constitution which required that a 30-day pre-resignation notice be given the National Executive Committee (NEC).

But ruling on the suit on Tuesday,Justice Chukwu dismissed it, describing the case as an abuse of court process.

In the statement announcing Tukur’s suspension, the PDP noted that Tukur and Gurin did not explore the internal mechanism of the ruling party for conflict resolution and submitted that the recourse to litigation was an infraction on its constitution.

The statement also stressed that Tukur had been referred to the party’s national disciplinary committee.
The statement reads  in part: “The National Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic (PDP) at its 395th meeting held yesterday, December 3, 2014, reviewed recent national developments as they affect the party.

“Among others, the NWC deliberated on the court case instituted against the National Chairman of the party, Ahmed Adamu Mu’azu by the former National Chairman, Dr. Bamanga Tukur.
“The NWC reasoned that for instituting a claim and counter-claim in suit FHC/ABJ /821/2014; Gurin vs PDP & three others without first exploring and exhausting the party’s internal mechanism of redress and for attempting to stop the forthcoming National Convention to nominate the party’s presidential candidate as well as regularize the position of the National Chairman and other members of the National Working Committee is unacceptable.

“The NWC hereby suspends Dr. Bamanga Tukur and Aliyu Abuba Gurin for one month and refers them to the National Disciplinary Committee for infringing on section 58(1)(a)( b)( h)( l) of the PDP Constitution 2012(

as amended)” Daily Sun checks revealed that Section 58(1) of the PDP 2012 Constitution (as amended) which the party relied on to reprimand Tukur reads:

“Subject to the provisions of this constitution, the party shall have power to discipline any member who:
• Commits any breach of the party’s constitution, and or manifesto;
• Says or does anything likely to bring the party into disrepute, hatred or contempt;
• Disobeys or neglects to carry out lawful directives of the party or any organ or officer of the party;
• Engages in dishonest practices, defrauds the party, its members or officials;
• Is persistently absent from meetings or other official duties;
• Engages in anti-party activities;
• Engages in disorderly conduct at meetings or rallies or at any party function;
• Engages in any conduct likely to cause disaffection among members of the party or is likely to disrupt the peaceful, lawful and efficient conduct of the business of the party; and
• Engages in unauthorized publicity of disputes within the party or creates a parallel party organ at any level”
Reacting, Tukur claimed that he did not  institute any court case against Mu’azu and noted that he was only joined to a suit instituted  by Gurin.

Tukur’s statement which was made available  by his  Special Assistant on Media, Oliver Opara, reads:
“It has come to the notice of the Special Assistant on Media to Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, the mis-representation of facts bothering on the case instituted against the National Chairman of PDP and three others by a member of the Party Alhaji Aliyu Buba Gurin.

“It must be put forward in its proper legal and historical perspective that Alhaji (Dr.) Bamanga Tukur never initiated nor filed any case against Alhaji Adamu Muazu contrary to reports making headlines in national dailies and waves in social media.

“The wrongful report and misrepresentation of facts to the effect that Alhaji Bamanga Tukur filed a case urging the court to oust Alhaji Adamu Muazu out of office as National Chairman of the PDP is not only untrue but gross distortion of facts relating to the case instituted and filed by Alhaji Aliyu Gurin.
“Alhaji Bamanga Tukur was joined in the suit as a co-defendant and as is required in law filed his own counter-affidavits stating his own side of the case in relation to the suit filed by the plaintiff, Alhaji Aliyu Buba Gurin.

“A co-defendant in a case cannot by any imagination in law be deemed as a plantiff who initiated and filed a suit before a law court.

“Let it be also noted that at no time did Alhaji Bamanga Tukur react to the court judgment and did not inform any reporter or journalist as being erroneously reported that he “has vowed to challenge the judgment at the Court of   Appeal.

“The important legal argument hereinafter is how can a co-defendant who was also sued in a case by the plaintiff vow to challenge the judgment of a case he did not institute on appeal.

“For avoidance of doubt, this case was instituted by Alhaji Aliyu Buba Gurin, a PDP member against PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, Alhaji Adamu Muazu and INEC as one to four defendants.”

PDP risks losing Abia over imposition of candidates, coalition warns

At a press briefing in Lagos yesterday, the coalition comprising Abia Coalition of Forces Against Impunity, Abia Group Campaigning Against Imposition of Candidates, Abia Youths for Change, Abia Progressive Force for Good Governance, Abia Force Against Rigging, Abia Liberators and Concerned Citizens of Abia warned that the development was capable of turning the electorate against PDP in the state.

In a statement entitled: “Absurdity Playing Out in PDP of Abia State,” the coalition said: “The various groups observed with shock and anger, the several breaches of the internal constitution of PDP as the party prepares its candidates for the general elections of 2015. By their internal electoral guideline, the party was supposed to conduct an election on November 1, 2014 for the three-man delegates preparatory for the primary elections for the state House of Assembly, House of Representatives, Senate and governorship.
“It is on record that the delegate election did not take place as party members who turned out en masse to cast their votes were disappointed as no election officers and materials were seen in all the 17 local government areas of Abia State. Yet results were written and handed over to the committee that came from Abuja for the purpose of conducting that election. “In summary, election did not take place in Abia State on November 1 for the election of the three-man delegates. Despite the protests both in writing and orally to the leadership of the party in Abuja, they turned a blind eye and refused to look into the allegations of what took place on November 1, 2014.”

The statement signed by the National Coordination of Abia Redemption Group, Chigozie Agbakwo, added: “With the list of delegates (which is Governor T.A. Orji’s list), one would have thought that the party (PDP) would allow primary election into the state House of Assembly, which was slated for November 29, 2014, but alas, the people were once again totally disappointed by the turn of event. Again, no election took place in almost all the local government areas of Abia State on that date. Most delegates came out; stood in the line from morning till night with no single activity at the disclosed centres. Again, results were submitted and announced using the state-funded media houses.

“In fact, the governor was quoted as saying that he was very happy with the party delegates for conducting themselves peacefully and casting their votes in an atmosphere that could be described as free and fair. This statement is not only ridiculous, but also very contemptuous of the entire citizens of Abia State.
“As at today, almost 98 per cent, if not 100 per cent, of the candidates that are returned as candidates for the state House of Assembly in Abia State are either T. A. Orji’s personal assistants, commissioners or relations, including his son (popularly known as ‘Ikuku’) that is being programmed to take over the governorship position of the state by proxy after the election of 2015.”
The alleged imposition of candidates, the group warned, was capable of destroying the electoral strength of PDP in the state.

“The question Abians are asking is, why is a major political party that has ruled Abia for over 11 years toying with its internal democratic mechanism to the disadvantage of itself as a political party and by extension to the disadvantage of the citizens of the state that will be limited to wrong choice due to the harm already mentioned? Abians are tired of misrule and the imposition of candidates that have kept the state as a toddler since this new democratic dispensation.

“We are demanding that the gubernatorial primaries of PDP in Abia on December 8, 2014 be done by the delegates (whose list is with the PDP in Abuja). The list is a public document that should be displayed to the PDP members, whereas up till now, the list is kept away from everyone, including the candidates. Is this fair?
“If PDP desires to retain Abia State as one of the states it will still govern from May 2015, free, fair and credible primaries should be allowed to take place on December 8, 2014 in Umuahia. If this is not allowed as prayed here, then the entire Abia will have no choice other than to look towards the direction of other opposition parties that have fielded credible candidates with capacity to govern Abia State from 2015.

“We are all chorusing enough is enough of imposition, misrule, corruption, ineptitude, godfathers, terrorism, threats, kidnapping and similar vices prevalent in Abia State. God’s Own State is tired of being ruled by cultists, lazy and unimaginative elite, now is the time for Abia State to be governed by God’s own people,” the coalition said

Enyeama, Musa deserve CAF award —NFF

 

 The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has declared that the Super Eagles duo of goalkeeper, Vincent Enyeama and winger, Ahmed Musa, are good enough to wear the Af­rica Footballer of the Year crown.
NFF scribe, Barrister Musa Amadu, while rat­ing both players high noted that they did well for both club and country this term.

He pointed out that En­yeama and Musa contrib­uted a great deal to Nige­ria reaching the second round of the Brazil 2014 World Cup.

According to him: “I m happy the organisers have reduced the list of players in contention for the award to only five with two of our players making it. Ahmed Musa and Vincent Enyeama had an outstanding year both for club and country particularly at the World Cup where they led Ni­geria to the round of 16. So, it wont be a surprise if one of them is eventu­ally named the African footballer of the year.”

 

Dangote Flour Mills’ revenue rises to N41.3bn

 

Dangote Flour Mills has announced a 37.7 per cent growth in revenue to N41.27 billion for the year ended September 30, 2014 as against N29.96 billion recorded in the corre­sponding period in 2013.

The company also posted a loss after tax of N6.11billion during the same period repre­senting 15.3 per cent decrease over N7.22 billion loss record­ed in the corresponding period in 2013.

The result released on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) showed that its income tax expense rose to N3.01 bil­lion in comparison to N1.58 billion expended in the same period in 2013 representing 90.5 per cent increase.

Also, its cost of sales esca­lated by 32.6 percent to N38.87 billion from N29.32 billion posted in the same period in 2013.

The company said in an ac­companying note that while the performance for the full year 2014 was disappointing, there was a gradual and sus­tained improvement quarter by quarter, saying that the busi­ness recovered from a poor first quarter and recorded a 15 percent top line growth in the last quarter over the corre­sponding period of 2013.

“Procurement efficiencies, improved flour extraction and other cost efficiency measures led to substantially improved margins as compared to 2013. Whilst these results reflect the difficult and competitive trad­ing environment in which the business operates, many ac­tions have been taken to ad­dress the challenges faced by the company.

The actions taken have resulted in a progressive im­provement in the trading loss (excluding once-off items and exchange rate gains) over the four quarters from N1.415 bil­lion in Q1 to N1.118 billion in Q2 to N0.894 billion in Q3 to N0.726 billion in Q4. The busi­ness was EBITDA positive in the fourth quarter.”
“During the year, the com­pany conducted a review of the carrying value of its assets and based on current market reali­ties, has decided to impair cer­tain of its manufacturing assets. The 2014 group results include an impairment of N1.592 bil­lion, being the carrying value of surplus assets the business is unlikely to use in the foresee­able future, it added.

Dangote Flour Mills af­firmed that the controlling shareholder, Tiger Brands Limited is committed to sup­porting its turnaround efforts.
 

Stabilising crude oil price’ll be my priority –Alison-Madueke

 

 The newly elected Presi­dent of the Organisa­tion of Petroleum Ex­porting Countries (OPEC), Mrs. Diezani Alison-Mad­ueke, has said that her prior­ity in the next one year would be to stabilise crude oil price.
The Minister who is coming on board the 12-member cartel organisation at a time crude oil price has fallen below $70 per barrel in a five-year low re­cord, would certainly be faced with daunting challenges.

Fielding questions from State House Correspondents at the end of the Federal Execu­tive Council (FEC) meeting, presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan, Alison- Madueke said her emergence as OPEC President was a fall­out of the courage demonstrat­ed by President Jonathan in ap­pointing a woman as Minister of Petroleum Resources.

On specific proposals she would be canvassing as OPEC President to ensure Nigeria does not bear the brunt of current slide in oil price. The Minister said it was time for Nigeria to be more competi­tive, saying the country cannot continue to carry out business as usual.

She explained that from the viewpoint of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Nigeria has to be much more com­petitive at this time and going into the future because it can­not continue to do business as usual.
The OPEC boss maintained that Nigeria must ensure that it has the right enabling param­eters and indices to attract the right end-user markets and de­mand for its products because there are so many other coun­tries that would be competing for those end-user markets and end-user demand.

Going forward, she said the country would need to return to the drawing board and re­formulate its entire approach to ensure it is at the cutting edge of competitiveness.

On her emergence as OPEC President, she said, “first, it wouldn’t have happened if President Goodluck Jonathan had not had the courage to ap­point a woman into the portfo­lio of Ministry of Petroleum Resources, which meant that I am automatically the leader of the country’s delegation to OPEC. I must say that that was daunting. It happened about three and half years ago.

I went into a body which is completely male dominated and mostly Arab dominated as well. But I have found that they have come to respect me and respect Nigeria’s voice over the last three years in OPEC.
The Minister admitted that this period remained a chal­lenging one for all OPEC members, especially Nigeria whose revenue is largely de­pendent on oil.

 

Nigeria slashes oil price assumption by 11 pct to $65 per barrel

 

 

 Nigeria has slashed the oil price assumed in its 2015 budget by 11 percent to $65 a barrel from $73, in light of lower world oil prices, a Finance Ministry spokeswoman said on Thursday.
It was the second time in a month the benchmark has been cut, after initially being lowered from $78 a barrel.

Other oil exporting countries including Russia and Mexico have said they expect oil prices to be lower next year than assumed in their budgets, which may be revised.

The spokeswoman gave no further details but said Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was working on a statement. No time was given for when the statement would be issued.

Nigeria depends on oil for around 75-80 percent of government revenues and its finances have been hammered by a steep drop in oil prices since June.

Its oil money is distributed between three tiers of government — local, state and federal, with the federal portion being used to fund finance ministry budgets, along with tax receipts. The budget assumes a benchmark price that is usually conservative, so money over and above that is deposited into an oil savings account to cushion against shocks.

The minister has often wrestled with parliament to keep the benchmark low and accumulate more savings, but the Excess Crude Account (ECA) is all too easily raided for spending. It has declined by billions of dollars to around $4 billion over the past two years even while oil prices were at record highs.

The allure of Africa’s biggest economy to foreign investors has been growing, especially for buyers of its attractively priced debt, but they worry about its tendency to squander its oil windfall in bloated government spending and patronage.

Nigeria’s central bank devalued the naira by 8 percent and raised interest rates sharply last week, as it sought to stem losses to its foreign reserves from defending the currency against weaker oil prices..
The naira has consistently tested the lower end of the new band.

Okonjo-Iweala has said Nigeria still has funds to pay salaries and keep debt obligations but with crude likely to fall, the government would increase taxes on luxury items and ban non-essential government travel to cut expenditure.

(Reuters)

NATCOM Consortium wins Nitel, Mtel with $252m bid

 

 

  At last, the process for the sale of func­tions and assets of the nation’s national carrier, Nigerian Telecommunica­tions Limited (Nitel) and the Mobile Telecommunications (Mtel) has been formalised as the sole qualified bidder, NATCOM Consortium, has offered to pay $252,251 mil­lion to acquire both assets, liabilities and functions of the moribund companies.

NATCOM came from a short break that was granted by the Technical Committee to en­able it meet the fixed preferred price of $221 million to acquire the companies which it did not meet initially to surpass its of­fers to pay above the price.