Buhari Was Stoned In Bayelsa, Says Governor Dickson

Seriake Dickson, governor of Bayelsa state, on Monday said President Muhammadu Buhari was stoned in 2011 when he visited the state as the presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC).
Incidentally, Timipre Sylva, Dickson’s rival and candidate of the APC in the state governorship election, was the governor of Bayelsa at the time.

Addressing a press conference in Yenagoa, capital of the state, Dickson said he ensured that Buhari was secure during his visit to Bayelsa as the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC). “President Buhari, when he came to campaign as CPC candidate, was stoned,” he said. “But I granted state stadium to president Buhari, and made adequate security for his safety when he came to campaign again, because I knew that these people could harm him or people in his entourage and I didn’t want that to happen.” 

Dickson also accused one of Buhari’s ministers, apparently Heineken Lokpobiri, of “terrorising” people of the state ahead of Saturday rerun election. The election, which held across the state on December 8, was rescheduled to January 9 in Southern Ijaw local government area and over 100 polling units in other local government areas, as a result of violence.

But Dickson placed the disturbances at the doorstep of his opponents, saying he remains a man of peace. He alleged that there were plans to rig Saturday election in favour of Sylva and called on the people to defend their votes. Dickson accused Sylva of using his influence to change the head of security agencies in the state in order to perfect his plot. “I’m the proponent of political tolerance in this state,” he said. “I don’t need anybody to kill and maim for me, I’m a man of peace and everybody knows. What we have seen is a subversion of our national security agencies. “The minister sent thugs to attack the collation centre, put off the community generator, storm the collation centre, took away the original ward result sheets, and also prevented the collation officers from completing their collations.

UN Secretary-General’s envoy to visit Saudi Arabia, Iran

The United Nations spokesman, Steplane DuJarrick, has said the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, is visiting Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Mr. DuJarrick told reporters on Monday in New York that de Mistura would also visit Iran later in the week.
He said during the visits, the Special Envoy would assess the implications of the recent developments between Saudi Arabia and Iran on the momentum of the Vienna process for Syria.

The spokesman said de Mistura believed the crisis in Saudi-Iranian relations ”is a very worrisome development”.

Mr. DuJarrick told reporters that the envoy stressed the need to ensure that the development did not cause a chain of adverse consequences in the region.

Saudi Arabia cut off diplomatic relations with Iran on Sunday, following the execution of Sheikh al-Nimr and 46 other prisoners by Saudi Arabia on Saturday.

The Saudi authorities gave Iranian diplomats 48 hours to leave the country as the kingdom’s execution of the cleric inflamed sectarian tensions.

In another development, Mr. DuJarrick said the UN Mission in the Central African Republic reported that the National Elections Authority had released partial provisional results.

He said that the results were based on votes cast in eight prefectures and 15 per cent of votes cast outside of the country.

The spokesman said the election authority ”is expected to announce the final results by the end of this week and the Constitutional Court is due to confirm the results on Jan.15”.

He said that the Mission reported that 95 per cent of the polling stations were open on election day.
Mr. DuJarrick said the mission confirmed that the participation of voters in the prefectures was estimated to have reached 75 per cent.

(NAN)

Why I called Nigeria a zoo, threatened war – Kanu

Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra and founder of Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, described Nigeria as a zoo and accused Governor Rochas Okorocha of Islamising Imo State in an interview he granted an online medium, Sahara Reporters.

He, however, said in one of the statements he made to the Department of State Services after he was arrested at a Lagos hotel on October 14, 2015 that he made the said comments in order to facilitate societal change.

Kanu and two others have been charged with treason and other related offences on account of his agitation for the secession of the South-East and other areas of the country to form a sovereign state of Biafra.
He confirmed in the statement, dated October 24, 2015, that he made the comments, calling Nigeria a zoo to justify his belief that the only language its people understood was violence in the interview with Sahara Reporters.

He said he also accused Okorocha of Islamising Imo State in the said interview.

Kanu stated, “A Sahara Reporters’ interview was played by officers of the DSS on October 24, 2015, as part of my interrogation and I acknowledged that it was me that gave the interview and the answers I provided were done by me.

“As I have earlier stated in past interrogation, the statements I make are purely designed to elicit reaction that will facilitate the desired change which is needed.

“In the interview, I made reference and said, ‘the zoo has come to an end, they keep killing our people…’.
“In the interview, I also said ‘the language the people hear in the zoo is violence. If they fail to give us Biafra, Somalia will be a child’s play’, yes, I stated that in the interview.

“Again, I was asked (and I said), ‘If they do not give us Biafra, there would be no one living in the zoo,’ yes, I said so.

“I was also asked did I say that Rochas had Islamised Imo State and I said yes. I was also asked to confirm that I said that I do not believe that a peaceful approach to the restoration of Biafra was viable because I am not aware of anywhere else in the world where that is the case considering the history of the countries and their approach to such issues.”

He also denied belonging to Biafra Zionist Movement but admitted he believed in the group’s cause.
“I do not belong to Biafra Zionist Movement. However, I stated my support for its action because it was a civil act designed to highlight societal injustice.

“The said act involved a group of civilians massing at the Government House at Enugu to hoist the Biafran flag,” he added.

The 48-year-old, who re-affirmed himself as the leader of IPOB, also gave an insight into the leadership structure of the group.

He stated, “I wish to state for the records that I, Nnamdi Kanu, is the Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra and Director of Radio Biafra and is in charge of the running of the organisation. In terms of the organisational structure, I can confirm that the office of the Director sits at the apex.”
Kanu said under him was Mazi Udanna Asiegbu.

He added, “Under him (Asiegbu) is the office of the CoC, which translates into the Co-ordinator of Co-ordinators and under him comes the Continental Representatives and are as follows:

“(1) North America is represented by Mr. Nnamaram Ugochukwu; South America, by Leornard Aniemene, who is resident in Trinidad and Tobago. Mazi Asiegbu is resident in Spain and Clifford Iroanya, the Coordinator of Coordinators, is resident in Houston Texas, USA.

“Nnamaram Ugochukwu is resident in Dallas, Texas. The continent of Europe is represented by Mazi Edoziem in Switzerland; Asia continent is represented by Onyinyechi Nlebedim in Malaysia while Australia is represented by Austin Ofomah, who resides in Canberra, Australia.”

Operatives of the DSS on October 14, 2015, arrested Kanu at the Golden Tulip Airport Hotel, where he allegedly checked into using a fictitious name.

On December 23, the accused persons were scheduled for arraignment before a Federal High Court in Abuja, but Kanu refused to take his plea to the six counts of treason and other charges instituted against him and his two co-defendants due to what he called his lack of confidence in the presiding judge, Justice Ahmed Mohammed.

The judge promptly returned the case file to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Ibrahim Auta, for reassignment to another judge and the three accused persons were returned to the custody of the DSS.
The Federal Government, through the Federal Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr. Mohammed Diri, alleged in its summary of its case in the newly filed six counts that the IPOB leader checked into the hotel using the name, Ezebuiro Nwannekaenyi, in order to conceal his identity.

Diri stated this in a document listing the proposed prosecution witnesses lined up to testify against Kanu and the two others.

Apart from Kanu, one of the two other defendants in the six counts filed by the Federal Government is a Field Maintenance Engineer, David Nwawuisi, of Ericson, who maintains MTN masts in Enugu State.
The other defendant, Benjamin Madubugwu, was said to be living in Ubilisiuzo, Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State, where he allegedly received custody of a container housing radio transmitters meant for Radio Biafra from Kanu.

The fresh charges were filed against the three men barely 24 hours after Justice Adeniyi Ademola, in a ruling on Kanu’s bail application on December 17, ordered his unconditional release from DSS custody having been detained for about two months without any valid charges filed against him.
No new date has been fixed for the arraignment of the accused persons.

Britain denounces Islamic State video showing 'spies' shot

An Islamic State video showing a young boy in military fatigues and an older masked militant who both spoke with British accents is "desperate" propaganda from an organization that is losing ground, Prime Minister David Cameron said on Monday.

The video, which could not be independently verified, also shows the killing of five men accused of spying for Britain.

The masked man threatens Cameron and vows that Islamic State will one day occupy Britain before shooting one of the alleged spies in the head.

The footage revived memories of "Jihadi John", a British Islamic State member who appeared in several videos in which hostages were killed before his own death was reported in an air strike late last year.
"It's desperate stuff from an organization that really does do the most utterly despicable and ghastly acts, and people can see that again today," Cameron told reporters.

"This is an organization that's losing territory, it's losing ground ... Britain will never be cowed by this sort of terrorism, our values are so much stronger than theirs. It may take a very long time but they will be defeated."
In the latest fighting in Iraq, Islamic State has largely been pushed out of the city of Ramadi, its biggest prize of last year.

The United States said in November it had killed Mohammed Emwazi, who as "Jihadi John" had become a symbol of Islamic State. The voice and appearance of the masked militant shown in the new video was different from Emwazi, but he spoke in a clear English accent, waving a gun at the camera while criticizing Cameron.

"This is a message to David Cameron, O slave of the White House, O mule of the Jews," the man said in the 10-minute video released on Sunday.

"How strange it is that a leader of a small island threatens us with a handful of planes. One would have thought you'd have learned the lessons of your pathetic master in Washington and his failed campaign against the Islamic State," the man said.

"PROPAGANDA TOOL"
Some British media speculated that the militant might be Siddhartha Dhar, who is also known as Abu Rumaysah, a convert from Hinduism and a high-profile Islamist, although security experts were divided on whether it was him.

Dhar left Britain with his family to travel to Syria despite being on police bail after being arrested in late 2014 on suspicion of being a member of a banned organization.

Cameron's spokeswoman said Britain was examining the video and the prime minister was being kept updated. She was not aware whether Cameron himself had watched it.

"It serves as a reminder of the barbarity of Daesh and what the world faces with these terrorists. It is also clearly a propaganda tool and should be treated as such," the spokeswoman said, referring to Islamic State by one of its Arabic acronyms.

When asked whether the executed men shown had been spies, the spokeswoman declined to comment on intelligence matters but said the group's past propaganda had not all been true.

After the killings of the five men, a young English-speaking boy, who is wearing a black bandana and appears to be about four or five years old, is shown saying: "So go kill the kuffar [unbelievers] right over there."

The father of Grace Dare, a woman from London who left Britain to join Islamic State and marry a militant, said he believed the boy was her son.

"It's my grandson. I can't disown him," Sunday Dare told Channel 4 News.
"He doesn't like it over there. It's propaganda. They are just using a small boy. He doesn't know anything. They are just using him as a shield."

In November, British officials said that up to 800 Britons had traveled to Iraq and Syria, some to join Islamic State. About 50 percent had returned home while about 70 were believed to have been killed.

Reuters

Saudi Arabia recruits Sunni allies in row with Iran

Saudi Arabia rallied Sunni allies to its side in a growing diplomatic row with Iran on Monday, deepening a sectarian split across the Middle East following the kingdom's execution of a prominent Shi'ite cleric.

Bahrain and Sudan cut all ties with Iran, following Riyadh's example the previous day. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told Reuters Riyadh would also halt air traffic and commercial relations between the rival powers.

He blamed Iran's "aggressive policies" for the diplomatic action, alluding to years of tension that spilled over on Saturday night when Iranian protesters stormed the kingdom's embassy in Tehran.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE), home to hundreds of thousands of Iranians, partially downgraded its relations but the other Gulf Arab countries - Kuwait, Qatar and Oman - stayed above the fray.

Shi'ite Iran accused Saudi Arabia of using the attack on the embassy as an "excuse" to sever ties and further increase sectarian tensions, as protesters in Iran and Iraq marched for a third day to denounce Saudi Arabia's execution of Shi'ite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.

The UAE said Iran needed to stay out of Arab affairs and not act like a protector of Arab Shi'ites. "The Arab world isn't a venue for its blatant interference ... Iran does not have guardianship or jurisdiction over a large number of Arabs for some sectarian reason," UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash told Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV.

A man was shot dead in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province late on Sunday, and two Sunni mosques in Iraq's Shi'ite-majority Hilla province were bombed in the fallout from the dispute between the Middle East's top Sunni and Shi'ite powers.

Oil prices spiked during European trading as the two big petroleum exporters traded insults and after violence hit other crude producers such as Iraq. But prices then eased back on evidence of economic weakness in Asia.

Stock markets across the Gulf dropped sharply, led by Qatar which fell more than 2.5 percent, with geopolitical jitters outweighing any benefit from stronger oil.

Crude importer China declared itself "highly concerned" with the developments, in a rare foray into Middle East diplomacy. The United States and Germany called for restraint, while Russia offered to mediate an end to the dispute.

SYRIA, YEMEN
The row threatened to derail efforts to end Syria's five-year-old civil war, where Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab powers support rebel groups against Iran-backed President Bashar al-Assad.

In neighboring Lebanon, newspapers said the spat had clouded the hopes of filling the vacant presidency that had been raised last month after Iran and Saudi Arabia both voiced support for a power-sharing deal.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Saudi foreign minister on Monday that Riyadh's decision to break off diplomatic ties with Iran was extremely troubling. A spokesman said Ban wanted to help ensure both countries continued their commitment to ending the conflicts in Syria and Yemen.


The U.N. chief urged Saudi Arabia to renew a ceasefire it ended this weekend with the Iran-allied Shi'ite Houthi group in Yemen that it has been bombing for nine months.

But analysts said fears of a sectarian rupture across the Middle East were premature, and the break in Saudi-Iran relations could be more a symptom of existing strains than evidence of new ones.

"The fact that the UAE was unwilling to cut off ties with Iran completely, despite the closeness of its relations with Saudi Arabia, shows the difficulty that the Saudis will have in trying to isolate Iran," said Julien Barnes-Dacey, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

"The downgrading of ties is not fundamentally a question of responding to executions and the storming of an embassy... (but rather) a function of a much deeper conflict between the two states," he added.

Trade between Saudi Arabia and Iran is small compared with the size of their economies, but some business is routed through the United Arab Emirates; comprehensive figures are not available. Investment ties are also minimal, though Saudi food conglomerate Savola has major manufacturing operations in Iran.

"DIVINE REVENGE"
After a furious response in Shi'ite communities worldwide to the Sunni kingdom's execution of Shi'ite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Iran was creating "terrorist cells" among the kingdom's Shi'ite minority.

Saudi Arabia executed Nimr and three other Shi'ites on terrorism charges on Saturday, alongside dozens of Sunni jihadists. Shi'ite Iran hailed him as a "martyr" and warned Saudi Arabia's ruling Al Saud family of "divine revenge".

Shi'ite groups united in condemnation of Saudi Arabia while Sunni powers rallied behind the kingdom, hardening a sectarian split that has torn apart communities across the Middle East and nourished the jihadist ideology of Islamic State.

Al-Azhar, the Cairo-based seat of Sunni Muslim learning, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Saudi Arabia, condemned the attacks on Riyadh's missions and stressed Tehran's obligation to respect the internal affairs of the kingdom.

Bahrain, a Sunni-ruled island kingdom with a restive Shi'ite majority, accused Iran of "blatant and dangerous interference" in the affairs of the Gulf Arab countries, in a statement announcing the severing of diplomatic ties.

Western powers, many of which supply billions of dollars worth of weaponry to Gulf Arab powers, tried to tamp down the tensions with Iran but also deplored the executions, as human rights groups strongly criticized Saudi Arabia's judicial process and protesters gathered outside Saudi embassies. 

REUTERS

Exclusive: Saudi Arabia to halt flights, trade with Iran

Saudi Arabia widened its rift with Iran on Monday, saying it would end air traffic and trade links with the Islamic republic and demanding that Tehran must "act like a normal country" before it would restore severed diplomatic relations.

Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told Reuters in an interview that Tehran was responsible for rising tensions after the kingdom executed Shi'ite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr on Saturday, describing him as a terrorist.
Insisting Riyadh would react to "Iranian aggression", he accused Tehran of dispatching fighters to Arab countries and plotting attacks inside the kingdom and its Gulf neighbors.

"There is no escalation on the part of Saudi Arabia. Our moves are all reactive. It is the Iranians who went into Lebanon. It is the Iranians who sent their Qods Force and their Revolutionary Guards into Syria," Jubeir said.

Tehran says it has sent only military advisers to Syria and Iraq at their governments' requests, and denies plots in Gulf states.

The execution of Nimr provoked protests among Shi'ites across the region and Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran, setting fires and causing damage, prompting Riyadh to cut ties and inflaming an already heated rivalry.

"We will also be cutting off all air traffic to and from Iran. We will be cutting off all commercial relations with Iran. And we will have a travel ban against people traveling to Iran," Jubeir said.


Iranian pilgrims would still be welcome to visit Islam's holiest sites in Mecca and Medina in western Saudi Arabia, either for the annual haj or at other times of year on the umrah pilgrimage, he said.

However, Jubeir said Saudi Arabia had been right to execute Nimr, whom he accused of "agitating, organizing cells, providing them with weapons and money" - allegations that the cleric's family have denied.
After listing the crimes of 43 al Qaeda members also put to death on Saturday alongside four Shi'ites, Jubeir said of the executions: "We should be applauded for this, not criticized."

'AGGRESSIVE POLICIES'
Jubeir, a former ambassador to Washington where the FBI in 2011 said he had been the target of an Iranian assassination plot, said the break in ties was a response to older problems as well as the embassy storming.
"[It] is a reaction to Iran's aggressive policies over the years, and in particular over the past few months. The Iranian regime has been a sponsor of terrorism, they have set up terrorist cells in Saudi Arabia and a number of other countries," he said.

Tehran has consistently denied those charges and itself has accused Riyadh of supporting militancy through its backing of Islamist rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Jubeir also accused Iran's authorities of complicity in the attack on the embassy at the weekend, saying Saudi diplomats had seen security forces enter the building and take part in looting and that the police did not respond to more than one request for help.

Iran has defended its measures to protect the Saudi embassy, saying it is investigating the matter and has made arrests.

Asked what steps Iran needed to take before Riyadh would consider restoring diplomatic ties, Jubeir said Tehran must "respect international norms and treaties and conventions" and "act like a normal country [that] respects the territorial integrity of its neighbors".

REUTERS

JUST IN!!! We Have Used all Channels to Warn Buhari Over Shi’ite Leader… – Iran

Iran says it is using all diplomatic channels to pursue the release of a prominent Shia Muslim cleric Sheikh Ibrahim al-Zakzaky who was arrested by the Nigerian army last month.

“We have used all those channels to warn them [Nigeria] regarding this issue. So hopefully the government… would adopt wise action given the sensitive situation,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hoseyn Jaberi-Ansari told reporters in the capital, Tehran.

Sheikh al-Zakzaky after members of his Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) clashed with the army in the northern city of Zaria.

Campaign group Human Rights Watch said at least 300 IMN members were killed and quickly buried in a mass graves during the incident. The Nigerian military denied the claim.

The military accuses the pro-Iranian sect of trying to assassinate army chief Gen Tukur Buratai, which it denies.

Iran is currently embroiled in a diplomatic row with Saudi Arabia over the execution of a prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

Shia in Nigeria;
▪ Shia are minority in Nigeria but their numbers are increasing
▪ The IMN, formed in the 1980s, is the main Shia group led by Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky
▪ They operate their own schools and hospitals in some northern states
▪ They have a history of clashes with the security forces
▪ The IMN is backed by Shia-dominated Iran and its members often go there to study
▪ Sunni jihadist group Boko Haram condemns Shias as heretics who should be killed