Thursday 14 November 2013

US designates B’Haram, Ansaru terrorist organisations

B'Haram, Ansaru declared terrorists

The United States has  formally designated  the fundamentalist Islamic militant groups,  Boko Haram and Ansaru,  as “Foreign Terrorist Organisations under Section 219 of its  Immigration and Nationality Act.
It also  classified them as  Designated Global Terrorists under section 1(b) of  Executive Order 13224.
The White House, in a statement on Wednesday, explained that the designation constituted only a tool in  a comprehensive approach by the Nigerian government  towards curbing the activities of the terror groups.
The statement   quoted Lisa Monaco, the   adviser on homeland security and counterterrorism  to President Barack  Obama, as  saying that the latest development had demonstrated the support of the White House for the war against the groups in Nigeria.
It  explained that with  their designation  as FTOs and  SDGTs,   financial institutions in the US had  been empowered to freeze the assets of Boko Haram and Ansaru.
The White House, according to Reuters and Sahara Reporters,   therefore encouraged the Federal Government “ to pursue a comprehensive counterterrorism approach that uses law enforcement tools effectively, creates economic opportunity, and ensures that human rights are protected and respected.”
It  also stated that the designation  would  allow  the US  and  its  law enforcement partners    to investigate and prosecute terror  suspects associated with Boko Haram and Ansaru.
The statement reads in part,  “These designations are an important and appropriate step, but only one tool in what must be a comprehensive approach by the Nigerian government to counter these groups through a combination of law enforcement, political, and development efforts, as well as military engagement, to help root out violent extremism while also addressing the legitimate concerns of the people of Northern Nigeria.
“All of our assistance to Nigeria stresses the importance of protecting civilians and ensuring that human rights are respected.  That assistance and these designations demonstrate the U.S. support for the Nigerian people’s fight against Boko Haram and Ansaru.
“By cutting these terrorist organisations off from U.S  financial institutions and enabling banks to freeze assets held in the US, these designations demonstrate our strong support for Nigeria’s fight against terrorism.
 “Boko Haram has been conducting an ongoing and brutal campaign against Nigerian military, government, and civilian targets.
“Among its most lethal attacks, Boko Haram carried out indiscriminate attacks in Benisheikh   in September 2013 that killed more than 160 innocent civilians, including women and children.  Boko Haram has also conducted attacks against international targets, including a suicide bombing of the United Nations building in Abuja on August 26, 2011, that killed 21 people and injured dozens more, many of them aid workers supporting development projects across Nigeria.”
The White House statement  described Boko Haram as a militant group with links to al-Qae’ida in the Islamic Maghreb that is responsible for thousands of deaths in North-East and central Nigeria over the   years, including targeted killings of civilians.
Ansaru is a Boko Haram splinter faction that earlier in 2013 kidnapped and executed seven international construction workers.
Ansaru’s attacks have focused on  the  military and Western targets.  In November 2012, the group attacked   a police station in Abuja, killing   policemen    and freeing detained terror suspects from prison.
Also in January 2013, Ansaru   ambushed a convoy of  peacekeepers, killing some of them. It     also conducted several kidnappings of foreigners.
The US  had on June 21, 2012  declared   the leader of   Boko Haram , Abubakar Shekau,  a SDGT   and placed a $7m bounty on his head.
The Federal Government, through the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke (SAN), said it welcomed   the US decision.
Adoke,  in an interview with journalists in Abuja on Wednesday night,  said, ““The US stance is a welcome development; we salute the US Government for partnering with  us to root out terrorism.
“This step will assist Nigeria to deal with these renegades. It will also help in strengthening the proscription of Boko Haram by the government.
“We urge other super powers to emulate the US government to check terrorism in any part of the world. A threat to any nation by   insurgents is a threat to global peace.”
The Director of Defence Information, Brig. Gen Chris Olukolade, in an interview with one of our correspondents, said   the US    action  would enhance collaborative efforts geared towards tackling the Boko Haram insurgency.
Olukolade  said,  “It is most welcome and we hope it would enhance more collaboration to tackle the evil. It will  enhance the required collaboration  globally.
“It will  enhance the support that we expect everywhere from all citizens both in Nigeria and across the world.”
Also,  the Christian Association of Nigeria said the development was  a vindication of its earlier position  on the sect.
The Public Relations Officer of CAN in the 19 Northern States and Abuja, Mr. Sunny Oibe,  said, “We saw it coming. We  thank God that at last, the US  government has realised it.
“With this  , the position of CAN has been justified that Boko Haram is a terrorist organisation because next to Al-Qaida, Boko Haram kill more human beings than every other terrorist organisation in the world.”

source: PUNCH

APC faults 22-hour ‘curfew’ for Anambra poll

The All Progressives Congress has faulted the Independent National Electoral Commission for declaring a 22-hour restriction on movement from midnight on Friday, to 10pm on Saturday for the Anambra State governorship poll.
The party wondered why such an “extended curfew should be imposed because of an isolated election.”
In a statement on Wednesday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said even duringgeneral elections, people were allowed to move around freely from 4pm on election day.
APC said, “Election is not a war, but a celebration of democracy. Declaring a 22-hour curfew for an election in only one state raises serious questions: What is INEC hiding? Is the curfew meant to give riggers enough time to write and collate their cooked-up results? Are elections and free movement of people incompatible? Why does INEC need a 22-hour curfew to conduct a ‘peaceful and successful’ election in one state? Where in the world is a 22-hour curfew imposed during an
election?
”In any case, Anambra does not have the kind of terrain or riverine communities that will justify waiting for hours for election results to be taken from polling units to the collation centre, hence there is no reason to turn Anambra into a ghost state just to hold a governorship election.
”We therefore call on INEC to reconsider this overstretched curfew if it has no underlying motive for declaring it in the first instance. After all, information at our disposal has it that some decent INEC officials have rejected being part of the Anambra election because they do not want to be tainted by the shenanigans of some of their unscrupulous colleagues who are colluding with do-or-die politicians for ‘thirty pieces of silver’.”

MSSNLAGOS PRESS RELEASE ON HIJAB COURT CASE ADJOURNMENT


Again, Lagos govt seeks further adjournment on Hijab case, to come up on December 19. Justice G.M Onyeabo of the Ikeja High Court has adjourned the Lagos Hijab case to December 19, 2013. The case was formerly being handled by Justice Joseph Oyewole before it was transferred to Onyeabo.

At the resumed hearing today, counsel to the Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria, Lagos State Area Unit, Barrister Adetola Kasim (SAN), asked the court to set down the case for hearing since the Lagos State Government had not responded to a proposal for terms of settlement sent since July, 2013.

But counsel to the State Government, Samuel Ajanaku, pleaded for further adjournment claiming that bureaucratic bottlenecks in the civil service had prevented the government from responding on time.

He explained that the terms are currently at the office of the governor saying more time should be given.

However, Adetola urged the judge to let the case proceed as it is of high public interest which cannot wait any longer.

Thereafter, Justice Onyeabo granted the application and adjourned the case till December 19, 2013.

Speaking shortly after, the Naibul Amir (Vice President) of Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria, Lagos State Area Unit Saheed Ashafa, described the attitude of the state government as unfortunate.

He said the government was only whiling away time to execute a plan that is not yet known to the people.

“It is obvious that the state government is using delay tactics. From the first day in court they had told the court that they want to settle out of court and this is about the third time and they are still saying the same thing.

“This is portraying that they are not interested in resolving the matter to the favour of the law but just to while away time so that they can probably do what we don’t know yet,” he said.

Ashafa said no matter how the government tries to delay the case, the MSSN Lagos State Area Unit, would not relent until it is pursued to a logical end.

Also speaking, General Secretary of the society, Tajudeen Balogun, lamented that while the state government continues to seek endless adjournments in the case, some school principals persist in harassing and victimising Muslim students using Hijab in secondary schools.

The MSSN had taken the case to court after series of harassment on Muslim students wearing the hijab by secondary school principals in Lagos state.

The case first came up on May 27, 2013 but was adjourned till July 10 after the state government said it had no defence and sought for adjournment.

It was further adjourned till October 28 as judges in Lagos State were attending a conference.

The case could not come up again as Justice Oyewole who was formerly handling the case was transferred to another division.

Signed:
Idris Qasim
Public Relations Officer
MSSN, Lagos State Area Unit

ASUU leaders chase Kogi gov away from hospital

Idris Wada
Angry leaders of the Academic Staff Union of Universities allegedly chased away the Governor of Kogi State, Captain Idris Wada (retd.) from the emergency ward of the  Lokoja General Hospital on Tuesday.
Wada had gone to the hospital  to visit their  injured colleague, Dr. Ngozi Ilo,   and commiserate with them over the death of their  former President, Prof. Festus Iyayi,   in an accident involving his convoy  and an ASUU vehicle on Tuesday.
The  Chairman, University of Benin chapter  of ASUU, Dr. Anthony Monye-Emina; and the Benin Zonal Coordinator, Dr. Sunny Iyalo, had minor injuries and were therefore not admitted into the hospital.
The   ASUU leaders, including the National President, Dr. Biodun Ogunyemi;  the Ibadan Zonal Coordinator, Dr. Nassir Adesola; the Chairman, Lagos State University chapter of the union, Dr. Adekunle Idris;    Monye-Emina;   Iyalo  and lecturers from the Federal University Lokoja however sent the governor away from the hospital’s emergency ward.
Their grouse was Wada’s  late response to the accident and the uncaring attitude he allegedly displayed towards the union leaders  involved in the accident.
They also accused him of trying to make a political gain out of their misfortune.
Idris, who confirmed that  Wada was chased out of the  emergency ward, said,    “We are surprised that a state governor could resort to telling lies because contrary to the claim by his spokesperson that he showed care towards our colleagues, he did not.
“Somebody that did not stop after his convoy killed our leader; somebody that did not come to the hospital until some minutes to 5pm(on Tuesday) after the accident that happened around 11am could not be said to be caring.
“That was why we chased him out of the emergency ward of the hospital and we also prevented him from seeing Prof. Iyayi’s corpse in the mortuary.
“We are not happy with the fact that he came very late to the hospital and the fact that when he came, his press crew attempted to take photograph and video record of Dr. Ilo, who is our national welfare  secretary. We stopped them because that was  the  height of insensitivity.
“Somebody that could not provide us with an ambulance cannot be said to be caring. We had to call UNIBEN for an ambulance that took Ilo to the UNIBEN Teaching Hospital while our colleagues from the Federal University, Lokoja, with the assistance of the vice-chancellor, gave us the ambulance that was used to convey the remains of Prof. Iyayi to Benin.”
Idris added that though Wada  left the hospital “like a gentleman,”  some of  his overzealous  security aides tried  to be naughty.
He said, “Some of the policemen  that followed him to the hospital wanted to be naughty but we lectured them. The hospital workers and the residents of Lokoja who witnessed how we chased the governor  away were happy.”
Also, Adesola expressed dismay at  the efforts  made by the governor to rewrite the incident.
He said, “It was actually the last of the governor’s convoy that veered off the road and ran into a  vehicle that was conveying Iyayi and others.
“When the governor’s convoy came  with   noise and harassment, everyone on the road moved  to the side  of the road for them to pass  but  unfortunately, the governor’s aide  has told the world that an  ASUU  vehicle was avoiding a trailer and ran into  their escort vehicle.
“What manner of reckless lying is that? The front  of the ASUU bus remains  intact except for the windscreen that broke. Iyayi was sitting at the back of the bus and the  escort van  ran into it.
The most annoying part is  that the incident occurred around 11am and the governor did not even visit the hospital until around 5pm.
“He  came with a large  number of pressmen and security aides  and was attempting to make some political capital out of our misfortune.
“We actually had to chase him away from the emergency ward where our welfare secretary was still receiving treatment .”
But Jacob Edi, the Special Adviser, Media and Strategy to  Wada,  claimed that the ASUU leaders did not chase his boss away from the hospital.
Edi, who in a telephone interview  with one of our correspondents, insisted that Wada  was not indifferent to the plight  of the   accident victims, however, stated that the union officials were not  friendly.
He said, “When the governor went  to the hospital, the ASUU people   had a kind of adverse reaction to the governor.    But they did not chase away the governor. Nobody chased away anybody.”
The governor’s spokesman  added that the state government would not want to be involved in controversy over  the death of the former ASUU president.
He stated that Wada was pained by  the accident and had been sympathising with the bereaved families  and  the survivors.
It was however not only the ASUU leaders that   lambasted  the governor  over  the accident, the Nigeria Labour Congress, a former President of the Trade Union Congress, Mr. Peter Esele and an ex-Commissioner of Police in Lagos State, Mr. Abubakar Tsav, also  did.
They  described Wada’s convoy as reckless and   demanded the prosecution of the  driver  of the escort vehicle that   caused the accident on the Lokoja-Abuja Road.
The NLC,  in a statement in Abuja by its National President, Mr. Abdulwahed Omar, described the death of Iyayi as avoidable.
It  also blamed the Federal Government for its neglect of  the road.
The NLC said its  position  was  that the federal   and   Kogi State governments  were responsible for   Iyayi’s death.
It  said that 10 years after the contract for the rehabilation of the  Lokoja-Abuja Road was awarded,  it  had been turned to a death trap.
The NLC  said,  “Iyayi’s death leaves a sour taste in the mouth and it is totally avoidable. It is blameable, lawlessness/impunity on the part of the Kogi State governor, who is fast acquiring for himself an accident-prone reputation.
The congress therefore advised  “siren-blowing and terror-dealing convoys” to  be conscious of other road users.
It  called on the Federal Roads Safety Corps and the Nigeria Police to ensure that those behind the  accident  were brought to justice.
Esele and Tsav    urged the relevant authorities to ensure that the convoy driver involved in the accident was prosecuted.
They spoke in different telephone interviews with   our correspondents.
According to them, Wada has a responsibility to caution his drivers as his convoy has become reputed for recklessness.
Esele recalled that the convoy of the governor was involved in  an  accident which resulted in the death of  Wada’s Aide de Camp and in which Wada was also injured.
Tsav,  who described the death of the former ASUU leader as unfortunate, called on President Goodluck Jonathan to meet the demands of ASUU.
This, he said, would be  in appreciation of the fact that Iyayi died while contributing to the development of university education in the country.
Tsav said that   accidents occurred in Kogi State not because the roads in Kogi were the worst but because the drivers in the governor’s convoy were not cautious.
He said that the roads were not meant only for the political office holders but   for  all Nigerians.
He said, “The convoy of Wada is known for being reckless; this is not the first time this is happening. It does not mean that the worst roads are in Kogi State.
 “I want to appeal to him to caution his drivers, they are reckless, he should caution them to be cautious on the roads, the roads belong  to every Nigerian.”

SOURCE: PUNCH

Iyayi’s death: FRSC blames Kogi gov for fatal crash

The Kogi Sector Command of the Federal Road Safety Commission has blamed the auto crash that led to the death, on Tuesday, of Prof. Festus Iyayi, on wrongful overtaking by a vehicle in the convoy of Kogi state governor, Idris Wada.
The News Agency of Nigeria quoted the Kogi State Sector Commander of the FRSC, Olakunle Motajo, as saying preliminary report by his commission suggested the accident was caused by a Toyota Hilux bus in Wada’s convoy.
The vehicle, Motajo said, made “wrongful overtaking”, ramming into another Toyota Hiace bus belonging to the UNIBEN ASUU chapter,  in which Iyayi and two others were travelling in the opposite direction.
Some residents of Banda community, who witnessed the accident, said the two vehicles collided and the ASUU bus somersaulted three times before hitting a big tree in the bush.
Mr. Iyayi died instantly while two others, including a woman, who sustained fracture in her left arm, were injured. The driver of the bus escaped unhurt, Motajo said.

source: PUNCH

ASUU Postpones NEC Meeting Over Iyayi’s Death

Prof Iyayi
BY OYEDOTUN QUDUS

The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has postponed its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting, which was supposed to hold today, due to the loss of one of the prominent members of the union, Professor Festus Iyayi, who died in an auto crash on Lokoja-Abuja Expressway, on his way to the Kano, yesterday, for the union’s meeting.
The decision to call off or continue the four months old strike embarked upon by the University lecturers was expected to be made at the meeting which would have held today but for Iyayi’s death.
The union called for the meeting after fresh negotiations with the president, where the government was said to have shown commitment to ending the strike by improving on earlier offers.
The meeting will now hold on date to be communicated to members later.
SOURCE: INFORMATION NG

Monday 4 November 2013

FG, HONOR THE AGREEMENT WITH ASUU---QASIM BADRUDEEN

BY OYEDOTUN QUDUS
A youth based religious organisation,Muslim Students' Society of Nigeria, Lagos State Area Unit, has called on the federal government to honour the agreement it entered into with the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, so that students will resume academic activities

The Amir of the society, Qasim Badrudeen who made the call today at its ongoing Annual Conference at the University of Lagos Main Auditorium, during his speech, urged the federal government to stop playing politics with the issue as it will amount to mortgaging the future of the country

He however called on the lecturers to justify whatever fund that will  be injected into the system by dilligently training the students to the best of their abilities