Nigeria immigration service to recruit 5, 000 officers

The legacy of former president Goodluck Jonathan lives on as the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has announced plans to recruit 5, 000 personnel to boosts its work force, The Nation reports.

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Officials of the Nigeria Immigration Service during parade.

In a statement issued on Thursday, February 4 by the public relations officer of the service, Ekpedeme Kings, the approval for the recruitment of 5, 000 officers was obtained under the immediate past administration of Jonathan since 2012, but was still pending.

Kings while responding to the alleged recruitment scam in the immigration clarified that the service has not started any fresh recruitment, noting that the service only replaced the over 2, 000 officers that died in Boko Haram attacks in the North East as well as resignation and retirement of officers at the junior cadre in the last few years.

Recall that there was a recent report on a national newspaper earlier this week with the tittle: “NIS in fresh recruitment scam.” The paper reported that the recruitment was allegedly carried out in December, 2015, adding that another recruitment exercise was conducted in December, 2015 and that those recruited have already collected their January 2016 salaries.

But the immigration spokesman denied the report when asked, saying: “We did replacement of over 200 officers. The fact is that Boko Haram has been rioted out of the North-East zone and now for the Army to carry out its operations in other areas it is common knowledge in the country that the para-military, are to continue to take over the areas that have been conquered.

“We should be able to maintain the peace in that area for developmental proposes. The Army will go on with the war, while the paramilitary gives support and also while government is reconstructing the area.
“Because we have not been able to recruit for the past five or six years, due to our failed recruitment exercises we have not been able to have the kind of man power that is needed to carry out this administrative occupation of the North-East zone.

“So that services approached government that so many officers have died in the North East zone, others have retied because they have completed their years of service or on account of age, others have been moved due to several reasons.

“The workforce we are putting to this places are not actually the middle cadre or the senior officers it is the inspectorate that is level 1-7. We have the senior officers that are already there.

“We pleaded with government to replace these people and government considered and government gave the approval. The number I do not know but it is over 200 and not 300.

“The 5, 000 vacancies were approved under the past administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan for fresh recruitment in 2012, which is still pending.”
\Kings disclosed that the 5, 000 officers that would be recruited soon are to be deployed to the borders across the country after obtaining proper training.

Recall that in 2014, immigration recruitment tragedy occurred on Saturday, March 15 when 6.5 million people from all the 37 states of the country including the FCT stormed various recruitment centers in the country for the 4, 000 vacant positions in the service. No fewer than 16 job seekers lost their lives while several others sustained various degrees of injuries. The main causes of death was based on overcrowding, stampede, exhaustion, and impatience of the job seeker.

Meanwhile, Lt. Gen. Abdulrahman Danbazzau, minister of interior who gave a speech in Sokoto state, revealed that out of the over 1, 500 routes into the country, only about 100 are currently manned by the security forces, leaving about 1, 400 routes unmanned.

Twin sisters share one husband

– Twins often hate to be separated by things like marriage

– These twin sisters have decided they don’t want to be separated, so they have agreed to share one husband

The twins and their husband

Twin sisters Owami and Olwethu Mzazi from South Africa, have allegedly married the same husband. In a country where polygamy is widely accepted, relatives did not have any problems with the twins decision to stay together with the same man, till death do them part.

According to reports, this didn’t come as a surprise, as the twins had always dreamt of marrying the same man. The 26 year old twins are married to 51 year old Mzukiseni Mzazi. Here’s what one half of the twins, Owami, had to say:

“We have always done everything together…that is how our grandmother raised us. So when we decided to marry, we said any man that wants to marry one, will marry the other.” 
Here’s hoping they all have a life of bliss together.

Thugs invade APC meeting in Edo

A meeting held by the Edo state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) over who will  should succeed Governor Adams Oshiomhole was thrown into confusion when thugs numbering about 100 invaded the venue of the meeting and attacked everyone on sight.

There has been internal crisis in the Edo state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) over who would Governor Adams Oshiomhole.

According to the Tribune, the meeting which was called by the Edo south (Benin) senatorial vice chairman, Barrister Gentleman Amegor at his residence was interrupted by thugs loyal to a governorship aspirant from the party.

The thugs said Amegor was not fit to call a senatorial meeting of the party since he had been suspended a month ago by leaders of the party over anti-party activists.

The hoodlums laid siege at the venue of the meeting to prevent the meeting from holding.

They also beat up journalists at the venue forcing party members who were already arriving for the meeting to take to their heels.

Meanwhile, governors belonging to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are happy with the decision of the Supreme Court which recently upheld the election of all its governors.

They were reacting to the court’s ruling on the elections of Governors Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom and Okey Ikpeazu of Abia state. The ruling by the apex court follows the December 18th Appeal Court ruling which nullified the election won by Governor Udom and the decision of the Court of Appeal, which nullified Mr. Ikpeazu’s election on December 31, 2015.

Saraki condemns President Buhari’s budget

– Senate president Bukola Saraki described the 2016 budget as ambitious.
– Saraki asserted that the non-oil and independent revenue generating sectors should be made the crux.
– Saraki explains why MDAs defend their proposals before the senate committees.
The Senate president, Bukola Saraki, has condemned the 2016 budget presented by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The Senate president, Bukola Saraki, has described the 2016 budget as ambitious.

The Cable reports that Saraki, who entertained questions from senate correspondents after commissioning the newly upgraded and refurbished senate press centre at the national assembly in Abuja, on Tuesday, February 2, described the budget as ambitious.

The Senate president explained that for the budget to be genuine and successful, the non-oil and independent revenue generating sectors should be made the crux.

He disclosed that the lawmakers would concentrate on the revenue generating sectors and make sure all leakages are clogged. He expressed optimism that despite the fact that the budget proposal was ambitious, it could be accomplished if all that was necessary to make it work was put in place.

When the Senate president was asked if the 2016 budget is implementable considering the fall in crude oil price at the international market, he said: “I think this is one of the reasons why we are having the MDAs defend their proposals before the committees to be able to test some of the scenarios and some of the assumptions, particularly on the revenue side.

“If you look at the revenue, out of about N3.8trillion, N3trillion is coming from non-oil and independent revenue. The success of the budget, in my own view, is less on the benchmark. It is more on those two items, non-oil revenue and independent revenue, and that is why we directed our Committee on Finance and other relevant Committees to really scrutinize the revenue side.
“Even the Senate leadership intends to also engage with the ministries as well to really check those two lines, because that is really where the questions come on whether it is achievable. Before we put our signature to it, we need to be sure that those funds are there.

“I believe they are ambitious but it is a good sign, because it begins to make us less dependent on oil… because if N830billion is coming from oil revenue and it is only 23%, even if the price of oil goes down or up, we are not really so much vulnerable than the time when oil revenue was accounting for 70 of our revenue. From that point of view, I believe that once we can do that, it is achievable.”
Saraki urged the executive arm of government to instill an appropriate strategy for implementing the budget since the National Assembly was working to pass it without much delay.
The Senate president further disclosed that the national assembly would soon amend the Public Procurement Act to expedite quick implementation of the budget.
“But also talking about being achievable or implementable, already, some of the things we are going to look at and which we are going to advise the executive on is that while we are working on the budget now, they too should also start making a plan on how to implement the budget because what tends to happen is that even after we have passed a budget, the administration or its bureaucracy sometimes makes the budget difficult to be realisable.
“And two areas: one is looking at the procurement process and it is very likely that we will need to come out with an amendment bill as regards to certain areas of the procurement law. That is something that we are likely to come out with very soon. People are looking at that now to see again how we can assist the executive to see that the budget is implementable,” he said.
Saraki, while responding to question on the need for transparency and openness in the National Assembly budget, said: “On the issue of national assembly, I think I’ve kept on repeating this many times. If you remember, even during the time the leadership was constituted, one of the issues that came forward was that we will have an open and transparent eighth senate and I still want to be held to that. Also during this process, of course, national assembly budget too will also be debated and by the time the final document is out, I can assure you that we are going to move away from the time of one-line item for the national assembly to a national assembly where there will be a break down according to different sections of the institution.”
Meanwhile, the Senate committee on education on Monday, February 2,recordedhuge success after it discovered that about N9, 982, 258, 479 was hidden in the 2016 budget of parastatals by the Federal Ministry of Education. The discovery was made by the committee at the commencement of its 2016 budget defence.

Dasukigate A Sham As Jonathan’s Ammunition  Bombs Boko Haram Base In Sambisa

The ammunition purchased by the immediate past government of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan destroyed a logistics base used by members of the Boko Haram sect. Air Force spokesman, Captain Ayodele Famuyiwa, comfirmed.


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The Air Force UAV was on intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) mission when it came across the gathering of terrorists at Garin Moloma, about one kilometre north of the Sambisa Forest.
Nigerians are worried on the claim by President Muhammadu Buhari led government that the money meant to procure arms to tackle insurgency was squandered by Jonathan’s government as several kinsmen of former President Goodluck Jonathan were been arrested, questioned and detained by law enforcement agency.

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According to reports gathered by Vox Populi, many Nigerians believed the claim that former President Goodluck Jonathan’s government did not purchase any ammunition and the trial of the former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki and others for alleged diversion of N13bn, part of funds said to be meant for procurement of arms were nothing but sham. While some believed the trial is welcome as they claimed it will put corruption to end in government.

Court orders Aluko’s arrest over ‘Ekitigate’

Adesoji Adegboye, a chief magistrate in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti state, has ordered the state commissioner of police to arrest Temitope Aluko, former secretary of the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over alleged perjury. Aluko, who earlier testified before the election tribunal that the June 21, 2014 governorship election in Ekiti was free and fair, told journalists on Sunday that the PDP rigged the election.
He said former President Goodluck Joanthan released $37 million to Ayo Fayose, governor of the state, and summoned top security chiefs to Aso Rock to strategise on how to deliver the state for the former ruling party. On Wednesday, the chief magistrate gave an order for his arrest after considering a motion ex parte number MAD/10cm/2016, filed by the Ekiti state government against Aluko and the state commissioner of police, pursuant to Section 117 of the Criminal Code Law, Cap C16, law of Ekiti State 2012, Section 79 of the Ekiti State Administration of Criminal Justice Law 2014 and Section 23 (D) of the Magistrates’ Courts Law 2014. In the motion, which was filed and moved by Gbemiga Adaramola, the state director of public prosecution, an order of the court was sought to issue warrant of arrest against Aluko, to be executed by the state commissioner of police for the purpose of committing Aluko for trial for the offence of perjury.

Adegboye said the order was granted as a means for the first defendant (Aluko) to attend the court for defence. The matter was premised upon an application to the state attorney-general by a lawyer, Sunday Olowolafe, calling for the prosecution of Aluko for alleged perjury. “I hereby apply to your office that Dr Temitope Kolawole Aluko be arrested and sued for perjury in view of the interview recently granted on Channels Television by 8:00pm on Sunday 31 January, 2016,” the lawyer was quoted as saying.

“The said Dr Temitope Kolawole Aluko now recanted the evidence he gave in the cause of the hearing of the Ekiti state governorship election petition as a star witness even up to the supreme court. The certified true copy of the state on oath, evidence of Dr Temitope Kolawole Aluko in court on the 12/11/14 and Nigerian Tribune and The Punch newspapers of Monday, 01/02/2016 that reported the interview granted are hereto attached. “It is to be noted that this if this act (perjury) is not looked into, it will definitely defile the cause of justice and consequently rubbish the judicial proceedings.”

The affidavit filed in support of the motion ex parte by Lere Olayinka, special assistant to the state governor on public communications and new media, said Aluko, who was a witness before the governorship election petition tribunal, swore to a statement on oath on August 4, 2014, wherein he stated that the election was not only free and fair, but devoid of violence, thuggery, hooliganism, snatching of ballot boxes, and related forms of electoral disorderliness. Olayinka further averred that Aluko tendered and adopted his statement on oath on November 12, 2014, and further gave evidence under cross examination. He stated that all what Aluko said on Channels Television on Sunday, January 31, 2016 were contrary to and opposite in direction to his evidence before the tribunal. Issuing the warrant of arrest against the chief magistrate said that since the court had the power to grant the order and it would serve the interest of justice, the state commissioner of police should arrest Aluko for the purpose of investigating and prosecuting him.

We’ll treat pro-Biafran ship hijackers as criminals – Military

Chief of Defence Staff, Abayomi Gabriel Olonisakin

The Defence Headquarters on Tuesday vowed that some suspected Pro-Biafran militants, who hijacked a merchant vessel off the coast of Nigeria on Friday would be treated as criminals and saboteurs.
The ship, believed to be an oil tanker, was said to have been hijacked by some militants, who issued a 31-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to release the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu.

While some maritime industry sources claimed that the vessel was an oil tanker seized about 160 kilometres off the Bakassi Peninsula near the border with Cameroon, the Defence Headquarters told theThe PUNCH on Tuesday that the ship was seized about 7.5 nautical miles off the Port of Cotonou.

The suspected pro-Biafran militants had hijacked the foreign merchant ship and threatened to blow it up with its crew if the Federal Government failed to release Kanu.

It was learnt that the 31-day ultimatum by the militants was given at the weekend by one ‘General Ben.’
Kanu is being prosecuted by the Department of State Services for running an illegal organisation (IPOB), threatening to break away from Nigeria to create an independent country; importing radio transmitters and making inciting and seditious statements, while his co-accused persons had been charged with possession of firearms.

Defence sources, who claimed knowledge of the hijacking on Tuesday, explained that the operatives of the Nigerian Navy were on the trail of the captured vessel and the hijackers.
One of the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the hijackers had threatened to blow up the ship and its crew members if the government refused to release Kanu, who is currently being detained and undergoing prosecution for treasonable felony, after 31 days.
The Director of Defence Information, Brig. Gen. Rabe Abubakar, confirmed on Tuesday that some militants hijacked a vessel on Friday off the Nigerian coast, but threatened that the military would deal decisively with those he called criminals and saboteurs.
He said the vessel, named MT LEON DIAS, was hijacked outside Nigeria’s territorial waters about 7.5 nautical miles off the Port of Cotonou, adding that the vessel was under the watch of the Navy of Benin Republic.
Abubakar added, “Well, I can confirm to you that a vessel, a tanker with the name MT LEON DIAS with number 9279927, was hijacked 7.5 nautical miles off Cotonou port. The ship is presently in Benin Republic. It is a merchant ship.
“I must add that on this issue of militancy, there are no more militants now, what we have are criminals. The Amnesty programme has taken care of the militants.
“The military will treat those behind such acts as criminal and saboteurs; the law will take its course; the security agencies will do their job.
“The country’s interest is above any other person’s interest. We have to work towards the enthronement of peace and stability because development can only take place in an atmosphere of peace.”
He said the military would treat those behind such crimes in the nation’s maritime domain as criminals and saboteurs.
Abubakar admitted that there “were some sort of threats,” but he was not specific on the 31-day ultimatum issued by the hijackers.
A Bulgarian-based Maritime News had said, “The group boarded the tanker from two fast boats and took control of the vessel and locked the crew in the mess room before heading for the Niger Delta,” reports AP.
A factional leader of the Movement for the Actualisation of a Sovereign State of Biafra, Uchenna Madu, had also explained that the said ‘General Ben’ was one of the Niger Delta militants, who had volunteered to join forces with the secessionists groups.
“Ben is not a separatist but some Niger Delta militants have shown interest in working with us,” said Madu.